The Sainz penalty is so stupid and I hope the rumor floating around that one team vetoed the waving of the penality is not true.
Sounds like the drivers were not happy about the schedule either, but I think it's going to stay a Saturday night race. No idea if they will move it on the calendar, but I assume that it can't be move too much earlier in the year, since temperatures can be as high as 100 even until late September. The temperature drops very quickly in the desert -- there isn't much of a shoulder season and you never know when it will be.The race needs to either be moved to the summer months or start it earlier and tell the euro fans to set an alarm clock. The racing would of been so much better if the tires could keep temps.
I don't blame them the time slot choices were ridiculous, F-1 needs to decide if they want traction in the American market or not, if yes then european fans can take a back seat for races here in America. The thing i don't understand is they don't have idiotic time slots for the other 2 races here, i understand wanting the night scene but they could of easily gotten that with a 9pm est start time instead of 1am.Sounds like the drivers were not happy about the schedule either, but I think it's going to stay a Saturday night race. No idea if they will move it on the calendar, but I assume that it can't be move too much earlier in the year, since temperatures can be as high as 100 even until late September. The temperature drops very quickly in the desert -- there isn't much of a shoulder season and you never know when it will be.
They would need to close the strip a lot earlier for a 9pm start. I don't think F1 is the sole culprit for the 1am start time.I don't blame them the time slot choices were ridiculous, F-1 needs to decide if they want traction in the American market or not, if yes then european fans can take a back seat for races here in America. The thing i don't understand is they don't have idiotic time slots for the other 2 races here, i understand wanting the night scene but they could of easily gotten that with a 9pm est start time instead of 1am.
I didn't watch the race, but it's unclear to me why Sainz was in the position he was in and couldn't compete to catch Hamilton. For all the fireworks in the top 4 to try to drop Russell into fourth, really the constructors P2 could have been secured with a decent race by Sainz. From the post-race commentary, it seems as though they made some tactical tire errors so I'm not sure how Vasseur can say that they didn't lose P2 on the day -- they held the tie breaker.Vasseur (Ferrari team principal) said something along the lines of "we didn't lose second place in the constructors today". To me, the Ferrari was a faster car this year but they managed to beat Mercedes in the bad luck, bad strategy, and general foot shooting championship.
I had to google it to make sure it was real...amazing.That is the type of name that that inept leaders settle on in an SNL skit or a workplace satire.
Gonna see if Capital One can put their logo on my Master Card LOL.AlphaTauri are now called Visa Cash App RB
I guess on second thought, would they try to do Albon to Merc and Antonelli to Williams or try to promote Antonelli directly? I guess it depends if Antonelli can get his super license.My gosh this is absolutely amazing, let the carousel commence. For Hamilton, it may or not be an upgrade as who knows what the landscape is for the 2026 refresh.
But with George in a good spot settling in at Merc, that's not a total disaster for Merc as it could have been if their new lead was someone like Bottas, but will be interesting who guns for the second seat, Alonso, Sainz? Fun times.
Oh my god. I didn’t connect Ferrari strategy and Lewis’s whining.This will be highly entertaining. Over/under on how many laps into the season before the first time Lewis blows up at his Race Engineer for screwing up pit/tire strategy?
Gotta imagine he brings Bono no?Oh my god. I didn’t connect Ferrari strategy and Lewis’s whining.
If he does, that would be the true team upgrade.Gotta imagine he brings Bono no?
I think that's their mistake. Charles and Carlos were one of the best driving pairings on the grid. Replacing Carlos with a 40 year old Lewis isn't necessarily an upgrade. If there's an argument for replacing Carlos is that since Charles wants an understeery car and Carlos an oversteery car and since it would probably be best to delineate a no 1 and a number 2 driver, you could move from Carlos to a driver who could play Perez' role, i.e. a clear no 2 driver whose job is to support LeClerc. That could have been a young prospect or a willy veteran like Bottas-though not Bottas! Instead they went with Hamilton. But I don't think you can anoint him as no 1 Driver at the age of 40 and it is a self-defeating move against the guy who's at the peak of his career, who you just signed to a big contract and for whom until yesterday you wanted to go all in to win the driver's championship.But really we all win when Charles realizes he's now basically a number 2 driver, and the fallout that commences from that.
A little more detail on the Horner investigation today. The word is that it's a "controlling" type of behavior. I don't know whether that's a euphemism or has some kind of secondary meaning in European news coverage. It's not clear to me whether it means he was a difficult and controlling boss and the fact that the accuser is a woman is not the key feature, or whether this is a kind of hostile work discrimination or man-acting-badly Jonah Hill kind of claim. Details are hard to get, but the fact that the investigation seems to have shifted from a Red Bull internal investigation to an F1 investigation does not seem great for Horner and maybe implies the latter. I guess we'll see. For all the winning, there's some drama on that team.The news about Horner coming out that has an internal investigation kicked off by Red Bull. Times is reporting it is for inappropriate behavior toward a female. Horner has denied any involvement. Will see what comes of this, but what a wild start to the season.
On a lighter note, Kick Stake Alfa Sauber has a new neon livery and an entirely new front suspension moving to a pull rod suspension instead of a push rod, shades of RB there. Ditto a new pontoon shape and scoops reminiscent of RB.
Williams only did a livery reveal and got a darker more muted tone than the bright pop of blue of the FW45.
I needed a good laugh today, thanks.Why is no one talking about the championship winning car that was released today? Tsk tsk tsk.