Granted, the image of teams sponsored by petroleum companies and crypto currency roaring the raging flames is an image that sadly would make all too much sense.
Gonna write that down - the Racing Bulls is coming up after Haas - working on Alpine now, need to update the RBR graphic with Tsunoda (and I might do their one-off Japanese GP livery).
Anyway, yeah. I can see it now.
6 HAD in big text.
”The Ball Crusher” in small text, with quotation marks.
Yes, his way of communicating racecraft during the qualifying was great to follow.
Man, I just wrapped up catching glimpses of two very entertaining NCAA basketball games, i watched a full 12 minut highlight package of the Kings stomping the Oilers stomping the Oilers and the Twins beating the Astros, and now I get to watch Formula 1?
There are some days that just feel ready made for good sports.
Crazy prediction for this race? Based on nothing more than a tingling sensation in my left pinky toe, caused by my foot falling asleep?
Hulkenberg in the points.
There are some days that just feel ready made for good sports.
Crazy prediction for this race? Based on nothing more than a tingling sensation in my left pinky toe, caused by my foot falling asleep?
Hulkenberg in the points.
Japan tends to be a strategy race. I was hoping for more shenanigans with the wet, but when everyone made it through the start? Yeah, knew it was mostly going to be a podcast race after that.
Great chess match, insane performance from Max. McLaren should have done better, they should have done both undercut and overcut instead of pitting Lando in the same lap...
This is what they do every race, they sit behind Max until it's too late, then they make a push that might have worked if it started 12 laps sooner, but instead they run out of tire and fall back again.
Yea, McLaren borrowed a bit from Ferrari strategy-wise this race.
Before the pits I was wanting them to let Piastri by to pressure Max and use up his tires and then after Piastri trashed his tires they would let Lando by and take on Max with fresher tires.
Edit: Mercedes showed what McLaren should have done when they left Antonelli out. Leaving Lando out he could have ran up front w/o pressure and with clean air for a while and then kick some ass later on with fresher tires.
Before the pits I was wanting them to let Piastri by to pressure Max and use up his tires and then after Piastri trashed his tires they would let Lando by and take on Max with fresher tires.
Edit: Mercedes showed what McLaren should have done when they left Antonelli out. Leaving Lando out he could have ran up front w/o pressure and with clean air for a while and then kick some ass later on with fresher tires.
Yes, they have such an advantage with two drivers up front compared to Red Bull, and they keep getting it wrong. On the other hand, team orders suck. But pragmatically, they should probably do it.
I dont think the undercut worked at Suzuka this year, Russell didnt get anywhere with it and neither did anyone else, I think.
I wonder how much Lando's little grass expiriment comprimised the rest of his race? Saying that, it really seemed like Max had enough in that car to push and extend a bit every time he tried to close the gap, so might have made no difference at all. McLaren needs to shake something up with their strat calls.
Monaco at Suzuka. 
Monaco at Suzuka.
Track conditions didnt help, neither over nor undercuts worked and neither did alternate tire strategies. New tarmac and weather conditions decided the race, really. Bit of a shame since Suzuka is a wonderful track but it just didnt provide a good race this time.
Nice result though, I'd almost say "Simply lovely"
Definitely feel like I didn't miss anything here. From the end timings, looks like McLaren and Max were close enough, but obviously McLaren couldn't pull anything off to get the win. Credit to Max I guess.
Also to Mercedes I suppose for at least a matching team finish. Dunno what happened to Lewis, another victim of bad strategy? He is a Ferrari driver so always has that millstone round his neck, otoh his team mate made fourth and, I think, was over 15s ahead of him.
Also to Mercedes I suppose for at least a matching team finish. Dunno what happened to Lewis, another victim of bad strategy? He is a Ferrari driver so always has that millstone round his neck, otoh his team mate made fourth and, I think, was over 15s ahead of him.
Starting Grid, top 10.
Finishing Order:
The only difference between the starting grid and the finishing order was, effectively, the overtake that Lewis pulled on Hadjar going into turn 1 about 2/3's of the way through the race.
This is definitely one where the highlight package (not even the Race in 30!) is probably good enough. You'll get the occasional overtake from further down the grid, the pitstop with Max and Lando, and the Lewis/Hadjar overtake. Otherwise, it was just a podcast with car noises.
| Pos | Driver | Car |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes |
| 6 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls Honda RBPT |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari |
| 9 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes |
| 10 | Oliver Bearman | Haas Ferrari |
Finishing Order:
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time/retired | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT | 1:22:06.983 | 25 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | +1.423s | 18 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren Mercedes | +2.129s | 15 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | +16.097s | 12 |
| 5 | George Russell | Mercedes | +17.362s | 10 |
| 6 | Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | +18.671s | 8 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | +29.182s | 6 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls Honda RBPT | +37.134s | 4 |
| 9 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | +40.367s | 2 |
| 10 | Oliver Bearman | Haas Ferrari | +54.529s | 1 |
The only difference between the starting grid and the finishing order was, effectively, the overtake that Lewis pulled on Hadjar going into turn 1 about 2/3's of the way through the race.
This is definitely one where the highlight package (not even the Race in 30!) is probably good enough. You'll get the occasional overtake from further down the grid, the pitstop with Max and Lando, and the Lewis/Hadjar overtake. Otherwise, it was just a podcast with car noises.
They already did the undercut with Piastri, the point I tried to make was that they could have tried the overcut with Lando instead of pitting him the same lap. The usual "pit opposite" when you can't overtake on track.
Yeah, not the most thrilling of races, that. Max is still Max, McLaren are still McLaren. Happy to see Yuki do as well in the Red Bull as he did, happy to see Liam finish north of 20th.
But, could have used a grass fire or two to shake things up.
But, could have used a grass fire or two to shake things up.
Max seemed a bit miffed with Lando after the race, and I can see it this time - Lando declaring that Max 'pushed him off', but he just drove straight down the exit lane. Lando seemed a bit sheepish about it as well.
It was fun watching the onboards and feeling the tension, but an overall boring race. Glad to see three rookies in the top 10. Next week will have a lot more fun - I much prefer the weekends with F2, F3, and/or F1A races. F2 and F3 are usually always good for some mayhem.
It was fun watching the onboards and feeling the tension, but an overall boring race. Glad to see three rookies in the top 10. Next week will have a lot more fun - I much prefer the weekends with F2, F3, and/or F1A races. F2 and F3 are usually always good for some mayhem.
I didn't watch post-race or podium stuff, but yeah, I feel like Max had every reason to be in this case. Was not the brightest of choices by Lando on that one.
Obviously a mental lapse by Lando, but understandable since he could have won the race outright if he'd beaten Max out of the pits. Which really spotlights the strategy error by McLaren--at that point in the race Lando was literally neck and neck with Max. If he'd waited 2-3 more laps to box, and gotten those laps in clean air, he'd have won.
Max came out and set the fastest lap right away on fresh tires. I don't think Lando would have been able to do anything to pull off an overcut. In the end, leaving it in the hands of the pit crews actually did almost give him the lead. That might have been McLaren's best shot.
Mark Hughes has a post at The Race which I think is a pretty good read on McLaren's weekend. They lost on Saturday because both of their drivers failed to exploit their faster car. On Sunday, the options for overtaking on strategy were limited with the field relatively tight and no place to slot into when attempting an undercut.
Old school track, old school racing, old school results ... new school reliability. It never looked in doubt that the entire field was going to finish after the first lap. It was one of those races that lull you to doze off to the hum of the engines. The advantage of the current F1 is being able to watch the entire grid and follow close battles with the data they provide.
Later in the season there might have been another McLaren divebomb at the chicane, but way to early in the year for those kind of risks.
Respect to Max - amazing qualifying and solid race - I don't think ANY strategy call from Team Papaya would have changed the outcome - as long as crashgate doesn't count as a case study.
Later in the season there might have been another McLaren divebomb at the chicane, but way to early in the year for those kind of risks.
Respect to Max - amazing qualifying and solid race - I don't think ANY strategy call from Team Papaya would have changed the outcome - as long as crashgate doesn't count as a case study.
My rule of thumb has been: If team strategists talk about how a safety car or weather will factor into the race then everyone expects there to be no on track action at this venue.
It's basically code for: "the race will only get interesting if something unexpected happens"
It's basically code for: "the race will only get interesting if something unexpected happens"
Ryu Hirakawa leaves Alpine for Haas. Joins Haas as reserve driver for 2025.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...-in-switch-from-alpine.7FQb2DRlpTrbF5VFpkWOSQ
"Hirakawa will be taking over Bearman’s cockpit this coming weekend in Bahrain, one of four FP1 outings he will have in the VF-25 this season. He will also drive in Spain in place of Ocon, before sessions in Mexico and Abu Dhabi later on in the autumn."
"As for Alpine, they still have Franco Colapinto, Kush Maini and Paul Aron to call on should something happen to either of their current drivers."
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...-in-switch-from-alpine.7FQb2DRlpTrbF5VFpkWOSQ
"Hirakawa will be taking over Bearman’s cockpit this coming weekend in Bahrain, one of four FP1 outings he will have in the VF-25 this season. He will also drive in Spain in place of Ocon, before sessions in Mexico and Abu Dhabi later on in the autumn."
"As for Alpine, they still have Franco Colapinto, Kush Maini and Paul Aron to call on should something happen to either of their current drivers."
Suzuka usually is a fairly static race the past 15 years or so, though there are occasions when we do see passing usually from different tire strategies creating offsets (I recall a recent one where there was a bunch of passing entering Spoon - which is not a normal passing location there). But those are exceptions now.
If the new formula next year doesn't improve things on that front, more tracks will have to look to configuration changes to keep things interesting. For Suzuka, one might be to make R130 a much sharper corner to force it into being a braking zone & create passing opportunities there. If DRS were being kept, that would have also allowed the longer back straight to be a DRS zone.
Fast & medium speed corners used to be a real test of car performance & driver skill, and a lot of older tracks featured them, But now an F1 car can take formerly risky turns like R130 or Pouhon at Spa flat out while the driver's on the phone ordering a pizza. Now the tracks were there are a lot of passing are basically just: long straight, 90-degree turn, other long straight, 90-degree turn., etc. Ironically, Vegas - a track everyone expected would suck - turned out to be an entertaining venue because of that.
If the new formula next year doesn't improve things on that front, more tracks will have to look to configuration changes to keep things interesting. For Suzuka, one might be to make R130 a much sharper corner to force it into being a braking zone & create passing opportunities there. If DRS were being kept, that would have also allowed the longer back straight to be a DRS zone.
Fast & medium speed corners used to be a real test of car performance & driver skill, and a lot of older tracks featured them, But now an F1 car can take formerly risky turns like R130 or Pouhon at Spa flat out while the driver's on the phone ordering a pizza. Now the tracks were there are a lot of passing are basically just: long straight, 90-degree turn, other long straight, 90-degree turn., etc. Ironically, Vegas - a track everyone expected would suck - turned out to be an entertaining venue because of that.
From what I've read, Suzuka used to be murder on tire degradation, forcing teams to strategize around that, but the surface has now been "fixed" letting Antonelli go 31 laps on mediums.
There are some rumors that Doohan ran that race still pretty badly injured after his FP2 meeting with the wall.
There are some rumors that Doohan ran that race still pretty badly injured after his FP2 meeting with the wall.
They also brought 3 hardest tire compounds (C1, C2, C3) - though that's the same as they did last year. Combined with cool weather, they lasted an even longer time.
I saw in the coverage that the new surface is very smooth, with very little abrasiveness compared to the past on that section at least, which is most of sector 1 - where they spend a lot of time pulling G's around fast corners & working the tires the hardest.
I saw in the coverage that the new surface is very smooth, with very little abrasiveness compared to the past on that section at least, which is most of sector 1 - where they spend a lot of time pulling G's around fast corners & working the tires the hardest.
It's tough for Pirelli because ideally you (spectators or those trying to entertain us) want a tire that degrades and forces teams to make difficult strategy calls, resulting in the cars on track being in different phases of their performance at any given moment. Of course, you also want drivers attacking all the time and not having to protect their tires. It seems whenever there's consistent high degradation, the teams settle on the best strategy being to have their drivers go slowly.
I'm in favor of there being more required pit stops to address this. I think the mandatory three stops in Qatar in '23 turned that race from a likely snoozefest into possibly the most exciting dry race of the year.
Driving slowly to protect the tires is the strategy only because it loses less time than a pit stop. If the stops are required, then that's not part of the equation.
I'm in favor of there being more required pit stops to address this. I think the mandatory three stops in Qatar in '23 turned that race from a likely snoozefest into possibly the most exciting dry race of the year.
Driving slowly to protect the tires is the strategy only because it loses less time than a pit stop. If the stops are required, then that's not part of the equation.
OK I'll play devil's advocate and say that tires that are DESIGNED TO FAIL WITHIN A SINGLE RACE DISTANCE are the worst contrivance in motorsport, full stop. Tire strategy is done by computers, but we want to watch humans win races. By driving. So no, that is not the ideal.
Also: get rid of blue flags. Or at least the requirement to give way. Just treat them as a warning to backmarkers to watch their mirrors more.
Unfortunately, if you just want to see who is the best driver then you need to watch spec series. Otherwise the races are mostly decided a few months in advance by the engineers who design the cars.
But I largely agree. I wish tire strategy wasn't a thing in some ways, but low degradation races tend to be most predictable, making it an obvious place to keep things interesting.
The other way to make races interesting would be to shrink the cars so that they might actually be able to overtake. This phenomenon is most obvious at Monaco of course, but older tracks like Suzuka have the same problem.
The main difficulty with that is that driver safety is mostly what's driving the giant cars. Still, tires could be narrower and ride height could be higher.
The main difficulty with that is that driver safety is mostly what's driving the giant cars. Still, tires could be narrower and ride height could be higher.
Time bonus if you're only on two wheels as you navigate 130R.
