Great race in the MIA. Lots of good action and seeing Lando get his first win was exciting.

yea, right now, all he wants to do is win....

Races are seldom won on the first corner, but a heck of a lot of them are lost there.
What were Lewis (Sprint) and Checo (Grand Prix) thinking?

From a general spectator PoV it was a great weekend. Some guys had bad weekends but others finally got good runs in.

Best part about Lando's win was it wasn't something flukey like a Max DNF. Track was giving everyone a hard time. Lando just managed to pull with the best strategy.

Were the Vendor prices going viral the same for general spectators? Wife’s family is in S. FL and would love to go one of these days. Of course price is a factor. Two of her uncles paid $1k each for Sunday tickets on the Start/Finish grandstand out of the sun. Also a great view of most of the pit lane. They can shots it though haha.

... And a lot of luck vis-a-vis the safety car. Those newer shoes allowed him to keep the lead at the restart by the narrowest of margins. Plus, Max reported floor damage from the base of the bollard that was bolted to the ground.

Still, nobody said that luck is not part of the racer's tool kit, and I'm pleased to see Lando win finally.

Max - If my Mom had balls she would be my Dad. :rofl2:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/729...ibextid=0VwfS7

now if the race can be as exciting as qualifying it might be really interesting..
Max is unreal, Tsunoda is amazing, seems to be coming in his own.
I really want Riccardo to fail, need some young blood.
Hulk got the HAAS in Q1, where KMAG is out in Q3, think his time is short.
Hoping for a good race on Sunday

The last 5 laps were exciting,
but the rest of the race was a bit boring.
Mid-pack was interesting for a bit.
Lot of it came down to tires.

Definitely a race lacking drama and excitement. Would have been nice if lando pulled it off at the end.

How Max can stay awake after a night of Sim racing and win Imola, I don't know. The man is a machine.

Well, that was a pleasant development.
in Bahrain, Max's margin of victory was 22.5 seconds.
For the other three races that he's won, it was 12 or 13 seconds.
Yesterday's 0.7 seconds with no fortuitously timed safety car, or damage to Car #1, turned an otherwise boring race into something quite watchable.

What happened to Mercedes and Aston Martin? So much for those upgrades.

The Monegasque!


And Ocon is mad doodoo. Sounds like Alpine is getting fed up with him.

The Perez crash was insane. Other than that, it was just a parade. They need to do something with the tires. Make them run special soft compound just for this race. I wonder how many laps they can run on a tank of fuel? Can they add 5 or 10 laps?

Check out this view of the crash
https://www.facebook.com/share/r/rvJ...ibextid=0VwfS7

They could make it longer, but because of the slow average speeds achieved in Monaco, the race is shortened to get it under the 2 hour limit for a television slot.

I honestly thought that tires were going to make it interesting toward the end (no idea how George managed to stay ahead of Max on fresher rubber), and it was only teamwork that kept Lando from pitting in the last 20 laps or so. Another couple of seconds added to the gap would have done it. But with every driver knowing that every other driver was preserving tires to make it to the end, without one brave team starting a charge into the pits, it was always going to be a boring procession. And half of the grid had no new race tires left.

So sad to see Alonso sacrifice his race for the idiot Stroll to get a free pit stop and then clip the wall one lap later. At least he brought it back to the pits instead of becoming another red flag.

Neat how they had the cranes set up all around the track for vehicle recovery. That's thinking ahead!

It's an odd position for me because I also really like this GP, but if it wasn't Monaco, it'd probably be pulled from the calendar. It really is a "parade" legacy race of sorts.

I don't want to throw in some oddball/forced takes into it, but I think they should introduce "Monaco spec" aero at this point. Smaller wings and floor+bargeboard sections, and maybe even side pods. It'll hurt the lap pace but would hopefully allow for actual wheel-to-wheel space. Of course that idea gets more complicated from the R&D and budget cap situation, but I don't think the physical size reduction in 2026 would be doing enough.

yea, it was a snoozer,
not sure what they can do
at least Red Bull has a weakness..
KMAG, and Perez both should have know better.
really hope Red Bull drops Perez, But could Max handle a teammate that could push him?
I know odd question, but Recado left and I hope he leaves/drop by RB...

Ocon is officially done at Alpine at the end of this season.
Monaco was a bridge (tunnel?) too far.

I've heard that he ruminates about a seat at Mercedes, but I think he's barking up the wrong tree there.

If you get a chance, take a look at the 60 second Formula 2 clip on YouTube of Ollie Bearman and Kimi Antonelli at Monaco this year - a decent battle, and shows you what a modern F1 race could be like at that track if they didn't bring cars that are the size of some of the yachts in the harbour!

Montreal is currently calling for over 2" of rain over the weekend (Friday through Sunday) and the entire track has been resurfaced (not sure when that happened, but it was since last year's race).


Shades of Turkey 2020???

oh a wet race maybe....
or car generated fog on the track :)

Perez signs with Red Bull
sad that MAX will not have a team mate who will push/challenge him.
not the strongest line up out there....

So now, with Lawson, promised a seat, what happens at RB.
personally not in favor of Ricardo, time to move on and quit hanging around
Tsunoda - do not think he will stay, because of Honda...

will get more intereting Saniz should be the next one who signs...

The music stops when Toto makes a decision.
Then about 8 drivers rush for maybe 5 remaining seats.

Free Practice might be starting a little late today.

Well, I think Alpine/Reanualt should just sell it to Andretti
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/w...s-own-engines/

If they get rid of there own engine program, then why.
This drama, makes it look worse for FIA/FOM rejecting Andretti. If Andretti was going to use the Renualt/Alpine engine, would they have a different outlook....

Agree.
I wonder if this isn't just musing out loud to put pressure on F1 management?

I mean, really, Alpine is a team named after a brand that produces two low volume cars - one of which nobody would want to buy, and neither is available in the largest market on earth.
It was previously called Renault (which owns auto maker Alpine), which is in turn 15% owned by the French government. It was meant to show off the company's prowess, but lately has been the laughing stock of the grid. It cannot be economically feasible for Renault to go on developing F1 engines for just one team, and they have systematically pissed off pretty much any customer team they ever had. And that show itself in the (lack of) success these engines are having.

Just watch F3 qualifing and the top 28 cars are separated by a second. Ther are 30 cars, funny is these cars all went out at the same time. Totally different than what F1 does.. Amazing 28 cars separated by a second The 29th was just a tad over a second. The 30th was 3 tenths off the second

Here is a shocker Briatore return erodes final bit of Renault's F1 credibility
https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/f...1-credibility/

interesting race, start is what decided the race.
Russell did a great job, but had it not been to Lando fighting too hard with Max,

The rest of the race was just about tires and when to pit and what to use. Ferrari was a bit disappointing, MB surprised. McLearn and RB might be the same, but the advantage is MAX

And HAAS almost had a poing :)

Yeah good race, Lando is making it exciting, good seeing someone keeping Max on his toes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Max is a machine.

Great to see the Mercs finally doing something again, albeit as two individuals and not really a team. And speaking of teams that are really made up of two individuals who have no interest in collaboration, Ferrari at least uncharacteristically avoided screwing itself with strategy.

No idea what happened to Aston Martin. The track favoured Alpine but I'm not sure this is a trend. Cash App Visa RB is certainly hoping it isn't - that's a race they would soon like to forget!

Lando is where he belongs based on his performances lately, up to #2 in driver standings. He shouldn't be upset about not winning that race. It may take a bit more maturity to have realized that a first corner attack on Max in a 66-lap race was not the best strategy for the win. Very few races are won on the first corner, but a whole lot of them are lost there! Great move by George though! They screwed him on the whites mid-race but I wonder if they figured they could make a one stop work? No data on hard tires in those conditions and even though they have tested extensively here for years, it's always been in March, not late June.

I liked the commentator trio for the race. Karun and Bernie bring some great experience to the mix and check Croft's tendency to over-exaggerate things or mis-speak because he likes the sound of his own voice. He's great at adding excitement to a race call, but seems to be missing the depth in analysis that the other two provide.

On balance, a good race from start to end because of just enough interesting bits in the middle.

Gasly hit with 50 grid place penalty for Silverstone.
He's using his fifth new everything this race, as Alpine have probably figured out he won't be competitive anyway.

Penalties of more than 15 places convert into an automatic pit-lane start.

I think Gasly will be starting the race from Spielberg!

Meanwhile, Ollie Bearman has signed a multi-year deal with Haas starting in 2025.

Anyone else see Adrian Newey driving Niki Lauda’s old Ferrar up the hill at Goodwood this weekend and wonder…. ?

No… I’ll have to check that out…

I think that Red Bull needs to add two more bodies to Max's pit crew - one to raise and lower the visor, and the other to change pacifiers halfway through the race! Man, he gets childish when things aren't going his way. On the radio as well as on the track!

Glad to see Oscar take the top step for the first time, albeit I think this one was a bit of a gift. Makes up for a few times where his race was sacrificed for Lando. They are both impressive talents, and it will be harder and harder to rein them in as their careers continue. Lewis in 3rd makes me think that Mercedes is really back. Ferrari forgot to trip over themselves this race, and even Russel and Checo made the best out of a bad qualifying result.

Bring on Spa!!!!

Audi have announced that former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto will lead their entry into F1.

Not my opinion - that of Spanish journalist, F1 reporter, and television presenter Antonio Lobato ... but it makes for interesting reading (and the Ferrari 2019 or was it 2020 debacle would make this somewhat believable):

Gutted for George, to lose out on a hard-fought victory because of being underweight.
Still, it's the rules.

Can Max get random engine penalties at every race for the rest of the season?
That was a major factor in making the race interesting. I cannot help but think that had he done his PU upgrade in Hungary, he would have won by a pit stop at Spa.

It was good strategy that he took his lumps in Belgium, where passing is possible. Others will be facing the same choice at tracks like Zandvoort and Baku where you really cannot make up places. Ferrari, for one, will not change engines in Monza where you can overtake - the Tifosi would skin Fred alive!

Norris made way too many errors, while Hamilton drove like the seasoned pro that he is, now that they have given him a capable car. Piastri was amazing.

Jonathan Wheatley to move from Red Bull to Audi.

"Wheatley will certainly bring strength to Audi to the areas where Mattia Binotto is weak and that is race operations. Red Bull has the best pit crew and strategy in Formula One. That is the direct responsibility of Jonathan Wheatley as Sporting Director and has been for many many years.
It is a real statement of intent by Audi that they aim to compete at the top level."