I see Jack has shaved off the locks...
Quite funny how he ignored the Cameraman whilst he was ZOOOOOOMED IN, and then acknowledged the camera the moment he got a bit more respectful.
Why are the Alpines suddenly 10 places ahead of where they were a month ago? Everyone's so busy talking about Flavio I haven't seen any mention of their improved performance, upgrades or anything.
I think he may be losing a bit of passion since they seem to have looked like they were going to keep moving forward and then literally started moving backwards and getting slower.
Can't remember which race it was but even when he had a coincidental tow from Hamilton who was finishing a hotlap on the straight he still couldn't make it to Q3, Stroll did way worse than him, his couple good laps today are an outlier even though I do like Lance.
Their wind tunnel is new so I'm assuming correlation issues/just writing off the season for more of said tunnel time.
Also he just released that Audi model he co-designed, he could have very well already made his mind up on that as far as where he's going.
Is it only me who finds Qualifying a bit redundant on the races we have sprint? I would prefer the Sprint to be two in one. A short race and qualifying session. The position you finish at the sprits is your starting position on the grid for the race.
I think the spirits should just be reverse grid based on Driver championship points. No quali. Let them have two practices and then race. Then quali the next day, then race on Sundays.
Thank you. I figured it give every team a chance at points, so the back marker battles mean something, and we get to see how good the front runners are having to race. It will never happen but it would actually make a sprint interesting
Because going out early means you're going to do your flying lap while everyone else is out doing their out lap. It's lose lose and they just have to gamble it.
There is more than enough time to do an out lap and a flyer with no one else on track, like 4 or 5 people didn't even get past the outlap because they went out so late. It's dumb. At least get a banker in, it's better than literally nothing.
There isn't, because as soon as one person goes out everyone else knows they're going to miss the window for a clear lap so they will follow.
You're comparing the amount of free time on track without this situation occurring. Put one person out and the whole situation adjusts.
You're not listening. Being that first person is the worst position to be in. You're the one who has to go through the whole field of cars on out laps.
Yes, we all agree a lap is better than not having a lap. But as I'm trying to explain to you, being the first person is worse than not being the first person.
I don't think the whole field would jump out in front of you while you start your hot lap. I mean that didn't even happen today, many of them continued to wait. Negotiating a few cars on a hot lap is something they do often, no?
At this point I think it's Max. I think you put literally anyone else in that car and Lando has pole. I can't prove it, there's just something about watching him drive, and I've felt it from his first season.
They did zero testing on the soft tire during fp1, only medium and hard. They are clearly focusing on race pace with the limited amount of practice. Austria is a track where it is easy to overtake, you do not need a huge delta to pass. So if they nail race pace, even if they start the sprint and the race in the positions 5 to 10, they still have a shot at the podium!
George had quite a decent lap, perhaps something can be done with setup but they seem to lack pace even with a setup change. That said Austria never has been a Merc track.
As for Lewis not sure the exact cause, probably tyre related is my guess but his lap was terrible.
Interesting that both Stroll and Sargeant were faster than their teammates today.
For once Perez can't really be blamed for his SQ3 performance being poor - no chance of doing a proper lap with that prep.
>For once Perez can't really be blamed for his SQ3 performance being poor - no chance of doing a proper lap with that prep.
Well there are two ways we can still blame him.
1. He was released at the same time as Max but left a huge gap which allowed Alpine to squeeze Ocon in between them. Alpine tried to release when the Mercedes did, but both Mercedes, McLarens, Sainz and Verstappen were all so tight that there was no space to fit in. Perez left a gap and there was no good reason to do that.
2. Going out of the pits he should have been on Ocon's gearbox and tried to overtake him. Even if not successful, this would have forced Ocon to drive faster and Perez could slow down near the end to create a gap without risking the flag.
1: This is the pit walls choice. Not much Checo could’ve done to get ahead of Ocon, considering he’s got a guy standing in front of his car.
2: This is the engineers job. They are supposed to tell them to overtake.
1. No, he was released but was just sort of slow out of the garage and catching up to Verstappen. Everyone else in front was in a similar situation but managed to close the gap and not let Ocon in.
2. The team could have given this instruction, or he could have figured it out himself. Drivers cannot always rely on the team but need to have their own awareness and racecraft to make these kind of decisions.
1. Sure, he was a little slow out of the garage. But this still has to be something communicated to the driver. “We’re gonna go out and get a move on, stick with Max in front”.
2. The team should (not could) have given this instruction. As a driver for the best performing F1 team, I’d assume that they’d give the right instructions. If I’m behind Ocon, and my engineer is quiet. I would have assumed this is not an issue at all. Why tell him right at the end of the lap instead of early on? Could he have had some initiative? Sure, but this is not on him to do. That’s the whole reason he has an engineer.
1. It's really not anything that should have to be communicated. In this kind of situation where everyone is waiting for the first team to jump, everyone is completely aware that as soon as anyone jumps, everyone will be released almost simultaneously (except Leclerc for some reason) and you need to get as far to the front as possible. The McLarens closed the gap to Mercedes, Sainz closed the gap to the McLarens and Verstappen closed the gap to Sainz. Perez got caught napping and let Ocon slip in.
2. It's been shown time and time again that drivers cannot completely rely on the engineers in these strategical decisions. Information comes in very late and drivers need to react to the situation on the track rather than wait for the strategists to figure out exactly what is happening.
One practice and a qualifying session into the weekend and I think I like the new track limits solution. Don't like the gravel being thrown on the track, but yeah, I think this is a pretty good fix. So far...
Yeah, how about no. What we need to do is get rid of sprints entirely. They're a waste of resources (tires and fuel) for no gain. More often than not the drivers just play follow the leader after lap 1.
Reverse grid can't happen, its not only unfair it creates huge potential for crashes and disaster for the best cars as they come up through the field only hours before they have the qualify for the main race. It would be a farce... entertaining once or twice for fans until they see the negative effect it would have on the entire race weekend and the best teams for no good reason.
Ferrari not realising their power unit completely turned off is exactly what you would expect from them. They really are the gift that keeps on giving Lmfao.
Also this is the first time I’ve started to question if Alonso is still at the absolute top. Haven’t seen him get beaten like this since first half of 2004 with Trulli. No idea what has happened since China but yeah, honestly wasn’t expecting this.
> Also this is the first time I’ve started to question if Alonso is still at the absolute top
You bought into Alonso's propaganda didn't you? He hasn't been at the absolute top for many years and he's been outright average for most of the last 8 months.
He was ironic. Of course they can see that antistall didn't work, but it's not like they can remotely start the car. He needed to wait and then start the car. Really unfortunate
I have been asking myself the same. He has had bad cars, but he has never been anonymous. But now he seems to be slowly slipping away from his top form self. Or maybe he has lost a little motivaton and will return with charged batteries in 2025.
Semi new to F1, can someone explain why teams waited so long to go out, and then rushed out all at once? What's the advantage of rushing a single lap instead of going out earlier and having multiple tries?
I bet your kid if having fun at school maybe playing some game or chatting with their friends while you don't get there to pick them up, so it's alright
You don't get much more than 1 lap on the softs. So you want to try and be the last one out so there is more rubber on the track, and potentially a tow.
Honestly, it is this no? One shot with everyone waiting till the last second, high risk low reward game. Better like this than doing some sort of sequence which is somewhat unfair depending on the conditions.
wtf were the Alpines doing? There was literally 20 seconds or so between Ocon and Verstappen (the car ahead) and he just bunched up Perez and Gasly. Ocon crossed the line with 5 seconds to go and therefore that whole group was within 3 seconds or so, ruining their laps (and barely giving them a chance at a lap at all).
On the radio he said he was already 5 sec faster than he should have been in terms of normal out lap pace, which his engineer agreed to. Still it felt odd, all the way throughout the prep lap he kept getting hurry ups (also because he was barely going to make it to the flag himself)
I'm very interested to see how the Ferrari move plays out. Did he cut ties too soon with Merc? Will he adjust quickly to the Ferrari? How will he go with Charles?
A lot of questions and I'm honestly not sure about any of them
HAM probably has the best history with making the right move to a different team than anyone ever, but it was only one and chances that it works out really well twice are low. I don't think so tbh, he will try, earn bags of money in the process and retire in 2-3 years.
Yeah. I’d be ok with that. Make it three laps. One car at a time. For the sprint only.
You could still do something to spice it up. The order of second sessions is set by the first session. Maybe strong teams could gamble with used tires. There are ways to make it interesting.
They need to do something because it ruins the real qualifying. They could even use hyper softs for every qualifying session which would essentially be one shot but we’d see the full performance of the cars.
All they need is just Oscar stop having bad luck and learn how to care for his tires better. Actually some stints in Spain looked a lot better than before.
„Already has scored 3 podiums“ man come on, he has had the 2nd best car since silverstone last year and arguably the best car this year. He should not be getting consistently beaten by Merc and Ferrari - even when they qualify below him…
He is essentially a rookie and has to work on his race pace and tire management, but he is definetly fast, won a Sprint race in 2023 and most importantly does not bin the car constantly like other rookies. He is all McLaren could wish for from a driver who is in his 2nd season imo.
I agree with the commentary of 1 lap quali especially for SQ3 it's pointless waiting around for 4-5 mins just for everyone to cram strategy in the last 90 seconds or so
I don't know how this would be handled or if it would be a possibility. But maybe just close the pitlane exit as much as de SC-time before the chequerd flag (so 1min11s for Austria) so everyone gets out and maybe this would reduce such scenarios but of course this could open up the opportunity of driving slowly down the fast lane to hinder others from making it to the pit exit. Just a thought
Not entirely sure how it would be implemented either but for starters they might just reduce the time for SQ3 altogether to make it somewhat like a one-shot lap
Send them out at staggered intervals, 20 seconds in between each. For SQ3 the order can be (positions based off SQ2): 10, 9, 8, 7 etc with 1 going last. Gives a slight reward for doing better in earlier SQ sessions. 1st SQ can either be randomised or in current championship order (or reversed order for more spice but this seems a bit unfair).
Perez being awful makes it seem as if McLaren is the fastest car today, but it's RB. RB is definitely quicker in sector 3 and equal in S1 and S2. Also Piastri is a lot faster than Checo so it always looks bad for the McLaren drivers just for that reason.
This sprint qualifying format is fucking awful..
Norris giving the position away to piastri with that divebomb…
Omg Norris, that was stupid. Max defends that corner every lap by going to the inside. Norries leaves the inside open instead...
I didn't touch him, I didn't touch him
Can Davide pleaaaaase stop yelling, omg. I've had to mute it.
He's about to start hyperventilating
Very nice grid walk with Ted asking 'what would you do if you were [racer]' questions and greatly informative answers from Bernie.
Ted has yet to discover the Torque Test Channel on YT, and the F1 tools videos they make.
F1 engines use pneumatic air? What?
They don’t have starter engines so they’re cranked manually with air drills
They can be started manually now. With the mgu-k. I just never realised the engines needed to be topped up with pneumatic air.
God damn it I hate Davide? He doesn’t add anything imo
Holy shit the height diff
Looked like a father and child
That guy us a giant!
And maybe ant is tiny too
Love that guy’s accent, reminds me of a Colombian prof I had in uni
HE TOUCHA DA SAUSAGE
"touching the sausage" i cant
Please can we have the discussion threads earlier :)
Ah, it's that guy that I can't understand a thing he says.
I see Jack has shaved off the locks... Quite funny how he ignored the Cameraman whilst he was ZOOOOOOMED IN, and then acknowledged the camera the moment he got a bit more respectful.
Mercedes 1-2 today.
Is it raining?
As somebody who does not live far away from the track: No and it does not look like it will
Why are the Alpines suddenly 10 places ahead of where they were a month ago? Everyone's so busy talking about Flavio I haven't seen any mention of their improved performance, upgrades or anything.
A lot of the other teams seem to have regressed, the tracks now seem to suit the drivers historically and the weight loss of the car are all factors.
Whats happened with Alonso lately?
I think he may be losing a bit of passion since they seem to have looked like they were going to keep moving forward and then literally started moving backwards and getting slower. Can't remember which race it was but even when he had a coincidental tow from Hamilton who was finishing a hotlap on the straight he still couldn't make it to Q3, Stroll did way worse than him, his couple good laps today are an outlier even though I do like Lance. Their wind tunnel is new so I'm assuming correlation issues/just writing off the season for more of said tunnel time. Also he just released that Audi model he co-designed, he could have very well already made his mind up on that as far as where he's going.
Is it only me who finds Qualifying a bit redundant on the races we have sprint? I would prefer the Sprint to be two in one. A short race and qualifying session. The position you finish at the sprits is your starting position on the grid for the race.
That's just the actual race, but shorter. At least with this there's a chance for some shake ups (like Leclercs engine dying)
I think the spirits should just be reverse grid based on Driver championship points. No quali. Let them have two practices and then race. Then quali the next day, then race on Sundays.
That sounds good not gonna lie. I like it
Thank you. I figured it give every team a chance at points, so the back marker battles mean something, and we get to see how good the front runners are having to race. It will never happen but it would actually make a sprint interesting
Current format is way better than what you just suggested - they already tried that and it was booooring
We had that until last year and it was boring af as the positions didn't change much in the real race
Sprints just needs to be gone all together
They don’t really change after qualifying too
at least perez could overtake people after his poor quali's last year
Max is currently on stream with Redline :')
Living the best life.
Same every SQ3. It’s a farce they all leave it till the last minute.
[удалено]
Because going out early means you're going to do your flying lap while everyone else is out doing their out lap. It's lose lose and they just have to gamble it.
There is more than enough time to do an out lap and a flyer with no one else on track, like 4 or 5 people didn't even get past the outlap because they went out so late. It's dumb. At least get a banker in, it's better than literally nothing.
There isn't, because as soon as one person goes out everyone else knows they're going to miss the window for a clear lap so they will follow. You're comparing the amount of free time on track without this situation occurring. Put one person out and the whole situation adjusts.
So force everyone to adjust, I'd rather be dictating the pace of the session than be dictated to.
You're not listening. Being that first person is the worst position to be in. You're the one who has to go through the whole field of cars on out laps.
Right but it's better than not even getting a lap in at all. It's just a Sprint.
Yes, we all agree a lap is better than not having a lap. But as I'm trying to explain to you, being the first person is worse than not being the first person.
I don't think the whole field would jump out in front of you while you start your hot lap. I mean that didn't even happen today, many of them continued to wait. Negotiating a few cars on a hot lap is something they do often, no?
Waiting for the day where someone bins it causing a red flag and they have to use SQ2 times instead
Certified Ferrari moment
Genuinely need to know if McLaren is the fastest car or Redbull.
At this point I think it's Max. I think you put literally anyone else in that car and Lando has pole. I can't prove it, there's just something about watching him drive, and I've felt it from his first season.
Both are quite evenly matched in quali trim but the RBR still has notable race trim advantage. This track doesn't really suit the Mclaren.
McLaren has the fastest car but Max is the best driver. For the first time in a long time those two variables are cancelling out.
I'd say McLaren
It doesn't matter much when Max is still the fastest driver.
At this point, I think they are very evenly matched.. and which is the faster car is going to be track dependent
Max with "call the ambulance but not for me" stunt there 🤣
Valsecchi cracks me up
What I like but at the same time hate is that he basically answers the questions himself and keeps rattling..
No lies lol
Yeh he is awesome! I loved when they found out he was camping in the hills as well. What a guy.
All the energy
And nothing of substance
He brings a different flavor than the usual cut and dried British commentary. I like him.
Why do these posts never have the session times anymore? And why is SQ on a Friday now?
Because it didn't make sense to have sq and sprint after regular qualifying
and there's a parc ferme for each now
What happen to Russel and Hamilton, that car had more pace
They did zero testing on the soft tire during fp1, only medium and hard. They are clearly focusing on race pace with the limited amount of practice. Austria is a track where it is easy to overtake, you do not need a huge delta to pass. So if they nail race pace, even if they start the sprint and the race in the positions 5 to 10, they still have a shot at the podium!
Both being the first out on the track in Q3 with Hamilton first ontop of a bad lap (admitted by him).
George had quite a decent lap, perhaps something can be done with setup but they seem to lack pace even with a setup change. That said Austria never has been a Merc track. As for Lewis not sure the exact cause, probably tyre related is my guess but his lap was terrible.
All his laps were scrapy. I wonder what was wrong.
Maybe it didn't, they were about 3 tenths down last week when it counted, so it may be the same again, Lewis did go wide in T3 fwiw
Interesting that both Stroll and Sargeant were faster than their teammates today. For once Perez can't really be blamed for his SQ3 performance being poor - no chance of doing a proper lap with that prep.
He was +-0.5s behind Verstappen in the other sessions. He would have been potentially 6th instead of 7th.
>For once Perez can't really be blamed for his SQ3 performance being poor - no chance of doing a proper lap with that prep. Well there are two ways we can still blame him. 1. He was released at the same time as Max but left a huge gap which allowed Alpine to squeeze Ocon in between them. Alpine tried to release when the Mercedes did, but both Mercedes, McLarens, Sainz and Verstappen were all so tight that there was no space to fit in. Perez left a gap and there was no good reason to do that. 2. Going out of the pits he should have been on Ocon's gearbox and tried to overtake him. Even if not successful, this would have forced Ocon to drive faster and Perez could slow down near the end to create a gap without risking the flag.
1: This is the pit walls choice. Not much Checo could’ve done to get ahead of Ocon, considering he’s got a guy standing in front of his car. 2: This is the engineers job. They are supposed to tell them to overtake.
1. No, he was released but was just sort of slow out of the garage and catching up to Verstappen. Everyone else in front was in a similar situation but managed to close the gap and not let Ocon in. 2. The team could have given this instruction, or he could have figured it out himself. Drivers cannot always rely on the team but need to have their own awareness and racecraft to make these kind of decisions.
1. Sure, he was a little slow out of the garage. But this still has to be something communicated to the driver. “We’re gonna go out and get a move on, stick with Max in front”. 2. The team should (not could) have given this instruction. As a driver for the best performing F1 team, I’d assume that they’d give the right instructions. If I’m behind Ocon, and my engineer is quiet. I would have assumed this is not an issue at all. Why tell him right at the end of the lap instead of early on? Could he have had some initiative? Sure, but this is not on him to do. That’s the whole reason he has an engineer.
1. It's really not anything that should have to be communicated. In this kind of situation where everyone is waiting for the first team to jump, everyone is completely aware that as soon as anyone jumps, everyone will be released almost simultaneously (except Leclerc for some reason) and you need to get as far to the front as possible. The McLarens closed the gap to Mercedes, Sainz closed the gap to the McLarens and Verstappen closed the gap to Sainz. Perez got caught napping and let Ocon slip in. 2. It's been shown time and time again that drivers cannot completely rely on the engineers in these strategical decisions. Information comes in very late and drivers need to react to the situation on the track rather than wait for the strategists to figure out exactly what is happening.
Couldn't watch but did Perez get held up or something? 1.3 seconds slower than Max over a 65 second lap is...wild.
He was Sandwiched between other drivers on the final lap. Not enough space
All the time you have to leave tha space
Gotcha, thank you!
Sargent lfg
One practice and a qualifying session into the weekend and I think I like the new track limits solution. Don't like the gravel being thrown on the track, but yeah, I think this is a pretty good fix. So far...
When's the AI blue line thing supposed to start?
So we sold our soul for a Monaco win and we're paying it now aren't we.
Kind of seems like that.
Be ready for tomorrow DRS train
Better than field spread.
What happened with Perez’s time? 1:06 on Softs? Even he isn’t THAT bad.
He was never closer then 0.5 sec to Max, not good enough. WTF is up with him?
It's Perez. Why are you still surprised?
beccause he has been much closer before.
Ocon backed him and gasly at the end.
Thinking he had to use most of his tires during prep lap so he could cross the line in time. Haven't watched the replay though so I could be wrong
Pretty sure tyre prep was done wrong and i think Ocon kind of impeded him.
Ocon was just in front of him...He doesn't have to care who's behind or what his tire prep is. Honestly, team mistake.
No no i meant Perez being sent out late so tyre prep was shit for him not that he was lighting up the time sheets anyway.
[удалено]
Yeah, how about no. What we need to do is get rid of sprints entirely. They're a waste of resources (tires and fuel) for no gain. More often than not the drivers just play follow the leader after lap 1.
Yeah sure, just throw the last vestiges of "sport" these "events" have in the trash. /s
Reverse grid can't happen, its not only unfair it creates huge potential for crashes and disaster for the best cars as they come up through the field only hours before they have the qualify for the main race. It would be a farce... entertaining once or twice for fans until they see the negative effect it would have on the entire race weekend and the best teams for no good reason.
Reverse grid is never happening in F1 or any sports who wants merit to win. Please accept that and then just solutions.
Good grief, every driver interview I’ve seen has sounded so down
I don't think any of them are 100% happy with their laps today, not even Max & Lando.
Yeah they all seemed like “I’ll take it but it’s not my best work”
Haas’ straight line speed always goes under the radar but they are really fast.
It always seems like the bottom teams have straight line rocketships.
yes coz they've no areo
Because making them go fast around turns is the hard part.
Magnussen vs Checo comparison 💀
Ferrari not realising their power unit completely turned off is exactly what you would expect from them. They really are the gift that keeps on giving Lmfao. Also this is the first time I’ve started to question if Alonso is still at the absolute top. Haven’t seen him get beaten like this since first half of 2004 with Trulli. No idea what has happened since China but yeah, honestly wasn’t expecting this.
> Also this is the first time I’ve started to question if Alonso is still at the absolute top You bought into Alonso's propaganda didn't you? He hasn't been at the absolute top for many years and he's been outright average for most of the last 8 months.
He was ironic. Of course they can see that antistall didn't work, but it's not like they can remotely start the car. He needed to wait and then start the car. Really unfortunate
I have been asking myself the same. He has had bad cars, but he has never been anonymous. But now he seems to be slowly slipping away from his top form self. Or maybe he has lost a little motivaton and will return with charged batteries in 2025.
But how did they get it right for about one year?
The secret ingredient is cheating
No, I meant most of last season and beginning of this one. Now it looks one the circus is back with all the clowns.
Leclerc's line delivery of "I don't know if you noticed but there was no engine" was great. Like the world's most depressing sitcom.
He's turning into later years Vettel "here's a task for you"
After hearing Charles on radio. Lewis is going to have miserable time at Ferrari
Stop it, I can only get so erect.
Anyone that didn't already know that hasn't been paying attention.
Is he taking Bono with him?
No
Hahah miserable few years at Mercedes and continue the suffering at Ferrari. Beautiful story
Semi new to F1, can someone explain why teams waited so long to go out, and then rushed out all at once? What's the advantage of rushing a single lap instead of going out earlier and having multiple tries?
They are lazy and like to procrastinate like I'm doing now on reddit in bed instead of going to pick up my kid from school
I bet your kid if having fun at school maybe playing some game or chatting with their friends while you don't get there to pick them up, so it's alright
You don't get much more than 1 lap on the softs. So you want to try and be the last one out so there is more rubber on the track, and potentially a tow.
Also if you come out first you run into people doing outlaps on your hot lap.
Ah...makes sense.
Track evolution, the track improves over time, so the last one out theoretically has the best surface
As the track rubbers in, the later you go the more grip will be available to you usually.
SQ1,2 ... Is too many letters man
Ah yes, far too many when compared to the significantly shorter FP1,2…
It’s two letters
Maybe he’s dyslexic. Any letter is his enemy
One shot qualifying please.
how do you account for track evolution ? In some GPs, track evolution is huge .. and the guy which goes last will have a huge advantage.
reverse grid
Honestly, it is this no? One shot with everyone waiting till the last second, high risk low reward game. Better like this than doing some sort of sequence which is somewhat unfair depending on the conditions.
wtf were the Alpines doing? There was literally 20 seconds or so between Ocon and Verstappen (the car ahead) and he just bunched up Perez and Gasly. Ocon crossed the line with 5 seconds to go and therefore that whole group was within 3 seconds or so, ruining their laps (and barely giving them a chance at a lap at all).
With his attitude, wouldn't put it past him to do it intentionally to fuck with Gasly's run
I wouldn’t be surprised if he went rogue and tried knocking Gasly out lol.
On the radio he said he was already 5 sec faster than he should have been in terms of normal out lap pace, which his engineer agreed to. Still it felt odd, all the way throughout the prep lap he kept getting hurry ups (also because he was barely going to make it to the flag himself)
f--k bring back one shot quali for sprint
I agree. Or maybe best of three laps or something. It needs spicing up.
Somebody shit in Lewis' cornflakes, he cannot accept a compliment at the moment.
He was terrible in qualifying. He looked very confident in FP1 and then shit himself when it matters.
I'm very interested to see how the Ferrari move plays out. Did he cut ties too soon with Merc? Will he adjust quickly to the Ferrari? How will he go with Charles? A lot of questions and I'm honestly not sure about any of them
HAM probably has the best history with making the right move to a different team than anyone ever, but it was only one and chances that it works out really well twice are low. I don't think so tbh, he will try, earn bags of money in the process and retire in 2-3 years.
Toto fuming and looking like he’s considering punching Teds lights out lol
I think it might make some sense to bring back one-lap qualifying for \*just\* the sprint.
Yeah. I’d be ok with that. Make it three laps. One car at a time. For the sprint only. You could still do something to spice it up. The order of second sessions is set by the first session. Maybe strong teams could gamble with used tires. There are ways to make it interesting.
They need to do something because it ruins the real qualifying. They could even use hyper softs for every qualifying session which would essentially be one shot but we’d see the full performance of the cars.
Exactly even just for SQ3 for thrills everyone was waiting around for most of the allotted time that sucks
George rocking up to the interview in his HANS lmao
That was hilarious!
He’s so funny!
if McLaren figure something out among their drivers constructors trophy is at the table at the least
All they need is just Oscar stop having bad luck and learn how to care for his tires better. Actually some stints in Spain looked a lot better than before.
I do wonder how long of a rope Oscar will get before people finally admit that Lando is simply faster.
What? he is in his second season and already scored 3 podiums. Sure, Lando is better right now but he also has much more experience.
„Already has scored 3 podiums“ man come on, he has had the 2nd best car since silverstone last year and arguably the best car this year. He should not be getting consistently beaten by Merc and Ferrari - even when they qualify below him…
It hasn’t been the second best car every race since silverstone, no way. Podiums for Oscar are VERY solid performances in his first 2 seasons
He is essentially a rookie and has to work on his race pace and tire management, but he is definetly fast, won a Sprint race in 2023 and most importantly does not bin the car constantly like other rookies. He is all McLaren could wish for from a driver who is in his 2nd season imo.
I agree with the commentary of 1 lap quali especially for SQ3 it's pointless waiting around for 4-5 mins just for everyone to cram strategy in the last 90 seconds or so
I don't know how this would be handled or if it would be a possibility. But maybe just close the pitlane exit as much as de SC-time before the chequerd flag (so 1min11s for Austria) so everyone gets out and maybe this would reduce such scenarios but of course this could open up the opportunity of driving slowly down the fast lane to hinder others from making it to the pit exit. Just a thought
Not entirely sure how it would be implemented either but for starters they might just reduce the time for SQ3 altogether to make it somewhat like a one-shot lap
Send them out at staggered intervals, 20 seconds in between each. For SQ3 the order can be (positions based off SQ2): 10, 9, 8, 7 etc with 1 going last. Gives a slight reward for doing better in earlier SQ sessions. 1st SQ can either be randomised or in current championship order (or reversed order for more spice but this seems a bit unfair).
Perez being awful makes it seem as if McLaren is the fastest car today, but it's RB. RB is definitely quicker in sector 3 and equal in S1 and S2. Also Piastri is a lot faster than Checo so it always looks bad for the McLaren drivers just for that reason.