2024 discussion thread

[Har1MAS1415]

Seems that the open secret about the end of Renault engines is now public:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... kdzk9z248o

Probably a logical conclusion for a mass non-luxury brand that needs to get its production base over to EVs. Shame for the folk at Viry who have achieved great results in so many classes.

But F1 needs more engine manufacturers otherwise the power unit might as well be a standardised part*. Ferrari vs. Mercedes with Honda playing shy every few years is not stable or good for the sport.

Perhaps Audi will break the mould and be competitive from day one winning the WCC in 2026, and getting first and second in the WDC with Sergeant and Stroll?


* In an alternative world, a standardised ICE with manufacturers given a free hand over the electrical elements might be a good thing.

It has to be said that recent results for Renault, or where it has been rebadged as Alpine, have been a bit more meagre though. It's true that Renault Sport has had notable successes in the past, but it's harder to think of championships today with multiple competitors where Renault is enjoying major success.

Even quite a few of the championships that they used to organise themselves largely disappeared towards the mid to late 2010s - Formula Renault 3.5 is gone, whilst the 2.0 and 1.6 litre categories have been swallowed up into Formula 3 and Formula 4 championships where Renault is an engine supplier (and, even there, it's using lightly modified versions of their road car engines).

In some ways, we also have the peculiarity that whilst many lambast Renault for moving away from producing engines, those people lambasting them were often the same ones criticising Renault for the performance of their engines and saying that they were the weakest part of their car. Indeed, a few of them were even questioning why Renault were bothering to make their own engines and suggested they should switch - yet criticise them when they did that.

Talk about hypocrisy!

[mario]

* In an alternative world, a standardised ICE with manufacturers given a free hand over the electrical elements might be a good thing.

Which would make F1 just a Formula E variant?

Or is Formula E just Formula 1 without the ICE, given the number of street circuits that the FIA is foisting on us.

Those comments about a standardised ICE sound similar to the proposals for a "global engine" that the FIA threw around back in 2008 (https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-p ... 3/4425443/), where they were proposing to develop a base design that could then be adapted for use amongst all of the FIA's major motorsport series, with Jean Todt then briefly reviving the proposal in 2018 (suggesting that, for example, Formula 1 and the WEC could use common engine designs) (https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/fia-p ... 6/4988496/).

In the former case, the FIA did also float the idea of having a standardised engine supplier for Formula 1, and did go as far as holding a tender process for that (with Cosworth being the winning tenderer).

Now, in practice, it seems that the FIA probably didn't actually plan to go ahead with the idea and was using it mainly as a negotiating tactic to push the engine suppliers of the time to cut the cost of the supply of engines and gearboxes to their customer teams (with a deal being struck, IIRC, in 2009, where the engine manufacturers eventually agreed to sell their engines at a price that was loss making).

It was pointed out at the time that the idea of a "global engine" wasn't really that practical, since the cost and technical challenges in modifying the engines to adapt it for use in different series would likely outweigh the benefits. Meanwhile, whilst manufacturing a single engine for a particular series might be more viable, and indeed has now come to pass in several junior series, selling that to Formula 1 teams was a much harder challenge (especially to Ferrari, given that much of their brand value is built on their reputation as an engine manufacturer).

[Wallio]

The idea of a common engine rules set is fun on paper, but is fairly impractical in reality. Nearly everyone forgets that Group B was for sports cars as well, because the rules just were so much better for rallying. The only "proper" car built to the Group B sports car rules that I can think of offhand, the 288 GTO, never even raced.

Likewise, in the early '90s Group C and F1 (and Procar, if that had actually launched) overlapped. One forgotten bit of info on this is that Indycar also discussed adopting the 3.5L atmos. Tony George was the major proponent of this, and a few tests were carried out. Considering the cars of the series had evolved the way they had after two decades of turbo 2.65L lumps, the monster NA engines were a nightmare. Plus the crossover in general never really happened, (Alfa famously built an engine to run in three different series, with cars for two of them, and then promptly entered none of them.) and Cosworth and Peugeot found that straying out of your comfort zone doesn't work.

More recently there was the "Class 1" tie up between DTM in Germany, Super GT in Japan, and V8 Supercars in Australia. The idea initially was that one entire car could compete in all three series, but in ended up (mostly) being an engine tie up. (This resulted in Supercars dropping the "V8" from its name, since smaller engines were now legal). This died out after a couple of years (although COVID helped). DTM is now just another GT3 series, Supercars has adopted a NASCAR style "off the shelf" car, (interestingly enough the current NASCAR chassis is using many Supercars parts, and vice versa) and taken the rules set for smaller turbo engines out of the rulebook. Super GT still uses the rules, but only for GT500. GT300 has a different ruleset.

[mario]

Well, we've had an interesting development suddenly crop up, which is the news that Red Bull is having to modify the RB19.

The reports are that, during the Singapore Grand Prix, multiple teams complained to the FIA after examining the open-source component documents that teams have to provide to the FIA for certain components. Those teams noticed that the RB19 appeared to have a device that allowed the height of the bib to be adjusted from within the cockpit, and they were speculating over whether that would allow Red Bull to adjust the height of the floor whilst the car was in parc ferme.

The implication is that Red Bull could then, in theory, run a lower floor during qualifying, but then raise the floor in parc ferme to ensure that the floor did not suffer from excessive wear in race trim, particularly when running on a high fuel load near the start of the race.

Initially, Red Bull tried to deny that the device existed - however, with the story rapidly blowing up in the press, Red Bull have now admitted that the device exists, but have claimed that it was inaccessible when the car was fully assembled: nevertheless, the car will be modified for future races. As for the FIA, whilst they say they don't have any evidence that the device was used in parc ferme, they are going to change their procedures to make it harder for teams to change the height of the bib whilst the car is in parc ferme and potentially introduce additional monitoring measures. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/ar ... 3yvz7xdgzo

[IceG]

Clearly, they only told Max

[dr-baker]

Reject of the Weekend in Austin: Alpine livery designers, for making their cars look like a McLaren...

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

Back in the middle of summer with Mercedes winning some races the question was raised about whether Hamilton might be regretting signing with Ferrari. Now one might wonder whether the opposite is true, might Ferrari be regretting letting Sainz go?

My gut reaction is "no", they still needed to go for it with someone like Hamilton, if for no other reason than the insane level of marketing they will now have available to them. To say nothing of the fact that I still think he's top 3 available drivers on the grid, top 5 at the worst.

That said, I think his future teammate is also top 3, and I'm not sure that Hamilton can quite match Leclerc's one-lap pace. Plus Charles looked absolutely imperious at the front on Sunday. If Ferrari have a fast car next season, I see no reason to think that Hamilton will have it all his own way.

What say you?

[mario]

Back in the middle of summer with Mercedes winning some races the question was raised about whether Hamilton might be regretting signing with Ferrari. Now one might wonder whether the opposite is true, might Ferrari be regretting letting Sainz go?

My gut reaction is "no", they still needed to go for it with someone like Hamilton, if for no other reason than the insane level of marketing they will now have available to them. To say nothing of the fact that I still think he's top 3 available drivers on the grid, top 5 at the worst.

That said, I think his future teammate is also top 3, and I'm not sure that Hamilton can quite match Leclerc's one-lap pace. Plus Charles looked absolutely imperious at the front on Sunday. If Ferrari have a fast car next season, I see no reason to think that Hamilton will have it all his own way.

What say you?

I would agree it's unlikely that Hamilton will have things all his own way given Leclerc's pace, and especially in qualifying (Leclerc's single lap pace being quite highly regarded in the paddock, it seems). Mind you, you would assume that is exactly what Ferrari would want, given the level of investment they've made into Leclerc's career - they would want Leclerc to be competitive against Hamilton and to demonstrate that, when put under that sort of pressure, he can deliver and is prepared to fight for success.

It does seem to be a bit of a trend for Sainz though that, despite not putting in any particularly bad performances, he's also never really established a particularly strong long term relationship with any particular team. His relationship with Red Bull never seems to have really recovered from the initial conflicts between Sainz Jr and Jos Verstappen, Renault ultimately decided to move him on in favour of Ricciardo and, at McLaren and Ferrari, it's sometimes felt like he's been there, but never quite managed to integrate himself into the team in the way that his team mates were able to do.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

It does seem to be a bit of a trend for Sainz though that, despite not putting in any particularly bad performances, he's also never really established a particularly strong long term relationship with any particular team. His relationship with Red Bull never seems to have really recovered from the initial conflicts between Sainz Jr and Jos Verstappen, Renault ultimately decided to move him on in favour of Ricciardo and, at McLaren and Ferrari, it's sometimes felt like he's been there, but never quite managed to integrate himself into the team in the way that his team mates were able to do.

I realize the speculation might be that Sainz is lacking something in the team-building/relationship side, but I think it's mostly just bad luck or getting a better opportunity.

Getting Replaced by Ricciardo - bad luck; at the time I feel like it was probably felt by most to be a slam-dunk upgrade to choose Ric over Sainz even it it proved to be false in the long run

Jumping to Ferrari after 2 years at McLaren - I think that was a better opportunity for him. He won a race sooner at Ferrari than he would have at McLaren, though if he'd stayed there I could see him maybe having an additional win or two after this season.

Getting replaced by Hamilton - bad luck; Despite his age, Lewis is probably an upgrade over all but a few drivers, but we'll have to see if it turns out the same as the last time Sainz was replaced.

We'll have to see if Williams ends up being the best of a bad group of options or maybe starts to turn it around.

[mario]

It does seem to be a bit of a trend for Sainz though that, despite not putting in any particularly bad performances, he's also never really established a particularly strong long term relationship with any particular team. His relationship with Red Bull never seems to have really recovered from the initial conflicts between Sainz Jr and Jos Verstappen, Renault ultimately decided to move him on in favour of Ricciardo and, at McLaren and Ferrari, it's sometimes felt like he's been there, but never quite managed to integrate himself into the team in the way that his team mates were able to do.

I realize the speculation might be that Sainz is lacking something in the team-building/relationship side, but I think it's mostly just bad luck or getting a better opportunity.

Getting Replaced by Ricciardo - bad luck; at the time I feel like it was probably felt by most to be a slam-dunk upgrade to choose Ric over Sainz even it it proved to be false in the long run

Jumping to Ferrari after 2 years at McLaren - I think that was a better opportunity for him. He won a race sooner at Ferrari than he would have at McLaren, though if he'd stayed there I could see him maybe having an additional win or two after this season.

Getting replaced by Hamilton - bad luck; Despite his age, Lewis is probably an upgrade over all but a few drivers, but we'll have to see if it turns out the same as the last time Sainz was replaced.

We'll have to see if Williams ends up being the best of a bad group of options or maybe starts to turn it around.

It was more that I was thinking that most teams on the grid would probably be happy to have him for a year or two, but you've never had the impression that many of the teams he went to were interested in building their long term plans around him.

It's as if teams see him as a great stop gap driver when they can't get the driver they wanted - we saw that, for many teams this year, Sainz was seen as a driver that many teams could have worked with, and yet they didn't seem to be that interested in altering their plans to go after him instead of another driver.

[IceG]

Surely Sainz will be at Red Bull or Aston Martin next year?

Perez looks like a done deal now, sadly. And neither Tsunodo nor Lawson could be expected to compete with Sainz.

Neither Alonso nor Stroll are a long-term prospect (even allowing for the car issues) at Astom Martin - someone better is needed in one of those seats.

Williams have Colapinto as a straight fit so will take the £$£$£$£$£$ as recompense.

And even Ferrari must be suffering from buyer's remorse.

[Wallio]

I realize the speculation might be that Sainz is lacking something in the team-building/relationship side

It's not speculation. It's been fairly widely reported that both Carlos' father and ESPECIALLY his brother/manager have burned a lot of bridges in the paddock and are not welcome in a number of places. Just look at how "eager" Carlos Sr. was to make the Audi deal as early as April.

Either Horner or Marko (probably Marko but I can't find the link right now) said over the summer that while Carlos is talented, they don't want him back specifically because of this.

[mario]

I realize the speculation might be that Sainz is lacking something in the team-building/relationship side

It's not speculation. It's been fairly widely reported that both Carlos' father and ESPECIALLY his brother/manager have burned a lot of bridges in the paddock and are not welcome in a number of places. Just look at how "eager" Carlos Sr. was to make the Audi deal as early as April.

Either Horner or Marko (probably Marko but I can't find the link right now) said over the summer that while Carlos is talented, they don't want him back specifically because of this.

I believe Marko made those comments in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, so you might find it a touch harder to find a link to the original article.

You are right that Marko is quoted as saying that the relationship between Verstappen and Sainz at Toro Rosso was "toxic" though, although he has also indicated in the past that most of the problems came from Sainz Sr and Jos Verstappen clashing behind the scenes, as well as with other members of Sainz's family. Whilst things have been a bit quieter since then, there have been some signs of friction at times - last year, Sainz Sr was rather outspoken with his criticism of Ferrari for not imposing team orders during the Italian Grand Prix to protect Sainz from Leclerc's attempts to overtake him.

To that end, I guess the issue may not be Sainz Jr directly, but rather the wider entourage that he brings with him that can cause problems for a team and create additional friction with team bosses.

[Rob Dylan]

People said at the time that Hamilton dumping his dad as manager was a bit cold, but since that era of the very early 2010s, his "public life" if we want to call it that, has quietened down significantly and he's just generally disappeared from the celebrity controversy mill since.

Probably too late considering his current circumstances, but perhaps Carlos might have benefited from the same.

To me, Sainz might be this decade's equivalent to Nico Rosberg, who always gets rated depending on the view of his teammates. He did absolutely fine against a future multi world champion Verstappen, and against Norris or Leclerc he has never been dominated over a full season to my reckoning. Norris and Leclerc too could be world champions one day, and the more their reputations rise, so too does Carlos' reputation in my mind.

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

I realize the speculation might be that Sainz is lacking something in the team-building/relationship side

It's not speculation. It's been fairly widely reported that both Carlos' father and ESPECIALLY his brother/manager have burned a lot of bridges in the paddock and are not welcome in a number of places. Just look at how "eager" Carlos Sr. was to make the Audi deal as early as April.

Either Horner or Marko (probably Marko but I can't find the link right now) said over the summer that while Carlos is talented, they don't want him back specifically because of this.

I believe Marko made those comments in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, so you might find it a touch harder to find a link to the original article.

You are right that Marko is quoted as saying that the relationship between Verstappen and Sainz at Toro Rosso was "toxic" though, although he has also indicated in the past that most of the problems came from Sainz Sr and Jos Verstappen clashing behind the scenes, as well as with other members of Sainz's family. Whilst things have been a bit quieter since then, there have been some signs of friction at times - last year, Sainz Sr was rather outspoken with his criticism of Ferrari for not imposing team orders during the Italian Grand Prix to protect Sainz from Leclerc's attempts to overtake him.

To that end, I guess the issue may not be Sainz Jr directly, but rather the wider entourage that he brings with him that can cause problems for a team and create additional friction with team bosses.

I obviously have not been keeping up on the behind-the-scenes info here. My only reference of Sainz Sr. has been Brundle calling him a lovely man. It's a shame if his entourage is keeping him from better drives, but he must not care that much. If Senna or Schumacher or Hamilton was getting harmed by members of their entourage, they'd fire them. Hell, Lewis fired his own dad! It might just be that Carlos wants to be world champion less than he wants to have his family around. I guess that's OK, but it will result in others passing him by...


Edit: Rob kind of said what I was getting at too.

[Wallio]

People said at the time that Hamilton dumping his dad as manager was a bit cold, but since that era of the very early 2010s, his "public life" if we want to call it that, has quietened down significantly and he's just generally disappeared from the celebrity controversy mill since.

Probably too late considering his current circumstances, but perhaps Carlos might have benefited from the same.

To me, Sainz might be this decade's equivalent to Nico Rosberg, who always gets rated depending on the view of his teammates. He did absolutely fine against a future multi world champion Verstappen, and against Norris or Leclerc he has never been dominated over a full season to my reckoning. Norris and Leclerc too could be world champions one day, and the more their reputations rise, so too does Carlos' reputation in my mind.

For what it's worth, my opinion on Hamilton began to soften in the seasons following his father's departure, although I didn't realize it at the time. I definitely think Anthony had him putting on a facade.


EDIT: And throwing himself into the meddling father category we now have Papa Perez, who posted a long and rambling post on his Instagram, which seems to hint at Checo's retirement. Although to be fair, my Spainish is VERY rusty, and he could mean "last race" as "most recent".

Still, with Carlos Slim claiming he's pulling funding, and Horner refusing to confirm Checo past Brazil, why would you post this?

[mario]

People said at the time that Hamilton dumping his dad as manager was a bit cold, but since that era of the very early 2010s, his "public life" if we want to call it that, has quietened down significantly and he's just generally disappeared from the celebrity controversy mill since.

Probably too late considering his current circumstances, but perhaps Carlos might have benefited from the same.

To me, Sainz might be this decade's equivalent to Nico Rosberg, who always gets rated depending on the view of his teammates. He did absolutely fine against a future multi world champion Verstappen, and against Norris or Leclerc he has never been dominated over a full season to my reckoning. Norris and Leclerc too could be world champions one day, and the more their reputations rise, so too does Carlos' reputation in my mind.

For what it's worth, my opinion on Hamilton began to soften in the seasons following his father's departure, although I didn't realize it at the time. I definitely think Anthony had him putting on a facade.

EDIT: And throwing himself into the meddling father category we now have Papa Perez, who posted a long and rambling post on his Instagram, which seems to hint at Checo's retirement. Although to be fair, my Spainish is VERY rusty, and he could mean "last race" as "most recent".

Still, with Carlos Slim claiming he's pulling funding, and Horner refusing to confirm Checo past Brazil, why would you post this?

I suspect there probably would have been a few different figures wanting Hamilton to put on certain facades during those earlier years in his career - you'd have had his father on one side, and I wouldn't be surprised if Ron Dennis was on the other side also wanting to mould Hamilton to behave in a particular way either, given the investment he had made in his junior career.

As for the post by Perez's father, it does seem that people with a better knowledge of Spanish are saying that, whilst it does refer to "last race", it does seem to be in the context of that being his "most recent" race, rather than saying it was the last race of his career.

Some are therefore interpreting that message as being a show of support for his son and a way to try and lift his spirits after an especially difficult race, rather than being a specific sign that Perez is leaving the team. You are right though that, given there have been rumours swirling around that Perez may be about to announce he is retiring, some are interpreting it as a sign he is leaving the team.

With regards to the comments by Carlos Slim, when you look at the details of his statements, it might actually provide support for the idea that Perez will still be with Red Bull in 2025.

Starting in 2025, AT&T, who are a rival company to Carlos Slim's Telmex, are stepping up their sponsorship of Red Bull and will become one of their major sponsors. Carlos Slim has indicated that, rather than him being the one pulling the sponsorship deals, Red Bull are stopping the sponsorship deals because of pressure from AT&T to remove references to rival telecommunications companies, such as Slim's Claro brand.

However, he has said that he is in talks with Red Bull about the terms of a personal sponsorship deal for Perez for 2025, as it seems the AT&T deal only applies to Red Bull Racing, not individual drivers. He seems to have pointed to the arrangement that he struck with McLaren back in 2013, where McLaren's title sponsor was Vodafone, but Perez had his own personal sponsorship deal with Telmex and could therefore wear their logos on his helmet and overalls.

If Carlos Slim is therefore negotiating with Red Bull about the terms for a personal sponsorship deal for Perez in 2025, that would indicate he must be expecting Perez to continue racing for the team next year.

[sswishbone]

The Collapinto rumours are beyond silly, apparently Red Bull could pay 20m to take him to replace Perez, if Argentine sources are to be believed. Make of that what you will.

[mario]

The Collapinto rumours are beyond silly, apparently Red Bull could pay 20m to take him to replace Perez, if Argentine sources are to be believed. Make of that what you will.

Hope springs eternal, as they say...

Some people have floated the idea of Red Bull promoting one of the drivers from their junior team and hiring Colapinto to replace whichever driver they promote. I could potentially see Red Bull opting for that path, but I think it'd be a move that happens during the off season (Williams have no incentive to let Colapinto go right now).

[Row Man Gross-Gene]

I would be beyond surprised to see Colapinto in the second Red Bull next season (nevermind this season). I think Mario's thought that Lawson or Tsunoda would move up and Colapinto jumps to the vacated junior team seat is much more likely (and next season, not this season). And as others have pointed out, it probably wouldn't be Tsunoda.

[dr-baker]

So... if the weather prevents the Grand Prix from running the full distance, and let's say the race gets abandoned before lap 24, then the main race would be shorter than the sprint race, but still carry more points. Will that happen? Let's wait and see.

[Spectoremg]

I'm sticking pins in my eyes to see if it's actually more painful than this year's Brazilian GP.

[dr-baker]

I'm sticking pins in my eyes to see if it's actually more painful than this year's Brazilian GP.

It's an eventful race, that's for sure. The number of actual and potential penalties is painful.

[Paul Hayes]

That would seem to be the drivers' championship all over and done with, then - but you can't deny Verstappen was well worthy of that win today.

[Har1MAS1415]

That would seem to be the drivers' championship all over and done with, then - but you can't deny Verstappen was well worthy of that win today.

It's his to lose now.

[CoopsII]

Only saw some highlights but Verstappens win seemed as unlikely as Vettel in '12 at the same circuit although at least Maxi wasn't pointing in the wrong direction at any point unlike Seb. To be fair, the way Max dealt with the no-swearing nonsense impressed me as much as his driving, particularly with his monosyllabic press conference.

[sswishbone]

Lol now Jack Doohan is apparently going to be replaced by Collapinto at Alpine, this is the silliest season for some time.

Which brings me on to another crazy rumour... Hamilton done at Mercedes, people think his Interlagos radio call is too reminiscent of Ricciardo

We are feasting on the F1 silliness this year!

[mario]

Lol now Jack Doohan is apparently going to be replaced by Collapinto at Alpine, this is the silliest season for some time.

Which brings me on to another crazy rumour... Hamilton done at Mercedes, people think his Interlagos radio call is too reminiscent of Ricciardo

We are feasting on the F1 silliness this year!

I agree that it does feel as if "where will Colapinto go next" has become the popular go-to topic to fill in some space if one motorsport outlet is having a bit of a slow news day. That said, given that Briatore is Doohan's manager, you would have thought that he doesn't necessarily have the strongest incentive to cancel his contract and to replace him with Colapinto.

Personally, I wonder if somebody at Williams has planted this story to make Colapinto look like he's in even higher demand with other teams and therefore drive up the value of his contract, should another team be looking at trying to buy him out of his current deal at Williams.

[Jarvis]

Lol now Jack Doohan is apparently going to be replaced by Collapinto at Alpine, this is the silliest season for some time.

Which brings me on to another crazy rumour... Hamilton done at Mercedes, people think his Interlagos radio call is too reminiscent of Ricciardo

We are feasting on the F1 silliness this year!

While it is a possibility but I don't see this happening. I think Colapinto will stay at Williams.

[dr-baker]

Lol now Jack Doohan is apparently going to be replaced by Collapinto at Alpine, this is the silliest season for some time.

Which brings me on to another crazy rumour... Hamilton done at Mercedes, people think his Interlagos radio call is too reminiscent of Ricciardo

We are feasting on the F1 silliness this year!

While it is a possibility but I don't see this happening. I think Colapinto will stay at Williams.

Alongside who? Sainz or Albon?

[Har1MAS1415]

Team Enstone and Australians never seem to work out.

[mario]

Whilst there is ongoing speculation about Colapinto, there has also been notable upheaval at the FIA. Firstly, Wittich suddenly left the FIA under unclear circumstances - the official announcement from the FIA claimed he chose to leave to pursue alternative plans, but Wittich unambiguously told the German press that he had been fired without warning, with the press speculating that Sulayem had fired him because of his personal animosity towards Wittich.

Soon after that, we had Barrisi, the head of the ethics committee for the FIA, also suddenly leave. The FIA declined to offer an explanation for that decision and Barrisi himself said he couldn't speak to the press about why he left but, once again, personal animosity from Sulayem appears to be the reason why (Barrisi was the official who investigated Sulayem over the complaints raised by an FIA official, which may be why he had a grudge against him). It's continued the trend of several high ranking officials either being pushed out or rapidly leaving the FIA shortly after joining them, which is only reinforcing the image of Sulayem as a chaotic leader.

On another note, Perez's father has been courting controversy recently after lashing out at some of those who'd criticised Sergio and suggested that he might be fired soon. He's taken aim at Ralf Schumacher now, but laced his criticism of him with homophobic remarks that have created quite a backlash. To his credit, Ralf has reacted calmly, but it's a rather unedifying situation.

[CoopsII]

On another note, Perez's father has been courting controversy recently after lashing out at some of those who'd criticised Sergio and suggested that he might be fired soon. He's taken aim at Ralf Schumacher now, but laced his criticism of him with homophobic remarks that have created quite a backlash. To his credit, Ralf has reacted calmly, but it's a rather unedifying situation.

Jeez, I read that. What a tool old man Perez is, an absolute embarrassment. Reminded me in many ways of that other prick Piquet and his comments about Hamilton. Big respect for RSCs reply, he certainly displayed a level of maturity and humanity he didn't always show when he was racing

[IceG]

Just watched the LV qualifying.

Did anyone else notice the comment from Martin Brundell after Q1 that he was "sure that Colapinto would be in a seat next year, and a competitive one at that", followed by "especially after some of the performances we have just seen".

He seemed to be speaking with inside knowedge rather than rumour.

Perez' performance was dire whilst Colapinto's was remarkable until he kinetically modified three-quarters of the Williams' suspension.

Short of Perez leading the race, then handing over the win to Verstappen on the last lap, this is surely his last season? This is worse than Dani Ric's sad demise.

[FullMetalJack]

Just watched the LV qualifying.

Did anyone else notice the comment from Martin Brundell after Q1 that he was "sure that Colapinto would be in a seat next year, and a competitive one at that", followed by "especially after some of the performances we have just seen".

He seemed to be speaking with inside knowedge rather than rumour.

Perez' performance was dire whilst Colapinto's was remarkable until he kinetically modified three-quarters of the Williams' suspension.

Short of Perez leading the race, then handing over the win to Verstappen on the last lap, this is surely his last season? This is worse than Dani Ric's sad demise.

I'm hoping against hope that Hulkenberg gets the Red Bull seat for a year. Sauber doesn't become Audi until 2026, and from what I gather he's always got on well with Verstappen. Probably out of desperation as I want to see him get that elusive podium.

At the very least he deserves better than what may well be a backmarker after the season he's had.

[mario]

Just watched the LV qualifying.

Did anyone else notice the comment from Martin Brundell after Q1 that he was "sure that Colapinto would be in a seat next year, and a competitive one at that", followed by "especially after some of the performances we have just seen".

He seemed to be speaking with inside knowedge rather than rumour.

Perez' performance was dire whilst Colapinto's was remarkable until he kinetically modified three-quarters of the Williams' suspension.

Short of Perez leading the race, then handing over the win to Verstappen on the last lap, this is surely his last season? This is worse than Dani Ric's sad demise.

I'm hoping against hope that Hulkenberg gets the Red Bull seat for a year. Sauber doesn't become Audi until 2026, and from what I gather he's always got on well with Verstappen. Probably out of desperation as I want to see him get that elusive podium.

At the very least he deserves better than what may well be a backmarker after the season he's had.

Hulkenberg's gamble is that the short term pain of a potentially poor 2025 season pays off in a stronger 2026 season - that said, Binotto was downplaying expectations earlier this year by saying that, as a new entrant, Audi are expecting to be a bit behind the established engine manufacturers to begin with.

There have been some questions about whether Audi is quite as committed as first thought - Motorsport Magazine mentioned back in June rumours of funding not coming through to hire new staff and to expand the facilities of the team, whilst Joe Saward has been speculating for some time that, with the senior managers who backed the F1 bid now largely gone and weakening sales for Audi in 2024, Audi want to shift at least part of the team to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, which is one of the major shareholders in Audi.

As for Perez, Horner has made a few comments suggesting that Perez's place may not be entirely secure for 2025, suggesting that there is some consideration of replacing him. However, I do feel the team has kind of backed itself into a corner given the gamble on renewing Perez's contract early in the season to boost his confidence has failed, particularly since it meant they'd then locked themselves out of a much more active driver market this year.

Now they're in a situation where they have the cost of buying him out of his contract, plus the cost of paying off another team (there is speculation that Williams have demanded quite a high price for Colapinto if Red Bull want him), whilst simultaneously losing the rather substantial funding that Perez brings (even if Perez's main sponsors are no longer sponsoring the team as a whole, they are still reportedly paying quite a bit to the team in return for personal sponsorship of Perez for 2025).

[Paul Hayes]

I know it doesn't really need saying, as seemingly everyone other than the race director already knows this, but I just don't understand why they felt it was fine to leave that wing mirror there?

[Salamander]

I know it doesn't really need saying, as seemingly everyone other than the race director already knows this, but I just don't understand why they felt it was fine to leave that wing mirror there?

So, I think I get the thought process on this one. I've watched a lot of older NASCAR races over the past few years, and oftentimes, when there is a driver out of their depth, they are so desperate to get out of the way of the people who are lapping them for the umpteenth time, that the fact that they're in the race too becomes the furthest thing from their mind. As a result, they wind up becoming a bigger danger because they're even further off the pace than usual and putting themselves in dangerous positions, all while trying not to be an inconvenience.

I believe Rui Marques had the same timid indecision today. He did not want to inconvenience the drivers and teams that had already pitted, and so was probably just waiting for the pit cycle to complete before throwing a VSC or SC to clear the debris. Unfortunately, he forgot that it's the middle of the race and that debris just so happened to be on the racetrack, Bottas wound up running over it, it shattered, punctured tyres, and forced a SC anyway.

TLDR: Marques did not want to make the wrong call, and so wound up making the worst call instead (doing nothing).

[Paul Hayes]

I believe Rui Marques had the same timid indecision today. He did not want to inconvenience the drivers and teams that had already pitted, and so was probably just waiting for the pit cycle to complete before throwing a VSC or SC to clear the debris. Unfortunately, he forgot that it's the middle of the race and that debris just so happened to be on the racetrack, Bottas wound up running over it, it shattered, punctured tyres, and forced a SC anyway.

TLDR: Marques did not want to make the wrong call, and so wound up making the worst call instead (doing nothing).

"Option paralysis", don't they call it?

[dr-baker]

Autosport has an article which quotes Ben Suulyalem as saying how he runs the FIA is none of the business of F1 drivers. I would like to know how the two businesses are so different that they are not interrelated.https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ben-s ... /10678298/

Also, Ocon might be out and Doohan come in in his place. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/ocon- ... /10678401/