They have a huge junior category contingent they can pull into reserve roles but yeah it is nice to have their junior team to slot guys into before the call up to the main team. However their last few juniors, Gasly, Albon and Yuki sort of stalled out so maybe they aren’t getting what they need from that junior team process.
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True, but they are on the pit side, not across pit lane. That is rather unique to F1, but I could be mistaken. Maybe it’s a European racing thing?
The 2023 KartPulse F1 Fantasy league is live. Jump on over to the thread for the link. If you didn’t participate last year, we’d love to have you.
New thread for this year (thanks TJ)!:
Last year’s thread with tips and conversation:
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This is a good thing. Last chicane was always really clumsy, and this makes the final corner actually a pretty cool, high-speed “hang-on” corner again.
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I am very excited for this!
Binged f1 drive to survive over the weekend with my son. For a company (Netflix) that seems to build drama out of nothing in the past I felt like they downplayed parts of the Piastri situation. Wonder if politics were at play there? Also pissed they didn’t really cover KMags pole other than one little mention of it. I swear Netflix needs a couple consultants who are actual F1 fans to help the show storyline editors.
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DTS is in a strange place. It took some rather creative licence liberties to garner non-F1 viewers in the past. But those viewers have have now become ‘fans’ and thus are going to recognise the rather egregious editing practices and be less tolerant. I avoid the show like the plague.
It can either become more accurate and reflective and thus lose that ‘soap opera’ element, and thus viewers, or remain true to its format and p*ss off the fanbase. it’s a bit of a lose lose.
I think the show is dated and will decline in popularity over the next few years. I could be wrong though and could just be a reflection of my waning interest in F1.
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DTS served a purpose but they definitely need to cater to a more dedicated audience now that they’ve drawn so many fans in.
I did like how they made that self-aware comment with the one Toto interview where they said “we like to think it’s a documentary” and Toto said “this is not a documentary, it is closer to Top Gun.”
I’m only a couple eps in but yeah hopefully they shift the narrative of the show a bit toward reality a bit more. I don’t think it’ll happen, they’ve been in this trajectory since the start, but I agree the viewership might decline eventually.
Albon on the Red Bull car:
"This isn’t to throw shade at anyone at Red Bull Racing or Max or anything, honestly. But the car is set up in a unique way that is built around the lead driver, and that’s Max.”
“And, look, I totally get why. I mean, when all is said and done, he might be the greatest driver of all time. But he has a very distinct style of driving, and he likes the car set up a certain way that’s hard for a lot of drivers to sync up with.”
“Of course, you can tinker and tweak your own car, but just the Red Bull in general is suited to Max’s style.”
“I like a lot of front end and nose. I’ve been teammates with George and Charles and I’ve always had way more nose than them. Basically think front-end sensitivity. And when I got into the Red Bull … I mean there was so much nose on the thing that if you blew on the wheel the car would turn. If you play Call of Duty, or a game like that, turn your sensitivity to the highest it will go.That’s what it’s like to drive that car.”
I always like to hear drivers give these kinds of takes on the car. The media/commentators talk a lot about how cars are designed or set up for particular drivers or how certain cars are harder to drive than others, but they don’t really know what they’re talking about because they haven’t driven the car. Albon has, and he seems pretty sharp. The Call of Duty reference was a very concise way to describe the car’s sensitivity for a millennial like me.
Also Albon’s remark on Max potentially being the greatest driver of all time is telling.
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Stroll confirmed to race this weekend after his injury. Apparently he was worked on by Marc Marquez’s doctor to fix his wrist and completed a race distance in the simulator no problem.
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Aston genuinely quick? Or the top three sand bagging? I’m thinking the latter although the Aston does look to be much improved, at least in Nandos hands.
I think Aston is quick (every single media outlet, the teams, and every “inside source” is touting them as a genuine threat), but I think FP1 was mostly sandbagging and was being used as an extra test session. The AM looks extremely planted out there though. As a lifetime Alonso fan, I’m fully hyped and ready to be disappointed!
I think in about 30 min when FP2 goes live we will see more performance running and a clearer picture.
Max seemed to have an issue with low-speed corners and said they were going to check the car over for an issue.
Still confused about where Alpine are. They seem super confident but they haven’t shown any pace at all yet. I wonder if this is a master sandbagging effort. They’ve said they can run the car lower than before so they can make more downforce, but the car looks so stiff and hard to drive.
I also think all the Ferrari cars are sandbagging in lower engine modes. Every Ferrari powered car was slow in sector 1 (the first two straights), and they’ve been talking up how great the engine is this year. I am guessing they haven’t even gotten close to turning the wick up yet.
Here’s my running order prediction I made last night:
Red Bull
Ferrari
Mercedes/Aston Martin
Alpine
Alfa/Haas
McLaren
Alpha Tauri
Williams
Thats a sensible prediction, but I would place Alfa above Alpine and Haas
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I actually agree. I would move the Alfa up a bit now after FP1. Looking at Zhou’s performance, the car clearly has some speed in it. I like to look at the performance of the weaker driver as an indicator of the car’s ability. If they are quick, the car surely is working pretty well.
Another note on the Aston… Stroll jumps in with a broken wrist and no pre-season testing, and goes 6th in the first session… That bodes well for that car.
I watched that video, interestingly enough, the Aston seems extremely gentle with its tires, a bit like the Lotus was in 2012
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Just jumping in here, is my annual $100 bet on Alonso for WDC finally going to pay off!?
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Depends, how long have you been betting on him? Hopefully not since the last one. 
I think Fernando will grab a few podiums this year.
Odds are +15000 so I guess that’s good!
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They were just interviewing Drugovich and they asked him to show on his fingers, off-camera, where he thinks they can finish this weekend… And Crofty and Ant’s response to whatever he held up was “oh wow! Really?!” and Felipe said “yeah, I think the top driver can do it.”
I’m fully on the hype train, speeding full-blast down the tracks and if I hit a wall and Alonso doesn’t win this weekend, I’m okay with that.
He’s currently P1 again…
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