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  2023 Miami GP

Posted by: PapaofGags
03-05-2023, 08:55 PM
Forum: 2023 Race Threads
- Replies (27)

Expect we are all looking forward to this...    Shutup

https://www.racefans.net/2023/05/03/miam...eremonies/

Miami to hold first of F1’s new pre-race driver introduction ceremonies.

A new pre-race driver introduction ceremony will take place for the first time ahead of this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix.

Formula 1 previously experimented with a presentation of this kind at the United States Grand Prix in 2017. However RaceFans understands a different ceremony is planned for this weekend’s Miami Grand Prix.

Last week the FIA World Motor Sport Council approved changes to the F1 sporting regulations to allow more time for drivers to assemble on the grid prior to the start of the race. The pre-race grid procedure now begins 50 minutes before the start of the formation lap instead of 40 minutes ahead.

“At certain races, this additional time will be used for the presentation of the drivers to the fans,” the FIA noted.

Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix is due to begin at 3:30pm local time. The driver introduction and national anthem observance will take place at 3:08pm.

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  2023 Azerbaijan GP

Posted by: NeilP
23-04-2023, 02:02 PM
Forum: 2023 Race Threads
- Replies (38)

Four weeks since we last saw a race thanks to the Chinese race being cancelled...AGAIN!!!

Like most of you guys I am not a fan of street races but of all of them this is my favourite and it has thrown up many surprises and incidents in its short time on the calendar. Who can forget Vettel deciding to play bumper cars with Hamilton, the Red Bulls crashing out (Oh please if there is a a God) and Bottas's puncture when the race was his. That is just a few of many incidents we have witnessed here at Baku.

Its probably going to need something like that and more if this is to be an enjoyable race. As for every race this season RBR are the favourites to win and I have to think by a very large margin unless again they choose to "hide" their pace. The fun will again be behind them with Aston Martin, Ferrari and Mercedes slugging it out for the final podium place. Me, I am putting my money on Fernando Alonso. That Aston looks very fast to me, not quite as fast as the Bulls round the entire circuit but maybe on that long straight, it will be interesting to see the pace difference.

I expect to be in Chat for pretty much everything but the two practices and of course this is a wasted sprint weekend which I cannot for the life of me see any reason to have . It detracts from not adds to the race weekend. If they really want to spice things up introduce some semi or totally naked women into the mix I guarantee the ratings will explode Smile

I hope everyone is doing well and hope to see some of you in Chat. I have taken Forza to one side and he has agreed not to hand out any significant penalties this weekend. I believe he took his cue from the FIA and Red Bull Fiasco.

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  2023 Australian GP

Posted by: Westie
27-03-2023, 04:13 PM
Forum: 2023 Race Threads
- Replies (35)

Right,  so this is not a track I enjoy very much.  Though saying that it's mostly because it's usually the first race of the year and never really provides the insight required as it's another of the tracks that is "specific" in it's attributes and therefore not "representative" of what the pecking order will be. 

So those words would seem to apply to two of the 3 races we've had so far with the second one being a street track and no one likes those.

So despite all that it would seem that the RBR F1 Racing Series only has one team capable of taking part and are of course likely to receive very little camera time cos Max's dicky tummy will have gone as will his wobbly drive shafts and all the Press talk of an intra-team battle will be shown to be exactly what it is... Bollocks!   He will be a lap ahead and Sergio will be half a lap ahead.

The rest of F1 will continue as usual with teams previously thought to be resurgent making a total hash of their interpretation of these rules with no financial means to dig themselves out.  MacLaren being the one and Merc to a lesser but more impactful extent for us here.

Ferrari will be doing it's usual song and dance,  Car is quick on one lap pace but eats it's tyres and therefore is useless in the race... has been the same for years now.

Only real interest will be if Merc can get on terms with Aston Martin and boy would you ever have thought to see that written into a sentence on an F1 site???

So despite this - the other good thing about this race is that it's run early - which means that it's available much earlier for us to watch on a Sunday - though it does mean that I will be watching on catch up as I'm not punishing myself twice on one day.  Once getting up at Sparrow's fart and the other watching how shit the Mercs do... oh and the third.... if Lewis is still miffed... watching George beat him.  (Don't know about you but I for one don't need this new Lewis thing of not bothering to beat his team mate if the car isn't capable of winning.... it's just strikes me as he's treading water and phoning in the performance.)

So - other than that I am quite looking forward to another race.

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  2023 Saudi Arabian GP

Posted by: NeilP
13-03-2023, 02:38 PM
Forum: 2023 Race Threads
- Replies (50)

Well off we go to Saudi to see another terrible race circuit on a street that is frankly all about Saudi money coming into the sport.

After an opening race that was everything but we can only hope for divine intervention to give us a competitive race at least at the front of the pack. Red Bull in particular Verstappen look all set to repeat their victory here in 2022 with their closest rivals probably being Lance Stroll and Aston Martin Smile .  Joking aside based on performance you have to think the speed of Aston Martin makes them the likely closest challenger to RBR.  Ferrari already have question marks hanging over their reliability which is a tough pill to swallow after just one race, but at least they were "at the races" so to speak. Mercedes as feared had no part to play with the front runners and again will be looking to be the best of the semi midfield teams.

The circuit is the second longest of the season to Spa but any similarity ends there. Spa is amazing this is a convoluted circuit designed by Carsten Tilke son of the famous (or should that be infamous) Hermann Tilke. I personally think this is a circuit with a major accident just waiting to happen. There was supposed to be a full time circuit built for the Saudi GP's of the future I am not sure how and if that is progressing. The last I read is even if it was built it would rotate with the street circuit a little bit like it used to be back in the day when some countries races would go to different venues. (remember those days?)

It is a night race so at least there should be some aspect of a spectacle to view and all we can hope for is that we do get some racing up at the front of the pack, another RBR runaway win will be dire news for those who want to see racing at the front. Personally being in a negative frame of mind these days about F1 I am not expecting to see that but one lives in hope.

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  Fantasy/Dream Team 2023 Season

Posted by: forzaferrari
26-02-2023, 09:33 PM
Forum: F1 General Discussion Board
- Replies (11)

For anyone wanting to join in this year....


https://sportsdeck.com/f1/dreamteam/?act...ode=138722

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  2023 Bahrain GP

Posted by: NeilP
26-02-2023, 11:28 AM
Forum: 2023 Race Threads
- Replies (41)

Well, the new season is finally upon us.  Apart from the euphoria of being able to meet up with all the miscreants of the Banter there does not seem on the surface to be too much to be joyful about unless of course you are a Max Verstappen and Red Bull fan.

I have purposely stayed away from the testing streams and subsequent results mainly because my fear that Mercedes would remain garbage and also because there is a limited amount of what you can reliably predict from what we see and what is reported.

I have done a little bit of a catch up and sure as the Sun rises in the East the news about Mercedes is as I feared. No, lets be honest it is as disastrous as it gets. Looks like another season of pure frustration for the Silver or should that be Black Arrows and for us British driver fans.  For me personally it looks like being another season of ABRB (Anybody But Red Bull). If it looks bad for Mercedes it looks even worse for McLaren and Lando Norris. Some report of him being so frustrated he is punching walls out. Double whammy for us fans of British F1 teams and drivers.

I guess on the upside there is much hope for Aston Martin and Fernando Alonso which if true makes me even more annoyed about Mercedes position. Haas are being widely praised for their improvement. Williams still at the back and as far away as ever completes the British woes. Ferrari, where are they? Second for sure but by how much. Too much is my thought process.

Obviously it is early, too early to make too many assumptions but if there is one I am comfortable in predicting for the season it is that barring death and dismemberment we are going to have to sit and watch Max Verstappen and Red Bull win both the Championships and that is already sticking in my throat.

I think I am going to change my religion to Voodoo and if you will excuse me I am off to make a few dolls and sharpen some very nasty looking nails.

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  2023 Bahrain Testing

Posted by: Westie
23-02-2023, 04:49 PM
Forum: 2023 Race Threads
- Replies (18)

Hi Folks,

So I've had the testing on in the background whilst I've been working today.  Now am not going to take any of the times seriously but Red Bull were easily able to set the fastest time and Max doesn't seem concerned with sandbagging too much and why should he... we know they were fastest last year and so it's basically expected that "normal" abnormal service is resumed.

That said - the times after that are interesting.  One Fernando Alonso has decided he's gonna wring the neck of that Aston Martin and has just set the second fastest time.... perhaps trying to tease a few others to reveal what they are up to?

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  Mosley vs Dennis, McLaren Vs Ferrari

Posted by: NeilP
13-01-2023, 04:23 PM
Forum: F1 General Discussion Board
- Replies (1)

I am sure this has been discussed before on this site but I am too lazy to search for it so my apologies in advance.

I have heard about but never read about it but for some reason I stumbled upon this article today which was from November last year.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/63575321

If anyone has any links to a more detailed insight I would be obliged I will be searching myself and will post anything I find. This kind of stuff fascinates me. I always thought the fine on McLaren was absolutely ridiculous. I find Mosley's supposed comment to Dennis that 5 Million of the fine was for the incident the other 95 Million was because you are a ****.  Hilarious.

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  Do we need or want more teams in F1?

Posted by: NeilP
10-01-2023, 03:54 AM
Forum: F1 General Discussion Board
- Replies (8)

With the fact we are between seasons this seems to be the question that is up front in the sport.

Straightaway I am going to say the more the merrier.  Current regulations allow for up to 26 cars per race so that is absolutely not an issue. There are as always two sides (at least) to every story.

Liberty want to add more teams to the sport and what is particular relevant in this instance is it is an American team with the potential of an American engine manufacturer.  I do have some experience of American engines. They are big, brash, virtually untuned and I have to say super reliable. The V8 in many trucks and SUV vehicles are as good as bullet proof.  There is a trend here of moving to smaller more efficient engines and tuning them more and in many cases adding a turbo. Naturally this is all regular car market stuff and does not apply to the sports car market. Talking of which there are so few American made sports cars. Yes there are plenty of so called muscle cars but compared to their European counterparts they are crude and simply powerful hard to control beasts.

That said GM makes the Corvette which you either love or hate and they have produced an engine for the Corvette with over 1300 BHP so one would assume they are perfectly capable of producing an F1 engine. That said obviously any similarity of that Corvette engine and a current specification F1 engine is literally Apples and Oranges.

The other side of the equation are the F1 teams. One is going to assume their main protest is it will further divide the revenue they currently share. I do not think it is much of anything beyond that.

Personally I think they are determined to increase the Americanism of the sport. A theme I have been banging on about for a long time here in the Banter. I would not be shocked to see more teams from the USA in the future just as we are seeing more races in the USA. I guess I should love that but I do not the venues are garbage. COTA is awesome Miami is laughable and Las Vegas is just a gimmick.

Lets hear your guys thoughts on this subject.

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  F1 Gossip

Posted by: PapaofGags
28-11-2022, 01:55 PM
Forum: F1 General Discussion Board
- Replies (6)

Although Ferrari ended their drought this season, the Scuderia taking four wins after two seasons without a P1, F1’s rumour mill says it was not enough to save Binotto’s career, not when balanced against the team’s numerous mistakes with him at the helm.

According to reports, it is just a matter of time before Ferrari announce his exit with Vasseur replacing him.

The Alfa Romeo team boss has been coy about the rumours, reportedly telling Belgian journalist Gaetan Vigneron of RTB: “I won’t tell you anything, but you’ll know soon enough.”

One person Gazzetta dello Sport says is waiting eagerly for the news is Ferrari driver Leclerc.

While Binotto made it clear to the driver, especially at this year’s British Grand Prix, that no driver is bigger than the team, Vasseur is expected to make the Monégasque driver the team’s undisputed number one driver ahead of Carlos Sainz.

The Frenchman is a man who believes in number ones, saying a few years back: “For the last 25 years, all good projects have been built around a reference driver. Ferrari with Schumacher, Renault with Alonso, Red Bull with Vettel, Mercedes with Hamilton.”


Then another #Story   Laughing

Ross Brawn has been linked with a sensational return to Ferrari as speculation continues to mount regarding the future of current team principal Mattia Binotto.

Italian newspaper La Stampa has now reported potential candidates that are believed to be in the running for the job, including Brawn, the man who, in his role as technical director, helped steer Ferrari to six constructors' and five drivers' titles.

Gone fishing  Beer

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