So...
Boy wonder Antonelli - in the wall early in session one, basically did 2 fast laps and wrecked Russell's car
Pay driver Colapinto ? 0.2 off Alex Albon, for his first outing as a full time driver.
Not what I was expecting either...

It is good to see Red Bull struggle and Horner chewing his inner cheeks with stress, I must say. Even if Hamilton was in front of the Mclarens in FP2...

I do not understand the quick fall of Redbull to be honest.. There was a rule clarification/directive over the break regarding differential braking (L<->R) and suspicions RB had it and it targeted them. May explain why Max is by and large complaining about the car "not turning" these days. Still, that is a big gap now and the order started to change *before* the rule was put in place, one might argue McLaren was faster several races before the break already and that with better strategies Norris would be ever closer in points...

I'm starting to think the true RedBull pace is at Sergio Perez Level, and what we saw this year was Max dragging it by the scruff of its neck with immense talent...

Having watched F1 since 1981, I am used to teams falling out contention year over year, but mid season, and to that extent, that is a sight to behold! (and I'm enjoying it) It's also almost more of a McLaren takeoff performance (the rest of the teams seem more or less close and stable relative to one another). I wonder what they found, and if it's legit too or if a future rule will shuffle that again.. Cool season !

LOL paraphrasing brundle to crofty:
sorry I have to interrupt your drool session over your
new wonder-boy, but he just stuffed it into the wall.

priceless

Strange that RB's dominance came to an end not long
after you-know-who said he was leaving.
Coincidence?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1725053939.jpg

The sponsors pay for everything in F1.
the cars, the salaries, the TV, everything.

Paid drivers have been a big part of F1 for as long
as I can remember.
Paid meaning they have sponsors who will pay money
to sponsor a team if their driver gets hired.

If it weren't for paid drivers, Haas, williams, and Sauber
would not have survived.

many F1 drivers would have never gotten the chance
to race in F1, if it weren't for the promise of them
bringing in sponsorship money.
I don't like it either, but $$$ makes everything work.

PS
lots of people would be surprised to find out that
a lot of our US Olympic athletes are being paid with
tax money to train and compete.
Free room and board (apartment and meal allowance)
plus expense allowance (salary).
For top athletes, it can easily run into six figures per year.
That doesn't include the $$$ for winning, or the huge potential
sponsorship money for commercials or spokespersons etc.
if they become famous.
So much for amateurs.

Hong Kong was the biggest surprise to me:
They pay Olympic medal bonuses of
$768,000 for gold
$384,000 for Silver
$192,000 for bronze

When Mclaren suddenly had 'game 'mid season last year nobody qusetioned it ( man thats realy fast out of the corners)....Hummmm
It is a given Max extracts ++ and then more, Serg is the true pace of the Red Bull.
Newy leaving and all of the other backround noise has indeed had a affect

Yes, there is a budget cap - to keep the big boys at bay - but I'd bet there is more than one team that would like to have more money to reach that height.

More to the point, however, someone has to pay for all those cars wrecked so far this season. Got 50$mn, you can drive. Why the dts crowd thinks F1 is some sort of meritocracy and buying your way in is shameful I don't get. Everyone buys their way in one way or another. Even Lauda, my original F1 "hero" paid. (Then had to go win another championship to keep his planes in the air - quite the irony).

It's now official , Antonelli announced as Hamiltons replacement at Mercedes for 2025 .

He looks like he's 15 :D

Great qualifying by McLaren! I’m sure RB will go running to the FIA again saying they’re cheating 😄

I give it one or two more races before RB implodes trying to figure out why they are not dominating.

I wonder if the latter is the Newey effect. He likely has a holistic understanding of F1 car performance that cannot be equaled.

Isn't Newey still on staff until the end of the season?

I don't know which meme made me chuckle more: the one of George's face after Kimi crashed his car in FP1, or the one of that expression when comparing how Antonelli went straight from F2 into a Mercedes F1 seat while George had to do 3 years at Williams first.

Carlos should have gotten that Mercedes seat, and Kimi the Williams one IMO. Not sure what Toto has against Carlos. I know he wanted Verstappen (Max, not Jos) to replace Lewis, but I'm not sure why he seemed so anti-Carlos from the get-go. Maybe he really sees generational talent in young Antonelli.

I find it interesting that Toto has been talking to anyone that will listen that Mick Schu should get a seat . Yet he won't promote him to their open seat and go with an 18 year old . Hmm. Do as I say but not as I do ? That didn't fly .

Red Bull : if media reporting is accurate Adrian Newey didn't have much involvement in this year's F1 car . He was supposedly heading up their super car build . I think maybe the team was complacent due to being so dominant and the competition caught up . Red Bull are now behind and updates so far have not improved the chassis and may have caused more harm than good . It's good that they have to work for it .

Had a breakfast meet up with a longtime friend and F1 CTO today

Didn't get into any nitty gritty technical details but he mentioned the new ground effect rules are so sensitive it's much easier than with past aero rules to go backwards eg RB, AM or get lost eg Mercedes or jump way ahead of the competition eg McLaren

Certainly spiced up this years championships and should do the same again next year

What about that brake bias regulation that was implemented?

If you're not going to win, and it's the later stages of the race, does McLaren rescind "Papaya Rules" and ask Oscar to let Lando by (for the points over Verstappen)?

Wow. For once, the Scuderia demonstrated some inspired strategy. Congrats to Leclerc.

Hard to believe Ferrari strategy was the winning strategy . Well done . And Williams must be very happy with Collapinto a solid race , kept his nose clean and finished 12th . An enjoyable race to watch .

Lando looked pretty glum in the cool down room

McLaren have arguably the best driver pairing on the grid . Oscar is a fair but tough racer and pulled off a brilliant pass on Lando . It's nice to see McLaren let their drivers race each other . Refreshing actually .

K Mag picks up 2 penalty points and will sit out Baku race .

https://lastwordonsports.com/motorsports/2024/09/01/f1-news-kevin-magnussen-receives-race-ban/

Lots of lead changes, and Ferrari had the best stratagem for the win.

It sure makes the battle for World championship and manufacturer's title into a real battle.

They shouldn't have done that to K-Mag, he was giving it his all. 10 seconds should have been enough.

Credit to LeClerc for making that strategy work. After he was undercut by Norris, he even doubted the strategy.

Is there a more joyous race win celebration than Ferrari at Monza? I’m a LeClerc fan so this won gave me chills.

This F1 competition is very exciting.

I don't understand that. He gets a one race ban, but he still has twelve points on his Super License. His first points don't expire until March 2025, but he can still race? If he collects more points is he banned for another race, again?

Good argument on why Mclaren should get its efforts behind Lando from Elvis (former F1 mechanic and co-star on Wheeler Dealers)

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It's pretty clear McLaren want the constructor championship and do not care about the driver's. I applaud that behavior but they are definitely hurting their #1 driver chance (sure they have no #1). The point swing letting Piastri by for his victory and not asking him to move over yesterday, on a day where Max is nowhere, is really big... it's gonna be tight if RB figure out their issues. Will Buxton was going nuts about that on F1Tv about how McLaren was throwing it away (he always talks like he's overdone it on Cocaine)... Can you imagine Schumi doing that for Barichello ? Max for Sergio ? LOL !

What an emotional year for Leclerc, he seems like a genuinely decent guy so I am very happy about this turn of events, Monza crowds are special.... All tracks should allow this madness, what a show !

Was told over the weekend where Newey is going ;)

Lots of money plus shares in team too, should be announced within a week or so

If he does his magic his new team should cause quite a shake up on the grid,

My friends at Ferrari told me the team is making a last ditch, pulling out all the stops effort to get him :D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1725542405.jpg

Isn't it Aston ???
Every source I read points to Aston... Says Ferrari gave up long ago (Newey wanting too much power)..
I'm down for a surprise if it's not Aston...

I'll also be curious to see if he still has the magic.. Times are changing, computers are more powerful, aero teams are huge - can he do it again ? (no idea but I would bet on "maybe not as successfully as in the past, for the $100M salary, vs putting that $ elsewhere"). McLaren seems to be doing quite well on aero.

I read it was AM and the payday was $150M!!!

Ironically just now listening to F1 podcast with Uncle joe Saward.. he says basically Aston is the only team willing to consider Newey's crazy demands.. That he wants a big team under him and a supervisory role only, and lots of $$$, and maybe not work too hard anymore - just supervise and point and tweak... Says that was unacceptable to other teams, only AM is desperate enough to let him get his way- LOL.... No idea if he's right but I like an opinionated journalist ! Supposedly there's an AM announcement next week - likely about it.

So, why doesn't RB just fire up the ol laptop and fix their aero backtracking?.....


Because computers don't read the nuance in the rule book (not yet anyway) and the "computer" in Newey's brainbox does. But he's not allowed in the back room anymore. Also, RB have probably maxed out their tunnel and cfd time, per regulations for winning so damn much.

Can he pull off another championship car, sure, why not? Will it happen? Someone is going to spend a lot of money to find out.

Funny pic Captain 😁

Not disagreeing here, especially about Newey reading the rule book better historically.. That said everyone agrees Newey hasn't designed an entire RB car in several years now. A general concept, maybe.. Pierre Vaché (sp?) has been doing the job, and Newey was acting in a very supervisory and general direction role, less and less each passing year. RB let him go, but not Vaché. I don't know what the current deal with RB regressing is with but it's certainly not as some say because Newey left (and what, the car "misses him" ? ;-) I like your idea that they are missing aero time now due to winning so much, and the others just caught up and passed them.... I just wonder if "one guy" even of Newey's caliber, can make "as much" difference as he used to when aero was simpler and a small team, and I wonder if he is worth the 100-150 mil investment vs putting all that money into a lot of other aero guys... Seems Ferrari thought "nah". Papa Stroll though "anything for Lance" ;-) Guess we'll find out with Aston next year...

BBC says it’s real, Newey to AM. 30m per year plus bonuses

https://www.bbc.com/sport/articles/czrxgll23w9o

It's not just the money, but shares of co-ownership, too?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/newey-to-become-co-owner-at-aston-martin-as-part-of-f1-deal/ar-AA1q7ZVC?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=7324a44614a34e d7ad7a35ad07dff155&ei=50

It's about the only thing Daddy has left to try to get Lance a championship (or maybe at least a win ;) ) - build a car faster than anyone else.

Well, assuming this is true, the radio chat at Ferrari will be great next year with Hammy complaining about one thing or another since Newey won't be there to give them the bestest car.