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 .