spitfire
Walty McWaltface
Yeah same but he's dropped too many balls.
As ever it's a combination of things but you need a wingman to win when you're racing another team. And they have been racing another team for the first time in years.
F1 2021
- Thread starter 1%er
- Start date
Yeah same but he's dropped too many balls.
As ever it's a combination of things but you need a wingman to win when you're racing another team. And they have been racing another team for the first time in years.
Limejuice
Well-Known Member
Ax^
Silly Rabbit
have no idea why they choose so early to release bottas contract news
could of waited later in the season for it
more so if they more or less told russell he will not be racing lewis next year
MrCurry
right after this urgent rest
I wonder if he’s referring to Botty taking a tight apex when there was such a high risk of someone taking a lunge down the inside. Lewis normally studiously avoids the apex on the first few corners of the opening lap when others are hot on his heels.
Limejuice
Well-Known Member
Yes, Toto was a bit scathing about leaving the outside open for a late-brake.
Limejuice
Well-Known Member
Well, start chilling your caipirinhas!
It's another F1 bash in Brazil, and it's one of the sprint qualifiers.
The UK times will be:
Fri 12 Nov
FP1 - 15:30
Qual - 19:00
Sat 13 Nov
FP2 - 15:00
Sprint: - 19:30
Sun 14 Nov
Race - 17:00
These final races are rocking up thick and fast - which coincidentally are the main job requirements for an F1 driver.
It's another F1 bash in Brazil, and it's one of the sprint qualifiers.
The UK times will be:
Fri 12 Nov
FP1 - 15:30
Qual - 19:00
Sat 13 Nov
FP2 - 15:00
Sprint: - 19:30
Sun 14 Nov
Race - 17:00
These final races are rocking up thick and fast - which coincidentally are the main job requirements for an F1 driver.
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1%er
Well-Known Member
Szafnauer linked with move to Alpine
Alpine’s next managerial reshuffle could culminate with the arrival of Aston Martin team principal Otmar Szafnauer, according to a report. Laurent Rossi, the Alpine CEO, revealed recently he plans to undertake an assessment of his team’s leadership structure to try and improve their performance on-track. Instead of having a sole team principal, as was the case last year with Cyril Abiteboul when they were still known as Renault, Alpine have three visible bosses – executive director Marcin Budkowski and racing director Davide Brivio, both reporting to Rossi. But although Esteban Ocon won the Hungarian Grand Prix for them in July, Alpine are having a largely underwhelming season and AlphaTauri drew level with them on 106 points at the Mexican Grand Prix in the chase for fifth position in the Constructors’ Championship.French magazine Auto Hebdo report: “Szafnauer could take over the management of the French-British team as part of the vast restructuring plan being worked on by Laurent Rossi. Amongst the restructuring projects is the recruitment of Otmar Szafnauer, who is reportedly under pressure at Aston Martin.” Alpine and Aston Martin are experiencing not dissimilar campaigns in that they have under-achieved compared to 2020, especially in relation to McLaren and Ferrari. Both teams went into the climax of last season with a chance of pipping McLaren for third place in the championship, but they are way off that position this time with Ferrari having stepped up from last year’s P6.
Aston Martin, whose best result this term so far is Sebastian Vettel’s second place in Azerbaijan – he was disqualified from the same placing in Hungary as insufficient of a fuel sample could be taken from his car – are isolated in seventh place with 68 points. Lawrence Stroll’s Silverstone-based squad have been carrying out an ambitious recruitment process of their own this year in which the highest-profile arrival has been that of former McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh as Group CEO of the Performance Technologies division – Szafnauer admitting he was coming in as his boss.
Rossi also discussed in Friday’s constructors’ press conference at the Mexican Grand Prix his assessment of the Alpine managerial set-up. “I’m basically going left and right, up and down, looking at everything,” said Rossi, who joined Alpine in January. “That’s why I said it will take me a full season probably to have a better view – never complete, but a better view of the situation and where we can improve, evolve, correct things to pretend at being one of the best teams.”
MrCurry
right after this urgent rest
One more step towards Daddy Stroll’s destruction of the formerly well performing team he bought. He’s pissed off and undermined Otmar by bringing in Whitmarsh over his head. I’m sure one by one, the elements of that team which lead it to outperform an undersized budget will get taken apart, and what will Stroll be left with?
Aston Martin remains my tip of “Team most likely to underperform” just as they were at the start of this year. A weak driver line up, a bullying chairman and no guarantee that what worked well as a small team will scale up to a similarly performing larger organisation. I bet Stroll soon notices the absence of Szafnauer!
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Limejuice
Well-Known Member
I think it was Bernie Ecclestone who said that the fastest way to become a millionaire was to be a billionaire and buy a Formula 1 team.
Fingers crossed, eh?
1%er
Well-Known Member
Alfa Romeo boss Vasseur hints at Bottas team-mate decision
Alfa Romeo team principal Fred Vasseur has hinted Antonio Giovinazzi could stay at the team by explaining the importance of stability heading into F1's new rules for 2022. Giovinazzi's future is up in the air with the Italian's seat the only spot up for grabs ahead of next year, with multiple drivers in the running to take over. Names previously touted were Nyck de Vries, Oscar Piastri, Guanyu Zhou and Sauber junior Theo Pourchaire, with Chinese driver Zhou the favourite with what is believed to be a heavily-funded backing. The picture was even cloudier when Colton Herta was in the running before Michael Andretti's takeover broke down.But with the radical changes being brought into the sport next season, the experience with the team that Giovinazzi would carry over could prove valuable and keep him in F1. Asked if continuity was a good thing for the team, Vasseur replied: "Yeah, it’s already the question to know if we have interest to change [both drivers] with the new regulations or if, with the new regulations, stability is important. We know that the preparation will be very short with the two times three days [test] and it could be less with the reliability or other issues. It means that we have to be ready from the first stage also because we know perfectly that in this kind of championship that it is very often on the first event that you can score the big points for the midfield team. And it is true that it is a factor into the decision but it is not the only one.”
Vasseur believes the team's shareholders have sent a "very strong message" after failing to agree on a deal with Andretti. Andretti walked away from talks to acquire an 80 per cent stake in Islero Investments, the Swedish-owned, Swiss-based company that runs Sauber and in turn the Alfa Romeo F1 team, at the end of October. Speaking at a press conference to unveil new rookie IndyCar signing Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti denied "financial reasons" were behind the breakdown citing instead that "control issues changed".
Asked why, from an Alfa Romeo point of view, talks stalled, Vasseur said: “I didn’t make any comment before, I won’t start to make comment now.” As for where the decision leaves Alfa Romeo, Vasseur believes the pressure has increased to perform strongly in future seasons. "I think that it is a very strong message that the current shareholders sent to the company and that it was really appreciated by everybody," added Vasseur. “It is also a huge pressure on the shoulders but I hope that all the team members and all the employees of the company, and the first one is myself, we are feeling the pressure. And I think it is a positive pressure to get results in the future.”
1%er
Well-Known Member
Mercedes strategist explains what went wrong at Mexico start
Mercedes chief strategist, James Vowles has explained how Valtteri Bottas' botched start meant he was unable to give a planned tow to his teammate, before compounding his error by opening the sea to Max Verstappen. Speaking in the latest video debrief from the German team, Vowles reveals that the plan was to allow Bottas to take full advantage of his pole position by getting away first and towing Lewis Hamilton into the first corner.At least that was the plan... "The strategy and approach to Turn 1 was quite straightforward," explains Vowles. "For Valtteri, if he had a good start, was going to let Lewis tow along behind him and make sure that he covered off the threat from Verstappen. The starts, as they turned out, was that Valtteri had a slightly worse start than both Verstappen and Lewis, not a lot," he stresses, "around about four metres or so, but it was sufficient that Lewis wasn't able to tuck up behind. More so, Verstappen's start being good meant he was alongside Valtteri very, very quickly," Vowles continues. "The result of that is they ended up three-wide incredibly quickly and early on during the run down into Turn 1."
While the Red Bull driver was able to maximise the fact that he was on the clean line while his rivals were struggling, Vowles admits surprise at Verstappen's advantage when braking for the opening turn. "The differences in braking should have been a few metres, not perhaps the difference that you saw," he admits. "Ultimately the drivers braked where they thought they could. If you saw Verstappen's comments afterwards, it is quite clear that he was going in there guessing and hoping for the best, and it worked out for him. We ended up losing out there as a result of it, and more so as we went into it, as you saw other cars perhaps locking up - Ricciardo being one of them - then contact happened and Valtteri got taken out and pushed to the back of the grid."
In a classic case of 'could've, would've, should've', Vowles continues... "Had we got away and been in first and second, I think there was a good chance that we would have been able to defend against the Red Bulls all race. Conversely, if we were first but we had both Red Bulls tucked behind us in second and third, I think it would have been awfully difficult to hold on to the race lead," he admits. "They could have stopped one car early, one car late and ultimately, we would have been compromised with those two cars. Where we finished up, P2 with Lewis, was really correct based on performance sadly after the start had happened, and I am happy we held on to it. It was a defensive strategy we employed all race. Of course, in Valtteri's case really, he walked away with far less than he deserved. Had he not been hit in Turn 1, we really should have walked away with fourth at worst and third more realistically."
Limejuice
Well-Known Member
On what planet could Mercedes defend against two Red Bulls for an entire race?
If this I-believe-in-magic thinking represents Mercedes' race strategy approach, it demonstrates perfectly why the Magic 8-ball department should be sacked.
They have consistently fucked up race decisions this season. Maybe, having the second-best car by some margin, they've felt they had to throw the dice. If so, they keep missing double-six. If I were Toto, and faced with cutting costs to meet budget caps, I know which bunch of game-theorists I'd send P45s to.
cybershot
Well-Known Member
Does anyone use the RaceFans.net F1 google calendar to sync with their own devices. If so has this weekend been updated to show proper qualifying and sprint for you, or is it still saying FP1-FP3 as if a standard weekend. Just trying to figure out if it's a problem with my devices syncing since I upgraded to iOS 15, or if they just haven't updated the calendar.
Limejuice
Well-Known Member
The RaceFans site is currently showing a sprint weekend, which is the correct format for Sao Paulo.
Could well be a synching problem.
My total expertise says switch off and on again.
souljacker
innit
How come C4 don't have a show for qualifying tonight? Does their contract not cover 3 shows?
I'm going to miss the start which sucks.
I'm going to miss the start which sucks.
1%er
Well-Known Member
The word is that Bottas left Mercedes because Toto would not give him a two year deal, Bottas claims Mercedes offered him an extension to his contract but only for 1 year. He told Toto he would sign but only if they give him a two year deal but apparently that was not on the table so he was let go.
1%er
Well-Known Member
I had to look up what a poet's day is and now I know I can tell you I haven'tHas everyone here right now taken a poet's day?
I know I have.
What time is quali?Well, start chilling your caipirinhas!
It's another F1 bash in Brazil, and it's one of the sprint qualifiers.
The UK times will be:
Fri 12 Nov
FP1 - 15:30
Qual - 19:00
Sat 13 Nov
FP2 - 15:00
Sprint: - 19:30
Sun 14 Nov
Race - 17:00
These final races are rocking up thick and fast - which coincidentally are the main job requirements for an F1 driver.
The Sky commentary seems to suggest it is in an hour ish?
Limejuice
Well-Known Member
Qualifying is 19:00 UK time tonight.What time is quali?
The Sky commentary seems to suggest it is in an hour ish?
ETA: Sky bods have a habit of talking about when their coverage starts, rather than the track time. Sky coverage starts at 18:00.
1%er
Well-Known Member
F1 teams set to have free starting tyre choice in all GPs
Formula 1 teams are expected to have free starting tyre choice at all grands prix next season. F1 has had a rule since 2014 that required the 10 drivers who make it through to the final part of qualifying to start on the tyre they used to set their fastest time in Q2. The idea was that those drivers would need the softest compounds to progress and would therefore have to start on tyres that would degrade faster, while those outside the top 10 would benefit from free tyre choice. However, the top teams have tended to have such a pace advantage that they have been able to progress through Q2 on medium compounds, while those in the lower part of the top 10 suffer because they do need softs to get to Q3.FIA race director Michael Masi said in Mexico the rule is “currently unchanged” for 2022 but it has been missing from several iterations of the 2022 sporting regulations. For a while, it was unclear whether it was absent by mistake, with one suggestion it could be added back in at a later date as Masi indicated last weekend, or design. McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl admitted at the Brazilian Grand Prix that he was not sure if it was yet formally dropped. “From our point of view we were always pushing to get rid of this rule,” he said when asked by The Race. It’s the right thing from a sporting perspective. I don’t know about the latest discussions. There was another Sporting Advisory Committee this week. I need to check.”
However, the rule is unlikely to be added into the sporting regulations at this stage when a ‘super’ majority of 28 votes out of 30 would be required. Several teams do not want the rule in place and both F1 and the FIA have admitted there is an argument for the rule being dropped. “One of the unfortunate things about the Q2 race tyre is it gives those who are really quick even more of an advantage because they can easily choose whichever tyre they want for Q2,” said F1 managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn earlier this month. “It’s had a slightly contrary effect, I would argue. I don’t think removing it is a big issue. It is certainly something we’re looking at for the future, whether that Q2 race tyre is still something that overall is better or worse for the race.”
This conclusion has been reached partly because of the sprint qualifying format and Pirelli’s desire to reduce the total tyre allocations teams have in 2022. On weekends like the Brazilian GP, which has the third and final sprint experiment of the year, the Q2 rule is not in effect. Drivers have the freedom to choose their starting tyre for both Saturday’s sprint race and Sunday’s grand prix. Masi said in Mexico: “It’s currently unchanged. But that may be one of the things that we look at, learning from what we’ve done with the sprint and how that’s worked with a bit more openness. That’s all part of what we’ve been discussing of late in general, between the reduction [in allocation] and open [choice], trying to ensure that we don’t have the unintended consequence of cars trying to save the tyres and not running. So it’s a very fine balance. The Q3 tyre was obviously put in there for exactly that purpose, a number of years ago. We don’t want to undo what was done.”
