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F1 2024

Big lesson from that race: the Red Bull wasn't devastatingly faster than all-comers. Has the field (nearly) caught up?
 
aww
lewis-hamilton-and-his-father-anthony-in-parc-ferme-v0-7qzpf1to84bd1.jpeg
 
Totes emosh.

Fantastic stuff, just about to watch the podium.

So pleased for Lewis (and his dad).

Poor Lando must be so gutted, but that's the way the cookie crumbles...he'll get his time, (yeah not now Lando, :D )
 
Yes. He could / should have won it. He knows tyre choice at the end was a mistake. He's still beating himself up.

I wonder if Norris was stewing over the fact he was given such bad info from the team about the choice of tyres? “Do you want to take hards to cover Verstappen or softs to cover Hamilton” was entirely the wrong question to ask (and of course he will cover the 2nd place man when he was targeting the win). So he ended up on probably the worst of the 3 available compounds, while his team mate was lapping over 2 secs quicker than him on the mediums at the end of the race.

“Do you want to take the medium, we calculate that as the optimum choice?” Would have been the right level of info from the team.
 

Formula One announces revised sprint calendar for 2025​

Formula 1 and the FIA have today announced the venues that will host F1 Sprint events during the 2025 F1 season with Belgium replacing Austria as sprint location. Sprint weekends were introduced in 2021 which added a short sprint race to the weekend. While the first year included three sprint weekends, their number increased to six last season. In 2024, there will be six Sprint rounds, with the unique format featuring in Shanghai, Miami, Spielberg, Austin, Sao Paulo and Lusail. Formula One has now confirmed the sprint schedule for the 2025 F1 season. São Paulo will keep up its run of hosting the Sprint every year since 2021, while Belgium returns for the first time since 2023, replacing Austria. Shanghai and Miami will host the Sprint for the second consecutive year, and Austin and Qatar return to the calendar for a third time.

The F1 Sprint has consistently proven its popularity since its introduction in 2021. The sport noted that “the format delivers strong numbers across all traditional broadcast, digital and social platforms, as well as providing extra and exciting racing that promoters can offer to the fans and as a result we are seeing large attendances on the Friday of a Sprint weekend. “So far in 2024, live audience figures for Sprint Qualifying and the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix were up 40% across the top 15 markets compared to the average practice sessions for the opening two races. The live broadcast of the Sprint in Miami drew in 946,000 viewers on ESPN, making it the largest-ever US audience for a Sprint since the format was introduced in 2021, and in Austria this year, live viewership of Sprint Qualifying was up 76% versus the FP2 sessions in the last two European races. This follows a successful 2023 season that saw new Sprint locations increasing overall viewership, with Azerbaijan and Belgium among the best performing weekends, seeing increases of 15% and 22% respectively.”

The confirmed F1 Sprint events in 2025 are:
21 – 23 March China Shanghai
2 – 4 May USA Miami
25 – 27 July Belgium Spa
17 – 19 October USA Austin
7 – 9 November Brazil São Paulo
28 – 30 November Qatar Lusail

Commenting on the 2025 sprint schedule, President and CEO of Formula 1 Stefano Domenicali said: “The Sprint has been a great success for Formula 1, bringing all our fans more action and racing on the track. We are seeing the proof of this in our audience data, fan attendance on Fridays and from the promoters and partners. As we prepare to celebrate our 75th anniversary in 2025 we will always honour our incredible history, but we must always be looking ahead, innovating, and improving to deliver the best for our growing and diverse fanbase. The Sprint is a great example of bringing new elements to our sport in a way that is respectful of the Championship, and I want to thank the six venues that will host the Sprint in 2025 and look forward to those incredible events throughout the season.”

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem commented: “As the FIA Formula One World Championship celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2025, the Sprint will also enter its fifth year as part of the competition. Over that time, and through our strong collaboration with Formula 1 and with the input of all the teams, it has been through several different iterations and the regulations and format have evolved to give us the exciting and popular Sprints we have today. The six events for 2025 once again take in an interesting range of circuits and are sure to provide fans with plenty of additional action across the season.”
 

Martin Brundle’s theory for why Red Bull are sticking with Sergio Perez - for now​

Martin Brundle believes Red Bull have not chosen to replace Sergio Perez yet due to the commercial and sponsorship benefits he brings to the F1 team. Despite recently being handed a fresh two-year deal, pressure is growing on the underperforming Perez, who has finished no higher than seventh in the past five races and has contributed just 11 points to Red Bull’s tally of 105 points in that time. Perez’s dramatic nosedive in form has seen him drop to sixth place in the drivers’ championship - 137 points behind teammate Max Verstappen - and ramped up speculation that Red Bull could replace him during the season.

Brundle called Perez’s current struggles “painful” to watch but offered a theory as to why he thinks Red Bull are sticking by the 34-year-old Mexican. “We know that it’s commercially attractive to them, we know that he’s a good foil for Max,” Brundle said on the Sky Sports F1 podcast. “He’s normally fast enough to do a good job and bring some relevant information - not fast enough to bother Max, particularly - and it works for them, and they have won both championships. But all of a sudden, they’ve got some rivals on their hands, and they can’t comfortably win the constructors’ title without Sergio being on tip-top form. So the ground rules have changed in that respect and you wonder how long they will be able to cope with this. But with the sponsorship, with Red Bull’s commerciality in North and South America, with the Mexican grand prix yet to come would you really not want Sergio Perez on the grid? So that’s the balancing point. If he was ‘Driver B’ and none of that nationality or commerciality mattered, they would have replaced him – let’s be honest.”

If Perez were to be axed, Brundle reckons Red Bull reserve driver Liam Lawson would be the frontrunner to take his seat. “It’s a tough one. The trouble is for a young driver, Verstappen just breaks their head because he’s so fast and he can handle a car that’s a little bit lively in a high-speed corner,” he explained. “You would say that Ricciardo’s head is in the right place to actually not be battered again by Max, but I think that’s happened to Sergio and his head should be in the right place as well. We sense Daniel is under pressure for his seat let alone being rewarded moving up to the top team. Their F2 boys won’t be ready for it. I think I’d put Lawson in it if they are going to put anybody in it and see what he could do and try and manage his head down on it. He seems quite strong.”
 
We have seen some very good races in the last few weeks in Formula 1 and with good competition at the top and we are likely to see more good races in the second half of this season.
 
And so to Hungary, land of langos, goulash and stuffed cabbage.

Hammy has won the Hungarian GP eight times, while McLaren have sprayed the fizz 11 times.

This weekend's Magyar-fest comes to your telly screens at these UK times:

Fri 19 July
FP1 - 12:30
FP2 - 16:00

Sat 20 July
FP3 - 11:30
Qual - 15:00

Sun 21 Jul
Race - 14:00

The current weather forecast says temperatures in the mid-30s, and a 30% chance of light showers on race day.

Let's hope the fun from Silverstone carries on.

:thumbs:
 

2024 Hungarian Grand Prix First Practice (FP1) Results​


  1. 1. Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:18.713
  2. 2. Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.276
  3. 3. Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.298
  4. 4. George Russell Mercedes +0.424
  5. 5. Zhou Guanyu Sauber +0.467
  6. 6. Lando Norris McLaren +0.498
  7. 7. Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.536
  8. 8. Yuki Tsunoda VCARB +0.547
  9. 9. Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.552
  10. 10. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0.574
  11. 11. Sergio Perez Red Bull +0.727
  12. 12. Daniel Ricciardo VCARB +0.865
  13. 13. Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.973
  14. 14. Alex Albon Williams +1.081
  15. 15. Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1.091
  16. 16. Logan Sargeant Williams +1.172
  17. 17. Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.263
  18. 18. Esteban Ocon Alpine +1.310
  19. 19. Kevin Magnussen Haas +1.582
  20. 20. Oliver Bearman Haas +1.698
 

Adrian Newey to Ferrari hurdle revealed as new Red Bull target identified​

Adrian Newey’s request for a group of 20 engineers to join him at Ferrari is behind the “abrupt halt” in negotiations between the two parties, it has been claimed. Newey announced in May that he will leave Red Bull in early 2025, having played an instrumental role in the team’s success with the likes of Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen since arriving from McLaren in 2006.

Ferrari’s hopes of landing Adrian Newey fading?
Ferrari had been considered strong favourites to sign Newey, with the terms of his Red Bull departure negotiated by his manager Eddie Jordan, the former F1 team owner allowing him to start work with another team in 2025, sidestepping the period of gardening leave that is commonplace in F1 contracts. It was claimed that Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, travelled to London just days after Newey’s Red Bull exit was made public in an effort to seal the deal. However, multiple reports over recent weeks have claimed that Ferrari have fallen behind Aston Martin and McLaren in the race to secure Newey’s signature.

Adrian Newey: The most decorated individual in F1 history
Reports last month claimed Newey paid a visit to Aston Martin’s Silverstone factory after receiving an eye-watering financial proposal from team owner Lawrence Stroll during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend in March. It was claimed this week that Ferrari chief executive Benedetto Vigna has baulked at Newey’s salary demands, as well as expressing concerns that the F1 design guru would hold an inordinate amount of power within the team if he made the move to Maranello.

A report by respected Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday has shed more light on the nature of Newey’s requests, with the 65-year-old reportedly asking for as many as 20 prominent engineers to join him in Italy. While Ferrari are said to be willing to offer Newey a salary of $10million per year in the role of technical supervisor, the team fear an intake of 20 engineers “of some prominence” would “fall heavily” on the Scuderia’s ability to meet F1’s cost cap. It has been proposed that some of Newey’s lieutenants could be allocated to Ferrari’s World Endurance Championship operation which last month triumphed in the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours race for the second successive year to ease those budget cap concerns, but it is said that this solution would not have been “an easy or decisive option.” Newey’s preference to continue living in the United Kingdom is also considered a hurdle to a potential Ferrari deal, thought it is claimed that the current stalemate is “perhaps not insurmountable.”

With Ferrari’s hopes of landing Newey receding, the same source points to rumours at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix that the Scuderia have turned their attention to Red Bull’s head of aerodynamics Enrico Balbo. Ferrari are currently searching for a new technical director after Enrico Cardile announced earlier this month that he will join Aston Martin, with Vasseur himself currently overseeing the chassis side on an interim basis. It is said that the rumours linking Ferrari with Balbo are “scarcely credible” after Red Bull recently tied him, along with technical director Pierre Wache, to a multi-year contract after an approach from the Prancing Horse in 2023. Balbo and Wache’s decision to pursue a new development direction with Red Bull’s 2024 car, the RB20, is also cited as “one of the causes” behind Newey’s decision to leave the team.
 
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