Formula 1 2023 Season

Javelin said:

Advan046 said:

The greatest impact would be if there is evidence that Alonso partly planned it. He should be sanctioned and excluded from the 2023 f1 season...

That's not what Bernie said though. It sounds like Alonso and Massa had no idea, it was all planned by Bernie and F1 in order to orchestrate a more exciting finish. They didn't know Ferrari and Massa were going to whiff so hard.

I read that Bernie implied the sport and sanctioning body both maybe had enough evidence to prove some planned crash. If Massa had a lawyer get access to that evidence, the only actionable things would be related to Alonso or any other active former Renault team member found to be a part of the crash and also still working in the sport today. So just saying, Massa only gets to punish others not win anything but maybe the value of a win bonus.

Javelin said:

Advan046 said:

The greatest impact would be if there is evidence that Alonso partly planned it. He should be sanctioned and excluded from the 2023 f1 season...

That's not what Bernie said though. It sounds like Alonso and Massa had no idea, it was all planned by Bernie and F1 in order to orchestrate a more exciting finish. They didn't know Ferrari and Massa were going to whiff so hard.

The articles I read did not say that Bernie planned the cheat, rather that he & Max were aware of the cheat after the race was over but before the end of the season.  That's within the period during which they rules say they can adjust the points, so in theory they could have taken action based on it but instead they chose to keep quiet to "protect the sport".  This was less about creating excitement and more about preventing embarrassing news from coming out.

Speculating, they may also have wanted to protect Alonso who was a recent world champion at that point.  The FIA ultimately cleared him of involvement, but it's odd that when he got the radio call for a very early pit stop (which would seem like a strategic blunder), he just did what was asked without protest.  Then bam, a couple laps later he has a huge lucky break when his teammate crashes and brings out a safety car.  This was during the 1 or 2 year period where F1 was trying the "pit lane is closed during safety car period" rule, so Alonso got to erase the gap that had been opened up when he pitted, and then everyone who was in front of him had to pit after the safety car was over and he wound up winning the race.

The flurry of pit stops after the safety car was over was when the Ferrari pit crew screwed up and released Massa too early, while the fuel hose was attached.

LeClerc on the pole, Hamilton in 5th ahead of Alonso and Russel knocked out in Q2.  Definitely didn't see that coming.  With the stand alone sprint this is the grid for Sunday.  Will the Red Bulls simply steam away from the Ferrari on the long straights?  We will find out tomorrow. 

In reply to 06HHR (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks for pulling this back up, I was searching for the thread to knock the dust off. Nice quali session. I really like Baku.

i just read this thread from start to finish and still don't care.  masi berkeleyed up F1 for me.

Thank god Max was able to finish with his damaged car  

If the tables were turned on lap 1 George would've had his race ended in the wall.

Edit: watching the replay it must've been the end plate of George's front wing that did the damage but it was a light enough touch that there was no damage to George's car.

Yeah wounded redbull couldn't get past the prancing horse. Looks like some tire strategy might swing things tomorrow. 

I did love that the driver that has wrecked the most people (by my memory, not a scientific study) by dive bombing a brake zone is upset about having the same thing done to him. It was a fun scuffle to watch. Happy for Checo, his pass of Charles looked like 2 cars on the freeway though. 

In reply to NY Nick :

Are you really implying that. Verstappen has a double standard?  Perish the thought. 

In reply to alfadriver :

In actual fact no more than I do when judging his driving versus others but he is a famous race car driver and I am just some unknown engineer in the north east so I think I get to throw barbs at him on the internet. As long as I am not overly mean it's acceptable right?

In reply to NY Nick :

Except George was alongside into the brake zone vs divebombing. :)

kevlarcorolla said:

In reply to NY Nick :

Except George was alongside into the brake zone vs divebombing. :)

That makes it worse, right?  Max is always right. 

In reply to alfadriver :

I like that anyone is jumping on max for forgetting how he earned his reputation ;) 

Max is the best straight man stand up comic I've ever seen..............he made me laugh.

I'd have to imagine hard tires are going to come into play tomorrow.  The softs were headed to the back in 10 laps, a couple of which were behind the safety car.

Oh, and Max is a whiney little girl.

Streetwiseguy said:

Oh, and Max is a whiney little girl.

That's an insult to whiny little girls

What was the point of the sprint race?  Other than a handful of points, it's meaningless in the scheme of the weekend.

And the actual race... meh.  We seem to be back to the trailing car overheating too much to allow cars to close and use the DRS they have.  Well done to Checo, and for once Max isn't all that upset that he got screwed by a SC.  

But there will be some serious talks about the amount of people on the pit lane when it's still live and Ocon had to pit.  That was nuts.

Most exciting part of the race

So, here is a hopeful thought...  Red Bull stands to gain more sales bt having Checo win the championship.  Happy Mexicans, happy old guys, happy Max haters. They already have the manufacturers title pretty much sewed up. So, Checo gets the good decisions made, better strategy, faster engines...

A conspiracy I can get behind.

It's also really nice to see Alonso be a mentor to his team mate, who coincidentally isn't nearly as fast...

It's interesting to me what Charles was saying about the Red Bulls not really running flat out since they had so much of a gap back to him in third - at the end he was 21 sec back of 1st , and Carlos was 45 sec back - that's a LOT in only 51 laps.

Checo on the other hand said he and Max were pushing as hard as they could....

I wonder who was right?

With a 100pt lead after 4 races, can anyone really beat them for the constructors? Highly unlikely in my view.

It would be something to see Checo fighting for the driver's championship all season tho. He seems to really do well on these street circuits......

I enjoyed seeing Checo hood his own against Max head to head. 
Another story line from the weekend that I thought was interesting was Fred Vasseur and Ferrari. I'm the F1 Weekend Warm up the pundits were talking about the problems at Ferrari and how those are "due to past management" and that Fred's influence won't really be seen until mid season. Well if that's the case then Fred is holding the bag for how Alfa is doing right now. They are a disaster. They are worse than everyone by a long shot. The car seems un driveable. 

F1 hasn't been a sport since the end of the 21 season. Pro Wrestling on wheels isn't for me. Thank gawd one can watch the older seasons. 

In reply to alfadriver :

I think Checo woulda still won that race regardless of SC timing.

 Pulling Max in when they did most likely saved a burning pile of RB scrap. :)

Docwemple said:

F1 hasn't been a sport since the end of the 21 season. Pro Wrestling on wheels isn't for me. Thank gawd one can watch the older seasons. 

It was a lot earlier than '21...