2024 Formula 1 Season. It’s Lights Out and Away We Go!

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Anyone else excited for the new season? New season starts this weekend with a Saturday race. 9am CST. 
 

I started watching F1 with the 2021 season. I picked Red Bull and Max Verstappen to pull for since they looked like the only team that could topple Mercedes. And that seemed interesting to me. Still a Red Bull and Verstappen fan, I kind of want to see just how dominant they can be. Though last season I was hoping Perez would be a real challenger for the WDC. Anyways, thats part of my story. 

[TwinIon]

I'm excited for the season, but I don't expect much of a challenge for the title. I think Max has this wrapped up already if the car is anywhere as good as it looks. Much like the years Merc was dominant, we get to the end of a season and it looks like other teams are making headway, but it's only because the dominant team stopped developing that years car in order to get a head start on the next. Midway through last year I decided to lean in to the idea of just watching Max win. Yeah, it's not very exciting up front, but there's still value to watching maybe the best season of F1 that anyone has ever had. If we get more non-Max winners this year, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

Still, the great thing about last year was just how close the rest of the field was. I have no idea how things will shake out between Mercedes, Mclaren, and Ferrari, plus there is potential for Aston (or at least Fernando) will show some more flashes of brilliance. I also expect to again see some real shifts during the year. It's pretty hard to match the kind of fall off that Aston had or the kind of gains Mclaren made, but hopefully we'll see more of that shuffling just by nature of the field being so competitive.

 

I don't really have a team I specifically root for, but I'd love to see Lando finally win a race. I'd love to see Williams take a big step forward and really fight in the midfield. I hope that Aston has a good enough car to battle the top teams, if only because Nando is so much fun to watch when he's fast. I've got some friends that are big fans of Checo, but I'm honestly not expecting much.
 

With Hamilton going to Ferrari, I feel like the 2025 silly season has already begun. With so many drivers without contracts and so many seats open, everyone is going to be fighting hard for their next drive. It'll be fun watching the "Max's next teammate" sweepstakes (my money is on Riccardo). I expect Fernando to go to Mercedes and Sainz to Audi, but who knows.

 

So yeah, excited that F1 is back. It's a great low-investment sport. There's only 10 total teams, 20 total drivers, the rules are really not all that complicated for viewers, and there's only one race every other week or so, and it's only two hours or so. If you get more into it you can watch quali and practice and follow along with the development race and what not, but I think people can enjoy it without getting super into it. So if you're not watching, give it a try. There's plenty of drama and action and I've really enjoyed my time watching the sport.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Yeah Max just riding off into the distance for the wind was kind of whatever, and I did get pretty invested in the other stories and races going on. The race at the front was so close during Vegas I lost track of any other battles going on. lol So much that I enjoyed watching the race a second time to pay more attention to the rest of the field that barely got any screen time. 
 

as for Lando Noris I kind of want to be an anarchist and I want some future season of F1 to be where Lando Noris, still without a GP win manages to still win the WDC lol 

 

I am really looking forward to the full regulation changes. Kinda pisses that FOM denied Andretti from joining in such a bullshit way. 

[TUFKAK]

I’m interested to see if Ferrari fixed the issues they had last season because if so Lewis can definitely push Max.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

3 hours ago, TUFKAK said:

I’m interested to see if Ferrari fixed the issues they had last season because if so Lewis can definitely push Max.

Lewis going to Ferrari is a 2025 season thing. This year he’s still at Merc and Ferrari still has Sainz. 
 

Sainz may he interesting to watch, because this whole season is going to be like a job interview to hopefully get signed for next year. 

[TUFKAK]

1 minute ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Lewis going to Ferrari is a 2025 season thing. This year he’s still at Merc and Ferrari still has Sainz. 
 

Sainz may he interesting to watch, because this whole season is going to be like a job interview to hopefully get signed for next year. 

That’s actually better because the car needs work but has a lot of potential. When Ferrari worked it pushed Red Bull, so they’ve another year to work through the issues and became a viable contender.

[AbsolutSurgen]

18 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Anyone else excited for the new season? New season starts this weekend with a Saturday race. 9am CST. 
 

I started watching F1 with the 2021 season. I picked Red Bull and Max Verstappen to pull for since they looked like the only team that could topple Mercedes. And that seemed interesting to me. Still a Red Bull and Verstappen fan, I kind of want to see just how dominant they can be. Though last season I was hoping Perez would be a real challenger for the WDC. Anyways, thats part of my story. 

I've been an F1 fan since the 90s.

I've learned not to put any stock into the preseason running, because we have no idea what they were running.

That said, there are usually only big shakeups at the top when the forumla changes.

[TwinIon]

4 hours ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Sainz may he interesting to watch, because this whole season is going to be like a job interview to hopefully get signed for next year. 

A situation that 13 (I think) other drivers also find themselves in. For some (Stroll) it's more of a formality, but it's really a make or break year for much of the grid. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

Every driver in F1 is always in a constant state of being in a job interview.

If Lewis stops performing this year, he won't be driving for Ferrari next year.

[TUFKAK]

2 hours ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Every driver in F1 is always in a constant state of being in a job interview.

If Lewis stops performing this year, he won't be driving for Ferrari next year.

I think Lewis will be just based on his record, the man has proven he’s one of if not the best driver of all time and that will carry him even if he falls off a cliff.

[AbsolutSurgen]

It was used as an example, I don't actually expect Lewis to fall off a cliff.

[AbsolutSurgen]

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Oh how much I have missed that song in over 90 days. 
 

If Lewis does fall off a cliff you’ll still have your two camps. Those saying Hamilton has been washed up and those blaming the car. I do wonder if the signing with Ferrari has nothing to do with a chase for an 8th title and everything to do with him wanting cross off being a Ferrari driver on his F1 career bucket list. Even if it means he wont get an 8th championship. 
 

I dunno. I may be way off, but I saw this move as Hamilton signaling his retirement in ~3 years. (After a minimum 2 seasons with Ferrari). 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

a little FP1 highlights 

[AbsolutSurgen]

1 hour ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Oh how much I have missed that song in over 90 days. 
 

If Lewis does fall off a cliff you’ll still have your two camps. Those saying Hamilton has been washed up and those blaming the car. I do wonder if the signing with Ferrari has nothing to do with a chase for an 8th title and everything to do with him wanting cross off being a Ferrari driver on his F1 career bucket list. Even if it means he wont get an 8th championship. 
 

I dunno. I may be way off, but I saw this move as Hamilton signaling his retirement in ~3 years. (After a minimum 2 seasons with Ferrari). 

The teams now have so much data to look at.  The most relevant comparison is how Lewis compares to George -- last season they were very comparable in qualifying, but Lewis performed better in races.  There is also a tremendous amount of timing data available to the teams, so if Lewis does fall off vs. George, they'll know how much is the car, vs. how much is relative performance.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

57 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

The teams now have so much data to look at.  The most relevant comparison is how Lewis compares to George -- last season they were very comparable in qualifying, but Lewis performed better in races.  There is also a tremendous amount of timing data available to the teams, so if Lewis does fall off vs. George, they'll know how much is the car, vs. how much is relative performance.

Merc will have that data, but Ferrari and us wont. I dont think his seat next season is at risk, even if he were to figuratively fall off a cliff. Though maybe if he literally fell of a cliff, yeah maybe. lol 

[AbsolutSurgen]

1 hour ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Merc will have that data, but Ferrari and us wont. I dont think his seat next season is at risk, even if he were to figuratively fall off a cliff. Though maybe if he literally fell of a cliff, yeah maybe. lol 

After what some influencers were publishing last year, there was a lot more data publicly available than I thought there was.  

 

Not sure if this guy will still be doing videos this year, but I was shocked at some of the detail he had.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

 

a little FP2 highlights. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

Am I allowed to get excited that RBR doesn't seem to be 1 second ahead of everyone else?  Or, is this just me reading too much into FP2?

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Nah. Get excited. Im an RBR fan and Im curious what that means. Could this race be more interesting than some may have thought it would be? Have RBR gambled on a radical new design and drastically lost speed to everyone else? 
 

there were rumors from preseason testing that RBR has gotten even better on tire wear. What if the car is slower in single lap pace, and can only qualify on the 3rd row, but over an entire race they dont have to manage tires as much as everyone else? It could result in quite different tire and pit stop strategies in the race. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

1 hour ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Nah. Get excited. Im an RBR fan and Im curious what that means. Could this race be more interesting than some may have thought it would be? Have RBR gambled on a radical new design and drastically lost speed to everyone else? 

 

I've really grown to dislike both Christian Horner and Toto Wolff over the years.

I have deep respect for everything that Lewis did. 

And while, I used to really admire Verstappen (particularly after the epic race in the rain in Sao Paulo), he comes off as a dirty-driving petulant child to me now.

 

1 hour ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

there were rumors from preseason testing that RBR has gotten even better on tire wear. What if the car is slower in single lap pace, and can only qualify on the 3rd row, but over an entire race they dont have to manage tires as much as everyone else? It could result in quite different tire and pit stop strategies in the race. 

I'm really hoping that Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin will show some true pace tomorrow.  He had me excited at the beginning of last year's season, but fell off as it went on.

 

 

 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Hamilton only 10th fastest in Q1 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

If you cannot on demand watch Qualifying

 
 

[TwinIon]

Max remains inevitable, but at least in Quali pace it seems the Ferrari's are right up there. My fingers are crossed that they're competitive on race pace as well, but given how good the RB19 was I won't get my hopes up.

[AbsolutSurgen]

Leclerc's qualifying time in Q2 was actually faster than the pole time.

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

17 minutes ago, AbsolutSurgen said:

Leclerc's qualifying time in Q2 was actually faster than the pole time.

he wasnt the only one faster in Q2. I mean not faster than pole, but faster than either themselves in Q3, or in the case of Tsunoda faster in 11th than Holkenberg was in 10th in Q3. Stroll’s Q3 was slower than himself in Q2 by at least 2 tenths of a second. 
 

weird. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

So:

Red Bull Racing's race pace is  way ahead of the rest of the field

Sergio Perez is going to have a hard time keeping his seat next year

Carlos Sainz  is determined to prove Ferrari wrong, by dominating Leclerc

Russell looks like the man at Mercedes

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Yeah, we’ll see about that Perez one. If Perez can finish on the podium comfortably behind Max I think he will be fine. Perez being within 2 tenths or Max only matters if another team/driver is able to even stay in DRS of Max. Good on Perez to get up from 5th to 2nd. 
 

Good on Sainz for looking he’s done playing #2 to Leclere. We’ll see if Leclere’s “brake issues” persist next weekend. 
 

The biggest thing worrying me was how little action it felt like there was this Bahrain GP vs last year. The grid kind of just spread out and at times felt like they checked out. There was a spot around lap 20 when it looked like nobody was in DRS of anyone else. 
 

Red Bull was scary good on tyre life of those softs. And poor Tsudoda. Im not really a Tsunoda fan, but he got screwed. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

yeah, if there were no dick pics he’d just deny these leaks are authentic. As bad as this makes Horner look it makes Red Bull look even worse for trying to sweep it under the rug. 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

also, it seems Jeremy Clarkson is definitely not a fan of Max. During the grid walk he was asked who he thought would win and he replied “Adrian Newey”. lol just savage 

[AbsolutSurgen]

On 3/2/2024 at 12:06 PM, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

And poor Tsudoda. Im not really a Tsunoda fan, but he got screwed. 

I just saw what Tsunoda did on the cooldown lap -- what a fucking helmet.

The teams only objective is to get points, and if they feel Ricciardo had a better shot at 10th, they 100% need to put the guy on softs in a better chance to pass.  If he cares who finishes 13th or 14th, he has completely lost perspective.

[AbsolutSurgen]

Could Red Bull civil war really trigger shock Verstappen F1 switch to Mercedes?

WWW.MOTORSPORT.COM

 

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

Hmm, I dunno about that. I imagine it would have to get pretty bad for Verstappen. Like the car starts to suck and the team tries to focus on Perez or another driver over him. This just sounds like people hopeful that Red Bull will implode to bring them down since no other team seems capable of toppling them or even matching them. 
 

Last season it was the whole ‘Horner was going to fire Helmut Marko and Verstappen said if Helmut goes he too leaves’ story line. 
 

Im not saying the Red Bull team is completely drama free. I just dont think it’s so cataclysmic to the team dynamic as most want it to be and are drumming up stories like it is. 

[AbsolutSurgen]

16 minutes ago, Spawn_of_Apathy said:

Hmm, I dunno about that. I imagine it would have to get pretty bad for Verstappen. Like the car starts to suck and the team tries to focus on Perez or another driver over him. This just sounds like people hopeful that Red Bull will implode to bring them down since no other team seems capable of toppling them or even matching them. 
 

Last season it was the whole ‘Horner was going to fire Helmut Marko and Verstappen said if Helmut goes he too leaves’ story line. 
 

Im not saying the Red Bull team is completely drama free. I just dont think it’s so cataclysmic to the team dynamic as most want it to be and are drumming up stories like it is. 

I think it has to do with Jos Verstappen's calls for Horner to resign, the rumours that Jos Vestappen was the source of the leaks of the Whatsapp messages, and the fact that Jose Verstappen won't be at this weekend's race.

Add that to all the reports of a Christian Horner / Helmut Marko power struggle that went on last year....