The Formula 1 Thread

[Tucker]

Have to say all the cars are looking really nice this season.

 

[tobi]

Ferrari are on it, good to see, this season should be fun.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Ferrari are on it, good to see, this season should be fun.

Anything to knock the smugness off the Red Bull team.

 

[CoopsieDeadpool]

Ferrari are on it, good to see, this season should be fun.

Anything to knock the smugness off the Red Bull team.

#neverred

 

[Oh Teddy Teddy]

The Mercs in 5th and 6th…

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

The Mercedes looks absolutely terrible. They better hope there’s a lot of potential to be unlocked in that car because whilst they’re playing catch up, the likes of Ferrari and Red Bull will be learning a lot and upgrading their already superior cars.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

The Mercs in 5th and 6th…

5th and 9th!

 

[Oh Teddy Teddy]

5th and 9th!

Yeah was a Bottas joke

Outqualifying his old car. Love it. And a Haas beating a Merc. Madness.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Yeah was a Bottas joke

Outqualifying his old car. Love it. And a Haas beating a Merc. Madness.

Every car running a Ferrari engine has performed considering better than those running Mercedes engines. Really not a good look for Mercedes when they said they’d put a considerable amount of time and effort into producing a car that would continue to dominate moving into a new era of F1.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

While I don't want to sound like a gore or one of them fans who watches just to see the crashes, I will be really interested how that Mercedes copes with a collision. It looks a bit "rampy" in the middle which I appreciate isn't a common place to connect in a collision, but where all the other teams have worked reinforcements for the driver into their side pods, despite watching a couple of videos on it, I still don't see anywhere to build the same sort of protection into the Merc in that shape.

I'm not an engineer - all it will take is for someone who knows what they're looking at to tell me it's legit, I'll buy that, but all I find is videos talking about how radical it is, how different it is, how they've managed to make it within the rules, but nobody has actually said if it's safe.

Mercs have the same required safety components, and in the same places, that all the cars have.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

I think one worry for Mercedes will be if the issues are in the engine - given the freeze will lock in engine performance for a few years. If they are behind the Ferrari and Red Bull/Honda - that is an issue that will linger.

Every car running a Ferrari engine has performed considering better than those running Mercedes engines. Really not a good look for Mercedes when they said they’d put a considerable amount of time and effort into producing a car that would continue to dominate moving into a new era of F1.

Thats what I meant above. Ferrari and Honda/Red Bull seem to have a better engine than Mercedes right now - and there is an engine freeze through the 2025 season. So, if that is true, that could be very costly to Mercedes, McLaren, Aston Martin and Williams for the next 4 seasons.

 

[TallBlokePH]

Unreal seeing Mercedes so far off the pace. Was hoping for a closer field overall this year but looks like it'll be two teams fighting it out with everyone else a mile away like the past few years.

Haas are looking surprisingly competitive - as far as non-title contenders go at least - they've shot right up from the back of the pack. Sad to see Williams still languishing at the tail end, thought they could do better with the change in regs shaking things up but not to be by the look of it.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Last time Lewis started 5th behind 2 Red Bulls and 2 Ferarris:

 

[Gb160]

Every car running a Ferrari engine has performed considering better than those running Mercedes engines. Really not a good look for Mercedes when they said they’d put a considerable amount of time and effort into producing a car that would continue to dominate moving into a new era of F1.

Yeah I read a week or 2 back how the new Mercedes engine plus all the car modifications had blown everyone away in testing.
Looks like that was a load of old bollocks, they’re miles off the pace.

 

[Tucker]

Unreal seeing Mercedes so far off the pace. Was hoping for a closer field overall this year but looks like it'll be two teams fighting it out with everyone else a mile away like the past few years.

Haas are looking surprisingly competitive - as far as non-title contenders go at least - they've shot right up from the back of the pack. Sad to see Williams still languishing at the tail end, thought they could do better with the change in regs shaking things up but not to be by the look of it.

It’s disappointing that the new regs haven’t levelled the playing field as much, I hat high hopes that we’d see more teams being competitive, rather than one or two dominating like we’ve seen for the last twenty years or so.

It’s early days yet though, so there’s a small part of me that hopes this is just teething troubles for some teams, sadly the realist side of me is equally pessimistic that it’ll just be the same variation that we’ve seen over the years.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

It’s disappointing that the new regs haven’t levelled the playing field as much, I hat high hopes that we’d see more teams being competitive, rather than one or two dominating like we’ve seen for the last twenty years or so.

It’s early days yet though, so there’s a small part of me that hopes this is just teething troubles for some teams, sadly the realist side of me is equally pessimistic that it’ll just be the same variation that we’ve seen over the years.

Well, after 8 straight constructor’s championships, I think Mercedes have a proper fight on their hands. Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes should be competitive with each other all season.

Driver championship could be in play for up to 5 drivers: Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton and even Russell. (I don’t think Checo can beat out Verstappen at Red Bull, but both drivers at the other teams could win)

Midfield will be competitive with each other, even if not competitive at the top. McLaren look to have fallen back to the midfield, but AlphaTauri, Alpine, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin and even Haas are capable of scoring points each weekend. Really, only Williams look off the pace right now.

 

[Wick3d]

Finally something different. Lewis amongst the pack and fighting is always quality driving! He hasn't faced a challenge like this since his McLaren days. So happy to see Ferrari get their shit together, and the Ferrari engine customers are looking really good as well! Mercedes will recover and become more competitive as the season progresses, but it is still a really bad look that the Mercedes engine is looking to be third best out of the RBPT and Ferrari. If I was a Mercedes engine customer I would be quite worried

 

[beats1]

It was so obvious this would be the final verdict, the report being released during the opening weekend of the new season is ridiculous.

Despite him being a worthy champion, this taints Max's win, the driver doesn't deserve this but...

I mean his team lobbied for a win and he got his championship off the back of Lobbying

He may not deserve the notion of a tainted championship but were it not for the lobbying, he wouldnt have won.

So it was a choice of tainted championship or no championship. Im sure he is glad he got the tainted one

 

[jondy1]

Come on max let’s have it again

 

[Thewobbler]

Mclaren are awful so far.