F1 2023 Season

I really dislike Monaco. Wide cars, narrow streets, crap race usually.

Roll on next season.
 
It hasn't been a great season, so far. Too many street circuits, long breaks due to cancellations, and now because of one of those cancellations we're going straight back into ANOTHER street circuit. And not just any street circuit, but the worst one on the calendar.

Feels like the season hasn't really got going.
 
Red Flag! Hulkenberg whacks the left rear

The German has clouted the barriers on his way into the Nouvelle Chicane which sends him into a spin.
He gets back to the pits but the Red Flag has been thrown out to clear up debris.
 
Hamilton quickest at the halfway mark
Lewis Hamilton pops to the top of the timesheets with 30 minutes to go as the drivers who were on the hard tyres earlier, switch to the medium rubber.
Lando Norris moves up to third for McLaren, while Sargeant did make it back to the garage.
1. Lewis Hamilton 1:14.035
2. Carlos Sainz +0.210
3. Lando Norris +0.432
4. Max Verstappen +0.454
5. Charles Leclerc +0.497
Yes I know FP :D
 
Monaco GP FP1 Timesheet
349316745_951674812697236_5745475631750996519_n.jpg
 
Interesting to see what happens with the Lewis and Ferrari rumours. Still wont be as fast as cheating bull no doubt but it'll be weird t see see him in red if it happens.
 
'No major problems' with Mercedes' upgrades
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin on the initial running of the W14's upgrades:
“It’s difficult to stay at this stage of the weekend. We haven’t seen major problems which is a useful start to it. We were doing some comparisons on set-up across the cars so I think we have a good direction there – Lewis appeared to be in a happier place than George.
“One of the tricky bits with Monaco is the track evolves so much. It’s one thing having the car in a good spot in FP1, you need to keep it there in FP2, FP3 and into Qualy. That’s a lot easier said than done. It’s a good start but we’re certainly wary of the many ways you can get Monaco wrong.
“We’re just playing with the normal set-up parameters here. You don’t design a car for Monaco, you design it for your Silverstones and Barcelonas so the challenge is always how do you take that car designed for another circuit and get it to work around this slow, bumpy very tight and twisty track.

“Monaco is about confidence for the driver. Lewis had that this morning but George didn’t so it’s about working on the tweaks that will bring that.

“We’re very much in the situation of looking at the car we’ve brought here and thinking ‘oh we would have done that differently if we did it again’. If you start with a clean sheet it’s a lot easier to optimise than if you’re halfway through your development and have to make a pretty big change.

"The positive of that we have a big long list of things we’d like to do that we know will bring performance, but it was a really impressive job to what is now race six.”
 
Can somebody please shut this old fool up !

Helmut Marko believes Lewis Hamilton is "annoyed" by losing his spot as F1's top earner to Max Verstappen and suggests the Brit's discontent is fueling rumors of a move to Ferrari.

For many years, Hamilton outpaced his rivals on the track with Mercedes but the seven-time world champion also ranked until recently as the highest paid driver in the sport.

However, Red Bull's infatuation and success in F1 with Verstappen has encouraged the energy drink company to meet the Dutchman's ever increasing financial demands.

In 2022, the two parties agreed to a contract extension that runs until the end of 2028 and that is estimated to be worth an eye-watering $55 million a year to the two-time world champion.

Verstappen's mammoth deal comfortably surpasses Hamilton's own lucrative contract with Mercedes, a situation that upsets the Briton according to Marko.

According to reports from Italy last week, Ferrari chairman John Elkann has been in close contact with Hamilton and hopes to lure the latter away from Mercedes with an offer that he cannot refuse.

But Marko believes Hamilton is just leveraging his bargaining power in a bid to secure better contract terms with Mercedes.

"There are two things that really annoy Hamilton," Marko told F1 Insider. "Firstly, that he is no longer world champion and will find it difficult to become one again in the future.

"He knows there is no place for him at Red Bull. And whether Ferrari will be better for him in terms of sport than Mercedes is not set in stone.

"In addition to the sporting perspective, Lewis is anything but happy that he is no longer the highest-earning driver in F1.

"This is Max Verstappen now. At least he could change with Ferrari’s help."

Unless there is a dramatic breakdown in the relationship between Hamilton and Mercedes, it's highly unlikely that the Briton would seriously consider a sensational move to Maranello.

Hamilton has repeatedly stated that Mercedes is his "family" and the team where he hopes to end his career in Formula 1, while team boss Toto Wolff has also often said that he had no reason to believe that Hamilton and Mercedes would not extend their collaboration beyond this season, even despite the team's current period of underperformance.

"These rumours [regarding a move to Ferrari by Hamilton] come up every two years when we have to sign a new contract," Wolff told Austria’s oe24.

"But none of this is true. We discuss normally, without any time pressure."

"I’m firmly convinced that we’ll find each other, there’s not a millimetre of doubt for me. I can’t imagine anything else."

I would have thought money was the last thing on his mind, after all he has already earnt a shed load of money.
Lewis is in his twilight year, Max in his prime , of course he is going to earn more money.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
Can somebody please shut this old fool up !

Helmut Marko believes Lewis Hamilton is "annoyed" by losing his spot as F1's top earner to Max Verstappen and suggests the Brit's discontent is fueling rumors of a move to Ferrari.

For many years, Hamilton outpaced his rivals on the track with Mercedes but the seven-time world champion also ranked until recently as the highest paid driver in the sport.

However, Red Bull's infatuation and success in F1 with Verstappen has encouraged the energy drink company to meet the Dutchman's ever increasing financial demands.

In 2022, the two parties agreed to a contract extension that runs until the end of 2028 and that is estimated to be worth an eye-watering $55 million a year to the two-time world champion.

Verstappen's mammoth deal comfortably surpasses Hamilton's own lucrative contract with Mercedes, a situation that upsets the Briton according to Marko.

According to reports from Italy last week, Ferrari chairman John Elkann has been in close contact with Hamilton and hopes to lure the latter away from Mercedes with an offer that he cannot refuse.

But Marko believes Hamilton is just leveraging his bargaining power in a bid to secure better contract terms with Mercedes.

"There are two things that really annoy Hamilton," Marko told F1 Insider. "Firstly, that he is no longer world champion and will find it difficult to become one again in the future.

"He knows there is no place for him at Red Bull. And whether Ferrari will be better for him in terms of sport than Mercedes is not set in stone.

"In addition to the sporting perspective, Lewis is anything but happy that he is no longer the highest-earning driver in F1.

"This is Max Verstappen now. At least he could change with Ferrari’s help."

Unless there is a dramatic breakdown in the relationship between Hamilton and Mercedes, it's highly unlikely that the Briton would seriously consider a sensational move to Maranello.

Hamilton has repeatedly stated that Mercedes is his "family" and the team where he hopes to end his career in Formula 1, while team boss Toto Wolff has also often said that he had no reason to believe that Hamilton and Mercedes would not extend their collaboration beyond this season, even despite the team's current period of underperformance.

"These rumours [regarding a move to Ferrari by Hamilton] come up every two years when we have to sign a new contract," Wolff told Austria’s oe24.

"But none of this is true. We discuss normally, without any time pressure."

"I’m firmly convinced that we’ll find each other, there’s not a millimetre of doubt for me. I can’t imagine anything else."

I would have thought money was the last thing on his mind, after all he has already earnt a shed load of money.
Lewis is in his twilight year, Max in his prime , of course he is going to earn more money.
Click to expand...

It’s quite obvious Lewis’ agent spreads the Lewis to Ferrari rumours whenever he’s bargaining for a better contract. There’s nothing weird, sad or notable about that. It’s just negotiation 101.

It’s amazing for such a successful man that Marko feels the need to use Lewis’ name to make the papers and feel relevant. Especially when Marko is so well remunerated and RB are doing so well. He just comes across as bitter and jealous.
 
goalscholes said:
It’s quite obvious Lewis’ agent spreads the Lewis to Ferrari rumours whenever he’s bargaining for a better contract. There’s nothing weird, sad or notable about that. It’s just negotiation 101.

It’s amazing for such a successful man that Marko feels the need to use Lewis’ name to make the papers and feel relevant. Especially when Marko is so well remunerated and RB are doing so well. He just comes across as bitter and jealous.
Click to expand...
Spot On.
Marko is just an idiot for me, he has Lewis on the brain.
Is Lewis pissed of he is not WC, of course he is , if he was not then the fire would have gone.
 
Soft tyre runs about to start
38 mins to go in P2: Get ready for the timing screens to light up as the soft tyre runs are about to begin.
The two Aston Martins are the first cars out on the red-walled tyres.
Fernando Alonso is already nearly two tenths up on Max Verstappen's leading time through sector one!
 
Hamilton struggles for pace
Despite a promising start in Practice One, Hamilton is now struggling to get pace out the of Mercedes.
After hearing how far off he is from Verstappen he says:
"Damn the car won't go much quicker"
 
Red Flag! Sainz crashes out
17 mins to go: Carlos Sainz is in the wall on the exit of the Swimming Pool.
The Spaniard clips the inside corner with his right front, breaks his front suspension and can do nothing as he ends up in the barriers.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
'No major problems' with Mercedes' upgrades
Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin on the initial running of the W14's upgrades:
“It’s difficult to stay at this stage of the weekend. We haven’t seen major problems which is a useful start to it. We were doing some comparisons on set-up across the cars so I think we have a good direction there – Lewis appeared to be in a happier place than George.
“One of the tricky bits with Monaco is the track evolves so much. It’s one thing having the car in a good spot in FP1, you need to keep it there in FP2, FP3 and into Qualy. That’s a lot easier said than done. It’s a good start but we’re certainly wary of the many ways you can get Monaco wrong.
“We’re just playing with the normal set-up parameters here. You don’t design a car for Monaco, you design it for your Silverstones and Barcelonas so the challenge is always how do you take that car designed for another circuit and get it to work around this slow, bumpy very tight and twisty track.

“Monaco is about confidence for the driver. Lewis had that this morning but George didn’t so it’s about working on the tweaks that will bring that.

“We’re very much in the situation of looking at the car we’ve brought here and thinking ‘oh we would have done that differently if we did it again’. If you start with a clean sheet it’s a lot easier to optimise than if you’re halfway through your development and have to make a pretty big change.

"The positive of that we have a big long list of things we’d like to do that we know will bring performance, but it was a really impressive job to what is now race six.”
Click to expand...
They gotta be happy where they are now. Heading in right direction, with loads of updates planned that will make the car faster.

Russell not liking, for him the twitchy rear end of the car. Remains to be seen if that is a design trait of this new modified car.

Still hoping alonso or leclerc stick it on pole tomorrow. More entertaining to watch max trying to get past than him sleepwalking to victory.
 
Red Bull chief Christian Horner says the team would "absolutely not" have set up their own engine division if they had known Honda were going to return to Formula 1.

The Japanese manufacturer announced earlier this week that it will make a full-time return to the sport to supply Aston Martin, Red Bull's nearest challengers at the top of this season's constructors' standings, with engines when new regulations are introduced in 2026.


Honda announced in October 2020 that it would withdraw from F1, and being Red Bull's official engine partner at the end of the 2021 season, but then agreed to continue to supply engines as a paid contractor from 2022 to 2025.

As a result of Honda's decision to exit F1, Red Bull Powertrains was set up to enable the team to build its own engines for 2026, while a partnership to work alongside Ford on the project was announced in February.

"Would we have made a same decision knowing what Honda's decision is today? Absolutely not," Horner said after first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix on Friday.

"But we've made it, and we're committed to it, the more we've got involved the more benefit we see to the group long term."

Despite his admission, Horner says that he now feels "grateful" towards Honda for pushing Red Bull to create its own engine division.

Red Bull ended Mercedes' streak of eight successive constructors' titles last season, and are on course to retain their title having taken dominant victories in each of the first five races of the 2023 campaign.

Christian Horner says Red Bull would not have set up engine division if team knew Honda would remain in Formula 1 | F1 News (skysports.com)
 
I think the field are now double thinking their plans to accidentally crash if they’re ahead in Q3.
 
I imagine whoever photographs that Red Bull floor should earn a pretty penny this afternoon.
 
For a second I thought that’s it for Q1. But noticed the clock has stopped at 11 min. So does the clock stops only for Red Flags?
 
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