Ferrari runs on diesel.
F1 2023 Season
- Thread starter pauldyson1uk
- Start date
Ferrari runs on diesel.
Nico interviewing Lewis, this'll be fun.
Could Mercs run Max close towards the end of the season if they keep progressing like this? AM has upgrades coming so maybe Alonso could get a win this season hopefully.
Ferrari might as well start focusing on 2026 as they have fecked up big time.
Ferrari might as well start focusing on 2026 as they have fecked up big time.
I think Monaco was Alonso’s only chance of a race win this season.
I am hoping he gets a win this season. Would be amazing to see him top of the podium again. Such an amazing driver.
Completely agree. Not sure Alonso will win.
I doubt it due to the budget restraints. Mercedes wanted to change the front pull rods to push rods (getting closer to RedBull anti-dive), but that would involve a chassis change and it cant be done within this season budget.
Also RB can make a much earlier start on next years car as they are in a different catergory of racing at the moment with max (not perez). So RB could retain or extend their advantage next season.
They dont
Agreed, though depending on what upgrades AM bring in next few races, hungary (monaco without walls) would probably be his other best chance.
Alonso winning a race would be good for him and Aston, sadly I just don’t think they can, well not without a few DNFs in front of him.
Singapore win ? Yeah a possibility
Singapore win ? Yeah a possibility
Not that good for Checo, he should do much better.
13.5 prediction points, not as bad as I thought but a lot of that was due to Max
Cheers mate. You bring some good insights to the development and cars. Think budget will be the main issue for the Mercs, unlike Ferrari, who could not get it right even if they threw more money at the problem. They are like us under Woodward and Glazers.
Canada next gp, one of the fastest on the calender. Expect the RB to go win easily by driving around as slowly as possible.
Lets hope for torrential rain to give AM/Mercedes and Ferrari a sporting chance.
Lets hope for torrential rain to give AM/Mercedes and Ferrari a sporting chance.
Enjoy it while it lasts guys. Verstappen is the GOAT
We’ll hopefully see if he can win a fair championship without the fastest car. In four/ five years, the debate can start.
I think it's about having somebody else winning a race. I still don't think that it will happen.
I somehow seemed to have fudged a decent score on Superbru.
Random but interesting observation that in our Superbru league there’s only 3 Mercedes and 1 Red Bull fan. Majority are McLaren funnily enough.
Yeah that's the point. Tsunoda pushed Zhou off.
Verstappen solidifying his place as one of the true goats of the sport. Absolute beast, just light-years ahead of everyone else.
Super Max is a gift to motor sports 
What a guy!
What a guy!Super Max is a gift to motor sports
Absolute beast. Just on a different level to everyone at the moment. GOAT
You must have forgotten about the time when Hamilton won the championship in a literal shed. Wait until Max has done that, then the debate can start.
In theory the FIAs sliding scales for development time should reign RedBull in eventually (they get less wind tunnel and CFD time than everyone else), but they do have one guy, who Martin Brundle, said during commentary today, should be the highest paid person in F1, Adrian Newey.
He might be enough to keep RB ahead till 2026, regardless of the sliding scales.
In 2017 Hamilton won with 1 minute and 52 seconds in spain, most cars were 2 laps down. Today it was just 24 seconds, despite Lewis running behind Sainz in the 1st stint, it could be alot worse.
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Here is Russel's start.
In theory the FIAs sliding scales for development time should reign RedBull in eventually (they get less wind tunnel and CFD time than everyone else), but they do have one guy, who Martin Brundle, said during commentary today, should be the highest paid person in F1, Adrian Newey.
He might be enough to keep RB ahead till 2026, regardless of the sliding scales.
Question is, when is he going to bloody retire.
That'd be nice: help put out some forest fires, save me having to water our plants all the time.
Oh, and something about that race I suppose.
He's 65 this year, so I could see 2025 being a date where he retires with the new regs inbound for 2026.
He didn't gain anything tbf, just saved himself from potential accident. Good reaction at the start too.
I agree, there was no advantage gained there
Verstappens really on a different level at the moment much as it disgusts me to say it. Hes just making it look so effortless and hes not the kind of driver to make a mistake when hes not being challenged.
At least with Hamilton and Mercedes there was always the possibility of them doing something bonkers to put themselves at a disadvantage for the hell of it at times.
Reminds me of the Vettel era where it was more entertaining watching the midfield battle than it was seeing who would win the race. Cant say the same for when Hamilton was winning everything as I go for him so different viewpoint.
At least with Hamilton and Mercedes there was always the possibility of them doing something bonkers to put themselves at a disadvantage for the hell of it at times.
Reminds me of the Vettel era where it was more entertaining watching the midfield battle than it was seeing who would win the race. Cant say the same for when Hamilton was winning everything as I go for him so different viewpoint.
He’s some man, probably the greatest car designer ever, also with him being British why isn’t he knighted and called Sir Adrian newey
This is an example of why the current sliding scale rules for F1 dont and wont work. Williams recieve the most windtunnel CFD time of any team on the grid. However look at the floor they have produced. Its so basic, so simple.
For the rules to work as intended there are sum assumptions made.
1) All the teams have similar sized track side and factory side teams. Which is not the case. The big three are circa 700-800 person operation. Some of the smaller teams i.e. haas may only have 250 person operation.
2) They have similar sized operations at the factory and state of the art (current) wind tunnels
2) All the teams are using the maximum ceiling of the budget, which we know isnt the case.
So no matter how much wind tunnel time you give to say Williams and CFD time. If they are operating from a smaller budget, with a smaller total number of employees and not state of the art facilities, you end up with floors like Williams one.
How can F1 fix this? The only way is to 1) have manufactuers own the teams i.e. Audi buying Alfa Romeo or 2) a billionaire whos happy to back gis F1 team i.e. Dietrich Mateschitz.
Its no secret F1 want only manufacturer teams to join, the bar is so high now, that independent teams have little or no chance to disrupt the big three.
Just look at how much money stroll senior has pumped into AM. New state of the art facilities, huge recruitment drive to get AM upto the required 700-800 person operation size.
Lastly just to reinforce the gap, heres an imagine of the "work of art" floor of a RedBull compared to a "Williams".
For the rules to work as intended there are sum assumptions made.
1) All the teams have similar sized track side and factory side teams. Which is not the case. The big three are circa 700-800 person operation. Some of the smaller teams i.e. haas may only have 250 person operation.
2) They have similar sized operations at the factory and state of the art (current) wind tunnels
2) All the teams are using the maximum ceiling of the budget, which we know isnt the case.
So no matter how much wind tunnel time you give to say Williams and CFD time. If they are operating from a smaller budget, with a smaller total number of employees and not state of the art facilities, you end up with floors like Williams one.
How can F1 fix this? The only way is to 1) have manufactuers own the teams i.e. Audi buying Alfa Romeo or 2) a billionaire whos happy to back gis F1 team i.e. Dietrich Mateschitz.
Its no secret F1 want only manufacturer teams to join, the bar is so high now, that independent teams have little or no chance to disrupt the big three.
Just look at how much money stroll senior has pumped into AM. New state of the art facilities, huge recruitment drive to get AM upto the required 700-800 person operation size.
Lastly just to reinforce the gap, heres an imagine of the "work of art" floor of a RedBull compared to a "Williams".
That's really funny, almost sad 
Wondered what happened to my Renault Espace under engine cover.
Pretty enjoyable Spanish GP, decent amount of overtakes. Hopefully Merc have gone into positive direction now.
Pretty enjoyable Spanish GP, decent amount of overtakes. Hopefully Merc have gone into positive direction now.
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I don't think there's a chance they'll beat them on pure pace.
You can see across FPs that the Merc needs very specific conditions to work optimally.
The RBs looks great across all conditions.
Even if Mercedes can catch the RB by at least .3s a lap (very unlikely without a new chassis, and it is probably more than that given RB are seconds faster when they need to be), they still need to defend against the RBs DRS on the straights.
And that’s making the assumption that there will no new development from RB, who have the world's leading expert in ground effect cars. RB have significantly less aero time, and are developing at a similar rate to the others.
Without significant intervention, I doubt they'll be caught before 2025.
At the end Perez was catching at almost a second a lap. The truth is that Max didn't have to go faster.