[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by HeelToeShift

I think he took it relatively easy after he put a considerable gap on Lec, and then even more so when Checo was securely in 2nd.

I certainly would not mind seeing him win every race this year and winning the WDC for 5 years on the bounce and then come into 2026 and win 3-4 more.

Sure . This first race was like racing into the unknown .
The new RB19 car and the new 2023 Pirelli tyres ...

And there's still lots of fine-tuning going on ...

[Killed by Death]

2023 IndyCar St Petersburg crash:

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Depends how big it is and the location by the sea with sea view .
Of course the price of a square meter in Monaco is insane ...

MAX won't buy something small in Monaco

Within walking distance of nice speed boat too probably.

[Poiseuille]

“…yes yes, I had a pretty good day but wow, that Lance, he did great!”

[Artemis]

Feeling gutted for Leclerc. This new setback may draw him closer to becoming Russell's team mate at Mercedes in the future (Leclerc and Hamilton swapping seats/teams: never say never). Leclerc has the consolation that also Verstappen and Perez DNF'd with reliability issues during the opening race of 2022 and subsequently clawed back. Just keep fighting. The season has just begun - lots of points up for grabs.

Alonso spiced the race with his "Vamos!" attitude - he was clearly enjoying the ride. Interesting fact to keep in mind for the rest of the season: the Aston Martin is powered by a Mercedes engine. So Mercedes has the tools to give Hamilton and Russell a more competitive car. The current Merc car design needs upgrades.

The Red Bulls were on their own planet.

McLaren has a lot of home work.

Ocon and Alpine: what were they thinking ?

[TheBingoBalls]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Interesting fact to keep in mind for the rest of the season: the Aston Martin is powered by a Mercedes engine. So Mercedes has the tools to give Hamilton and Russell a more competitive car. The current Merc car design needs upgrades.

Further proof that the W13/W14 concept is flawed. I'm sure there is some benefit somewhere but unfortunately the reality is it doesn't work/fit with the current regulations or at least the development pace does not allow Mercedes to keep up Red Bull, Ferrari and now Aston Martin.

I think Mercedes has to decide what they want to do, they can continue to develop the car and improve this season, but does this concept keep up with the rest moving forward? I think the answer is slowly but surely becoming a no.

[NickyC]

Enjoyable race due to Alonso, and thank goodness he's here/competitive as otherwise I think this season is going to be nothing but RB RB RB RB RB.

Max/RB are light years ahead, this is Schuey/Ferrari and Ham/Mercedes prime time dominance right now. Max was basically on cruise control for 50% of the race or more.

[G30M]

Originally Posted by NYG

Merc didn't have a decade to prepare for this generation of cars this time around.

i have a poor memory, can someone remind me / explain how Merc got such a head start with the last gen cars that they just dominated?

[TheBingoBalls]

Originally Posted by g21

i have a poor memory, can someone remind me / explain how Merc got such a head start with the last gen cars that they just dominated?

Do yourself a favour and Google it. Trust me. You’re going to get a lot of responses that sensationalize the whole process that moved F1 into the V6 turbo-hybrid era and you won’t get an accurate response.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Max/RB are light years ahead, this is Schuey/Ferrari and Ham/Mercedes prime time dominance right now. Max was basically on cruise control for 50% of the race or more.

The way Verstappen dominantly pulled away during the first laps made clear that the rest of the field wouldn't catch him anymore this race + TV cameras needn't filming his car anymore except for his pitstops and final lap, while Alonso kept on entertaining us all, having others for lunch.

Race highlights:

[M5Rick]

Biggest surprise to me was not Ferrari but how McLaren flopped, Piastri retiring with electrics (nice try changing the steering wheel which didn't work) and Norris's 6 stops for air to fill a pneumatic pressure leak making him finish last 2 laps down.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Feeling gutted for Leclerc. This new setback may draw him closer to becoming Russell's team mate at Mercedes in the future (Leclerc and Hamilton swapping seats/teams: never say never). Leclerc has the consolation that also Verstappen and Perez DNF'd with reliability issues during the opening race of 2022 and subsequently clawed back. Just keep fighting. The season has just begun - lots of points up for grabs.

Alonso spiced the race with his "Vamos!" attitude - he was clearly enjoying the ride. Interesting fact to keep in mind for the rest of the season: the Aston Martin is powered by a Mercedes engine. So Mercedes has the tools to give Hamilton and Russell a more competitive car. The current Merc car design needs upgrades.

The Red Bulls were on their own planet.

McLaren has a lot of home work.

Ocon and Alpine: what were they thinking ?

In all honesty I can't see Leclerc going to Mercedes whatever he says, Merc are on a downward spiral of their own making. His best bet is to keep with Ferrari who can only improve with better reliability and seing if the new manager can make any difference.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

In all honesty I can't see Leclerc going to Mercedes whatever he says, Merc are on a downward spiral of their own making. His best bet is to keep with Ferrari who can only improve with better reliability and seing if the new manager can make any difference.

yeah currently the Ferrari is the faster car for sure.
There's no telling whether or not Merc will sort out their problems in the forseeable future.
With the budget caps and restrictions on wind tunnel time etc, the quality of the car has to come out of the talent of the engineers and other personel.
They cant spend the yearly 600million+ they had to their disposal when they reigned the last turbo hybrid era.

Maybe LEC can go to AMR when ALO quits.
I mean he has to stop at some point...doesnt he?
(imagine Piastri, entering F1 and there is a bloke driving around since before the day he was born.....)

[yco]

RB is too fast.. i can just only hope that one of the teams can barely match with RB's.. Mercs needs a bigger improvement that car doesnt want to stay on the road and not much top speed also.. horrible..

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

yeah currently the Ferrari is the faster car for sure.
There's no telling whether or not Merc will sort out their problems in the forseeable future.
With the budget caps and restrictions on wind tunnel time etc, the quality of the car has to come out of the talent of the engineers and other personel.
They cant spend the yearly 600million+ they had to their disposal when they reigned the last turbo hybrid era.

Maybe LEC can go to AMR when ALO quits.
I mean he has to stop at some point...doesnt he?
(imagine Piastri, entering F1 and there is a bloke driving around since before the day he was born.....)

Looking at Fernando I see no reason for him to not go on indefinitely, age doesn't matter if you have the will and fitness and being young is not a necessity for F1 as the general train of thought seems to go. Paul Newman was racing a Corvette in 24 hour race at 80.

[lens]

Apparently LEC car wasn't engine or turbo failure, they're both safe.

Looks like a electronical issue that has to be due to ECU or harness.

Jeddah will be a good race to see if people have caught up on straight line speed and deg.

I know that MERC has upped their top speed, but they have more deg due to it.

[Roman]

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by lens

Apparently LEC car wasn't engine or turbo failure, they're both safe.

Looks like a electronical issue that has to be due to ECU or harness.

Jeddah will be a good race to see if people have caught up on straight line speed and deg.

I know that MERC has upped their top speed, but they have more deg due to it.

It was the ES (energy store) that had already been replaced before the race. They're allowed only two per year and he could get a grid penalty even in Jeddah.
https://www.crash.net/f1/news/102174...nk-2022-issues

[NYG]

Originally Posted by NYG

1. VER
2. LEC
3. ALO

I'm most happy about my Alonso prediction!!

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

In all honesty I can't see Leclerc going to Mercedes whatever he says, Merc are on a downward spiral of their own making. His best bet is to keep with Ferrari who can only improve with better reliability and seing if the new manager can make any difference.

Just read that Wolff is very depressed ...The Dutch article => https://racingnews365.nl/wolff-in-za...-voor-mercedes

I say the W13/W14 zero sidepod design is a curse !
In other words : Mercedes needs a new car ! Hello Mercedes budget cap !!!


Interesting :
At the moment that MAX pulled his gap to Charlie , RB turned the HONDA ponies down from MAX's car .
RB could be 0.5/0.7 sec. faster during the race if they ran with the full available HP .

[NYG]

My thoughts on the race;

1. LETS GOOOO MAX - the RB19 is just fundamentally a superior design to anything else on the grid.
2. Seeing Alonso on the podium is one of the greatest feelings there is.
3. I do think that Aston Martin will be grounded very soon - we will probably see Fernando on the podium again but I feel as though Bahrain highlighted that car's strengths and that Jeddah will determine just how close to the fight they are.
4. When are you Merc fans going to finally listen to me? The car obviously looked terrible in testing.
5. I don't know how much more of this Charles is going to handle. I think he was teary eyed during his post race interview. I don't think Ferrari's hopes are done for but they're off to a tough start.
6. Mattia was NOT the problem at Ferrari - simply a scapegoat
7. I think Logan had an EXCELLENT showing and I'm expecting to see great things from him.
8. Ocon is still dumb but decent race from Gasly although he was fighting cars clearly out of position
9. I'm really hoping Lawrence will let Alonso flourish and allow his son to learn from a champion to improve himself instead of prioritizing Lance

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Just read that Wolff is very depressed ...The Dutch article => https://racingnews365.nl/wolff-in-za...-voor-mercedes

I say the W13/W14 zero sidepod design is a curse !
In other words : Mercedes needs a new car ! Hello Mercedes budget cap !!!


Interesting :
At the moment that MAX pulled his gap to Charlie , RB turned the HONDA ponies down from MAX's car .
RB could be 0.5/0.7 sec. faster during the race if they ran with the full available HP .

Wolfy is saying ''We need to put one step in front of the other to come back'' Yeah that's about the crux of it man heheh
https://racingnews365.com/wolff-labe...des-worst-days