The Motorsport Thread (Part 2)

[gilbertharding]

Meanwhile, something far scarier might be afoot:

https://www.grandprix.com/news/saudi-arabian-group-eyes-f1-takeover.html

Sport totally fucked if this happens.

Why's that then?

[Ambient Sheep]

Nope, Vettel (and Stroll, natch), confirmed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/58570051


(Sorry, no time right now to address the above post, but I shall.)

[Wonderful Butternut]

Utterly boring and predictable qualifying today with no surprises at all.

[Blumf]

Utterly boring and predictable qualifying today with no surprises at all.

Norris, Sainz, and Russel(!) up front is predictable?

[Wonderful Butternut]

I thought the sarcasm was fairly obvious.

[Blumf]

Well it was boring, just not predictable.

[Wonderful Butternut]

[Ambient Sheep]

LOL my aching sides.

[Jasha]

Norris, Sainz, and Russel(!) up front is predictable?

Brits innit, grow up with wets

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Another great race in what has been a rare season. This time with a familiar looking top 10 but could have so easily been different. Sochi should never be run unless it rains.

[Mr_Simnock]

today's race was great, shame about norris not getting his first win

[Blumf]

Gutting for Norris, the only thing he did wrong this weekend was ignore the team at the end. But you really can't blame him, very intense situation. 'No!!'

Also a shame to see Williams fluff the pit strategy with Russell, but at least he got a point.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Hamilton needs a bit of luck somewhere to pull this off. More rain, a DNF from Verstappen, etc. Given they look like hitting each other the whole time now perhaps just take each other out 7 times.

[Jasha]

Gutting for Norris, the only thing he did wrong this weekend was ignore the team at the end. But you really can't blame him, very intense situation. 'No!!'

Would have liked to see Norris take the win but Hamilton deferred to the team, possibly needed some stronger leadership from McLaren. Once Hamilton pitted Norris could have still pitted himself the following lap and kept the lead couldn't he?

[Blumf]

Once Hamilton pitted Norris could have still pitted himself the following lap and kept the lead couldn't he?

I'm not sure. It was tight before Lewis' pit, and once he was on inters he'd be making much better time than Lando, so even after one lap it'd be over.

[Wonderful Butternut]

Would have liked to see Norris take the win but Hamilton deferred to the team, possibly needed some stronger leadership from McLaren. Once Hamilton pitted Norris could have still pitted himself the following lap and kept the lead couldn't he?

Fairly sure Hamilton had the gap to sub 20 seconds by the time Norris came around to the pit entry again, so Norris would've lost the lead. They still would've salvaged 2nd though.

[Ambient Sheep]

Interesting article here by ex-Jordan technical director Gary Anderson, explaining that Mercedes' recent gain in speed down the straights is probably down to a clever trick in the rear suspension:

https://the-race.com/formula-1/gary-anderson-explains-mercedes-suspension-trick/

[Jasha]

State of that Austin track everyone's suspension will be working overtime

[Ambient Sheep]

Looks like Guanyu Zhou has been confirmed at Alfa:

https://twitter.com/SpannersReady/status/1459126345385000971

Landed in my inbox. This image is from a Shanghai Alfa dealership. Text on the wall says "Congrats to Zhou on becoming the first Chinese F1 driver"

https://twitter.com/M_SchuMARKer/status/1459128701153591322

Google translate backs it up.

The new Alfa driver was going to be officially announced after the race this Sunday, but seems that somebody's PR department jumped the gun.

[Blumf]

Has everybody got their stuff at the track now?

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/brazilian-gp-curfew-waived-after-f1-freight-delays/6770564/

Surprising we don't see more logistics issues, must be one of the harder parts of running a team.

[Blumf]

Oh bloody hell!

Max caught touching Lewis car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmDF-WDnNkk

And Lewis' car not up to spec:
https://twitter.com/CroftyF1/status/1459275917088411652/photo/1

Could well see the championship twunted here, on petty rule breaking. F1!!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Throw them both out of the championship, Bottas and Perez head to head please.

[Alberon]

Max being stupid enough to touch Lewis' car might save the latter from a severe penalty. Verstappen almost certainly didn't cause the rule violation in Lewis' wing, but can the FIA say that with absolute certainty?

[Ambient Sheep]

Exactly!

[Alberon]

Verstappen gets a €50,000 fine but judge there was insufficient force in his touch to alter the rear wing of Hamilton's car.

No ruling on Lewis yet, but he has to be starting in the pit lane tomorrow.

[Wonderful Butternut]

Confirmed. Hamilton DQd from qualifying.

[Blumf]

Fucking hell! So that's the championship done for the year. Super exciting F1!!

[Wonderful Butternut]

Fucking hell! So that's the championship done for the year. Super exciting F1!!

So they should not penalise a technical breach cos it hands Verstappen[nb]Who would already be out of sight if he hadn't been yeeted two races in a row, btw[/nb] an advantage? Maybe they should arbitrarily dock Verstappen 20 points after this race to keep things exciting? That approach worked in 1994 I suppose.

It's not like Hamilton was DSQd from the whole event, he'll likely finish the feature race 2nd or 3rd because the extent to which he and Verstappen have outclassed the field most races this season is absurd. He'll be about 30 points behind if Verstappen wins both the sprint and feature, but that's not actually Championship over, is it?

[Blumf]

Calm down dear, I'm just upset that a nice and close match got dropped because of rule breaking. It's Merc's fault, no doubt.

[Alberon]

Championship not totally dead. Bottas P1, Verstappen P2 and Hamilton P10.