F1 2023 thread

dulpit

On the broadcasting/podcasting side of things, Sky have launched a new podcast. It's on podcasting clients and on youtube:

https://youtu.be/lGq8pahTUEI

It would appear that it's replacing Any Driven Monday from last year, which was poor. The first podcast was excellent, and not the usual sky sports British bias. Could listen to Karun all day, and Natalie is great. The host (Matt Baker) is anonymous, but no harm. Ted could have been a bit quieter, but well worth the listen.

Now have 4 f1 podcasts on rotation: The Race, P1 with Matt & Tommy, Sky Sports and Bring Back V10s for the nostalgia.

Anyone have any other podcasts to recommend?

flazio

BBC Chequered Flag podcast just had their preview episode and we got a lovely message from Jennie Gow on how her recovery from her stroke is going. Rosanna Tennant is subbing as reporter for now.

Sadly Channel 4 didn't keep their On The Marbles podcast going. F1 themselves have Beyond the Grid and F1 Nation (Warning, may contain Damon Hill) and that's about it.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120299066#Comment_120299066

I don't get the reasons to dislike Russell. He's a bit wallpaper, but lots of the drivers are a bit meh.

He sat at Williams and waited his turn, didn't make a fuss even though he must have been frustrated. Can't begrudge him a decent car now.

oceanman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120299683#Comment_120299683

and if last year is anything to go by he aint a half bad driver...

This is it

I don't like Russell. All drivers moan but he seems to be at it constantly, or his moaning is broadcast more than others possibly. That said, he's a good driver and deserves his chance.

Lawlesz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120299225#Comment_120299225

Bring Back V10s is the best out there, the research that goes into it is awesome. Outside that, I listen to The Race and (don't shoot me) Missed Apex. The host is a bit of a dose but there is a nice community, amateur-y feel to it, like mates sitting round chatting. They also have some good guests sporadically through the year, Matt Carter (former Lotus TP) Joe Saward (I know, I know) Alex Brundle, and Mike Caulfield (former Haas strategy head).

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120299900#Comment_120299900

Fair enough. I suppose if that's your standard then you must also dislike Alonso and Max. They're pretty prolific complainers too.

muckwarrior

The big difference (for me) is that Alonso and Max just seem more genuine. Yes they whine and can be dicks at times (especially Max), but I get the impression with them that it's what-you-see-is-what-you-get. George reminds me a lot of Hamilton, in that he seems very concerned with how he's perceived. A lot of what he says is guarded media speak. He even commented recently about how he plans to be more careful what he says over the radio so that he doesn't appear so whiney to the audience.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120300689#Comment_120300689

I don’t think Max wines much at all or Alonso.

I do think Merc drivers are forever whining. Surprised with Russell considering how he was with Williams. I think Merc seem to have a whining culture. Look how happy Bottas is in himself now since leaving

artanevilla

They all whine. They're top level sportsmen.

Gremlinertia

At least the footage these days goes further down the field. As much as I appreciated Schumacher cameras tracking him while he was half a lap ahead did get tedious.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120300689#Comment_120300689

So will you be happier and dislike him less when he whinges less?

muckwarrior

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120301269#Comment_120301269

I don't know. Obviously my opinion is subjective and I was just outlining reasons why I think I like certain drivers more than others.

muckwarrior

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120300707#Comment_120300707

Well they're certainly no strangers to complaining, but arguably in a less whiney manner. With Max especially it often manifests as an outburst of anger.

flazio

Bit of broadcasting news Alex Jacques has returned to the F1 TV team as their lead F1 commentator. No word yet as to what's going to happen on Channel 4 however there's speculation that C4 won't produce their own commentary anymore and just edit their package using F1TV commentary.

What has been confirmed though is that Sky Sports commentary won't be used on F1 social media or YouTube anymore. The highlights will all be F1 TV.

McFly85

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120301886#Comment_120301886

Makes sense, I always thought it was strange they’d use Sky F1 when they have their own broadcasting team.

Now give me the option to subscribe to F1TV and I’m all set!

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120299683#Comment_120299683

There's nothing commendable about sitting at Williams and waiting his turn - he didn't achieve anything and was just preordained as the automatic successor at Mercedes without particularly working for it. Look at the performances guys like Norris put in race in race out, or Gasly winning in an Alpha Tauri or Ocon winning in an Alpine and beating Alonso as teammates. All Russell did was finish behind a teammate with one functioning arm in the championship in his first season, then after that beating the slowest driver on the grid by far, by what on average was a much smaller margin than Albon went on to beat him by.

Just to put some numbers behind that, Albon was an average of 0.472% faster than Latifi while Russell was an average of 0.319% faster than Latifi the year before. Albon was outqualified by Latifi once, while Russell was outqualified by Latifi three times the year before.

Russell never did anything special at Williams, he just looked good relative to the slowest driver in the field in the other car, and had the sycophantic media fawning over him for being British, for being good at the PR game and for being Mercedes' chosen one. His reward for that was getting a seat in what was the fastest car in the sport by default, while other drivers push and push and push fighting hard in the midfield for years putting in far better performances than George ever has with nothing of the sort to show for it. So I wouldn't be too quick to praise his patience for being in such a privileged position.

flazio

Ocon didn't beat Alonso to that race win, in fact Ocon wouldn't have gotten that race win if it weren't for Alonso playing wide load with Hamilton.

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120299683#Comment_120299683

Sorry I wasn't having a pop at Russells talent, he it top class and fits in well at Merc. I just find him a bit drab and script-written, not sure he has a joke in him at all.

muckwarrior

"All Russell did was finish behind a teammate with one functioning arm"

Whatever credibility your argument might have had, you lost it all there.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Just having a discussion over a few pints last night with a mate. Just as a matter of interest, who do people see as top drivers?

I would see Max and Lewis as the clear top 2. I would also have Alonso (age?), Leclerc, Norris and Russell in the category of WDC potential. After that then, I wouldn't be confident in anyone else winning a WDC unless they had a vastly superior car.

Just curious to hear other people's thoughts on the matter.. It's obviously very hard to compare drivers given the car, driving styles, engineers, strategists, etc.

dulpit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120302532#Comment_120302532

Max & Lewis are tier 1. Leclerc, Norris, Russell, Alonso, maybe Sainz are tier 2. All of them in the right car and circumstances could win the championship.

As for comments about George, he's unquestionably a great driver, but he always reminds me of Damon Hill for some reason. Just don't like him.

oceanman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120302532#Comment_120302532

i think you have them pretty much covered there....none of the rest would have much chance of winning a world title.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120301886#Comment_120301886

What has been confirmed though is that Sky Sports commentary won't be used on F1 social media or YouTube anymore. The highlights will all be F1 TV.

Good. Delighted to hear that.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120301982#Comment_120301982

Now give me the option to subscribe to F1TV and I’m all set!.

Yes the same here.

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120302532#Comment_120302532

I think I would have Max, Lewis and Charles in tier 1. Charles (for me at least) entered that fully last year, he just needs a few kinks ironed out and he is gold. Lew is is till there on the basis of bing a 7 times champion, but he will struggle to win again without Merc getting their act together. I think Alonso falls into his own category in that he defies his age with his speed and skill, still at 41. In that Sky video above, I agree with Chandock in that if he was in the 2018 Ferrari, he would have won the title.

Russell is still unproven for tier 1 but is probably in the very busy tier 2 with Norris, Ocon, Gasly, Sainz and Perez (on his day at least).

Having said all of that, I don't think anyone is really at Maxs level right now in F1 when he is in that Red Bull. The team is pretty much made around him right now, and he has such control in the car that he has the legs on anyone on their day.

I agree though that outside of the few I have mentioned, they don't have a hope in winning a race, never mind a title.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120302144#Comment_120302144

Yeah he's a bit too much of a pro. But unless a driver wants to be a controversial media personality, they just need to say fcuk all. The media would make a story out of nothing and they keep needling and needling until they get half a whiff of a story. So unless the driver wants that, they're best to just say nothing and move on.

Perez is boring. He says noting of interest. He just swallows his pride, acts like a good no.2 and pushes whatever he actually thinks deep down. Nobody is having a pop at him for being boring.

I think it's similar to the way I hate it when someone I dislike makes mouth noises when they eat. But I have a friend who does the same and it doesn't bother me at all. I don't dislike the people because they make the noises, I dislike the noises because I already dislike the person.

I haven't heard a cogent argument why Russell's whinging is bad and Alonso's whinging is good. Or Russell doesn't say enough to the media but the likes of Perez is A-OK.

It's got nothing to do with some kind of consistent standards around whinging on radio or not talking enough to the media.

flazio

Alpha Tauri plans to stay in the Red Bull family.

https://twitter.com/AlphaTauriF1/status/1630887062285983744?t=J0mBk50wKQpPaIJM0Hx1Rw&s=19

Frank Bullitt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120303159#Comment_120303159

I guess with Russell, he has been part of the Merc family since he was a kid, so his coaching would have started so long ago that it is natural to him, hence the wooden mantra he gives off.

Idleater

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120301982#Comment_120301982

Re the F1 TV (I didn't want to resurrect the BA thread from last year but I can if that makes sense): I have the pro subscription via my foreign google pay account, will it automatically renew on expiry? So I have to either make sure google pay is set up to deduct from a valid card (Revolut) that has sufficient funds available or do I need to add to amount into the google pay balance?

I guess that would apply to any subscription, I just haven't done any other ones.

PsychoPete

George Russell is the father stone of the F1 world, the man is so dull.