F1 2023 thread

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120919745#Comment_120919745

Yeah probably. And they can't really police that unless they follow them around and check up on them. As long as most of the team members get a rest, spend sometime with family and friends, that's about as much as you can hope for.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120919847#Comment_120919847

Yes exactly.

NinjaTruncs

Horner mentioned this on an episode of drive to survive when he was having a day out with his family.

From recollection he said something about they are supposed to take 2 weeks off and when he wife asked would other teams be working he said possibly there is no way of knowing.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Second month long break where Formula 1 will get next to no mainstream sporting coverage. Farcical for a top level sport tbh.

There was also a 3 week break earlier too, which in fairness, was no fault of F1, but has a contributed to a very broken feel to this season.

mickdw

This holiday shutdown is abit of a joke.

I remember seasons past where cars returned with a massive jump in performance.

flazio

There has to be a balance between being an employee of an F1 team and being somebody's family member. Even serving soldiers, oil rig workers, sailors etc get a leave of duty. F1 teams must be given the same opportunity.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120920478#Comment_120920478

Exactly. They are not machines they are humans and need their time off too.

McFly85

I presume we’ll find out who broke the cost cap, who’s going to be the new Alpine principal and maybe have another surprise driver replacement to keep us busy over the break!

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120920218#Comment_120920218

What other top level sport never takes a break? Football has a two to three month off season in most countries. The NFL season is only 18 weeks long. Sports like tennis and golf is complicated but outside of a small number of events there is some freedom as to what to take part in.

If you look at the 2024 F1 calendar, January will be the only month of the entire year with no on track running. And they travel the entire globe over the course of the season too. I'm not sure there is a more intense calendar in any other sport. F1 would also have a disproportionately large number of necessary support staff who aren't on massive salaries in the way the competitors are. They could get away with no summer break when it was a 16 race season, but there is only so much the teams can push their staff.

klose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120917178#Comment_120917178

That would be a major shock if that happened. Alpine announcing Otmars replacement is about as much news as we will hear, Binotto to replace him I wonder?

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120920478#Comment_120920478

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120920978#Comment_120920978

NFL is an outlier because of how violent the sport is. The length of its season has nothing to do with giving players time off, it's about not killing them every year.

Football/soccer goes from mid-August through to mid-May with only a break for Christmas and odd weeks here and there for international breaks - in which obviously a lot of players travel long-distance. I wouldn't say players even get a 2 month break. The ones that go to WC's and continental internationals competitions get no breaks.

Tennis is essentially a year round sport along with golf, but it's an individual sport so players are free to work as they please.

NBA goes from October to June, no break bar a week for All-Star weekend.

Even the top level players in amateur GAA go from Jan/Feb right the way through to August/Sept at a minimum. Inter-county players on clubs that win county don't get a break.

They're the sports I would have had a keen interest in, can't speak about other sports and what they do. That's also when competitions are active only; with the people involved obviously training at least a month before any competition.

I can't think of any other sport that takes a full month off in the middle of the season.

I understand that these are people involved, but IMO, if you want to be involved in a top-level sport, you have to make sacrifices - as almost every other sport does. It's not for everyone, but there's plenty of people that would give their left knut to be a part of an F1 team.

Even without the break Formula 1 has a very broken season, which is frustrating, but understandable given what's required. But this season could easily have been done from March-September. Teams would get similar time off (more unless I'm mistaken), and it gives the fan the opportunity to actually to engross themselves in the sport without these breaks.

quokula

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120921201#Comment_120921201

A season from Mid-August to mid-May leaves a 3 month gap. Jan/Feb to Aug/Sep also leaves a 3 month gap. October to June leaves a 4 month gap.

If you're citing those as the benchmark I don't see a problem with F1 getting a one month gap now, given that it now only gets a two month gap between track sessions in the off season, and that time is actually one of the most intense parts of the year in terms of car development.

Sure, they could take a bigger break in Winter and eliminate the Summer break, but would that really make any difference to spectators? I'd imagine a bit of breathing room before they race on 4 different continents in the two months after they return makes a big difference to the employees.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120921302#Comment_120921302

I might be in the minority here, but I'd rather a fluidity to the season. Horses for courses and all that, I just find it frustrating that since the cancellation of Imola, there's at least been a race every other weekend, and now it'll be 4 weeks until the next one.

recyclops

I am just loving it this time as the return to racing will be my return to a racetrack after 20 years so the excitement will be through the roof

dulpit

1 year ago today. Will we have anything similar this year?

https://twitter.com/AstonMartinF1/status/1554014220643143680?t=mDtkpNxy9Sx6HE4Ac1xvEw&s=19%20

Andrew76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924481#Comment_120924481

The race have a nice little reminder piece on it too.

https://the-race.com/formula-1/one-year-on-two-shock-f1-moves-couldnt-look-any-better/

mickdw

I think the teams are now running 2 groups of staff for certain tasks to reduce workload / hours for some staff.

mickdw

I had noticed the guy that used to arrange the f1 podiums is not there any more. Alexandre Molina is his name and he was a long time permanent fixture.

Google says he has gone off to be Ceo of a new electric bike racing series.

afatbollix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924716#Comment_120924716

It depends on their roles, alot of the top engineers, team principles are at every race, They have some mechanics at every race. But its not just about them, There's the TV people, People who run the FIA bit, The VIP bits. You get to see a driver flying private but what about the 100 members of the team stuck in economy for 10 hours going straight to the track for the build-up, Then the race then tear down before flying from Baku to Canada to do it all again. It's a grueling schedule.

They all need a break and most people take August off so viewership would be down so might as well close down for a few weeks.

To be honest some of my best work has been on a sun lounger! You get to turn off which allows you to think of other things that normally your too busy to think about!

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120924481#Comment_120924481

1 year ago today. Will we have anything similar this year?

I doubt it. Maybe if Red Bull had of waited untill now to announce Danyal Ricciardo driving fjr Alpha Tauri and Nick De Vries leaving that might have been it but they did not. Unless they announce Daniel moving to Red Bul now but I doubt it. Can't see any other changes happening anywhere. Maybe Kimi will announce he is retiring at the end of the season or Alonso if the Aston Martin does not improve. I suppose Valerie Bottas could too.

mickdw

Kimi?

Brief_Lives

I suppose he meant Valteri?

El_Duderino 09

I presume the mid season gap will be filled with stuff like this (plus a discussing about whether Hamilton is a dickhead or a massive dickhead).

The article uses the term BOP without explaining l what the initials mean or what the impact would be. Any ideas? Balance of power maybe?

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-risks-catastrophe-if-engine-move-ends-up-in-bop-warns-wolff/10502141/

Dont be at yourself

Balance of peformance

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120927929#Comment_120927929

What does that actually mean in terms of the article. It doesn't explain

Dont be at yourself

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120928538#Comment_120928538

Artificially bringing performance of the engines in line with each other, by restricting fuel flow on the higher powered engines. Its used in some series but would be against F1 DNA in my view.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120928666#Comment_120928666

Sound. I suppose they could just have spec engines badges with constructor branding.

Renault have been the poorest engine throughout this formula. Honda came late and showed how development can be done if given the resources

Andrew76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120927873#Comment_120927873

And stuff like this:

https://racingnews365.com/hamilton-in-brutal-perez-dig-if-i-were-in-his-car-max-wouldnt-be-so-far-ahead

The actual quote that mentions Perez:

"If was in Sergio's car, Max would not be having the same time he's having now. But it's not the way life is."

Not "brutal" at all tbh and many drivers could say the same thing - they would also be doing a better job most likely. Hamilton would be a bit closer than Perez is for sure but he'd still be second best to Max no doubt - in fact Max would push Lewis closer to retirement if they were in the same car.

El_Duderino 09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120928773#Comment_120928773

Yeah that's the spirit.

I'd say it's hard to tell how Lewis would compete with max in the same car. We're all just assuming max is on 'another planet' from the others because they all keep saying it and we have nothing to compare him to. I'd say Hamilton would give him a serious battle if they were in the same car. Lewis has gotten the netter of Rissell as Russell has gotten more time in the car. Unless he's lost a lot of speed with age, I'd say Lewis vs Max would be a class battle and I wouldn't bet on a winner.

Andrew76

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120929130#Comment_120929130

For sure I'd put Lewis in the top drivers bracket along with Leclerc and Norris, but below Max right now. I would love if Horner signed Hamilton just so we could find out. 😁 Of course that will never happen but if Lewis wants to win another championship he needs to be in a different car to Max imo.

Piastri will be joining that top tier bracket too, just needs a bit more racecraft and experience.