F1 2023 thread

But if Perez had served his penalty then retired the car he isn't classified so either way it makes no difference. Penalty was served.

Red Bull a step ahead strategically as always

Qatar up next. It will be a sprint race weekend.

The winner is always the Baddie, like when Mercedes won, it was all down how they played FIA and the rules to get the best engine. Ferrari before ...

Tbf there is a bit of a unique scenario in that it's pretty clear Perez only re-entered specifically with the goal to serve the penalty and nothing else.

Other re-entries have generally been attempts to try and sneak into the final few points positions if it seemed likely, if it was an ongoing high attrition race.

If Red Bull had left Perez trudging around the back for a while again after the penalty was served they could try and claim they were evaluating data to see whether some component was more damaged than it looked or something but they were incredibly obvious in the stunt.

That may be true of course, but the rules allow it. No doubt that loophole will soon be closed but fair play to RB for knowing about it and taking advantage.

It’s no different to a golfer using the rules to get a preferable lie if they find themselves in trouble.

Fair questions. But I wonder whether RB will ever start asking why it fails to get good results form its second driver. Mercedes has the opposite problem where they get good results from both divers, and they even fought for championships between Rosberg and LH. Whatever you think about Bottas, there were always a few weekends every year where he was just quicker than Hamilton and everyone else. And now they have Russell competing with a 7 time world champion. They know how to get the best out of both drivers and RB really don't.

They've given him time but the gap has grown. While Max is dominant at the front, Perez is getting caught up in the battles behind. In most cases, perez could be a decent gap behond max and still come comfortably second. I never thought Perez was top tier, but he's falling further and further behind.

Maybe Red bull keep developing the car to suit Max and ignore Perez, even thought Max is already comfortably ahead. Maybe nobody in Red Bull feels safe saying no to Max, even though its hurting the overall team performance.

Hard to know. Its a persistent pattern though, so it unlikely to just be down to the second RB driver every time.

You tend to have that with any driver or team that's dominating. The 21 season, cost cap and Drive to survive are probably the reasons for that. Verstappen deserves all the success he is getting, he's just in a different league to the rest of the grid!

Verstappen being so good is probably why Checo will be at RB next year, Max could win the constructors on his own. All Checo has to do is put the car in the top 5 consistently, I don't think he's much doing better than what Albon did. Checo should be embarrassed for his performance at Suzuka, his dive on Kmag has to be one of the stupidest of the season

I'd agree except I think Redbull would swap out Perez early doors if the pattern looks the same next year regardless of how far out in front they are.

I take your point of. Ricciardo. But he left because he saw the writing on the wall. It was going to be Max's team and Ricciardo didn't think he'd get a fair opportunity.

Albon, started well and faded which is the same thing that happened to Perez except it happened faster with Albon. I doubt the crashes with Hamilton (poor form by Hamilton) were the reason he lost pace and eventually his seat.

Both of those instances show Red Bull failing to get the best out of the second seat.

Perez essentially drives for free and RB get $20-25m to pay for about one third or more of Verstappens salary. I'd say thats very useful

It's a sizeable chunk of money that Red Bull don't have to pony up to keep the team going.

It's not the fault people who started watching Drive to Survive. They watched an entertaining show as a gateway to hopefully being entertained by the sport. The sport isn't very entertaining this year. I haven't watched many races or listened to the ones I can't watch. I'm happy getting the results afterwards this year because so little is at stake.

F1 is a mix of sport, entertainment and business. If its in a good balance, then everyone wins. This year is lacking in entertainment so its hardly surprising that fan engagement has reduced. I'm not a new DTS fan and I haven't prioritised F1 this year. I'd usually watch most races around a friend's house. Few lads, couple of frozen pizzas and have the craic. Haven't done it this year becalmed the racing is dull. That's not the fans' fault.

Would be interesting to hear the reasons why it was rejected.

Seems a bit of a leap with claims of a guaranteeing a female driver on the F1 grid based on testing her in an F3 and F2 car. maybe using the social climate to their advantage?

Some talk of Apple bidding for the global rights