2024 F1 General Discussion Thread

Alex Albon has signed a long term deal with Williams. I'm a little surprised here, I thought he'd have been looking for a bump up to a higher placed team.

https://x.com/WilliamsRacing/status/1790668568826155053

Not sure there is a higher place team to go to. He got badly burned at Red Bull trying to pick up Max's scraps so not much he can achieve there. I reckon the deal with Sainz to Mercedes Benz is all but signed. Alonso is staying at Aston Martin, Stroll would have to be permanently incapacitated before that seat came available, McLaren have their drivers secured. Cash ATM or whatever they're called, Alpine Sauber and Haas are roughly at the same level now but Williams probably still has the most potential to climb.

Williams have come to a bump in the road, it'd be very short sighted to think they will never overcome that. Look at McLaren.

Yeah, hope the shine wears off Sainz in a few years and they need a change. Not a great option but the other options weren't great either. It's a medum-long shot at a Mercedes drive, which isn't a bad bet.

Sargent and Zhou are, in my mind anyway, gone at end of season. Bottas and Magnusson must be clinging on too depending on other moves.

I reckon the only danger to Gasly or Ocon would be if Alpine/Renault decide to pull out of F1 again… No signs of that anytime soon. Both good drivers and French, surprised they have not been confirmed yet.

Bottas is a great qualifier. Its the strongest part of his game. He was always closer to Hamilton in quali than in the actual race. He matched within a tenth, and even beat Hamilton at a surprising rate in quali and that kept the hope alive if I remember correctly.

I'm not commenting on whether or not he should keep his seat, just the fact that he's always been a better qualifier than a racer.

Some excellent news. Irish up and coming Alex Dunne has been signed into the McLaren driver development programme.

That's probably what I'd tell myself if I was in his position. He might even be right. I wouldn't begrudge Williams or Albon success. He seems like a decent guy.

Ron Dennis was on BBC Hardtalk recently. Video is on the BBC news channel or iPlayer in the UK.

Audio is available worldwide on podcast.

Max not happy with the car in FP1 or FP2, plus a trip into the gravel in the latter. Could be an interesting race unless they manage to sort the car. Is Newey there this weekend I wonder?

Freudian slip??

If Perez doesn't sort out his form he could be in trouble getting a renewal on his contract. Sainz would have to be a better option for the team, especially if Max was to leave. Sainz should be capable of leading the team, Perez not so much.

I missed the ER GP. Was the Maclaren really that fast or was there something wrong with the RB?

I think it was mostly a case of McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari all dealing with the tyres/fuel loads differently.

Max was fastest until the first pit stops. McLaren and Ferrari were somewhat close, McLaren slightly faster.

Leclerc and Piastri seemed to be fastest immediately after pitting, with Norris, Sainz and Max roughly holding station. As the laps ticked by, Norris seemed to gain speed, with the others slowly losing it.

Perez really was nowhere, so maybe the RB was struggling, with Max able to overcome it somewhat.

I think we could have a 3 (2.5?) way team battle for a few races, until the next major upgrades arrive. Probably track dependant on who is fastest. Red Bull might be in a tricky situation if they don't have Perez up where that car should be.

Exciting times, hopefully!

I wondered if the Redbull is just at it max capability and now certain set ups are slighty taking away from the car

Can’t wait for the annual Monaco debates/rants!

Would love a LeClerc win.

I also missed the race - is it a case that Perez is reverting to his disappointing level again? Or just a one-off because the Red Bull wasn't as dominant? Looks like his chances of repeating as 2nd are gone, he's likely going to be passed by Norris and down to 4th in the next race…

It's a time trial followed by a parade. But you know sometimes it's good to have different forms of racing in formula 1.

Mark my words. Now that RB are feeling the heat from 2 different teams, he'll be given 3 more races, and that's it. They don't have the same luxury as last year

It might be but it also nearly always has the best qualifying sessions on the calendar.

He was out qualified by a Haas and both Vcarbs, his teammate got pole. Only so much blame can be laid on the car not being as far ahead as before.

FYP for you. They are called Vcarbs now. Even the commentators say it that way now.

Who would they replace him with Daniel is not really there yet but maybe in the Red Bull he woukd be back to the level he was before he left. Who knows.

Would they replace him with Tsundado who had a good race and weekend or go for someone else?

They are listed as RB on the official F1 app in the constructors.

You need to make up your mind.

Commentators call Perez by his unofficial name, Checo, massive problem.

Commentators call a team by their unofficial name, VCarb, thats gospel.

I dont know if Tsunoda will do better than Perez though. I hope he does if he gets a chance to. Otherwise he might go the way of Albon, or best case back to RB.

They are listed as RB on the official F1 app in the constructors.

I did not know that. Well then it is wrong too. Do you not think it is confusing Red Bull and RB? People just think someone is lazy and mean Red Bull so in my opinion Vcarb is a better name for them.

Honestly, I think the jokes about team names work once at a maximum. 6 months later calling it Contactless ATM Cash back whatever they're called, is scraping the bottom of the barrel. Just learn the new name.

It was similar with Racing Point Force India. It made my arse wink when people kept pretending not to understand the name

You could say the same of half the teams. Who says Aston Martin Aramco? Or Mercedes-AMG Petronas? Or Moneygram Haas? Or even OracleRed Bull?

They're knows as Aston Martin, Haas, Mercedes and Red Bull.

I presumed Visa Cash App is an American thing anyway. In this part of the world we do bank transfers that happen instantaneously. Americans need third party apps which take a few days. The product doesn't isn't for us, so i wouldn't worry about them not getting bang for their buck.

I'd probably refer to it as Visa RB. It's not an issue either way but it's definitely not side splittingly hilarious to pretend not to understand the name.

You weren't actually meant to say "Point" it was just meant to be "Racing. " So combined with the title sponsor it becomes "BWT Racing."