2024 F1 General Discussion Thread

I've been saying this for ages. It's not like Perez has suddenly forgotten how to drive and he's always been a great driver at multiple different teams. Just to put it in laptime context, the previous two drivers in that seat were 0.592s and 0.625s slower than Verstappen on average in qualifying. Perez has been 0.520s slower on average (as of stats collated on July 3rd so not counting the last couple of races) and I'd argue Max himself has gotten better with each passing year as he is 26 years old now and at his peak, making Checo's job all the more difficult compared to the guys he replaced.

So on average Perez has been better than other drivers they've put in that seat and you have to go back to when Verstappen was still a teenager learning the ropes to find the last time a driver was closer. What's different between now and previous seasons is that the field is closer than ever and half a second can mean a dozen grid spots whereas in the past the second driver at a top team, someone like Bottas for example, could be half a second off and still be 2nd on the grid.

Meanwhile it's obvious that the development time handicap Red Bull are facing has massively hindered their development. They've been well off the pace of McLaren for all but the first few races of the season, they've been behind Mercedes since Merc's upgrade package at Canada, and their pace relative to Ferrari has ebbed and flowed with different tracks (though Ferrari themselves have been on the back foot for the last while) and really it's Max that's been carrying the team. Perez is generally better in the race than in qualifying and is usually there or there abouts fighting for 6th or 7th come the chequered flag which is about as good as the Red Bull is right now.

I don't think there is any other driver available who they could drop in and would do much better, while they could potentially do worse, they would certainly bring less money, and they could possibly upset the relationships in the team. They've made it clear a few times that they see Norris as a target but he instead chose to tie his future to McLaren which seemed crazy at the time but now looks like it was the right choice. They didn't go for Sainz for whatever reason and outside of that there is maybe Leclerc or Piastri, Alonso is too old now, I just don't see anyone else on the grid who you could say would be a certain improvement. And all of those drivers mentioned have existing contracts in place. It would be a very big gamble to drop in someone unproven like Lawson or someone who's proven they no longer have what it takes like Ricciardo.

I wonder where Hamilton would have finished this year had Merc sorted itself out at the season?

As good a driver as he is I cant see him getting that elusive 8th title with Ferrari.

this feels like the start of silly season

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/new-usa-f1-project-revealed-involving-former-alpine-boss-szafnauer/10640481/

There is one thing to note. Back in Imola it was announced that Perez had a new multi year deal. As of yesterday, that's down to the rest of this year.

No idea if there's any truth to that, but what I'd worry about is the quid pro quo.

If Liberty owe Red Bull a favour now, what favour would Red Bull call in?

That's where F1 goes wrong. Making business deals that mess up the sporting part of F1. Deals like Ferrari creaming money off the pot before it's divvied up is an example. Totally unsporting.

We'll see how long this will last

It's still entirely unproven though. Every single team has plans to improve and do better in future, it's a very easy thing to say that they're laying the groundwork to do better next season. Alpine have been saying that every year for the last decade.

So far we've seen Williams take two steps back since Vowles joined while promising the steps forward are coming, but those steps forward haven't actually happened yet and there is no guarantee they will.

Wvery new team has a 3-5 year plan to win a world championship. Haas and Alpine recently. Did AM talk about a similar plan.

I imagine it in terms of how they pitch it at board level to get the funds. They have to convince the big knobs of the short-medium term plan for success if they're going to turn on the money taps.

Looking back in history, there probably haven't been a lot of teams who won a championship in 3-5 years. Maybe Mercedes?

Oh yeah. Fair one. Was he a part of the Beneton success?

I'd believe Brawn making the 3-5 year championship pitch then. I wouldn't buy it from anyone else. Probably with exception of Newey. His record is pretty good with Williams, mclaren and Red Bull

Has Newey confirmed where he's going next?

As far as I know he hasn't but it seems he's been talking to pretty much everyone except Sauber and Haas, and obviously RBR and VisaCashapp whatever they're called.

How about that? @AMKC 😂😂😂

I can see (and/or hope?) that he will be the better McLaren driver as soon as next year maybe. Here's hoping.

Yeah but, they waited until after his contract expired and then announced him as their driver.

Alonso was in the mix too with Webber. They waited until Piastri's contract expired to announce Alonso would't sign with Alipne. So alpine tried to strong arm Piastri to stay rather than negotiate with him before he signed for anyone else.

Alpine were shafted, and they tried to shaft Piastri but he stood up for himself. Fair play to him.

Tenner going on him to be champion next year.

What odds?

Very good. Fair play to him. I guess I was just annoyed that kast time but ye he is going good at McLaren and Alpine did make a right balls of it so ye can't blame him.