Raging Nando is out. But howling that he parked it in pit entry and totally f***ed Hamilton’s attempts to pit. Good lad.

 

 

 

Leclerc is a really smart competitor. He is really playing Max like a fiddle. Goaded him into shredding his tyres. But then max calmed down. Took his time, plotted and came back for it. Great and fair battle.

 

 

So far, the new era is more exciting but I think that had more to do with the fact that Merc have f***ed it and so we have a good genuine fight between RB and Ferrari and a super competitive midfield with lots of tight battles.

Looked like oversteer causing a slight loss of grip, as Latifi turned right to compensate, the tyres achieved grip and launched him at the wall.

 

Instantly reminded me of Gordon Smiley's accident at the Indy 500 years ago

It seemed to want to go in every direction apart from the one he wanted 😂😂

wow incredible race, Red Bull and Ferrari are so so close

Best driver:

Worst driver:

Best team:

Worst team:

Best overtake:

Worst overtake:

Best moment:

Worst moment:

 

And the race in a sentence

Best driver: Tough to call between Charles and Max but in the end the Dutchman had an answer for everything Leclerc tried - Verstappen

Worst driver: Latifi, but his car looked a handful

Best team: Red Bull. Very unlucky to lose what should have been a 1-2

Worst team: Williams

Best overtake: Max's decisive pass on Leclerc

Worst overtake: Perez passes Sainz (although I think he believed he was ahead

Best moment: The dignified and sporting way Leclerc praised Max in defeat

Worst moment: Seeing Perez denied a likely win through sheer bad luck

 

And the race in a sentence: Long time rivals establish themselves as the years most likely title challengers

Best driver: Verstappen [not his best drive but worked it out in the end]

Worst driver: Latifi [binned it in both quali & the race, woeful]

Best team: Red Bull

Worst team: Williams

Best overtake: Alonso on Ocon

Worst overtake: Albon on Stroll

Best moment: The dual at the front especially when thye both locked up in the DRS cat and mouse game

Worst moment: Pit lane entry being closed scuppering Hamilton's chance for a cheap pit stop

 

And the race in a sentence: Red Bull bounce back following missile attack

worst team by miles was Alpine for allowing Ocon to drive like a nutter, the team has to control the pilots and not let them drive like crazy

it's a miracle they didn't crash

I'd much rather see team mates fighting each other for position than sitting dutifully behind like Bottas had to do for years. Teams having a 'number two' driver not challenging their team mate is something that has become far too prevalent since the 00's

 

As long as everyone understands the situation, it's managed and doesn't get all Pironi/Villenueve, I'm all for it.

Not when its detrimental for the team

Like yesterday was

Team should had intervined

Alpine are the worst

Not when its detrimental for the team

Like yesterday was

Team should had intervined

Alpine are the worst

 

 

The team did intervene. Immediately they asked Ocon to hold position he lost DRS and Bottas caught him. You could argue they intervened too late and it maybe cost them a point but the duel will have excited the drivers, entertained the fans and gave them a whole heap of screen time which the sponsors will be very happy with. Much more preferable than watching a series of cars make no attempt to defend against Hamilton as he gained places at the first phase of the race.

 

Processions are something the sport has been saddled with for too long and I would much rather see drivers race each other.

 

 

Yeah the Alpine fight was legit the highlight right up until the Max/Charles dual. And there was only one questionable manoeuvre from Ocon (where he closed the door strongly to the left on the home straight). The rest of it was great action.

 

I know morally they shouldn't be racing there but I do really like the Jeddah circuit. Punishes mistakes (not like Abu Dhabi with 3 billion square miles of run-off) and has a good few overtaking opportunities for an otherwise narrow street track.

I thought it was a decent race again yesterday, an am absolutely in the camp of it being great to see Alpine drivers battling each other.

 

Drivers playing DRS chicken is really quite something.

 

Whilst I'm absolutely here for the shake up I do think it is a bit boring that it's two cars which are way out ahead, and the top 3 is the same three it has been for 5 of the last 6 years. I will definitely take it, but a long way off my hopes of a 2010/12 repeat

Edited March 28, 20223 yr by RabbitFurCoat

As an Alpine fan I was in camp let them race. When it started to allow Bottas to catch them the team made the right call to settle it so we could hold positions vs what is a quicker car. Superb battle, looked like fun for the drivers and it meant a good 10 mins of uninterrupted coverage of the Alpines and not only that but a guarantee we will be talking about it until Australia in a fortnight. That PR is worth millions and just bought Alpine a longer leash from Renault corporate HQ (especially as it will distract people from criticism of the Renault brand for being slow to step back from Russia and the spotlight on their 71% stake in Lada)

A couple of things I haven't seen much discussion about were the lack of investigation for the last 2 laps. Leclerc set the fastest lap of the race under double waved yellows in sector 1 and that was apparently fine? Doesn't sit right with me.

 

Also he didn't get penalised for crossing the pit entry line during the race multiple times despite the fact Tsunoda got 2 penalties for doing the same thing last year in Austria. New guys at the top there maybe but still a lack of consistency.

A couple of things I haven't seen much discussion about were the lack of investigation for the last 2 laps. Leclerc set the fastest lap of the race under double waved yellows in sector 1 and that was apparently fine? Doesn't sit right with me.

 

Also he didn't get penalised for crossing the pit entry line during the race multiple times despite the fact Tsunoda got 2 penalties for doing the same thing last year in Austria. New guys at the top there maybe but still a lack of consistency.

 

 

3 drivers were investigated for possible infringements during the double waved yellows, none of which were the the 2 front runners. No action was taken against any other driver either.

 

Tsunoda got the penalty for crossing the white line whilst entering the pits which is explicitly mentioned in the rules. There appear to be no regulation for doing this whilst racing (remember Perez and Hamilton at Abu Dhabi) although Massa did get one in Brazil for repeatedly crossing the line years ago.

 

In the race transcripts Max states Charles crosses the line twice. It may be that the FIA warned Ferrari about this over comms that we are no longer privvy to, but from what I gather there currently isn't a defined penalty for this infringement under racing conditions.

 

 

It's worth remembering that the driver making a complaint about another car may not be entirely correct in their understanding of the rules. To illustrate this, Hamilton was even aware how many points a tenth place finish was worth and Sainz seemed unaware that the rules state Perez was not allowed to let him passed whilst under the safety car.

Edited March 30, 20223 yr by Severin

It's worth remembering that the driver making a complaint about another car may not be entirely correct in their understanding of the rules. To illustrate this, Hamilton was even aware how many points a tenth place finish was worth and Sainz seemed unaware that the rules state Perez was not allowed to let him passed whilst under the safety car.

 

I didn't even think of/realise that! My thinking was that no team in that scenario would have switched positions behind the safety car as it would've put Sainz behind Verstappen for the restart, doing it 2-3 corners in the gap was already over a second when he got through. Never even twigged that they wouldn't have been allowed to!

Edited March 30, 20223 yr by RabbitFurCoat

Hmm I thought you couldn't cross the pit lane entry line during racing as it could be deemed dangerous for the car behind if they thought the car in front was soon to be decelerating rapidly but actually doesn't. Although you mention Perez & Hamilton I now remember Perez also crossed the pit entry in Istanbul when defending during the last sequence of corners so fair enough.

 

The Lewis one I really can't tell if he was just being sarcastic. There's no way he didn't know points go to the top 10 :lol:

 

And for Sainz although the rules may say otherwise it makes 10x more sense for any minor infringements to be resolved during the safety car. Since Perez made the infringement I don't see why he can't let Sainz past in a controlled manner. It's not like Imola last year where he spun off then retook all the positions lost whilst under SC conditions. Having said that the Jeddah track is quite unique I think in that the first safety car line is midway through turn 1 when the racing line then turns to the right so although Sainz did actually make the line before Perez, the natural racing line meant Perez actually completed the corner quicker.

I agree with you that the rules need looking at regarding the switching of positions under safety car. I know it's technically know as a full course yellow and the idea of guaranteeing that all cars remain on the racing line means that any marshalls anywhere on the circuit are not likely to get any surprises but i feel it could be improved.

 

If the accident happens at, say turn 11, race control could send a message to all cars and marshall posts that car 11 and car 55 will switch positions between turns 3 and 4 on lap number X, for example. It would definitely be fairer for the restart.

 

I'd also like to see unlapping of cars handled in a different manner. Dropping to the back is a no go as it has a knock on effect on both fuel and tyre wear but I would change it so that all unlapped cars should proceed through the pitlane on the earliest available lap, whilst lapped cars remain on track, unlapping themselves and then proceeding to rejoin the back of the field. This would certainly prevent any unseemly business like last year, remain safe and make a return to racing quicker.

I've thought this for years and am yet to think of a plausible reason why this hasn't been considered. There must be one...

Edited March 30, 20223 yr by Severin

Interesting idea that. I know sometimes they do all go through the pit lane (if the blockage is on the start/finish straight) but to split the field into lapped and unlapped cars I'd not considered before. Perhaps because it would be tricky to handle the timings i.e. if the first lapped car reaches the back of the snake whilst the pack are filtering through the pit lane they'll have to manually slow down on track and wait for everyone to exit the pits before re-joining the field.

Yeah I'm sure there are some genuine reasons but I'm sure you could do it in this manner once every car has bunched up behind the safety car. You could even make every car on the lead lap stop at the pit exit for a 5 second pause and then release them once safe to do so.

 

 

Edited March 30, 20223 yr by Severin