Also, I'd love to see an American go over F1 sometime in the future, my bias says someone like Kyle Busch since he's mentioned it a few times. He could definitely do it as he's always been known as one of the best wheelmen of all-time over here.

Cancel all the Middle East/Russian ones and add more U.S. sites since the popularity of it is growing over here. Watkins Glen, Laguna Seca, or Road America are sitting right there and are amazing circuits.

 

USA really doesn't need any more than 3 races. Surely Seca in particular is 100% unsuitable for F1 cars too.

 

Priority should be getting South Africa back on the calendar and Germany/France although money talks of course....

I agree that all of the sand prixes need ejected into space but I’m in agreement that we need to reclaim traditional European venues like France and Germany but also ZA should have a race.

 

 

As for laguna seca (putting aside that I f***ing hate the circuit when it appears in GT) can you imagine? This generation of cars can’t handle a curb, can you see them handling the corkscrew?

I'd say Doohan or Devries

Think this depends on Alpine/AT as to who gets Devryes and who gets/keeps Gasly. After that I think the Williams picture will be clearer

The 3 US circuits mentioned are all brilliant tracks but realistically only Road America could feasibly be upgraded to modern F1 standards. I'd happily accept one Middle East GP a year but agree France and Germany need to return. 2 US GPs is enough too.

 

I really can't see Kyle Busch doing well in F1, even if a team were to gamble on it. He's 37 years old, has almost zero experience is an open wheel single seater and no knowledge nearly all the circuits. For a comparison, look at how poorly Jimmie Johnson has faired in Indy. Two years struggling to keep it on track, although with some promise at ovals, but he's clearly out of his depth and has wisely announced his retirement from it.

 

There's only two American drivers currently good enough for a seat among the 20 in F1 - Colton Herta and Josef Newgarden, and the latter, at 31 has likely missed his chance now.

any news from the Alpine auditions? :)

Zhou Guanyu has confirmed he is staying with Alfa Romeo for a second season in 2023.

 

 

6 sprint races confirmed for next year, we all knew it was coming when they tried to do it this season!

 

Wonder where they'll be.

Yeah, 6 sprint races. That's almost the same number as the percentage of fans (6.7%) who, in last years official F1 survey, voted that sprint races 'improved the show'.

 

Good to know that Liberty Media are listening then...

 

 

Also, that's a definite of 6 duff races next year then.

really bad move with the sprint races, should be abolished

Whilst I haven't been overly impressed by the Sprint race themselves, I prefer the weekend format they bring with them. I like having something meaningful on all 3 days and the Sprints last year all contributed to making the Sunday races more intriguing.

Whilst I haven't been overly impressed by the Sprint race themselves, I prefer the weekend format they bring with them. I like having something meaningful on all 3 days and the Sprints last year all contributed to making the Sunday races more intriguing.

 

 

I'm curious as to why you feel they made the races more interesting last year. For me they weren't exciting in themselves and actually detracted from the main event.

 

At Silverstone you could be generous and say it showed that whoever crossed the line in first place on lap 1 controlled the race but that was already known. By adding extra emphasis to this it negated teams trying alternate strategies.

 

At Monza it only seemed to reinforce that any error or bad luck in the sprint makes all the teams and drivers hard work in qualifying redundant and that the circuit wasn't great for overtaking.

 

At Interlagos it totally removed any potential excitement at the prospect of seeing 20 cars try to hold off Hamilton and that Mercedes

Silverstone sprint set up the Max vs Lewis battle. Lewis had the bit between his teeth on Sunday cos of being passed by Max for the Sprint win so it felt more tense and dramatic (which it certainly was).

 

Monza was interesting cos you had the Sprint winner taking a penalty which ultimately pushed Ricciardo up a spot to allow him to get a great launch and hold up Max so he never got too far away or else he'd have sailed off into the distance.

 

Brazil had the best sprint yes cos of Lewis fighting through the pack. But how it is any different to Max at Spa this year? Still better than when the fastest car leads the whole race from the front.

 

Perhaps I'm being overly optimistic but I'm very much here for less practice and more racing.

Heavy heavy rumour De Vries to AT and Gasly to Alpine is a go

 

 

 

Also looking like some cost cap breaches are about to come to light. Rumour of AM and RBR

would love Gasly to leave Alpha Tauri, makes no sense for him to remain there if he's never gonna make it to the big team

but I totally anticipate lots of tension with Ocon

 

DeVries deserves a seat and a good car, so will be good in Alpha Tauri if true

Any thoughts on waiting for proof regarding whether Red Bull breached the budget cap, I see the British media are giving Hamilton the 2021 title.

Mercedes were fined €25,000 (£22,000) after qualifying for a procedural error in incorrectly filing out a scrutineering form saying Hamilton would comply with the regulations not to wear jewellery, only for him to do so.

Every time Perez starts on the front row, either he or both he and the driver he shares the front row with fail to win the race. In fact, the driver he shares the front row with often ends up having a disastrous race. This has happened so many times:

 

Turkey 2020

Imola 2021

Baku 2021 (red flag restart)

Jeddah 2022

Baku 202

Mercedes were fined €25,000 (£22,000) after qualifying for a procedural error in incorrectly filing out a scrutineering form saying Hamilton would comply with the regulations not to wear jewellery, only for him to do so.

I have to say I think Hamilton is being a complete dick about all this.

 

Regardless of whether the rules on jewelry are sensible or not, Lewis turning up with a doctor's note suggesting he should wear the stud on health grounds is pathetic. Apparently having to remove the stud for a couple of days every week or fortnight has caused an infection and the doc has said to leave it in as leaving it out will cause the wound to heal over. This is where I call BS. Firstly, if it's causing problems you're not maintaining your piercing correctly, I first had my nose pierced in 1991 and wore it without fail for about 10 years before taking it out for work related reasons. Yes, it closed up within weeks but the tissue that forms is fairly weak. I re-pierced it myself using only a stud and now only wear the piercing at weekends, going days (and if I forget, sometimes weeks) without wearing and have no issues re-inserting it. Also, what kind of doctor recommends keeping the stud in over permanently removing it, if it's causing problems?

 

Lewis is being disingenuous over his reasons for wearing it but I do believe the rules could be altered and he should be allowed to sign a waiver relieving others of any liability for injury caused by his choice of attire

Every time Perez starts on the front row, either he or both he and the driver he shares the front row with fail to win the race. In fact, the driver he shares the front row with often ends up having a disastrous race. This has happened so many times:

 

Turkey 2020

Imola 2021

Baku 2021 (red flag restart)

Jeddah 2022

Baku 202

Doubling down on this is Leclerc, who has one of the worst pole to win ratios in F1 history at only 22.2%

 

Of the 105 drivers to claim a pole 61 have gone on to win a race from which they started first - Charles has an impressive 17 poles (excluding Singapore 2022) but only converted 4 of them, which is well below the average 42.2% conversion rate