This is something that probably should be more widely noted (comment posted by F1 frog on Racefans) -

 

'Red Bull’s 12 wins is technically a record, but if you discount the Indy 500 which I feel you should in these statistics as it was run to totally different regulations to the rest of the championship with almost no overlapping drivers and teams, then Ferrari won 14 consecutive races between 1952 and 1953, including one each for Piero Taruffi, Mike Hawthorn and Giuseppe Farina, and eleven from Alberto Ascari including his nine consecutive wins (which does ignore the Indy 500).'

Best driver: Norris

Worst driver: Zhou

Best team: Red Bull

Worst team: Haas

Best overtake: Russell on Sainz

Worst overtake: Hamilton on Russell

Best moment: The turn 1 shunt

Worst moment: Everything afterwards

Best thing about the race: It was a race

Worst thing about the race: No fight for win

 

And the race in a sentence: Max wins again, I'm all out of rhymes

Qualifying for Sunday's race delayed by 10 minutes following heavy rain - new start time 16:10 BST

Best driver: Tsunoda [that was seriously impressive getting in the points with a tractor]

Worst driver: Sainz [unfortunate but I'm putting him more at fault for turn 1 incident]

Best team: Red Bull

Worst team: Haas

Best overtake: Ocon on Tsunoda

Worst overtake: Anyone on Piastri's stricken car

Best moment: Max/GP's married couple-esque team radios

Worst moment: Piastri retiring [deserved better after that great display in the Sprint]

Best thing about the race: Fascinating battle in F1.5

Worst thing about the race: No fight for lead [that wasn't a fight more a surrender]

 

And the race in a sentence: What can be done to stop the run

Edited July 31, 20231 yr by Dobbo

I disagree with you about Sainz being at fault. That was a very very stereotypical rookie f*** up by Piastri to try for such a tight inside line at turn 1. there was absolutely no way he was making it round that corner without either taking out another car or causing absolute chaos because of how wide a line he’d take on exit. Try it yourself in literally any video game and you won’t make the turn without collecting someone in a lap 1 situation. Was driving Spa on Sunday and many times f***ed up that corner (admittedly it was wet) by either carrying too much speed or by taking piastris line.

 

 

Gasly got absolutely screwed by having to follow him up Eau Rouge (if it’s that crippled get it off the f***ing track and take the tarmac run off up the hill) and cost us a double points finish. But third in the sprint was an excellent result

 

 

Best driver: Verstappen

Worst driver: Ricciardo - completely outshone by team mate

Best team: Red Bull

Worst team: Haas - Hulkenberg screwed in qualifying and then in the race they had bad strategy again….

Best overtake: The double overtake repeating the Schumacher/Hakkinen/Zonta move

Worst overtake: Piastri on Sainz

Best moment: The moment you realised McLaren played a blinder with strategy (poor Albon!)

Worst moment: Seeing Hulkenberg drop to an undeserved last

Best thing about the race: The midfield battle was superb. So many changes of position/different strategies

Worst thing about the race: It didn’t rain enough!

I disagree with you about Sainz being at fault. That was a very very stereotypical rookie f*** up by Piastri to try for such a tight inside line at turn 1. there was absolutely no way he was making it round that corner without either taking out another car or causing absolute chaos because of how wide a line he’d take on exit. Try it yourself in literally any video game and you won’t make the turn without collecting someone in a lap 1 situation. Was driving Spa on Sunday and many times f***ed up that corner (admittedly it was wet) by either carrying too much speed or by taking piastris line.

 

Fair enough. It was a little bit reminiscent of Verstappen and Raikkonen in 2019. Always a massive pinch at that turn 1 apex.

 

Best moment: The moment you realised McLaren played a blinder with strategy (poor Albon!)

 

Bear in mind though they get completely got it wrong with the set-up hence why Norris was an absolute sitting duck on the straights.

Sainz couldn't do a thing about the accident, he had Lewis on the other side giving him 0 space

if something, it was Piastri's over-eagerness but I guess the judges saw it as a typical start incident with no one to blame

 

always feel very sorry for Sanz, sometimes pure bad luck, then Ferrari giving albums the preference to Leclerq and also taking the worst strategies and decisions out of any team

Best driver: Verstappen (Finishing 22 seconds ahead of Perez in a 44 lap race where he started 3 places behind him is a crushing blow for Checo)

Worst driver: Sargeant (Waste of a decent F1 seat)

Best team: Red Bull (Didn't put a foot wrong)

Worst team: Haas (If they just had one really good driver...)

Best overtake: Ocon on Tsunoda

Worst overtake: Piastri on Sainz

Best moment: Verstappen winding up the team by suggesting pit stop practice

Worst moment: Piastri/Sainz out

Best thing about the race: The circuit

Worst thing about the race: No Surprises

 

And the race in a sentence: File under, one of those drives that people will talk about in years to come

Best overtake: The double overtake repeating the Schumacher/Hakkinen/Zonta move

 

 

Not even close and bordering on an insult to Mika and The Michael. You can't seriously compare that move to one of the greatest overtakes in F1 history.

There's a world of difference between a DRS enabled pass at the start of Kemmel in today's high grip, ultra stable cars and a pass into Les Combes with the comparatively lightweight and skittish cars they used back in 2000.

For what it's worth, this is my mid season driver's report -

 

Verstappen - A virtually flawless season so far. The car is the best for sure but he has a decent, but not elite, teamate and he's making him look out of his depth

 

Perez - Solid start to the season but once his teammate fully got to grips with the car, Checo has struggled to look anywhere near the pace.

 

Hamilton - Quietly and comfortably put Russell back in his box, yet he remains frustratingly inconsistent and overindulged by his team. Constantly bemoaing a car which has been consistently third best all year smacks of having been spoilt over the years. At least 14 of this years drivers would kill for a season in that car.

 

Russell - Solid but unspectacular. Quite capable of challenging Lewis but also frequently underperforms. Still not convinced he's WDC material

 

Leclerc - For my money, on his day he's still the outright fastest driver out there (just) hut still more than capable of binning it when it matters. If he can nail that he'd be phenominal. Also has a tendency to let his head drop.

 

Sainz - Much stronger tactically, and better at reading races than Charles or Ferrari even but not quite quick enough. If he was quick he could be the Spanish Prost.

 

Alonso - Bouyed by a decent car for the first time in over 10 years, Fernando seems to have lost none his guile and racecraft. It his teammate was the boss's son he have ended his career

 

Stroll - Normally has a few good moments per season but really hasn't done well this year despite how much he should be learning via his current and previous teammates

 

Norris - Still no real benchmark to judge him against but he's looking more and more assured and capable in a resurgent McLaren

 

Piastri - Took until the new upgrades to show what he's capable of and he's clearly the most promising rookie since Leclerc

 

Ocon - Some good moments and some seriously poor luck. As ever Ocon goes from sublime to ridiculous and you never know which version will turn up.

 

Gasly - Much like his teammate, there's been plenty of bad luck but some brief highs. Hasn't done anything egregiously stupid this year so far.

 

Bottas - Looking more and more ordinary by the year. He has always had one lap pace but is currently being embarrassed by his teammate.

 

Zhou - Gaining confidence with every weekend and proving himslef worthy of his seat

 

Tsunoda - Clearly has talent when he's focused and on his game but too often reckless or below par. His new teammate will define his future.

 

De Vries - Always looked uncomfortable and there was always a big queston mark over why he was ever given the seat. Did he get a fair crack? Maybe not, but he was never going to get a second year in the car.

 

Ricciardo - Too soon to tell but an impressive test for Red Bull and a strong first weekend at Alfa bode well. Although his second outing for his nee=w team raised a question or two.

 

Albon - Proving again that he was always a very capable driver. Quite possible that he would be outperforming what Perez is managing were he still in that seat.

 

Sargeant - There's only one reason he got the seat and it's down to the flag he races under. He's a good racing driver, but in F1 he's way below the standard required, for now at least.

 

Magnussen - Underperforming currently and by extension making his teammate look decent by comparison. K-Mag's best days are behind him but he's just about deserving of a seat.

 

Hulkenburg - The quest for a podium continues and frankly doesn't look any closer to happening. He's been OK this year, which is pretty much the same as his whole career. OK

 

I wouldn't say Bottas is being embarrassed by Zhou, he's ahead of him in the standings and is winning the quali head-to-head.

 

And Gasly was 100% at fault for the Melbourne collision imo.

 

Mostly agreed on everything else. Sainz being the Spanish Prost (minus a bit more pace) is very accurate!

My rankings/brief comments:

 

Verstappen - unflappable, immovable, inevitable. records will tumble. 10/10

Perez - carbon copy of last year. strong start, hideous middle. let's see if he can rebound. 6/10

Leclerc - underperforming compared to his usual standards, only brief glimpses of magic. 7/10

Sainz - quietly going about his ways. solid yet unspectacular. 7/10.

Hamilton - more like the consistent beast we're all familiar with, getting the most out of that car. 8/10

Russell - disappointing season after his phenomenal first one with the team. comfortably outperformed by his teammate. 6/10

Ocon - outstanding podium in monaco marred by general averageness either side. 6/10.

Gasly - very mediocre season, looking more flattered by that 2020 season every year. 5/10

Norris - showing his supreme talent when he's got the car under him. 8/10

Piastri - very very impressive considering his lack of f1 experience. future champion elect. 7/10

Bottas - underwhelming but always finds a random weekend to bag a few priceless points. 5/10

Zhou - he is improving but at a very slow and steady rate, need to see more wow moments. 5/10

Alonso - flawless for the first part of the season but still demonstrating his ability to extract the most out of now slow machinery. 9/10

Stroll - perfectly acceptable start to the season considering his injuries but has been completely embarrassed for the most part. 4/10

Magnussen - horrendous qualifying considering Hulk is dragging it into q3 most weekends, huge step back from last season. 3/10

Hulkenberg - fully justifying his return to the grid, stomping all over k-mag in part thanks to outstanding qualis. 7/10

Tsunoda - a very impressive step up this season in terms of consistency, unlucky to not have more points to his name. 7/10

De Vries - just couldn't get going. unfair to not get more time perhaps but you know what you're signing up for with the rb family. 3/10

Ricciardo - super impressive in hungary, very underwhelming in belgium. not much to go on otherwise. 5/10

Albon - is doing every bit as well as russell was at the team, fully comfortable and leading the team closer to the midfield. 8/10

Sargeant - basically latifi but without the crashes. a few glimpses of pace but is the only man to get whitewashed this season. 3/10

 

It is actually a super stacked grid this season. There's no Latifis/Mazepins and I can say everyone has justified their seat so far.

now that were mid-season...

it's quite the boring season for me, to the point I've even missed races and qualies cos the output is always the same... the Verstappen dominance is too big

 

Verstappen sure he races well but imo it's 90% cos of the car. You'll say Oh Perez has the same car... not really, the car is designed 100% for Max, so it's actually a bit of a miracle than Perez can even drive it.

that said for me Perez has been the biggest disappointment of the season, there were like 5 races in a row that in qualy he missed the top 10, unbelievable. During the race then he caught up of course cos he has a super car but he should be fighting up with Max and he's not... if I was the boss in Red Bull I'll get rid of him, he's into delivering at all

 

Alonso started well but his car is losing steam and he's suffering, which is a pity, the fight Max-Alonso in the early season was the best of the year.

 

Ferrari has been very disappointing. What a pitiful car again. And the team shenanigans are unbelievable. Sure they love Charles but what they're doing to Sainz is insane. Of course that is only shown on the Spanish tv, but half the races they don't let Carlos pass Charles, or they give him crappy wrong strategies, or mess his pit stops, day in day out... they should get rid of him if they don't want him...

 

in the last few races, McLaren have been so great, finally Piastri showing what he's capable of and Norris being his best again. Lewis has been surprisingly good although with lots of highs and lows... while Russel has been terrible, he's too pretentious and thinks he's the best, but he has shown nothing, only shitty performances almost every race.

Not even close and bordering on an insult to Mika and The Michael. You can't seriously compare that move to one of the greatest overtakes in F1 history.

There's a world of difference between a DRS enabled pass at the start of Kemmel in today's high grip, ultra stable cars and a pass into Les Combes with the comparatively lightweight and skittish cars they used back in 2000.

 

1 - Just my opinion & I only used the comparison so it’s clear which overtake I meant

2 - C4 commentators used the same comparison

 

I could also say that your rankings of Zhou and Hulkenberg are insulting. Hulkenberg is beating Zhou 8-4 in race comparisons (and the Haas is not any better than the Alfa). Yet you have praised Zhou and referred to Nico as just ok…..

I’m just going to categorise drivers so far

 

On another level:

Verstappen

 

Outperforming the car/teammate:

Hamilton

Alonso

Hulkenberg

Tsunoda

Albon

 

Doing a solid job:

Norris

Piastri

Ocon (excluding the penalties!)

Bottas

Leclerc

Sainz

 

Could be better/average:

Russell

Gasly

Zhou

 

Below average:

Stroll

Perez

Magnussen

 

Poor:

Sergeant

De Vries

 

 

Verstappen sure he races well but imo it's 90% cos of the car. You'll say Oh Perez has the same car... not really, the car is designed 100% for Max, so it's actually a bit of a miracle than Perez can even drive it.

that said for me Perez has been the biggest disappointment of the season, there were like 5 races in a row that in qualy he missed the top 10, unbelievable. During the race then he caught up of course cos he has a super car but he should be fighting up with Max and he's not... if I was the boss in Red Bull I'll get rid of him, he's into delivering at all

The thing is that they do have have the same car though, it isn't practical or allowed, to build two different designs. The difference is Max is able to extract the potential of it and Checo can't. For the last two years Perez has been quite close to Max in the opening rounds, he even said pre-season he felt very comfortable in the car this year whereas Max described it as more of a handful than normal, but once Verstappen gets familiar with it he much more able to handle any awkwardness it throws at him.

And yes people will say the design is built around him but this ignores two key factors - First Max came in to the team and quickly adapted to a car that wasn't designed around him, and secondly that Adrian Newey is far too smart an operator to design a car that only suits one driver, itt would simply be counter productive especially and for his entire career he's been making one that enables both drivers to deliver.

 

It just comes again to Perez is a good driver, and capable of a great drive here and there but he's simply outclassed by Verstappen, who is for my money among the best natural talents I've ever seen and has now developed his racecraft and maturity required to sit comfortably towards the top end of the all time greats list, and he's done it without losing his ruthless streak.

 

That Perez is as close to Max as he often is at season start is a credit to him and his experience appears to have enabled him to not suffer long term, the confidence issues Gasly and Albon faced. At the end of the day though, Perez is a midfield runner in a front line car and sat alongside the best talent of his generation.

1 - Just my opinion & I only used the comparison so it’s clear which overtake I meant

2 - C4 commentators used the same comparison

 

I could also say that your rankings of Zhou and Hulkenberg are insulting. Hulkenberg is beating Zhou 8-4 in race comparisons (and the Haas is not any better than the Alfa). Yet you have praised Zhou and referred to Nico as just ok…..

 

 

1 - Fair play. Will have to agree to disagree as I just don't see it as the same.

2 - That's why I don't watch C4's coverage if I can help it.

 

To clarify the last part - Zhou in my opinion is growing slowly and proving he's worth a seat (faint praise really) and it's embarrassing Bottas because as someone who's touted himself in the past as a potential WDC he should be crushing him regularly rather than edging it. I'd argue the Haas probably is better in a number ways than the Alfa (circuit dependent) but Magnussen is underperforming badly and Nico is doing about right with it.

 

Personally never seen anything from Hulkenberg to suggest he's anything more than a journeyman driver. That he's never managed a podium in all those years is a telling stat. I'm not saying he hasn't had the odd bit of bad luck but he's pushing nearly double the number of races of the next closest in the no podiums list. He sits ahead of such drivers as Sutil, Martini, Alliot and Diniz which seems fair company to me given he's had better cars than all of them. Not forgetting his Indycar test saw him post a best time over a second slower than David Malukas (who was the runner up in Indylights that year) and being fifth of all five cars even though he was in the McLaren. I'll give him credit for winning Le Mans though.

 

To be fair every driver has to believe they're a future WDC or else what are they dong there? I never saw Bottas as a genuine contender in his years at Merc much like no one realistically thinks Checo will ever be at RB.

 

Its also difficult when you switch from a race winning car to one of the worst of the grid so suspect his motivation has dropped knowing he'll never get another shot.

If F1 bans DRS in qualifying like they're discussing, it might make things interesting.