Vegas can stay.

A decent race in the end, mainly due to the early safety car mixing it all up and low grip levels (which will not be the same next year). Feels rather like a more generic Monza with walls, so like Jeddah, it's only a matter of time before there's a serious accident but it was entertaining enough.

 

Not sure it was worth all the effort overall but would definitely prefer they dropped Miami instead.

Racing Bulls :lol:

Well salvaging P2 in the constructors somewhat makes up for a first winless season since 2011! Russell pulling a big performance out of the bag right when he needed to.

 

The battle for P4 in the drivers was pretty hectic, changing multiple times throughout the race. I think Alonso definitely deserved it but a bit sad for Sainz falling from P4 before the race all the way down to P7!

last 2 races have been hell for poor Sanz

Reflecting on the season, I've come to the conclusion that Verstappen is even better than I previously considered. If he was removed from the races and all the other drivers still finished in the same running order as they actually did (effectively disqualified from the season), these would be the race winners -

 

Perez - 6 wins

Norris - 6 wins

Hamilton - 3 wins

Alonso - 3 wins

Leclerc - 3 wins

Sainz - 1 win

Piastri - 1 win

 

That's not the spread of an utterly dominant car (although it's clearly the best all round), but of an exceptional driver, maximising it, fully.

 

He's now in the conversation for one of the ten best ever with these folks (apologies but if anyone, Sir Jackie Stewart is out of the top ten now) -

 

Moss

Lauda

Prost

Nuvolari

Schumacher

Caracciola

Senna

Clark

Fangio

 

Also shows just how badly Checo has performed this season.

Some random prds to look back and laugh on at the seasons end:

 

- Red Bull will absolutely dominate the season winning 19 races, 17 for Max and 2 for Perez

- Ferrari will be behind RB to start with but close the gap and win 3 races (all Leclerc)

- Mercedes will have a disaster (sad face) and not win a single race, Russell finishes above Hamilton again in the standings

- Alpine will be comfortably mid-pack and there won't be any on track scuffles between the drivers, Ocon beats Gasly in the standings

- McLaren will start the season slow but bounce back and Norris will nick a win in a crazy race (Hungary 21 style), Piastri will finish above him in the standings though

- Alfa Romeo will start solid but fall to the back of midfield like last season, Bottas narrowly beats Zhou in the standings

- Aston Martin will jump to the front of the midfield and Alonso/Stroll both get a podium at some point, Alonso will have numerous retirements though

- Haas will be constantly fighting for points and there will be a on-track scuffle between the drivers, Hulk beats Magnussen

- Alpha Tauri will struggle and rarely get points, Tsunoda gets dropped mid season and is replaced by Ricciardo who impresses instantly

- Williams will bring up the rear but Albon impresses again, including a top 5 finish

 

Well looking back on these, they were pretty good in the end.

 

Definitely overhyped Ferrari a bit, Merc didn't win a single race. Didn't get a Norris win and the Aston Martin was surprisingly reliable. Wasn't so good with the team mate preds either.

With Sargeant confirmed as the final driver for next season, I wonder when the last time was that the grid was completely unchanged from the last race of the previous season to the first race of the next one, or indeed if it has ever happened before.

Sargent got alot better as the season went on. Glad to see he's getting another season at least.

My 2023 driver ratings:

 

Verstappen - has raised the bar of excellence even higher, as close to a perfect season as you could ever see. 10/10

Perez - a bright start which descended into continual embarrassment for the rest of the season, made the most dominant car of all time look ordinary. 3/10

Hamilton - a mere few blotches on an otherwise extremely impressive season, extracting the most out of the w14. 9/10

Alonso - classic alonso squeezing every last drop out of the machinery, made the absolute most of when aston had the second best car. 9/10

Leclerc - pace is never a concern but the odd mistake keeps cropping up. however has also been very unlucky. 8/10

Norris - an absolute monster once mclaren brought the upgrades. first win surely coming soon. 8/10

Sainz - brilliant at times, rather ordinary at others. racecraft is there but lacks a bit of ultimate pace. 7/10

Russell - a huge disappointment after his heroics last season. qualifying is excellent but racecraft still needs work. 6/10

Piastri - considering his rookie status he pulled off a very impressive debut season, still a large gap to his team mate in the standings though. 7/10

Stroll - a fine start and end to the season completely marred by a horrendous run during the middle. aston martin were fighting one handed. 4/10

Gasly - a relatively decent first season at a new outfit, probably got the measure of his team mate on balance. 6/10

Ocon - aside from the brilliant podium at monaco it's not been a particularly standout season although hampered by a number of mechanical issues. 6/10

Albon - dragged the williams into places it seldom deserved and looks a very well rounded racer now. 7/10

Tsunoda - a very up and down season but looked to have the measure of ricciardo by the season's end. still prone to moments of madness 6/10

Bottas - a very meh season although not helped by the mediocre machinery he was driving. has lost the outright quali pace he once possessed. 5/10

Hulkenberg - firmly outperformed k-mag this season and shows he still deserves a space on the grid. 7/10

Ricciardo - unfortunate with the injury costing him a number of races but otherwise didn't stack up great against tsunoda, his mexico masterclass aside. 6/10

Zhou - didn't really kick on at all this season and needs a strong season next year or his time will be up with pourchaire waiting in the wings. 4/10

Magnussen - a very disappointing season considering last season's highs, particularly in quali where he was destroyed by hulk. 3/10

Lawson - super impressive stand-in considering the circumstances, thrown in at the deep end and looked comfortable right away. 7/10

Sargeant - very lucky to be given another season, too many crashes and the pace gap to his team mate was way too much. 2/10

De Vries - didn't get a whole lot of time but then when you consider what lawson did it puts his largely meagre performances into perspective. 2/10

Sprint venues for next year confirmed as China, Miami, Austria, Texas, Brazil & Qatar.

 

Miami is a terrible choice. Also bold to do one straight away on the return to China but I think the track lends itself well (I remember that Ricciardo masterclass in 2018).

 

The format will be like back in the first year with sprint quali on Friday and main GP quali on Saturday. I personally preferred the format of the last 2 seasons.

 

And reverse grids are back on the possible agenda.

The FIA has confirmed its Compliance Department is investigating a report a Formula 1 team principal received confidential information from a member of Formula One Management.

 

A spokesperson for the governing body said only that it “is aware of media speculation centred on the allegation of information of a confidential nature being passed to an F1 team principal from a member of FOM personnel”.

“The FIA Compliance Department is looking in to the matter,” they added.

 

The FIA’s Code of Ethics states confidentiality is one of its four key commitments. It notes: “The FIA parties and third parties shall also treat as confidential or secret any information, which is not public, communicated to them in the exercise of their duties. Any information or opinion shall be divulged only in accordance with the principles, directives and objectives of the FIA and its members.”

 

The Compliance Department previously handled an investigation into Lance Stroll’s conduct at the Qatar Grand Prix, where he was seen apparently shoving a fellow team member after being eliminated during the first round of qualifying. He was eventually given a formal warning over the incident, for which he apologised.

 

 

Widely rumoured to be Toto and Susie Wolff sharing information between them.

 

Source - https://www.racefans.net/2023/12/05/fia-inv...al-information/

Edited December 5, 20231 yr by Severin

F1 Academy head Susie Wolff has rejected allegations of a conflict of interest involving her and husband, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, in the "strongest possible terms".

 

Business F1 magazine claimed rival team bosses had raised concerns the Wolffs were sharing confidential information from their respective employers.

 

Governing body the FIA has announced an investigation into the claims.

 

Wolff said she was "deeply insulted but sadly unsurprised" by the claims.

 

In a social media post she described the allegations as "intimidatory and misogynistic".

Sprint venues for next year confirmed as China, Miami, Austria, Texas, Brazil & Qatar.

 

Miami is a terrible choice. Also bold to do one straight away on the return to China but I think the track lends itself well (I remember that Ricciardo masterclass in 2018).

 

The format will be like back in the first year with sprint quali on Friday and main GP quali on Saturday. I personally preferred the format of the last 2 seasons.

 

And reverse grids are back on the possible agenda.

At least Brazil is the annual one on the sprints.

Is Logan the worst driver or the driver who had the worst season ever who has been retained?

That would go to Mazepin who was technically retained and only lost his drive due to external factors.

 

Plus I'd say he's better than Latifi who got 3 seasons somehow.

Mercedes are considering all options after Formula 1's governing body the FIA launched a compliance inquiry into their team principal Toto Wolff.

 

The FIA on Thursday ended a conflict-of-interest inquiry into Wolff and wife Susie just two days after it began.

 

Mercedes issued a statement from Wolff on Friday saying the company was "in active legal exchange with the FIA" .

 

It said Mercedes "reserved all legal rights" and wanted "full transparency about what took place and why".

The FIA is a complete shitshow, imagine all 10 F1 teams and Formula 1 themselves calling you out

Edited December 8, 20231 yr by Dobbo

Is Logan the worst driver or the driver who had the worst season ever who has been retained?

 

I wouldn't put him in the conversation to be honest, despite his results looking poor.

 

Not when there are people like Ricardo Rosset, Taki Inoue or Nikita Mazepin around.

 

As a couple of asides, I'd suggest the worst driver to ever complete a full season (not retained though) was David Walker at Lotus in 1972. Teammate Emerson Fittipaldi won 5 races and the title that year whilst the best finish Walker managed was a 9th place at Spain - only 10 cars finished the race. He remains the only driver not to score a single point in a season where his teammate became champion.

 

And the worst driver ever is probably Al Pease - the only one in history for being disqualified for driving too slowly. At the time he had completed 22 laps whilst the front runners were on their 46th. His average speed was 69 km/h