Race 18 - 2023 Qatar GP

[Nitrodaze]

https://media.formula1.com/image/upload/content/dam/fom-website/manual/Misc/2021manual/Qatar/_MG_1477.jpg.transform/9col-retina/image.jpg

We are back to the "Desert PAW" where the driver's championship is set to conclude what has been a very boring competition. Shaped like the paw print of a giant medieval cat, lit in the dark desert night of Losail, this is another sweatbox of 57 laps of racing. With about 14 corners, a majority of which are slow corners, we should expect Redbull to have the measure of every car on the grid as usual. How well this layout would suit McLaren is yet to be seen.

It was noticed that Ferrari has improved their slow corner performance of late. As such, Mercedes would have their hands full in the fight with Ferrari at this race. What is at stake here is the second-place battles in both the constructors and driver championships. With a mere 24 points between Mercedes and Ferrari, the seven-time world champions are by no means in a comfortable position with six races to go.

Perez continues to be vulnerable in the Verstappen-focused Redbull car. With Hamilton at his heels by a narrowing 33 points behind. There are words in the grapevine that Mercedes has found something that may translate to an improvement in pace at this race. But all eyes are on Mclaren, have they understood and fixed their slow corner issues? Can Ferrari snatch second from Mercedes at this race?

Andretti F1 bid gains momentum as the FIA approves their application. Andretti is now set to seek the approval of the very frosty FOM and a growing disapproval of current teams on the grid. From a fan perspective, we want new blood on the grid in the form of Audi and Andretti, so make it happen FOM.

W-Series racer, Jessica Hawkins drives the Aston Martin F1 car. First female driver to pilot an F1 car since Suzie Woolf in 2018. Next to Jamie Chadwick, her record is unremarkable but nonetheless exciting to see it happen. It made me wonder why Chadwick has not been offered a test drive in F1 with her stellar pedigree. Strange how these things work eh!

[gm99]

[IMG]
W-Series racer, Jessica Hawkins drives the Aston Martin F1 car. First female driver to pilot an F1 car since Suzie Woolf in 2018. Next to Jamie Chadwick, her record is unremarkable but nonetheless exciting to see it happen. It made me wonder why Chadwick has not been offered a test drive in F1 with her stellar pedigree. Strange how these things work eh!

Chadwick's "stellar pedigree" mostly traces back to the her time in the stillborn W series. Her season in Indy Nxt (formerly Indy Lights) this year has been anything but impressive, finishing 12th (and last of the drivers who ran all races) in spite of being with front-running Andretti Autosports. Other female drivers have done much better in that series in the past (Ana Beatriz finished 3rd overall in 2008, Pippa Mann 5th in 2010). Her season in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2020, again with a front-running team (Prema), wasn't much better with a P9 finish (out of 11 who ran all season).

[Nitrodaze]

Chadwick's "stellar pedigree" mostly traces back to the her time in the stillborn W series. Her season in Indy Nxt (formerly Indy Lights) this year has been anything but impressive, finishing 12th (and last of the drivers who ran all races) in spite of being with front-running Andretti Autosports. Other female drivers have done much better in that series in the past (Ana Beatriz finished 3rd overall in 2008, Pippa Mann 5th in 2010). Her season in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2020, again with a front-running team (Prema), wasn't much better with a P9 finish (out of 11 who ran all season).

Transition into Indy car racing takes a season or two. I think you should judge her on what she does next season where l think she would improve greatly. All the other female racers you mention did not achieve those levels at first attempts to be fair. That said, l don't know if Indycat is as cut-throat as F1. She is having a Sargeant-type season and Sargeant seems to be on his way out of F1.

If not, Take this season as a learning season for her. And watch out for improvements next season, l would say.

[airshifter]

Don't forget it's a Sprint weekend, so the schedule will be off accordingly.

Track resurfacing, change to DRS zone detection and activation, and major changes to the runoff curbs. Drivers are reporting just one trip beyond track limits might be very costly on floor damage. With the new track, high temps, and lack of support races they are also expecting track evolution to be very high through race start. It could well be a weekend where we see surprises in the starting and finishing orders, as the proper setup to be fast over one lap vs race distance could be major.

It's supposed to be really hot over the weekend, no relief for the drivers at all.


The DRS zone changes might make for more passes, but there aren't many other places for frequent on track passes. These races might well be won in strategy and pit calls. The track overall seems challenging for the drivers, but the lack of off track features makes it easy to lose track of where they are on track at times.

With the combinations of cornering speeds, along with a potentially challenging setup due to the Sprint format, I don't think any single team really stands out as the one to beat. It will be a track where getting it wrong in strategy or the pits can really hurt a team quick. And from initial comments, any adventures off track will pay a high price in some areas, so even drivers on this level will have to keep their head in the game and not push the limits too far.

[Tazio]

:sailor: 'troll.....
Fred is ruining him worse than he ruined Jacques back s few.


Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[Tazio]

Ba-bye Boss :wave:

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

[gm99]

Transition into Indy car racing takes a season or two. I think you should judge her on what she does next season where l think she would improve greatly. All the other female racers you mention did not achieve those levels at first attempts to be fair. That said, l don't know if Indycat is as cut-throat as F1. She is having a Sargeant-type season and Sargeant seems to be on his way out of F1.

If not, Take this season as a learning season for her. And watch out for improvements next season, l would say.

First, it's not the Indy Car series as such, but Indy Nxt, which is a feeder series like GP2. A lot of drivers there are rookies.
As to the other female racers not achieving these results at first attempt: Beatriz did actually finish third overall in her first season of Indy Lights in 2008, which was also her first year racing in North America.

[Nitrodaze]

First, it's not the Indy Car series as such, but Indy Nxt, which is a feeder series like GP2. A lot of drivers there are rookies.
As to the other female racers not achieving these results at first attempt: Beatriz did actually finish third overall in her first season of Indy Lights in 2008, which was also her first year racing in North America.

Fair point

[airshifter]

Interesting race qually, Sprint Shootout, and Sprint as well.

It seems track limits violations are really catching out drivers, and a lot of drivers at that. With two drivers getting penalties in the short Sprint, I wouldn't be shocked at all to see multiple drivers get penalties in the race. I'm really not at all happy with the tires situation, the slight track alterations to avoid the tire problem, and the fact that they might now change the tire lap limits due to it. Essentially the track and Pirelli have managed to toss out some strategy calls and now the race will be run with more of a "luck" factor involved if they are mandated tire changes beyond what was stated at the start of the sessions.

Today showed just how bad the track limits were still catching drivers out, and really shook up the Sprint Shootout. Then the multiple safety cars did the same for the Sprint itself.

Those at the front starting on the softs took off like lightning compared to those on the mediums. But even with the safety cars, those softs wouldn't last long, but did come back alive for a couple laps even after the last safety car where they had the advantage over the mediums for a bit. It was fun watching the red shod cars get past some others, then lose the positions again as the mediums came alive. Overall for such few racing laps there really were a lot of passes, not to mention some close racing as well as some sloppy mistakes. Ocon managed to take out three cars in a single turn. I thought George might have a chance after making a decisive pass for the lead, as it seemed he was hoping to bolt and make it stick. But it wasn't to be, and those in the pack on softs suffered even more and made it easier for Max to overtake them coming through the back.


Great to see Piastri take a win, even if it was a Sprint. That's got to hurt for Lando, especially with Oscar being a rookie and all. But at any rate, I did feel a bit bad for Oscar with the way the post race celebration and interviews were done. It's great that Max got immediate attention for the WDC, but they made it overshadow the fact that Oscar won the race. It seems to me they could do better in that respect.


I think tomorrow could still be interesting, tire issues and new limits or not. Today showed just how much the tires can degrade, and tire strategy could be big. With a number of cars probably out of place on the grid things could get dicey in the race.

[Nitrodaze]

The highlight of the sprint for me was seeing Piastri win it with Verstappen on track. Great drive from Albon from 17th to the last points-earning position. Hamilton showed that there is a good pace in the Mercedes going from 12th to 5th. The longer race on Sunday shall be more interesting, as l am expecting Ferrari to get more in the mix. The start shall be interesting with Russell and Hamilton poised to mug Verstappen. It would be sweet if one of the Mercedes could win the race tomorrow.

[N. Jones]

That right there was all Lewis's fault.

[Nitrodaze]

That right there was all Lewis's fault.

I think it should have been teamwork to get one Mercedes ahead of Verstappen, With Hamilton on softs and on the racing line and sufficiently clearly ahead, l think he should have backed off. Piastri did just that a few races back to let Lando have a go at Verstappen. Since Russell is entitled to run his own race and not back off, we could say it was Hamilton;'s fault. But from a team perspective, Russell did not play a team player role.

If Bottas was in that car, chances are the collision would not have happened. Mercedes has a driver problem, l wonder if they realize it. As they are not managing it properly. Finishing 2nd in the constructor is going to be hard for them due to them shooting themselves in the foot at every chance they get.

Lack of intelligent racing produces costly crashes.

[airshifter]

Well the tire fiasco turned out as some feared, with lap limits set low for the race and forcing extra stops for the teams. Though they could run harder and not play the long game, the differences in compounds were too much to really make it any fun regardless. The softs were done quickly, and the hards too hard to push very well for much of the race. But it really tossed a wrench in strategies for the teams, with limited tires on hand to run on.


As for the race, it went south for Ferrari before the race start, and sitting out a start due to a fuel leak had to really hurt. Hulk managed to screw it up on the grid, pulling into the empty spot that Carlos would have started the race from. Lewis managed to screw it up for Merc at the first turn, but at least they got to start. Lewis on the softs promptly turns into George and takes himself out, along with causing enough concern to pit George. Thus George was lucky in his playing catch up the entire race, and did well to get back up near the front. Most likely he got the Merc back to where it probably belonged regardless, but wasn't in place in case of any mistakes in front of him. Other than George catching up spots, nothing really exciting at the front, other than wondering if Lando could catch Oscar. But as it started to look like he might, McLaren gave them the hold in place order and that was done and dusted.

Most of the top 10 had fairly quiet races really. Fred going off a couple times was unlike him, and that re-entry was sketchy for Leclerc I'm sure. The drivers keeping it on track and avoiding the penalties benefitted, and the drivers who kept blowing it with track limits paid a price.

A race of missed opportunities for sure. Ferrari could have made ground on Merc but didn't, Lewis could have made ground on Sergio but didn't, and Sergio couldn't even take advantage of Lewis taking himself out and misses out on a chance to extend his points lead. Stroll fails to pull points again while McLaren make up ground on Aston Martin.


And once again we see the huge loss of pace in the RB due to the wings. They are obviously struggling, Max couldn't even go fast enough to exceed track limits like so many of the other drivers. :laugh: Even though Max said on the radio at race end that it was a bit close with the McLarens, he was essentially in don't push mode. Not exceeding track limits a single time was telling of how they managed the race.



Lance should be gone.

Sergio should be gone from RB

[Nitrodaze]

It is time for a tire manufacturer change. Time for Pirelli to go supply crap tyres elsewhere.

Qatar was simply not racing proper. Three stops and drivers not pushing to the limits says things gotta change.

[Bagwan]

It is time for a tire manufacturer change. Time for Pirelli to go supply crap tyres elsewhere.

Qatar was simply not racing proper. Three stops and drivers not pushing to the limits says things gotta change.

Did you see those curbs ?
They are vicious , and the Qatar circuit was told they should be ground down as I understand it , and they didn't .

The mandate for the tires is a very difficult one but they have been producing tires that get far fewer complaints for a long time now .

The response of repainting the lines was not adequate , but about all they could do in a short time .
The reason given for going off track by many drivers was that they couldn't see the line . Most were using only the sensation of running on the curbing to judge the edge of the track .

I think this is a real problem for the series .
When I heard George mention he didn't see Lewis , the same thing came to mind .

[airshifter]

It is time for a tire manufacturer change. Time for Pirelli to go supply crap tyres elsewhere.

Qatar was simply not racing proper. Three stops and drivers not pushing to the limits says things gotta change.


I agree the cause was a mess, but drivers probably pushed a harder pace and used up as much tire as they could being the stops were mandated. What I'd like to see is very durable tires that will last long enough to allow drivers to push more. Being a tire compound change is mandated during the race, it would give them more options on pushing vs tire preservation and hopefully give us more strategy options through the races.


As for the track, they should have tested and sorted out issues before the fact. Surely there are ways that would work well with both bikes and cars.

[gm99]

It is time for a tire manufacturer change.

Unfortunately, it was just announced that Bridgestone lost their bid to supply tires to F1 from 2025 onwards, with Pirelli remaining the sole supplier until at least 2027.
IMO, I would have welcomed a change. I think Bridgestone have done a great job in the past, whereas Pirelli have f***ed up quite a bit.
Personally, I wouldn't even mind two manufacturers to spice things up a bit.

[Nitrodaze]

Unfortunately, it was just announced that Bridgestone lost their bid to supply tires to F1 from 2025 onwards, with Pirelli remaining the sole supplier until at least 2027.
IMO, I would have welcomed a change. I think Bridgestone have done a great job in the past, whereas Pirelli have f***ed up quite a bit.
Personally, I wouldn't even mind two manufacturers to spice things up a bit.

Why am l not surprised? Crap tyres for another four seasons. This is why l was concerned with too many ex-Ferrari people taking top jobs in FIA and FOM.

[Bagwan]

That right there was all Lewis's fault.

The real harsh realization for Lewis right there was that he was probably in first out of that corner had he left just a tad more room .

[Bagwan]

Unfortunately, it was just announced that Bridgestone lost their bid to supply tires to F1 from 2025 onwards, with Pirelli remaining the sole supplier until at least 2027.
IMO, I would have welcomed a change. I think Bridgestone have done a great job in the past, whereas Pirelli have f***ed up quite a bit.
Personally, I wouldn't even mind two manufacturers to spice things up a bit.

I'd like to know why anyone thinks that anyone else could have done a better job .