Modern Vespa

I've never understood why Andretti was seemingly an unwelcome addition to the pitlane because with more teams there would be more of a show right ?

Or with maybe with more teams there would be less TV money to distribute between them ?

Just sayin.

The Perez retirement announcement has some merit because it looks better than him being dismissed even though everyone expects him to be dismissed.

He looks good because he admits to not having the skills and Red Bull doesn't end up looking like the intolerant, short sighted, unsupportive assholes that they are. Unless you are Dutch of course.

There is talk of Daddy Stroll selling off more shares to Geeley Automotive.

For years, all F1 teams ran at a considerable loss - whereas now almost all teams are comfortably maxing out the budget cap and are all virtually profitable.

The issue is that if the teams increase by 10% to 11, then there needs to be 10% more money to share around.

The concern is that Andretti won't bring 10% more fans (and funds) into the sport (and so will be a net drain), but I think there's also a degree of bitterness from those who've spent years chucking money at F1, and are finally in a good place - for a new team to be able to enter and reap those rewards.

Maybe the 200 Million Dollar Entry Fee could help a little bit with that ?

After all, that's why they set it up.

Inflation. Sort-of. $200 million split 10 ways is only $20 million apiece. At the current level of F1 popularity, that's chump change. The teams want more.

Are they greedy bastards? Well, yes. But that doesn't change the fact that they still want more.

This is interesting if it's true.

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1038207/1/red-bull-political-drama-speculation-pits-horner-against-marko-10m-decision

Gasly, Albon, Sainz, Max, Yuki and Ricciardo are all on the grid because of the work Helmut has done with the young driver program.

He also was the one who pushed for both Nyck De Vries and Perez to be in their seats, against the wishes of Christian Horner.

He's not politically correct in anything he says, but he has contributed a lot to the team.

I also believe a lot of Red Bull's success is how stable the team has been since its inception. Adrian Newey, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have been there from day 1 I believe(?) and all been instrumental in their success. Other teams change and swap team principles, technical directors every few years and then try to rebuild themselves.

Also at the Aston Honda launch, it was interesting the phrases Honda used. When speaking about how Alonso could be driving an Aston Honda, Honda said they "wouldn't block this". They have respect for Alonso but Yuki is first in line for his seat should he vacate it.

That shows how strong a contract they have as an engine supplier.

I can't see Alpha Tauri being able to drop Yuki in 2025. I also don't think they'll consider elevating him to Red Bull and showing them the intricate details of how the top teams operates - just for him to go to what will likely be a championship contending team!

I understand that viewers numbers have dropped by at least a quarter, compared to this time last year. Maybe another American team would increase that number.
Not all of F1 income comes from TV viewers but a large portion does.

Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Brendon Hartley, Daniil Kvyat, Jean Eric Vergne, Jaime Alguersuari, Sebastien Buemi, Sebastien Bordais, Scott Speed and Christian Klien have all suffered at the hands of Marko but isn't it funny how many of these drivers have thrived in other series and teams ?

I blame the Management

There's talk of Audi pulling aside and Porsche taking their place in F1.

Shrugs.

I mean, aren't they all just flavors of VW? Does swapping out "Audi" for "Porsche" actually make any material difference in the context of an F1 team?

Where has the rumour of Perez retiring come from?

If this is true I think that Porsche would look better in F1 than Audi or VW as they've done it before and they already have an engine that was destined for Red Bull until they fell out over who would have more say in the teams direction.

Probably only based on him being one of the older drivers, combined with his recent performances. The media know it will get some clicks.

They have this obsession in sports of drivers being past it once they reach their 30's, even though F1 has had multiple drivers in their 50's. Louis Chiron entered a race at 58 years old! Then you have Carlos Sainz Senior in his 60's racing in high level rally.

I mean, it's not a very solid rumor, despite being widely reported. Here's one version of it:

https://www.planetf1.com/news/sergio-perez-update-f1-future-retirement-rumours

Because you don't need any knowlege of F1 to waffle on about drivers.

That makes hiring idiots to write about it cheaper.

Can we all agree that Perez won't be with Red Bull next year ?

I think that's a safe bet.

Sound to me like it would be much more interesting racing clockwise now and again...

Yes. Even more so if Hamilton creeps into second place in the driver championship, as it is widely rumored that Perez is contractually obligated to keep second place to keep his seat.

Call me crazy but I'm going to predict a Red Bull 1 2 this weekend with Hamilton in 3rd.

What on earth makes you think that Perez will perform that well?

I think that he knows that his time is up with Red Bull and so he's going to put on a good show to appeal to other teams.

This often happens when the second drivers contracts are up for renewal late in the season.

I also believe that this will turn the "Perez days are done" conversation on its head which will give us something more to talk about.

Free Practice 1 in a few hours.

This season, when the pressure was on and Perez desperately needed to make a good show, he has generally binned it into the wall. Meh.

Sure, but if you know that the decision has been made to replace you would you just play even more of a second fiddle or do you show off your obvious brilliance.

My tongue is in my cheek as I say this but he's got nothing to lose if he chooses the latter.

If he does finish second the pressure is off, well for a bit at least.

I predict that Perez will not be on the podium.

Now I've gone and done it.

If Boy Wonder is still leading after lap 5....I'll still have time to catch the "Working Dogs" jumping for distance into water🙃

O.S.

Whaaaa? Horse car is at the front?

Hot damn.

Was strange to see Haas, Aston and Mercedes all bring fairly big upgrade packages here, and then try to understand / dial them in within a single practice session.

Surely this makes more sense on a normal weekend with 3 practice sessions!

Ferrari ran no new parts, had a solid FP1 with a car setup that both the drivers and engineers know, and so have ended up with pole as a result.

Yes, certainly. But engineering schedules and race schedules don't always line up with ideal conditions. The teams could have held onto the upgrade packages until a non-sprint weekend, but… well, we're running out of season pretty rapidly. I think a good portion of that equation is Charles. He's a brilliant qualifier, unless he isn't, in which case he's in the wall.

Time for the most redundant event of the weekend, the Sprint Shootout!

(I complain bitterly, but I'll still watch it).

I think the Sprint starting grid should be inverse grid order of the Grand Prix.

I want to know why Verstappen didn't get a penalty for running Leclerc off the road and into the pit lane.

Because . . . Max

Booo!

I'm sure there's drivers in the paddock who think "others" get preferential treatment.
I have just finished an interesting book, Survive to Drive by Günter Steiner. He provides a view from the smallest team on the grid.

If it truly wasn't allowed, Hamilton, who had a front seat in the theatre, surely wouldn't have restrained himself from whining about it.

Hmm, cow car beats horse car in the sprint. Have to wait and see how things go in the real deal, but Hamilton really fell out of DRS after ten laps.

They set the car up as a qualifying car. For the race I aspect different settings but he will be slower from the start on.

They didn't necessarily cheat; but they broke the rules; DQ.
New leader board at CODA.

Leclerc and Hamilton DSQ, Logan with his first point, Lance Stroll from a pit lane start up to P7! Yuki with a decent points haul, and taking Alpha Tauri close to Haas in the constructors!

Was more of a strategy race than anything else. Leclerc said afterwards that it was meant to be marginal between a one stop and a two stop, and he preferred to prioritise track position here - but wear on the hard tyres was higher than they'd guessed it would be.