[Other Sport] F1 2023

[Audax]

Ahead of P3 and Q today, updates on the Friday running:

- We could be looking at a 4-way fight for pole. MV, CL, CS all within a very small time gap of each other at the end of P2. FA a little further back, but had to abort a lap due to traffic when he looked set to go fastest.

- Hamilton says the new Merc already feels better, but still has areas to be improved on. I'm expecting him to make Q3 and be good enough for 6th or 7th.

 

[A1X]

Oh dear Sergio, you’re not supposed to crash and cause a red flag until Q3

 

[A1X]

 

[Icy Gull]

Excellent quali, shame for Alonso

 

[AstroSloth]

Verstappen making up 3 tenths in the shortest sector on the calendar is insane.

Absolutely perfect final sector to steal away the pole.

 

[Audax]

Verstappen too good in that final sector of Qually, or Alonso too cautious? Suspect a bit of both.

Shame about the race (although there was plenty of action further back). Major "what if...?" moment when Aston pitted Alonso and put on the Mediums instead of the Inters. Possible he could have made up enough time even with just one lap to put Verstappen under a whole lot of pressure.

Barcelona this weekend. Likely to be another Verstappen win with an easy margin backwards. Will still be of interest for me: we'll get a better idea of how big a step Mercedes have really made with that new aero package, along with the Alpine which also had a decent upgrade package at Monaco.

Also, a reminder that the track has been altered for this year. The final chicane, introduced back in 2007, will be bypassed. This means the second last corner will be restored as a fast sweeper (instead of the tighter corner needed to direct cars to the chicane) and the final corner will be approached at a much higher speed. We'll have to wait and see what this means in terms of overtaking potential down the main straight. if the cars can follow closely enough through the last two sweepers the DRS on the straight could be very powerful.

 

[AstroSloth]

Shame about the race

The race was actually incredibly good, especially for a Monaco race. Perfect mixture of a dry qualy and wet race makes it a good weekend.

Pleasantly surprised.

 

[Audax]

The race was actually incredibly good, especially for a Monaco race. Perfect mixture of a dry qualy and wet race makes it a good weekend.

Pleasantly surprised.

Except for the Verstappen masterclass out front. Once again, unchallenged (except for the momentary thought that flickered across my mind of "Aston have pulled a blinder getting Alonso in before Verstappen ... oh, they put Mediums on "). As you say, the rest of the race (even in the dry before the rain arrived) was well worth the watch.

 

[AstroSloth]

Except for the Verstappen masterclass out front. Once again, unchallenged (except for the momentary thought that flickered across my mind of "Aston have pulled a blinder getting Alonso in before Verstappen ... oh, they put Mediums on "). As you say, the rest of the race (even in the dry before the rain arrived) was well worth the watch.

Thanks to Sargeant we even had overtakes in the dry! Who would have thought it.

 

[Audax]

Fun stat for the Alonso supporters out there: when he starts the GP this weekend, he'll have started in a third of all F1 GPs in history.

 

[Audax]

Spain weekend now up and running.

Ferrari have brought a major aero package update. Substantially changed sidepod design, and a new floor to go with it. This moves their concept much closer to Red Bull's:



Aston Martin also have an upgrade package, focussed on the front wing/nose and rear wing areas. Significant enough that they've fitted an aero testing rake to the car for P1:

 

[Icy Gull]

All I can say is COME ON LEWIS!!!!

 

[Audax]

All I can say is COME ON LEWIS!!!!

Will be very interesting to see how that updated Merc performs around Barcelona. It's the benchmark circuit for the teams in terms of establishing how well their cars actually perform.

 

[Icy Gull]

Will be very interesting to see how that updated Merc performs around Barcelona. It's the benchmark circuit for the teams in terms of establishing how well their cars actually perform.

Not going well…so far

2nd and 4th bottom

 

[Audax]

Not going well…so far

2nd and 4th bottom

From what I've read, the Merc boys have spent most of the session pootling around just learning about the car rather than going for an optimum laptime.

All looking very ominous so far at the front of the field. Red Bull (Verstappen in particular) looking very, very quick from the moment they hit the track. Max sets a 1:14:606 and Perez is next closest on 1:15:374. Alpine's improved pace from Monaco looks to be confirmed, with both Ocon and Gasly showing good FP1 pace. The revised Ferrari, on the other hand ... they only ran the full package on Sainz' car, and he was slower than Leclerc (though not by much).

As always, FP1 is a bit of lottery when it comes to reading who's strong and who isn't. Suspect Alonso in particular still has some extra pace in his locker. But that Verstappen time ... think pole and race win are his assuming the car is reliable.

 

[Icy Gull]

From what I've read, the Merc boys have spent most of the session pootling around just learning about the car rather than going for an optimum laptime.

Hope so, so far off the pace it must be incredibly frustrating for Lewis, Russell is used to it after his time at Williams

I’d like to see Lewis try his hand at Ferrari, Mercedes and their head in the sand attitude about this dog of a car is unbelievable.

 

[Audax]

Lewis try his hand at Ferrari

There were lots of rumours swirling ahead of Monaco that Ferrari were prepared to spend big to try to get him and had made a big contract offer. Very rapidly then shutdown by both Lewis and Ferrari. On Lewis' side by making a statement that he and Mercedes are very close to an agreement, and on Ferrari side by saying they've not talked to him and no contract offer had been made.

 

[Icy Gull]

Looking forward to today, of course Max will run away with it but just maybe Lewis can challenge up near the front again.

Fingers crossed for some excitement after the borefest of the Monaco race

Spanish Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso rue qualifying errors

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso say errors prevented them from joining Red Bull's Max Verstappen on the front row for the Spanish Grand Prix.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[JJ McClure]

Other than Max, the mixed up grid to make things interesting at least. Hopefully Lewis and Lando can stick around at the sharp end. The Alpine upgrade certainly seems to have worked well.

 

[A1X]

The Alpine upgrade certainly seems to have worked well.

Probably should have upgraded the radio to tell Gasly about the other cars though…