Formula One ( F1 )

so what was RB's loss of form actually down to?

very enjoyable race. poor russel... amazed tsunoda didnt just limp back to the pits for a new tyre so early on? as the race showed it was all to play for even from the back

I reckon the RB effect will last for rest of season, but they'll still find themselves on podiums.

It's long been analysed that their flexible wing elements were giving them huge advantages. Watching them slide around in qualifying is probably a one off for the season, but I hope the days of Max vanishing once he's passed the leader like in Spa are over.

I'd happily bet against this. Think the TD chat is being blown way out of proportion and Singapore has been the bogey track of dominant cars a few times in the past.

Would be interested to see any of the flexible wing analysis, would be massively surprised if it was significantly different to other teams.

amazed tsunoda didnt just limp back to the pits for a new tyre so early on?

Was quite a whack with a fair bit of bodywork ripped off: https://twitter.com/TeamLH44JAPAN/status/1703520197653721531?t=WAqC9AFAFTQ9IAZtbJlcIw&s=19

mmm. The cars seem so tough structurally but once the body is damaged and the ground effect is compromised there's no point continuing.

Also the amount of sensitive plumbing/electrics down there. Not to mention the drag caused and the potential of the whole side of the engine cover ripping off at high speed.

oh right - i see. shame

well I'll eat my hat, straight to pole they go

Rumours suggest that at the Mexican GP Perez is going to announce his retirement at the end of this season. I assume RedBull have offered to buy him out of his 24 contract and he's decided that it's not worth the stress.

Yep, Marko has been pretty up front (breaking news!) with his thoughts on Perez's performance. I would've betted on the announcement coming after Mexico to avoid the backlash. There's no seats he's likely to go to, so I imagine Danny Ric will get that seat, Lawson to AT, and Perez will stick around on marketing duty doing all the sort of RB stunts that Coulthard still sticks around for.

Absolutely deserves to be shown the door, with the exception of the first few races, he's been performing at a much worse level than either Gasly or Albon were.

Sheesh, already getting spam for the Silverstone F1 2024 private boxes... it's ages away! Who buys these things?

Absolutely deserves to be shown the door, with the exception of the first few races, he's been performing at a much worse level than either Gasly or Albon were.

His people seem to suggest that the initial versions of the car were more to his liking and the new parts/revisions are better for Max than for him. Apparently they asked to go back to the earlier version of the car and were told no.

interesting - who is most likely to take the seat?

Ricciardo, bump Lawson up to AT, Perez gets some Red Bull promo activity job is my best bet

Yep, I don't think RB are ever going to have an equal driver pairing while Max is at the team, but currently McLaren are consistently scoring more than RB. Not an issue this year as the WCC is in the bag, but will absolutely be an issue at the start of 2024.

I don't think Ricciardo is going to be challenging Max for wins every race (I'm still pretty surprised at Perez's form for the first couple of races), but I'd bet on him being able to reliably bring home enough points to stop other teams out-scoring them.

Ricciardo

struggle to believe he will be better than perez

Yeah, his stint at McLaren certainly has echoes of what Perez is going through. He is the only driver that has been able to be anywhere near Max in a Red Bull though.

After being passed by Verstappen - who will need to stop again - wouldn't it have made sense for Norris to immediately drop back into clean air and preserve his tyres?

That assumes McLaren aren't planning to pit him again, but maybe that's not the case?

Ferrari starting from pole is going true to from.

Norris pits right after I post that. Why the fuck have they just done a 15 lap stint on hard tyres and then gone with hards to the finish? I am confused.

Leclerc and Hamilton disqualified for excessive plank wear.

this confused me too - i was only half watching as was cooking at the time so didnt pick up on anything from the commentators

I watched it quite late, so may be mis-remembering, but I'm guessing McLaren thought their late race pace was better due to the performance in the sprint, where Lando was handily catching Max towards the end (not sure if that was Lando performing well or Max easing off).

9 mins of practice and the track falls apart...

Was hoping for at least some farce this weekend. Didn't expect it to be delivered so quickly.

It's America in a nutshell. Glitz, glamour and fuck all to back it up.

I'm listening to a reply of the BBC commentary no reply of what happened for at least 10mins which is (un)surprising since they have cameras everywhere.