Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 128. (Read 141766 times)

Exactly my feelings as well. I mean , F1 is watchable from after 2nd place because it's clearly that both RedBull and Max are unbeatable no matter what competition tries to do. Also, I do feel bad for Perez but today he really made 2 mistakes and you can feel he is under pressure to perform because Ricciardo seems always ready to jump in his car and take his place.

Tomorrow,  I do expect Perez to have a clean race , bring the car home and try to finish 1-2 with RedBull to please both Helmut and Horner. On the same time, redbull also have a problem called " DeVries" and that might save Perez and trow Ricci in DeVries place. 

Yeah, we were supposed to have better races with these cars but after 1 year of developing, we are in a 2016 situation.

With 1 car was dominating (Mercedes) and the rest of the pack was unable to overtake the other cars.

I'm slowly losing confidence in Leclerc clawing back in to the points. He's been practically given a lot of opportunities to get back some points on a lot of tracks now but he's still underperforming. It would be best if Ferrari focused more on Sainz instead as this guy is consistently performing every race no matter the track and track conditions, whereas Leclerc blames it on a lot of things. Anyhow, Hulkenberg's defense against Perez was really good to watch. If Hulkenberg can get a seat on a fast car, there's no doubt that he'll consistently get in the top 5. Lots of great defense and offense in F1 today in Austria's wet track and I love it.

Today was really satisfying thanks to some rain. Wet track usually makes races more entertaining for spectators. Austria track was really slippy today after the rain. The start was really challenging for even Verstappen. But his defending was marvelous against Perez. After consolidating his place it was so easy for Verstappen to finish as leader.

Hulkenberg's making use of the chance to overtake Perez also helped Verstappen pull away quickly of course. Because Hulkenberg kept Perez behind for quite a while. I was disappointed with Leclerc today. I thought that he would collect some points. Ocon defended him very well and Leclerc made a mistake which even led to be overtaken by Norris. After that somehow he lost many places during pit stops.

But on a dry track tomorrow I will be expecting a solid performance by Leclerc. I hope we see some rivalry between him and Verstappen.

1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   24 Laps
2   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Red Bull Racing   + 21.048s
3   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   + 23.088s
4   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   + 29.703s
5   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   + 30.109s
6   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   + 31.297s
7   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   + 36.602s
8   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   + 36.611s
9   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   + 38.608s
10   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   + 46.375s
11   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   + 49.807s
12   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   + 50.789s
13   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   + 52.848s
14   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   + 56.593s
15   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   + 57.652s
16   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    + 64.822s
17   Nyck de Vries   NED   Scuderia AlphaTauri   + 65.617s
18   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   + 66.059s
19   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   + 70.825s
20   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   + 76.435s

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1030350/1/f1-2023-austrian-grand-prix-sprint-race-results


Absurd, Max got 20 seconds advantage in 20 laps.


But tomorrow will be another story with no rain

That is bad for our race if we don't have any rain,even just a very light rain just to make drivers drive more cautiously would be great,nevertheless the fact that Perez looks somewhat revived is promising,I guess what Helmut Marko has been saying about him in the media made him wake up and drive the car like he should,after all he still has the best car on the grid and if he cannot beat his team mate he should have no problems beating other cars.

Ferrari lacking again although Sainz being third is a great sign of recovery and it is a validation that the team has been truly upgrading this car,tomorrow I am expecting a lot from Ferrari.

Even though the race itself was fun to anyone who enjoys checking the other places as well (not to people who are too hung up on who wins because Max did it again) I would say it was also a tactical war as well that I enjoyed so much. I think its quite important to enjoy those tactical fights, like deciding on when to put on slicks mattered so much, Russell did it very early on, probably was the first one to do it right? Not sure if he was first or not but he was certainly one of the first, and thanks to that even though he dropped to nearly last places, he managed to end up getting it all back and get into the point zone as well, he finished the race ahead of where he was before he pitted, that shows you that it was a great decision, and to think that this was just 24 laps shows he risky it was. Max did what Max always does, 24 laps in total and yet he managed 21+ second difference in that short span of time, that dude is insane.

It was one of best sprint races that we had in these 3 seasons. A bit of rain, wet track made it very interesting. Well, one thing doesn't changes - Max dominance. But his fight with Perez on first lap was nice to watch. It already looked that it was mistake for Hulkenberg to change on slicks, but in the end, he didn't lost anything, though didn't gained positions too. And that Russel overtake Ocon on finish line and 0.009 gap was cherry on top in this sprint.
No rain is expected on race tomorrow.

It seems Ferrari's strategy is now starting to improve and show their seriousness to be able to fight RBR in this competition. It's great to see Lecrec and Sainz not so gloomy anymore and starting to show their competitive streak.
And for Perez it seems he is quite frustrated to see how his team-mates are performing. Even in some of these races he didn't show his best performance which was very unfortunate. Hopefully Perez can get back on track and show the crowd the Mexican way.

If I am not mistaken Perez missed Q3 four times in a row with this one as well. I think its basically time to just hang it up for him, not in general, maybe he can find another place somewhere else, but for Red Bull period at least. Not that I trust Daniel Ricciardio to be any better neither, they really need someone much better, I do not know who they could get but they really need to get someone much better. Without that new and better racer, they are going to just have Max racing and winning, and nobody else even close. Remember how Bottas was awesome help to Hamilton? Max doesn't have that this season and he needs it urgently to be much better and get the constructors as well. If not, we could see them doing much worse as a team.

yeah, many drivers got the same problem but Perez was embarassing.

I mean I get it , you can make a mistake 1 time, even 2 times but not 3 times when you have the live time lap on the steering wheel and you can read that you are in the top position.

Removed lap times was biggest factor in today's qualifying. So many drivers were affected by it. Most unlucky was Perez who didn't even managed to get in Q3 again. Seems that he is really struggling to handle pressure that he got in recent weeks, very difficult time for him. Meanwhile Ferrari looks improved significantly.
Saturday will start with sprint qualifying and sprint race later on same day.

Pos.   Driver   Nat.   Team   Q1   Q2   Q3
1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m05.116s   1m04.951s   1m04.391s
2   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m05.577s   1m05.087s   1m04.439s
3   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m05.339s   1m04.975s   1m04.581s
4   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m05.617s   1m05.038s   1m04.658s
5   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m05.673s   1m05.188s   1m04.819s
6   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m05.710s   1m05.121s   1m04.893s
7   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m05.655s   1m05.181a   1m04.911s
8   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m05.740s   1m05.362s   1m05.090s
9   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m05.515s   1m05.308s   1m05.170s
10   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m05.673s   1m05.387s   1m05.823s
11   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m05.686s   1m05.426s   
12   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m05.729s   1m05.453s   
13   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m05.683s   1m05.605s   
14   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m05.763s   1m05.680s   
15   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m05.177s   2m06.688s   
16   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m05.784s       
17   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m05.818s       
18   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   1m05.948s       
19   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m05.971s       
20   Nyck de Vries   NED   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m05.974s

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1030215/1/f1-2023-austrian-grand-prix-full-qualifying-results


What a disaster for Perez, 4th time in a row without top 10 in qualify 

I wouldn't say they were second, they were more like between third and fourth just like they have been all year long. I mean First is Red Bull as we have seen all year long, even last year, second I would put Mercedes over Ferrari easily. That means they can be either third or fourth, the reality is that Alonso is far better than Ferraris two drivers so he can still pass them but not sure if that's the car or Alonsos talent that takes him there, looking at Stroll he is nowhere to be found.

So, I would guess that a third place in constructors is a very real possibility of rhyme but that's it. Mercedes is definitely better, specially when you consider the latest races, if they can finish this week that means they are going to be very good for sure.

I'm really impressed with Ferrari's performance indeed. Especially Leclerc stated his intention clearly for the race by a very slight time gap like that in the qualifying session. Those changes with front wing and the floor of the car look like very beneficial. I have really missed the rivalry between Leclerc and Verstappen in an Austrian GP. Starting in second place is just the advantage Leclerc needed. Because he will have an opportunity to prevent Verstappen from pulling away early in the race.

Now after this update Ferrari and McLaren both are very quick and I expect the drivers of both teams to have a solid race.

Ferrari missed the qualifying just by less than 0.05 seconds,something along those lines as Leclerc came second in a track where last year he even won with a broken clutch as the gearbox could not go more down than third gear,so I am sure he has very bright and fond memories of this track.Now if this will translate in race performance also that would be great but I am a bit hesitant in this,we have to wait and see as how many teams including Mercedes,McLaren and a few others spoke about massive upgrades yet they did not deliver these massive performances in track,yes they were improved but not in the amount they were claiming to have improved.

Leclerc should try to pass Verstappen in the start and then this is a very technical track with a Ferrari performance upgraded he can repeat the victory of last year and also be the first team to win a race beside Redbull during this season so far.

The qualifying session was quite interesting. Maybe there was no rain but it was still very exciting. Because I couldn't even count how many times the laps of drivers were removed. This was a nightmare session for Perez as well. Because he couldn't even make it to Q3 because of this reason. His lap time was removed a few times due to getting out of track by a slight margin.

Not only him but also many other drivers were out of track limits at the same place. The exit of the last turn turned into a nightmare for those drivers. I didn't understand why Perez wanted to use all the track and push that much in Q2. If he pressed the brake a little more it was still going to be enough for him to make it to Q3. This was completely his fault and Red Bull must be really disappointed with him again.

The car has already improved a lot in the last race they did.
They were probably the second team on the track.

If these progress will be confirmed this weekend they can be in top row in the qualify

Ricciardo's return would be quite interesting. When he was the second driver of Red Bull once he wasn't driving like that in fact. He was always trying his best to bring the challenge to Verstappen. We have seen really lovely competition between them those times. But this didn't end up well for both sides in the end. I still can't forget how Ricciardo hit Verstappen from behind in Azerbaijan and finished the race for themselves. There was a really high tension between these drivers and this was a strong factor for Ricciardo to leave.

Now it is hard to say if we see the same old Ricciardo here. He wasn't that much competitive in his last times. Let's see if returning to Red Bull would fire him up again.

Coincidence or no, but after rumours about Perez future in Red Bull, today he become ill and missed media day, but he should be read to drive on Friday. It really might be illness, but it's also possible that he wanted to avoid media and their questions.

From what I read they're not going to sell team, they planning to sell team name for sponsors. Something similar what Sauber is doing with Alfa Romeo. Mateschitz's son is against selling team as his father's vision was competing with 2 times.