Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 155. (Read 143843 times)

   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m42.315s
2   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m42.352s
3   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m42.454s
4   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m42.899s
5   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m43.125s
6   Nyck de Vries   NED   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m43.414s
7   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m43.455s
8   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m43.560s
9   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m43.628s
10   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m43.748s
11   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m43.798s
12   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m43.980s
13   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m44.010s
14   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m44.137s
15   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m44.323s
16   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   1m44.900s
17   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m45.082s
18   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m45.955s
19   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m46.321s
20   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m47.498s

Results: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1024814/1/f1-2023-azerbaijan-grand-prix-friday-practice-1-results



Remember the qualify will be done today afternoon since we will have the sprint race.

Ferrari keeps saying that and then they go out and make a huge mistake and that causes them to lose points yet again. Like for Australia, it wasn't just pace or car that mattered, sure that matters but Charles just got out and got zero points because of that, and Sainz hit Alonso and lost all points because of that as well.

All those combined causes them to lose points, that has nothing to do with the state of the car at all, they could get a lot faster and if they keep making these mistakes then they are going to end up being worse yet again. So this is why they need to minimalize the mistakes and then the car would be important improvement. You can give that crew the best car and they would find a way to lose anyway.

I didn't know that we would have a sprint race on Saturday and on today we will have the "qualifying" format as how will the cars be up for the start of the sprint race.For me I am always happy when we have a sprint race as especially in this track where it is wide in most places and it can be very narrow at that slowest corner of the season if I am not mistaken near the castle.I think we can see a lot of happening despite this being a small race,the sprint one and we can have a really good understanding of where the cars line up for the race so we can place some good bets and win some money here.

I don't think in 3 weeks though some time to have improved that much to beat Redbull but I would welcome very much if some team has closed the gap to them in a decent amount.

So... The Azerbaijan track is already quite "chaotic" and I think that debuting a new sprint format just now will heat up the disputes a lot.
Okay, the idea is to have more competitive sessions on the weekend and make the two events independent so that the drivers attack more in the sprint, but I think that even with this different format, Red Bull is still the favourite.

In my opinion, Baku's long straights should favor Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez's car, as it generates less air resistance and reaches high top speeds without needing very small wings.
Also speaking of Aston Martin, they also promised a rear wing that generates less drag to try to solve the chronic problem of final speed of Fernando Alonso's car and Mercedes also announced that it would bring news to its car.

F1 is constantly changing so it's hard to talk about favourites, but I still believe in Red Bull.

Yep, I've read the same.
It is quite unbelievable so far they were slower than the previous year, without big change in the regulation

I'm also very curious about Alonso's future performances during the season. Because he is very competitive to do his best with a fast car like this. He didn't find this much competition with Alpine last season. Some people including me even criticized Alonso for joining Aston Martin while they were doing really bad. But I would have never expected to see them improving their car this much in one season.

He has been capturing the 3rd place in every race so far. I wonder how long he will be able to keep up this consistency in most of the season. It depends on the car to not cause much problem for Alonso of course. Because I don't doubt Alonso's driving skills at all. He is very competitive like he is having his brightest times again now.

News about Marc Marquez, who will still be absent at the MotoGP Jerez race at the end of this week, has been circulating a lot and according to sources from Honda himself, he said Marc Marquez's place would be temporarily replaced by WSBK rider Iker Lecuona. But today there is a little more news update via crashmotogp_ which he said "Marc Marquez will hold a press conference at Jerez today at 2 pm local time"

As for the Ducati manufacturer itself, there has been confirmation for Enea Bastianini who will check his health today to see if his condition is fit to be able to continue racing at MotoGP Jerez this week. Source: crashmotogp_

Rumors are that Ferrari gained great pace in this mini-break we had with F1 so I'm really curious how they will perform in Baku because usually they had good performances over the years. If they somehow catch a podium on Sunday , I think they will re-become the 2nd faster car after RedBull because in the long run I don't see AM remaining on 2nd place but I do see them securing that 3rd spot over Mercedes.

Yeah, these changes looks good. Previously when there was sprint race, Saturday practice was such big waste of time. Same format will be used in all Sprint weekend this season - Austria, Belgium, Qatar, USA (Austin) and Brazil.

---

Can't believe that's finally race week. This one month break was such long, it feels like waiting for the new season to begin after winter. Baku track is great and I just hope that this time we will avoid red flags finally like we had in previous races.

It can be really entertaining to watch a sprint race before Azerbaijan GP. I think the track is quite suitable for overtakes so it would be nice to see some action on a street track. It has been a long time since we watched the last race. It felt like we were in one of those summer breaks in F1. Especially after watching that legendary race in Australia it was unfair to come across a long break.

I bet there will be more viewers for this race after those very interesting incidents in the Australian GP. Aston Martin are the most attention getting team for me these days. I bet it is like that for many F1 followers too because their performance was really poor last season. Alonso is very competitive right now and he is ready to use full power of his car until the end of the season. There is a consistency with 3 podiums so far and I can't wait to see what he will do here also.

They have changed the sprint races in f1 with the effect starts immediatly and it will be a lot better IMHO, without have a dead hour in the saturday.


Friday morning, free practice
Friday afternoon, Qualify for the race

Saturday morning qualify for the sprint race.
Saturday afternoon, sprint race.

Sunday race.

The 2023 Kazakhstan GP has been cancelled
The FIM, IRTA and Dorna Sports can confirm the cancellation of the 2023 Kazakhstan GP. The ongoing homologation work on the circuit, coupled with the current global operational challenges, has necessitated the cancellation of the 2023 event. MotoGP hopes to visit Sokol International Racecourse in 2024 to welcome the new territory into the calendar. The event will be irreplaceable in 2023. Source: https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2023/04/26/2023-kazakhstan-gp-cancelled/453335?

^  What's fun about Monaco is the qualifying.  And what's fun about it this year is Verstappen having somewhat of a an ax to grind against Perez.  I don't know if you guys remember, but there were words swirling around that Perez's crash in last year's qualifying at Monaco was on purpose which caused a red flag and prevented Verstappen from completing his last lap.  

So yeah...  I hope those protesters find another day to do their protesting and let the race commence.  I mean I know I'm a bit jaded these days but really, no amount of protesting will change anything.  Those guys at the top will always get their way sooner or later.

I disagree. Most people think that Monaco is boring because there are very rarely anyone passing each other, but that makes it even more fun. Too many people considered taking it out but that would be a shame. Historically it is such an important one because it changes everything about the strategy part of the racing world, that is a great track to make sure that you do as well as hoped for.

Even if you are second and overtake the first, just go right near him and use your DRS and that way you will not hurt your tires too long, don't overtake him if you can't, but you can be more ready whereas the first would run out of everything to keep you there, then they will pit, and you will have 1-2 more laps that you can just rush with whatever you have left and then you can pit as well and the result would be overtaking thanks to pit strategy. That's wonderful, not saying people will be able to do it, but that is what racing at Monaco is all about, strategy.

He is the only rider that can make Honda win as in the race he was DNF because of colliding with Oliveira he had won the Pole Position despite him having a much weaker bike than Ducati who is dominating this Championship and things look very easy for them with Marquez not fit.It is indeed unlucky for such a rider to not be able to compete at 100% of his condition as if he was at such level I am sure we would be seeing a very fun and competitive season in MotoGP with him fighting alone against the supremacy of Ducati,unfortunately no other rider can do such performances even with a weaker bike so we must resign to the fact that it is already a Ducati season despite us being in the first races of the season.

If you can't get Horner to join your team, just go get some of his engineers...  Lol.  But it's good.  I hope Ferrari gets as much smart people as they need and bring back their glory days.  It's been a while.


Jfc..  What are they protesting for?  And what does Monaco have to do with them?  I think it's one of the least political places in the world.  If they're just there to annoy the lot of them rich folks then that would be funny.  

Verstappen now at 1.39 to win Azerbaijan GP.  :/  Hamilton at 15... 

It's a pity for Marquez, since 2020 he has always had injuries. To my amazement, Honda didn't even make progress towards improving the bike. Earlier this season Marquez was also injured again colliding with Miguel Oliveira (RNF Aprilia) in the 2023 Portuguese MotoGP. The situation is so difficult, I feel sorry that he seems to be unlucky. His body was damaged by injuries. It seems that there must be the best combination for Marquez to feel comfortable on the bike. Honda must facilitate his comfort and Marquez must give the right input on Honda.

Well simply because they used a different aero on the team, and the chasis was all wrong, which makes you lose so much pace as well so they needed to fix it. Let me tell you the difference, Aston Martin last year had a car much like Mercedes but even worse, look at where they are today? That is because their car is more like Red Bull instead, that's what they changed and suddenly became so much better.

Mercedes already hired their best ever designer, that means if they end up with the same type of improvement and change, if they go that route which they said they will eventually, then they could have that kind of improvement. If Aston Martin went from 7th best to 2nd best, imagine how much better Mercedes could be with that type of upgrade. Will that be on Baku? I do not think so, that's too quick of a change, but I bet after the big summer break they will have it ready.

Monaco is a super boring race only when the weather is good,last year if I recall it correctly it was with rain and a lot of things happened that impacted the race and where we saw Perez as the winner.It is boring I agree but is one of the most iconic F1 races and as such it won't be going away soon from the calendar as F1 for me would not be the same without such an iconic race which in some seasons has been a really beautiful one to watch.

Finally after almost one month of waiting this weekend we will be back in racing and finally it won't be a boring weekend anymore.It is another street circuit but one long and wide one so overtaking here is really possible and the race promises to be a good one.

I wouldn't be sad if Monaco Grand Prix is gone in the calendar. It is like one of the most boring races of a season. You know about how tight the roads are. I don't call it a decent race as long as a race isn't full of overtakes between drivers. But unless there are simple mistakes Monaco Grand Prix will just make you bored after watching it a little. At least it is the affect on me about this.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix is closing in on us. Next Sunday we are going to watch another race in the season finally. This is a really special one at the same time. Verstappen is absolute favourite of course unless he has some kind of problems. But I'd love to see Ferrari having a solid race here finally.