Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 209. (Read 137916 times)

I knew it like Verstappen's gearbox was changed and he was going to start from the back of the grid. However it seems like Verstappen is starting in pole position. Am I wrong about this now? Because there are so many different news and I really don't know what to believe. Some websites are showing the starting grid as Verstappen in pole.

Anyway, it was a really great qualifying session. Leclerc and Verstappen had a beautiful competition for the pole position. Leclerc's second sector was really bad on his last try and Verstappen benefited from this a lot by stealing the lead from him. However Leclerc still seems very quick now which could be a sign for a very competitive race tomorrow. Unless Ferrari have bad strategies he can really fight with Verstappen for the win this time.

Perez had a spin on his last try and missed the chance of rising on the grid more. This is bad news for Red Bull but we will see how dedicated Perez will be after starting in 5th position.

Race Pace the average racer today I see a lot of good and every rider I think need to run a good strategy if the weather conditions tomorrow are not so good. But for Bagnaia I think he will fight for another win tomorrow because he still needs so many points and I don't think it will be so easy for him because there are three Ducati bikes nearby tomorrow and two of them are home riders.

Fabio clearly has to catch up with more riders in front of him to get the best position before the race ends, because he also needs to keep his points safe at the top of the standings so that there are no obstacles to becoming world champion again this season.

Another pole position for Verstappen at the Dutch Grand Prix. Nice for Verstappen and the fans, but is it really all that nice when it goes this way? Nobody is waiting for Verstappen to drive away from p1 and that nobody comes close. Even if you are a Verstappen fan there is little to see him win his races this way. I would love it if Leclerc wins tomorrow that Verstappen doesn't finish on the podium for once. But to be honest, for 85% Verstappen is definitely going to win without any problems.

Very good starting position for Bagnaia tomorrow, Fabio has to catch up tomorrow, should Bagnaia have a good start and sit at the top he can pull his race through and will be very difficult to stop. Fabio still has a good lead, so it will be more important to get through and score points than to risk everything.



And now back to the end of the Formula 1 qualifying...

That's good.  We need a little more excitement for the season.  I mean after the season we had last year, this one is starting to get really stale with Verstappen starting to crank things up and dominate.

And there's an audio of Ricciardo's talk with his engineer over the radio and he he said something like his car feels like a bag of dicks.  Lol.  He's mentally done for the season imo.  Sad to see him go if no other team is willing to acquire him next season.  And according to Horner, Ricciardo isn't the same guy he used to be.  The bubble personality is gone...

In the end it looks like Ferrari has the necessary pace to take the pole here in Netherlands but the qualifies will be on another level as I'm sure Max will want to fight for that pole because he is on home circuit and we all know that every F1 drivers wants to win at his home. Now Mercedes did a great work in just a week and made some significant improvements to their care and the pace is slight better so I won't exclude them from top 3 in qualifiers.

1   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m11.632s
2   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m11.698s
3   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m11.793s
4   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m11.971s
5   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m12.156s
6   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m12.176s
7   Fernando Alonso   ESP   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m12.327s
8   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m12.491s
9   Mick Schumacher   GER   Haas F1 Team   1m12.558s
10   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m12.591s
11   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   Haas F1 Team   1m12.606s
12   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m12.773s
13   Alexander Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m12.775s
14   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m13.003s
15   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m13.046s
16   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m13.276s
17   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m13.299s
18   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m13.359s
19   Guanyu Zhou   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m13.421s
20   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m13.625s

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1011373/1/f1-2022-dutch-grand-prix-free-practice-results-3


As predicted by simulations, the team with the biggest improvement by the new FIA rule is Mercedes.

The odds for Verstappen win looks like really low knowing that he will start from the end of the grid most probably.I said this track is much shorter than Belgium and of course not as wide as Belgium so things will be different now that even rain is forecast,if the weather does not change and we still see a wet race tomorrow than all the odds are not real as we know in the rain anything can happen and anyone can win the race,of course anyone from the top teams and not a Williams who stands last.The odd is deceiving,it should be like a minimum of near 3 for Verstappen considering where he will start.

Verstappen had a problem with the transmission of the RB18 and was out on the track right at the beginning of the practice session. In the last practice of the day he even managed to recover some of the lost time and fit in 22 laps, but ended up only finishing in 8th place.... he definitely fell short of what was expected of the pilot who had a fantastic race in the last GP.

Obviously the problems are not the driver's, and I'm sure RedBull will correct this in time and the champion will shine at home.

I was feeling pretty sure about Verstappen to win this race but the gearbox issue was unexpected. Maybe he will start from the back of the grid after changing the gearbox but there is still nothing finished for him at the same time. He is still too quick for any driver on the grid now. Even the odds are favouring him too much for the win:



As far as I remember he is seen as even more favourite than the last race. Maybe it is related to its being the home race for Verstappen. This can be an even more interesting race to watch as he will have a big challenge ahead of him. Starting as the last and finishing the first is a very difficult task for any driver even if they have the best car on the grid. For example Hamilton did this before but it isn't a common incident to be seen anyway. I'm just thinking about betting on Leclerc @4.60 and try my luck with him. He has a big chance ahead if Ferrari don't mess up things.

Honestly, because nobody really cares about this season at all. Red Bull is the only team that has something to lose, Mercedes could end up second in constructors and Ferrari at third and yet Ferrari would still get paid a lot more, they have something like 60 million payment just for Ferrari (for all the decades he stayed) so it is really not going to be that much of a difficulty for anyone to be against it, it is easy to just ignore it.

Let the situation be, and keep on improving. What another team would really care? Every other team is dealing with the new cars, and only after 2-3 seasons they will find their pace, and until then, all smaller changes like this doesn't matter since they suck anyway.

Heard that Verstappen had a pretty difficult training today. Yet all that means nothing. After all, it is a training for a reason. Tomorrow at qualifying we can make a better estimate. Verstappen won last week when he started from P12. If he rides Pole tomorrow, how easy is he going to win? Ferrari will really have to do something back, although I think the battle for the world championship has long been decided. Also among the constructors.
Last year Verstappen won flawless.

They can protest whatever you want but it is useless if they don't have the power to, they can't change anything.

This is the 1st time in the history of F1 that they change the rules during a championship.

Chances are high for him to not win the race,he will get a penalty and get back quite some positions so it will be another race to climb for him but the difference is that this track is not as wide as Belgium and also is much shorter in time for lap at about 1.12.xxx the fastest and about 1.16-1.18 in the early stages of the race.This means every other strong favorite like Leclerc,Hamilton,Russell,Perez and Sainz have all better chances than Verstappen here.

However seeing Redbull pace at Belgium everything is possible,they can play a good pit stop strategy knowing the performance of their car to achieve a victory,so lots of doubts about this race.

Ferrari seem to have given up the fight too early that must be why. Maybe the recent changes affected Ferrari in a negative way but they also have a big share in this unsuccessful season because of very bad team calls. Actually this was the biggest chance Leclerc and them had while Mercedes were this much weak at the same time. But they can't build better strategies than Red Bull now. If Mercedes get as strong as these teams until next season then Hamilton would enter the title race again and this might mean even a tougher season for Leclerc. He also deserves to be champion like Verstappen has done it.

Coming back to the Dutch GP, the only way Verstappen loses this race can be with some serious issue with the car. On the other hand Red Bull seem to have solved the problems with their car already. They aren't like Ferrari. Both teams had similar problems at the beginning of the season but Red Bull removed those problems much earlier than Ferrari. For example, I'd like to remind you that Sainz' car caught fire and Leclerc had a big problem with the throttle pedal in the Austria GP. 

As for Hamilton to win this race, I think it is really difficult. He needs to get very lucky to do this.  

Why isn't Ferrari protesting the change like Christian Horner did when the changes were announced?  Most of the other teams also seem mum with the change in the middle of the season and aren't really saying anything.  Do they really think that the changes would also benefit them in what's left of the season?

The Dutch GP is Verstappen's race to lose.  And him losing in his home race would be hilarious.  If it does happen, I want to see Hamilton win it for the lulz.

BREAKING NEWS
Francesco Bagnaia has been officially sentenced to drop 3 starting positions in the #SanMarinoGP race later.

The penalty was imposed because Bagnaia blocked the pace of Alex Marquez and Enea Bastianini at the end of the FP1 session. At that time Bagnaia was observed immediately apologized and admitted his mistake. However, this cannot eliminate the penalty imposed by race direction and Bagnaia cannot appeal.

A very unfortunate incident for Francesco Bagnaia because he had to accept the punishment and also had to fight hard at his home race on Sunday. Now I'm watching FP2 for the San Marino MotoGp class.

Verstappen had only 7 laps in FP1 so it is normal to see him that much down below. Mercedes were still impressive in the first session of course. But we all know that not all the teams are showing their real strength in practice sessions. We'd get a clearer idea after watching the qualifying. Mercedes really need an improvement before the season ends. Russell has been the most consistent driver throughout the season so far but I can't say the same for Hamilton.

When it comes to the race, I think that it is going to be a Verstappen win here in his home GP. The driver I want to see as the winner is Leclerc of course but I need to stay realistic. Leclerc really needs a push these days as he was on podium only once for a long time period. Ferrari's having serious problems and making simple mistakes have finished his season earlier than he expected.

1   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m12.455s
2   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team   1m12.695s
3   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m12.845s
4   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m12.929s
5   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m13.077s
6   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m13.127s
7   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m13.416s
8   Fernando Alonso   ESP   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m13.633s
9   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m13.963s
10   Alexander Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m14.063s
11   Mick Schumacher   GER   Haas F1 Team   1m14.163s
12   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m14.257s
13   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   Haas F1 Team   1m14.405s
14   Pierre Gasly   FRA   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m14.474s
15   Sebastian Vettel   GER   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m14.500s
16   Guanyu Zhou   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m14.534s
17   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m14.630s
18   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Orlen   1m14.695s
19   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m14.714s
20   Nicholas Latifi   CAN   Williams Racing   1m15.122s


This is the final test for Ferrari, if they will be not competitive here, then the FIA change of rules decreased the efficiency of Ferrari.

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1011194/1/f1-2022-dutch-grand-prix-free-practice-results-1

I believe Ricciardo should absolutely stay here despite having a bad season now. These things happen to even the most experienced drivers sometimes so he shouldn't be wasted this much easy. He is still one of the very talented drivers. I remember how ambitious he was when he was driving for Red Bull but he was sent from the team because of the problems between him and Verstappen. Otherwise his future would have been brighter than this.

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Let's say hello to a new race week.     The Dutch Grand Prix is the home GP for Verstappen and we know how he dominated the last race here. While Red Bull are the fastest on the grid currently it is going to be really difficult for Leclerc to compete with him at the same level. Maybe we would see a fierce rivalry if Ferrari don't screw up. Leclerc must have missed to win races so much after this poor form.