Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 60. (Read 141473 times)

Bro wrong thread.  


If he doesn't get the second drive at Mercedes there's another option for him and it's Red Bull since Perez will be leaving at the end of the season if he isn't given a new contract.  I think if Horner stays as team principal then there's prolly some chance Vettel goes back to Red Bull.  And I def wouldn't mind it imho.  He'll prolly even do a lot better than Perez.

Here are FP1 and FP2 results...

2024 F1 Japanese Grand Prix FP2 Results

Max Verstappen   1:30.056      
Sergio Perez   1:30.237   +0.181s   
Carlos Sainz   1:30.269   +0.213s   
George Russell   1:30.530   +0.474s   
Lewis Hamilton   1:30.543   +0.487s   
Charles Leclerc   1:30.558   +0.502s   
Fernando Alonso  1:30.599   +0.543s   
Oscar Piastri   1:31.165   +1.109s   
Yuki Tsunoda   1:31.230   +1.174s   
Lando Norris   1:31.240   +1.184s   
Esteban Ocon   1:31.935   +1.879s   
Alexander Albon   1:31.943   +1.887s   
Nico Hulkenberg    1:31.958   +1.902s   
Valtteri Bottas   1:32.054   +1.998s   
Lance Stroll   1:32.055   +1.999s   
Ayumu Iwasa   1:32.103   +2.047s   
Pierre Gasly   1:32.277   +2.221s   
Zhou Guanyu   1:32.638   +2.582s   
Kevin Magnussen  1:32.803 +2.747s   
Logan Sargeant    1:33.204   +3.148s   

2024 F1 Japanese Grand Prix FP2 Results

Oscar Piastri   1:34.725      
Lewis Hamilton   1:35.226   +0.501s   
Charles Leclerc   1:38.760   +4.035s   
Yuki Tsunoda   1:40.946   +6.221s   
Daniel Ricciardo   1:41.913   +7.188s   
Zhou Guanyu
Valtteri Bottas
Alexander Albon   
Kevin Magnussen
Nico Hulkenberg   
Carlos Sainz
Lando Norris   
Esteban Ocon

The rain stopped FP2 short.  :/

It is really nice to see Japanese Grand Prix not being cancelled.    We have already left 2 practice sessions behind also. There was a Red Bull dominance in the first one and Mercedes drivers looked really good too. On the other hand the second practice session didn't last long due to a rain burst. Drivers were able to go for only 7 laps the most.

I'm really wondering whether we would have another interesting race with surprising results but I'm pushing my luck there I guess. 

It will probably be under Verstappen's dominance and Red Bulls can take the first 2 spots at the end of the race I think. Do you think Sainz would see another podium? 

Bruno Guimaraes is likely to leave Newscastle as the club needs to get financial fair play in order.

Several teams are interested in the player including PSG, CITY and Arsenal.

Arsenal don't stop there, they seem to also be interested in Isak and Zikzee, actually at Bologna on Loan from Bayern

In fact in this track I don't think Ferrari will suffer that much.I have seen the races during all the years here and most of the time Ferrari have a good feeling with this track,in the hand of good drivers like Leclerc and Sainz if they manage to get Pole position and get out first out of the first corner things can be manageable for the Ferrari team.

Of course Max Verstappen is eager now to score as many points as he can as he comes from a 0 points race in Australia yet for me this track is not the most suitable one for Redbull,they had problems last year or the year before that if I remember correctly although they managed to win the race,it was difficult for them,this time maybe even more difficult since Ferrari form is great.

We will have good weather in Japan for the duration of the Grand Prix and tests.

Red Bull should be favored but Ferrari has already said it will use an aggressive approach for this race too.

honestly I think they could fight for pole but not for victory (if max doesn't have mechanical problems)

In fact not only there have been news about a possible cancellation of this grand prix but if you check the official F1 Instagram page you will see there many posts of drivers having a whole lot of fun by exploring Japan thoroughly,only tomorrow they start the free practice which makes them fully concentrated on the race weekend.

As for Vettel I would love a come back from him even if the performance of Mercedes assuming he will be driving for them will just be average,a driver like Vettel can make them feel much more powerful,in fact the only true dominating car Vettel had was Redbull where he won 4 titles.

It looks that Japan wasn't affected by this terrible earthquake, I didn't even saw serious tals anywhere that Japanese GP can be cancelled. And yeah, this is early race for people in Europe or Africa, but fortunately not that early as Australian GP .
And Vettel - I don't believe that we will see him in F1 again. I see more likely that he can go to other racing series.

It seems Suzuka GP will going on according to plan so nothing really changed and hopefully nothing will change within next hours too.

Now , I also hope that Redbull will come with that white-blue livery because that combination of colors are really looking amazing + it's their 2nd home GP after Austria.

Regarding Vettel , I think this are all rumors and the guy is happy with his current life but I could see him returning as an official within F1...am ambassador or something.

There is no update on the future of Japanese Grand Prix yet but I hope things aren't very serious there.    If the conditions are okay I would really love to watch this race like many other people. It is once again an early race for the most part of the world but there is nothing to do about it. F1 lovers would set their alarms to watch it anyway.

The news about Vettel makes me excited as well. I wouldn't expect him to return this quick to F1 honestly. Maybe he got bored in his normal life and wanted to get into the action once again. Watching him race for Mercedes in 2025 would be awesome.  

There is a place free at Mercedes during 2025 as Hamilton is leaving and for me if Vettel is remotely thinking in F1 he should do it with a Mercedes as I don't see any better option than Mercedes which has free slots from the teams running,the other 3 strong teams have their line up most likely fixed for the upcoming season.So it would be great to see Vettel back in driving a great car like Mercedes which I assume would be running a good performance.

The last time an earthquake or disaster happened that directly affected racing activity happened in 2011[1]. I believe if the damage is severe enough, including uncertainty of a follow-up earthquake or something similar, they will postpone or use other circuits to hold the races. I doubt fixing a public road and a circuit is the same thing though, so even if they can do that the race will likely get postponed anyway. Even if an earthquake is a normal occurrence, it would be stupid to proceed with a race when there's no certainty that it will be safe imo.

[1] https://www.espn.co.uk/racing/racing/news/story?id=6219190

NIIIIIICE!!!  I honestly would love to see him get the second drive at Mercedes than the smug Alonso tbh...  And he'd be some sort of mentor for Mick Schumacher too which is ideal.  It was said that Vettel wanted Mick Schumacher to be his replacement after he had left and he was really fighting for this to happen.  But as we have already seen want happened, he was unsuccessful. 

Damn.  If Horner and Newey leaves for Ferrari and Vettel returns in F1 as a Mercedes driver, I'd be rooting for both Ferrari and Mercedes. 

sebastian Vettel spoken to journalists today and admitted how he had been feeling over the past few weeks.

The German driver admitted that in recent days he has been in contact with Toto Wolff

But the news doesn't stop there, the driver has basically made it clear that he could return to racing in 2025 but it depends a lot on the level of the car he would be entrusted with

I don't think they are going to cancel the event just because earthquakes no matter how strong they are and if they come from waters like Tsunami.The reason is that Japan is used to such events and they call them normal happenings,sure sometimes there maybe dangerous ones yet usually these are not common,the last one was that which created a huge crater in the road in 2008 or 2010 which they fixed already the next day,so most likely the event will be on.

^  I don't think so.  That's just sports journos trying to rile everyone up for your attention.  The more eye balls, the better.  But at the end of it all, if it brings more attention in F1 then all in all it could be a good thing.  And the tsunami scare is over now as the earth quake happened more than 12 hours ago.

Anyway here's the race weekend's schedule.  Can't wait for this one...

2024 F1 Japanese Grand Prix Schedule
Track:  Suzuka International Racing Course



April 5:  Practice 1  11:30 - 12:30
April 5:  Practice 2  15:00 - 16:00
April 6:  Practice 3  11:30 - 12:30
April 6:  Qualifying  15:00 - 16:00
April 7:  Race  14:00

Edit:  Typos.

after the big earthquake that hit Taiwan, a rumor began to circulate according to which the Japanese Grand Prix might be canceled due to possible tsunamis and dangers deriving from it.

The danger seems to have canceld for now and there don't seem to be any consequences for the motorsport weekend.

I think the only way Verstappen to leave would be after the expected changes are made in 2026. If Red Bull doesn't have the fastest car then he would think of leaving seriously. Some people say he might even think of an early retirement but it doesn't make sense to me. I don't think he will leave F1 this quick. Why would he? 

Some Formula 1 news accounts on X tried an April Fools' Day joke yesterday by saying that Verstappen made up his mind to join Mercedes. 

What if this happens for real?    But not expecting such thing next season at least.

If they promise him to give a great car,a winning car then it is a sure thing Max would be joining Aston Martin as I agree once you have the budget that Arabs have,chances are really high they are going to buy all the great guys in F1 and make them work in a team,the team that they want to sponsor and make it a winning car in the sport.Lately there is a surge for desire to be performing well in different sports from Arabs,they are making 2-3 tracks in Formula 1 per year now and they are also investing heavily by bringing good players to the Saudi League.

Let's not forget Audi will also join in 2026 and that can be a chance too as they also have the know how and they have a huge budget to invest in Formula 1.

If will leave RBR he can go only to Mercedes or Aston Martin.
Aston Martin is rumored to be sold to Aramco, and if they buy a team it will be for dominating in F1 also.

Arabs when they comes they go all in or nothing.

I don't think Max is going anywhere right now,when he was shouting in the radio after he won his first Championship he was saying let's keep doing this for another ten years guys and I think he really meant this.I also think that every good driver should drive a Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel said,everyone is a Ferrari fan even those who say they are not Ferrari fans,in reality they and everyone are Ferrari fans.

For Max though as long as he will be winning such easy Championships I doubt he would be willing to leave Redbull anytime soon as I am sure he wants to maximize his time there before moving out of such team and starting his new journey adventure.