Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 71. (Read 141473 times)

Pos   Driver   Nat.   Team   Time
1   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   Visa Cash App RB F1 Team   1m32.869s
2   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m32.901s
3   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m33.113s
4   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Visa Cash App RB F1 Team   1m33.183s
5   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m33.193s
6   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m33.238s
7   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m33.251s
8   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m33.268s
9   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m33.302s
10   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber   1m33.354s
11   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m33.385s
12   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m33.413s
13   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m33.583s
14   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m33.868s
15   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber   1m33.923s
16   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   1m34.213s
17   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m34.807s
18   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m35.144s
19   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m37.477s
20   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m37.938s

1st hour has been completer.

Timers are still high since pole position last year was around 1.29

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1044784/1/2024-f1-bahrain-grand-prix-free-practice-results

I agree. If Newey was okay to work with another team principal then he wouldn't have put a clause about Horner in the first place. By the way it looks like Horner isn't going anywhere. I read some news like Horner he has been cleaned from the charges against him like he treated a worker inappropriately.

It didn't surprise me truthfully. Red Bull couldn't have run the risk of losing Horner and Newey both at the beginning of the season above all else. 

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The season is finally about to start! It is so exciting to be back in action. Even though we all know how dominant Verstappen and Red Bull will be, watching F1 is making my weekends much better. 

Its time.
The question is, how many races will Verstappen wins 2024?

Alonso said all , Lecrecr said he wants to win 5 races...


I guess he will win 15 races.

I think that at Ferrari with a driver like Hamilton they are finally going to have that driver that will surely give them 101% out of the car which most likely will give both sides mutual benefits.I am sure that if Ferrari manages to give Hamilton a car like they have given to Alonso and Vettel which they did not win any Championship,Hamilton is going to win one,I think that is what Ferrari is aiming with the move that signed them Hamilton.

Oh def be a huuuge impact!  And here's the thing, I think Newey won't work with anybody else except Horner as the tema principal.  So if they really want Newey, the gotta get Horner too and it's also the other way around...  If they want Horner, they have no choice but to get Newey too.  And you know what?  I'm not a Ferrari fan but I'd like to see it happen just to get a new look for 2025.  

Anyway here's the schedule for the race this weekend.

2024 F1 Bahrain GP Schedule
Track:  Bahrain International Circuit



Feb 29:  Practice 1  14:30 - 15:30
Feb 29:  Practice 2  18:00 - 19:00
March 1:  Practice 3  15:30 - 16:30
March 1:  Qualifying  19:00 - 20:00
March 2:  Race  18:00

Where is this audience data coming from? From what they posted on their website, they claim there is a YoY growth[1]. Even if that were true, are there data that suggest it is no longer profitable for Dorna? I'm pretty sure their income doesn't come only from tickets or global viewership, merc sales or promotion deals are there too. Even if they want to sell it, I don't see it happening if the government blocks them again due to fear of monopoly.

I'm not sure about being not exciting anymore, sometimes it feels like people talk from their tinted glasses and focus too much on nostalgia when Rossi still races. It is still enjoyable for me even though I don't root for anyone. I guess that's the plus side if you don't have any expectations and just want to watch some race on the weekend.

[1] https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2023/10/02/motogp-global-audiences-sustain-20-growth/479472

It seems like Horner situation will get to be a thing that will take a while, it won't be all that easy and should be something that may hurt the team as well. Not that I think it is going to be all that quick to judge yet, like maybe they will do fine, but that doesn't mean that we are going to end up with much worse result unless they change something. We should be considering the situation to be different, we can't really assume the situation to be changing eventually one way or another.

I believe that we are going to end up with something that may cause Horner to end up with some trouble if this keeps up, seems like even his family life could be in trouble at this point and this is why I believe that it will become a bit more harder to handle.

but that is just speculation, it might not come true, considering that this is not the first time the f1 commercial license owner wants to buy a motogp commercial license, some time ago there was a similar action but the european commission thwarted the agreement because it could lead to a business monopoly, and perhaps of course something similar will happen to this agreement.

moreover, there are still many motogp fans all over the world, and dorna just needs to collaborate better with various parties and maybe they will be able to provide a better experience in motogp racing to increase the audience globally.

If Adrian Newey joins Ferrari it would make tremendous impact in Formula 1.    He must be like the best designer this sport have now. With his new designs for Ferrari they can upset the balances a lot. But Ferrari would still need a better crew to make sure of not making simple mistakes in pit especially.    The thing that has been dragging them down the most so far is the unbelievable mistakes the crew have made.

Yeah in that case Hamilton would really like to achieve his 8th championship to break the record. But considering Ferrari don't have a main driver policy they might still want to let Leclerc and Hamilton fight against each other. In that case Leclerc can still do his best. 

Dorna is still trying to increase the number of spectators at MotoGP, even though last season there was a slight increase from the previous season at certain circuits only. And from what you have heard, it is true that after Valentino Rossi's retirement, the number of spectators continued to decrease and there were no hot duels like what happened during Rossi's time, so that is what caused some MotoGP fans to disappear and even be more willing to enjoy WSBK and F1.

At the end of last week the first round of WSBK took place in Australia, namely at the Phillip Island circuit and the battle was really exciting. Moreover, in the opening event in the first Race1, Iannone, who was able to return to racing this season, immediately got three podiums and continued to compete closely with Petrucci in Race2. This made me remember when they competed in MotoGP when they were young and now they meet again in the WSBK race with different teams.

https://www.si.com/fannation/racing/f1briefings/rumours/f1-rumour-owners-of-formula-one-to-buy-motogp-dorna-ceo-speaks-out-sj4

There are rumors that Liberty Media, which is the owner of the F1 license, is currently interested in buying the commercial rights to MotoGP. Liberty Media said that they are interested in becoming the commercial rights holder for MotoGP and if that is realized they will have 2 commercial rights for the best world-class car and motorbike races. And not only Liberty Media, Amazon, Disney and Netflix are also interested in buying the MotoGP commercial license.

I don't really follow MotoGP, the last time I watched it was when Rossi raced, shortly after that I didn't watch it again. However, from what I hear, MotoGP is no longer as exciting as it was a few seasons ago, and the audience continues to decline. Is that the reason why Dorna wants to sell the MotoGP commercial license to another company?

I don't know why but it's there.  Go look it up.  Both Horner and Newey both have the same clause to protect each other.  And it looks like Newey doesn't want to work with any other team principal other than Christian Horner.    So if he goes, Newey goes...  To Ferrari.  Lmaooo.  They both will help Lewis Hamilton get his next drivers championship and finally break Schumacher's record.

Poor Leclerc.  He's gonna play second fiddle again.

1 week at the start.

Side note, the race will be on Saturday, 1 day earlier for the Ramadan even if it not started yet.

Also the Saudi GP will be on Saturaday.

You are right about your doubts and I also feel the same about him.    It is like we don't have the same old Perez we know. He was much more ambitious and successful in the past. I don't want to link this with his age (34) to be honest. Because there is a great example like Alonso. He is 42 years old but still cooking. 

It is like Perez has lost his concentration for some reason. It was seen especially in the second part of last season. Even in his home Grand Prix he was out of the race at the start because of an individual mistake. He needs to collect himself otherwise I don't think Helmut Marko would like to see him at the team anymore.

Alonso released some interview in these days.

He basically said that he will be surprised if anyone can even win a race this year.

Redbull in the eyes of everyone looks even stronger than the past year.

Even if Redbull truly loses these heads of the team who has greatly contributed to their success so far based on the car they have for the 2024-2025 season they can easily win as long as Max is driving for them,as for Perez I have really high doubts about him winning a Championship even with the best car.

The big problem that we saw from the testing is,Max is over 1 second faster in testing although he said it is only testing compared to the second best car,now if these results carry over for real in the season which I believe they will do then we are going to see the same season of 2023 repeating the same pattern.

This clause really doesn't make sense at all. How would Red Bull accept this? I guess they were too confident about not losing any of Newey and Horner then. Now there is this serious situation going on at the team.

But I don't think Red Bull will sack Horner or he will decide to leave by his own decision in the upcoming days. There is no need to cause this crisis to get bigger. No Newey might even mean the end of a dominance era for Red Bull. 


Indeed but I don't think this change will be seen either this season or in the next one. 2026 season is promising about a lot of changes. The cars are planned to be built smaller too.

This generation of cars are big, heavy, with heavy tires and a "sucking" air effect in the bottom.

They need to change the rule and have more strength in the screw in the ground.

^  Newey's new contract from last year?  It has a clause that if Horner leaves then he also has the option to leave.  Horner also has the same clause in his contract for Newey.    RBR fkced themselves.


There's word swirling around that Horner won't be Red Bull's team principal after Feb 28.  Dunno how true that is but that would be a dumb move for the team if it's true and it would suck for the fans.  But overall prolly good as it will level the teams a bit.  I don't buy the results in testing.  Red Bull will be proven dominant again and we'll be here watching another so so season.  Lol.

Another drain cover problem, huh?     It looks like FIA hasn't still learned its lesson from last season. If you don't remember a similar problem occurred at Las Vegas track which caused Sainz's car to take serious damage. 

FIA should act more carefully for the safety of the drivers. But it looks like they are still not completing full checks for tracks before the start of a weekend. I hope this doesn't cause another driver to have problems because of negligence of FIA.


Adrian Newey is a blessing for Red Bull who is adored for his works.    He has extended his contract too so I think we are likely to see Red Bull dominance in not only 2024 but also 2025 season. I can't say anything about 2026 season yet as there are many changes on the way.