Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 79. (Read 145120 times)

This season F1 is really not interesting. 2x early series redbull racers finish always one two. not interesting there is no resistance from other than redbull racers. redbull cars without opponents are less exciting. if motogp ducati is without opponents but there are many ducati user drivers so it's more exciting.

What a race right ? Piastri is proving race after race to be way better than Norris but also he can be a top 4 easily race after race with just a bit of improvement to the car because the kid has everything it needs to bring success to McLaren.

Charles looked so focused the entire race that he forgot he was on the podium because his mind was still racing at that point and barely cameras barely got a smile from him so I guess this version of Charles 2024 is the most motivated one so far.

Despite that Saudi Arabian track is fastest on calendar, it's not easy to overtake here and it makes races here not very interesting. And if last season we saw Max alone racing in his own league, now it seems that Perez is getting hard to reach for rest of drivers too.
Very solid debut race for Bearman, expected that he can get points, but he looked above my expectations.

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Not watching MotoGP often, but tuned in first qualifying and sprint race of season. What surprised me that there is OnlyFans team in MotoGP. This is some proper marketing .

The first sprint race is over and Martin has won it, a slightly (fortunately) different podium than expected, there are three different manufacturers on the podium and not three Ducati as feared. We'll have to wait and see if the long term race tomorrow is as even.

But Yamaha und Honda had an worst start...

MotoGP is coming back, tomorrow we will watch the 1st race of the new season.
Qualifying result for tomorrow race is as listed below:

What an irony for the Pramac Ducati, Jorge Martin get the pole position but Morbidelli as the teammate should start from the last position.
Marc Marquez with his new bike will start from the 6th position which is not that bad.
Jorge Martin, as predicted that he will remain the same as the previous session.
Who will win this first race? Ducati's riders will have big chance ofc as Ducati is still the best bike.
I hope to see the battle between these 3 riders; Jorge Martin, Pecco and Marc Marquez.

Meh.  I hate to say it but yeah.  It could be another one of those dull and boring seasons again.  And around September when you're watching a race, you'll be at a mindset asking yourself...  'Wtf am I even watching this?'.  Lolol.

Looking at the quali's results...  Pretty sure Sainz would've gotten third and would be defending Leclerc's rear to give the him a go at it vs Verstappen.  Could get dicey with Perez behind him.

Here are quali's results.  Enjoy the race later.

2024 F1 Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying Results

Max Verstappen   1:28.171   1:28.033   1:27.472   
Charles Leclerc   1:28.318   1:28.112   1:27.791   
Sergio Perez   1:28.638   1:28.467   1:27.807   
Fernando Alonso   1:28.706   1:28.122   1:27.846   
Oscar Piastri   1:28.755   1:28.343   1:28.089   
Lando Norris   1:28.805   1:28.479   1:28.132   
George Russell   1:28.749   1:28.448   1:28.316   
Lewis Hamilton   1:28.994   1:28.606   1:28.460   
Yuki Tsunoda   1:28.988   1:28.564   1:28.547   
Lance Stroll   1:28.250   1:28.578   1:28.572   
Oliver Bearman   1:28.984   1:28.642      
Alexander Albon   1:29.107   1:28.980      
Kevin Magnussen   1:29.069   1:29.020      
Daniel Ricciardo   1:29.065   1:29.025      
Nico Hulkenberg   1:29.055   DNF      
Valtteri Bottas   1:29.179         
Esteban Ocon   1:29.475         
Pierre Gasly   1:29.479         
Logan Sargeant   1:29.526         
Zhou Guanyu   DNF

2024 F1 Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mquz3QK0SNY

That small gap is reminding me of the race of 2021 where Checho won I think in the first Saudi Arabia held race or 2022 don't remember the real season but it was really close between him and Leclerc and most likely we are going to see that battle again if Leclerc has no braking issues like in Bahrain.The real fight I think will be even between these guys and McLaren and why not Aston Martin and Mercedes,so the real race to watch will be from P2 and below because for P1 if normal conditions of the race don't change then it is going to be an easy win for Verstappen.

I think I will have a bet or two for McLaren and Aston Martin in top 3,just trying my luck to also incentive my race emotions.

Exactly! Bearman performed better than my expectation.    I was worried about him about not being able to reach even Q2. But he did more than that and even missed Q3 by only 0.064s. He drove for only 22 laps in FP3 before so it is quite impressive effort despite that. I will be curious about his performance in the race today.

Yeah, Verstappen was so comfortable as usual. Red Bull have given him a wonderful car and we know how great driver he is also. The combination is just very strong. 

The gap between Leclerc and Perez was so close - 0.016s.    I can't wait to see them compete during the race also.

Surprised at Aston Martin pace but not surprised with Alonso doing so great in a really fast track.Fast tracks are the tracks where great drivers excel,I never thought that a great driver like Alonso would show great skills in low speed tracks although he made a super awesome overtake in Hungaroring many years ago so maybe the true great drivers.

We have to give huge credit to Bearman as I doubted him because of the lack of experience and he showed that despite making a mistake in the first run he barely knocked out Hamilton from Q3 in his F1 debut which is with a great team like Ferrari.Personally I will watch most of the race with the Sky decoder red button through his race camera,it will be really interesting.

Pole position for Verstappen once again.

Decent confidence for Bearman, he was so close to join q3.

Max already won the 2024 title

Aston Martin is not really a bad car, I would say they are definitely in the top 5 without a doubt, which means that when you combine that with Alonso, it becomes a pretty good result in many cases. Of course in this track anything could happen, so we shouldn't really be surprised about it, but that also doesn't mean that it is going to be too hard for him to go for that top 5 in drivers as well.

Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes are usually better, so that's 6 drivers, but Alonso could do a consistent result and while others may crash out, he may just finish at high places and get that fifth position. Same can't be said for Stroll, he is just cruising with the car thanks to his dads money as we all know, he wouldn't be in f1 without that, he doesn't have the talent for it.

The final practice ended and this just underlined the same performance of cars that we saw last race and I did not saw a lot of changes compared to the last race.The only change is the rookie at Ferrari showed his lack of experience and ended 8th with near a second difference against Verstappen.I think the race of tomorrow will be another linear race where the real fight will be from P2 and below as for P1 I think in normal conditions Max is going to win.

Seems like Aston Martin have worked really hard since last weekend to improve the car and we can see this in practice were Alonso managed a p2 and then p1. Maybe with a bit of luck , they can get a p3 with Alonso on qualifying session a bit later.

Sainz can't enjoy it's time with Ferrari no matter what he tries right ? I feel bad for him for missing this race and I hope he gets back healthy and will perform great until his last race with Scuderria.

That can change a lot for Ferrari as no matter how good this new guy is I very much doubt he will be able to bring a significant result because of the lack of experience.So for me if he ends in the points in tomorrow race that would be a nice achievement and I think it would be the minimum required from him by the team for this race.If this guy is truly exceptional he will have a chance to express all his potential with a car like Ferrari.

So in the end Sainz is out, he needs to go on surgery.

The young Bearman will take his spot.

Alonso is giving hope again but I won't buy it - yet.    Aston Martin just seem more capable when it comes to qualifying. About racing pace I'm afraid they aren't much good for now.    They took 9th and 10th positions in the Bahrain GP you know. 2023 season started amazingly for Alonso if you remember but now there is no such start.

I don't expect any competition against Verstappen as usual - even from his teammate. But Perez can still make sure of any other driver not finishing between themselves at the end of the race.

I hope to see a good performance by Leclerc without technical issues this time.  

In the 2024 season, there will still be many strong riders using Ducati motorbikes, so this will make it a little difficult for young riders like Pedro Acosta. Even though this young rider does have very good potential when competing in Moto3 and Moto2, when he arrives in MotoGP a young rider must also be in a more appropriate team to be able to achieve better results. And I think Pedro Acosta is right there to make his mark this season if he doesn't make more mistakes on the track.

And during the interview session which took place in Qatar, I saw Marco Bezzecchi's face which was a little nervous so that some people began to conclude that he was still not ready to start the first race of the season in Qatar. However, I am also quite sure that Marco Bezzecchi can overcome this when the first race of this season takes place and today there will soon be a Practice1 session in Qatar after all the riders have taken part in several unique celebration events in Qatar.

2024 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Free Practice Results (2)
Pos   Driver   Nat.   Team   Time
1   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m28.827s
2   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m29.057s
3   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m29.158s
4   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m29.180s
5   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m29.300s
6   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team   1m29.336s
7   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m29.455s
8   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m29.504s
9   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m29.528s
10   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m29.594s
11   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Visa Cash App RB F1 Team   1m29.666s
12   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m29.758s
13   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber   1m29.777s
14   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m29.789s
15   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m29.901s
16   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   1m29.934s
17   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m29.985s
18   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m30.077s
19   Daniel Ricciardo   AUS   Visa Cash App RB F1 Team   1m30.088s
20   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber   1m30.153s

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1045151/1/2024-f1-saudi-arabian-grand-prix-free-practice-results

this is the second hour, We are already in the past year timers.

We may go 1 second faster for the polepostion and this is crazy.

It is predicted that Pedro Acosta will be a rider who can make a surprise in the upcoming season's racing series because of his potential. Due to the achievements that Acosta has achieved in the Moto 3 and Moto 2 classes, Pedrosa even gave his assessment to this young rider who moved up to the main class. Even though I don't know much about MotoGP, I still have hopes for Marco Bezzecchi in 2024.

I am not one to judge a team or any racer too quickly, but this whole weekend didn't go well for Yuki, and now this week he has a chance to recover that, if not then its going to be not that great. I understand that they were both not in points positions, so making a big deal out of it seems like something Red Bull would never want, they are already looking for a backup for Max, someone to replace Perez, and there is now even fears that Max may leave, so it feels like its going to be very very impossible for Yuki to get that position if he keeps this fighting style going. They want someone to be silent and help Max out, just like how Perez did so far and not made any scenes at all.