Topic: Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM..... - page 86. (Read 137563 times)

2023 F1 Qatar Grand Prix - Free Practice Results (1)
Pos    Driver    Nat.   Team    Time
1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m27.428s
2   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m27.762s
3   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m27.909s
4   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m27.919s
5   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m28.016s
6   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m28.027s
7   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m28.171s
8   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m28.336s
9   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m28.380s
10   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m28.441s
11   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   1m28.550s
12   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m28.590s
13   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m28.679s
14   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m28.690s
15   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m28.732s
16   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m28.821s
17   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m29.041s
18   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m29.106s
19   Liam Lawson   NZL   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m29.238s
20   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m29.502s


Free practice 1 resutls.

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1037464/1/f1-qatar-grand-prix-2023-friday-practice-results

Max and Ferraris on the top.

My eyes...  There's now really something wrong with them or is my subconcious playing tricks on me.  The first line I read and it registered in my mind like it was "Perez will leave Red Bull".  In my mind I was fist pumping 'yes'.  But then the second line mentions 'Ducati'...  Aw man.    I almost got excited.


How close?  Afaik it's still a couple of years off until those changes happen.  So it's a couple of years of watching a parade of cars lead by Max Verstappen.

And I'm late to the news.  I heard Lance Stroll is leaving F1 to play...  Tennis?    Wtf?  Lolol.

I agree with ERS too,having an average better speed,faster speed is much better than having it only for a short while,isn't racing after all about speed,we need to see more speed and more action,that is the beauty of racing which honestly in F1 is missing from a lot of years now,not only these last three years where Redbull dominance is noticeable but also since the time of Mercedes.

So this for me is a very welcomed change and which hopefully will bring more action in every race and the emotions will be back like in the time of fight between,McLaren,Ferrari and Williams in the early 2000 years before Ferrari starting to dominate at that time.

Yes, I think it is going to be great for the drivers. They will be able to overtake easily and they will also be able to take sharper turns. And I think we will see better speed as well because the drag from the Air is also going to be less. Because the width is getting less.

Having better speed for a longer period of time compared to having the best speed for a short period is definitely better in my opinion. So even though I think the top speed is probably not going to be the best that we have seen so far, the average speed is definitely going to increase.

Indeed, Marquez is no longer the same as before at the moment, or more precisely after he suffered a very serious injury at the start of 2020 with Honda. But there's also no harm in trying to move from Honda to riding another motorbike, even if it's not a factory motorbike, because some people still think that Marquez can still be competitive with other motorbikes, so Marquez should try this even though retiring is also a wise enough option for him.

As I said, Marquez needs to try with a motorbike that is not from Japan, because now it is very clear that new racers don't need long to become competitive on Ducati motorbikes even though they are not the same specs as the factory ones. Because apart from Marquez himself who started dying after the injury he suffered, Japanese motorbikes in the last two years have also been dying against European motorbikes such as Ducati and others.

With Max getting another title this season, we are closer to the new regulations and there are more and more information coming out. Turns out one of the most important ones will be that the cars will be smaller, I think about 20 cm less wider, which means that overtaking should be easier, your car will be smaller to go through smaller places and the other drivers will have smaller cars as well so they will not be able to close it all, so that width getting smaller definitely matters a lot on the overtakes without a doubt.

ERS will be much more important, we are going to have a lot bigger ERS that doesn't end too quickly, and the engine power will be reduced to balance that, so that means if engine power is smaller, cars will not go as fast normally as they are going now, but when you use ERS, it will have a higher period where it goes a lot faster, imagine having ERS for one full lap, that will change all of fastest lap points without a doubt.

I think he still should not take things for granted. That is the only way he will probably lose. Even though I actually agree with you and do not believe that he will lose to someone else. But still, he should not take things for granted.

Perez is not at his best performance right now. So probably it is not going to be a big problem for Max. I also believe that eventually, he is going to become the champion for the third time. And I also do not think that he is actually going to screw up badly or even screw up at all.

he's still 30 years old so it's too early for him to retire, especially since his performance isn't that bad. he just needs a good motorbike that can accommodate his performance and maybe after getting a good motorbike he can return to being more competitive, and it is not impossible that he can win the world championship again before finally retiring because all the possibilities are open to him.

I think if Ducatti are smart enough which for me they are,they should offer him a contract for another 2 years.I think he can be a good rider for at least another two years and since new riders are doing very well with the Ducatti bike,not only the main team but also the clients team it means that the Ducatti brand is in top performance in these recent years.

I am sure Marquez is "dying" inside to have a chance to race for Ducatti in the remaining on his career as I don't think the Japanese manufacturers will be able to come back dominantly in two years.

In my opinion , he should have retired after this year. I really love the guy and how the drives but for a couple of years the injuries kinda put a stop on his domination and he is nowhere near of how he used to be.

True , he is a beast when he gets a right bike but I really don't see him being a shiny star again even if Ducatti will provide him with their best bike.

Yeah and it most likely will be like this because he just needs to score 3 points more than Perez to achieve this.No one can stop him,Perez is a super mediocre driver as of lately so I doubt he will be winning the battle with his team mate that he has consistently lost throughout the whole season until now.

I think Max is not worried even if he screws up as he knows that no one can take the Championship from him and he will surely be Champion for the third time in F1 in the end of this season.

It is more likely that he will join Ducati, which is not a manufacturer, and according to several rumors, Marquez will team up with his younger brother in a new team next season.

Currently, the Ducati concept seems to have changed, because most of the riders recruited by Ducati are young riders and Ducati does not hesitate to release older riders even though these riders have more experience with Ducati motorbikes. Likewise with Marquez, who is currently still being watched and considered by all parties, including Ducati, but Marquez himself will have to fight with a team that is not a manufacturer if he really goes to Ducati.

Maybe the meaning of KTM CEO Stefan Pierer who said that they were building their own racer was because there was no empty place there, unless KTM was willing to sacrifice one of their riders, as has been circulating through several news about the placement of Pedro Acosta in the KTM satellite team for next season with sacrificing Augusto Fernandez. So it is possible that the place that is still empty is at Gresini Racing, although at this time there has been no announcement regarding this.

On the four year deal, one more year left and the deal between Marquez and Honda is coming to an end on mutual agreement. Rumours on Marquez joining KTM, and there is no official announcement of his move to Ducati. In a coverage to Top Speed, KTM CEO Stefan Pierer mentioned Marquez is our way and we build riders ourselves. His experience and winnings will surely get him the right place.

I thought this was already confirmed. Even though he did good in Honda since his debut, I'm pretty sure he's longing to step on a bike that he can truly use to the fullest. He's quite behind a lot of newer drivers lately, even though he has proven time and again that he's a beast inside the track after 6 championships. Hopefully Ducati gives him the best kind of treatment given his experience and capability.

In the coming GP of F1 in Qatar Max can be the winner of this year's championship.

HE will win for sure before the end of the season but it can happen on the next GP.

Yes, it is pretty much confirmed that he is going to join Ducati next year. He is leaving early because the performance was really bad from Honda. That's why he is leaving. I would actually say that this is pretty justifiable. I hope he will be able to see some good days with Ducati. He definitely had a real good time with Honda. But every good thing must come to an end. That's exactly what happened here.

Marquez will leave Honda at the end of the season.

He will probably join Ducati next year.

This season's Mandalika MotoGP race might be very different from last year if the track conditions were dry, and today I saw that several riders had arrived in Bali for racing purposes, but because some of them arrived early, maybe they could use a little time for vacation and have fun there before Friday. I predict that the competition between Bagnaia and Martin will continue to be fierce like this until the end of the season because these two riders use motorbikes with the same specs even though their teams are different.

Rumors about Marquez's move from Honda to Gresini racing have actually been very widespread since two weeks ago. It's just because there is no basic certainty from Marquez's side, certain media owners continue to make this news even more exciting, so even until the Mandalika race, the media will continue to wait for it. It's fun to wait for confirmation because Marquez himself still has a contract with Honda until the end of next season, so Marquez will have to pay something if he actually moves to Gresini Racing next season.

@karabiber Max has taken racing to a whole new level and he definitely looks unstoppable to me thus it won’t be surprising if he wins all the remaining races. Furthermore Mercedes needs a factory reset because if they don’t make major changes then they’ll continue to suffer and probably end up like Ferrari who only makes tall claims and then fails to deliver.

Im McLaren fan for long time since Senna and Prost compete and always was even with dark times (new Honda era that works perfect for RBR).
To be honest cant remember when I last saw McLaren that good. New management and they are back on top where they should be.

Hope to see them win one race till season is over i sincerely hope they will do it.