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A few decent scraps throughout, but otherwise not terribly exciting.
Back to traditional tracks, I think it's something like 9 races on traditional circuits to Singapore [including Monaco].
We've already got fake parking lot marinas and sprint races that mean nothing, so why not?
Based on this F1 tilt towards entertainment rather than sport., I do expect something like this in the next few years. However, I think this will be implemented in the sprint race instead. And instead of a sprint, it could be a half distance GP with the field inverted.
Friend of mine is in Vegas with his wife and they noticed all the repaving on the strip for the F1 race. His wife goes there frequently with her friends she said the casinos are pushing their F1 race ticket/room packages pretty hard.
I know the purists won't go for this but a thought I had during the (IMO weird) Baku weekend was:
Friday morning: Free practice
Friday afternoon: Sprint Qualy
Saturday at noon: Sprint (Half points; race to last no longer than 1hr)
Saturday at 1:30pm: The teams can tweak their setups based on what they learned from the sprint, but they have just 1hr before parc ferme goes into effect. No on track time.
Saturday at 3pm: GP Qualy
Sunday: GP (Full points)
Points would be restructured:
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
This allows F1 to get another race in for entertainment purposes while allowing the teams to treat the SR as a quasi-practice session. A driver can leave a weekend with a maximum of 31 points (no fastest lap point in the SR, only the GP), and the points spread is much closer, which may lead to a closer championship battle.
Or just get rid of the sprint format entirely, expand the calendar to 26 races and group them geographically.
^ Not a bad concept & doesn't put GP quali on Friday when most people are working & can't tune in.
A more geographically organized calendar makes sense too. Baku > Miami > Imola seems ridiculous, when you're already in Europe.
I get that some scheduling has to be done to accommodate traditional weather patterns & for a race like Miami you have to work around the NFL/stadium schedule.
Liberty Media has a great gig going with the FIA I don't know why they'd want to dilute their interests in the sport by allowing two more to join. The current Concorde Agreement isn't set to expire until the end of 2025, I'm unsure if new partners can step in the interim.
The numbers behind Red Bull’s ‘unbeatable' and 'genius’ DRS in F1 2023
Pretty evident from the straight line speed the RB19 is in it's own class. Most are guessing it has the same downforce but far less drag as other leading teams and it's tire management is also very good. No other 2023 car comes close to it's low drag concept of alot of aero magic that the brilliant RBR engineers came up with including the double rear beam wing's using the upper control arm and wing support. The coolest trick is the underfloor rear side deflectors that control the porposing by carefully reducing downforce as the floor comes down before it stalls.
MB used to have ~100 aero engineers and designers, how they came up with a lesser design than Aston Martin (with the same powertrain/gearbox/rear suspension) is disappointing. They were the class of the field from 2014-2021
“Somebody was showing me some drag numbers and when they hit the magic button, the Red Bull loses about 24-25 percent of its drag - this was the case in Baku - whereas most others are sort of 14-15 percent.
Last edited by Legend2TL; May 11, 2023 at 09:12 AM.
In Miami, I think the RBR were the only ones getting over 210 on the back straight.
Saw a lot of 208 in the onboards, but RBR was up around 212-213 I think.
Even the slippery Williams wasn't getting those speeds
Read about that yesterday. Of course the rumor-mill starts on a frenzy that he's due to replace deVries. But, he's also on reserve duty at times, so a proper fit would be necessary as well.
He's also supposed to take a F1 car around the Nordschliefe later this year, so it could be related to that as well.
The Formula 1 community wants to send its thoughts to the people and communities affected by the recent events in the Emilia-Romagna region. We also want to pay tribute to the work of the emergency services who are doing everything they can to help those in need.
Following discussions between Formula 1, the President of the FIA, the competent authorities – including the relevant Ministers, the President of the Automobile Club of Italy, the President of Emilia-Romagna Region, the Mayor of the City and the promoter – the decision has been taken not to proceed with the Grand Prix weekend at Imola.
The decision has been taken because it is not possible to safely hold the event for our fans, the teams and our personnel and it is the right and responsible thing to do given the situation faced by the towns and cities in the region. It would not be right to put further pressure on the local authorities and emergency services at this difficult time.
Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1, said: “It is such a tragedy to see what has happened to Imola and Emilia-Romagna, the town and region that I grew up in, and my thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the flooding and the families and communities affected.
“I want to express my gratitude and admiration for the incredible emergency services who are working tirelessly to help those who need help and alleviate the situation – they are heroes and the whole of Italy is proud of them.
“The decision that has been taken is the right one for everyone in the local communities and the F1 family as we need to ensure safety and not create extra burden for the authorities while they deal with this very awful situation.”
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem said: “My thoughts and those of the entire FIA family are with those affected by the terrible situation in the Emilia-Romagna region. The safety of everyone involved and recovery efforts are the top priority at this time.”
Another topic is how bad racing is with the new regulations in their 2nd year, instead of closing up the field it seems to have further spread it out. They're three team classes RBR (224 points), MB/Ferrari/AM (102-78 points range), and the rest (1-14 points) range. If the old points system (10/6/4/3/2/1) were used then half the teams on the grid would have no points. Procession racing is not fun to watch.
IIRC, Stefano Domenicali grew up right next to the Imola track. His childhood home was one of the houses that you can see lining the track. Pray for those in the Emilia-Romagna region.
McLaren will run a special livery marking its Triple Crown success at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix alongside its Indianapolis 500 designs.
The IndyCar team had already launched its unique Indy 500 color schemes that feature one car in the design of the 1974 Indy 500-winning livery, one with a nod to the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix success and a third in the colors of the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans victory.
Not sure the mishmash works with this one. It's cool that they are coordinating liveries with the IndyCar team.
Honda to Participate in FIA Formula One® World Championship from 2026 Season as Power Unit Supplier for Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One® Team
TOKYO, Japan, May 24, 2023 – Honda Motor Co., Ltd. today announced plans to participate in the FIA*1 Formula One World Championship (F1) from the 2026 season as a power unit supplier. Honda has agreed to enter into a works partnership with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One® Team to supply power units compliant with the new F1 power unit regulations which will take effect in the 2026 season.
Why would they rebrand? With Papa Stroll putting millions into Aston Martin, why would he all of a sudden dilute that? Besides, Red Bull used to have both AM and Honda logos plastered over its car just a few years ago.
The revised W14 has the much expected more traditional sidepods removing the zero-pod concept but what surprised me was MB going with the repositioning the upper front wishbone rear pickup point several inches below the front pickup point like RBR for extreme anti-dive geometry (tilted up upper A arm)
lead to a closer championship battle.
Those old school F1 cars are insane. The look of the cars. The high pitch screaming engines. No stupid halo. Makes me sad looking at 2023 F1.
