Formula 1 Discussion - And favourite driver?

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which one is better?
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acme said:
i cant wait to see Bottas in this. hopefully he can stick it to those mercs
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Andretti tipped to take majority stake in Sauber’s F1 team
Posted on 8th October 2021, 10:17 | Written by Dieter Rencken and Keith Collantine

CART Indycar champion and former Formula 1 driver Michael Andretti is understood to be pursuing a takeover of Sauber, which runs Alfa Romeo’s team.

RaceFans has learned Andretti is closing on a deal to buy 80% of shares in Islero Investments at a price of €350 million (£296.86m), putting it in control of the Sauber Motorsport and Sauber Engineering divisions.
Andretti formed the Andretti Acquisition Corporation in March with a target of raising at least $250 million (£183.49m) through an initial public offering. However a spokesperson for the acquisition corporation told RaceFans it is not involved.

The Andretti operation already includes a successful IndyCar team, which won the Indianapolis 500 on three out of four occasions between 2014 and 2017, and recently hired ex-F1 driver Romain Grosjean. They also have a Formula E team, which until this year was linked to BMW, and entered the inaugural season of Extreme E this year.

Andretti’s interest in Sauber has been long rumoured. The F1 team was purchased by Swedish investment firm Longbow Finance in 2016. Under the Alfa Romeo brand it has scaled up in recent seasons, doubling its F1 workforce to over 500 employees, and hired Valtteri Bottas to join it from Mercedes next year. The team is yet to announce its second driver for 2022.

Although Alfa Romeo has fallen to ninth out of 10 teams in the championship this year, it has reduced its deficit to the front runners since its 2016 takeover. Having languished 4.3% off the pace on average in 2017 it has cut that deficit to 1.5% this year.
An Andretti spokesperson declined to confirm the company was making a move to buy Sauber.

“As is no secret, Formula 1 has been of interest to Michael and the team for some time,” they told RaceFans. “We’ve explored and come close on many options over the years, but we have nothing new to report.

“Our passion is racing, in all forms. Should a proper opportunity come along to take the Andretti name back to F1, we’d jump at it. But as of now, that opportunity has not fallen in our laps and our focus remains on our seven current disciplines of competition.”

An Alfa Romeo F1 team spokesperson declined to comment when approached.
 
Getting an overlap of Indy and F1 via Andretti, now that would be pretty cool. Alfa Romeo has done a great job of improving themselves and with just a tiny bit more performance, they'll catch up with the midfield and climb the ranks of teams in no time. The midfield is very competetive at the moment and being off just a tenth of a second means you're behind 3 or 4 cars, so AR always sort of hovered just outside the points ranks.

A new company taking over and breathing yet more life into their operation might be yet another boost to make them gain a foothold in the midfield.
 
Ideally, they utilize Sauber as a way of developing a new team to the sport, akin to how Haas used Ferrari's old shit to piggyback their way to the grid.
 
Odds on Bottas "accidentally" tangling with Max in the first corner. Place your bets.

Though the odds are probably lower than before merc told him to get out, bet Hamilton hates that timing.
 
Bottas won, Verstappen second and Hamilton only on P5 after Mercedes made a mistake with the pit stop. Too bad Gasly couldn't overtake Hamilton. Still Verstappen is the new leader again.
 
Pretty average race, not bad, it had its moments. But this is the kind of racing we get, when there's no artificial overtaking due to DRS. Even so, Perez' defense against Hamilton was absolutely amazing. I was wondering why his pace was off so much, but I guess he was charging his battery and saving tyres for that moment and it paid off.

Vettel's attempt to go to mediums was ballsy, but clearly didn't pan out - quite a shame. I don't think the strategy was that bad, but they should have waited a couple laps, by the end, the track looked rather dry. But I really don't get why they didn't go for soft tyres, it would have been easier to get them warm and they would most likely have lasted till the end, too. Had it worked, it might have been the kind of gamble that is rewarded with a podium... well, shit happens.

Also, Hamilton's whiny "we should have pitted earlier" made me yell fuck you at the TV. Dude didn't want to pit, told his crew he could drive to the end on those tyres and refuses to come in for 5 or so laps... and then he bitches about pitting too late. Seethe and dilate, fucko.

Balr0g said:
Still Verstappen is the new leader again.
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This season is amazing in that regard. Easily one of the best in F1 history. For perfection, all we need is a last-lap overtake that will give Max the points to win.
Ideally, it'll be an inverse of the Massa situation, where Hamilton wins and is "champion" by a point or two, but then Verstappen manages to get past some dude to get like 5th place and winning with a hair's breadth.
 
One of the most boring wet races I think I have ever watched. I just kept waiting for either more rain or for the track to dry. Nope. Just static throughout the whole thing. Shitty, but at least Ham wasn't on the podium.
 
That was a pretty crap race all considered. Seinz did a great job at giving us something to watch. I hope that debrief at Mercedes consists of Hamilton starting to criticise the strategy but then James smashing his teeth in before he even finishes the sentence and tells him "look fucko we told you the strategy and you just kept refusing to pit, you fucked it all up for yourself today dipshit".

It's a real pity the two Turkish covid replacement GPs have been in the wet and cold (with no grip for 2020) because on a war, dry day that track is a good one. Turn 8 at full speed is always impressive
 
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Was anyone else getting annoyed at the commentary when Mazepin blocked Hamilton? It was seriously a few minutes of whining about how it was unfair, unnecessary, etc. I won't defend Mazepin's move by any means, but god damn they just wouldn't just up about how bad it was for Hamilton.
 
LiveFromNS said:
One of the most boring wet races I think I have ever watched. I just kept waiting for either more rain or for the track to dry. Nope. Just static throughout the whole thing. Shitty, but at least Ham wasn't on the podium.
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It was a giant cock tease of something is going to happen but it never did, apart from a great drive by Sainz.

Endu said:
Was anyone else getting annoyed at the commentary when Mazepin blocked Hamilton? It was seriously a few minutes of whining about how it was unfair, unnecessary, etc. I won't defend Mazepin's move by any means, but god damn they just wouldn't just up about how bad it was for Hamilton.
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It's weird, you have 3 blue flags to get out the way and unlike popular internet screeching you don't have to jump out the way at the first one.
 
Endu said:
Was anyone else getting annoyed at the commentary when Mazepin blocked Hamilton? It was seriously a few minutes of whining about how it was unfair, unnecessary, etc. I won't defend Mazepin's move by any means, but god damn they just wouldn't just up about how bad it was for Hamilton.
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I didn't see the race, but given how F1 "commentary" in 2021 is basically Crofty beating off to Hambone for an hour an half, I'm not surprised.
 
The commentary was hopeless. Once again when no Brundel no one knows what the fuck is happening.

It took them multiple replays to work out that Alonso didn't just spin on his own in the first corner when that was obvious to anyone actually watching the race (the penalty was a joke though).

They were busy telling us about about a driver not pitting while he was on his way out the pits on the screen.

The problem is they all want to be the flavour commentator and have a nice chat about something irrelevant to the action on the screen or their own careers inbetween sessions of sucking off Hamilton.

Hard agree on the Mazepin point too, they went on like he'd stabbed Hamilton. It's up to the driver in front where they move over as long as they haven't passed 3 marshals posts (which he clearly hadn't since he didn't get a penalty for it). Hamilton almost hitting him was on Hamilton expecting him to just jump out of the way.

They spent an age going on about Mercedes making an awful call (and Ted's joking naming of the Mercedes strategy computer which took up way too much time). Mercedes told him to pit multiple times but he refused, they have the data to know how bad it would be towards the end (approaching failure?) and the commentators going on that Hamilton didn't know he would lose places isn't a plus for Hamilton's understanding of the sport he supposedly the best at.
 
Endu said:
Was anyone else getting annoyed at the commentary when Mazepin blocked Hamilton? It was seriously a few minutes of whining about how it was unfair, unnecessary, etc. I won't defend Mazepin's move by any means, but god damn they just wouldn't just up about how bad it was for Hamilton.
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was it Sky Sports commentary? cause they're notorious for blowing british drivers
 
acme said:
was it Sky Sports commentary? cause they're notorious for blowing british drivers
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They do seem that way with their constant fellating of Hambone, and repeated high praise of Russell. But they're oddly mild when it comes to Lando for some reason.

The race was... meh. The only moments holding my attention were Sainz position hunting (wonder if he kept singing "smooth operator" under his breath lol) and Perez vs Hambone.
 
Coccxys said:
They spent an age going on about Mercedes making an awful call (and Ted's joking naming of the Mercedes strategy computer which took up way too much time). Mercedes told him to pit multiple times but he refused, they have the data to know how bad it would be towards the end (approaching failure?) and the commentators going on that Hamilton didn't know he would lose places isn't a plus for Hamilton's understanding of the sport he supposedly the best at.
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Just let this sink in: Mercedes called him into the box in lap 42. Hamilton, very indignantly went "Why?".
He then pitted in lap 51 and started bitching about the late pitstop in lap 52. Fuck this clown and fuck his bloated, undeserved ego.

Quiritium said:
They do seem that way with their constant fellating of Hambone, and repeated high praise of Russell. But they're oddly mild when it comes to Lando for some reason.
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They also did not waste any opportunity to call him "Sir Lewis". It's so fucking annoying and the day when this asshole fucks off to be a nuisance outside of F1 will be a golden day for the sport. Let's just hope this unbearable hypocrite and hack doesn't become commentator, his input would be even more vapid than Crofty's.
 
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