Formula 1 Discussion - And favourite driver?

[Balr0g]

It would be great to see him succeed where Alonso (mechanically) failed. If anything, I want them joining forces for 24 hours of Le Mans and setting a record for the biggest gap to 2nd.

Alonso can still do it. He could again join Indy Car for the 500 and try (if Aston allows it) And I am not sure if Verstappen would actually compete in Indycar, I thought he was more interested in GT3 (think 24 hours of Nordschleife)

Ferrari was good at one point but that was when Todt and Schumacher dragged the team into the modern era. Todt began the restructure in 1993 and Schumacher was the major puzzle piece to make it even better. And it took therm a few years to get there (although they always had a chance to win in 1997 to 1999 with 1999 winning the constructors already a good result). Hamilton on the other hand...For one he is old and he is imho not the organizer and motivator Schumacher was. You could change a few settings and Schumacher would point them out after just a few laps (no wonder, he was a certified mechanic). I am not sure if Hamilton can actually do that

 

[Not A Bunny]

Ferrari nerds need to stop pretending they are a good team that aren't carried to middle of the pack by pure skill.

Ferrari fans are basically all hype and inertia. I suppose that's easy for me to see with clear eyes - and with the understanding that people stick with the teams they like. But, what I've seen of Hamilton is that he's prissy, which...kind of fits the Ferrari branding. All style, no substance. And elite sporting is not the place to let your princess tendencies out (insert George Russell joke here...).

Hamilton was clearly one foot out the door when he was with Mercedes (he was a producer on the F1 film; which fine if franchising is your thing, but if you're going to pretend you're an elite driver, at least spend your free hours doing things that have to do with the actual driving - though I do kind of wonder if Charles' extracurriculars are driven more by hopelessness at this point than a desire to be seen as a personality).

They will never win until the engineering team is cleaned out.

And I think here's where the problem lies. They don't care that much about engineering, which might not be so bad if, you know, they weren't driving cars. When you think about who has good engineering, nobody talks about Ferrari. You might hate McLaren, but they've got the fastest car. Red Bull doesn't have the best car, but Max has a winning team (GP and Hannah). And then Ferrari goes and replaces Sainz, who gives a shit about feedback and it was likely that no one was listening, with Hamilton who sulks as if he never had to try and understand what he was driving in the first place; he was just entitled to a good car and it was someone else's job to make it happen - as if Ferrari wasn't fucking things up before the end of 2024 and he somehow didn't know that?

I wonder if that infamous quote from Elkann about his drivers was just him saying the quiet part out loud: Shut up and drive. And there's your constructor culture right there. And if that's the case, Hamilton needs to pick a lane, either enjoy being in a PR marriage with Ferrari and stop looking so salty, or actually do something useful and then have the right to complain.

Hell, we don't hear Fernando sulking about shit; meanwhile his teammate is F1's biggest wet blanket and his team lost their top 5 standing in the Constructors to Williams.

 

[El Chacal De La Trompeta]

Hell, we don't hear Fernando sulking about shit;

i guess you missed alonso entire second stint with mclaren

 

[CEO of Autism]

They will never win until the engineering team is cleaned out.

And I think here's where the problem lies. They don't care that much about engineering, which might not be so bad if, you know, they weren't driving cars. When you think about who has good engineering, nobody talks about Ferrari.

Are they, really? Their WEC program is impeccable, so I don't believe that they really don't know how to engineer cars. I think there's just so much managerial meddling in F1 that they can't simply be at their best, the entire environment is poisoned with pressure from everyone on top. Meanwhile they're freer to do whatever in WEC and look at the results.

 

[Coccxys]

Hamilton's peak was over a decade ago at this point. He was flattered by a great car and a compliant team mate. He's been on the decline for years and has finally found the cliff edge. There is a reason Mercedes would only ever give him 1 year extensions despite Toto being his butt buddy.

 

[Kyria the Great]

Hamilton's peak was over a decade ago at this point. He was flattered by a great car and a compliant team mate. He's been on the decline for years and has finally found the cliff edge. There is a reason Mercedes would only ever give him 1 year extensions despite Toto being his butt buddy.

I think it was Nico Rosberg who was the last time he had a team mate who actually challenged him and left F1 after his championship like an absolute Chad.

Verstappen meanwhile dominated all his teammates except Daniel Ricardo who left because he didn't want to clash for attention and cursed his F1 career with mid grid garbage.

 

[KebabShopSauce]

I think it was Nico Rosberg who was the last time he had a team mate who actually challenged him and left F1 after his championship like an absolute Chad.

Verstappen meanwhile dominated all his teammates except Daniel Ricardo who left because he didn't want to clash for attention and cursed his F1 career with mid grid garbage.

Ricciardo saw the way the wind was blowing. He could barely hold off an unseasoned Verstappen and knew he would only improve, so he left for Renault (believing the glorious 5 year plan bullshit) where he would at least be no.1 driver, for what good it did him.

 

[Kyria the Great]

Ricciardo saw the way the wind was blowing. He could barely hold off an unseasoned Verstappen and knew he would only improve, so he left for Renault (believing the glorious 5 year plan bullshit) where he would at least be no.1 driver, for what good it did him.

Yeah I totally agree as Max is a once in a generation talent and wonder if next year if the RB car is a shit box, will he jump to Astin Martin or even just go to Sports cars and WEC?

 

[KebabShopSauce]

Yeah I totally agree as Max is a once in a generation talent and wonder if next year if the RB car is a shit box, will he jump to Astin Martin or even just go to Sports cars and WEC?

He has the ultimate luxury of every single team wanting him. He gets to sit the first year of new regs in the RBR and switch to wherever he likes when he sees where the fastest car is.

 

[Eadred]

Max and Mercedes could be on the table as well if their package is good with the new regulations. Toto has been wooing him ever since, I'm sure he'd let Russell or Antonelli go in a heartbeat when Max comes knocking.
Must be nice to be him, having all cards in his hands. But long term is like to see him with his own team in endurance racing.

 

[Kyria the Great]

He has the ultimate luxury of every single team wanting him. He gets to sit the first year of new regs in the RBR and switch to wherever he likes when he sees where the fastest car is.

well I'm imagining that the team that has a fast 1 Car that can at least score him wins, buckets of cash, and flexibility to compete in GT cars and Endurance are going to be musts in his contracts going forward.

 

[-VorpalAnvil-]

What if McLaren has the fastest car again, can VER go there and tell Fat Brown to stuff his papaya's up his ass?

 

[Kyria the Great]

Another question I have for all you F1 fans, who is the driver you think was the truly most misfortunate in his career due to either injuries, bad cars, disfunctional teams, and just plain rotten luck? For me it's got to be either Jean Alesi or Martin Brundle, the former just had seemingly made all the worst career decisions while the latter suffered early leg damage and had a career of shit cars. Both of these drivers I could have seen as potential Championship drivers but it didn't play out

 

[Historical Strelkov]

There is a reason Mercedes would only ever give him 1 year extensions despite Toto being his butt buddy

I think the management of F1 teams are more politically intertwined with the engineers than the drivers. The drivers seem to all be temperamental when threatened with losing their spot. Every year some team gets an expensive, semi legal idea.

But also, the FIA seems to change regulations any time someone is too dominant. 2021 was the last year before ground effect, which favors Max. Before that, everything favored mercedes and Hamilton's style. They drive differently, but Hamilton doesn't have all the nice steering features he had before.

Personally, I think the sport has been regulated out of being exciting and makes no sense at all across the board. Monaco doesn't make ANY sense at this point with these boats flying around. I also don't even know what to think about all the different pieces of technology that have been made to improve steering or performance. Fuel rate alteration, extra brake systems, ride height changes. We are at the point where the cars can almost drive themselves beyond the capability of the drivers, and no one could even say who would win if we swapped around these regulations. What if wings were more flexible, what if you could use DRS whenever, what if we brought back refuelling, I don't know man. I have no idea what F1 is supposed to be anymore.

 

[The Grognard]

Another question I have for all you F1 fans, who is the driver you think was the truly most misfortunate in his career due to either injuries, bad cars, disfunctional teams, and just plain rotten luck? For me it's got to be either Jean Alesi or Martin Brundle, the former just had seemingly made all the worst career decisions while the latter suffered early leg damage and had a career of shit cars. Both of these drivers I could have seen as potential Championship drivers but it didn't play out

Perry McCarthy is a pretty strong contender, because he was the Number 2 at Andrea Moda.

 

[SirCliveSinclairdabbing]

My honest opinion though I think Hamilton is overrated, I genuinely like he didn't come from money or connections like most, his dad seems like a genuinely sweet man and the best dad in world to work that hard to allow his son to chase his dreams

He’s the living embodiment of that 80s role swap movie where they see how the black guy does for a $1 bet.

He was average at gocarts and since then was sponsored because of his colour.

I give him credit for his achievements but not because of his chances. Lots of better drivers were ignored at the same stage based solely on a protected characteristic.

 

[Kyria the Great]

Perry McCarthy is a pretty strong contender, because he was the Number 2 at Andrea Moda.

Part of me wishes the sport wasn't so expensive so those guys who were rich enough to find their delusions of F1 glory could come back at it. Imagine the likes of Andrea Moda, Life, Onyx, and Pacific in today's time of social media, shit would be a riot.

 

[Balr0g]

Part of me wishes the sport wasn't so expensive so those guys who were rich enough to find their delusions of F1 glory could come back at it. Imagine the likes of Andrea Moda, Life, Onyx, and Pacific in today's time of social media, shit would be a riot.

Unfortunately the time of the "kit car series" that was F1 in the 70's and partially 80's is long over. The professionalism that was kicked of by Mclaren made F1 the series it is now is. Add to that the new safety requirments and of course the demands to make F1 look more professional. The budget cap seems to somehow level the field (I mean look at the gaps, 1.5 secondsa between all at times is impressive which also unfortunately made races rather stale because everyone was too afraid to pit unless someone blocked the DRS trains. Old timers like me remember races when the top began lapping cars at lap 20 or so. Lapping cars has be4come rather rare.

 

[-VorpalAnvil-]

Another question I have for all you F1 fans, who is the driver you think was the truly most misfortunate in his career due to either injuries, bad cars, disfunctional teams, and just plain rotten luck? For me it's got to be either Jean Alesi or Martin Brundle, the former just had seemingly made all the worst career decisions while the latter suffered early leg damage and had a career of shit cars. Both of these drivers I could have seen as potential Championship drivers but it didn't play out

Speaking only of the era of F1 Ive personally watched live, but maybe Alonso? Detest him as a person, but he's obviously one of the greats (and a great personality to boot) that's largely spent his entire career in the wrong car at the wrong time minus his short stint at Renault. He's Bizzarro world hambone.

 

[The Grognard]

Part of me wishes the sport wasn't so expensive so those guys who were rich enough to find their delusions of F1 glory could come back at it. Imagine the likes of Andrea Moda, Life, Onyx, and Pacific in today's time of social media, shit would be a riot.

The guys involved were certainly rich, but professionalization of the sport has made these sorts of outfits that operate out of small garages in Italian or French towns rather impossible. Then again, this can also be seen in every other series because the whole world of motorsports has become very professional outside the grassroots but even then, there is barely any overlap between some guy doing rallysprints or hillclimbs or dirt ovals every few weekends and those who have all the FIA licenses.