Formula 1 2023

[Reorte]

Interesting that he mentioned Spa, since that was originally all streets, and it's not all that long ago since half of it was (and the part that was hasn't changed layout, they've just bypassed it with public roads so those sections can be permanent racetrack). But admittedly those are very different from the urban street circuits we usually get.

[john new]

How much is it also going to cost Liberty getting the epoxy filler back out of all the filled holes? 

[Hobby]

3 hours ago, Reorte said:

Interesting that he mentioned Spa, since that was originally all streets, and it's not all that long ago since half of it was (and the part that was hasn't changed layout, they've just bypassed it with public roads so those sections can be permanent racetrack). But admittedly those are very different from the urban street circuits we usually get.

 

I think you answered your own point there! Spa was never a street circuit, it was a road circuit like Reims. There were plenty of street circuits but Spa wasn't one.

[57xx]

That was a pretty dull quali. It looks like pretty much any other dull street circuit* - boring and samey. I couldn't tell where on the track they were because every bit looks the same with all the safety fencing, very like Singapore.

[OnTheBranchline]

 

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, OnTheBranchline said:

 

 

Never upset a bunch of Nevadans in a country where ambulance-chasing lawyers are forever on the lookout for new fee-streams.  No Win No Fee?? 

 

[OnTheBranchline]

Now that was a much better race than I thought it would be…

[Gareth Collier]

After a season of drudgery and the ridiculous hype before this race and sending paying fans home just before a wheel was turned in FP2 it turned out to be, possibly, the best race of the season. Glad to hear Lando is ok.

[StuAllen]

Good race, not sure about the Rolls Royce Phantom journey to the Bellagio though for the post race interview, then back to the pit straight for the podium.

[OnTheBranchline]

2 hours ago, StuAllen said:

Good race, not sure about the Rolls Royce Phantom journey to the Bellagio though for the post race interview, then back to the pit straight for the podium.

I’m sure the Bellagio paid a lot of money to host the post race interviews.

[john new]

Genuine question - how many watch all the pre-start blethering and then stay tuned after the finish? I’ve not added a poll but as someone who doesn’t I am curious.

 

As others have said better race than I expected. 

[SteveM666]

21 minutes ago, john new said:

Genuine question - how many watch all the pre-start blethering and then stay tuned after the finish? I’ve not added a poll but as someone who doesn’t I am curious.

 

As others have said better race than I expected. 

Blimey, I don’t even bother to watch much of the race these days.

Completely turned off by the total predicatability of the race and the banal commentary from Croft. Even Brundle is starting to grate.

[StuAllen]

1 hour ago, john new said:

Genuine question - how many watch all the pre-start blethering and then stay tuned after the finish? I’ve not added a poll but as someone who doesn’t I am curious.

 

As others have said better race than I expected. 

I’ll usually have the pre-race build up on in the background but will be doing other stuff, only stopping to watch the race, I do like some of the features and Teds post race summary. That said with the start time today I didnt watch the prerace build up, and only started watching when I got up so probably about 90mins after it started - have found today a slightly annoying feature of Sky Q, the recording was in UHD and would show on the mini box so couldn’t watch it from bed 

Edited November 19, 2023 by StuAllen

[Pete the Elaner]

1 hour ago, john new said:

Genuine question - how many watch all the pre-start blethering and then stay tuned after the finish? I’ve not added a poll but as someone who doesn’t I am curious.

 

 

Usually not.

The interviews with teams & drivers are ok but the media, even broadcasters, seem to try & give the impression there is more needle between teams & drivers than actually exists.

 

I still do not like pit stops behind safety cars. They allow the possibility of causing an incident to gain an advantage.

I also feel that something tougher needs to be done about passing by dive-bombing. The driver sending the dive-bomb needs to stay in control, but Verstappen was not because he did not stay on the track. It reminded me of Verstappen & Hamilton in Brazil 2021. The team clearly thought that Verstappen could negate the penalty by staying ahead & creating a gap. Penalties need to be deterrents & obviously this was not.

[SR71]

Just watched the highlights. Seeing comments from those that watched the full race they must have been edited poorly. Plenty of passing but not much racing. I was bored.

 

And I watch a minimum of the pre/post race. Crofty can go back to football where he belongs. Sky isn't even a consideration while he's there.

[woodenhead]

Once I would make time on a Sunday to watch the racing live, then when it became highlights I'd record it, I even maintained a TV record facility via a Freeview box just so I could watch the racing, but I then started to watch it less and less and these days I am happy to just see what the BBC is saying about the racing rather than listen or try and watch it.

 

All the interest has gone I fear, I was interested in Verstappen's comments about Las Vegas being all about the spectacle and there was his boycotting of the Netflix F1 Drive to Survive thing because it was creating conflict where it didn't exist.  When you stand back and listen to his thoughts you realise, he's in racing to be the world champion and be seen as that, the rest of it doesn't matter to him.  I am sure others might feel the same way, but his position at the pinnacle of racing gives him greater freedom to speak out, just as it did for Hamilton a couple of years back - no-one is going to shoot down the world champion.

[woodenhead]

🤣

[Hroth]

2 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

🤣

 

Sarky little bu@@er.

 

[Gareth Collier]

2 hours ago, SR71 said:

Just watched the highlights. Seeing comments from those that watched the full race they must have been edited poorly. Plenty of passing but not much racing. I was bored.

 

Perhaps I should clarify my comment that it was possibly the best race of the season. There was a fair bit of overtaking, close running and the lead actually changing on track more than once although that was helped by safety cars where teams, IMHO, can take an unfair advantage when it comes to tyres and strategy but the bar to which I was judging it is extremely low!

[Andrew P]

6 hours ago, john new said:

Genuine question - how many watch all the pre-start blethering and then stay tuned after the finish? I’ve not added a poll but as someone who doesn’t I am curious.

 

As others have said better race than I expected. 

I do on C4, and generally enjoy 50% of it. i.e. delete Horner.😃

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

I tend to fast-forward over any part involving talking to Messrs Horner and Verstappen. I’m glad, though, that on this occasion I heard Max’s excellent comments, as posted earlier in this thread, about the Las Vegas Grand Prix Show, as that was one of the most thoughtful, eloquent, and insightful comments I’ve heard from an F1 insider in many a year. Liberty Media would be well advised to take note, but we know they won’t, as all they care about is the bottom line. One can only hope that the class action by the disgruntled Friday practice fans will end up costing Liberty a vast sum of money.

[woodenhead]

I think someone enjoyed themselves today, not sure how the other two feel:

1. Yea ha

2. How did I not win?

3. Have I got a job in a couple of races?

[OnTheBranchline]

One more race gents, Ferrari are only 4 points behind Mercedes (probably would be ahead in if Sainz didn’t get that insane penalty from the drain cover debacle).

 

Quick mention to the quietest man in the race: Lance Stroll went from P19 to P5 - sure helped by the first lap chaos and the safety car pit stops but still a stellar drive.

[Obi-Jiff Kenobi]

In that photo, Checo looks like he’s just remembered that he left the gas on.

[john new]

3 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Sarky little bu@@er.

 

True though, my view is penalties should be places deducted not times.