Motorsports (NASCAR, F1, etc) Discussion Thread • Page 36

Mercedes strategy is odd? Bottas coming in for softs to get the fastest lap?


Or not going for fastest lap, that’s even weirder.

 

Mercedes with some strange calls today. That second Lewis stop just killed him.

Not that I expect anyone was catching Max today.

 

I hope Alfa produce a car good enough to do something interesting with. Would really like to see Bottas get some good results and remind everyone why he got the Merc call up in the first place.

 

George to Mercedes, shocking news.

 

Gasly and Tsunoda back next year too

 

It's only a matter of time until Gasly ends up at a bigger team. He's been an absolute monster this year.

 

I really thought he’d be at Alpine

 

Wonder what improvements Red Bull will be able to make to their power unit once they take over from Honda.

 

My theory on Gasly is that he has four viable options in 2023:

1) Join Mercedes when Hamilton leaves
2) Join McLaren if Ricciardo leaves
3) Join Williams if they continue improving
4) Join Aston Martin

i don’t see him rejoining Red Bull having called them out as toxic to second drivers, and with Christian having said that “no one on the team asked for him back.”

Merc would be cool but after Lewis vs Nico, would they want two competing drivers? McLaren are fine with it and have a history of even driver lineups (Kimi/Montoya, Lewis/‘Nando, Lewis/Jenson, Lando/Carlos, Lando/Danny). Williams he could replace Latifi and if form the team around him, and same for AM if he replaces Vettel.

alpine will surely want Guanyu Zhou after Fernando because of Chinese marketing possibilities maybe.

 

Alpine seems the obvious place in some ways (French team, best French driver available), but I think both Alonso and Ocon are on multi year deals.

I don't expect to see him at Red Bull again either, but Alpha have still retained him. If Red Bull have no intention of taking him on again, then they're basically just putting a driver in the shop window who might well be back to bite them.

A friend of mine really thought he might try getting the Williams seat for next year with the rule change. It would be a gamble, but they're clearly improving and who knows how well they'll do with the reg changes.

Him and Russell at Mercedes could be a great pairing, although I wouldn't be shocked if Merc try prying Norris away when Lewis retires. It really depends how long he sticks around for, as I don't think there are many obvious choices in the current field for Merc.

I'm not sure whether an upwardly mobile driver is going to look twice at AM if they have any other options. With it being the Stroll show, you have to wonder how long that team will be viable for.

 

Albon to Williams confirmed. Happy for him and another reason for me to follow Williams. Glad to see him back on the grid.

 

ALBONO!

Very happy with that. He lived very near for like 5/6 years and is super down to earth.

 

Was selfishly hoping Albon would go to Indycar, but I'm very glad he got the Williams seat.

 

I don't think Zhou makes it to F1, his only chance is next year and they'll have Alonso Ocon in the seats. The biggest problem Zhou has is Oscar Piastri, who's outperforming him in his debut season and Zhou's in his 3rd.

Zhou will probably end up in Formula E or WEC.

 

Yeah i sort of agree, feel like he’s been bubbling under in F2 for an ice age, but there are rumours he could get the Alfa seat and bring £30m with him

 

Big fan of these sprint races. Hamilton’s awful start is gonna make tomorrow interesting. Two McLaren’s between him and Max who sits on pole.

Hoping for a Danny Ric podium.

 

Thought the race was shit; another case of follow the leader. Hopefully the main race tomorrow is possibly better

 

Perez: "Very boring" F1 sprint races "don't bring anything"

Alonso suggests return of one-shot qualifying to help F1 sprint races

 

Yeah the race wasn't good but I'm hoping the new cars help next year. I like the format and that it shakes things up though.

Agree with Alonso. They should just do separate qualifying where they go out in reverse order, and the top 6 should get points 2 they did in the 90’s/early 2000’s.

Having separate qualifying for it would also mean more action and time on track which is what they want in reality

 

Can only see a Hamilton win here

 

This main race isn't much better than the sprint race, but it would be cool to see Ricciardo win this

 

RB absolutely fucks it on Max’s stop.

 

YEP, this was bound to happen again

 

Hahahah Verstappen and Hamilton out.