Formula 1 2023.

[Cleoriff]

I'll run a Formula 1 thread for one more season. Hopefully there will be some new members who are interested? If not, I'll spend a lot of time talking to myself 😂

A fair amount of changes this season with the driver line up but I'll discuss that later.

Kicking off in Bahrain on March 5 and concluding in Abu Dhabi on November 26, the season will feature a planned, record-breaking 24 races, with Qatar set to return and Las Vegas arriving as the penultimate round for a Saturday night race. China has been dropped due to the ongoing Covid situation.

CALENDAR

*Pre Season testing will take place in Bahrain on Feb23-25th

DRIVERS 2023

No change in the top three teams of Red Bull,(Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez)

Ferrari, (Charles LeClerc and Carlos Sainz and

Mercedes  (George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Alpine team, Pierre Gasly moves to drive with them as Alonso has moved out

McLaren Team. Oscar Piastri replaces Ricciardo and Lando Norris remains.

Alfa Romeo Team. No change in the line up with Valtteri Bottas and George Zhou.

Aston Martin Team. Fernando Alonso replace Seb Vettel who retired last year. Lance Stroll remains.

Haas Team Another change. Mick Schumacher was sacked last year and has been replaced with Nico Hulkenberg who will have his arch enemy Kevin Magnussen as a team mate.

Alpha Tauri team. Nyck De Vries (a rookie) replaces Gasly who moved to Alpine. Team mate Yuki Tsunoda (no change)

Williams team. Alex Albon remains and Nicholas Latifi (one of the worse drivers on the grid), resigned before being sacked, is replaced by another rookie Logan Sargeant (who was 4th in F2 last season)

So lots to look forward to this season. There have been changes in Team Principals. For Ferrari, Fred Vasseur replacing Mattio Binotti, McLaren has changed but the most shocking change (for me) is James Vowles Chief Strategist for Mercedes has taken on the team principal role for Williams!!

I hope Merc have got a damn good replacement!

[Safwan]

Yeah, it’s onwards and upwards for the Mercs. Interesting interview with Hamilton, seemed to be pushing for them to focus on development on next year’s car. 

[Cleoriff]

I can understand that. No-one's catching Mad Max this season so Merc need a car which 'hit's the ground running' at the start of next season. We don't want to wait 6 races in before it shows promise! @Safwan 

[Safwan]

Yeah, fully agree. Also Mad Max 🤣 that’s a hilarious nickname. 

[Cleoriff]

CANADA F1

PRACTICE 1

Only thing to report is P1 was cancelled after a few minutes running. Albon stopped on track and suddenly the session was red flagged.

The CCTV system wasn't working. The stewards had no view of the cars.

So they decided to add 30 mins to P2 which is currently running with rain expected!

[Cleoriff]

P2 (90 mins)

The rain started 4 mins before session end. Great to see the Mercs showing pace at last!

[Cleoriff]

P3

Very wet runnning and no longer looking good for Mercs, although they didn't set an inter time which was representative before switching to full wets.

Qualifying due to start in an hour and still raining.

[pgn]

[Cleoriff]

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@pgn wrote:

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Exactly @pgn 😂

[Cleoriff]

QUALIFYING

wet wild and windy. More tyre changes than during a race 😂

A shock 2nd place for Hulkenberg who posted his lap time before a red flag was thrown.

Then the rain came again!

Sainz will be getting some penalties due to multiple impeding incidents.

Forecast dry weather for the race tomorrow. Mmmmm. We'll see! 😂

[Cleoriff]

What a dishful of penaties the stewards handed out post Qualifying'

Sainz 3 place grid drop for impeding Gasly

Stroll 3 place grid drop for impeding Ocon

Tsunoda 3 place grid drop for an incident with Hulkenberg

Finally, the biggest disappointment for the Haas team, Hulkenberg loses his 2nd place and drops to 5th for failing to slow under red flags.

So I'll check the new grid

That's a real bonus for the Mercs. 😂