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!

[Cleoriff]

PRACTICE 2

Mercedes decided to configure Hamiltons rear wing. As you will see from the results it didn't work at all. Lewis end up 17th so didn't bother doing a run on softs.

Perez, yet again, crashed his car in P2 a couple of laps from the end of the session.

[Cleoriff]

PRACTICE 3

An action packed session with Sainz showing that the Ferrari upgrades are working well for him.

The long time problem with Monza is the stacking of cars hoping for a tow from the car in front. This has resulted in some cars not reaching the flag in time to do one more hot lap.

Mercedes were forced to change Hamiltons rear wing configuration and were right to do so. (see chart below)

Perez couldn't do his final lap on softs as Red Bull discovered a leak in his power unit

[Cleoriff]

QUALIFYING ITALY

AT LAST!! Someone other than Max on Pole ! Well done Sainz

[Cleoriff]

A great race except Tsunoda broke down at the start of the formation lap.

Lots of penalties handed out for crashes and leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Both Lewis and George got 5 second penalties for clipping other drivers and leaving the track and gaining an advantage. It didn't involve their finishing position as they were both more than 5 seconds ahead of the driver behind them.

No change with the winner though. Max now holds the record for 10 wins in a row

[Cleoriff]

SINGAPORE F1 (Marina Bay Circuit)

PRACTICE 1

Interesting first session with drivers attempting to avoid 2 lizards who were wandering over the track! (No drivers or lizards were hurt.😂 )

Ferrari looking good on this road race track.

[Cleoriff]

Oh great news. Ferrari are still doing well.  Both RBR's are struggling

[Cleoriff]

PRACTICE 3

Still no sign of Red Bull dominance on this track. Ferrari are still doing well.  TBH, it could be anyone on pole in Qualifying.

[Cleoriff]

QUALIFYING

What a shocking Qualifying. Pre weekend a technical directive from the FIA that all cars needed to lose a lot of flexibility on the floors and rear wings. This affected both Red Bulls really badly. Neither of them got out of Q2 to the absolute fury of Verstappen 😂 He also had to see the stewards post Qualy for 3 incidents of impeding. So we all expected a penalty of a grid drop. No! He got off with all incidents.

Well done Russell for Merc starting 2nd, just pipped for Pole by Sainz

Should be a great race tomorrow!

[Cleoriff]

What a brilliant race.

Carlos Sainz converted pole position into a second career victory as the Spaniard held off the charge of Lando Norris and the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell – who crashed on the final lap – to take a well-earned win at the Singapore Grand Prix – the first non-Red Bull win of the season.

Mercedes made a brave decision to pit both drivers 15 laps from the end to chase down Sainz, Norris and Leclerc. They overtook Leclerc but Sainz gave his old team mate Norris a tow to keep him clear of the Mercs.

Sadly for Russell he crashed on the last lap leaving Hamilton to take 3rd place. He also got a point for the fastest lap.

[Cleoriff]

JAPAN F1 (SUZUKA)

PRACTICE 1

The timings of Suzuka are silly o'clock so these two sessions are recorded.