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]

This weekend F1 is in Australia. Silly o'clock start for all sessions. I recorded them and here we have

Free Practice1

[Cleoriff]

Free Practice 2

A very scrappy session. Down came the rain and affected the running order. There was a problem with the GPS so the pit wall couldn't give drivers info on positions of other cars.

[Cleoriff]

Free Practice 3

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Qualifying: For the first time this year Mercedes came good.

[Cleoriff]

WHAT.A.RACE!!

Started at 6am and finished at 8.30am! 3 red flags, Russell and Hamilton jumped Verstappen at the start. Russell had a blow out after the first red flag. So that was his race ended. Leclerc into the gravel at the start and his race also ended. Sainz got an unfair 5 second penalty after the restart from the 2nd red flag where he pushed Alonso off. Normally that would be a racing incident. 3rd red flag, the stewards had to decide whether to restart the race with less than 2 laps to go. If they restarted, should it be in the order pre red flag or post red flag. The FIA decided pre red flag and to follow the safety car with no overtaking! (Never see the point of that.)

Sergio did well starting 20th and finishing 5th.

[pgn]

An engine fire, a few spins, bits of F1 cars and wheels everywhere near the end - it was a bit of a demolition derby there at one point, from the clip I saw on Sky News. And you got up early to watch only 12 cars survive to the end, following the Safety Car for the last lap or so... I see the two Alfas made it into the 12 😉

[Cleoriff]

It was worth it to see Lewis come 2nd @pgn 😂

[Cleoriff]

BAKU

Firt race with the new sprint system.

Starts with P1 (On now) then straight into qualifying which sets the grid for Sunday.

Saturday is the Sprint Race and then Sprint Shootout. Both of which give points to the top 8 finishers.

Then on Sunday we have the race with the grid set today.

Practice One not going well for many team. Hamilton back in the garage with brake issues.

Yuki Tsunado hit the wall and tried to get back to the pits with a rear wheel hanging off.

Pierre Gasly, Car set on fire (Alpine)

Kevin Magnussen stopped just off track. (Haas)

The session has been red flagged with only 32 mins left

Bear in mind that Qualifying starts at 1pm. FGS.

[Cleoriff]

P1 Results

Much work needed on a lot of cars!

Not impressed with the Mercs, even though Lewis finished higher than George.

QUALIFYING (Starts at 2pm)...one and a half hrs to get broken and burnt cars fixed before qualy which sets the grid for the race!!

[Cleoriff]

Qualifying results.

The first time Lewis has beaten his team mate in Qualifying this year. Chose the 4th race in Baku to do it.

Russell was knocked out in Q2. Bit of a shock. Please note the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc is on pole. 😂 Makes a change!