2024 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, April 05 - 07

[cplchanb]

What a stupid comment. The times are UK… but it’s pretty much the same for most of Europe where f1s main market is. Most of the world will be at work on Friday

The rest of the world thanks you for your compassion.

Of course, everyone must accomodate their schedules to the convenience of the UK at all times.

But I can imagine that if you are only exposed to F1 through British it may feel like the whole sports solely exists to service the UK.

Most sprint race weekends spice up the racing so calling China rubbish is premature.

I rather find the opposite happening.... for the most part the finishing order is set after lap 2. This is just another gimmick that most f1 fans didn't ask for

[DGP123]

Off the top of my head, Qatar’s Piastri win, with the mixed up tyre strategy, was good. Apart from that, the sprints have flopped, and just reveal the pace of the cars for Sunday. Very little good comes from them, for little pts reward.

[De Wet]

The rest of the world thanks you for your compassion.

Of course, everyone must accomodate their schedules to the convenience of the UK at all times.

But I can imagine that if you are only exposed to F1 through British it may feel like the whole sports solely exists to service the UK.

Most sprint race weekends spice up the racing so calling China rubbish is premature.

I rather find the opposite happening.... for the most part the finishing order is set after lap 2. This is just another gimmick that most f1 fans didn't ask for

[SirBastianVettel]

Agreed, they usually make the Grand Prix less interesting and feel less special. The only interesting thing about them is perhaps the single practice session which they perhaps could try with this busy calendar in the regular format. One practice session on Saturday followed by qualifying.

[Cs98]

Some interesting championship battles. Perez 64/Leclerc 59/Sainz 55, betting this becomes a season long battle with Norris having a chance to join if McLaren develop well. Russell and Alonso duking it out and hunting for Piastri. Big battle to sneak top 10 status between Hamilton 10, Stroll 9, Tsunoda 7, and Bearman 6. Who wins out?

[SirBastianVettel]

My feeling tells me Bearman is not going to win that particular battle.

[Cs98]

My feeling tells me Bearman is not going to win that particular battle.

Leclerc still has an appendix, no?

[SirBastianVettel]

Leclerc still has an appendix, no?

Fair point

[venkyhere]

It's time the likes of Stroll, Sargeant, Zhou, Ricciardo, Bottas are gone from F1 - talent level is-permanently/has-become sub-par. There are so many youngsters waiting in the wings. People like Drugovich, Doohan etc have been waiting for 2 years, and then there are people like Lawson, Bearman etc who got a sniff and have to wait it out for long. Sub-par drivers who get a race seat because of past glory or sponsorship money - dilutes the meritocracy aspect of this sport.

[Waz]

Thought it was an interesting race with different strategies converging near the end, and requiring drivers to make passes on track for them to work.

Masterclasses by LeClerc and Alonso today. One for tire management and one for defending with 4D chess again.

Watching Alonso deliberately drop 3 tenths every lap before DRS detection line was quite satisfying.

[Mogster]

Hmm.. something about this formula that is wrong.
The cars are boring to watch and the races are not exciting.

Yup. Heavy, and the handling characteristics of these ground effect cars are terrible

Going for GE without active suspension was always stupid. Active would remove the bouncing and grounding, make the cars much more nimble in slower corners and generally much better to drive.

It does seem that the cars can run closer in high speed corners now, that was still evident at Suzuka. So that part of the brief has worked.

Agree on the heavy but it’s not an easy fix.

[ringo]

It's time the likes of Stroll, Sargeant, Zhou, Ricciardo, Bottas are gone from F1 - talent level is-permanently/has-become sub-par. There are so many youngsters waiting in the wings. People like Drugovich, Doohan etc have been waiting for 2 years, and then there are people like Lawson, Bearman etc who got a sniff and have to wait it out for long. Sub-par drivers who get a race seat because of past glory or sponsorship money - dilutes the meritocracy aspect of this sport.

Bottas is driving very well. No mistakes and is getting the most out of the Sauber.
zhou is not bad also.
Stroll isnt going anywhere.

[ringo]

Leclerc's race was somewhat underwhelming. It was not special outside of tge long first stint.
Ferrari did not seem so much better here than Mclaren.
Mclaren's weakness was their top speed. They need to sort that out. Piastri couls have been further up the feild.
Lando likes to let redbull go by without a fight but could be the top speed limitations why he doesnt bother.

Max seems bored of F1 now. Nothing much happening with him at the front. It's almost as if he is not in the race. Even his celebrations at the end reveal how bored he is.
The RB20 is just in another league. Perez is able to slice through the feild even when he isnt managing the pace well.

[De Wet]

Hmm.. something about this formula that is wrong.
The cars are boring to watch and the races are not exciting.

Yup. Heavy, and the handling characteristics of these ground effect cars are terrible

Going for GE without active suspension was always stupid. Active would remove the bouncing and grounding, make the cars much more nimble in slower corners and generally much better to drive.

It does seem that the cars can run closer in high speed corners now, that was still evident at Suzuka. So that part of the brief has worked.

Agree on the heavy but it’s not an easy fix.

Too Heavy & Too Long... Just Drop the Electrical Nonsense... Problem Solved...

[ali623]

The race wasn’t great. Again nothing particularly unpredictable happened, was the same thing as Bahrain and Saudi. Australia was only exciting at the start because of Max’s DNF, but even it ended up being a dull affair.

The constant management of tyres, and ‘running your own race’ along with these bulky, uninteresting cars and DRS passes has given us a miserable product. We’re now lucky if we get 1 or 2 great races in a season, never mind a championship fight. Nothing to look forward too either, 2026 regs will probably be even worse.