2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah, March 17 - 19

[chrisc90]

I still don’t think the result would have differed if there was no SC to be fair.

[Sevach]

I still don’t think the result would have differed if there was no SC to be fair.

Hamilton benefitted and the Ferraris lost out, it made Max's job easier but he was going to get there eventually.

[basti313]

Hmmm...a few laps after the SC I started to watch in fast forward as I was out for dinner and had to record the race.

You didn’t miss much. In fact, both races have been total snoozefests.

This I would not say. Bahrain was interesting all race with some nice fights (Alo, later Sai defending). Here the start was good, strategies would have been interesting....the SC simply spoiled it.

I find these problematic - how can the stewards adjudicate on something not in their rule book? Any agreement by teams is immaterial if it is not in the sporting regs.

Well, AM showed videos of 7! examples where the jacks were on the car. This was common agreement among all teams that this is ok. No team can argue "we did it different".

"...as suggested to stewards" - This implies that an external input to the stewards. So a penalty was imposed by a mere suggestion?

It was even caught on video:

I'd like to see a race control that isn't so eager to press the SC button in the future, that looked like a situation for waved yellows, i complained about this last year and here it happens again.
It's almost like they enjoy doing a little "reshuffling".

Not really....I mean...then you argue differently. They are just incompetent. Masi was competent but killed under his own politics. Now we have the same politics again just with an incompetent team.
Obviously they want to push the red button as quick as possible on this track as it is simply a dangerous track if something would be stationary on track. But someone should be capable of following the onboard when there is several seconds of yellow before parking the car. There was exactly this teamwork missing that someone told the race director that the car is in a safe spot.

[chrisc90]

I know it’s not hugely relevant, but what do people think of this article in the sporting regs.

Any decision or communication concerning a particular Competitor should be given to him within twenty-five (25) minutes of such decision, and receipt must be acknowledged.

Surely that means that AMR should have been told about their possible penalty within 25mins of it happening?

[Matt2725]

I know it’s not hugely relevant, but what do people think of this article in the sporting regs.

Any decision or communication concerning a particular Competitor should be given to him within twenty-five (25) minutes of such decision, and receipt must be acknowledged.

Surely that means that AMR should have been told about their possible penalty within 25mins of it happening?

I don't see the issue here. They have 25 mins from issuing a penalty to inform the team. They were informed immediately via the race control message system.

There isn't a 25 minute limit from the possible infraction taking place.

[chrisc90]

Anyone got a rough analysis of the race pace and tyre deg? I’m away at moment and don’t have a laptop to hand to get a good enough picture.

[Mogster]

The safety car was unnecessary.
Surprised how long it took Max to overtake the field before the safety car.
Ham seems tired / unmotivated. He shouldn’t have given up on George so quickly. He had mediums. Maybe he’s intimidated. He can’t seem to beat the guy. Sad.
Impressive drive from Checo. He earned this one.
RB have big speed advantage 1+ seconds in race trim.
If AM can find a half to 3/4 second on RB, Fred may be able to challenge for wins on merit, but that’s a big ask.
Ferrari...wow. Just wow. Shameful.
Williams is impressive down the straights.
Macca is nowhere on their way to lostville in a car called f*#k story.
Piastri impressed me. He’s very good.

George continues the Lewis beat down.
Fred continues the Lance beat down.
Checo puts a stop to the Max beat down. Nice.

Agree Piastri raised eyebrows this weekend. It’s a shame the car is a shitbox.

Lance has broken hands, it’s surprising he’s so close to Alonso.

I just think Hamilton doesn’t see the point in fighting like a wild animal with his teammate over 4/5 place.

[ringo]

A big story for me for this is race is Perez vs Max.
Can Perez make this year exciting and fight for the title.
We saw where redbull gave him a time delta just to bring Max into play. He was told to do 36.6's and smartly Perez asked why the team want him to slow down, then he asked ehat times is Max doing. Team told him 36.4's.
So perez rightfully asked why are they doing that?!
It's great that Perez has a racing braing and is smart enough to know when the team are trying to prioritize Max over him.
It was a low point from the team. It's clear they still want him to play #2 and not challenge Max.
But with the other cars so far away, we will be seeing Perez and Max on the front row for many races and Max will have to focus more on being quicker over the race distance to stay ahead. The team will also need to sharpen up their reliability to give both cars a fair fighting chance to win. Now it seems Perez has the luckier chassis.

Is this a sky sports job application?

Yes! Anyhow point made. Perez given a target that was not necessary when his teammate was driving faster than the target.

As for Bernie Collins. The scottsgirl? I think she is good. I like the technical feedback. She will get better as time passes.

Sainz flopped again. Not sure why this guy can't get a handle on the car.
But just like Hamilton, Leclerc couldnt pass. Just had to hang behind his teammate who has much more points at this stage.

Good race by Apline. And I think they get the last laugh out of the Mclaren Piastri deal. They have 2 experienced and fast drivers.
The car is also showing good pace on this highspeed track.

But all in all we are looking at a Perez vs Max year. Perez is closer on pace and can try win this year using grit and maybe throwing some sugar in Max's gas tank or dropping a spanner in the cv joint. haha. Meaning he will need a lot of look and more max mechanical grumbles, but it can happen!

[F1NAC]

A big story for me for this is race is Perez vs Max.
Can Perez make this year exciting and fight for the title.
We saw where redbull gave him a time delta just to bring Max into play. He was told to do 36.6's and smartly Perez asked why the team want him to slow down, then he asked ehat times is Max doing. Team told him 36.4's.
So perez rightfully asked why are they doing that?!
It's great that Perez has a racing braing and is smart enough to know when the team are trying to prioritize Max over him.
It was a low point from the team. It's clear they still want him to play #2 and not challenge Max.
But with the other cars so far away, we will be seeing Perez and Max on the front row for many races and Max will have to focus more on being quicker over the race distance to stay ahead. The team will also need to sharpen up their reliability to give both cars a fair fighting chance to win. Now it seems Perez has the luckier chassis.

Is this a sky sports job application?

Yes! Anyhow point made. Perez given a target that was not necessary when his teammate was driving faster than the target.

As for Bernie Collins. The scottsgirl? I think she is good. I like the technical feedback. She will get better as time passes.

Sainz flopped again. Not sure why this guy can't get a handle on the car.
But just like Hamilton, Leclerc couldnt pass. Just had to hang behind his teammate who has much more points at this stage.

Good race by Apline. And I think they get the last laugh out of the Mclaren Piastri deal. They have 2 experienced and fast drivers.
The car is also showing good pace on this highspeed track.

But all in all we are looking at a Perez vs Max year. Perez is closer on pace and can try win this year using grit and maybe throwing some sugar in Max's gas tank or dropping a spanner in the cv joint. haha. Meaning he will need a lot of look and more max mechanical grumbles, but it can happen!

Perez can win only and only if Verstappen gets 2016 Hamiltoned. Reliability… but going back to traditional circuits, Max has him easily. 0.5 in Q at least. Then after first corner is just management while Perez destroys his tyres.

[mendis]

Meaning he will need a lot of look and more max mechanical grumbles, but it can happen!

He drives the exact same car. So the chances of him getting reliability issues are as good as that of Max.

Unlike Max, Perez cannot recover 25 points if he has a DNF.

[avantman]

Who was your driver of the day? For me it was Alonso. Aston Martin led a Grand Prix for the first time. Historic moment. He kept everything under full control, almost playing with his rivals from Mercedes, never asking more from his car than he needed to, never showing them his true hand. He carried himself like a Champion all the way after.

[chrisc90]

First AM front row start in 63 years wasn’t it? Sure I heard that stat mentioned.

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[search]

First AM front row start in 63 years wasn’t it? Sure I heard that stat mentioned.

under that name, I guess so. But the team has only existed from 1959-1960 - and on from 2021 now.

[search]

I still don’t think the result would have differed if there was no SC to be fair.

Hamilton benefitted and the Ferraris lost out, it made Max's job easier but he was going to get there eventually.

maybe, yeah, but Verstappen was 15s behind Alonso when the Safety Car came out, with Russell (and potentially Sainz, depending on the time of the stop) in between. In the end Alonso finished 15s behind. So it could have been close at least.

[f1jcw]

George continues the Lewis beat down.

And yet, Lewis has more points.