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

[senseni34]

Not really, it would have benefitted Lewis if it was later, his hard tyres were at that moment beating the old Mediums and if they’d have had the safety car 10 laps later, he’d have being able to push more in the mediums when everyone switched to hards

he was running 9th before the pit cycle (8th without Stroll), and slower than Ocon. Sure, a later Safety Car would have been even better for him, but he still benefitted for sure.

He was catching Ocon quite quickly just before Ocon jumped into the pits. He benefitted from the Safety car though, this can't be ignored lol.

Really what the SC did was ruin the rest of the race for us, as there were at least a few different drivers on different strategies that could have made things a bit more entertaining for us.

Actually Lewis could have gone longer first stint and much shorter/faster medium tyre stint. Early safety car killed his strategy.

[senseni34]

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.

Except being able to line his car up on that grid correctly….

I remember that last year Seb was leading in one race.

[organic]

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.

Alonso or Perez

[piast9]

The safety car was unnecessary.

Could be. The only thing that comes to my mind is the situation, In which Stroll's car could not be left at that gap that he stopped at. There was very little space and it blocked the way completely. They might have to push his car back to the track to the gap in the barriers at the other side of the track.

[search]

he was running 9th before the pit cycle (8th without Stroll), and slower than Ocon. Sure, a later Safety Car would have been even better for him, but he still benefitted for sure.

He was catching Ocon quite quickly just before Ocon jumped into the pits. He benefitted from the Safety car though, this can't be ignored lol.

Really what the SC did was ruin the rest of the race for us, as there were at least a few different drivers on different strategies that could have made things a bit more entertaining for us.

Actually Lewis could have gone longer first stint and much shorter/faster medium tyre stint. Early safety car killed his strategy.

obviously, but unless he still had a lot of pace in hand on hards (which it didn't really look like), he would have come out in around 8th after his pit stop. So to get back to where he finished, he would first have needed to overtake 3 cars on track. And Russell would have been something like 20s ahead then, so completely out of reach.

So he got the best result possible, and due to the Safety Car, without having to fight for it at all.

[Sieper]

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.

Alonso or Perez

Not Perez, he lost position at the start and locked up during the one overtake he needed to make. Piastri with that super stint, Stroll had a daring overtake on Sainz, Alonso is always good, fun to watch, but that start thingie.

[langedweil]

Checo puts a stop to the Max beat down. Nice.

What's with this yearly grasping on Per-for-WDC !?
It was P1 vs P15 with a SC and a dodgy driveshaft, and only 5s at the checkered flag.
Nothing to take away from Checo driving flawless this time, but I think everyone knows he's no serious contender over 23 races. He better drives his wheels off while he can to secure 2nd by AD 2023

[f1jcw]

He was catching Ocon quite quickly just before Ocon jumped into the pits. He benefitted from the Safety car though, this can't be ignored lol.

Really what the SC did was ruin the rest of the race for us, as there were at least a few different drivers on different strategies that could have made things a bit more entertaining for us.

Actually Lewis could have gone longer first stint and much shorter/faster medium tyre stint. Early safety car killed his strategy.

obviously, but unless he still had a lot of pace in hand on hards (which it didn't really look like), he would have come out in around 8th after his pit stop. So to get back to where he finished, he would first have needed to overtake 3 cars on track. And Russell would have been something like 20s ahead then, so completely out of reach.

So he got the best result possible, and due to the Safety Car, without having to fight for it at all.

When the safety car came out Lewis’s hards were then faster then Russell’s mediums. Not sure where the 20-seconds ahead is coming from

[Sieper]

I fully expected Lewis on yellows to achieve more those last 30 laps. Something is up imho.

[Big Tea]

I fully expected Lewis on yellows to achieve more those last 30 laps. Something is up imho.

He said in an interview he is not comfortable in the car, that it is too 'pointy' and he is not confident to push into a corner.

[langedweil]

Plenty occurred post race...

I do however think there needs to be clearer rules regarding this. I think there should be no ‘addressing the car’ when it pulls up for its penalty. Therefore all the mechanics shouldn’t be able to move from the positions they start at when the car is about to be driven into the pit box. That way you have no jacks in place, no mechanics about to lift the tyre away, no wheel nut guns about to buzz the nut off the wheel. If the mechanics keep in line with the 2 yellow lines on the pit box this means that it becomes impossible to start to work on the car or inadvertently touch it.

Easiest way is state that pit crew (team members maybe?) are not allowed onto the pit lane until penalty is served?

I'd say it shouldn't be that complicated to police the "Do Not Touch The Car" for 5 or 10 seconds ..
I mean .. just don't touch it; take 5.5s or even 6s to be safe.
If you do touch it, well .. you're a dork and get punished.

[Big Tea]

Plenty occurred post race...

I do however think there needs to be clearer rules regarding this. I think there should be no ‘addressing the car’ when it pulls up for its penalty. Therefore all the mechanics shouldn’t be able to move from the positions they start at when the car is about to be driven into the pit box. That way you have no jacks in place, no mechanics about to lift the tyre away, no wheel nut guns about to buzz the nut off the wheel. If the mechanics keep in line with the 2 yellow lines on the pit box this means that it becomes impossible to start to work on the car or inadvertently touch it.

Easiest way is state that pit crew (team members maybe?) are not allowed onto the pit lane until penalty is served?

I'd say it shouldn't be that complicated to police the "Do Not Touch The Car" for 5 or 10 seconds ..
I mean .. just don't touch it; take 5.5s or even 6s to be safe.
If you do touch it, well .. you're a dork and get punished.

Possibly easier to police if the penalty time was added after completion of the service?
For instance: car arrives and gets tyres etc, crew boss raises his hand signifying they are finished, but no one allowed to touch the car for 5 sec from that point. If it is ready to rejoin, that means jacks away and no crewmember doing anything at all, just as if it was leaving the box. It would be black or white then if something was touched or tweaked after the crew boss himself said 'right, start counting.

[Hammerfist]

I fully expected Lewis on yellows to achieve more those last 30 laps. Something is up imho.

He hurt the tires by being in georges gearbox for too long. In the first race george damaged his tires by being stuck behind hamilton for too long. Its obvious whats happening this year. You just cannot follow well anymore, unless you have a massive pace advantage.

Would have loved to see how the newer mediums vs older hards would have played out but the safety car took that away from us.

[search]

When the safety car came out Lewis’s hards were then faster then Russell’s mediums. Not sure where the 20-seconds ahead is coming from

Hamilton was slower every single lap before the SC came out...

RUS 1:36,114 - 1:37,188 HAM
RUS 1:35,300 - 1:36,628 HAM
RUS 1:35,596 - 1:36,263 HAM
RUS 1:35,423 - 1:35,867 HAM
RUS 1:35,477 - 1:35,973 HAM
RUS 1:35,256 - 1:36,093 HAM
RUS 1:35,157 - 1:36,122 HAM
RUS 1:35,890 - 1:36,978 HAM
RUS 1:35,265 - 1:35,976 HAM
RUS 1:35,400 - 1:35,909 HAM
RUS 1:35,283 - 1:36,568 HAM
RUS 1:35,043 - 1:35,822 HAM
RUS 1:34,940 - 1:35,708 HAM
RUS 1:34,946 - 1:35,693 HAM
RUS 1:35,120 - 1:35,228 HAM
RUS 1:34,892 - 1:35,047 HAM
RUS 2:12,217 - 2:16,760 HAM

...and by around 15s behind then. Russell would soon have pitted, and then (by all likelyness) gone even quicker, with much newer tyres of the same kind. I think 20s is even a modest estimation. With HAM likely to get stuck behind the Ferraris for a couple of laps at least, it probably would have been rather more than less.

[continuum16]

Easiest way is state that pit crew (team members maybe?) are not allowed onto the pit lane until penalty is served?

I'd say it shouldn't be that complicated to police the "Do Not Touch The Car" for 5 or 10 seconds ..
I mean .. just don't touch it; take 5.5s or even 6s to be safe.
If you do touch it, well .. you're a dork and get punished.

Possibly easier to police if the penalty time was added after completion of the service?
For instance: car arrives and gets tyres etc, crew boss raises his hand signifying they are finished, but no one allowed to touch the car for 5 sec from that point. If it is ready to rejoin, that means jacks away and no crewmember doing anything at all, just as if it was leaving the box. It would be black or white then if something was touched or tweaked after the crew boss himself said 'right, start counting.

Why do they even need to serve the penalty in the pit box? If the FIA wants it to be standardized, why not set up a designated "penalty box" area with a timer and lights and do it where the weigh bridge is during qualifying and free practice? It's usually the first set of garages in the pitlane; the driver could pull in, stop for the designated penalty time, and continue on down the pit lane.

I suppose you could argue that it would not be exactly 5 seconds (or whatever the time is) because you have to stop and accelerate again from the pit lane speed limit, but that seems more fair than serving the penalty under SC. I also see how there could be an issue if there are multiple people serving penalties on the same lap, but that is so exceptionally rare. I guess you'd just have to wait in line in that instance, if it ever arose.