2024 Japanese Grand Prix - Suzuka, April 05 - 07

[De Wet]

Some posts should be ignored. It saves you from being banned. Lol
The W15, though relatively worst than RB20 is an improvement. The other cars have simply improved way more as those could build on good concepts from the previous year.
Mercedes were building from scratch almost each year from w13 w14.
The w15 is much improved in sector 1.

As for the racing, the 18 inch wheels are also the culprit. F1 needs go back to 13 inch wheels or compromise and go to 16 inch wheels.
There is more variation with more meat on the rim, and compliance to do curb riding and other maneouvres. The 18s just add unsprung weight .
I was hoping 2026 would reduce the wheel size and weight, go back to a narrower lighter car, add more ICE power, and change from ground effect back to flat floors. Getting rid of MGUH was a good move but more needed to be done.

They are changing to 16 inch tyres in 2026 IIRC...

[Waz]

It was another meh race. F1 needs some on track excitement.

Can’t see it happening. Cars are too heavy and cumbersome for any quality wheel to wheel action. It’s mainly strategy, being on the right tyre, and then straight forward, uncontested DRS overtakes. Throw in the championship being over already, and that’s the product we have today. Dire stuff.

This race had plenty of non-DRS overtakes.... We saw 2-3 at Spoon, 2-3 at R130, and 3-4 in the S-section (although one, Max on George, wasn't televised) and 1-2 at the chicane.

I know you're talking about the sport in general, but the guy you're quoting wasn't. Just pointing out its not all bad.

I saw plenty of non DRS passes, and a lot of DRS passes actually happened in the braking zone.

Honestly don't know what races people are watching.

[InsaneX_Badger]

Can’t see it happening. Cars are too heavy and cumbersome for any quality wheel to wheel action. It’s mainly strategy, being on the right tyre, and then straight forward, uncontested DRS overtakes. Throw in the championship being over already, and that’s the product we have today. Dire stuff.

This race had plenty of non-DRS overtakes.... We saw 2-3 at Spoon, 2-3 at R130, and 3-4 in the S-section (although one, Max on George, wasn't televised) and 1-2 at the chicane.

I know you're talking about the sport in general, but the guy you're quoting wasn't. Just pointing out its not all bad.

I saw plenty of non DRS passes, and a lot of DRS passes actually happened in the braking zone.

Honestly don't know what races people are watching.

Unfortunately, for many, if the passes are not for the podium then it's like they never happened

[chrisc90]

Was a good race tbh. Interesting to see the people pitting earlier for a undercut, but 8-10 laps later the fresher tyres were far better.

[FW17]

The races in this time zone should all become night races like Singapore.



Sepang has installed lights to be relevant to European market, China, Japan and Oz should do the same.

[Vanja #66]

I swear there's a straight up concerted effort to just downplay Leclerc at all costs by many here. lol

He's an easy target having so many poles and not having a car to convert them to wins. And in case of 2022 - having a team capable of costing him whole 5 wins starting from 3 poles and 2 second rows. He's proven everything he needs to prove that year, but great talent always attracts great hate...

[chrisc90]

I swear there's a straight up concerted effort to just downplay Leclerc at all costs by many here. lol

He's an easy target having so many poles and not having a car to convert them to wins. And in case of 2022 - having a team capable of costing him whole 5 wins starting from 3 poles and 2 second rows. He's proven everything he needs to prove that year, but great talent always attracts great hate...

I feel sorry for the hate Sainz gets off some on here...

[Vanja #66]

I feel sorry for the hate Sainz gets off some on here...

He received nothing but praise from everyone this year. Bahrain was the only poor start, there weren't any mistakes in races and there were no nonsense theories for his results. Very different from past 2 seasons and hopefully the change is permanent. He's again delivering consistently to his full potential, which was always considerable - just ask Norris.

[Sieper]

I swear there's a straight up concerted effort to just downplay Leclerc at all costs by many here. lol

He's an easy target having so many poles and not having a car to convert them to wins. And in case of 2022 - having a team capable of costing him whole 5 wins starting from 3 poles and 2 second rows. He's proven everything he needs to prove that year, but great talent always attracts great hate...

That also works the other way. He has the car to give him poles while if that car would be more set-up, or simple better suited to convert these to wins he would likely have less poles. It usually is a balance/trade off.

I am not saying this to diminish Charles, he is one of the best on the grid, but the way you wrote it reads if he put it on pole simply on merit alone while I feel the Ferrari of last years was always able to get the tires in the window quickly, and it looked super compliant through turns. Very beautiful to see but also a very capable car for being fast over 1 lap.

[Vanja #66]

I am not saying this to diminish Charles, he is one of the best on the grid, but the way you wrote it reads if he put it on pole simply on merit alone while I feel the Ferrari of last years was always able to get the tires in the window quickly, and it looked super compliant through turns. Very beautiful to see but also a very capable car for being fast over 1 lap.

Not at all, it's clear to everyone that SF23 used the tyres very differently from RB19 and put too much emphasis on one-lap pace, while unstable aero also did not help in the race...

[Cs98]

I swear there's a straight up concerted effort to just downplay Leclerc at all costs by many here. lol

He's an easy target having so many poles and not having a car to convert them to wins. And in case of 2022 - having a team capable of costing him whole 5 wins starting from 3 poles and 2 second rows. He's proven everything he needs to prove that year, but great talent always attracts great hate...

Charles, self critical as he is, would be the first to tell you that is not true. Ironically, saying things like that makes him an easy target. Not outperforming his teammate is making him an easy target. The pole to win record is mostly just used to push him as the "fastest man over one lap", which is obviousy not negative at all.

[Sieper]

I don’t think he left much on the table in the vast majority of those races where he couldn’t convert the pole to a win. It just wasn’t in the car. The pole is just the start of the race.

[dialtone]

LEC put the 2021 Ferrari on pole in baku and was about to win Austria ‘19 before an obviously illegal move by Max. Both events on cars that didn’t belong there. Let’s stop the LEC slander.

[Singapore2008]

u

Something I've noticed is that no car can hit the apex at the hairpin. It's very different to 20 years ago.

Hitting the Apex isn't the fastest in the hairpin. With these cars.

[JPower]

Something I've noticed is that no car can hit the apex at the hairpin. It's very different to 20 years ago.

I've found that hitting the apex in slow corners in general went out of vogue with these ground effect cars. I'm guessing a U-shape is the fastest way around now.