Poll: Official 2024 Australian Grand Prix Race Thread - Albert Park, Melbourne - Race 3/24

[Mesai]

Expect better than 3rd in the championship in almost certainly not the clear 2nd fastest car?

Also beating his teammate by 5 places in the standings?

Lewis had a very good season last year. I really don't know why people like yourself are writing him off.

I'm not expecting anything from him this year. The car is at best the 4th fastest car on the grid now, maybe even battling for 5th fastest with the Aston. He knows his time with Merc is up and he knows at best he might be looking at 5th or 6th in the standings.

Realistically he hit 3rd because other teams were inconsistent. Merc didn't have the best car, but it was more consistently average whereas AM were good then bad, McLaren were bad then good, Ferrari were...Ferrari.

I think Russell is a good comparison where he's probably as fast as Lewis all things equal, but makes stupid mistakes. Charles is also quick but has binned it once or twice, possibly down to him outdriving the car given how Carlos was slightly slower but didn't make said mistakes.

So in summary, I agree that his experience makes a difference - consistency is king, but given a well rounded and competitive car, Charles and Carlos would be just as capable and more interesting in terms of a title winner.

 

[Stumble Bum]

Their shares jumped by 10% at the announcement - which equated to $7bn. They’ve already made their money back and then some

Community note: Readers added context they thought users might want to know.

On the 1 Feb 2024 at the same time as announcing Lewis Hamilton would be joining Ferrari the luxury sports car manufacturer also released its latest financial reports which topped analysts’ fourth quarter estimates and said its order book remained strong. Fourth quarter sales jumped 11% year-on-year to €1.52 billion, slightly ahead of consensus estimates, while annual net profit surged 34% to €1.25 billion.

 

[el_dazza]

As well as the bet I posted above….

I put a pound on Yuki to finish in the top six. He was seventh.

I put a pound on Alex to finish in the top ten. He was eleventh.

I think it's more a surprise that Yuki didn't finish 11th that's rather unlucky though.

 

[bayo000]

Finally have bit of time to post. Only watched youtube highlights and while it looked like a good race I'm not going to vote. Certainly did not expect this result. Shame about George, I don't have big issues with Alonso defending and it's unfortunate it ended up like this.

Considering that Checo couldn't even get podium I wonder if Max would have managed to retake 1st if he didn't have that issue.

From pure performance point of view at this point in time you have to say that Ferrari seems to have shot themselves in the foot. They already have one of the best driver's pairing and have a very talented young driver coming through. I know every team would want Lewis to drive for them but it seems like an unnecessary risk taking on 40 year old driver who could hit the "age wall" at any time.

 

[Scam]

On the 1 Feb 2024 at the same time as announcing Lewis Hamilton would be joining Ferrari the luxury sports car manufacturer also released its latest financial reports

True. But most commentators would agree that nothing’s never not related. It definitely had an effect - as written by most of the trades.

 

[Mr Jack]

Lewis had a very good season last year. I really don't know why people like yourself are writing him off.

Indeed. Extracted the best from a poor package and beat a lot of drivers in better cars as a result. This year, just as in 2022, he seems to be doing a lot more experimenting than Russell; searching for a way to get results out of a package that is behind the rest.

 

[Jono8]

Finally have bit of time to post. Only watched youtube highlights and while it looked like a good race I'm not going to vote. Certainly did not expect this result. Shame about George, I don't have big issues with Alonso defending and it's unfortunate it ended up like this.

Considering that Checo couldn't even get podium I wonder if Max would have managed to retake 1st if he didn't have that issue.

From pure performance point of view at this point in time you have to say that Ferrari seems to have shot themselves in the foot. They already have one of the best driver's pairing and have a very talented young driver coming through. I know every team would want Lewis to drive for them but it seems like an unnecessary risk taking on 40 year old driver who could hit the "age wall" at any time.

I think Max would have retaken 1st (in fact he never would have lost it in the first place) if not for the stuck brake. Perez apparently had a helmet tear off wedged in his floor that caused a significant loss in performance, so he might well have finished higher had it not been for that.

I think the Ferrari is close, but the Red Bull is still the fastest car by a reasonable margin. I just think Sainz,Norris and Leclerc (and probably even Piastri) are better than Perez so they are bridging the car performance gap a bit.

Max is one of, if not the fastest on the grid right now AND has the best car so no one else stands a chance unless he has a technical issue.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Perez needs to do better if he wants that seat next year. He should have been ahead of the McLarens.

Also, why can’t drivers have somewhere inside the cockpit to put used tearoffs?

 

[bayo000]

I think Max would have retaken 1st (in fact he never would have lost it in the first place) if not for the stuck brake. Perez apparently had a helmet tear off wedged in his floor that caused a significant loss in performance, so he might well have finished higher had it not been for that.

I think the Ferrari is close, but the Red Bull is still the fastest car by a reasonable margin. I just think Sainz,Norris and Leclerc (and probably even Piastri) are better than Perez so they are bridging the car performance gap a bit.

Max is one of, if not the fastest on the grid right now AND has the best car so no one else stands a chance unless he has a technical issue.

Didn't realise Max already had that issue when he got passed and didn't know about Checo's issue either.

Yeah I rate all of them over Checo. Oscar hasn't got the experience yet but I think he'll be much better driver than Checo

 

[cuke2u]

Perez needs to do better if he wants that seat next year. He should have been ahead of the McLarens.

Also, why can’t drivers have somewhere inside the cockpit to put used tearoffs?

Unfortunately though Perez's car floor was damaged after overtaking Alonso causing it to lose a lot of downforce so I don't know what more he could have done. With tyre degradation being an issue for the Red Bulls with a lack of downforce he burned out the life of his tyres quicker than any other driver.

The use of pockets sewn into their overalls has been suggested, however a driver fumbling about trying to find this pocket whilst doing over 200mph doesn't sound like a healthy thing to do.

 

[bayo000]

Doesn't need to be a pocket in overalls. Could be something inside the cockpit that should be easier to access.

Could it cause issue if just dropped inside the cockpit? Don't see how, doubt it would get stuck in pedals.

 

[GravyMonster]

The use of pockets sewn into their overalls has been suggested, however a driver fumbling about trying to find this pocket whilst doing over 200mph doesn't sound like a healthy thing to do.

There was seasons where drivers went through Eau Rouge one handed to block off the F duct. Putting a tear off in a pocket will be fine.

 

[Mesai]

Perez needs to do better if he wants that seat next year. He should have been ahead of the McLarens.

Also, why can’t drivers have somewhere inside the cockpit to put used tearoffs?

Seem to be rumours that he's already signed on for next year, which also sounds like writing on the wall for RIC.

I'd like to see Lawson get a longer run alongside Yuki.

 

[Slam62]

I don’t know, I really thought George was going to be the next big thing, but that’s twice now when under pressure on the last lap he’s stuffed it, looking at the replay, he wasn’t that close to Alonso and anyway Alonso didn’t slow that much, I think a top driver would’ve been able to pass without binning it.
At the end of the day, apart from Riciardo crashing into Max, I can’t remember another driver doing such a thing.

 

[Slam62]

If Riciardo was called de vries he would be out pretty soon, the trouble is all the decent free drivers are not on the red bull payroll.

Edit forgot about Lawson, he should be in the car.

 

[Scam]

Leclerc has made similar mistakes to Russell too, binning it while under pressure. I don’t think Russell is completely alone there.

 

[bayo000]

Leclerc has made similar mistakes to Russell too, binning it while under pressure. I don’t think Russell is completely alone there.

Yup. Lewis beaching it on the way to pits springs to mind. Sure he was a rookie that season but that wasn't even such a high pressure situation.

 

[t2na]

anyway Alonso didn’t slow that much

He slowed so much that he had to get back on the accelerator before the corner before braking again...

 

[Scam]

Yup. Lewis beaching it on the way to pits springs to mind. Sure he was a rookie that season but that wasn't even such a high pressure situation.

Tell us you don't like Hamilton without telling us you don't like Hamilton. lol. Quite a stretch to compare that to an incident in Russell's 6th year in F1.

 

[bayo000]

This is Russell's 6th year in F1. Rookie years aren't really a comparison unless you're dredging up an incident no-one remembers just to try and talk **** about Hamilton...

Calm down, I said he was a rookie. It was just an example where a driver made a mistake even in a basic manoeuvre at slow(ish) speed. We're all humans and will make mistakes from time to time. Yeah, crashing on the way to pits it's not something that people forget or stopping in a wrong garage during the race for that matter.