Motorsport Off Topic Thread

Mr Jack said:
Fernando getting in early with a bit of pot-stirring for next season: Alonso claims Bortoleto is F1's best rookie for 2025.

To be honest, I think he may well be right - at least for 2025. I think Antonelli has more innate talent, but he's a much more raw prospect, at just 18 and having skipped F3. But Bortoleto has also improved as he's moved through the ranks, getting a respectable but ordinary run in his first few years before smashing F3 and F2 in his rookie seasons. In contrast, Kimi rocked up and won the first four full single seater seasons he took part in but then only had a decent but not standout season in F2 having leapfrogged F3 altogether - still thoroughly outclassed Bearman in the other Prema though.

I'm looking forward to seeing so many rookies on track next year; it's going to be fascinating to see how well they compare to each other.
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I don't know if I'd agree that Kimi "thoroughly outclassed" Bearman - Bearman won more races throughout the year and while he finished behind in the standings he also didn't take part in 2x sets of races because he ended up in the Ferrari and Haas.
Be interesting to see how they all do next year though!
 
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chrismscotland said:
I don't know if I'd agree that Kimi "thoroughly outclassed" Bearman - Bearman won more races throughout the year and while he finished behind in the standings he also didn't take part in 2x sets of races because he ended up in the Ferrari and Haas.
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Antonelli also missed a race, but fair point - swapping back and forth did seem to unsettle Bearman and he already had pole for one of those races, his only one of the season. Still, I think 113-75 is a pretty solid margin, and Kimi qualified ahead of Bearman more often than not, and this is Bearman's second season in F2 which should give him a significant edge.

Both are exciting talents, I think, and watching them compete over the coming years is going to be a real treat.
 
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Africa should have a GP, it should be at Kyalami though.

It’s a superior track to most European tracks and would easily be a top 5 track on the calendar.

Problem is it’s F1, the best track layouts (Spa, Suzuka etc) often tend to produce forgettable races for a variety of reasons.

Good tracks is no gaurantee of good racing hence why the soulless tracks often tend to be more entertaining on average.

Some car park in Rwanda would probably end up somehow being the best race of the year lol
 
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imtoooldforthis said:
Africa should have a GP, it should be at Kyalami though.
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I too would like to see Kyalami back but I don't see what that has to do with Rwanda's bid? These are countries whose closest point is as far apart as Amsterdam and Moscow. One should not affect the other.

Besides Kyalami isn't FIA grade One and SA appears to have no interest in upgrading it so it's by-the-by really.
 
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Mr Jack said:
I too would like to see Kyalami back but I don't see what that has to do with Rwanda's bid? These are countries whose closest point is as far apart as Amsterdam and Moscow. One should not affect the other.

Besides Kyalami isn't FIA grade One and SA appears to have no interest in upgrading it so it's by-the-by really.
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From yesterday

www.independent.co.uk

South Africa targeting 2027 spot on F1 calendar: ‘It’s going to happen’

F1 has not raced in South Africa since 1993 but a return to an iconic circuit could be on the cards
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk

"The race is going to happen at Kyalami,” McKenzie added. “Kyalami is doing what they need to do. [Circuit bosses] Toby Venter and Willie Venter and are doing a great job bringing Kyalami to F1 standards. They have put money in there, it is there.

"They have met with Apex, that is doing the track to bring it to F1 standards. We are making sure that we are going to host, so I think we looking at 2027. We were there, it’s going to happen. It’s coming here."

Id find it surprising if Africa got 2 GP's straight away, id imagine it would be one and then they'd go from there depending on how things go.
 
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imtoooldforthis said:
From yesterday
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Oh Cool. Didn't realise that.

Id find it surprising if Africa got 2 GP's straight away, id imagine it would be one and then they'd go from there depending on how things go.
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"They"? These are completely different countries, it's completely bizarre to think that the actions of one country two thousand kilometres from the other should affect the outcome for the other. It'd be like making the Dutch grand Prix dependent on whether the Russian GP is any good.
 
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Mr Jack said:
Oh Cool. Didn't realise that.



"They"? These are completely different countries, it's completely bizarre to think that the actions of one country two thousand kilometres from the other should affect the outcome for the other. It'd be like making the Dutch grand Prix dependent on whether the Russian GP is any good.
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"they" as in Liberty Media, the people who decide the calendar each year. I'm not sure why you think it would be so weird to start with 1 race in Africa and then build from there. I'd make Kyalami the priority, that said if they are confident of being able to go from zero to two races straight away then I've no problem with that.
 
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Mr Jack said:
Because it's weird to act like "Africa" is one place.
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It's the only continent (bar Antarctica) where F1 doesn't race and there has been a narrative about bringing a race to 'Africa' for many years. People have argued many times that you can't call it a true world championship if you are not visiting the second-largest continent on the planet.

The media narrative has always been about bringing F1 to Africa. Here is a recent article with Hamilton and Domenicali talking about bringing F1 to Africa.


“No one gives anything to Africa. There's a huge amount of work that needs to be done there. I think a lot of the world that haven't been there don't realise how beautiful the place is, how vast it is.

“I think having a grand prix there, it would really be able to highlight just how great the place is and bring in tourism and all sorts of things. Why are we not on that continent? And the current excuse is that there's not a track that's ready, but there is at least one track that's ready there"

“We want to go to Africa, but we need to have the right investment, and the right strategic plan.”
 
Isn’t South Africa only a couple of hours time difference to us and Europe? Would make things easy for the TV peeps at least. I’d welcome an African GP, whatever country it ends up in. Anything to stop the endless march of sports washing in barren desert kleptocracies looking to replace oil money with something else. Mind you, that could be said for some African regimes but you know what I mean :p
 
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