Soldato
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Poll: Official 2023 Qatar Grand Prix Thread - Losail International Circuit - Round 18
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Soldato
They did have a world cup there last year.I only caught the last 25 laps or so and by that point had absolutely no idea who was where due to the pit stops. Gutted for Merc and Hamilton, that should have been massive points on both front. What a shame.
(Fair play to Lewis for owning his mistake there. I seem to recall he was on the inside at Silverstone ‘21 when someone else tried a very similarly ambitious move and he was accused of attempted murder or something)
I wonder how football would react if a few of the players were fainting by the end of the game, or physically unable to continue.
They coped ok and just drank loads of water and actually had time out breaks during the first half of a match
Soldato
Tomato
I forgot about that lol. Shows how much attention I pay to football…
Edit: didn’t they have AC in the stadiums actually? Whereas these guys are wearing three layers of thermal fireproof stuff?
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Soldato
Thought so
Heck at the Rugby World Cup currently on-going in France there have been water-breaks due to the heat as well, heat is likely to become a bigger and bigger issue for F1 drivers, look at the temp's we've seen in Europe this year during the traditional European Summer (when F1 tends to be in Europe)
The tire tbing was a bit of a double edge sword. I mean it created bazillions of overtakes.. And means pushing 100pc all the time.. But limits strategy.
But overall. Did make it more interesting.
But it's more artifical fiddling.
Lol Mercedes..
Ridiculously too hot..
Great by piastri has become one of my favourite drivers..
Sprint was better than GP
Perez is gone. That was terrible. Particularly with Russell's performance. He's so bad with track limits.
Closing thought... Why do I support alpine? Drivers are "OK" team is quite boring. No real excitement really!
But overall. Did make it more interesting.
But it's more artifical fiddling.
Lol Mercedes..
Ridiculously too hot..
Great by piastri has become one of my favourite drivers..
Sprint was better than GP
Perez is gone. That was terrible. Particularly with Russell's performance. He's so bad with track limits.
Closing thought... Why do I support alpine? Drivers are "OK" team is quite boring. No real excitement really!
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Caporegime
One of the best race weekends of the season, a track where non-DRS passes are not only possible but happened dozens of times is such an improvement, whilst tricky conditions caused abundant driver mistakes and the short race stints neutralised much of RB's advantage. Even the Sprint was enjoyable.
I think if Lewis hadn't triggered a first corner collision this could have been a truly great race.
I think if Lewis hadn't triggered a first corner collision this could have been a truly great race.
Soldato
I actually enjoyed this one. Zero tyre management meant they were actually trying to drive fast throughout.
Very surprised by the soft tyres on Gearge's car at the end, I thought he was going to do some very quick times
Very surprised by the soft tyres on Gearge's car at the end, I thought he was going to do some very quick times
Yeah I didn’t understand that. Can only guess they worked out he had no chance of catching Norris (?) and thought safer to protect the tyres rather than having them possibly die on him. He needed to be 5secs closer to make a go of it.
(Although couldn’t he have gone for fastest lap?)
I don't know if it was a tyre issue or a driver issue. I am very surprised Lawson wasn't the only retirement due to ill health. I suspect Russell was probably struggling to keep the car on the track at all by the end of the race, certainly he had at least one big "off" on the softs (that the rubbish race Director failed to show).
Albon and Stroll got a large number of track infringements and basically collapsed after finishing the race
That could have been a really exciting fight between McLaren and Mercedes if not for the 1st lap Merc incident.
Ultimately the collision was Lewis' fault. However, I'm frustrated by Merc as a team to be honest. Russell made a lunge over the track at the start to stop getting boxed in behind Max, which Lewis had to evade. All these drivers say they "have nowhere to go" when they do have a brake peddle to back out of precarious situations....
Mercedes need to be firmer on George if they want p2 in the driver's and constructors championship. The main goal team wise at the start should have been to get Lewis at the front as soon as possible due to the tyre strategy. George should not have been tussling with Lewis on the straight and should not have been trying to hold his position in the corner (in terms of being a team player - something Merc should have directed).
Look at McLaren. They told Norris firmly not to fight his teammate, because they know that it could lead to disaster. If Mercedes did the same thing and told Russell not to fight Lewis at the start, that could well have been both Mercedes on the podium instead...
Just a bit of **** show from all involved at Merc to be honest.
Ultimately the collision was Lewis' fault. However, I'm frustrated by Merc as a team to be honest. Russell made a lunge over the track at the start to stop getting boxed in behind Max, which Lewis had to evade. All these drivers say they "have nowhere to go" when they do have a brake peddle to back out of precarious situations....
Mercedes need to be firmer on George if they want p2 in the driver's and constructors championship. The main goal team wise at the start should have been to get Lewis at the front as soon as possible due to the tyre strategy. George should not have been tussling with Lewis on the straight and should not have been trying to hold his position in the corner (in terms of being a team player - something Merc should have directed).
Look at McLaren. They told Norris firmly not to fight his teammate, because they know that it could lead to disaster. If Mercedes did the same thing and told Russell not to fight Lewis at the start, that could well have been both Mercedes on the podium instead...
Just a bit of **** show from all involved at Merc to be honest.
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Soldato
They had this in Dakar when in South America. Bikes also had to carry 3l of water (IIRC). The bottles in F1 are something like 500ml. They could just insist at certain races or temps it be 2l.
Soldato
Or you know.... Lewis could just take a normal wider line....
I did say it was Lewis' fault, but when you let your drivers race like this, mistakes happen (and they all make mistakes, even the very best). If you manage your team well and can control your drivers, you can prevent things like this happening. George is nowhere in the driver's championship, but Lewis can realistically get 2nd place. The team should be making it clear to George that he is now the supporting act to Lewis and needs to do everything he can to maximise the team's position in the driver's and constructors championship. George still seems to want to fight Lewis at every opportunity, which I don't really understand, beyond massaging his own hubris.
George is mostly in this position points wise, due to his own mistakes through the season so it's now time to take one for the team and help Lewis get 2nd.
Staying put in an awkward three car sandwich on the first corner, when you can comfortably slot behind into third and help your teammate in the driver's championship isn't being a team player.
Soldato
I'm not sure why 2nd in the championship became a 'thing' last year.
And good luck telling Russell he's now a 2nd driver so that Lewis can get second.
Caporegime
Had Hamilton not wrecked his race on the first corner, he'd have about halved that lead in a single race. 30 pts is a big ask, yes, but it's eminently achievable if Pérez keeps on fluffing it up - and that seems more likely than not.
Perez is totally washed. 30 points in 5 races is easily doable.
Would likely be only 15 points right now, if not for the mistake at the start today. This is why Merc need to get control of George. Norris was able to listen to McLaren. He didn't like it, but he still played the team game.
You can see that things are a bit "explosive" between the Merc drivers when it comes wheel to wheel.
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