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

[Jono8]

Well I guess we are in for another dull race tomorrow then...

Max saying there is a question mark for tomorrow and that makes it exciting....lol yeh whatever.

Impressive from Sainz all things considered.

That Mercedes is utter dog ****. Even Mr Saturday was 8 tenths off and only as fast as Tsunoda in the Cash App!

It looks so unstable compared to the RB and Ferrari which look so planted.

Enjoyed the mega saves from both the Aston drivers in q3.

Ricciardo should retire and Lawson should have his seat.

 

[Mr Jack]

Vettel did it to Hamilton without significant punishment a few years back.

Let's not drag up that particular stewarding moment again, hey?

 

[Mad_Jay]

Probably over thinking it, but RB where running loads of extra cameras/sensors during free practice. Maybe testing parts/wear or doing a different test program.

Take them off and concentrate for Qually? Boom Max goes P1.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1771330434921549846

 

[Scam]

Staying with family this weekend so no chance of watching. Sounds like talking to my family would still be more preferable than even watching the highlights on YT. lol this year is absolutely dire, what a joke.

 

[bayo000]

Ricciardo should retire and Lawson should have his seat.

As Ricciardo fan it hurts me to agree with this. I said a while ago it's time for all the old guys to move on (Perez, Hulk, Bottas, Lewis, Alonso) and let young ones have a chance.

 

[Mr Jack]

Ricciardo should retire and Lawson should have his seat.

Unless he finds some performance from somewhere, I think that choice is going to be taken out of his hands.

He just doesn't seem to be able to adapt to the new era of F1 cars.

 

[Mesai]

As Ricciardo fan it hurts me to agree with this. I said a while ago it's time for all the old guys to move on (Perez, Hulk, Bottas, Lewis, Alonso) and let young ones have a chance.

RIC definitely seems done, and realistically, Yuki will never go to RBR so Lawson should be given a real chance as he did a great job last year.

Perez could go, Hulk is good for Haas in terms of experience, but they can drop Kev, Bottas is still outdoing Zhou so he's more valuable to the team, Lewis seems to be dropping back so Merc could do with a younger driver to train up, and Alonso...just replace Stroll and AM will have a much better chance.

 

[I_M_Weasel]

Unless he finds some performance from somewhere, I think that choice is going to be taken out of his hands.

He just doesn't seem to be able to adapt to the new era of F1 cars.

At least when he was getting beat by Lando he had the excuse that Lando is looking like a really good driver - I don't think Tsunoda is held in such regard.

 

[bayo000]

RIC definitely seems done, and realistically, Yuki will never go to RBR so Lawson should be given a real chance as he did a great job last year.

Perez could go, Hulk is good for Haas in terms of experience, but they can drop Kev, Bottas is still outdoing Zhou so he's more valuable to the team, Lewis seems to be dropping back so Merc could do with a younger driver to train up, and Alonso...just replace Stroll and AM will have a much better chance.

Sure most of them still perform but they've been around for so long, time to move on. I'd like to see a limit on how many seasons a driver can be in F1, think it would be good for them as well. They often speak about how they would like to try different racing series so this would be good for motor racing in general. Imagine Lewis or Alonso going to WEC/ IndyCar 4-5 years ago. They would see massive surge in fanbase.

 

[Mr Jack]

Perez could go, Hulk is good for Haas in terms of experience, but they can drop Kev, Bottas is still outdoing Zhou so he's more valuable to the team, Lewis seems to be dropping back so Merc could do with a younger driver to train up, and Alonso...just replace Stroll and AM will have a much better chance.

I think Pérez is likely to stay. The credible candidate to replace him was Dani Ric and... well. Yuki is too unreliable and temperamental. Lawson doesn't have the experience. Albon would be made to go there. Sainz is a possibility, I suppose. Zhou seems to me to be at least matching Bottas this season; bettered him in Bahrain, was only behind in Jeddah due to a 50s pitstop and this quali he lost half his front wing - I think he'll stay at Audi/Sauber next year. Antonelli is basically guaranteed that Merc seat, it's just a question of when he gets it. And Stroll, well, his continuation is only marginally connected to his performances.

 

[imtoooldforthis]

I said a while ago it's time for all the old guys to move on (Perez, Hulk, Bottas, Lewis, Alonso) and let young ones have a chance.

Why though ? The likes of Lawson didn’t even have particularly standout junior careers and you wanna get rid of two of the best three drivers of the last two decade so people with mid levels of talent can get a drive ?

Motorsport talent pool is very thin hence why so many older drivers stay in the sport for so long. There simply aren't enough people competing in motorsport for top young drivers to constantly be coming though the pipeline.

 

[Psycho Ned]

Agreed, the quality of the F2 grid has been mostly dross since the season Russell won it. Only really Piastri since then has risen out of it to a decent level.

 

[bayo000]

Why though ? The talent pool in f1 is shocking. People like Lawson didn’t even have particularly standout junior careers and you wanna get rid of two of the best three drivers of the last two decade so people with nowhere near as much talent can get a drive ?

Motorsport talent pool is very thin hence why so many older drivers stay in the sport for so long. There simply aren't enough people competing in motorsport for top young drivers to constantly be coming though the pipeline.

You could make argument that's exactly the reason why young drivers don't progress as they don't get a chance to drive for better teams and work with better personnel.

 

[imtoooldforthis]

You could make argument that's exactly the reason why young drivers don't progress as they don't get a chance to drive for better teams and work with better personnel.

You could but it would ignore that nearly all top f1 drivers had stellar if not dominant junior careers. You can pretty much spot the top talents long before they get into F1.

 

[Jono8]

RIC definitely seems done, and realistically, Yuki will never go to RBR so Lawson should be given a real chance as he did a great job last year.

Perez could go, Hulk is good for Haas in terms of experience, but they can drop Kev, Bottas is still outdoing Zhou so he's more valuable to the team, Lewis seems to be dropping back so Merc could do with a younger driver to train up, and Alonso...just replace Stroll and AM will have a much better chance.

Lewis is dropping back?

Last season he came 3rd in the driver's championship and came semi close to second in arguably the 3rd or 4th fastest car at times, whilst his teammate (arguably one of the fastest new talents on the grid) came 8th.

He's had a poor start to the season, but I don't see how anyone can suddenly write him off in a couple of races after having a pretty good season then year before. He also often starts seasons slowly as well anyway.

 

[Mesai]

Lewis is dropping back?

Last season he came 3rd in the driver's championship and came semi close to second in arguably the 3rd or 4th fastest car at times, whilst his teammate (arguably one of the fastest new talents on the grid) came 8th.

He's had a poor start to the season, but I don't see how anyone can suddenly write him off in a couple of races after having a pretty good season then year before. He also often starts seasons slowly as well anyway.

Last season doesn’t mean much, especially since they have a new car concept, which again, isn’t working. He just seems checked out, especially in interviews, which is poor form.

Usually his race pace is better than quali, with the reverse for Russell, but that hasn’t been the case so far. Maybe he improves over the season but you’d think a top driver would adapt quicker.

 

[Jono8]

Last season doesn’t mean much, especially since they have a new car concept, which again, isn’t working. He just seems checked out, especially in interviews, which is poor form.

Usually his race pace is better than quali, with the reverse for Russell, but that hasn’t been the case so far. Maybe he improves over the season but you’d think a top driver would adapt quicker.

Why doesn't last season mean much?

What metric do you use to decide if a driver is past it? A couple of dodgy races in a dodgy car at the start of a season? This season will be difficult to judge him by. He's likely mentally checked out as he is going to Ferrari, and I can't imagine fighting for what will likely be 5th or 6th in the standings at best fills a 7 time world champion with enthusiasm.

If he goes to Ferrari and gets continuously well beaten by Leclerc for 2 or 3 years then I'd also say he has had it in terms of being a top level driver.

 

[Mesai]

Why doesn't last season mean much?

What metric do you use to decide if a driver is past it? A couple of dodgy races in a dodgy car at the start of a season? This season will be difficult to judge him by. He's likely mentally checked out as he is going to Ferrari, and I can't imagine fighting for what will likely be 5th or 6th in the standings at best fills a 7 time world champion with enthusiasm.

If he goes to Ferrari and gets continuously well beaten by Leclerc for 2 or 3 years then I'd also say he has had it in terms of being a top level driver.

I’m not saying that a sample size of 2 is a good measure, it’s purely and observation. Like I said, I excluded last season because it was a very different car and it’s possible that the poor aero now suites George more (coming from Williams).

Honestly poor form if he’s asking 100k from Ferrari and then just checks out. Vettel was treated like dirt at the end of his Ferrari stint but he still gave it everything.

 

[Mr Jack]

Vettel was treated like dirt at the end of his Ferrari stint but he still gave it everything.

How was he treated like dirt? He was paid huge money to deliver top driver performance and was outclassed by Leclerc; all they did was justly end his contract. As for gave it everything, the absolute collapse in his form in his last season speaks otherwise - not even managing a third of Leclerc's points.

 

[Mesai]

How was he treated like dirt? He was paid huge money to deliver top driver performance and was outclassed by Leclerc; all they did was justly end his contract. As for gave it everything, the absolute collapse in his form in his last season speaks otherwise - not even managing a third of Leclerc's points.

Yea, he sucked, doesn’t mean he wasn’t still trying. Multiple interviews and radio messages highlighted the strained relationship - wouldn’t really expect anything less from Ferrari tbh.

I don’t see the Lewis move going any better though.