Between spending yesterday at medimerge and getting a cast this morning I managed to squeeze in the race. Didn't even know about the DQ till reading your post.
Formula 1 - 2024
- Thread starter Bike N Gear
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mwlikesbikes
Well-Known Member
Spa is always a great track. Saturday quali was interesting with the rain, seems that Max did a big FU to his critics by qualifying .500” ahead of P2 even though he knew he was getting a 10 place grid penalty.
Sunny Sunday was a pretty competitive race, the Mercs were a surprise 1-2 at the finish even though George had a DQ after the fact.
Carlos to Williams was a surprise for sure, I’m thinking that the team might have a couple more surprises by the time the first race starts in ‘25.
Sunny Sunday was a pretty competitive race, the Mercs were a surprise 1-2 at the finish even though George had a DQ after the fact.
Carlos to Williams was a surprise for sure, I’m thinking that the team might have a couple more surprises by the time the first race starts in ‘25.
Speedy recovery.
Yeah, Max was fast on Saturday. Plus he was also calmer, since going in he knew he had a penalty coming which RedBull have down for the last couple of years. I think he will take another penalty at Monza.
I do not understand some folks and comments around Visa Cash App and Yuki taking a 60 grid penalty and making it easier for Max.
I am glad Ruth Bascom(sp?) who was part of the strategy team at Ferrari shut it down on F1TV stating it made more sense to take the penalty at Spa since it gives more opportunity to pass.
Spa is one of the race on my list of races to attend along with Silverstone. I know Silverstone will never occur due to the cost and the track raising prices based on demand while you are waiting in the queue to purchase. None of the USA raises are cheap to attend so they are out.
THATmanMANNY
Well-Known Member
Is it kinda of wonky that they weigh the cars after the race and not just take the dry weight of the car with new tires before the race?
https://jalopnik.com/george-russells-bold-strategy-might-have-won-him-the-be-1851607711
https://jalopnik.com/george-russells-bold-strategy-might-have-won-him-the-be-1851607711
It's a good question. I know that the rules are written so that the minimum weight has to be maintained at all times during the "competition", which seems to be qualifying and the actual race. I'd guess that the reason for not just having a rule that checks pre-race/qualifying is to eliminate the chance that the teams could exploit the rule with some kind of ballast that could be depleted over the race, like dumping water or something.
I believe dumping water has been done in the past.
Going one stop and not being able to do a cooldown lap at Spa led to the miscalculation by Mercedes leading to disqualification. If Spa was like any other track George would have been able to pickup enough weight from the discarded tire marbles like other tracks.
mwlikesbikes
Well-Known Member
Aaaand we’re back! Dutch GP this weekend. Wet weather there so far, let’s see if it continues into qualifying. Sergeant had a big crash in FP3.
Decided to take summer vacation with family in Europe and was able to get general admission tickets. The view from turn 8/9.
You definitely need to get here early to get good viewing area though. We were late today for qualifying so we are separated a bit from each other but within viewing distance of each other.
mwlikesbikes
Well-Known Member
The McLarens are super fast and it’s their race to lose. The Mercedes of George will also be in contention due to low temperature on the track tomorrow. Real happy to finally see Checo make it to Q3 and top 5 on the starting grid.
Alex getting disqualified was real disappoint because he was great. The less said about Logan the better.
RB Visa CashApp need to put Daniel out of his misery at the end of the season. Same goes for the two Stake Kick Sauber drivers.
Alex getting disqualified was real disappoint because he was great. The less said about Logan the better.
RB Visa CashApp need to put Daniel out of his misery at the end of the season. Same goes for the two Stake Kick Sauber drivers.
mwlikesbikes
Well-Known Member
Great to see Lando run away with the win after getting passed at the start. McLaren is an honest title contender. They could take the lead in the constructors championship as soon as next race. If Lando keeps up this pace and Max keeps struggling he could be the next WDC. Let’s hope he doesn’t lose it by 7 points or less… I still don’t agree with the Hungary strategy.
Good for Lando, but why does it always seem like Oscar will just wait, rather than trying to make a move when the car has the ability?
What an outstanding race to watch it live at the track and a great win from Lando. Hat’s off to him for keeping calm and not panicking after getting passed at the start.
The crowd near general area near turn 8/9 were very sporting. They cheered for Max when he was in front and they cheered for Lando when he passed Max and won the race. I did not hear a single booing in the area that I spent time in.
Excellent drive by Ferrari drivers especially Charles to end up on the podium. Disappointing drive from Checo, Oscar and George. Good recovery from Lewis. I have no idea what is going on with Stake/Kick Sauber. Zhou was very slow and getting passed left and right, at the start of the race, especially when you considered that Albon started dead last or in pit lane.
The organization of the event was excellent. The trains from Amsterdam Central to Zandvoort were running every 5 minutes and took 35/40 minutes to get to the track. After you get of the train you had a 20 minutes hike to get to the track either walking through the town or along the beach path. We walked through the town and folks were playing music, kids had setup shop to sell food/drinks. Even on the way back after the race crowd was well behaved especially when we got closer to the train station, with long lines to get through chutes that were setup to help maintain order. The only time I saw pushing and shoving was on Saturday after qualifying and the authorities shut that down quickly. Part of the organization was they shut driving in town down for 3 days unless you were local to the town, which made the bike and foot traffic easier to manage. One of the sponsor Gazalle had lots of bikes setup for folks to rent/borrow to get too from the track to train station.
Now the bad part of the attending Dutch GP with general admission tickets. You have to get there very early to get good viewing and seating area. The seating area is basically sand dunes so if you find seats you could end up sitting on a steep slope which gave a good workout for you back and legs but there were options for good flat seating area if you arrived early. On race day we arrived at the track around noon and all the good seating area were gone. We found good flat seats, where the view was partially blocked because we weren’t high enough. Since, my legs and back were killing I decided to just stand at the top of the hill and watch the race. Ended up chatting with fans who were excellent to interact with. The other disappointing thing was they will not allow you to bring in water which was disappointing, since the place to purchase water was good 15/20 minutes hike from where we were sitting. They had water filling station but the only place that we found was near main grand stand which was good 30+ minute walk. Same issue with porta potties. I am not sure if they had closer facilities near the grand stand.
Would we attend the Dutch GP again. We would have to say resounding “YES”, would just have to either arrive very early for general admission or get tickets for grandstand.
I took more videos instead of photos on race days, but cannot figure out how to upload them without uploading to YouTube or something like that. I will see if I can upload them once I am back home.
The crowd near general area near turn 8/9 were very sporting. They cheered for Max when he was in front and they cheered for Lando when he passed Max and won the race. I did not hear a single booing in the area that I spent time in.
Excellent drive by Ferrari drivers especially Charles to end up on the podium. Disappointing drive from Checo, Oscar and George. Good recovery from Lewis. I have no idea what is going on with Stake/Kick Sauber. Zhou was very slow and getting passed left and right, at the start of the race, especially when you considered that Albon started dead last or in pit lane.
The organization of the event was excellent. The trains from Amsterdam Central to Zandvoort were running every 5 minutes and took 35/40 minutes to get to the track. After you get of the train you had a 20 minutes hike to get to the track either walking through the town or along the beach path. We walked through the town and folks were playing music, kids had setup shop to sell food/drinks. Even on the way back after the race crowd was well behaved especially when we got closer to the train station, with long lines to get through chutes that were setup to help maintain order. The only time I saw pushing and shoving was on Saturday after qualifying and the authorities shut that down quickly. Part of the organization was they shut driving in town down for 3 days unless you were local to the town, which made the bike and foot traffic easier to manage. One of the sponsor Gazalle had lots of bikes setup for folks to rent/borrow to get too from the track to train station.
Now the bad part of the attending Dutch GP with general admission tickets. You have to get there very early to get good viewing and seating area. The seating area is basically sand dunes so if you find seats you could end up sitting on a steep slope which gave a good workout for you back and legs but there were options for good flat seating area if you arrived early. On race day we arrived at the track around noon and all the good seating area were gone. We found good flat seats, where the view was partially blocked because we weren’t high enough. Since, my legs and back were killing I decided to just stand at the top of the hill and watch the race. Ended up chatting with fans who were excellent to interact with. The other disappointing thing was they will not allow you to bring in water which was disappointing, since the place to purchase water was good 15/20 minutes hike from where we were sitting. They had water filling station but the only place that we found was near main grand stand which was good 30+ minute walk. Same issue with porta potties. I am not sure if they had closer facilities near the grand stand.
Would we attend the Dutch GP again. We would have to say resounding “YES”, would just have to either arrive very early for general admission or get tickets for grandstand.
I took more videos instead of photos on race days, but cannot figure out how to upload them without uploading to YouTube or something like that. I will see if I can upload them once I am back home.
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How was the PSC race? I haven't watched it yet, but some of those look like a total blast.
Yep, I liked the atmosphere in general admission better. I have looked at going to some of the US races but I am finding the total cost to be much higher than going to the European races. The hotels in US are jacking up prices to double or more than their normal prices and the added cost of rental car kills the deal.