Formula 1 - 2024

There are couple of drivers that I believe shouldn't be on the grid in 2025 - Lance, Logan, Botas, Zhou, KMag, Ocon (both KMag and Ocon have spacial (sp?) awareness problems leading to constant incidents with other drivers), Daniel (I like him a lot but he blew it when he walked away from a fight with Max and now he has lost all the confidence and should retire freeing up seat for Lawson at Visa Cash App RB). Here is the grid that I would like to see next year per team:
  1. Ferrari - Charles, Lewis - not really crazy about the pairing but they have brand new contracts
  2. McLaren - Lando, Oscar (personally, this is the strongest lineup IMHO)
  3. Alpine - Gasly, Doohan
  4. Visa Cash App RB - Yuki, Lawson
  5. Haas - Nico, Bearman - Not sure who will take the 2nd seat if Nico moves to Sauber/Audi. I guess KMag stays
  6. Sauber/Stake/Kick/Audi - Theo Pourchaire, Carlos (if he wants to build a team around him) but I do not believe Audi/Sauber is going to be completive until 2028 or later, Nico
  7. Williams - Albon, Antonelli, if Alex moves to another team (RBR, Mercedes)
  8. Mercedes - George, Alonso (short term until Antonelli is ready I think around 2027), Carlos if Alonso stays at Aston
  9. Aston Martin - Carlos, Drugovich (this is a huge risk for Aston to have 2 brand new drivers), so they will make every effort to retain Alonso, if that happens Carlos ends up at Mercedes
  10. Red Bull Racing - Max, Checo (if Checo decide to retire or leave Alonso/Alex/Carlos)
If Max decides to leave after this season based on all the external distraction all bets are off and it will be interesting to see the musical chair.

Max goes to Mercedes or Aston. My bet is Mercedes.

All the drivers are better drivers and athletes than I am :D
 
I don’t see Max leaving RB (but I didn’t see Lewie leaving Merc) if he did I could only see him going to Mercedes or maybe McLaren.
I’d love to see Lawson & Bearman get a ride next year.
I love Danny Ric but his time has passed, time to free up that seat for a young driver.
 
Zack 54 said:
Lance needs to stay more focused…. F1 drivers just don’t brush the wall twice in one weekend and wreck the cars!
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does anyone track "unforced errors" or anything like that for F1 drivers? lance hitting the wall when no one else was around him...inexcusable...his mechanics must be so pissed
 
Honestly, if dad did not own the team he would have been thrown out by now. He has not done anything exciting for couple of years. I looked at the last 5 years in drivers standing and he has finished in the top 10 only once which was last year at 10. He has also finished behind his team mate in all case including Perez who finished 4th in 2020 when Perez's contract was not renewed.
 
So who is going to stay up and watch it live. I plan to watch it live, last year was a total disaster with multiple red flags.
Aus-F1-2024-Timing.png
 
Spoiler alert!!! I stayed up and watched the race last night…

Wow! Who had Max’s rear brake locking up and catching fire 3 laps in knocking him out of the race on their bingo card?
Both Mercs DNF as well!
I’m glad Ferrari didn’t pull team orders and make Sainz pull over for LeClerc. Crazy how Carlos had his appendix removed two weeks ago and now he wins a Grand Prix!
 
mwlikesbikes said:
Spoiler alert!!! I stayed up and watched the race last night…

Wow! Who had Max’s rear brake locking up and catching fire 3 laps in knocking him out of the race on their bingo card?
Both Mercs DNF as well!
I’m glad Ferrari didn’t pull team orders and make Sainz pull over for LeClerc. Crazy how Carlos had his appendix removed two weeks ago and now he wins a Grand Prix!
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Pretty exciting race for a few minutes anyway. I hoped there would be an actual fight up front once Max was out. Still nice to see anyone besides Max win. So who's going to grab Carlos?
 
Definitely a good race. It would have been even better if Max was still in it with two Ferrari's and McLaren trying to take him down. The strategy scenarios that would have come into play would have been outstanding. I am RedBull fan but I believe Carlos would still have won the race. It was unfortunate that Checo had floor damage. I was watching the lap times on F1TV and he was close to .5s to 1s slower than Carlos in the later half of the race.

Would love to see Carlos in RedBull but I do not see that happening. His next bet is Aston or Mercedes with Sauber as the outside chance due to Audi taking over the team in 2026 and the close ties that Carlos Snr has with Audi in rally racing.

Edit: Fernando to Mercedes on 1+1 deal, Carlos to Aston, Antonelli (sp) to Williams to get him some experience and Mercedes after that. Lawson to RB by summer break this year, this will be the last year for Logan and Danny. My crystal ball prediction based on 3 races :eek:
 
dvaidya said:
Definitely a good race. It would have been even better if Max was still in it
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Funny. As soon as Max was out my thought was Finally a good race. I do enjoy watching the other battles, but knowing Max is off the front for good takes the excitement out of it.

As much as I like DR, Lawson and Bearman should both get seats sooner rather than later to keep things interesting.
 
I was looking forward to the battle upfront for a change. I do enjoy the battles that are happening from 8 to 20 though. There isn't any tire management going on with those position. Hopefully, we will see 2 rookies (Bearman @ Hass, Antonelli @ Williams) and semi rookie (Lawson @ RB) next year on the grid. Stroll, Bottas, Magnussen need to go find something else to do and free up seats for younger drivers.
 
Highlights of the Japanese Grand Prix in my opinion.

  1. Chassis that require fixing is piling up for Williams. Based on the report Williams are already in the hole for 2+ million dollars for fixing all the mishaps they have had. I am not sure if it's driver issues or car issues. During practice/qualifying both drives were complaining about the car handling.
  2. Daniel Riccardo gets until summer break to get his act together. If he is still behind Yuki and making unenforced errors it's time for Liam to step in. Out of the 4 races Daniel has had 3 unenforced errors.
  3. No clue what is going on at Mercedes. There car seems to be very sensitive to temperature (air and track). When it's on the cooler side they do better but as soon as the temp go up they struggle. Is the issue with engine cooling which forces them to turn down the engine?
  4. IMHO Lewis Hamilton has checked out for the year and is just going through the motions. In my limited following of F1 I do not remember a driver saying should I let my teammate by. I think it was last year, where Lewis's response was if Russell thinks he is fast he can pass him on the track instead of swapping places.
  5. The pitstop battle between Aston, RB Visa, Haas, Sauber and Alpine was great to watch. That pitstop helped Yuki get in front of Lance and grab the last point.
  6. Great drive from Charles to do a 1 stop strategy and still come in 4th.
  7. Perilli tires suck. Drivers are constantly managing tires. It shouldn't not be possible for someone who has driven for 20+ laps on hard tire to go get the fastest lap point 2 or 3 laps before race end, which Max did.
  8. I feel sorry for Sauber drivers, either they have mechanical issues or their pitstops are horrible.
 
F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport, but you have a team like Williams who each weekend just hope they can get through practice clean because they don't have a spare car. Then you have Sauber, pretty much the start and park of F1. Bearman is 12th in points. Ahead of both teams of Sauber, Williams, Alpine and Haas, but F1 says Andretti isn't a big enough name to be there.

I have always liked Riccardo, he has the support of Horner and needs to prove himself. Not talking wins, just better than Yuki. I want him to succeed, but I think he's done.

Not sure about Lewis. If he's just making laps to get through the year, will he have that drive to win next year? Once you let off, sometimes you don't get it back. At 39, the last two rebuilding years at MB hurt bad. There's no time for a transition period at Ferrari.

I've never been a fan of Max, but I can't deny he's just that good. Sure, he has the best car out there, but he's young, focused and driven to win. His consistency lap after lap is unmatched.
 
Williams lack of investment is catching up with them where they are barely able to build the required parts in timely manner.

I have gone back and forth with Andretti entrance. Yes, it would be good to have another team on the grid but I am not 100% if all the tracks in the current state have the ability to support 22 current generation cars in the pitlane (top of my head I can think of Monaco, Zandvoort). I also, believe both side are being greedy F1 teams do not want to share the winnings after majority of them almost went under (Force India/Racing Point/Aston, McLaren, Williams). Andretti should have bought Williams (2019/2020) or Force India (2018/2019) for 150 to 200 million. I also believe Andretti Global is spread thin with all the various racing programs with low inconsistent results.

I am a fan of Max. The consistency is great to watch.

I am looking forward to Chinese Grand Prix with the sprint weekend thrown in. The drivers have not raced there in 4 years or so, so there are going to be lots of teams struggling to setup the car correctly after only one practice. No clue how the track is and are teams going to run into issues with plank wear similar to COTA race in Austin last year. Sprint weekends are also a weak point for RedBull, which could give other teams a chance to shine more.

As a RedBull fan I am hoping for a RedBull win, with Max, Charles, Carlos/Checo with Lando/Alonso/Oscar following. I do not expect either of the Mercedes drivers to be in the top 5. If Lance Stroll has another bad day, I wouldn't mind one of the RB Visa drivers to pickup the last point. Daniel is supposed to get a new chassis and if he still is nowhere he should call it a day and make way for Liam.
 
It’s crazy that a team with the history of success that is Williams have been relegated to backmarker status. I know it’s been decades since their success with Mansell, Prost, Hill, & Villenueve (sp?) but they’ve totally gone to shit since they were bought out a few years ago.
It would seem that Lewis has checked out. As a longtime Ferrari fan I’m already torn about him going there next year and this makes it worse (I was never a Lulu fan at all tbh)
You have to wonder if the powers that be in Maranello are second guessing their decision to sign him.
I don’t know why Danny is still driving the RB, I love him as an ambassador for the sport but that seat needs a fresh bum.
 
I need to go back in the archives before 2022 to see how Lewis came across on the radio. He is a great driver but man talk about driver that whines a lot. He also, throws his whole team under the bus every time the race does not go as he hoped for and Toto does not help when he comes on and tries to be coddle him. Talk about not having any motivation. I really feel bad for Elliott (sp?) who was basically removed to placate Lewis. The car this year is worse than 2022/23 season and Elliott is laughing his *** off all the way to the bank. During the Austrian race last year I loved it when Toto came on the radio to basically tell Lewis to drive the car, when he was constantly whining about track limit penalty.

As for Williams I actually think they got better after Dorlinton (sp?) bought them. I think it was 2019/2020 where Williams was still waiting for parts to arrive during the first test or race. I am still not sure why Jost Capito was removed as team principal. In 2022 during one of the races that had a red flag or delay due to rain I remember Jost helping the Williams mechanics moving the equipment to location of Williams located in the pitlane.

Tinfoil hat speculation - Is it possible that Toto asked Williams to hire Vowles so he could get some hands on experience as being a TP and eventual replacement for Toto at Mercedes?
 
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