Thread: Saudi F1 GP on Saturday....

Just a reminder that because of Ramadan, the Saudi Arabian GP at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit will take place this Saturday, March 9 at 9AM EST/12 PM EST.

Halfway through FP1, Norris is fastest with Russell in P2, and...Albon in P3. (Go, Alex!)

Good qualis earlier today. RB and Max continue to dominate. I'm hoping for a tighter race tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Ritmo

Good qualis earlier today. RB and Max continue to dominate. I'm hoping for a tighter race tomorrow.

Yeah, me, too, Mike. Personally, I'd like to see Checo continue to do well, because Helmut has it in for him for no good reason, as well as seeing Piastri and Alex do well. Really impressed with what James Vowles has done to turn Williams around since his arrival as Team Principal.

Also, I hope the 18 YO kid, Bearman, driving in place for ailing Sainz does well in the race.

Originally Posted by Ritmo

Also, I hope the 18 YO kid, Bearman, driving in place for ailing Sainz does well in the race.

Agreed!

Originally Posted by Ritmo

Also, I hope the 18 YO kid, Bearman, driving in place for ailing Sainz does well in the race.

Bearman currently running in P9, in the points! 👍

Good race today, Max 1st, Checo 2nd (hopefully no more griping from Marko), Piastri 4th, and Oli Bearman *P7* in his first-ever F1 GP! Also Bearman voted Driver of the Day. 👌

Amazing maturity for an 18 year old kid - congrats to Bearman.

Originally Posted by Ritmo

Amazing maturity for an 18 year old kid - congrats to Bearman.

Agreed. He as a bright future ahead of him.

F1 has to figure out how to make things competitive. I watched today and the only suspense in the race was whether or not a rookie driver would hold on the 9th(?) place.

Originally Posted by crwilli

F1 has to figure out how to make things competitive. I watched today and the only suspense in the race was whether or not a rookie driver would hold on the 9th(?) place.

Completely agree.

Originally Posted by crwilli

F1 has to figure out how to make things competitive. I watched today and the only suspense in the race was whether or not a rookie driver would hold on the 9th(?) place.

Hopefully the St Pete Grand Prix(Indy car) today will be more dramatic, heading out the door now.......

They have a beautiful day for it. Hopefully the course/roads are dried out from last nights rain.

So no concerns Hamilton is not catching his lessor Teammate ..?


Regards

Originally Posted by a.wayne

So no concerns Hamilton is not catching his lessor Teammate ..?


Regards

Ultimately, all that matters are total points scored by a driver by the end of the Season. It's the only metric of "practical significance" (Def: Practical Significance: What actually matters in the Real World, where we all live).

As an example, a lot of folks gave Checo a lot of sh*t last year for not finishing closer in the points to Max, but at the end of the day, he still finished 2nd in the World Championship for the very first time for Red Bull Racing, and that is all that matters from any "practically significant" perspective.

Last year, Lewis finished 3rd in the Championship and Russell finished...8th. If I had to hazard a guess, Lewis will once again have more points than George by season's end.

Doubt that this year Look at 2022 ..!

Russell was held down by the team last year to preserve the 7times construct image, this year will be more pain to those watching characters and not the sport. Ferrari will be the exit interview , many things was learnt when Ferrari Fired Schumacher, hard to replace the fan base built up , they will manage Lewis decent as well as they did the 4 times construct Vettel..

BTW Russell is the only Mercedes Driver to win a race in 3 yrs , he came from being a consistent 18th on the back of grid into a Mercedes to do that..


Regards

To casual fans (many of whom came from Drive to Survive, such as myself), the races are boring with no real competition at the front. Yes, there are the tidbits of "drama" listening to Yuki and Daniel fuss about late race car swaps and the 11th place driver fighting their way to 8th, but the midfield/back of the pack movements just do not compare to true competition at the lead. Twenty laps into the first race, Max had a ~fifteen second lead - not much drama there. I am now kind of hooked on following the off-track soap opera stuff, but the races themselves have just been boring since the Max / Lewis showdown of a few years ago. I have friends that have followed F1 for years and they have a depth of knowledge and context that would likely change my current tepid view of the whole thing, but if one is a latecomer (which I am), one might not stay long based on the races only. As it is, I just watch the short outtakes on F1 TV and YouTube, as the races themselves aren't worth (to me) the investment of time. I did go to a race in person in Austin last year and that was great fun, but the TV has just fallen off in my view.

I've been watching and attending F1 races for over 25 years. There have been periods of team/driver dominance in which people get turned off. Remember Ferrari/Shumi or Mercedes/Lewis or RB/Vettel and, more recently RB/Max? 2026 will be an entire new technical formula; we'll see what happens!

I do enjoy the technical and strategic aspects of F1. And, like all motor racing, there are always some politics which I don't really enjoy but such is life.

I do enjoy watching some of the Indy races - Indy 500, Laguna Seca, St Pete (altho this year was a bore!).

I do not enjoy Nascar. Races are way too long. Most are in ovals - just turn left! And, the silliness of "phases" within a race just makes the whole thing boring.

Lastly, glad the racing season has started. Long forward exciting F1, Indy and Lemans.

Here is my answer for an Automotive Racing fix.

Just a moment...

The heat is off Checo because DR is not preforming at all. Marko is pissed with all the RB investigations and has his sights on DR....

Originally Posted by Kingsrule

The heat is off Checo because DR is not preforming at all. Marko is pissed with all the RB investigations and has his sights on DR....

Yeah, Daniel is too busy fighting with Yuki. Disappointing because it won't result in points or higher rankings. What he should be focused on is running DOEs with respect to car settings during testing and FP sessions to produce...the lowest lap times.