Hey there,
2023 season has ended and we are approaching season 2024. @ScarDuck14 has already opened a new thread regarding the new season.
See you there!
Interesting the pivot Mercedes have done saying that they've taken the concept as far as they can. But last week were saying that the new upgrades will be like something that we've never seen before. I'm not sure which route they're taking? Are they ditching the new sidepod upgrade? Is it even an evolution or revolution on the concept? If they are going another direction, is this year essentially over with as they'll be starting from further back again by subscribing to the most popular sidepod configuration?
I'd really like to see their floor and compare it to all the other teams. Wolf was saying they're losing time in the fast corners, so how good is their floor?
@TotosHeadphonesWoopsy daisy😂
Anyway not long now… bouncy bouncy 😃😎
@ScarDuck14 wrote:@TotosHeadphonesWoopsy daisy😂
Anyway not long now… bouncy bouncy 😃😎
I have no idea what's going on with that...
@TotosHeadphones wrote:
@ScarDuck14 wrote:@TotosHeadphonesWoopsy daisy😂
Anyway not long now… bouncy bouncy 😃😎I have no idea what's going on with that...
Yes you do
Feel I did Lance Stroll-Tracy a disservice. Despite he almost wiped both him and Alonso out. He actually had an impressive race. Especially considering the pain he must be in and missing preseason.
May do a GP Thread every race or ask EA if it’s possible to pin a GP Discussion mega thread… hmmm
@ScarDuck14 wrote:Feel I did Lance Stroll-Tracy a disservice. Despite he almost wiped both him and Alonso out. He actually had an impressive race. Especially considering the pain he must be in and missing preseason.
May do a GP Thread every race or ask EA if it’s possible to pin a GP Discussion mega thread… hmmm
He's no Tracy, the eyebrows don't have enough game. But yeah he's the control to say the AM was a pretty good car!
Alonso doesn't usually finish on the podium, but when he does....
Needless to say, Fernando Alonso had a brilliant race yesterday. His first podium since Qatar 21, and this against one of his former teams. I can't be happy with the first place holder though, as Sergio Pérez once again gets demoted to just being a tool for Verstappen's own needs.
About Mercedes... Let's just not talk about it. When you think about it, they dropped back to where they were in 2010, meaning they're nothing more than midfield challengers. And considering that Toto Wolff dumps the new Mercedes concept, I think it's time that Mercedes look for a new team principal for 2024.
@LuckyNico92
My guess is Merc is struggling due to budget limitations. They might have let good (i.e. expensive) people go as they couldn't afford their salaries any more 😉
And I agree, Alonso was brilliant yesterday 😉 Diving in in T10 was amazing to look at 😉 As good as Da Costa's overtakes in Cape Town 😉
@ScarDuck14 wrote:May do a GP Thread every race or ask EA if it’s possible to pin a GP Discussion mega thread… hmmm
I think this is what the "The Drivers Lounge" section is intended for but the trouble is few actually use it. Strictly this thread should probably be moved there but I resisted 🙂.
Boring race at the front yesterday but great to see that Aston Martin are up there competing too to add some more excitement a bit further back.
@Ultrasonic_77Check escalations.
Also I asked on barracks ages ago if it’s ok to post general f1 Content on this board and was told by our boss it’s fine.
Personally I'd be inclined to see the Drivers Lounge section removed so that this one became a proper combined area for general game and real F1 chat. How would others here feel about this?
@LuckyNico92 wrote:
@Meza994Every team principal has a board to satisfy, and if they aren't happy with the results, they're going to fire the team principal sooner or later.
Also, the engineers have the job to get as much expertise as possible and work together with the Technical Chief and the Head of Aerodynamics to find ways to make the car the best in the grid. And if they can't pull it off, well, they're out of luck. And the team principal will be the one to be lashed at since the car still doesn't perform to the board's expectations.
Toto is the board, he owns 33% of Mercedes F1 team.
T
@ScarDuck14 wrote:
@TotosHeadphonesCould still be forced out if Daimler and Jim want a new team principal. However the likelihood of that happening are almost zero. Would add more problems than it would solve
True, majority vote and all that but him being CEO, not sure it'll happen 😅
@Meza994 wrote:
@LuckyNico92I dont know where all this love for changing team pricipals or in football the coach comes from when certain things dont go well.. A new team principal wont make his engineers suddenly be smarter.. It wont make the concept work.. Its the task of the principal to find the right time to let go of the concept which probably was last year but possibly the engineers said there was still something to find..
Wolff said that they "hit their marks" with the new car - i.e. they produced an upturn in performance that was possible following the design concept (and probably what they ran out of development budget for), it's just that relative to everyone else it was a "standstill".
It has to be a decisive moment, to me the phrase "without dogma" literally means that the engineers will be tasked on completely new philosophies (i.e. not believing that the (now) "old" concept can produce yet more gains) because the budget is finite. Even changing tack right now, it's possible that a major change may exhaust the development budget for the remainder of the year.
I expect Mercedes to follow a design philosophy similar to that employed by other teams I don't think it will be too hard to "blue sky" something similar (design regulations and constraints make the job within a few critical boxes anyway), the interest lies in how quickly they can bring that to bear, There is a possibility with all the stops out it could be Baku, but I think Imola is more realistic. They have to take the current car to the next two away races (Jeddah and Melbourne), that leaves Baku and Miami before Imola. Otherwise, the season will be one third over before they bring a new car, which means 2024 before it challenges.
Awesome as you can tell by the title change it’s now a Megathread and pinned.
Thankyou @EA_Kent
After Bahrain GP:
- Red Bull too strong, I fear boring season to come. A pity because behind 3 teams are very close to each other with different characteristics, without RB domination would be funny;
- Mercedes wrong project again (?), Toto going to change it soon? Probably a big mistake during the winter but better turning away late than not doing it at all;
- Ferrari the worst one so far in comparison with the past season. And incredibly immediately an engine failure! If they have to depotentiate the power again they may start to think to the 2026!!! BTW it’s official: Leclerc the most unlucky guy of the modern F1 history;
- Aston Martin incredible jump ahead, so happy for Fernando but not enough to match RB, speed is missing.
Having saying that it’s only one track and a rear limited one, so things may change a lot elsewhere, hopefully in better for the show (less Ferrari, Mercedes degradation?). But RB is so far away…
Jeddah to come:
- Ferrari looks having the speed this year, may be a good track for them. If the PU doesn’t break again (clearly on Leclerc’s car)…
- Perez time to win or just make “the Bottas” till the end. For his luck he may be easy 2nd, so he may even hope in some unlikely Verstappen’s failures…
See you after next race 😉
@Nuvolarix
Don't forget RB double DNF in Bahrain last year so Ferrari's DNF may not mean as much.
(I am Charles' fan and tifosi and I would like to see him claiming the championship)
AM jumped ahead because they headhunted RB developers 😉 As Dr. Marko said, "they have very good memory" 😉
RB has a history of good chassis and aero, they always struggled with powertrain. So they could be miles ahead because of that. And Andrew Newey is a genius 😉
Re Merc: as @SteveJackson wrote, they might be struggling with the budget so they need to stick to what they have unless there is room for "resetting" all approach.
@P4st3l1ak wrote:
@SteveJackson
I think they may still struggle with porpoising, although new regulations made it better for them. It must have, Toto was driving that change and forced FIA to accept it after all 😉
But they could have thought it will give them an advantage which could, also, have backfired now.
Only top car I saw was really jittery was the Ferrari.
Yeah they made the increase in ride height but it just means all teams have to make the car really stiff, plus the tyre "suspension" is gone with the new rims.
Merc 'old' design philosophy is just to make the car really slippery but they are lacking overall downforce, they were speaking of the downwash created by the scollopped sidepods (esp. Ferrari) and all the other teams using that downwash to make the car more predictable (stable I guess) and I don't think Merc have it (downforce or proper rear stability).
Aston Martin must have a well balanced package that gave stability as Alonso waxing about "this car is nice to drive" and he looked to be pushing quite hard last stint and he didn't fade, the car must be still kind to the tyres, etc. Merc need a bit of that.
