Brilliant F2 race this morning. Theo Pourchaire, in a league of his own, wins by 19 seconds from Ralph Boschung. Great action behind with Zane Maloney producing some superb overtakes to finish 3rd from a starting place of 18th.
F2 always produces fantastic racing , Pourchaire was in a class of his own - just hope he keeps it up and doesn't befall loads of mechanical issues like he did last year.
Maloney could turn out to be the Red Bull junior to watch - I know Hauger had electrical issues but that was a spectacular drive through the field for a rookie.
Really impressed with Maloney... He's kept up his form from F3 at the end of last year.
Shame Bearman has made a slow start, lot of the rookies need to get used to the tyre wear by the look of things - Great job from Luke Browning in the F3... Ended up P5 (?), after starting about P16 (?), and could well have found himself on the podium had it not been for the late Safety Car
The title will go to Verstappen. No doubt about it. He’s a better driver than Perez and the Red Bulls are out of sight performance wise.
Mercedes v Aston Martin might be where the season is interesting, but that’s only if Mercedes fix their issues. Everyone who was complaining about Hamilton and Mercedes being too dominant a couple of years ago will now see exactly what I and many others expected. Exactly the same, but a different driver and team being equally as dominant. F1 is crying out for a sustained period of at least 2 teams being evenly matched. Oh for the Williams/McLaren/Ferrari days.
Think this is going to be a tedious season...we can see how it's going to go from this race. Each race a procession assuming no crashes or mechanical issues. Hope I'm wrong!
Doesn’t look like the season for me to try and get back into this sport…
I came back to it last year after the changes were announced but was bored to tears most races, I only watch the hi-lights now due to this but looking at the comments even hi-lights may be a tough watch.
Mercedes in their peak were dominant but this Red Bull is taking the biscuit. There doesn’t seem any jeopardy at all.
What people forget is that for a couple of seasons, Ferrari with their bent engine were on a par and faster for a lot of the season. This is 2014 and 2020 levels which is just a borefest.
Doesn’t look like the season for me to try and get back into this sport…
I came back to it last year after the changes were announced but was bored to tears most races, I only watch the hi-lights now due to this but looking at the comments even hi-lights may be a tough watch.
Verstappen’s first title year might be the last entertaining year we’ll see for a while. Red Bull were already pulling ahead in terms of the quality and reliability of car design, but somehow Hamilton managed to challenge with what was a clearly inferior car. And of course, the controversy surrounding the circumstances of the title decider added to the spectacle. The gap between Red Bull and the rest is just getting wider. Verstappen is an outstanding driver, but for all the criticism some have leveled at Hamilton for “only winning because his car was so superior”, the same could be said for Verstappen. Both outstanding drivers. But the lack of genuine competition dilutes that, which is a real shame.
Also shows up the race pace of certain teams, qualifying there was a spread of 1.2secs across the whole field but at times there was a similar spread between cars on the circuit together. I know some of it is tyre/engine management etc but if they truly want F1 to be a spectacle with cars all through the field having a chance at scoring points, they need to find a better solution, or we'll just have endless years of one team dominating until a huge regulation change, then a different team comes along and dominates for another decade, ad infinium
Fast losing interest……I’m a huge Hamilton fan and not fond of Verstappen and his obnoxious father. I’ll give it a few more races and if things don’t improve I’ll ditch watching. A shame as it looks like the journey I have been on with Louis is coming to an end. Can never ever forget the way Verstappen dethroned Louis…….the most undeserved victory ever in the history of world sport. Plus Horner isn’t my cup of tea either.🤨
Adrian Newey is showing again what a fantastic designer he is.
Should be Sir Adrian Newey by now.
Can’t understand why he isn’t to be honest. Absolute genius.
When the likes of Dave Brailsford are knights surely Newey is well well overdue , 3 decades of producing some of the most utterly dominant cars in F1 history.
Fast losing interest……I’m a huge Hamilton fan and not fond of Verstappen and his obnoxious father. I’ll give it a few more races and if things don’t improve I’ll ditch watching. A shame as it looks like the journey I have been on with Louis is coming to an end. Can never ever forget the way Verstappen dethroned Louis…….the most undeserved victory ever in the history of world sport. Plus Horner isn’t my cup of tea either.🤨
I'm a big LH fan too but as it's obvious he (or Russell) aren't going to be challenging for the championship, I can relax and just enjoy watching races. It's a bit like when England get knocked out of the World Cup.
However, races like yesterday are dire and as you say, doesn't help that probably the most unlikeable driver & team ever to grace the sport are dominating.
Can't see Jeddah being much of an improvement as a race , unless we get a load of Safety Cars. Ferrari don't seem to have the answers, Toto is already admitting the W14 is basically in the bin and I don't know if Aston are for real yet or if they'll start decently and then get outdeveloped.
The less said about what on earth is going on at McLaren the better.
Fast losing interest……I’m a huge Hamilton fan and not fond of Verstappen and his obnoxious father. I’ll give it a few more races and if things don’t improve I’ll ditch watching. A shame as it looks like the journey I have been on with Louis is coming to an end. Can never ever forget the way Verstappen dethroned Louis…….the most undeserved victory ever in the history of world sport. Plus Horner isn’t my cup of tea either.🤨
I'm a big LH fan too but as it's obvious he (or Russell) aren't going to be challenging for the championship, I can relax and just enjoy watching races. It's a bit like when England get knocked out of the World Cup.
However, races like yesterday are dire and as you say, doesn't help that probably the most unlikeable driver & team ever to grace the sport are dominating.
The trouble is there are more dire races than exciting ones, I take my hat off to those of you who watch it live, I struggle with the hi lights
I don't get Mercedes at all. They put all their effort over the past year (Mike Elliott's words) into the new car and stuck with this concept, and after one race decided it's shit and they need to start again.
Maybe they should have looked at the fact no-one copied the zeropods at all last season as a sign that actually they fucked it and should have spent all least season looking at a new concept, because all they've seemingly done now is throw away 2 seasons
Fast losing interest……I’m a huge Hamilton fan and not fond of Verstappen and his obnoxious father. I’ll give it a few more races and if things don’t improve I’ll ditch watching. A shame as it looks like the journey I have been on with Louis is coming to an end. Can never ever forget the way Verstappen dethroned Louis…….the most undeserved victory ever in the history of world sport. Plus Horner isn’t my cup of tea either.🤨
Big teams aside... Logan Sargeant did a f**king outstanding job this weekend.
After his understandable cautious approach to the end of his F2 campaign last season I thought we were potentially getting another Mazepin / Latifi on the grid this season
Early days so far, but the fact he failed to get into Q2 of Quali simply because Norris set the time first, and then pretty much kept up with Alex Albon (who has himself been excellent in the Williams) was beyond what I was expecting from him.
On a side note, will try and watch more IndyCar this year as well, opted for that over the 2nd half of the Liverpool vs Man Utd game - Christ it made up for the borefest of the Bahrain GP, and some... Grosjean so unlucky
I don't get Mercedes at all. They put all their effort over the past year (Mike Elliott's words) into the new car and stuck with this concept, and after one race decided it's shit and they need to start again.
Maybe they should have looked at the fact no-one copied the zeropods at all last season as a sign that actually they fucked it and should have spent all least season looking at a new concept, because all they've seemingly done now is throw away 2 seasons
I was surprised when the car was unveiled a few weeks ago and they’d stuck with it. It was obvious very early last year that they’d got it wrong and should have been rethinking their strategy/concept then. Toto should have been on top of this a lot sooner.
Comments
F2 always produces fantastic racing , Pourchaire was in a class of his own - just hope he keeps it up and doesn't befall loads of mechanical issues like he did last year.
Maloney could turn out to be the Red Bull junior to watch - I know Hauger had electrical issues but that was a spectacular drive through the field for a rookie.
Shame Bearman has made a slow start, lot of the rookies need to get used to the tyre wear by the look of things - Great job from Luke Browning in the F3... Ended up P5 (?), after starting about P16 (?), and could well have found himself on the podium had it not been for the late Safety Car
Just hope the Opening Race win jinx continues
Everyone who was complaining about Hamilton and Mercedes being too dominant a couple of years ago will now see exactly what I and many others expected. Exactly the same, but a different driver and team being equally as dominant.
F1 is crying out for a sustained period of at least 2 teams being evenly matched. Oh for the Williams/McLaren/Ferrari days.
The gap between Red Bull and the rest is just getting wider. Verstappen is an outstanding driver, but for all the criticism some have leveled at Hamilton for “only winning because his car was so superior”, the same could be said for Verstappen.
Both outstanding drivers. But the lack of genuine competition dilutes that, which is a real shame.
Should be Sir Adrian Newey by now.
I’ll give it a few more races and if things don’t improve I’ll ditch watching.
A shame as it looks like the journey I have been on with Louis is coming to an end.
Can never ever forget the way Verstappen dethroned Louis…….the most undeserved victory ever in the history of world sport.
Plus Horner isn’t my cup of tea either.🤨
When the likes of Dave Brailsford are knights surely Newey is well well overdue , 3 decades of producing some of the most utterly dominant cars in F1 history.
However, races like yesterday are dire and as you say, doesn't help that probably the most unlikeable driver & team ever to grace the sport are dominating.
The less said about what on earth is going on at McLaren the better.
Maybe they should have looked at the fact no-one copied the zeropods at all last season as a sign that actually they fucked it and should have spent all least season looking at a new concept, because all they've seemingly done now is throw away 2 seasons
After his understandable cautious approach to the end of his F2 campaign last season I thought we were potentially getting another Mazepin / Latifi on the grid this season
Early days so far, but the fact he failed to get into Q2 of Quali simply because Norris set the time first, and then pretty much kept up with Alex Albon (who has himself been excellent in the Williams) was beyond what I was expecting from him.
On a side note, will try and watch more IndyCar this year as well, opted for that over the 2nd half of the Liverpool vs Man Utd game - Christ it made up for the borefest of the Bahrain GP, and some... Grosjean so unlucky