F1 fans?

[dcmidnight]

Sargent is back with Williams next year - I guess we knew that was probably but it still seems like...there are a ton of young drivers out there waiting for a shot.

[lefthack]

3 minutes ago, dcmidnight said:

Sargent is back with Williams next year - I guess we knew that was probably but it still seems like...there are a ton of young drivers out there waiting for a shot.

 

A second year is a good start. If he doesn't show up this year like you said, there are plenty of others. I think 2 years is fair, unless you are Red Bull, then it's 6 months. 🤣

[Maine Golfer]

ive been a Perez fan every since he finished P2 that time behind Alonso 2011/12ish in the Sauber. I hope he can do better next year. I never expected a world title run but he should be able to win 4 races and do much better than this year. 

[golfortennis]

On 12/1/2023 at 1:57 PM, Maine Golfer said:

ive been a Perez fan every since he finished P2 that time behind Alonso 2011/12ish in the Sauber. I hope he can do better next year. I never expected a world title run but he should be able to win 4 races and do much better than this year. 

 

Consistently qualifying Top4 would be a good start.

 

Carlos Slim brings a boatload of money, but I have to wonder at what point RB decides they are bringing enough in that they won't continue with this.  He barely finished second in basically the best car on the grid.  Gotta do better than that.  Should have had second locked up 3 races before the end in that car.  

 

Note that I'm saying that from RBs perspective.  I'm all for anything that makes things more interesting than they were this season.

[lefthack]

22 minutes ago, golfortennis said:

 

Consistently qualifying Top4 would be a good start.

 

Carlos Slim brings a boatload of money, but I have to wonder at what point RB decides they are bringing enough in that they won't continue with this.  He barely finished second in basically the best car on the grid.  Gotta do better than that.  Should have had second locked up 3 races before the end in that car.  

 

Note that I'm saying that from RBs perspective.  I'm all for anything that makes things more interesting than they were this season.

 

That's what I am saying. Albon was saying he felt he did the best against Max out of anybody and I agree. If he was in that seat the way he's currently driving, Max would have some heat on him. 

[lefthack]

Wow.

 

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-guenther-steiner-leaves-haas-team-principal-ayao-komatsu.EoHIsZH1SbRkJMSKJ8h3I.html

 

Guenther Steiner has left his role as Team Principal of Haas F1 Team, with Director of Engineering Ayao Komatsu stepping up to replace him

Edited January 10 by lefthack

[jwhite86]

Shocked at the Steiner news.  Makes sense as the team has underperformed the last few years.

 

Would love to see him do TV in some capacity

[lefthack]

2 minutes ago, jwhite86 said:

Shocked at the Steiner news.  Makes sense as the team has underperformed the last few years.

 

Would love to see him do TV in some capacity

 

He could replace Danica Patrick. 🤣

 

I think Haas's bigger issue is Gene. He's spread pretty thin with all his motorsports ventures and his company got busted selling stuff to Russia under sanctions, so that's expensive. F1 is his red headed step child. 

Edited January 10 by lefthack

[golfortennis]

 

Conor Moore doesn't just focus on golf guys.

[jwhite86]

Hamilton to Ferrari... Silly season just turned crazy season

 

https://news.sky.com/story/formula-one-star-lewis-hamilton-to-leave-mercedes-and-join-ferrari-13061256

[lefthack]

24 minutes ago, jwhite86 said:

Hamilton to Ferrari... Silly season just turned crazy season

 

https://news.sky.com/story/formula-one-star-lewis-hamilton-to-leave-mercedes-and-join-ferrari-13061256

 

If Ferrari does it, I've lost all hope. Hamilton hasn't won a race since he past 300 GP's because nobody does. Sainz has quite a few years left, but he will likely head to Audi soon anyway. Audi is loving his dad right now.

[lefthack]

[jwhite86]

40 minutes ago, lefthack said:

 

If Ferrari does it, I've lost all hope. Hamilton hasn't won a race since he past 300 GP's because nobody does. Sainz has quite a few years left, but he will likely head to Audi soon anyway. Audi is loving his dad right now.

 

My initial thought was "bold move signing a 40 year old guy with a couple hundred races under his belt" 

 

I've heard rumblings of Sainz and potentially Bottas to Audi.

 

No idea who is going to jump into the second seat at Merc

[lefthack]

1 minute ago, jwhite86 said:

 

My initial thought was "bold move signing a 40 year old guy with a couple hundred races under his belt" 

 

I've heard rumblings of Sainz and potentially Bottas to Audi.

 

No idea who is going to jump into the second seat at Merc

 

They might give it to Mick. 

 

I would put money that Hamilton doesn't win another race, even if he was at Red Bull. There's something about 300 races, look at Alonso, the best he will ever do is second. 

[TiScape]

3 hours ago, lefthack said:

When you see this and have about zero idea what it means! 
 

🤣

[lefthack]

Just now, TiScape said:

When you see this and have about zero idea what it means! 
 

🤣

 

It's been a crazy couple of days. Haas is supposed to release their car tomorrow, Andretti gets tossed by F1, and Hamilton crashes everyone's news with a year early move to Ferrari, possibly. 

[TiScape]

Just now, lefthack said:

 

It's been a crazy couple of days. Haas is supposed to release their car tomorrow, Andretti gets tossed by F1, and Hamilton crashes everyone's news with a year early move to Ferrari, possibly. 

Thanks LH! 👊🏼

 I get 99.9% of my F1 news here! Haha 

[BagofToast]

My heart hopes Merc puts Mick in. Poor Sainz though, hope he finds a place. He is wayyy to good a driver to be out of the sport.

[lefthack]

Ferrari signed Charles until '29 and hadn't said anything about Sainz. Then his dad win Dakar for Audi and rumors started that he could go in '26. Now it looks like he's going somewhere. 

 

<edit> and I agree 100% Sainz is a top 5 driver on the grid. His drive in Singapore last year was epic. 

Edited February 1 by lefthack

[lefthack]

The dude is funny, I am glad Oscar went to McLaren.

 

 

[JimmyC59]

Hamilton's 2026 Crew Chief.

 

 

Edited February 1 by JimmyC59

[JimmyC59]

2026*

[jpdx]

It will be strange seeing LH in Rosso Corsa. Best of luck to him!

[lefthack]

Red Bull FTW

 

 

[iBanesto]

[lefthack]

Ferrari stock rose 17% on the Hamilton news, wow. 

[lefthack]

Legend.

 

 

[JimmyC59]

2 hours ago, lefthack said:

Ferrari stock rose 17% on the Hamilton news, wow. 

Damn! Now I can't afford an SF90XX Stradale!

[golfortennis]

So I've been out of the loop for a few days....anything interesting happening?  

 

Seriously though, notice how the Andretti story comes out at the same time as Hamilton.  I don't have any particular love for AAS, but when Fi says "we sent an email" that went to Andretti's junk folder, you might as well be screaming at the top of your lungs "we are trying to screw you!!"  Nobody tries to make a meeting at that level with only one email.  Usually there is a phone call, and definitely follow up.  And how on earth does an email from FOM get flagged as junk in the first place?  Did they use a gmail account?

 

Andretti has done everything they have been asked, and each time the goalposts get moved, and now this.  I'm reading in some places AAS will have grounds for a lawsuit, either in the US or Europe. 

 

An interesting side note as well is that FOM seems not to have much in the way of institutional memory.  I suppose Liberty Media cleared everyone out when they took over.  But during the financial crisis F1 was begging for teams to fill out the grid, pretty much all of which went bankrupt not long after.  Now that things are going well, they are gatekeeping to the highest degree.  Guess what companies will get rid of first the next time there is a downturn?  Chop things like F1 sponsorship.  Auto companies no longer see F1 as the development tool it once was, and without that, it's another brand of advertising.  To show Andretti(and by extension GM) the back of their hand like this is dirty pool that I can't help think is going to come back and bite them in the kiester.     

 

[lefthack]

Rumor has it the FIA sent a meeting request to Andretti that went to someone's spam folder, so they didn't see it and never had the meeting. Then the FIA made the decision.

 

They need to buy Haas and be done with it.