re: 2024 Formula 1 season Thread

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quote:It kind of is... its Ford. That would be as bad as putting Dodge on a million dollar super car Ford =/= AM or even Alfa Romeo F1 engine manufacturers wins 1 Ferrari 244 2 Mercedes 212 3 Ford Cosworth 176 4 Renault 169

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There were many many seasons when almost all the cars on the grid had Cosworth V-8s.

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Watching the new season of DTS. Netflix got me feeling kind of bad for Nyck de Vries. Has to suck working that long to finally get your shot and you get put on such a short leash.

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Haven't started watching it yet. I agree that it's not fair to a rookie to cut his season short, expecially because they don't get extra seat time before the season starts. But wasn't the narrative that Horner never really wanted de Vries in that seat to begin with? Then his pet Danny was impressing enough in the simulator and then the Silverstone test, so that gave them the excuse to give de Vries the axe.

OTOH I'm really enjoying the Yuki-Danny battle.

debris was a helmut call and over reaction after monza.

dude was a 28 year old rookie, i think that's all that needs to be said.

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I mean that sucks, but I'm curious why he would have taken that loan/the structure of that loan in the first place. 250 and they take 50% of your F1 money for as long as you're in F1. Screw that. That's an insanely bad deal if you thing you are going to make for any amount of time in F1. Which he wasn't able to do

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Yeah I had read about that previously, and wow, that sounds dumb.

Back in the day, Justin Wilson sold shares in himself to get his career jumpstarted. I believe it worked out well for the investors.

autosport.com/f1/news/wilson-unveils-share-scheme-5031335/5031335/

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(wiki) A total of 900 people invested a minimum of £500 with 10 per cent of Wilson's earnings paid to them until 31 December 2012.

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I mean that sucks, but I'm curious why he would have taken that loan/the structure of that loan in the first place.

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This is happening with college players and NIL. Giving up a % of future professional earnings. Getting the guaranteed dollars as early as possible.

i think merc is stronger than what they showed last week. i expect a closer fight with them and ferrari for 2nd.

alpine shite show is most entertaining part of the season for me. i saw they had a few more resignations today

Missed Apex Podcast covered this back when Devris was first announced, don't feel too bad for him, he knew the risk.

Apparently there's plenty of loans like this in motorsports and guys trying to get into F1, and probably other high tier motorsports.

It was something along the lines of Nyck took a loan from a Dutch businessman to fund his junior career, with the understanding that if he made it to F1 he'd owe back the $250,000 plus 50% of his earnings. For many of these guys the choice is either take a loan under these wild terms or pack up and go home and end your career. Which would you pick?

The bummer for Devris was he was only something like 2 months away from the contract expiring when he was signed.

It makes you wonder how many similar contracts are floating out there that never pay off for the investor.

My two cents...

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1. Red Bull with Max domination. Can anyone stay reasonably close over the season?

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I don't think so. I think Red Bull/Max run away with it pretty early on again, just probably not quite as historically dominating.

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2. Perez underperformance and what it will take to keep his seat next year.

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I think even if he gets 2nd again he's gone. If it looks like he would finish 3rd, he might get replaced during the season. My gut tells me he finishes 2nd (had him 3rd in my predictions because of a homer pick) and drives the full year but it wouldn't surprise me if they cut him if he has a number of poor showings. Given the car, he shouldn't.

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3. Ferrari favorite Charles vs the castaway Carlos.

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I'm hoping for a Carlos H2H win. He would have last year if it wasn't for Vegas. Not saying he's 100% the better driver but I would just love for him to have a good year then next year Lewis and Ferrari look like crap.

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4. Lame duck Lewis vs George.

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I think George is a good driver, but I think he's overrated. Mercedes has to hope that George beats him out to give them confidence that George can be a #1 after Lewis leaves, but I think Lewis beats him out.

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5. Mercedes vs McLaren for P3 in Constructors.

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Give me McLaren. They just looked so dang good towards the end of the year and honestly imo, they have the best combo of drivers on the grid. I think Lando could win a championship in the right car and I think Piatri already isn't that far behind Lando. Piastri was extremely impressive. I'm a fan of both of them. Also I think Lewis knows something. Like he knows that Mercedes is father away than most people might think/no light at the end of the tunnel.

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6. Can Aston Martin compete for higher than P5?

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I'd say no. I think there will be a bigger gap between 4 and 5 this year than there was last year.

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7. Once Williams gets their steering wheel sorted out, will it be Williams vs RB for best of the rest? Can Haas, Sauber, or Alpine compete for P6 in Constructors?

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I hope it's Williams. I really want them and Albon to do well.

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8. Who wins the Yuki vs Danny battle?

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Give me Yuki. Barely. Though it obviously wouldn't be that surprising if Danny won and I'm sure he's the favorite.

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9. Does Sargeant get canned during the season if he doesn't improve over last year?

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Hopefully. Can him now, get Lawson (if that's even possible) in the seat and have a legit shot at P6. Sargeant is a weak link in a car that can't afford to have a weak link.

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10. Looks like Haas solved their tire deg problem, so how competitive will they be?

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I would be pretty surprised if they finished about P8.

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11. Sauber looked good with Zhou. Does he beat Bottas this year?

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That's a good question. I would say no. I think overall neither of them will do much, I feel like P8 is their ceiling so that doesn't add up to many points for either of them.

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12. Is there any hope of Alpine rising above the bottom of the Constructors order? It's not looking good.

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It definitely doesn't look good. I think they end up figuring it out somewhat and finish around P7.

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hoping Williams is good enough for Albon to score regular points. If not, I hope Albon still looks good enough that a good team will come calling for him.

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Ditto on both of those. I hope he has a good year and the car is good enough for him to stick with Williams. I could easily see Mercedes making a call to him.

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There is zero chance Max could coexist with Russel. Or Lecleric, or Norris for that matter. Max would be the defacto number one wherever he goes and none of those guys are going to be willing to play a clear second fiddle.

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You think Merc is going to stay loyal to Russel if they can have Max?

They'd demote his arse in a heartbeat if they couldn't play nice.

Adam Stern
@A_S12
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@ESPN got 1.122 million viewers for Saturday's @F1 season opener @BAH_Int_Circuit, down from 1.318 million viewers last year, though the 2023 edition was on a Sunday.