I think a fairly clear picture has emerged. Red Bull (Big Gap >0.5s) Ferrari Mercedes/McLaren Aston Toro Rosso Alpine / Sauber Williams Haas He's hoping i look like a fool in a weeks time.
Russell just put together 3 really consistent and competitive C3 laps- it’s the best and most stable Merc have looked all week. They may yet tune that car in to be decent- my gut feel originally was that they may be 5th best currently but that was loads better just now.
Red bull are just pounding round now in the dark and have not bother put a soft on and have not pushed it. Like we have to see that tsunoda has done 1:30.775 in the red bull hidden under a **** body. that tells me we are seeing no cars at their ultimate even in test just yet. That V-bull has not got the same upper body aero package at all and doesn't looks anywhere near as good as last year under verstappen. Verstappen is now sickening the lot of us on hard tyre 1:36.833 for absolute no reason this late on.
russell 1:30.368 full on DRS and softs. Russell seems to gain over the lap rather than trial away. Just a hint that maybe they are kind to tyres? Hard to know given the time of the day. remember le clerc was on the really soft silly tyre to set his and its very close.
they are starting the bollocks with virtuals and red flags and restarts now so that is that no headline smashing, hope killing, ego stroking
wait. verstappen is out of car talking animatedly at the pit wall. demanding ultra tyres and to be allowed smash the world?
there is is. nobody really knows but all suspect red bull are quick. A lot of cars are all about the same.
Think it's fair to say that Red Bull are still a mile away. Hard to say with some of the rest. I'm hoping that Ferrari might just be quick and hopefully fixed their race pace issues. Guess we're going to find out next week. Say a little payer to your deity of choice for some competition!
Fezza looks in a good place IMO. Aston (Alonso) are a dark horse again. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him pinching podiums early on until McLaren bring some performance upgrades.
Agree, it very much seems like the pattern of this season will be the same as the last, with Verstappen out front and a very tight battle behind. Aston look to have rejoined that battle and I’d guess the order currently is Ferrari, Merc/Aston, McLaren - but they are all close enough that development, track specifics and setup variability will cause the order to fluctuate race to race. If we’re going to see Red Bull / Verstappen dominating, I’d almost rather see them go 24/24 than another near miss. Chasing that might also keep them developing for longer than this year and help the other teams in ‘25 - if they lose a race in the first third of the season, the pattern is probably set until the end of these regulations. If we are in a stalemate right at the very front, I do hope it doesn’t cause people to lose interest in the sport. The overall grid has never been closer, it’s not hugely artificial and there’s loads going on elsewhere, there’s still a lot to enjoy beneath the headlines. Bring on the “who will finish second” polls!
I vote ram him off the track in corner 1 ever week. what we do not know right now is how close cars can still follow. if one spoiled brat is 30 seconds down the track but there's a real race for 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th then so be it. but if this is a procession as nobody can follow anymore then the team will have broken the regs and it'll be dire b
Whatever happened to the penalty that Red Bull received of less wind tunnel time for exceeding the cost cap? It certainly didn`t seem to bother them much,as they are still way out in front. Weak FIA on Red Bull. No doubt who their favorites are.
I thought the FIA favoured Mercedes? It’s probably true to say that a consequence of them being able to switch development so early last year is that it rather offset the impact of that extra penalty. Not dissimilar to when a a driver has so much extra pace that a track limits penalty doesn’t cost them a place?
Quick word on Sky coverage- David Croft will miss the first 3 races - by choice- as he wants to give time back to family and also plan his wedding- but also said it may help manage the workload and let him see things from a fan perspective. He will be replaced by BBC 5 Live commentator, Harry Benjamin. The good news ends there however, as it is confirmed that Simon Lazenby, Nat Pinkham and Rachel Brookes will continue their stale, dreary coverage of each race weekend. Also a reminder…. BAHRAIN and SAUDI GPs will have Quali on Friday and race on Saturday - given Ramadan impact on the timings.
