I am questioning, which is different to a confirmed belief, Sainz vs Hamilton at Ferrari. Sainz seems to have the luck sometimes experienced by Alonso, that being a combination of poor choices and wrong place at the wrong time. Sainz is an intelligent driver and wonder if Hamilton really is better. Had Sainz stayed at Mclaren might he have been enjoying the sucess they are now experiencing. His options have narrowed, maybe his best might be Mercedes, certainly so if they lure Newey. Beyond Merc, he is relegated to the midfield most likely. Lewis I think will not find it easy at Ferrari, even if Newey goes there. It is not a given he will be the best, albeit a reset he does need. I know Merc have no ability to win the title this year and as such are focused on George as the lead this year, leaving lewis with little to shine with. But in it all, I feel sorry for Sainz. I hope he gets a drive that will take him back to the top rank in 2026.
Not overly impressed with new regs. Car reduction is actually a mechanical grip reduction. Drs is dead and replaced by power boost so if someone has a better engine thsts you goosed. Active aero = reduction in slip stream potential maybe. Reduction in ground effect. Overall I kind of expect a return to cannot follow closely era here. They are taking away or reducing things put in to get cars closer.
Pretty surprised to see ground effect going. Only two years in it feels like an admission of failure for whole goal of reducing dirty air. Though we can't guess much now. The two best years of modern F1 (2012 and 2021) were run under fairly **** regs. The cars should look alright at least, the concept gives off mid 2000's vibes. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
They should implement that power boost in a similar way to push to pass in Indycar and allow drivers to use it to pass or defend. Much better than leaving the car ahead as a sitting duck.
They limit it to 150-200 seconds per race, so the driver decides when is best to use their time on the button.
I like that idea. I wonder if a reset could be trigger if they pit, that might make strat a bit more interesting as they would get new boots and a new number of seconds power boost probably limit it to say 50 seconds per reset.
Kinda complicates a long stint. Just give them the quota at the start of the race and let them save it for the end or abuse it throughout the race.
Do they have some sort of on screen counter so you know who has what left or is it all 'hidden' from public and competitors?
You should give Indycar a go. The racing is absolutely incredible at the moment and it's the perfect antidote to F1 right now. Good old-fashioned wheel to wheel, elbows out racing. Love it!
These regs seem sensible to me. Proportion of aero grip has gone down, something has been done to lighten the cars, the worst aspects of ground effect have been toned down. A huge reduction in drag is a worry for “battles”, but given the electric proportion went up that was going to be an unavoidable compromise. It’s not what I would have dreamed of but given the constraints that hybrid engines imply, it’s hard to see a better outcome. It won’t impact the racing, but the lower downforce will mean they’re less spectacular in high speed corners, fortunately by then we’ll be mostly watching 90 degree 100kph left and right handers on street circuits, so it will only be a problem once a year at Silverstone.
I too feel sorry for Sainz, he did everything he needed to be re-signed by Ferrari in my opinion. Hamilton is bringing marketability both now and likely as a brand ambassador after he retires and I think that’s why Ferrari have taken the opportunity to sign him. Maybe they hope that he’s going to beat Leclerc, but I don’t see any argument that they’ve brought him in expecting that to be the case or that they are relying on him to do so. Personally on track I expect they’ll get pretty much the same from Hamilton they would have from Sainz over the next couple of years, but at the cost of having lost a contrasting personality/approach to Leclerc’s. Sainz, somewhat uniquely in the sport, is a kind of number 1.5 driver, too good to be a number 2, but not good enough to displace anyone’s number 1. Combined with an increasing number of old folks not leaving the sport that’s left him in a weird limbo where his best options are all midfield teams none of whom is the obvious pick. Having given this quite some thought, I do ultimately expect him to choose to go to Audi. It’s a long road, but Audi are good at Motorsport and succeed eventually, often in a spectacular way. Alpine/Renault is the exact opposite, especially recently and Williams is too unpredictable. At Audi he’ll end up rich and you can see how he wins more races and potentially a championship even if it takes 7-10 years. Not sure why you think Merc are focused on George? You’d expect it to go that way, but I’ve seen no signs of that so far.
What sort of tracks do they race on,is it on big ovals (just keep turning left) or are more traditional style venues used as well?
It's a mix of circuits, street tracks and ovals. While you might think the oval racing is dull, it's actually pretty intense on the super speedways and really requires plenty of guts to go out there and race so close at 230mph. It's pretty hairy stuff. There aren't that many oval races though. The hardest part getting in to it would be figuring who is who, what teams they drive for and finding who you like. But there is so much talent there, I have about 5 drivers I really love, if not more. The racing right now is spectacular though.
