If you ignore Red Bull, I found the race actually pretty good.

I just can't cheer for Aston Martin. They are the most unlikable team. Everything from Lawrence Stroll's ego, to the nepotism of his son driving. Even more unlikeable than Max.

And the worst part is Lance is Canadian and it's meant nothing to me. Back when JV was driving, I loved cheering for a Canadian and hearing the anthem on the podium. But I can't say I've ever felt the same about Lance. I completely forget there is a Canadian in the field tbh.

I think this season my cheering will go primarily towards the Haas team, Checo, Alpine (I like Otmar) and Alex Albon.

man i stopped watching f1 in the schumi ferrari era and i cant believe alonso is still racing, or how long a racing career lasts sometimes. last time i watched him he was just making a name for himself with renault, that was an exciting time for that team

I'm not an Alonso fan, I don't hate him but just indifferent. I'm excited to see a 42yr old on the podium and fighting for wins though.

On the topic of Lance Stroll. He's not a bad driver, but inconsistent. I don't feel strongly about him either. But his dad seems like a massive asshole, the stories coming out of Racing Point/AMR are the very definition of someone who I don't want to work for.

Not an AM or a stroll fan either, but given the cars that Stroll has had to this point, regardless of Daddy owning the team he seems to have at least the potential to be a middle of the pack F1 driver

Unlike Latifi etc lol

Like Stroll is probably a better driver than Yuki, Zhao, etc

Also not an AM/Stroll fan but I am finding myself cheering for them. I am very curious to see how much of an impact a new facility/windtunnel will be for on-track progress, as well as fascinated by Lawrence's 5-year plan in putting business practices into an F1 team and treating it like an actual business.

Also the chaotic evil nature of Alonso possibly disrupting the top 3 teams and making it interesting.

I agree Stroll is better than Yuki or Zhou, and so there is SOME talent there.

Storylines I am interested in following this season:
- How AM progresses thru the season
- If Mercedes can turn it around in development mid-season
- Gasly vs Ocon beef
- Tsunoda vs DeVries fighting for the alpha male spot
- How far Albon can carry Williams on his back
- How McLaren's dysfunction will look like thru the season
- If Vasseur can turn around Ferrari.

With the cost cap in place it basically makes it impossible for any team to catch up to RB this year no? When you're winning by 20+ seconds someone changing a few parts ain't thing to do much.

I get they needed to do something for the bottom teams that couldn't afford to throw money at problems, but in Mercedes case it sounds like they are already writing this season off after the first race because you're limited to what you can do at this point.

I don't know I would so quickly say Stroll is better than Zhou. He's only had one season whereas Stroll has been around for awhile. Yuki I'm not as sure about as he's prone to making cold tire mistakes. He's done it quite a few times after exiting a pit stop.

To add to the storylines, I am interested in seeing if RB is done with Checo as they don't seem to be getting along too well. But Ricciardo isn't someone I see as a good fit, as their No2 either. We'll have to see how Checo's performance is this year and if it's good enough for RB to keep him around. Also in consideration is how much Checo wants to win. He isn't winning in the RB behind Max, but at this point no other team is even gonna come close. The question is if he sees another team as up and coming to challenge RB who will even consider taking him in.

Waiting to see the first team collision.

The things DeVries said in Drive to Survive was pretty damn disrespectful. :rukidding:

Yeah that's fair about Zhou. I will say Stroll's pass on Russel over the weekend was pretty decent.

Will never happen with Lawrence running the company, but I would like to see Checo, Lando, or even Ricciardo in the AM with Alonso. I would also love to see Albon get a second crack at Red Bull. But again, likely never gonna happen.

Alonso P3 in FP1, P2 in FP2 :awwyeah:

My friend saw a video that verstappen could win the title after so many poles, and then they could hand off the car Daniel so that RB can get 1, 2, 3 in drivers championship lol.

Take the car away from Max and tell him not to race? He would rather die in the thing.

That would be neat to see, but would never happen. Max wants to add wins to his stats.

Fuck there was a side by side on the F1 IG page and Alonso was basically neck and neck with Max, crazy

Oh shit Max gearbox issue in Q2. Possible Alonso pole???

Well we're going to see just how fast Red Bulls car is tomorrow with Max starting from way back

Front rooooowww Alonsooooo!

This should definitely add some intrigue to the race with max at 15

The RBR car is so far ahead... No one would've challenged Max for pole

What’s crazy when you watch it in the qualifying is how steady/smooth it is. No wonder they see such little tire degradation the car just sticks to the road

He will have half of those ahead of him passed within the first 5 laps. He will be leading the race by the 20th lap. I'm not a fan of his but that car is unstoppable right now.

Alonso vs Perez will be really fun. Max will easily cut through the field and will be in first after the pit stops.

I love this track! I just wish it was a daytime race so I could watch it live (starts at 2am for me)

Poor Alonso, they just tacked on a +10sec penalty cuz the jack was touching his car when serving the penalty, so he lost his podium that goes to Russell

Some ppl are mad the FIA waited until near the end of the race before announcing they might give Alonso this extra penalty, since the infraction happened on Lap 18

They're saying if they had announced it sooner Alonso could have built a 10s gap

Boring race, shitty for Alonso and the clowns at the FIA taking so long to set the penalty.

Found it neat how (without the penalty and if stroll had not DNF) it basically had both drivers of each team in sequential order (RB/RB, Aston, Merc/Merc, Ferrari/Ferrari, Alpine/Alpine) in the top 9.

Edit: Alonso gets his P3 back!

Oh that's cool didn't know AM was contesting it! Nice!


If anyone wants to read about it
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/a...ned-/10446232/