And/or racing blood. A few got important early manufacturer backing a la Yuki (Honda) and Vettel (BMW) and George (Merc), and Lewis (McLaren) as well, but it’s not like they helped them from the first time they jumped into a kart.
It's insane. Not sure how closely people follow F2 and F3, but Logan Sargeant came third in F3 in 2020, finishing 4 points behind Piastri and 1 point behind Pourchaire. He was tied with Piastri going into the final race but was forced out of the race on lap 1. If it weren't for the retirement, there was a very good chance he wins the F3 championship. Fast-forward to 2021, Piastri is in F2 and Sargeant is at risk of not even being able to run again in F3 because he doesn't have the funding. Two drivers of equal caliber potentially ending up in vastly different spots strictly because of money (and I'm sure Logan's family has good money, but not enough by racing standards). Thankfully things worked out for Logan and he'll be in F2 next year.
Well, catching up on this thread was…. interesting. Now, on to something way more exciting. I just bought this fan experience for Spa 2022. Will be my first ever race in person. Please clap. https://f1experiences.com/2022-belgian-grand-prix/trophy
If you have ESPN and only care about F1 race weekend, then not really If you want the archive, feeder series coverage, driver feeds, telemetry, etc…then yes
Good video... especially the second half of it. There's so much unknown coming into this year because of the new car. Damn I can't wait.
These small hints being dropped from people in and around the sport that Ferrari might finally be back have me beyond pumped. Gosh the heartbreak and frustration will hit new levels they end up battling for 3rd.
I'm apathetic towards Ferrari in particular but I like the shuffling of the deck that the hints seem to be meaning. Found it interesting that it specifically mentioned Alpine was one of the few teams that has figured out how to maximize the new fuel mix from an engineering standpoint.
My number one question and thing I want to see is if the teams like Haas and Williams come out of the gates much more competitive than they have been. They were very straightforward last year in that they were going to focus all development towards the '22 car way earlier than other teams.
have a couple of months to figure this out. i doubt any of the teams are where they want to be right now
Prost being a gossip bitch is fantastic. Air them all out. Alpine having major issues with the engine would make a ton of sense and a big reason they just cleaned house. Could see a world where they have a fast car that breaks down all the time. They won't be alone this season as were entering a new world. Hey who knows maybe Lewis holds firm and retires, Alonso would be on the first flight to Mercedes to take over that seat.
from social media it appears lando has spent the last month in dubai partying his balls off with a portuguese model
Interestingly there was a report earlier that Alpine had solved most of the power loss related to the new fuel compounds. I think they can both be true - they may have "solved" the power gap at the expense of reliability. Who knows, it doesn't really matter until they line up for the first GP, but I'm excited to see some new blood hopefully.
Why the hell didn’t my parents blow all of their disposable income on getting me into kart racing, smdh
Is there a legitimate concern that Lewis will no call no show on the new season? I assume I'm just being pushed clickbait horseshit on twitter.
I think the 22 regulations and cars are going to take a lot of getting used to. Lewis could be somewhat over the whole thing and want to preserve his legacy.
I think he will try for an 8th WDC for two more seasons. One to adjust to the car as needed, one to go all the way. If he pockets 8 this year he might retire in the post race interview.
Yeah my post stinks at trying to explain what I meant. Agree that with his body of work there is no doubt that he will be considered one of the greatest drivers of all time. However I think people today are split on if he's truly the greatest of all time, or if he is a great driver who had the fortune of racing the most dominant car of all time with the turbo-hybrid era Mercedes. Given the 2022 car is a bit of a wild card, and he's now going up against another up and coming driver, if either of two things happen his claim to being the GOAT could be in jeopardy: 1) Mercedes doesn't nail the 2022 regulations and/or the 2022 car doesn't suit his driving style 2) Russell is equivalent/better than him in the 2022 car Given he's also 37 and could be considered to have accomplished everything, I'm just not sure he's ready to put in the mammoth effort he knows it will take to cement his status on top. Ultimately I'm just trying to play devil's advocate a bit and explain why he may be reconsidering. In all likelihood the FIA and Mercedes will kiss and make up and he'll be racing in 2022.
There will always be differing ways to consider who is the greatest of all time, and Lewis has at the very least put himself firmly in that conversation. There are apples to apples ways to compare him to other drivers across other eras and call him the greatest qualifier of all time, etc. I don't know whether winning it in 2021 or claiming another title will change any of that.
What does everyone predict the competitive balance will look like next year A. New regs will have the desired impact and level the playing field B. The opposite happens because when things change there are bound to be teams that get it right and others that get it wrong, and customer teams with less resources will be slower to optimize the new specs I kind of think it's the latter, but over time if we get new constructors that it will level out. But next year I could see a return to the class b races where there were separate races between 1-6 and 7-20 with very little exchange up or down most of the year. If there is a scenario where Lewis says fuck it and walks away I could see that along with Michael Masi still making shit up as he goes along being the contributing factors.
Good article https://racingnews365.com/albon-i-was-one-of-the-most-unprepared-drivers-ever-to-get-into-f1
Jim Clark is there greatest racing driver of all time. Go watch the grand tour episode from season 3 that does the film on him. It’ll make your head spin how talented a driver he was. I don’t mean just F1. I mean racing driver. With that said, it’s hard to compare eras (just like in other sports) because things like equipment, specialization, etc. change. Lewis is the greatest in this generation without a doubt and is firmly in the top 5 of all time F1 drivers. It does a disservice to everyone to try and compare.
What's so magical about 8 that wouldn't hold true for 9 or 10? Lewis isn't walking away or threating to walk away because of changes to the cars. He's walking away because his feeling is Masi made shit up on the fly, he got the short end of a lot of rulings (especially the final race) and he saw his Mercedes team decide to play politics vs defend him to the end. He's hurt, bitter and very angry. At the end of the day he's got a shit ton of money on they table. He's got the best car in the sport and he still seems to have a love for what he does. And because of those factors I think he's back. Now do I think he signs another contract with Mercedes or Ferrari or whoever he believes is going to be top dog under these new regs? possibly.. But unlikely.
I think racing will be better with the changes. I would expect more passing, less managing of tires so hopefully more all out racing. I'm not sure we see massive movement of the final standings. I guess if Ferrari nailed its development they may make the title chase a three team event. And if thats the case Haas and Romeo will make leaps up. I think Williams closes the gap to the mid pack. Outside of that unless someone missed badly i'm not sure we see a ton of change year one because the big teams still have that development advantage that it will take some years for the smaller teams to bridge that gap.