F1 2024

[AMGeed]

Interesting race but not particularly exciting, which is not usual for Silverstone.
Enea Bastianini looked after his tyres better than the other two Ducati riders and comfortably took 1st place.
Bagnaia lost grip a few laps from the finish and backed off to take 3rd and the points. Jorge Martin in 2nd, back in the lead with 10 races and 3 sprint races to go.
Austria in two weeks.

 

[Mactech]

Just to hi light how quickly F1 is moving in terms of generations, Oliver Oakes, the incoming team principal at Alpine was one of the F3 drivers my son has run just a few years ago!
I had the misfortune to be persuaded in to running a certain C. Horner on a one off F3 event in the mid 90's.
It's not only teenage drivers coming into F1, but team principles still in their 30's....
It does begin to make you feel old!

F1: Alpine name Oliver Oakes as team principal

Britain's Oliver Oakes becomes the new team principal of Alpine, replacing Bruno Famin.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[st13phil]

Well, according to PlanetF1, Adrian Newey has finalised a deal to move to Aston Martin with the deal due to be announced next month:

Adrian Newey to Aston Martin $100m deal now ‘finalised’ with ‘major input’ granted

Adrian Newey's move from Red Bull to Aston Martin has reportedly been completed, a former F1 driver has claimed, with an announcement coming.

www.planetf1.com

 

[mattk1]

Just to hi light how quickly F1 is moving in terms of generations, Oliver Oakes, the incoming team principal at Alpine was one of the F3 drivers my son has run just a few years ago!
I had the misfortune to be persuaded in to running a certain C. Horner on a one off F3 event in the mid 90's.
It's not only teenage drivers coming into F1, but team principles still in their 30's....
It does begin to make you feel old!

F1: Alpine name Oliver Oakes as team principal

Britain's Oliver Oakes becomes the new team principal of Alpine, replacing Bruno Famin.

www.bbc.co.uk

And prior to your misfortune I was his mechanic during his later karting years, which was extremely disappointing having just run a number of British champions to great success. I believe Mr Oakes is an ex-World Karting Champion if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[Mactech]

Well, according to PlanetF1, Adrian Newey has finalised a deal to move to Aston Martin with the deal due to be announced next month:

Adrian Newey to Aston Martin $100m deal now ‘finalised’ with ‘major input’ granted

Adrian Newey's move from Red Bull to Aston Martin has reportedly been completed, a former F1 driver has claimed, with an announcement coming.

www.planetf1.com

We'll see if this comes to fruition! It certainly has some attraction to Adrian. He probably wouldn't have to move house and the people and facilities that Aston now have must be attractive, if still in need of full correlation.
Add the fact that somebody has actually fallen for Eddie Jordan's bombastic pay demands for him and Honda are back as an engine supplier must be plus points.
I can only imagine that there must be agreement to 'enhance' the driver line up at the Silverstone based team in the near future

 

[GeeJayW]

We'll see if this comes to fruition! It certainly has some attraction to Adrian. He probably wouldn't have to move house and the people and facilities that Aston now have must be attractive, if still in need of full correlation.
Add the fact that somebody has actually fallen for Eddie Jordan's bombastic pay demands for him and Honda are back as an engine supplier must be plus points.
I can only imagine that there must be agreement to 'enhance' the driver line up at the Silverstone based team in the near future

Can’t see Daddy Stroll chucking Baby Stroll out, so Alonso must be looking over his shoulder.

 

[Mactech]

Can’t see Daddy Stroll chucking Baby Stroll out, so Alonso must be looking over his shoulder.

Agreed, it seems unlikely. However Daddy Stroll has certainly been a success in business and has the money to spend to see Aston Martin become a success. They won't be blind to the weakest link, so it will be interesting to see what they do.

 

[GeeJayW]

Agreed, it seems unlikely. However Daddy Stroll has certainly been a success in business and has the money to spend to see Aston Martin become a success. They won't be blind to the weakest link, so it will be interesting to see what they do.

Part of the problem is that Lance is a quick driver when he’s in a situation that doesn’t require a high level of mental bandwidth. The guy can pedal.

His main weakness is that when things get more complicated, he is unable to manage everything and still maintain a strong race-winning pace, leading to driving errors or reduced performance. Grosjean is another clear example of a driver that exhibits these traits.

This IMHO is what separates the very top-level drivers from the rest of the pack.

The other thing with Lance is that (like Max) his attitude under pressure is ugly and entitled, which in the limit must make it difficult for his engineers and technicians to really get behind him.

Alonso “this car has a Formula 2 engine” isn’t much better in this regard either. Given that remark was at the time aimed at Honda, I am surprised Honda are interested in working with him and would not be surprised if his current contract was not renewed.

 

[Nat]

Wouldn't it be great if they delayed the new car rule and ran these for a few more years

 

[Mactech]

Part of the problem is that Lance is a quick driver when he’s in a situation that doesn’t require a high level of mental bandwidth. The guy can pedal.

His main weakness is that when things get more complicated, he is unable to manage everything and still maintain a strong race-winning pace, leading to driving errors or reduced performance. Grosjean is another clear example of a driver that exhibits these traits.

This IMHO is what separates the very top-level drivers from the rest of the pack.

The other thing with Lance is that (like Max) his attitude under pressure is ugly and entitled, which in the limit must make it difficult for his engineers and technicians to really get behind him.

Alonso “this car has a Formula 2 engine” isn’t much better in this regard either. Given that remark was at the time aimed at Honda, I am surprised Honda are interested in working with him and would not be surprised if his current contract was not renewed.

Yes, I've had many experiences of driver with and without adequate 'bandwidth' on the other end of the radio in Sportscar racing. Those with great abilities could maintain a strong pace, to the fuel restriction and cope with any hazards on the circuit without breaking sweat or raising their voice.
Others would sound like an emergency on the radio, about 2 octaves above their normal tones and in a right state.

I've witnessed this ability to maintain strong pace with just a fraction of their mental capacity on the autoroute returning from Ricard to Nice airport.
Former Belgian F1 driver Eric Van de Poele, was driving at at least 40mph quicker than the rest of the traffic and gently weaving from lane to lane anticipating absolutely the behaviour of the traffic ahead.... about 2 or 3 moves ahead!
He'd got great experience in endurance racing where the cars are not all equal speeds.
All this whilst he looked around at the rest of the crew and very capability spoke and debriefed the days testing in the Bentley Le Mans car....

 

[Dryce]

I can only imagine that there must be agreement to 'enhance' the driver line up at the Silverstone based team in the near future

Question would be how near in the future.

Taking on Adrian Newey in 2025 presumably means it's really about a full on Newey based car in the 2027 season.

In the middle of that is 2026 and the transition to Honda.

That gives them two years to try and get a perfect alignment and deal with the family politics.

 

[GeeJayW]

Yes, I've had many experiences of driver with and without adequate 'bandwidth' on the other end of the radio in Sportscar racing. Those with great abilities could maintain a strong pace, to the fuel restriction and cope with any hazards on the circuit without breaking sweat or raising their voice.
Others would sound like an emergency on the radio, about 2 octaves above their normal tones and in a right state.

I've witnessed this ability to maintain strong pace with just a fraction of their mental capacity on the autoroute returning from Ricard to Nice airport.
Former Belgian F1 driver Eric Van de Poele, was driving at at least 40mph quicker than the rest of the traffic and gently weaving from lane to lane anticipating absolutely the behaviour of the traffic ahead.... about 2 or 3 moves ahead!
He'd got great experience in endurance racing where the cars are not all equal speeds.
All this whilst he looked around at the rest of the crew and very capability spoke and debriefed the days testing in the Bentley Le Mans car....

A few weeks ago, Lance was driving one of the Sky F1 folk around (Hungary I think, but happy to be corrected) in an Aston Vantage. He had to stop talking at various times through the lap in order to concentrate on driving. (I wouldn’t be able to speak at all BTW… ).

When Lando was doing the same thing in a McLaren or when Lewis was pedalling Sir Frank Williams around Silverstone, the banter was uninterrupted even when the car was fully sideways and plenty of beans being applied. Different level, different level.

 

[st13phil]

A few weeks ago, Lance was driving one of the Sky F1 folk around (Hungary I think, but happy to be corrected) in an Aston Vantage. He had to stop talking at various times through the lap in order to concentrate on driving. (I wouldn’t be able to speak at all BTW… ).

I suspect that most "armchair" experts have little appreciation regarding the level of mental processing that's required to drive on the limit, lap after lap. I know that if I'm pressing on riding my motorcycle on unknown twisty roads I can only keep up the pace for a finite time before I feel the need to slow and let my brain rest for a bit - just as physical exertion requires periodic rest and recuperation - and then I can up the pace again. Maintaining the pace for the long stints that professional racers manage is on another level entirely.

That said, I do wonder how much of it is also down to similar biological processes as musicians experience that allow them to play a musical instrument - such as a guitar or keyboard - and simultaneously sing? As a simple example, think back to when you first learnt to drive a car (or motorcycle) and how much concentration just maintaining basic control of the vehicle took. Yet with experience, all of the basic control became a subconscious process, leaving much more brain processing capacity available for considering road hazards, talking to passengers, etc.

 

[GeeJayW]

I suspect that most "armchair" experts have little appreciation regarding the level of mental processing that's required to drive on the limit, lap after lap. I know that if I'm pressing on riding my motorcycle on unknown twisty roads I can only keep up the pace for a finite time before I feel the need to slow and let my brain rest for a bit - just as physical exertion requires periodic rest and recuperation - and then I can up the pace again. Maintaining the pace for the long stints that professional racers manage is on another level entirely.

That said, I do wonder how much of it is also down to similar biological processes as musicians experience that allow them to play a musical instrument - such as a guitar or keyboard - and simultaneously sing? As a simple example, think back to when you first learnt to drive a car (or motorcycle) and how much concentration just maintaining basic control of the vehicle took. Yet with experience, all of the basic control became a subconscious process, leaving much more brain processing capacity available for considering road hazards, talking to passengers, etc.

BB King said that he couldn’t play and sing at the same time (and didn't) because for him singing and playing came from the same part of his brain. Stevie Ray Vaughan on the other hand… Sometimes, I guess it’s how we are made.

 

[GeeJayW]

…..

Alonso “this car has a Formula 2 engine” isn’t much better in this regard either. Given that remark was at the time aimed at Honda, I am surprised Honda are interested in working with him and would not be surprised if his current contract was not renewed.

Oops…

Alonso signs new F1 deal with Aston Martin

Fernando Alonso will continue to race in Formula 1 with Aston Martin next season after the team announced that the two-time world champion has signed a fresh deal to keep him onboard into 2026 and the sport’s next regulatory cycle.

www.formula1.com

 

[AMGeed]

I can only imagine that there must be agreement to 'enhance' the driver line up at the Silverstone based team in the near future

I forget which source printed it, but one of the F1 journalists indicated Stroll Snr is pushing hard to sign Verstappen for the 2026 season.

Found it.

Aston Martin’s ‘spare no expense’ plan to steal Max Verstappen away from Red Bull

Aston Martin are poised to "do everything" to beat Mercedes to the signing of Max Verstappen from Red Bull for the F1 2026 season.

www.planetf1.com

With Red Bull moving to an unproven Ford engine, and Aston Martin joining Honda, along with Adrian Newey being there, I wonder if that will sway Verstappen? If McLaren and Mercedes continue to improve and keep taking points and wins from him, I can see him leaving.

 

[MrGreedy]

I forget which source printed it, but one of the F1 journalists indicated Stroll Snr is pushing hard to sign Verstappen for the 2026 season.

Found it.

Aston Martin’s ‘spare no expense’ plan to steal Max Verstappen away from Red Bull

Aston Martin are poised to "do everything" to beat Mercedes to the signing of Max Verstappen from Red Bull for the F1 2026 season.

www.planetf1.com

With Red Bull moving to an unproven Ford engine, and Aston Martin joining Honda, along with Adrian Newey being there, I wonder if that will sway Verstappen? If McLaren and Mercedes continue to improve and keep taking points and wins from him, I can see him leaving.

What, and join Aston as the 2nd driver? There seem to be too many times recently where the team are not letting Alonso past on a different strategy, or Alonso falling on his sword to be rear gunner for Stroll. Would the Strolls be happy with Stroll Jnr being 2nd? If I were Max, unless motivated predominantly by money, it wouldn't be on my choice of teams for that risk alone.

 

[AMGeed]

What, and join Aston as the 2nd driver? There seem to be too many times recently where the team are not letting Alonso past on a different strategy, or Alonso falling on his sword to be rear gunner for Stroll. Would the Strolls be happy with Stroll Jnr being 2nd? If I were Max, unless motivated predominantly by money, it wouldn't be on my choice of teams for that risk alone.

Verstappen would clearly be #1 in the team and Stroll Jnr would do as the team required. Same as Perez is doing at RB.
Verstappen wouldn't sign a contract unless that was clearly written into it.
Alonso signing until beyond 2026 means nothing. We've seen contracts ripped up to suit teams plenty of times.

 

[Mactech]

I forget which source printed it, but one of the F1 journalists indicated Stroll Snr is pushing hard to sign Verstappen for the 2026 season.

Found it.

Aston Martin’s ‘spare no expense’ plan to steal Max Verstappen away from Red Bull

Aston Martin are poised to "do everything" to beat Mercedes to the signing of Max Verstappen from Red Bull for the F1 2026 season.

www.planetf1.com

With Red Bull moving to an unproven Ford engine, and Aston Martin joining Honda, along with Adrian Newey being there, I wonder if that will sway Verstappen? If McLaren and Mercedes continue to improve and keep taking points and wins from him, I can see him leaving.

That is effectively what I eluded to in post 965....without mentioning any names...

 

[Mactech]

Bono won’t follow Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari after Mercedes F1 promotion

Peter 'Bono' Bonnington won't be following Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari after earning a Mercedes promotion, Crash.net has learned.

www.crash.net

No 'Bono' for Lewis at Ferrari. That will be all part of Lewis working in a whole new environment next year. The driver/engineer relationship is one which takes a little time to perfect, but hopefully both will be willing to learn.
On three separate occasions, I have gone on to win championships when I worked with drivers for a second time. But that could just be that I'm a slow learner, or pure coincidence