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wood

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by wood

  1. Yeah my kid and I were just saying the same thing. Lewis, Alonso, and Max did it very young, but not many others. A whole lot more have come up too soon and flamed out spectacularly.
  2. There's some logic to that. To me though, the risk would be in potentially crushing the confidence of a guy who could be great some day if handled correctly but hasn't even found his way in F2 yet after skipping F3. Putting him in a Merc seat next year seems too fast imho, but who knows. ETA: For some time, people have thought that Sainz is headed to Audi in 2026. If so, he needs a ride for 2025. 1 year at Merc would be perfect for him and would allow Merc to let Ant cook a little more.
  3. Just started watching FP1. Looks like none of us are out there, wow. I've never seen Friday this bad for MotoGP. Two minutes into practice and the main topic is already the racing surface. At least 5 different surfaces, multiple grip levels. the usual ripples and bumps, and according to NASCAR drivers it'll need resurfacing again before F1, etc. Don't hold your breath for that one.
  4. La Gazzetta dello Sport is reporting Sainz to Mercedes on a 1+1 deal. https://www.gazzetta.it/Formula-1/12-04-2024/carlos-sainz-va-alla-mercedes-f1.shtml
  5. Nice. Not surprised. Wrapped up at least through 2026 and has committed to a role with the team after he stops racing. This is where I've been thinking he'd end up. There's not much allure for him at Merc at the moment, and I don't think a RBR seat will open up. Add in the team culture and the way the team and Alonso get along, all the infrastructure and engineering talent investment Stroll's been making, plus Honda coming onboard (even though a lot of people said Honda would force Alonso out) and there's a lot of potential there. 'He'll never drive for Renault again after 2006! ---> drives for Renault again. 'He'll never drive for Ferrari!' after his comments during 2006 ---> drives for Ferrari 'He'll never drive for Ron Dennis or McLaren again!' ---> drives for Ron Dennis and McLaren again. 'He'll never drive for Renault again!' after 2009 ---> drives for Renault again in an Alpine. 'There's no way he can stay quick at his age!' ---> stays very quick as he gets older. 'He'll never drive a Mercedes-powered car again!' ---> drives a Mercedes-powered car again. 'He'll never drive a Honda-powered car again!' ---> extends to drive a Honda-powered car again.
  6. No. So they'd have more teams actually trying to compete. I mean, a 20 team relegation format sounds great, but it's never gonna happen when Andretti fucking Cadillac can't even gain acceptance as an 11th team. And what NoName said better than I was gonna be able to say it.
  7. I'd be happy if they'd just increase the field to 11-13 teams.
  8. In related news, this just in: Potential Andretti F1 opening emerges after shock Helmut Marko reveal Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko has said many potential buyers are swirling around their second team RB with a sale possible, which re-ignites hope of Andretti joining the Formula 1 grid. https://www.planetf1.com/news/potential-andretti-f1-opening-helmut-marko-rb-sale
  9. Yep. I've been thinking since they were rejected that they're gonna show up and force Liberty to negotiate a deal. I really think they're going to continue operating in good faith and force FOM's hand. Meanwhile, rumors that Alpine is for sale. Surprised it took this long. I've thought for a long time that Renault/Alpine have seemed like they were looking for an exit.
  10. Yep. Skip compounds, mix it up from year to year at each circuit so they have no data, etc, etc. There's so much they could do but won't. It's ... frustrating.
  11. At least partly because the US race promoters don't want the US races to be back to back. Some folks better start building better cars then.
  12. Wow. HPU is ass. If you can't call the inside corner, what are you doing? the surlyfans.
  13. Depends on whether RBR can build the next PU and whether MB can get their heads around building a ground-effect car. Both are among the reasons I think Alonso likely stays put at AM. Oh, and if he stays at AM, Alonso will also get a Honda PU.
  14. Re: Silly season, this article says prety much what I've been thinking. https://formu1a.uno/it/wolff-accelera-la-preparazione-di-antonelli-test-in-austria-poi-imola/ - Everyone interested (Horner, Wolff, Alonso, Sainz) expects Verstappen to stay at Red Bull. - Alonso is not interested in Mercedes as he believe Aston Martin is a better team. His intention is renewing with AM but he's taking a bit of time to see how the situation at Red Bull evolves. - Wolff is dreaming about Verstappen but he's also accelerating Antonelli's F1 development. He's gonna have multiple F1 test sessions this year. - Sainz is having talks with Mercedes.
  15. What I was told is that he's contracted through 2027 or '28. So he's locked up unless someone tries to steal/moneywhip him, and nobody's going to be buying him out of his contract if he’s not lighting up F2.
  16. They don't need to bring him up to F1 yet to keep him as a Mercedes driver. If he truly is another Max or anything close to that, they risk ruining him and breaking his confidence by bringing him up too early, a la Sargeant and a million other athletes that were rushed to the top level too quickly. Yep, we'll see. But the guys who follow F2 closely say they've seen nothing yet to indicate he's even adjusted to F2, like Burt said. A great many of those prospects don't live up to the hype simply because they're mishandled.
  17. In six races, Antonelli has yet to even podium in F2. His best finish is P4. His average position in the 5 races he's finished is P8. F1 circuits all over the world are littered with the shattered hopes and broken dreams of 'can't miss prospect', 'next big thing' young drivers. Antonelli may indeed end up being one of the greats, and I hope he does, but the odds are against that. It absolutely could happen, but even if it does, he likely still needs a bit of seasoning before jumping up to F1 with only 6 F2 races under his belt. Hell, before Sargeant came up, my guy said he needed more seasoning before going to F1, and it turned out he was right. Seems like something they should take into consideration this time.
  18. And Alonso, the other guy they lost in that monumental fuckup, has 222. So it's 347 for Alonso and Piastri to 120 for Alpine. But hey, they locked up their man for 4 more years. Don't care. Got Ocon! I've heard that the current leadership is not a fan of that idiotic move, to put it in the nicest possible terms. Piastri and Alonso probably couldn't be happier about how it worked out though.
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