1425 replies to this topic

[CPR]

Points difference to last year:

[rodlamas]

Points difference to last year:

Basically Mclaren and Ferrari stole it from Mercedes and Aston. Remember the last 2 share PU, gearbox and rear suspension. Mclaren though has Mercedes PU, builts its own gearbox and its own rear suspension.

[JL14]

According to reports, McLaren are front runners to sign a title sponsorship deal with Mastercard. Please oh please let this be true. That would be huge for McLaren.

 

It's that most people don't have long memories, but I would find it a stupid move from Mastercard after last year 'congratulating' Visa for doing something they'd done years ago. Then now following should be awkward imo.

[KWSN - DSM]

Frontrunners, who are the other teams?

[pup]

Thankfully, unlike RB, MasterCard Premium Cash Back Account MCL would just roll right off the tongue. 

 

Well, hopefully MasterCard's marketing department has better taste than their rival's.  We should prepare for an onslaught of "priceless" memes however.  

[SparkPlug86]

Newey leaving RB... chances that Zak has swooped another masterclass? He hangs out with Newey in historic racing...    Pleeeeeease be true!

[KWSN - DSM]

Newey leaving RB... chances that Zak has swooped another masterclass? He hangs out with Newey in historic racing...    Pleeeeeease be true!

 

That would be something.

[leomac]

Newey leaving RB... chances that Zak has swooped another masterclass? He hangs out with Newey in historic racing...    Pleeeeeease be true!

We have no room for Sanchez, have we for Newey then?

[southernstars]

We have no room for Sanchez, have we for Newey then?

 

Any team would make room for Newey.

[BertoC]

Newey leaving RB... chances that Zak has swooped another masterclass? He hangs out with Newey in historic racing... Pleeeeeease be true!

I hope he retires from F1 tbh, but its pretty obvious he will go to Ferrari, unfortunatly.

[mclarensmps]

I hope he becomes a consultant for F1 regs instead. I'm extremely pleased he is leaving Red Bull - but this isn't a thread about him. 

Looking at the points gained and lost, I think the top 6 is a fair reflection on the year on year improvement, though I am surprised Perez has FEWER points than he had last year, because everyone was talking about how he was awful last year, and how he has picked it up this year. Did he win a race early last year? My memory doesn't serve

[pacificquay]

I hope he becomes a consultant for F1 regs instead. I'm extremely pleased he is leaving Red Bull - but this isn't a thread about him. 

Looking at the points gained and lost, I think the top 6 is a fair reflection on the year on year improvement, though I am surprised Perez has FEWER points than he had last year, because everyone was talking about how he was awful last year, and how he has picked it up this year. Did he win a race early last year? My memory doesn't serve

 

Yes he won 2 races in the early part of last year. Miami was where the slump began.

[Dennista]

We have no room for Sanchez, have we for Newey then?

 

 

Ofcourse.

 

Time for Zak to fly to Bahrain to get a cheque from the Prince and lets bring Newey home.

Edited by Dennista, 25 April 2024 - 19:19.

[pup]

Wishful thinking.  Newey to Ferrari is their worst kept secret since they hired Kimi.  Nothing for McLaren to do about it other than to accept the challenge.  

[jensfan09]

Well Newey’s influence won’t be felt until 2026 at the earliest and there will be so many factors to consider with the new rules as well!

[pup]

Yes he won 2 races in the early part of last year. Miami was where the slump began.

He's had a mid season slump for the past handful of years.  I think he struggles to maintain motivation over the season with Verstappen as his teammate.  

[Burtros]

I don’t regard McLaren as a likely destination for him to be honest, but we can dream.

[Quickshifter]

It changes nothing for Mclaren. They have a strong technical structure and infrastructure in place. Not downplaying the ability of Newey whatsoever, it's just that Mclaren have been closing in on Red Bull even with Newey in place and that without any significant influence from Rob Marshall, whose first proper imprint we will see in 2025. What would be great for Mclaren is if they net that Mastercard title sponsorship as that would provide great cushion as far as finances are corners in the short to medium term.

[Dennista]

If Mastercard do come onboard then we already have one hand on the championship in 2026. The glory days are about to come back, I can feel it in the air.

[Mc_Silver]

It changes nothing for Mclaren. They have a strong technical structure and infrastructure in place. Not downplaying the ability of Newey whatsoever, it's just that Mclaren have been closing in on Red Bull even with Newey in place and that without any significant influence from Rob Marshall, whose first proper imprint we will see in 2025. What would be great for Mclaren is if they net that Mastercard title sponsorship as that would provide great cushion as far as finances are corners in the short to medium term.

Fully agreed. I have read somewhere that Newey has contract with Red Bull until the end of 2025 and if he leaves, there will be one year gardening leave period. If that's the case, he should start working from 2027 onwards.

Edited by Mc_Silver, Yesterday, 07:07.

[kumo7]

Points difference to last year:

 

Land beating the entre grid for winning more points. This is yet anouther proof that he is the guy to have. 

 

 

Newey leaving RB... chances that Zak has swooped another masterclass? He hangs out with Newey in historic racing...    Pleeeeeease be true!

 

I will believe when he leaves. RBR has now power train division. It is hard to think that anyone can offer him more to experiment what he wants to, ... unless Ferrari surrendering its entire factory to him. Would be a remarkable achievements for a British engineer, who conquired the reds, the reds kneeled to Newey. 

[Peugeot905evo1bis]

Lando was about this much slower than Sainz as Piastri is from Norris. 

I personally rate Sainz very highly, but I think at this stage Norris has passed Sainz in terms of pure speed (maybe not in racecraft just yet) - so I'm absolutely not worried in the slightest that Piastri has the potential to catch Norris at the very least, if not pass him in the future. 

We are too quick to judge these drivers. If you're slow, you get found out immediately, but if you're there or thereabouts, you've got the foundations to be a top driver. I think Oscar has those foundations. 

I keep reading this about Piastri but I don't think it's true.

Norris was much closer to Sainz than Piastri is to Norris. 

In qualifying, which is Piastri strongest point so far,  the H2H was Norris 18-16 Sainz after 2 years. Currently, its Norris 18-8 Piastri, 23-10 if you count sprint qualifying. This is clearly not comparable.

And this is qualifying. In races, the gap is much bigger. 

Look at the last race : after 16 laps, when Piastri pitted, he was already 12.2s behind Norris who, in addition, was on a longer stint. That's bad. Besides Jeddah this year and last year, I struggle to remember a race where Oscar was genuinely faster than Lando. Even when he standed out like in Quatar whith his P2, Norris was faster on pace. 

On the other hand, Norris had been faster than Sainz in races in several occasions during their collaboration. 

 

I think this is not an accurate comparison.

[Maustinsj]

If Mastercard do come onboard then we already have one hand on the championship in 2026. The glory days are about to come back, I can feel it in the air.

Easy, tiger!

[Red5ive]

If Mastercard do come onboard then we already have one hand on the championship in 2026. The glory days are about to come back, I can feel it in the air.

 

Not sure how you come to this conclusion - they presumably already have more than enough cash from the other 8,001 sponsors Zak has signed to hit the cost cap/meet drivers pay etc - so this does zero in terms of performance unless the words Mastercard have some aero effect built in that we dont know about..

[New Britain]

Not sure how you come to this conclusion - they presumably already have more than enough cash from the other 8,001 sponsors Zak has signed to hit the cost cap/meet drivers pay etc - so this does zero in terms of performance unless the words Mastercard have some aero effect built in that we dont know about..

Yes, but if the extra profit would give them more scope to pay more to their two top engineers (I'm excluding Zak) in order to retain them, expand their junior driver program, build up their war chest if/when lowlife teams try to poach Lando or Oscar, or increase capital investment somewhere - all that has got to be good.

[Clatter]

Yes, but if the extra profit would give them more scope to pay more to their two top engineers (I'm excluding Zak) in order to retain them, expand their junior driver program, build up their war chest if/when lowlife teams try to poach Lando or Oscar, or increase capital investment somewhere - all that has got to be good.

I assume you mean these engineers are already top earners, so outside the budget cap. How will paying them more make the car faster? And what does it do to the moral of the other engineers, who don't get an increase because it impacts the budget?