Official 2024 Miami Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[TheDeuce]

732NM said:

TheDeuce said:

I assume that at this point Merc are putting quite a bit towards the 2026 effort - they've irrecoverably screwed up this regs era so... I think they won't do anything remotely interesting this season or next.

Defiitely good to see something from DR! I swear that guy used to be a great F1 driver..

They can't do anything on the 26 car design until next year, it's not allowed.

This is all they have, not good.

They can always do something in advance of what they can officially do. They can try things on the current cars that might be useful come 2026.

If you can't win, learn.

[Leithen]

TheDeuce said:

They can always do something in advance of what they can officially do. They can try things on the current cars that might be useful come 2026.

If you can't win, learn.

They need to solve their correlation problem. If it really is as bad as has been reported, then nothing else matters. They could in theory be satisfied qualifying 19th and 20th if the car data matched the modelling.

Until they have solved this, work on 2026 is almost irrelevant.

[732NM]

TheDeuce said:

They can always do something in advance of what they can officially do. They can try things on the current cars that might be useful come 2026.

If you can't win, learn.

They can't. The 26 cars are very different. Job one is try and recover for 25, 24 may still come good eventually on the correct track.

[phil1979]

So glad I bought Bose shares this year.

[paulguitar]

phil1979 said:

So glad I bought Bose shares this year.

Not sure there will be much throwing down of headphones, they are too far away to be all that bothered.

[TheDeuce]

732NM said:

TheDeuce said:

They can always do something in advance of what they can officially do. They can try things on the current cars that might be useful come 2026.

If you can't win, learn.

They can't. The 26 cars are very different. Job one is try and recover for 25, 24 may still come good eventually on the correct track.

The current seasons cars are hopeless - even if they do happen to have a good day at a specific circuit, that's nothing to celebrate.

RBR are bound to dominate again next season.

They know the outline of the 2026 regs and they can subtly make an effort towards that.

[732NM]

TheDeuce said:

The current seasons cars are hopeless - even if they do happen to have a good day at a specific circuit, that's nothing to celebrate.

RBR are bound to dominate again next season.

They know the outline of the 2026 regs and they can subtly make an effort towards that.

Apart from being against the rules, the car shape, aero concept, powertrain design and many other areas is all different. 25 is likely a RB walk in the park too.

26 is a bigger reset than 22 was. I fear it's going to be st as they chase 50% battery power.

[Yazza54]

What happened to Landos lap? I fell asleep right at the end of sprint quali but his q2 lap was faster than Max's Q3 lap. He seems to have a habit of dropping the ball when it matters, just like me falling asleep

[TheDeuce]

732NM said:

TheDeuce said:

The current seasons cars are hopeless - even if they do happen to have a good day at a specific circuit, that's nothing to celebrate.

RBR are bound to dominate again next season.

They know the outline of the 2026 regs and they can subtly make an effort towards that.

Apart from being against the rules, the car shape, aero concept, powertrain design and many other areas is all different. 25 is likely a RB walk in the park too.

26 is a bigger reset than 22 was. I fear it's going to be st as they chase 50% battery power.

I obviously believe that with nothing else to fight for, there are ways that a team such as Merc can at least direct something towards the next big regs change. I find it impossible to imagine that no effort is being towards that goal.

As for the PU change, yes it's a big one. It's about to redefine how drivers and engineers use the power available. It's likely that one team could have a runaway success if they get it right straight out of the box.

[Kart16]

Yazza54 said:

What happened to Landos lap? I fell asleep right at the end of sprint quali but his q2 lap was faster than Max's Q3 lap. He seems to have a habit of dropping the ball when it matters, just like me falling asleep

Apparently both McLarens didn’t adapt well to the soft tyres.

[Murghee]

Dissapointed in norris and mclaren

Thought they were likely to get pole should have kept the mediums on or atleast seen from data how the softs would be through practice or even q1

[732NM]

Murghee said:

Dissapointed in norris and mclaren

Thought they were likely to get pole should have kept the mediums on or atleast seen from data how the softs would be through practice or even q1

The rules mandate the tyre compound they must run. They had no choice but to use the soft.

[Derek Smith]

Murghee said:

Dissapointed in norris and mclaren

Thought they were likely to get pole should have kept the mediums on or atleast seen from data how the softs would be through practice or even q1

There should be a club for people like us. Or maybe just a thread.

[Orchardab]

Leithen said:

TheDeuce said:

They can always do something in advance of what they can officially do. They can try things on the current cars that might be useful come 2026.

If you can't win, learn.

They need to solve their correlation problem. If it really is as bad as has been reported, then nothing else matters. They could in theory be satisfied qualifying 19th and 20th if the car data matched the modelling.

Until they have solved this, work on 2026 is almost irrelevant.

Isn’t this like history repeating itself…. Honda had the same problems pre Brawn.

[CSNY]

https://media.formula1.com/image/upload/f_auto,c_l...

It would appear that McLaren is the car to beat according to this data chart, even allowing for the Q3 f@£% up. It's not optimal to introduce a rake of new upgrades during a sprint weekend, so the potential once Macca sort the set up issues out is pretty big.

Good to see!

[Byker28i]

TheDeuce said:

Jesus. Max not able to believe that he made a bunch of minor errors and still beat the rest of the field.

Even he can't believe how quick he is in that car.

Looks like everyone struggled in softs?
The real race could be good as the McLarens look pacey.
The Merc seems to be going backwards, seems to only be working in a narrower window with everything they try.

[Yazza54]

I wonder if the McLaren either failed to fire up the softs or completely cooked them. Either way, on the harder race oriented compounds it seems they'll be up there, I just hope they manage to qualify well.

[Jasandjules]

Those Merc upgrades have worked a treat..........Both drivers looked like they were wrestling...

Brave of McLaren to throw so many updates at once but it seems like (except for turning on the softs) it has paid off. In the race I expect them to be moving forwards.

What the hell was injected in Danny Ric? 4th? Damn.

Just a shame those Red Bulls have such a pace advantage.

The Ferraris also look quite good from the on boards.

But the Astons seem to have gone a bit backwards? Or is it fairer to say a couple of the other teams have just gone forwards....

[Yazza54]

Jasandjules said:

Those Merc upgrades have worked a treat..........Both drivers looked like they were wrestling...

Brave of McLaren to throw so many updates at once but it seems like (except for turning on the softs) it has paid off. In the race I expect them to be moving forwards.

What the hell was injected in Danny Ric? 4th? Damn.

Just a shame those Red Bulls have such a pace advantage.

The Ferraris also look quite good from the on boards.

But the Astons seem to have gone a bit backwards? Or is it fairer to say a couple of the other teams have just gone forwards....

McLaren throwing so many upgrades at the car last season and this season and them immediately seeing an improvement just shows how they have a handle on what they're doing, it's great to see. Zack completely shut down any talks about going after Newey when asked and chose to give his own engineers a shout out instead, great leadership and vote of confidence.

By comparison it is clear that Mercedes are completely lost. I get the impression that there are still fundamental problems in the cars design and no amount of aero add ons are going to resolve it.

Edited by Yazza54 on Saturday 4th May 10:29

[Still Mulling]

Jasandjules said:

But the Astons seem to have gone a bit backwards? Or is it fairer to say a couple of the other teams have just gone forwards....

My feel is that the midfield is so tight that minor circuit preferences for each car will see it ebb and flow throughout the season.