Official 2024 Australian Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***
Poll: Official 2024 Australian Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***
Total Members Polled: 129
Discussion
Piginapoke said:
Dingu said:
If Logan hadn’t stacked it so much last year maybe he would be closer in terms of performance. But he did and is clearly the poorer driver. So it makes sense. He is lucky to have a seat this year tbh.
It’s a sure way to make sure your number 2 driver has zero confidence for the rest of the year. It was Albon’s mistake, he should have to sit it out. But the main thing is how can a team get to the third race of the season without a spare tub? The first 2 cars were built 5 weeks ago, the team has had no major crash repairs to do. It’s very poor and include Vowles in that.
Do any of the other teams not have a spare tub yet?
StevieBee said:
Those few points could be worth many millions.
All teams are running to a cost capped budget so the ability to build and transport spare parts is not as expansive as it once was. And that aside, it's not unusual this early in the season for the teams not to have yet built up a useful spares inventory. Don't forget that the cars have not seen the inside of the factories since they set off for Bahrain.
The cars are just a load of parts built to CADCAM, they dont need to be at the factory for build up.All teams are running to a cost capped budget so the ability to build and transport spare parts is not as expansive as it once was. And that aside, it's not unusual this early in the season for the teams not to have yet built up a useful spares inventory. Don't forget that the cars have not seen the inside of the factories since they set off for Bahrain.
Spare chassis are built up with all the major systems such as fuel cells, wiring looms, hydraulics lines etc and thrown in a box. At circuit the spare is updated with new parts designs to match the latest spec. It's an ongoing job all year with mechanics employed specifically to build up the spare tub at the venue.
If it's needed you then throw the powertrain, corners, aero surfaces etc on and away you go.
JV has been there long enough to have sorted out the basics like a spare tub, it seems he threw away what was antiquated but working systems and broke the backbone, s
ts hit the fan as a result.It's usually at this stage things look at their worst and most broken when changing systems, hopefully the pain pays off longer term.
We saw it with Paddy Lowe how when he tried to implement change there the place fell apart, lets hope JV sees it through.
Back to the on track action, the Mercedes looks horrible, rear end is all over the place. Ferrari looks pretty decent. Red Bull haven't wound it up yet, but i suspect Perez wont have the easy run of the last two events, this track needs more driver input than the last two.
Absolutely brutal from Vowles - and absolutely the right call. This is F1 not a kids birthday party karting trip, and it's not as if F1's history isn't replete with examples of teams sacrificing one driver's race for the other, and his job is to get the best result for the team.
Retaining Sargent for this year was a marginal call at best, on a good day he's consistently 2-3 tenths off Albon's pace and with the bulk of the grid so tightly clumped together right now those few tenths could make all the difference. There's a better than even chance of a safety car in Australia and that could translate into a decent opportunity for points.
Retaining Sargent for this year was a marginal call at best, on a good day he's consistently 2-3 tenths off Albon's pace and with the bulk of the grid so tightly clumped together right now those few tenths could make all the difference. There's a better than even chance of a safety car in Australia and that could translate into a decent opportunity for points.
As Brundle said, "putting Albon in Sargeant's car is an absolute no brainer".
For anyone who thinks it's unjust, or unfair, or just unsporting what would they expect if Max had a terrible accident littered P1, P2 and P3 leaving Red Bull with just one car? Would they expect RB to send Perez out to race on Sunday? No, of course not.
For anyone who thinks it's unjust, or unfair, or just unsporting what would they expect if Max had a terrible accident littered P1, P2 and P3 leaving Red Bull with just one car? Would they expect RB to send Perez out to race on Sunday? No, of course not.
Smollet said:
Just seen the interview with Lewis. I don't think I've ever seen him look more despondent
At this point with the decision to lightly punish Nikola Tsolov, Mercedes should remove the front wing, replace it with a snow plough for the race and just have Lewis not brake for the first corner 
race stopped, you can work on the cars, put on a proper front wing and he might just have a chance of points this weekend
Is there any long run tyre deg analysis anywhere?
ETA : found this https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/what-we-learned...
Which makes it seem like this race could be an interesting one!
ETA : found this https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/what-we-learned...
Which makes it seem like this race could be an interesting one!
Edited by eps on Friday 22 March 13:31
suffolk009 said:
As Brundle said, "putting Albon in Sargeant's car is an absolute no brainer".
For anyone who thinks it's unjust, or unfair, or just unsporting what would they expect if Max had a terrible accident littered P1, P2 and P3 leaving Red Bull with just one car? Would they expect RB to send Perez out to race on Sunday? No, of course not.
I don't think it's unjust or unfair having watched F1 for years but it is an indictment of the state of Williams. Be interesting to see how it pans out over the rest of the weekend. For anyone who thinks it's unjust, or unfair, or just unsporting what would they expect if Max had a terrible accident littered P1, P2 and P3 leaving Red Bull with just one car? Would they expect RB to send Perez out to race on Sunday? No, of course not.
If Max trashes two cars in a weekend pre-race through his own mistakes and Perez had been accident free then I'd still expect Max to get the remaining car ... tough decisions have to me made sometimes.
ghost83 said:
What’s actually changed at Mercedes for them to be so bad? It’s like 2013–2021 was a totally different team
Maybe a model, culture and mindset more atuned to a having the blank chequebook. Followed by taking a risk for the new regs (and why not, good to take risks in design and it was brave) but then it's failure taking years to rectify in a cost-cap environment?
James Vowles handing over Logan Sargeant’s car to Alex Albon
https://twitter.com/ScrewderiaF1/status/1771164812...
https://twitter.com/ScrewderiaF1/status/1771164812...
vaud said:
Maybe a model, culture and mindset more atuned to a having the blank chequebook.
Followed by taking a risk for the new regs (and why not, good to take risks in design and it was brave) but then it's failure taking years to rectify in a cost-cap environment?
They're suffering from the cost cap in the way that the other engine mfrs suffered under the token system at the start of the hybrid era. Chucking work away and starting again costs a lot of money that they're not allowed to spend.Followed by taking a risk for the new regs (and why not, good to take risks in design and it was brave) but then it's failure taking years to rectify in a cost-cap environment?
Mr Pointy said:
ghost83 said:
What’s actually changed at Mercedes for them to be so bad? It’s like 2013–2021 was a totally different team
A lot have staff have been poached by other teams. You can't lose top people & it have no effect.asfault said:
DanielSan said:
Albon has been given Sargeants car for the rest of the weekend. If they have that little faith in Sargesbt why keep him on for this season?
spares...I dint blame Vowles for making the decision, Sargeant must be bringing decent cash to that seat otherwise keeping him on is the stupid decision
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