Official 2023 Saudi Arabia Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

[Derek Smith]

thegreenhell said:

And that was without cost caps and mostly without aero testing limits. It would almost be worthwhile Merc throwing a season completely to get more testing allowance for the next year.

I think they beat you to it.

[Sandpit Steve]

Do we really think that Alonso might get the pole this weekend?

[Sandpit Steve]

Bernie Collins is brilliant. More of her please, someone with a load of recent experience as a team strategist.

[Niponeoff]

Sandpit Steve said:

Bernie Collins is brilliant. More of her please, someone with a load of recent experience as a team strategist.

Yes, some great insight. Genius stroke to get a worker rather than driver.

Just need that beardy mechanic next.

[Bradgate]

I really don’t like this track at all. It’s dangerous, with too many high speed sections with poor forward visibility. I hope we get through the weekend without a major crash.

[vaud]

Bradgate said:

I really don’t like this track at all. It’s dangerous, with too many high speed sections with poor forward visibility. I hope we get through the weekend without a major crash.

They have pulled back some of the walls this year to increase the sight lines based on driver feedback.

[TheDeuce]

Sandpit Steve said:

Bernie Collins is brilliant. More of her please, someone with a load of recent experience as a team strategist.

Very different to the last Bernie that had a voice on the F1 stage

[mw88]

Sandpit Steve said:

Bernie Collins is brilliant. More of her please, someone with a load of recent experience as a team strategist.

Sky talking to James Vowels on the pit wall is great too - So much detail in his responses that just isn't there when Sky talk to other team principles during the weekend.

[Stealthracer]

I predict another borefest. But then, I've been doing that for years.

FP1, first six places:

Both Red Bulls
followed by
Both Astons
followed by
Both Mercedes.

May as well forget the drivers championship, F1 is just a competition between cars now.

[WonkeyDonkey]

Stealthracer said:

I predict another borefest. But then, I've been doing that for years.

FP1, first six places:

Both Red Bulls
followed by
Both Astons
followed by
Both Mercedes.

May as well forget the drivers championship, F1 is just a competition between cars now.

Always has been save for the odd occasion like 21.

You can only hope that the fastest car has two well matched drivers.

[TheDeuce]

vaud said:

Bradgate said:

I really don’t like this track at all. It’s dangerous, with too many high speed sections with poor forward visibility. I hope we get through the weekend without a major crash.

They have pulled back some of the walls this year to increase the sight lines based on driver feedback.

Correct, they've made it a lot better compared to what it was. However, still not ideal and I think it's hugely likely there will be an incident at some point this weekend.

I think it's right that a few drivers openly criticised the circuit previously and of course that forced the FIA to mandate some changes - they can't claim an oversight when a driver has been killed when other drivers are on record having told them publicly that it could happen... So they have changed it just enough to have 'taken action', it's still dangerous but I would say it's just about an acceptable compromise between excitement/jeopardy/safety at this point.

I like the circuit. It'll be gone a in a year or so though, it's just a temporary venue for the SA GP.

[Bradgate]

Sandpit Steve said:

Bernie Collins is brilliant. More of her please, someone with a load of recent experience as a team strategist.

Yes, she’s fantastic. I hope she does more work for Sky and they ask her to do some proper, non dumbed-down analysis of race strategies. We can hope…

[GMT13]

Sandpit Steve said:

Do we really think that Alonso might get the pole this weekend?

No chance unfortunately. He'll be 3rd.

It's all down to Perez to somehow make this season exciting

[Niponeoff]

TheDeuce said:

vaud said:

Bradgate said:

I really don’t like this track at all. It’s dangerous, with too many high speed sections with poor forward visibility. I hope we get through the weekend without a major crash.

They have pulled back some of the walls this year to increase the sight lines based on driver feedback.

Correct, they've made it a lot better compared to what it was. However, still not ideal and I think it's hugely likely there will be an incident at some point this weekend.

I think it's right that a few drivers openly criticised the circuit previously and of course that forced the FIA to mandate some changes - they can't claim an oversight when a driver has been killed when other drivers are on record having told them publicly that it could happen... So they have changed it just enough to have 'taken action', it's still dangerous but I would say it's just about an acceptable compromise between excitement/jeopardy/safety at this point.

I like the circuit. It'll be gone a in a year or so though, it's just a temporary venue for the SA GP.

What's with all the walls? They've built a circuit that looks the same all round it.

They could have done so much better.

[anonymous-user]

Stealthracer said:

I predict another borefest. But then, I've been doing that for years.

FP1, first six places:

Both Red Bulls
followed by
Both Astons
followed by
Both Mercedes.

May as well forget the drivers championship, F1 is just a competition between cars now.

Here are a few things that will keep it interesting…
1.Reliability will be a big issue
2.We haven’t seen Stroll at the sharp end before, it certainly won’t be a “stroll” for him
3.Perez and Russell have things to prove
4.Ferrari….

[Derek Smith]

Stealthracer said:

I predict another borefest. But then, I've been doing that for years.

The racing under the hybrid rules has been consistently the best I've seen in any formula since the start of the 3-litre.

If you think it is boring, I'm not entirely convinced F1 is for you.

[Dusty964]

Niponeoff said:

What's with all the walls? They've built a circuit that looks the same all round it.

They could have done so much better.

Why bother.

It's a temporary facility

[TheDeuce]

Dusty964 said:

Niponeoff said:

What's with all the walls? They've built a circuit that looks the same all round it.

They could have done so much better.

Why bother.

It's a temporary facility

Exactly, and it's kind of shoe-horned into an otherwise busy development area, so the walls are needed. I'm sure there were also some people involved that figured it might be quite exciting to have such a high speed circuit seem even faster by the close proximity of track walls.

Enjoy it for what it is whilst it lasts. I'm sure several of the drivers get a bit of a buzz out of it.

[thegreenhell]

GMT13 said:

No chance unfortunately. He'll be 3rd.

It's all down to Perez to somehow make this season exciting

By fighting Alonso for 2nd...

[honda_exige]

TheDeuce said:

Dusty964 said:

Niponeoff said:

What's with all the walls? They've built a circuit that looks the same all round it.

They could have done so much better.

Why bother.

It's a temporary facility

Exactly, and it's kind of shoe-horned into an otherwise busy development area, so the walls are needed. I'm sure there were also some people involved that figured it might be quite exciting to have such a high speed circuit seem even faster by the close proximity of track walls.

Enjoy it for what it is whilst it lasts. I'm sure several of the drivers get a bit of a buzz out of it.

I love this circuit, we'll miss it when it's gone as there will likely never be another like it for sense of speed and balls to the literal walls driving.