Mid season Reports.

[Milkyway]

Admittedly... Not an original idea from moi.

Somebody mentioned this in the Hungarian GP thread... & I thought that it had legs.
Using the old exam rating system... Cos I'm old.

Not limited to the drivers, but can include Teams & personnel too.
(After all, it is a team sport).

A: Excellent
B: Good.
C: Average
D: Below Average.
U: Ungraded (Fail)
(+ & - for each grade can also be used... for a few extra seconds.)

Edited by Milkyway on Monday 27th July 10:39

[Steamer]

Ferrari: Producing a great car (finally)... and finding a new way to shoot yourselves & your lead driver in the foot.

If penalties were 'winning': 10 / 10 Excellent Work

[Milkyway]

Lance lacks natural sporting ability... but he trys his best. (C-).

NB: But we must thank his Father for his generous contributions.

Edited by Milkyway on Monday 27th July 11:04

[StevieBee]

I don't think any team deserves an A (either + or -) They've all made some errors. But I'd give Racing Bulls a B+ based upon them being consistently at the tail end of the main runners.

Drivers? Kimi gets an A. I'd give Lewis an A- (possibly a B+). Leclerc a C on account of the errors early on in the season. Not sure about Max.

[bergclimber34]

Z. Don't really care.

[n3il123]

bergclimber34 for constant moaning on every thread - A+

[realjv]

Merc B+
Competitive to dominant everywhere but also confused by the operation of their own engines.

Ferrari B-
Started off starting well but fading. Progressed to starting less well and less fading. In a very close self inflicted foot shooting contest with McLaren.

McLaren C+
Poor start, good progress, operational question marks.

Red Bull C+
Would look a whole lot worse without Max. Very impressive first engine effort, less impressive chassis.

Racing Bulls C+
Kept things simple and produced a car with no apparent vices. Reaping the benefits but stuck in a competitive no-mans land.

Alpine D
Great turnaround from last years self inflicted chaos. Long way to go.

Hass D
Zzzzz. Perceived performance entirely dependent on what other teams do rather than themselves.

Audi C-
Typical Sauber rather than typical Audi.
Steady, average performance rather than aggressive tailgating the car in front.

Williams D-
Overweight ill handling disappointment. Being late to pre-season testing (again) was inexcusable.

Aston Martin E
Honda's under baked engine is understandable - late start) - Aston Martins chassis less so.

Cadillac C
High marks for simply getting 2 cars on the grid barely 12 months after receiving entry. Performance isn't anything special, need to show progress now.

[Piginapoke]

Williams has to be “See Me” for the utter tripe its served up so far

Mercedes wins “most improved” prize

[Milkyway]

Piginapoke said:

Williams has to be See Me for the utter tripe its served up so far

Mercedes wins most improved prize

I went out for a walk, & a see me later / afterwards crossed my mind too... For somebody.
(Perhaps a darn good spanking is going a bit far).

Edited by Milkyway on Monday 27th July 22:17

[Piginapoke]

Milkyway said:

Piginapoke said:

Williams has to be See Me for the utter tripe its served up so far

Mercedes wins most improved prize

I went out for a walk, & a see me later / afterwards crossed my mind too... For somebody.
(Perhaps a darn good spanking is going a bit far).

Edited by Milkyway on Monday 27th July 22:17

Max Mosely would approve of that!

[PhilAsia]

Piginapoke said:

Milkyway said:

Piginapoke said:

Williams has to be See Me for the utter tripe its served up so far

Mercedes wins most improved prize

I went out for a walk, & a see me later / afterwards crossed my mind too... For somebody.
(Perhaps a darn good spanking is going a bit far).

Edited by Milkyway on Monday 27th July 22:17

Max Mosely would approve of that!

And Trump. Although he would prefer a dam good spanking

[The-Wanderer]

n3il123 said:

bergclimber34 for constant moaning on every thread - A+

This. Absolutey this.

A* for this post

[rdjohn]

James Vowles D-

Rarely realises his ambition. Showed promise, but failing badly this term. Did not even turn up on Day-1. Talks too much and needs to concentrate on the here and now. Will be lucky to make it to the end of the year.

[Derek Smith]

rdjohn said:

James Vowles D-

Rarely realises his ambition. Showed promise, but failing badly this term. Did not even turn up on Day-1. Talks too much and needs to concentrate on the here and now. Will be lucky to make it to the end of the year.

I agree. I expected, perhaps not great things, but some movement towards the mid-field.

Very disappointing.

Otherwise:

The season is nowhere near as bad as suggested. We've had some exciting battles between cars, probably more than we've had for half a season recently. With DRS, there were overtakes and that was it, apart from the complaints of artificiality. Now the passes are much different, in all but one way.

Also, the season, with the new regs, is developing nicely, with the promise of four makes in it for the podium. We could have lots of inter-team battles, and lots of moans about artificiality. The teams and drivers are learning to cope with the new regs and, I assume, will be exerting pressure for some changes.

As for ratings: better than most seasons so far.

[CT05 Nose Cone]

A - Mercedes, Ferrari, Racing Bulls

B - McLaren, Red Bull

C - Audi, Alpine, Cadillac

D - Aston, Williams, Haas

[Milkyway]

George seems unsettled & easily distracted this year & needs to find his 'Happy Place'. I hope that the Summer break will revitalise him.
(B)

FIA: Adequate...but improvements required.

Edited by Milkyway on Wednesday 29th July 16:47

[Eau301]

a D for Domenicali



Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali says the 2026 championship will end in Europe if the conflict in the Middle East makes it impossible to hold the season-closing races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Domenicali said on a call with F1 media that a final decision would be made by the "middle of September".

"For us today, the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are confirmed," Domenicali said. "By the way, they are already sold out. That is an incredible sign of how much the sport is bigger than the problem that our world is living.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cx2r...


What a silly thing to say

[Josemartinez]

Eau301 said:

a D for Domenicali



Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali says the 2026 championship will end in Europe if the conflict in the Middle East makes it impossible to hold the season-closing races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Domenicali said on a call with F1 media that a final decision would be made by the "middle of September".

"For us today, the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are confirmed," Domenicali said. "By the way, they are already sold out. That is an incredible sign of how much the sport is bigger than the problem that our world is living.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cx2r...


What a silly thing to say

I think the rest of his quote regarding the PU were even worse, saying fans who don't like the PU's don't understand the PU's and asking drivers to stop saying bad things about the PU's.

Below is taken from the article

But Domenicali said: "There is a lot of action on the track. People are loving it. They are focused on what is happening on the track.

"They don't understand our technology, division of 'clipping', or whatever it is, because it's too technical for the wider base that we have. Therefore, the effect on the track has been widely super positive about the fans."

He acknowledged steps taken to reduce the effect of energy recovery on driving over the next two seasons as "the right thing for the sport".

And he admitted he had asked drivers to be "constructive" in their comments after outspoken remarks from Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and others.

"We are not here to put tape on the mouth of anyone," Domenicali said. "The beauty of motorsport is that everyone can have an opinion, but the opinion is an opinion. I prefer to discuss things in that respect in four walls to find solutions."

[richhead]

Eau301 said:

a D for Domenicali



Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali says the 2026 championship will end in Europe if the conflict in the Middle East makes it impossible to hold the season-closing races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Domenicali said on a call with F1 media that a final decision would be made by the "middle of September".

"For us today, the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are confirmed," Domenicali said. "By the way, they are already sold out. That is an incredible sign of how much the sport is bigger than the problem that our world is living.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cx2r...


What a silly thing to say

WEC announced the other day that the last 2 rounds will be in Europe not m/east, i expect F1 will do the same.

[Eau301]

Josemartinez said:

Eau301 said:

a D for Domenicali



Formula 1 president Stefano Domenicali says the 2026 championship will end in Europe if the conflict in the Middle East makes it impossible to hold the season-closing races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Domenicali said on a call with F1 media that a final decision would be made by the "middle of September".

"For us today, the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi are confirmed," Domenicali said. "By the way, they are already sold out. That is an incredible sign of how much the sport is bigger than the problem that our world is living.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/articles/cx2r...


What a silly thing to say

I think the rest of his quote regarding the PU were even worse, saying fans who don't like the PU's don't understand the PU's and asking drivers to stop saying bad things about the PU's.

Below is taken from the article

But Domenicali said: "There is a lot of action on the track. People are loving it. They are focused on what is happening on the track.

"They don't understand our technology, division of 'clipping', or whatever it is, because it's too technical for the wider base that we have. Therefore, the effect on the track has been widely super positive about the fans."

He acknowledged steps taken to reduce the effect of energy recovery on driving over the next two seasons as "the right thing for the sport".

And he admitted he had asked drivers to be "constructive" in their comments after outspoken remarks from Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and others.

"We are not here to put tape on the mouth of anyone," Domenicali said. "The beauty of motorsport is that everyone can have an opinion, but the opinion is an opinion. I prefer to discuss things in that respect in four walls to find solutions."

I'm beginning to realise that Domenicali is a corporate Yes man.
Might be a nice guy socially, but he's pandering to a media company theme park rather than trying to preserve an authentic sport. It's as if Domenicali would be happy with AI driven cars.

If MBS can pushback for greater driver input then I'm all for it.