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PLP Season 2 Edition 11
2 races down and the people are asking… when will Red Bull not take P1/P2? Good question. But it’s still early and call me an optimist who makes obvious predictions but I bet we see some races where it doesn’t happen. But will it not happen without DNFs or technical problems? That I’m not sure of…
In other exciting news I finished Guenther Steiner’s book, Surviving to Drive only two weeks later than intended. Please clap.
Quick Quiz!
Max opened the year with a Grand Slam (pole/win/fastest lap/lead every lap). Australia is 3rd up on the calendar next weekend. Which current driver scored their first and only Grand Slam at Albert Park? |
Answer revealed at the bottom ⬇
Saudi Arabia GP Recap
Max doing Max things at race start 📸 formula1.com
Podium: 🥇 VER 🥈 PER 🥉 LEC
DNF: GAS - STR
It was lonely at the top… after some early Leclerc/Checo battles, the top three settled in and stayed fairly spread apart. Some of the highlights from Jeddah:
The 4th best part of the race was Lance’s radio message after his crash into the wall (to be clear the crash was not the best part, and thankfully he was fine. But the radio was amazing, check it out in Lance’s section below).
The 3rd best part of the race was McLaren showing both the shortcomings and strengths of their car in battles with Mercedes. Piastri was unable to pass Hamilton due to inefficient DRS, while later on Lando was able to build quick gaps ahead of Lewis as the Papaya People were much quicker in fast corners than the Silver Arrows.
The 2nd best part of the race was the so dubbed “Haasterplan”, which saw Magnussen taking 20 seconds of penalties while backing up 3 cars behind him for about a quarter of the race - enough for teammate Nico Hulkenberg to maintain track position during a late pit stop and take P10.
Lap 32 times MAG vs HUL. The slowdown between turns 4 and 10 (green box) was all it took for about a quarter of the race. 📸 formula1.com
Want to read a detailed breakdown? You can gain access to our full race recap here
Aha! You thought I forgot the 1st best part of the race. Fear not, because the highlight of the race was…
Bearman Roars in Debut Drive
Ferrari reserve driver Ollie Bearman was the story of the weekend, stepping in for now appendix-less Carlos and only getting one practice in before having to jump into his first Quali. There, he just barely missed out on Q3. He put in a stellar drive to take P7 in the race after pit stop strategies and some skillful overtakes saw him move up the grid.
You couldn’t help but root for the kid as he clearly gained confidence throughout he race and instantly made a name for himself in the F1 world - and even took home Driver of the Day honors. Plus, did you see how nervous his dad was? He had to have been sweating more than Ollie himself. There’s already talk of him possibly driving for Haas next season.
The important question: After Albon’s appendix ultimately led to Ricciardo returning to the grid last season, what will be the butterfly effect of Carlos’ former organ?
What’s the deal with reserve drivers anyway?
Like any sport, backups are necessary and can even be the most popular guy on the team (unless your name is Zach Wilson) if your starter isn’t performing. Teams will even share reserve drivers sometimes, who are on hand at every GP in case appendicitis strikes. They can do unlimited testing in old machinery, and log a lot of simulator time testing new sets ups for the team.
As Guenther Steiner explains in his book, “Being a reserve driver…can give you a very good life. The money’s usually good (unless you work for me and Gene) and at the end of the day you don’t have to do a great deal.” According to former driver Alexander Rossi, as a reserve “You drink a lot of cappuccinos, and you play a lot of Candy Crush on your phone, I’m going to be honest with you”
Where do I sign up?
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Reader Question: How can Qualifying be so close, only for Red Bull to build a huge gap by race end?
This is a great question - and a situation that is indeed quite confounding after you see a nail biting quali competition, only for the Red Bulls to build a healthy gap a few laps into the race the next day. So what’s actually going on here? The answer may surprise you! Just kidding. That actually hurt to type. Anyway, there’s a few different reasons why:
Qualifying is strictly about pace. The fastest lap you can possibly do with fresh tires, low fuel, and a charged battery. The tires don’t need to be taken care of (though do have to be warmed up) and the singular goal is to absolutely rip around the track as quickly as possible.
While some cars (and drivers) are better at qualifying than others, that doesn’t mean they can be as competitive in the race - where there are many more factors to consider besides speed. Taking care of the aforementioned tires, navigating traffic, pit stop strategies, and anticipating the competition’s moves are a few.
Max really is that good. While Checo has performed well so far, you don’t see leads like Max’s from him. The 3 time champ is a master at taking care of the car while still lapping as fast as possible. It doesn’t hurt that the RB20 is also very strong, with the most efficient aerodynamics of any car that allow it to be driven so masterfully.
Clean air. When Max shoots out front at turn 1, you rarely see him give up the lead. It’s easier to drive out front, with no dirty air or traffic from other cars to slow you down - making it easier to build a lead.
Down the Grid
🥇Max Verstappen [51]: When asked about taking his 100th podium, he responded “That’s 88 missed podiums!” Joking of course… or is he?
🥈 Sergio Perez [36]: Admits his unsafe pit lane (pulse) release costing him 5 seconds was his own mistake, compromising his “chaotic” race. If a chaotic race is getting a 5s penalty and still taking P2 then I guess he should always strive for chaos…
🥉 Charles Leclerc 📈 [28]: Praises his stand-in teammate for the weekend, says “it’s a matter of time” before Bearman lands an F1 seat. On his own race, Charles said “We maximized everything today”
4️⃣ George Russel 📈 [18]: Concerned the W15 pace is “falling away from us”, and has concerns about broader car set up, adding “It’s so complex these days. These cars are so complicated.” George also dropped a “ifs and buts, carrots and nuts” in a post race interview which I think is just terrific.
5️⃣ Oscar Piastri 📈 [16]: New lid for his home race next weekend. Yes, it has kangaroos on it.
6️⃣ Carlos Sainz 📉 [15]: Recovering from his smooth operation for appendicitis, recreates hospital pic with Carlos Sainz Sr.
7️⃣ Fernando Alonso 📈 [12]: Praises the team for a “step in the right direction” after battling with rivals to a P5 finish
8️⃣ Lando Norris 📉 [12]: Thinks the team’s contrarian strategy gamble to not pit at the safety car and run long on mediums and take softs at the end of the race was the right call. “I thought we’d try something a little bit different, could have worked, it didn’t, that’s how it is sometimes.”
9️⃣ Lewis Hamilton 📉 [8]: Felt like he was in a “different category” when fighting rivals in the high speed corners, the best example being Lando shooting ahead and building a 1 second gap instantly in the fast, twisting sector 2 late in the race
🔟 Ollie Bearman 📈 [6]: Had a great quote on the difference between F1 and F2, “In F2 you drive to the limit of the car, in F1 you drive to the limit of the driver”
11. Nico Hulkenberg 📈 [1]: Vows to “return the favor” to teammate, says race was “a great team game by Kevin”
12. Lance Stroll 📉 [1]: 2nd race and already an instant classic Lance radio: Lance: I’m in the wall. Engineer: Ok can you bring it back Lance? Lance: No I’m in the ******* wall. 😆
13. Alex Albon 📈 [0]: Fears more drivers could repeat Magnussen’s “cheeky” off-track pass. The only cheeky one around here is Valterri…
14. Zhou Guanyu 📉 [0]: A heavy crash in FP3 had mechanics racing to get the car ready for quali. Zhou actually got our on track with minutes to spare but did not cross the line in time to record a timed lap. Since no time was recorded under the 107% rule (qualifying time must be within 107% of leaders), a petition was needed to actually enter the race.
15. Kevin Magnussen 📉 [0]: Received “harsh” 3 penalty points on his super license for the contact with Albon, while team principal Ayao Komatsu concedes the position should have been given back to Tsunoda that allowed the strategy to play out - but thinks K-Mag had the pace to pass him again anyway
16. Daniel Ricciardo 📉 [0]: On his “tough weekend”, says “The only thing that’s probably keeping me a little bit optimistic now is we did find a few things, so that’s positive when you know that. I’ve driven a long time, I know when things don’t feel quite right.”
17. Esteban Ocon [0]: On Alpine being the only team slower in 2024 vs 2023, and qualifying P17 and P18 in Jeddah, “we were expecting a little bit better”
18. Yuki Tsunoda 📉 [0]: Great quali with a P9 start, but admits to some mistakes on race day, “I let a couple of cars behind [pass me] and that was my mistake. But at the same time, it was pretty difficult to handle it.”
19. Logan Sargeant 📈 [0]: Vowles: Logan needs to show continuous improvement to stay with the team past 2024
20. Valtteri Bottas 📉 [0]: After another lackluster race and a pit stop issue for his teammate, he believes there needs to be a “wake-up call” within the team
21. Pierre Gasly 📉 [0]: On his lap 1 DNF due to a gearbox issue, “definitely not our weekend”
Constructor’s Corner
🥇Red Bull [87]: Drama roundup: With rumors still swirling, the team puts the kibosh on rumors Adrian Newey’s role had changed, Helmut Marko was discussed as the potential leaker and thought he may get suspended by the team, and Max’s name is still being associated with other teams (silly).
🥈Ferrari [49]: Team no longer feels like it’s in a “useless” position to challenge Red Bull, although they still face a deficit. Vasseur is happy that their coming upgrade packages can build on an already solid base, rather than addressing problems with the car.
🥉McLaren 📈 [28]: Currently struggling with long turns and DRS, the MCL38 will see its first small upgrades in Australia, and then Japan - with a big package set to debut in Imola
4️⃣ Mercedes 📉 [26]: Toto made a concerning admission that simulator measurements are not translating to performance on track, hindering their ability to optimize the car’s setup. This is a new one. Teams rely heavily on sim data to test, tweak, and tune, but I’ve never heard of it being so far off from reality that teams have called it out as an issue. Maybe someone needs to take the cartridge out of the console and blow on it?
5️⃣ Aston Martin [13]: Krack: It’s “no secret” Alonso is debating his future, with other options likely on the table. Retirement? Never! “The most important thing is that we give him a quick car”
6️⃣ Haas 📈 [1]: The Strategist: How the team used Magnussen to allow Hulkenberg to grab the final point in Jeddah. Slowing down by almost 2 seconds between turns 4 and 12, where it was nearly impossible to overtake, then matching Hulk the rest of the lap did the trick.
7️⃣ Williams 📈 [0]: An under-the-radar P11 finish for Albon who was a victim of the Haasterplan, saying “We had a better race car than we showed today, so now the focus is on improving for Australia”
8️⃣ Kick Sauber 📉 [0]: Working to resolve pit issues after another disastrous stop saw Zhou stationary for about 25 seconds. Team rep Alessandro Alunni Bravi said “it's very important to say that was not the mistake of our mechanics or crew, they are doing a really good job…we are revising the parts in order to not have this problem again in the next races.”
9️⃣ RB 📉 [0]: Racing director Alan Permane wants to talk to the FIA about K-Mag’s “unsportsmanlike behavior” when passing Yuki Tsunoda in Jeddah. Kevin did pick up a 10 second penalty for the incident, but was already 10 seconds deep at the time after making contact with Albon earlier. It’s an interesting point, because at that time he had nothing to lose, and could only help his teammate get an advantage by slowing Yuki down. But I still think it’s a wee bit of whinging.
🔟 Alpine [0]: Team Principal Bruno Famin reveals the biggest driver complain about the A524 is the lack of traction
Tech Talk
Check out this great thread from @dr_obbs on X covering a bunch of F1 tech books and youtube videos. Perfect content for a raceless weekend. Think I’m going to check out “Formula 1 Technology: The engineering explained”. Then maybe I can finally understand how push vs pull rod suspension affects anti-drive.
Here’s a wild stat for you: Kick Sauber has already spent more time in pit stops in 2024 (100.01 seconds) than Carlos Sainz spent in all of 2023 (98.14 seconds). Yikes.
“3 Years on the Bounce” - F1 Tech Tuesday explores why Mercedes still can’t shake their downforce issues that have haunted them since 2022. The W15 was the slowest car through the fast turns of 6-10 in Jeddah, regardless of rear wing choice. They brought the smallest rear wing to the race out of they top teams, suggesting they had been confident in their underbody downforce.
Off the Grid
F1 Arcade is set to open it’s first U.S. location next month in Boston, followed by Washington, D.C. in the Fall. The bar is set to feature 69 full motion racing simulators (nice) and a 37-foot-long bar (oddly specific) in a 2 floor 15k square foot space. A 3 race package will be $20 and a 5 race package will run $30, with each increasing by $5 at peak hours. Seems like decent deal. I tried a simulator last year and my first lap was garbage, but you pick it up pretty quickly. Field trip to Boston or D.C. soon?
If you only watch one F1 clip this week let it be these 16 seconds: A young fan desperately trying to get Charles Leclerc’s attention during the drivers parade. Lecleeerc! CHARLS LE CLEEHEH! LECOLUCLCUGHHH… 🤣 💀
Felipe Massa is suing F1 and the FIA for $125M over 2008 title loss. This situation requires a future deep dive…
Andretti Global sends a message to F1 that their not giving up, releasing renderings of their planned U.S. headquarters in Fishers, to the northeast of Indianapolis.
Quiz Answer
B. Charles Leclerc (SHALAKLA a.k.a. LECLUUHHHH!)
Charles notched his only Grand Slam in 2022 down under. Fernando Alonso also has 1 - at the Singapore GP in 2010. Lewis has 6 (one more than Max). None for Checo… yet?
Not so Fun fact: Reflecting on Charles’ and Ferrari’s hot start to 2022, Helmut Marko recently said that they had the faster car, but the team’s strategy decisions and mistakes allowed Red Bull to overtake them in the standings. Pain.
No race this weekend 😢 But we’ll still be back next Friday 😃. Until then please appreciate the most underrated part of the entire broadcast last Saturday. It was at the every end, so it was easy to miss… but for some reason it had me absolutely dying 🔽
We have sports! This is big “It is you birthday.” energy 📸 f1tv.formula1.com
What did you think of this week's edition? |
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