🏁 Lights Out on 2024

PLP Season 2 Edition 9

It’s Race Weekend!

Oh how we’ve waited for those 3 glorious words. It’s been a surprisingly action packed off season, but we’ve finally arrived at the moment we’ve all been waiting for. And remember - the race this weekend is Saturday - 10am on the east coast. And if you’re reading this before 11am EST on Friday, you still have time to catch the first qualifying of the year. CAN’T WAIT (Bart Scott voice).

Before we get into it, a few housekeeping items:

• PLP F1 Fantasy League: It’s not too late to join! We’ll award Amazon gift cards for the podium finishers ($50, $30, $20 respectively) based on points scored per race - so you still have a chance to enter even if you miss a few races. Sign up using this link or use code C4BIJKL1Y01 when assigning your team to a league.

• Downloadable 2024 Race Calendar: New subscribers are now offered a free 1-page 2024 race calendar I created when they sign up, and well, since you already subscribe… you can get yours here.

• PLP Premium: For those that can’t get enough F1 - I’m excited to announce PLP Premium, for $3/month or $30/year. What can you expect to get for supporting the Pulse? I’m glad you asked:

  • Immediate benefits

    • A special edition race recap delivered Monday morning after every Grand Prix. That’s 24 extra editions in 2024, with the first one on the way this Monday.

    • Additional bonus editions as they are completed. Think tech deep dives, F1 history lessons, interviews with people in the industry, racing data analysis - all that good stuff. These will be more intermittent, and I’ll let you know when to look out for them.

    • The joy of helping me justify the amount of time I spend on this to my wife. This is truly priceless 😁 

  • Currently in the works for premium members

    • An ad free experience (when that becomes more of a thing)

    • Access to all future items developed (Example: GP specific F1 Bingo printable sheets are in the pipeline)

    • PLP branded and sponsor/affiliate discounts (when that becomes a thing)

Interested? You can sign up for a premium membership here, and of course can cancel anytime.

Not Interested? No problem, you’ll continue to receive this Friday edition absolutely FO’ FREE!

Thank you for your consideration in supporting the Pulse, and as always, thank you for reading!

Alright, enough of all that then - Let’s kick off 2024 🔽 

Quick Quiz!

Answer revealed at the bottom ⬇

Last Week: About 70% knew that Albert Park in Australia has hosted the most season openers, with 22. Best to get that long plane ride out of the way early I reckon.

Bahrain GP Preview

We’ve finally arrived at the 2024 season opener, with the Bahrain GP under way at 10a.m. EST on Saturday. If you’re reading this early on Friday, you can catch FP3 at 7:30am EST and Qualifying at 11am EST.

It’s the 20th anniversary of the Sakhir circuit (Yes, Alonso competed in that 2004 debut race and took 6th) which can be subject to high wind, allows for a good amount of overtaking, and is difficult to get right set-up wise due to the big temperature differences between sessions. The downhill tight turn 10 is the most challenging, the sweeping fast turn 12 is a highlight, and degradation plays a big role with harder sets of tires are required to handle the track’s abrasive surface.

Since the race is a day early due to Ramadan, we have the benefit of over-analyzing the first two practice sessions to try and see who might be Red Bull’s biggest competition. Some notes from FP1 and FP2:

• Ricciardo topped FP1 with Merc taking the top two spots in FP2. Must… not… overreact… since we don’t know the fuel levels and run plan details that teams testing

• Zak Brown said that both Red Bull and Ferrari haven’t turned their engine power up yet. I’d expect them to be at the top of quali… and the race.

• Haas are cautiously optimistic compared to a few weeks ago, while Alpine is looking perhaps worse than feared.

What else to watch for:

• What’s the real gap to Red Bull? Is it significant or has the competition got closer?

• How tight will the top challengers be, and who will show #2 speed? Ferrari, Merc, McLaren, and Aston have all had their moment in testing and FP1 and FP2. But who’s got the best shot to fight for a win?

• Best of the rest: RB or Williams? Can Stake move up the midfield? Will Haas surprise and Alpine be as poor as they fear?

• Which teams have good 1 lap qualifying speed vs strong race pace? It’s all been educated guesses until now where we finally see what everyone’s got.

Also: Did you catch the new driver intro? Best poses are Lewis (Looking cool obv) and Bottas (bleached mullet and a stache? Heck yea). Honorable mention to team Frenchie, Zhou, Leclerc, and the Aston guys. Someone on the internets said Yuki was giving off mannequin energy and now I’m sitting here, replaying it over and over and cracking up every time… cannot unsee it.

Christian Horner Cleared by Investigators… For Now?

On Wednesday, independent investigators cleared the Red Bull team principal of allegations of inappropriate and controlling behavior towards a female employee. This seemed to conclude the month long saga, with the longest tenured team principal on the grid set to retain his position for the sport’s top team.

In statements on the ruling, no details on the nature of the investigation had been released by Red Bull racing or it’s parent company. We were left with only the conjecture and rumors that have been swirling over the past month, through which Horner has maintained his position of absolute denial of all accusations.

Then on Thursday, a Google drive link containing messages and photos bearing evidence against Horner were sent by anonymous email to over 100 people, including journalists, other team principals, Liberty Media, Stefano Domenicali, and even Jos Verstappen, among others. While the authenticity of these leaks is still to be investigated and confirmed, media members are reportedly getting messages from lawyers they’ll be sued if they publish the contents. It’s now certainly clear that someone (who has access to all these F1 email addresses) was not satisfied by the initial resolution.

Just when this story seemed wrapped up… another bomb dropped. We’ll have to see how legit the already infamous “Google drive” really is over the next few days. The result will determine if RBR was trying sweep a serious problem under the rug, or if someone REALLY has it out for Horner and is taking extreme measures. Let’s hope the truth comes out and the correct resolution is reached with respect to all parties involved.

Sauber Insists Audi Project is Not in Jeopardy

Reports emerged earlier this week that Sauber’s planned partnership with Audi for the 2026 season we’re at risk of dissolving. CEO Markus Duesmann, a key advocate for the project left the company a few months ago, while this week Chief Development Officer Oliver Hoffman has also moved on due to a difference in views on the companies future with the new CEO.

Sauber quickly came out themselves to ensure that the project was still moving forward despite management changes, and Audi still plans to deliver the new power unit in two years time. Managing director Alessandro Alunni Bravi ensured “There is a strong commitment from the Audi Group at all levels” and the move to enter F1 “was not based on a decision of single individuals”.

Speculation in the paddock is that the investment to ramp up the project has not been sufficient to build the team at the pace imagined by CEO of Sauber Motorsport Andreas Seidl. Bravi acknowledged the ongoing process saying, "We know that in order to become competitive for top positions we need to improve our facilities, to expand… our headcount, to invest in technology. It’s a big step, of course.”

If I had to bet, I’d say that the project continues to move forward as planned. There’s bound to be hiccups with taking on a new partner. But if it doesn’t, and Sauber’s F1 team falls apart - we’d be left with 9 on the grid… and that ain’t right. I’m guessing F1 would quickly pick up the phone and try to make nice with the Andrettis..

Down the Grid

Tech Talk

• Some TV broadcast changes coming your way this year:

  1. A new system to pick out best team radio

  2. Increased use of gyroscopic camera

  3. More race alerts (such as weather, race leader)

  4. More us of augmented reality for in race info (such as laps remaining)

• Engineers at Red Bull built the world’s fastest filming drone, able to keep up with an F1 car and used to catch a wet lap from Max at Silverstone. Top speed is over 215mph and it can accelerate from 60-185mph in 2 seconds - compared to an F1 car which does 0-60mph in 2.6 seconds. Ok, this footage is sick. Imagine this angle on race day? We NEED it.

Off the Grid

• New details in Guenther’s Steiner’s exit from Haas were revealed this week. According to Dutch journalist Jack Plooij, Guenther said he secured a $20M sponsor but told owner Gene Haas he wanted shares in the team to continue in his role. This was not accepted (clearly), so Guenther himself decided to leave the team. Pretty surprising honestly. But based on what I’ve read in Steiner’s book (I’m about 2/3 through btw… def not finishing before tomorrow) I can see how he’d want to get some equity out of the work he’s put in over the past 10 years. Especially with the team currently struggling at the back of the grid.

• Toto Wolff has admitted that the fear of losing up and coming phenom Andrea Kimi Antonelli led to Mercedes not committing to Hamilton long term. The last young driver that Mercedes let go in favor of locking up their current drivers (Hamilton and Rosberg at the time)? Max Verstappen. Yup… so you can understand their hesitation. It’s the age old tough sports decision, stick with the old guard or make a bet on the next big thing?

Going to be SO dialed in for this race. Let’s see if anyone can give us hope to challenge Red Bull this year. If you signed up for PLP Premium (that’s great!), then see you on Monday for a full race breakdown. If not (that’s ok too!), catch ya again next Friday. Maybe we’re in for a surprise with Max’s recent history in Bahrain? 🔽 

Questions? Comments? Did we get something wrong (never 😁)? Let us know ▶ [email protected]