🏁 Newey On The Move-y

PLP Season 2 Edition 17

Well I'd say the first Sprint race of the year delivered, thanks in part to a wet and wild SQ3. They should place sprinklers around the track that soak corners at random times because that was great entertainment. Fun fact: Former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone actually floated this idea circa 2011. Gotta say I don’t hate it, but also fully realize the concept is ridiculous.

But alas even a mixed up grid couldn’t stop Max this weekend. Has me wondering if a full on hurricane in Miami next week would even slow him down.

Speaking of storms, big breaking news on Thursday just shook up the potential balance of power as we look forward to 2025 and beyond 🔽 

Quick Question !

From our last question on how you watched the Japanese GP:

Time delay makes sense for the late start. Also comforting to know there’s other night owls out there who watched live. Here’s what some of you had to say about the race:

• “Def not one of the best races !”

• “Things can happen in an instant and I want to see it as it’s happening, even though they may replay the incident several times from different perspectives.”

• “Was going to bed when it started and seriously thought I should stay up but my family would have been really mad at me” I hear that one.

• “I’m retired and now live in USA and wait for my son to be home so we can watch together.” Love this.

• “Seeing it first thing the next morning is a viewing luxury akin to catching an afternoon baseball game in the morning while on the west coast. Delightfully decadent.”

Newey Says “Aight, I’mma Head Out”

While the rumors were circulating for weeks now, I’m not sure anyone truly believed it. But confirmed by multiple sources, legendary car designer Adrian Newey intends to leave Red Bull Racing even earlier than his current contract through 2025. The power struggle that’s played out over the past few months which was set in motion by the Christian Horner allegations and subsequent fall out are said to have played a major role in the decision.

The natural question is, where to next? Ferrari, Aston, and Merc are said to be in contention to land his services.

While RBR will tell you there are other capable engineers with their fingerprints on the RB19 and RB20 (and of course, there are), this is a BIG shakeup. You cannot deny this guy’s pedigree. Newey designed cars have 12 Constructors’ Championships and 13 World Drivers’ Championships.

My money is on Ferrari to land him. Remember that there will be gardening leave involved wherever he decides to go next, and then he’ll need time to put his mark on a car’s development. Also, does this change the Max situation? I still don’t see him moving, but the odds have at least increased slightly from this news, however small. In any case, the cracks continue to spread at the top for Red Bull…

Chinese GP Recap

Sprint

🥇 VER - 🥈 HAM - 🥉 PER

DNF: ALO

An absolutely wild SQ3 saw drivers sliding all over a rain soaked track, setting up a fun grid for the Sprint. This race delivered the fireworks we were looking for, with Hamilton edging out Lando for the lead into the first two turns, with the McLaren driver tumbling down the grid as he ran wide. Early it even looked like Max wouldn’t be able to make a charge from starting P4, as he dealt with car set up issues. But alas, once Max settled in overtook Alonso before the halfway mark, it was obviously a matter of time before he chased Lewis down. And that he did.

The best action was during lap 16 with the Ferraris, Alonso, and Perez all battling for P3. Some intense wheel-to-wheel action between the two Spanish drivers allowed Checo to shoot the gap into podium position. Watch the highlights if you haven’t seen it, this was great action.

I thought this was the one. Lando on pole with some traffic ahead of Max’s starting position, this would be his first win! It all fell apart on the first turn unfortunately. I still think he gets his first win this year though. On the drama front, Carlos battled Charles hard near the end of the race, pushing him very wide. Leclerc was NOT happy. Hoping for another exciting Sprint next weekend in Miami.

Grand Prix

🥇 - VER 🥈 NOR - 🥉 PER

Fastest Lap: ALO

DNF: BOT - TSU - RIC

DoTD: NOR

As disastrous as the Sprint was for Lando, he made up for it in the GP with an M.B.A in tire management and solid strategy execution. Favorable safety car strategy saw him move into P2 about halfway through the race, where he was able to maintain a gap on the chasing Perez.

Alonso had an eventful race, shooting out past Perez at the start and running P2 for a bit. However, he paid the price for his aggressiveness via excess tire wear, and Lando was able to snatch the place from him. Bottas’ DNF on lap 21 set off about 10 consecutive safety car laps due to:

1. A double yellow turned virtual safety car turned actual safety car

2. An incident on the rolling restart that saw Stroll absolutely clobber Ricciardo (Danny was NOT happy.. check out his section below)

3. K-Mag getting aggressive and sending Yuki spinning out of the race

4. Another safety car that acted like your friend who cracks another beer as the night is winding down and you think “Welp, I guess you’re sticking around for a bit, huh?"

Checo would redeem himself a bit and capture P3 from Leclerc, who’s Ferrari was surprisingly lacking in pace the whole weekend (goes for Sainz as well). After a poor safety car strategy call, Alonso had to pit late but made a bunch of overtakes, to get up to P7 (which is ultimately disappointing when starting in P3).

Hulk took another P10 point for Haas, and Alpine had their best race yet with P11/P13 for Ocon/Gasly. Zhou unfortunately didn’t score with a P14 finish, but actually had a solid weekend overall. With the roars of the crowd accompanying his every more however, you would have thought he took P1. In our hearts, maybe.

Check out the full race recap here

Points Heah! Getcha Points Heah!

A measure to award points for the top 12 finishers in a race looks to be on track for 2025. If the majority of teams vote for it and it gets the support of the FIA, the measure would give teams on the cusp a greater opportunity to get rewarded for a good weekend. Currently it’s tough for teams outside the top 5 to score unless there are some DNFs, so this change could provide an extra incentive to fight harder for P11 and P12 which don’t currently award points.

Most people around the interwebs seem to be in favor, unless you’re notorious rabble-rouser Martin Brundle who tweeted “Formula One world championship points must be hard won and treasured. Valued. Not some kind of lucky dip where everyone wins a prize.” Announcer David Croft took it a step further and said he’d award points all the way down the grid, as long as you finish the race.

I like Crofty’s idea personally. Awarding points all the way down the grid would encourage better battles at the back, where currently once you drop to say P13 or lower when the race is nearing the end then there’s no incentive to push anymore. Ultimately I think these guys like to battle each other anyway, but why not provide the extra incentive? P11 is considerably better than P20 - so why treat them the same with 0 points? Points down to P12 is a good start though.

Down the Grid

Tech Talk

• Ferrari drivers spent about 20 laps trying to heat up tires on Sunday, indicating set up changes made after the Sprint did not work out as intended. It proves the fact that their tire degradation is much better this year - but not being able to get heat in the tires is the opposite side of problem and can hurt pace overall.

• Haas’ Shanghai upgrades were significant, and already paid dividends with another points finish via P10 from Hulk. The update included a new floor improve drivability via a better spread of downforce, a narrower engine cover to get more airflow to the rear wing, a redesigned radiator cooling route, and new mirror housing. 🔽 

Off the Grid

• Watch Fernando Alonso react to Taylor Swift’s new song that name drops Aston Martin. There were some silly rumors linking the driver to the singer a year ago, which I have to believe were started by Fernando himself. 

• F1 TV channel coming to Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Freevee, and Pluto TV ahead of the Miami GP. Ummm… Heck yea.

• Ferrari teases new blue threads for Miami to complement the yet-to-be-seen livery. Big Yuki mannequin energy in this pic but this color is, how do you say in Italian… dope. Or in Gen Z… mad drip. Or something 🔽 

Catch ya’ll next week as we get ready for another Sprint weekend in Miami. At a decent hour no less!

If you watched the international broadcast, hopefully you’ll find this as amusing as I did, because it’s spot on. Rosberg just loves to stir the pot. He did have some good insights though. And I think he loves Lando Norris more than life itself. 🔽 

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