🏁 Sprints and Silliness

PLP Season 2 Edition 26

Race Weekend

Everyone look around, look around. How lucky we are to be alive right now. It’s the heart of the F1 season, 4 races in the next 5 weekends, the title fight more alive than ever. It’s also hotter than the 2023 Qatar GP on the East Coast, which is great if you’re secretly some sort of desert lizard.

Schedule for this weekend in EST:

• FP1: Friday, June 28th @ 6:30am

• Sprint Quali: Friday, June 28th @ 10:30am

• Sprint: Saturday, June 29th @ 6:00am

• GP Quali: Saturday, June 29th @ 10:00am

• Grand Prix: Sunday, June 30th @ 9:00am

Quick Quiz !

Spanish GP Recap

🥇 VER - 🥈 NOR - 🥉 HAM

Fastest Lap: NOR

DNF: None

DoTD: NOR

Lando nearly captured a modified grand slam (if you replace leading every lap with earning Driver of the Day honors - which he tends to do lately)… he just failed to actually win the race. Starting from pole and trying to cover off Max after a poor start, there was enough space for Russell to take advantage of a slip stream and shoot into the lead on the first turn in one of the best opening moves we’ve seen in some time. Max would steal P1 just a couple laps later, and ultimately hang on for the win. With Lando caught up in traffic early, his offset pit strategy vs Max wasn’t quite enough to close the gap - though for a bit it did look like he’d make another Imola like charge and get a chance to win. In the end, he would come up just two seconds short. If he nails the start there… he wins the race. McLaren was once again the fastest car, but Max drove perfectly to take another close win. Give this guy DoTD for once!

Mercedes showed strength again, with Hamilton taking his first podium of 2024 and George taking P4, after getting passed by his teammate on softs while he was on an offset tire strategy, running hards in the last stint. Ferrari had higher expectations, and got caught up in intrateam fighting after the race when Leclerc and Sainz made contact early (more on that below). Alpine had their best race of the year and finished with double points, which was unthinkable even a couple weeks ago. Aston had a weekend to forget, failing to score at all.

3 of the last 4 races have seen Verstappen edge Norris by an average of two seconds. It’s clear that Red Bull has lost their car advantage to McLaren, but Max continues to prove why he’s the best. It’s easy to point to the machine when a car is dominant, but the past month has really shown that he just operates on another level. That said, expect Lando to get a few more W’s this year… with Merc and Ferrari still sprinkled in the mix. I’d basically guarantee that Red Bull doesn’t win the Constructors’ at the rate Checo is going - but I still expect Max to take home the WDC. Just might closer than we would have thought at the beginning of the year…

Austrian GP Preview

This weekend we’ve got the hump day of our triple header and our third Sprint weekend of the season in the aptly named Red Bull Ring, where a sea of orange shirts and smoke from the Orange Army will overtake the Austrian circuit. (Orange to support Max, aka the Flying Dutchman, and smoke from the flairs they like to set off in the stands. Looks cool, but can’t be safe for driving visibility, right? Also if you were also wondering “why orange?” like I was: According the the Google AI Overview, orange is prominent in Dutch culture because of the Dutch royal family, House of Orange-Nassau. The dynasty dates back to 1544 with William of Orange. Thank you intelligent robot! Anyway..)

It’s Red Bull’s home race, and a track where most of the records you can think of are held by it’s best driver. The track is known for it’s high speeds and elevation changes, with a mix of sharp and fast corners. Power is required in the first half as you climb uphill, while the second half of the track is a real downhill thrill ™️. It’s one of the shortest tracks on the calendar at just 4.3km (2.7mi) but is also one of the fastest, with an average speed of 230km/h (143mph) over 77 laps. Plus, it’s got this guy watching over the action:

For this year’s GP, gravel traps have been added in the third sector to prevent last year’s track-limits-violations-bonanza, which saw race control review more than 1200 instances the infraction. In reality, about 1% of those were penalized - but it became clear than nearly every driver could have been dinged on many of their laps. If you watched last year, you’ll also remember this as the race where McLaren really started to show what was coming after an abysmal start to 2023, with Lando taking P4 on the back of major upgrades. Look for Lando to once again challenge for the win here. Will be keen to see if Mercedes can maintain their good form as of late, and if Ferrari can get off the schneid and get back into contention.

Silly Season Update

The rumors continue to fly, while some new signings have become official this week. Here’s a quick roundup of F1’s version of musical chairs:

• In a minor surprise, Pierre Gasly re-signed a multi-year deal with Alpine after rumors of him looking elsewhere (but maybe Ocon not returning was enough for him). Posted by Pierre on X: “Full gas!”

• In the least surprising move of maybe all time, Lance Stroll has been extended at Aston Martin.

• Carlos Sainz has now been mentioned in the same breath as Alpine, while Williams remains a top option with Sauber/Audi seemingly less likely at this point. Decision to come any day now…

• Logan Sargeant is rumored to have already signed for an IndyCar seat in 2025, but there has been no official announcement.

• Helmut Marko says it’s likely we’ll see Liam Lawson in Daniel Ricciardo’s seat sooner rather than later.

• Drivers without a seat: Ocon, Ricciardo, Sainz, Magnussen, Sargeant, Bottas, Zhou

• Seven seats left: Merc, Williams, VCARB, Haas x2, Sauber, Alpine.

• Five extra names: Bearman, Antonelli, Lawson, Doohan, Schumacher linked to various seats. Silly!

Down the Grid

Tech Talk

• A look into the future: A 10 spot grid penalty is all but guaranteed for Verstappen as he’s already used his power unit allotment of four not even halfway through the season. In 2023, starting 11th would have been no problem. Now? Don’t think he wins from there..

• Critical set-up: Partially responsible for Norris’ pole last weekend: Red Bull ran a smaller rear wing set-up in practice, and with hot track temperatures they were losing time in the slow corners. They opted for an increased drag rear wing set-up in qualifying that saw their straight-line speed advantage of McLaren tighten, and with cooler track temps at the time McLaren also picked up time in the fast corners.

• Deep Dive: Half hour in depth review of the most interesting tech upgrades in 2024 so far.

Off the Grid

• Must watch: This Red Bull nearly sets a record lap time at this weekend’s venue.. which would be good for a car, except this is a PLANE. Really cool perspective. But definitely some track limits violations in there..

• More Email Drama: Last week an anonymous email alleged Mercedes was intentionally sabotaging Hamilton. Cue Hamilton podium directly after. Toto calls police, police determine no criminal acts were involved, Toto vows to track down the perpetrator and deal with the problem himself. Ok that last part may not be true. You can imagine though, right?

• Like son, unlike father: Jos Verstappen had a big crash out of the Ypes Rally in Belgium last weekend. Thankfully no one was hurt. Physically, at least..

• Alonso’s own Aston: The manufacturer announced it will produce an “extreme” street-legal version of its Valour sportscar called the “Valiant”, which was commissioned by Fernando himself. There’s only 38 being made, and they start at $2.5M. So… good luck trying to get one.

This is no time to rest! We’re in the heart of the F1 season baby. Someone tell these guys 🔽 

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