[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Attachment 3294032

JM Fangio collected 5 world championships in all.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Disaster for Checo I just read as he collided with two cars and DNF'd instantly making Max champ, poor ol' Checo is on the slide badly and the '24 contract is looking more shaky I must say.

Perez: 223 WDC points (#2)
Hamilton: 194 WDC points (#3)

If both keep performing the way they do, Hamilton will end #2 in the 2023 WDC.

Perez must get his act together. If he wouldn't have qualified #13 during the Sprint Shootout today, he could have stayed out of trouble and likely gotten points. So, even if he'd say that he couldn't be blamed for the accident in the pack, he shouldn't have been fighting in the pack, but fighting at the front for a podium finish with his RB19.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Perez: 223 WDC points (#2)
Hamilton: 194 WDC points (#3)

If both keep performing the way they do, Hamilton will end #2 in the 2023 WDC.

29 points behind, Max can't help Perez with his quest for bagging more wins so Alpha Tauri comes to mind to somehow aid Checo to hang onto second in championship and of course Checo to drive more wisely.

[Artemis]

Leclerc and Stroll both got a 5 second time penalty because of track limits violations.

Leclerc drops from P7 (2 points) to P12 (no points). Expensive points in the fight for WCC #2.

Stroll drops to P15 (P16 to P20 = DNF).

Albon moves from P8 to P7 (2 points). Alonso moves from P9 to P8 (1 point).

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Attachment 3294032

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

JM Fangio collected 5 world championships in all.

Correct.

If Verstappen also wins WDC 2024, he'd equal Hamilton, Vettel, Fangio and Schumacher with 4 consecutive WDC titles.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Correct.

If Verstappen also wins WDC 2024, he'd equal Hamilton, Vettel, Fangio and Schumacher with 4 consecutive WDC titles.

Attachment 3294101

Attachment 3294109

Of course and Max's immediate target now he has secured this world championship is to match Prost's 51 wins.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Of course and Max's immediate target now he has secured this world championship is to match Prost's 51 wins.

As there are still 6 races to race (Qatar, USA [Austin], Mexico, Brazil, USA [Las Vegas], Abu Dhabi), it is mathematically still possible that Verstappen also jumps over Prost and Vettel this 2023 season.



Verstappen is also getting closer to breaking his own most-wins-in-a-season record:

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Just watched the Sprint highlights and it was our old friend Ocon who took Checo out after he and Hulk clashed sending him into Checo with a puncture. It was a crazy banzai move by Ocon so not Checo's fault.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

As there are still 6 races to race (Qatar, USA [Austin], Mexico, Brazil, USA [Las Vegas], Abu Dhabi), it is mathematically still possible that Verstappen also jumps over Prost and Vettel this 2023 season.

Attachment 3294136

If he can get the win tomorrow he'll be just two wins behind the 'Professor', we'll see how Piastri performs in the longer main race tomorrow.
Max played safe today and let what looked like 'do or die' other cars through to avoid a collision before hunting them down as the Sprint progressed. He's on pole tomorrow so Hannah Schmitz should work out a workable strat to keep the threatening Mclarens at bay.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Just watched the Sprint highlights and it was our old friend Ocon who took Checo out after he and Hulk clashed sending him into Checo with a puncture. It was a crazy banzai move by Ocon so not Checo's fault.

All three drivers and their teams have been summoned by the Stewards. Decision later tonight.

[G30M]

SMH LL flies off the track on his own *sigh he was ahead of Yuki

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

If he can get the win tomorrow he'll be just two wins behind the 'Professor', we'll see how Piastri performs in the longer main race tomorrow.
Max played safe today and let what looked like 'do or die' other cars through to avoid a collision. He's on pole tomorrow so Hannah Schmitz should work out a workable strat to keep the threatening Mclarens at bay.

The Sprint earlier today was some kind of 'test lab' to learn more about tire performance longevity: the softs can get Verstappen a head start to pull away from the pack (likely with other front runners opting for softs) during the first stage on this difficult-to-overtake track. Building a gap if they don't entangle after the race start. But as noticed during the Sprint, performance of softs quickly and dramatically drops. So a choice for softs requires a pit stop already around lap 10 out of 57 for mediums or hards. I guess that Verstappen (P1) and Perez (P13) will be on a different tire and pitstop strategy.

Heard tonight that FIA may consider - further to advice by Pirelli (who are concerned about tire longevity/safety on the Qatar race track after finding worrisome cuts on tires after the qualies) - to impose prior to the race a mandatory 3-pitstop for all drivers.

Start of the Sprint earlier today was postponed with 20 minutes further to discussion with Pirelli:

[Artemis]

Race - Start grid

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by Artemis

All three drivers and their teams have been summoned by the Stewards. Decision later tonight.

Decision: race incident - no further action

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

All three drivers and their teams have been summoned by the Stewards. Decision later tonight.

A 'racing incident'.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

A 'racing incident'.

Won't be the last of the race weekend...

[M3WC]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Just watched the Sprint highlights and it was our old friend Ocon who took Checo out after he and Hulk clashed sending him into Checo with a puncture. It was a crazy banzai move by Ocon so not Checo's fault.

It is 100% Checo's fault for qualifying behind a Haas. He is driving one of the most dominate F1 cars in history. Zero excuses. He is fighting back with Hulk and Ocon because Checo is dogsh*t.

He had two chances at quali this weekend(sprint/race), failed in both. Checo missed Q3 in race quali and is starting 13th in the race tomorrow. He should not under any curcumstances be starting that far back in the field.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Won't be the last of the race weekend...

With the two Mercs *extreme danger* behind him on the grid Max may need to start on softs if the three mandatory pitstops are implemented by Pirelli.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by M3WC

It is 100% Checo's fault for qualifying behind a Haas. He is driving one of the most dominate F1 cars in history. Zero excuses. He is fighting back with Hulk and Ocon because Checo is dogsh*t.

He had two chances at quali this weekend(sprint/race), failed in both. Checo missed Q3 in race quali and is starting 13th in the race tomorrow. He should not under any curcumstances be starting that for back in the field.

Racing incident it was decided in the end.

[Mr Pete]

Wow. Love watching Piastri improve week by week. He doesn’t make many mistakes. Drives his own race, calm and cool as a cucumber. Loving this!

Mclaren!!!!

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

With the two Mercs *extreme danger* behind him on the grid Max may need to start on softs if the three mandatory pitstops are implemented by Pirelli.

And the Merc's with soft tires looked really bad at this track..
RUS went full attack ,and for a moment he was P1 . But his soft tires were gone very quickly in (8 laps)!
And the race is 57 laps ..That's something to think about for Mercedes !
LEW tried to manage his tires , but that didn't help him much because he lost pace..

MAX started with mediums , that's why he got lack of grip and that's why the McLaren's and the Merc's had a better start with softs and MAX lost 2 positions..
3 more laps and MAX got Piastri while MAX got orders to just bring it home ..
But the McLaren's are extremely fast again !

Yeah , with the 3 mandatory pitstops MAX will start with softs too ..

Update :

Ric's return is planned at COTA (Oktober 22)