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Showing posts from October, 2023

The In Lap: Mexico City Grand Prix

As we close the weekend in Mexico City, I can confidently say that this year's Grand Prix was infinitely more entertaining than the last. With Ferrari locking out the front row and the two 2024 Red Bull drivers in row 2 (lol), we were in for an interesting start to say the least. As Sainz said in the post-qualifying press conference, P2 would be in a dirtier spot and would have a disadvantage jumping off the line quickly. This proved to be true not only for Carlos, but for polesitter Charles Leclerc as well. Both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez had incredible starts rapidly catching Leclerc into T1, but with Verstappen taking the inside line and squeezing Leclerc and Perez into a three-wide entrance, it was the hometown hero that ultimately paid the price. Don't get me wrong, this crash was completely on Sergio, but it was also just a racing incident. He could have and should have avoided the outside going into 1, but these things just happen sometimes and Perez couldn't ha...

The Out Lap: Mexico City Grand Prix

We are back for another year in Mexico City and unfortunately I fear that we are in store for another 2022 repeat. Allow me to refresh your memory. Mexico 2022 was debatably the most boring race of the season, but Max took P1 (shocker) to break the single-season win record and the most entertaining part of the race itself was Daniel Ricciardo in a McLaren. That alone should speak volumes . Fernando Alonso had one of many DNFs with Alpine here, and although Checo got a podium at his home GP, the home fans still managed to anger the entire community by booing Lewis Hamilton the second he appeared on screen. Allegedly the crowd was whistling at Sergio Perez's father, but a year later it's hard to tell. Anyways, let's move on to what we can expect this year. We have a slew of teams hosting F2 drivers in FP1, including Theo Pourchaire for Alfa Romeo, Isack Hadjar for AlphaTauri, Ollie Bearman for Haas, Jack Doohan for Alpine, and Frederik Vesti for Mercedes.  I was familiar with...

Hot Lap: What should we do about sprints?

The sprint format isn't working. That's been made pretty clear this season, especially with the lazy revamp they like to call the 'Sprint Shootout.' Sprint races began in 2021 with the events taking place at Silverstone, Monza & Interlagos. The concept was immediately met with mixed opinions and criticism, but that goes without saying considering how F1 fans react to any sort of change. However, don't get the wrong impressions. Sprint races are STUPID. Throughout 2021 and 2022, the sprint was stuck between qualifying and the feature race to shuffle up the grid once more. But in this current season it has been turned upside down and morphed into its own entire event. The sprint race now has its own qualifying session, the 'Sprint Shootout,' where in each session the teams are required to use a specific tyre compound. (SQ1 -- Hard, SQ2 -- Medium, SQ3 -- Soft) But why is this so bad, one might ask? The little money-hungry goblins that make decisions for the...

The In Lap: United States Grand Prix

     After debatably the most boring Sprint Race to date, The expectations for the United States Grand Prix were hovering around disappointment. Aside from a unique qualifying session with Verstappen finding himself in P6, there wasn't much to be excited for. The sprint demonstrated a seemingly poor tyre life for the Ferrari, excellent pace on the mediums from the McLaren and Mercedes, and of course an annoyingly dominant performance from the Red Bull. This was all very interesting to watch, but a problem for many with the sprint format is that it spoils the seemingly unknown race pace of the cars for the feature race. This was being discussed in bulk afterwards, with many fans expecting a predictable decline in pace for the Ferrari drivers and a smooth drive for the two Mercedes-powered teams.      After the lights went out on Sunday, Lando Norris immediately took the lead from pole sitter Charles Leclerc into turn 1. This has become a common occurrence at...