Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM.....

[coinlocket$]

Ferrari is currently developing better than Mercedes in the last season too (2023) Ferrari is better than Mercedes. so moving to Ferrari hopes to compete for the championship again with Max Vestapen.

Hamilton will be also an ambassador of Ferrari.

Hard to turn that down.

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[Davian144]

The second day's test shakedown at Sepang was much more interesting because there were several MotoGP riders trying out their newest aero fairings on new motorbikes. This is quite visible in every manufacturer such as Ducati, Yamaha, Aprilia, Honda and KTM, which in general is a little different from last season. Apart from that, a Rookie like Pedro Acosta was also able to adapt very well to the KTM motorbike he rode during the test. I am increasingly curious about the next test for all riders from all manufacturers because the competition this season will probably be much fiercer than last season even though the Argentina series has been canceled by Dorna and for the time being there is no replacement.

[Koal-84]

So I think age does play a role from the age of 40, reaction time decreases, you have to train more to maintain fitness, etc. At least that's what riders who have got older say.

As for Ferrari versus Mercedes, it's still difficult to judge, but I don't think Ferrari will be ahead of Mercedes this season, I think it's more about Hamilton simply wanting to have driven for Ferrari at some point in his career.

[tokeweed]

So Hamilton in Ferrarin in 12 months.
Will be fun to see, was better to have him this year directly tbh.

He will have 2 shoots with Ferrari I think, 2025 with this generation of cars and 2026 with the new one.

Personally, I don't understand this move at all, on both sides. Ferrari is getting an ageing, albeit experienced, driver, presumably for a lot of money, but we've seen it all before at Ferrari and in very few cases has it gone well. And I don't think Hamilton can become world champion again at over 40, and Ferrari has had problems with the car or the strategy for years.

Here's the thing.  F1 teams not only acquire drivers just to drive.  They acquire them also for their experience and by giving their inputs to the team's engineers in how to tweak and set up the car.  Vettel's position in Aston Martin was something like it imo.

And at over 40, Hamilton's reflexes are still sharp.  So with a decent car, he still could win races at any given weekend.  It's not like Raikonnen in that last season he retired when you could see there were a few times he could've caused a crash as it was starting to look like he was losing his reflexes as an F1 driver.

[karabiber]

So Hamilton in Ferrarin in 12 months.
Will be fun to see, was better to have him this year directly tbh.

He will have 2 shoots with Ferrari I think, 2025 with this generation of cars and 2026 with the new one.

Hamilton's move to Ferrari was really surprising, I myself needed to read the headline twice because I thought it was a typing error, but it didn't turn out to be true that a Hamilton who was loyal to Mercedes finally had to give up his contract and join Ferrari. I know how Hamilton feels because he tried to be loyal to Mercedes but the top level at Mercedes tried to get rid of him to rejuvenate the team and coupled with his short contract that might be a strong reason for him to leave Mercedes.

When Hamilton left McLaren for Mercedes, everyone, including the British press, thought that Hamilton had ended his career and made a very bad decision. But they were all wrong. So what happened afterwards? The engine regulations changed and Mercedes improved their position to a very good level. Hamilton broke record after record with Mercedes.

Now, people think Hamilton was wrong to leave Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of his career. Hamilton is infallible. Luckily, a year later, the engine regulations are changing again. Let's see if Hamilton will take the right steps again. I think yes. I don't think Hamilton will make a move without guarantees. My guess is that Ferrari dominance comes after 2026. Hamilton has been known as a car champion throughout his career and I think he will retire as Ferrari's champion driver before he retires. That way his career will be cleared.

[coinlocket$]

So I think age does play a role from the age of 40, reaction time decreases, you have to train more to maintain fitness, etc. At least that's what riders who have got older say.

As for Ferrari versus Mercedes, it's still difficult to judge, but I don't think Ferrari will be ahead of Mercedes this season, I think it's more about Hamilton simply wanting to have driven for Ferrari at some point in his career.

we will see the big of Hamilton is for 2026 with new cars incoming once again

[Distraction]

So I think age does play a role from the age of 40, reaction time decreases, you have to train more to maintain fitness, etc. At least that's what riders who have got older say.

As for Ferrari versus Mercedes, it's still difficult to judge, but I don't think Ferrari will be ahead of Mercedes this season, I think it's more about Hamilton simply wanting to have driven for Ferrari at some point in his career.

It is a really tough work to do, I agree. We can think about Alonso as an example. He is 42 years old now but he has been making a huge effort to stay strong. He is really good at it also considering his general effort in 2023 season.    His reflexes are still in great condition. There are many much younger drivers who make more mistakes than him.

Quality is a big factor here also of course. Hamilton is also a legend now. I hope to see the same effort from him too.    It is said Ferrari are going to pay him 100+ million dollars a year. This would also be a good motivation for Hamilton. 

[retreat]

-snip-

Hamilton's move to Ferrari was really surprising, I myself needed to read the headline twice because I thought it was a typing error, but it didn't turn out to be true that a Hamilton who was loyal to Mercedes finally had to give up his contract and join Ferrari. I know how Hamilton feels because he tried to be loyal to Mercedes but the top level at Mercedes tried to get rid of him to rejuvenate the team and coupled with his short contract that might be a strong reason for him to leave Mercedes.

When Hamilton left McLaren for Mercedes, everyone, including the British press, thought that Hamilton had ended his career and made a very bad decision. But they were all wrong. So what happened afterwards? The engine regulations changed and Mercedes improved their position to a very good level. Hamilton broke record after record with Mercedes.

Now, people think Hamilton was wrong to leave Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of his career. Hamilton is infallible. Luckily, a year later, the engine regulations are changing again. Let's see if Hamilton will take the right steps again. I think yes. I don't think Hamilton will make a move without guarantees. My guess is that Ferrari dominance comes after 2026. Hamilton has been known as a car champion throughout his career and I think he will retire as Ferrari's champion driver before he retires. That way his career will be cleared.

Yup, it's impossible for Hamilton to leave a team as big as Mercedes without careful consideration, of course he has thought about this very carefully and has discussed this with his team. There must be something that makes Hamilton quite confident that Ferrari can be his best team in the 2025 season and that might be his new starting point to be able to win the world title again, who knows, right? Let's just see how Hamilton's debut in Ferrari is because I, as a Ferrari fan, am also quite excited about this.

[tokeweed]

^  Yup Hamilton def knows something.  And you know what, I don't think it's just about the major regulation change.  I think at 2026 we'll be seeing a new team principal come in.  Whoever that may be is anybody's guess.  :/  coinlocket$ knows more about the ins and the outs at Ferrari, so he prolly has more of an idea.

As for Mercedes, is Mick Shumacher ready to drive an F1 car?  He could be Hamilton's replacement if he is.  Vettel was pushing for the guy to be his replacement at Aston Martin, I guess he's suggesting the same at Mercedes since he and Toto Wolf talk at a regular basis..?

[Koal-84]

Here's the thing.  F1 teams not only acquire drivers just to drive.  They acquire them also for their experience and by giving their inputs to the team's engineers in how to tweak and set up the car.  Vettel's position in Aston Martin was something like it imo.

And at over 40, Hamilton's reflexes are still sharp.  So with a decent car, he still could win races at any given weekend.  It's not like Raikonnen in that last season he retired when you could see there were a few times he could've caused a crash as it was starting to look like he was losing his reflexes as an F1 driver.

Of course, a driver also has to be strong in terms of development. Michael Schumacher, for example, was one such driver who helped build up a team over the years, as he did at Ferrari and Mercedes.

Hamilton's reflexes will also fade, but he's still fully motivated. In Räikkönen's case, I don't think it was just only his reflexes, but he wasn't fully focussed and was depressed because of the bad car.

[swogerino]

If I remember correctly today is the day where F1 presentation cars start or maybe 8 February don't remember well but what I mean is that we are near the start of the new season when team presentations start.We have just two days for testing before the first race and we can have a good overview about team performances and if we will see some Redbull domination like we have seen in these past couple of years or some new team has come to fight hard this season.

[Distraction]

Have you heard about the recent things going on at Red Bull side?  

Christian Horner's future has been the main topic lately. He is being criticized due to some of his so-called actions. Some say it is because of his aggressive management style. Some others claim that he sent inappropriate photos to a woman. He has denided all the allegations against himself already. I don't think this would end up with his stepping down from his position unless these allegations are proven.

[swogerino]

Yesterday it was the StakeF1 team presentation and the colors were really beautiful,a superb greenery livery which was very pleasant to the eyes to look.They have got it right 100% in the design and I hope they have a huge budget being a Stake team to show some really improved performances.I am lazy putting images here but if you want to look it you have them in the F1 official social media pages.

[Koal-84]

Yesterday it was the StakeF1 team presentation and the colors were really beautiful,a superb greenery livery which was very pleasant to the eyes to look.They have got it right 100% in the design and I hope they have a huge budget being a Stake team to show some really improved performances.I am lazy putting images here but if you want to look it you have them in the F1 official social media pages.

I agree with you, the design looks really smart and a bit different from other Formula 1 cars, but the colours don't help much if the performance doesn't match, unfortunately I have my doubts as to whether Sauber has done a good job over the winter. Last season they weren't really competitive.



Source

[tokeweed]

Here's the thing.  F1 teams not only acquire drivers just to drive.  They acquire them also for their experience and by giving their inputs to the team's engineers in how to tweak and set up the car.  Vettel's position in Aston Martin was something like it imo.

And at over 40, Hamilton's reflexes are still sharp.  So with a decent car, he still could win races at any given weekend.  It's not like Raikonnen in that last season he retired when you could see there were a few times he could've caused a crash as it was starting to look like he was losing his reflexes as an F1 driver.

Of course, a driver also has to be strong in terms of development. Michael Schumacher, for example, was one such driver who helped build up a team over the years, as he did at Ferrari and Mercedes.

Hamilton's reflexes will also fade, but he's still fully motivated. In Räikkönen's case, I don't think it was just only his reflexes, but he wasn't fully focussed and was depressed because of the bad car.

Yeah, cos you were saying you didn't understand Ferrari's move because Hamilton is 'old'.  It totally makes a lot of sense as they're team has been sucking for the past what...?  The past decade?  Acquiring Hamilton's services and what he could give to the team would be very invaluable.  It's a good move imho.  And he's gonna give the team some grit on the grid.  He could prolly teach LecLerc a thing or two to win vs Verstappen. 

As for his reflexes, they aren't fading fading yet.  He could be like a Messi or a Ronaldo...  Both ageless wonders.

[coinlocket$]

Sauber is here, https://twitter.com/F1/status/1754584422999834875

They took the spot of Alfa Romeo, then they will be Audi in 2026

[Davian144]

It is very unfortunate for Morbidelli who had to follow the doctor's advice not to take part in the official MotoGP test at Sepang today and also for Raul Fernandez who also had to fly to Spain today to recover from his injury, making him also unable to take part in the official test at Sepang on Today. From today's test results, I was surprised at one of the riders who was still a rookie, namely Pedro Acosta, who was in second place, or to be precise, below Jorge Martin. Meanwhile, others are still making several developments and adjustments to their new motorbikes so that the top speed produced by each rider is not much different today.

[FanEagle]

Lewis Hamilton could actually do fine with Ferrari, not because he is going to end up with a change of team, Mercedes is a great team, but also we have seen Ferrari do fine with their car so far in the past two years, hell the yare the only team that won this year aside from Red Bull right? If I remember correctly they are the only one.

So if Hamilton leaves, and I do not know if Bono is leaving as well, but if he leaves too, then Lewis will have someone inside, Bono will make sure the team runs smooth and how it should be, and Lewis will take 100% out of that car, and considering he rarely crashes the car or does something dangerous, not ever, but rarely, so that means he could actually collect a good amount of points.

[coinlocket$]

Earthquake in RBR, it looks it is something related to porn images.

It is also rumored that Adrian Newey has a release clause now if Horner will be sacked.

[alegotardo]

Earthquake in RBR, it looks it is something related to porn images.

It is also rumored that Adrian Newey has a release clause now if Horner will be sacked.

In fact!
The most successful team in F1 at the moment is going through a crisis right now... just a few days before the launch of its car for the 2024 season, how embarrassing!

As far as I know, the controversy involves Horner who is being reported internally for inappropriate conduct by the company RedBull (the sponsor, not the F1 team) and there is already an investigation taking place within the team about this. Now, there is a race against time to clarify what actually happened and make a decision before the start of the championship. I doubt they will be able to do this before the February 15th launch, but if it doesn't happen, then Horner should stay away from the media more.

Everything is still very confusing, there is no conclusive information anywhere and it is not known for sure what the reason for the investigation is. Some sites are speculating that Horner had sent intimate photos to an employee (the most serious version), but there are other versions circulating as well... nothing has been confirmed so far.