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

[Koal-84]

Mah, I don't like it in Moto.

What is the point of having them, it is so easy to overtake anyway in a motorbike.

It makes sense to have them In F1, but I can't see why we will have them there.

I also can't tell yet if sprint racing on Saturday in MotoGP is a good idea, but we'll see next year.

Regarding yesterday's qualifying, it's absolute Ducati country in Austria, but the weather is unstable at the moment and anything can happen.

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[bestcoins1]

The type of the Red Bull Ring circuit indeed suitable for the Ducati Desmosedici
And historically, Ducati has a good record at this circuit. Ducati has won six wins at the Red Bull Ring since 2016.
But before the race, Red Bull Ring has revealed a layout change by adding a new chicane for Turn 2
The new chicane will be a difficult challenge because it has to reduce the top speed.
It will be interesting to see whether Ducati can conquer this new challenge in the race.

From the qualifying results it can be concluded that Ducati has the potential to win today's race although unexpected things can happen and I would be very surprised if any other manufacturer besides Ducati wins today. Because changes like the new Chicane won't have much effect on the Ducati bike because the Ducati bike has a lot of power and traction.

It's now official, there will be a sprint race at every MotoGP race in 2023. Since apparently FP4 and Q1 and Q2 on Saturday will not be canceled, this could be very exhausting for the MotoGP riders, a very dense program. I am curious about the new format.

https://www.speedweek.com/motogp/news/196812/Jetzt-offiziell-MotoGP-Sprintrennen-am-Samstag-2023.html

The Sprint Race is almost the same as the one made at the WSBK event and I see that there are still many pros and cons to the Sprint Race because Dorna never asked for ideas from the racers so there are some people who still don't agree with the Sprint Race even though the FP4 is abolished, but Q1 and Q2 for the Sprint Race grid will still be applied so that the drivers are very tired. Although Dorna's goal of holding a Sprint Race is to attract more people to like MotoGP which will ultimately affect Dorna's income.

https://www.motorsport.com/motogp/news/quartararo-slams-totally-stupid-motogp-sprint-race-plans/10354893/

[Koal-84]

Looks like a pure Ducati podium today, possibly Vinales could still ride on the podium, hope that Bagnaia comes through and makes further ground on Fabio, so the world championship remains exciting. Also think that Aleix will still overtake Fabio and so the first three slip even further together.

[bestcoins1]

Looks like a pure Ducati podium today, possibly Vinales could still ride on the podium, hope that Bagnaia comes through and makes further ground on Fabio, so the world championship remains exciting. Also think that Aleix will still overtake Fabio and so the first three slip even further together.

Bagnaia is still 44 points behind Fabio Quartararo as Fabio managed to finish the race in 2nd place after starting the race from the 5th grid today. And if Fabio Quartararo can still consistently get the 2nd podium in the remaining 7 races this season, then Fabio will become world champion this season again even though in all 7 races Bagnaia won.
Because Bagnaia was only able to approach with a total of 35 points in the remaining 7 races.

[swogerino]

Looks like a pure Ducati podium today, possibly Vinales could still ride on the podium, hope that Bagnaia comes through and makes further ground on Fabio, so the world championship remains exciting. Also think that Aleix will still overtake Fabio and so the first three slip even further together.

Ducati won although by very little margin it won.Bagnaia came out first after the 28 laps race at Spielberg so now in theory the MotoGP Championship remains exciting but we all know that Fabio remains the huge favorite to win the title still.That is because there are not a lot of tracks suitable for Ducati anymore,they are tracks that are overall good for every MotoGP team and Fabio is still leading comfortably so far.

Now there are three riders in fight for the title,Quartararo the huge favorite,Espargaro the title run up contender and now even Bagnaia is not that far,the points difference is just 44 and we now this amount is irrelevant for the number of races left in the MotoGP,a single crash can change a lot in the standings.

[sana54210]

It’s not always a move forward if you ask me. Whenever there is a huge move like what we will see in 2026, it always changes it a bit worse first before it gets better.

Look at the last one and how it changed the sport completely. F1 became Mercedes league and everyone else just tried to survive and nothing more. Ferrari and Red Bull tried, failed to get constructors, and only Red Bull got one driver win last year finally, 8 titles in a row.

If 2026 sees another team being that great, that is going to be a trouble. Nobody could make me believe that teams are not already spending insane amounts to build it already behind closed doors neither by the way, they are definitely doing it somewhere. So, one team will start off better than everyone and I hope we would watch teams close, not one team winning 8 titles again.

That is just a leeway to make it better, because you start from the lowest point of a better thing compared to highest point of a worse thing. Like you could have something that can start from 20 and go to 100, and then have something that starts at 80 but goes to 150, this means by the time you hit 100 on the first one, you go back to 80 of the new one but you were blocked and couldn't get any better with the old one, yet the new one could be much better with improvements.

This means maybe it will be a tiny bit slower for the time being with this new upgrade, but that's in 2026 so I am sure all teams would have more than enough time to start very well if you ask me.

[coinlocket$]

In F1 we have a salary cap.

The teams can't spend over a fixed amount of money during the whole season.
Considering the world inflation, the FIA decided to give teams an "Inflation bonus" and teams can now spend 4 more million USD during the season.

[alegotardo]

In F1 we have a salary cap.

The teams can't spend over a fixed amount of money during the whole season.
Considering the world inflation, the FIA decided to give teams an "Inflation bonus" and teams can now spend 4 more million USD during the season.

I strongly disagree that teams need more money.
While the richest teams consider that this is still insufficient to cover the expenses they say they have, for the “poorest”, it further highlights the abyss that exists between the two ends of this dispute and collaborates to keep F1 more and more uneven.
We all agree that inflation is rampant, but I doubt that a tighter budget would prevent teams from continuing to innovate and compete in GPs.

[Velvet78]

There is less than a week left for the upcoming race in Spa. This is one of the special races in F1. The competition between Leclerc and Verstappen can be tighter here. Leclerc's morale might have dropped quite much after simple mistakes. He is still a very ambitious driver even though he has only a slight chance for the championship now. He would do his best but the team must help him at the same time. They have been like Leclerc's enemy so far.

[bestcoins1]

I saw there was a CryptoData sponsor at the Austrian Red Bull Ring circuit yesterday and now I'm starting to find out about it. Then I found out about CryptoData where CryptoDATA develops products based on blockchain technology that guarantee user security and data encryption that applies in various fields. And here is the site: https://cryptodata.com/ Is that true ? if that's true, then I think crypto companies have been very friendly too in this part of Europe, especially in Austria itself.

[Koal-84]

Ducati won although by very little margin it won.Bagnaia came out first after the 28 laps race at Spielberg so now in theory the MotoGP Championship remains exciting but we all know that Fabio remains the huge favorite to win the title still.That is because there are not a lot of tracks suitable for Ducati anymore,they are tracks that are overall good for every MotoGP team and Fabio is still leading comfortably so far.

Now there are three riders in fight for the title,Quartararo the huge favorite,Espargaro the title run up contender and now even Bagnaia is not that far,the points difference is just 44 and we now this amount is irrelevant for the number of races left in the MotoGP,a single crash can change a lot in the standings.

Exactly, there are still 7 races to go, so a maximum of 175 points, now every retirement is decisive, should Bagnaia or Aleix both fail once, Fabio will bring the lead over the laps, of course, should Fabio fail again, the two could catch up it remains in any case exciting.

The penultimate GP in Malaysia favours the Ducatis once again, otherwise the Aprilia, Ducati or Fabio should be able to win at every circuit.

[bestcoins1]

Exactly, there are still 7 races to go, so a maximum of 175 points, now every retirement is decisive, should Bagnaia or Aleix both fail once, Fabio will bring the lead over the laps, of course, should Fabio fail again, the two could catch up it remains in any case exciting.

The penultimate GP in Malaysia favours the Ducatis once again, otherwise the Aprilia, Ducati or Fabio should be able to win at every circuit.

Fabio Quartararo only needs to be consistent to get a second podium in the remaining 7 races without errors or crashes and ensure that the one who gets the first podium is not Aleix Espargaro. Because Aleix Espargaro is the rider who has the closest points to Fabio Quartararo at the moment so Aleix Espargaro is the person Fabio Quartararo has to watch out for besides Bagnaia. Because Bagnaia needs to win all the remaining races by not making any mistakes in order to be able to fight for the world championship this season.

[tokeweed]

In F1 we have a salary cap.

The teams can't spend over a fixed amount of money during the whole season.
Considering the world inflation, the FIA decided to give teams an "Inflation bonus" and teams can now spend 4 more million USD during the season.

Is it the same amount for all the teams or is it bigger for the top three teams, namely Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari?  And even if it's the same across the board, I think the team that would benefit from it the most if...  *drum roll*...  Mercedes.  I'm not saying is a bad thing or anything.  They're at the cusp of rediscovering themselves.  A little more nudge and I think the could be winning races for the rest of the season.  Both Ferrari and Red Bull should watch out.

Anyway...  Spa this weekend folks.  

2022 F1 Belgian GP Schedule

Track:  Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps



Practice 1:  FRI 14:00 - 15:00
Practice 2:  FRI 17:00 - 18:00
Practice 3:  SAT 13:00 - 14:00
Qualifying:  SAT 16:00 - 17:00
Race:  SUN 15:00 - 17:00

[blue Snow]

Ducati won although by very little margin it won.Bagnaia came out first after the 28 laps race at Spielberg so now in theory the MotoGP Championship remains exciting but we all know that Fabio remains the huge favorite to win the title still.That is because there are not a lot of tracks suitable for Ducati anymore,they are tracks that are overall good for every MotoGP team and Fabio is still leading comfortably so far.

Now there are three riders in fight for the title,Quartararo the huge favorite,Espargaro the title run up contender and now even Bagnaia is not that far,the points difference is just 44 and we now this amount is irrelevant for the number of races left in the MotoGP,a single crash can change a lot in the standings.

Exactly, there are still 7 races to go, so a maximum of 175 points, now every retirement is decisive, should Bagnaia or Aleix both fail once, Fabio will bring the lead over the laps, of course, should Fabio fail again, the two could catch up it remains in any case exciting.

The penultimate GP in Malaysia favours the Ducatis once again, otherwise the Aprilia, Ducati or Fabio should be able to win at every circuit.

The different point is not far, 32 points and 12 points. And what like you said if one of them fails once, the position will change on 2 races. but IMO, too hard to make Quartararo fail from a podium or not get the points next. As I can see in Austria how he predece Jorge martin on lap 10 and Miller on lap 5 shows him a great racer who can't easily beat him for the title.

[Koal-84]

I watched the comeback race of Kimi Raikkonen and I have to say (also as a fan) he is still a racer, he was on a very good way until Stage 3 and partly in the TOP 10. A remarkable performance considering it was his first weekend in a NASCAR, definitely he hasn't lost his bite and talent yet. Unfortunately he had a bit of bad luck in Stage 3 and was little pushed out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw8ae8R-cBw

https://www.speedweek.com/formel1/news/196969/Kimi-Raeikkoenen-NASCAR-Comeback-endet-mit-Crash.html

[emrecemsan]

The weather report of Spa for the weekend is like this now:



Actually it was showing Sunday also as rainy before but it has changed. Honestly a rainy race in Spa would turn into a nightmare for most of the drivers. Because this is one of the most difficult tracks under rain in my opinion. Hamilton likes rainy races a lot as you know but his car would still stay weak against Verstappen and Leclerc's as long as we don't see those two having problems.

I'm expecting a very competitive race between Verstappen and Leclerc. Verstappen is the last winner of this race and he'd like to retain this achievement. However his job will be really difficult against Leclerc. It depends on the choices Ferrari will make as well. Because for example their calls about tyres literally finished Leclerc's race early previously. I hope not to see this kind of scandalous incidents recurring here also.

[ryzaadit]

MotoGP - Ducati 1st (Red Team)
Manchester United vs Liverpool (MU WIN) & Red Team again

So, In Spa after this summer break. Can Ferarri take the Pole & Podium again ? LET's Go Tifosi, this is a good sign for us as the red fans. We're tired always be a clown and the entire circus ~xd.

[beerlover]

Kimi was racing in F1 just recently, he quit it last season, I do not think that you lose being a great driver in that many months. If you think he was a good driver last season, then he would be a good driver this season. Of course there is a difference between the cars in this situation but that doesn't mean that he would be a bad one.

I am not expecting him to just come in and destroy everyone and be great, but he would still be not terrible at all. Give Kimi Ferrari car today, and he would probably get close to a title run even in F1 at his age. He just felt like he doesn't want to anymore and that's why he quit, and wasn't even the first time he retired neither.

[bestcoins1]

The different point is not far, 32 points and 12 points. And what like you said if one of them fails once, the position will change on 2 races. but IMO, too hard to make Quartararo fail from a podium or not get the points next. As I can see in Austria how he predece Jorge martin on lap 10 and Miller on lap 5 shows him a great racer who can't easily beat him for the title.

That's true, but in the 7 remaining races of the season, only in the Spanish Aragon series that makes me a little doubtful for Fabio Quartararo's achievements. Because he rarely makes great achievements in Aragon including last year as well although maybe this season will be a little different, but I doubt that Fabio Quartararo can get a podium in Aragon Spain this season.

Here are Fabio Quartararo's notes at the Aragon circuit during his career

Moto3 2015 - Not Down (Honda)

Moto3 2016 - Finish 12th (KTM)

Moto2 2017 - Finish 11th (Kalex)

Moto2 2018 - Finish 9th (Speed ​​Up)

MotoGP 2019 - Finish 5th (Petronas SRT Yamaha)

MotoGP 2020 - Finish 6th (Petronas SRT Yamaha)

MotoGP 2021 - Finish 8th (Monster Energy Yamaha). Source

[Pulsar77]

Kimi was racing in F1 just recently, he quit it last season, I do not think that you lose being a great driver in that many months. If you think he was a good driver last season, then he would be a good driver this season. Of course there is a difference between the cars in this situation but that doesn't mean that he would be a bad one.

I am not expecting him to just come in and destroy everyone and be great, but he would still be not terrible at all. Give Kimi Ferrari car today, and he would probably get close to a title run even in F1 at his age. He just felt like he doesn't want to anymore and that's why he quit, and wasn't even the first time he retired neither.

Being competitive has always been in Kimi's nature. He has always been cold-blooded which is a feature I admire. He has even a nickname like "Iceman" as you know.    The interesting fact is that he has always seen F1 as a hobby for himself rather than a job. Some people might think that this isn't a good way of looking at a job maybe but I don't think like that. Because clearly he always did the job he loved to do. This motivated him to be a great driver, and a legend. 

He doesn't want to return to F1 anymore but let's say we saw him at one of the most powerful teams then I wouldn't even doubt about how much competitive and successful he can be.