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

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1   Sergio Perez   MEX    Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m30.305s   133
2   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m30.664s   65
3   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m30.827s   131
4   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m31.024s   67
5   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m31.036s   76
6   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m31.261s   79
7   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m33.381s   95
8   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m31.442s   83
9   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team   1m31.450s   80
10   Felipe Drugovich   BRA   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team   1m32.075s   77
11   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m32.160s   37
12   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m32.762s   56
13   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m32.793s   136
14   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m33.257s   76
15   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m33.329s   77
16   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m33.655s   44
17   Nyck de Vries   NED   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m38.244s   8

Time of the day, https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1020955/1/f1-2023-bahrain-preseason-testing-day-3-lap-times <- Source


So in the end, Redbull should be the best car overall.
Ferrari seems to be very fast in single lap time.
Mercedes seem to be in difficult.

Aston Martin is very close to the top 3 teams.

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[Luzin]

Many local social media wrote Marquez was a little disappointed with Honda. This was because Honda's development of the Bike did not appropriate expectations. This left him dissatisfied and there were rumours of Ducati being interested in him. This is because he also hasn't gotten a contract renewal that expires in 2024. Indeed, if you look at the current strength of Ducati I am pessimistic about the strength of Honda and Yamaha. In addition there are four Ducati teams at the moment, that means there are eight riders.

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A possible comeback in Formula 1.
Vettel can race at the start of the season with Aston Martin.

Stroll has his hand broken and it is not sure he will race, it is improbable.

In his place, it will race their 3rd driver or Vettel.

[BitcoinAccepted]

It's very unfortunate that Stroll broke his hand as we approach the start of the season. The Bahrain GP starts next week. I'm looking forward to it anyway. It's nice to see Vettel driving again, if that all continues. Stroll will be unable to race for a while with his injury. That will have little effect on the standings because it is not a driver who seriously participates in the World Cup. But for him it is of course very frustrating, he didn't have a bad season at all last year. I tip Max as the winner of the GP of Bahrain.

[coinlocket$]

It's very unfortunate that Stroll broke his hand as we approach the start of the season. The Bahrain GP starts next week. I'm looking forward to it anyway. It's nice to see Vettel driving again, if that all continues. Stroll will be unable to race for a while with his injury. That will have little effect on the standings because it is not a driver who seriously participates in the World Cup. But for him it is of course very frustrating, he didn't have a bad season at all last year. I tip Max as the winner of the GP of Bahrain.

It is not sure that Vettel will race it is only a rumor for now.

Vettel will be exited if he will have the opportunity, Aston Martin is a very strong team after tests and they can aim for Podium.

[swogerino]

It's very unfortunate that Stroll broke his hand as we approach the start of the season. The Bahrain GP starts next week. I'm looking forward to it anyway. It's nice to see Vettel driving again, if that all continues. Stroll will be unable to race for a while with his injury. That will have little effect on the standings because it is not a driver who seriously participates in the World Cup. But for him it is of course very frustrating, he didn't have a bad season at all last year. I tip Max as the winner of the GP of Bahrain.

It is not sure that Vettel will race it is only a rumor for now.

Vettel will be exited if he will have the opportunity, Aston Martin is a very strong team after tests and they can aim for Podium.

While I agree that usually Alonso do not get a seat without being promised a good car,well except the case at McLaren which really screw up in their first return to Honda engine,so I am assuming the tests are real for Aston Martin and they did not want to hide anything.I have heard the rumors and some local newspapers here and also in the Internet I saw that Aston Martin had offered a seat to Vettel and that would be a perfect duo for the team,Vettel with Alonso but this would be a bit strange as Lance Stroll the son of the owner of that team would be without a seat,maybe he needs one year off as a test driver,who knows.

[dothebeats]

A possible comeback in Formula 1.
Vettel can race at the start of the season with Aston Martin.

Stroll has his hand broken and it is not sure he will race, it is improbable.

In his place, it will race their 3rd driver or Vettel.

It will be their 3rd driver who will race for Bahrain: https://www.planetf1.com/news/aston-martin-felipe-drugovich-potential-replacement/

Quite unfortunate for the hand injury to happen right before Bahrain starts. Must have been really frustrating for Stroll even though he's not racing for the win and mainly just for the points. I'm actually more invested in Vettel possibly handling the wheel for Aston Martin, but somehow okay with their decision to let the responsibility be given to the 3rd driver. At least, we'll get to see how well Drugovich performs on track and not just testing but we'll see. It's as if they're trying to get Lance up to speed before the race starts.

[swogerino]

A possible comeback in Formula 1.
Vettel can race at the start of the season with Aston Martin.

Stroll has his hand broken and it is not sure he will race, it is improbable.

In his place, it will race their 3rd driver or Vettel.

It will be their 3rd driver who will race for Bahrain: https://www.planetf1.com/news/aston-martin-felipe-drugovich-potential-replacement/

Quite unfortunate for the hand injury to happen right before Bahrain starts. Must have been really frustrating for Stroll even though he's not racing for the win and mainly just for the points. I'm actually more invested in Vettel possibly handling the wheel for Aston Martin, but somehow okay with their decision to let the responsibility be given to the 3rd driver. At least, we'll get to see how well Drugovich performs on track and not just testing but we'll see. It's as if they're trying to get Lance up to speed before the race starts.

Glad to know that the father is not somewhat "firing" his son but he has hand injury as I found it hard to believe.Now I see the reason is good enough but I think Vettel should accept the offer to just race once more in Bahrain as that would be a good opportunity for him to race with this new improved car as his last race ended somewhat well with a lot of overtakes if I remember correctly so it would be nice to see for at least one race team mates Alonso and Vettel.The testing showed that this new Aston Martin was good enough and it can be fighting for top spots,a simple Safety Car who knows how can impact the race for such car,I am looking forward to the first race next week.

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3 days at the start.

Small update about the weather, no rain on the radar.

It should be a 100% sunny weekend.

[Davian144]

After seeing the opening race for the first round of WSBK in Australia to be precise at the Phillip Island circuit. It looks like Alvaro Bautista with his Ducati motorbike will still dominate the race this season. Because from the results of Race1, Sprace, and Race2 all of them were wiped out by Alvaro Bautista even though the race was in wet conditions. And I think this is proof at the start of the season that Ducati is still very strong in WSBK and gives a little signal that the Ducati competitors still have to work harder on different bike setups in order to be able to fight the higher RPM Ducati bikes.

This week the WSBK riders will leave for Indonesia for the next race, to be precise in Lombok with the circuit name Mandalika. And I see from several media that the Mandalika circuit has also been repainted to make it look cleaner and newer. Hopefully there will be more interesting competition in Mandalika this week. _infoworldsbk

[swogerino]

3 days at the start.

Small update about the weather, no rain on the radar.

It should be a 100% sunny weekend.

I don't think we should worry for rain in races like this one in the middle of the desert,usually we have not seen a rainy race in such places but maybe I have forgotten about one such race that we had in the past.In here it is a night race I am assuming like has always been and that enough is a great key factor in usually making a Safety Car coming in from what we have seen at the past races here.

I also can't wait for it to start,in this race we will see the true colors (power) of all the teams,I am sure they have not given their 100% performance in the testing.

[wiss19]

Glad to know that the father is not somewhat "firing" his son but he has hand injury as I found it hard to believe.Now I see the reason is good enough but I think Vettel should accept the offer to just race once more in Bahrain as that would be a good opportunity for him to race with this new improved car as his last race ended somewhat well with a lot of overtakes if I remember correctly so it would be nice to see for at least one race team mates Alonso and Vettel.The testing showed that this new Aston Martin was good enough and it can be fighting for top spots,a simple Safety Car who knows how can impact the race for such car,I am looking forward to the first race next week.

It would have been nice but it's not going to work. Think of it this way, Vettel and Alonso in a good car... my god that sounds like a dream come true for all the F1 fans that are old like me, I have barely seen Micheal Schumacher to be good, he was basically at the end of his career when I started watching and barely remember his last title, after that it was all Alonso and when I was out of college it was pure Vettel domination as well, and for a while he was seen as the only chance to stop Mercedes and Hamilton domination as well.

Both these drivers in a good car could actually end up fighting for the top spot. Vettel retired for a reason, BUT if they could get him, somehow, these two could get them the third position, I am sure of it.

[Dump3er]

A possible comeback in Formula 1.
Vettel can race at the start of the season with Aston Martin.

Stroll has his hand broken and it is not sure he will race, it is improbable.

In his place, it will race their 3rd driver or Vettel.

Vettel never seemed like the kind of guy who will take his word back and join the Formula 1 again. He is a racer at heart, but when I saw his goodbye message I thought that this is surely final. Alonso can't get enough and people thought he might stop driving years ago. Perhaps he is still driving when he is 45.

[swogerino]

A possible comeback in Formula 1.
Vettel can race at the start of the season with Aston Martin.

Stroll has his hand broken and it is not sure he will race, it is improbable.

In his place, it will race their 3rd driver or Vettel.

Vettel never seemed like the kind of guy who will take his word back and join the Formula 1 again. He is a racer at heart, but when I saw his goodbye message I thought that this is surely final. Alonso can't get enough and people thought he might stop driving years ago. Perhaps he is still driving when he is 45.

As long as Alonso feels confident and has reflexes he can race.We all saw in the last season that he did some pretty nice races despite him racing in a middle to low performance team like Alpine and in certain tracks where driving skills prevail he surely put himself in the spotlight and the fact that he manages to easy beat and overtake young drivers says a lot about his personality.

I never liked him in the Ferrari or Renault era but I changed my mind when he joined McLaren and made those funny statements like "GP 2 engine,GP2 engine" as I thought this guy must be crazy talking against his team like that but in the end he was right,since then I have only respect for him as a driver.

[Davian144]

Many local social media wrote Marquez was a little disappointed with Honda. This was because Honda's development of the Bike did not appropriate expectations. This left him dissatisfied and there were rumours of Ducati being interested in him. This is because he also hasn't gotten a contract renewal that expires in 2024. Indeed, if you look at the current strength of Ducati I am pessimistic about the strength of Honda and Yamaha. In addition there are four Ducati teams at the moment, that means there are eight riders.

This rumor seems to have begun to be debunked now, although I did not have time to read about the rumor because in the past two days there have also been many local media saying that Ducati is no longer interested in Marquez. And that was said directly by the Director of Sport for Ducati, Paolo Ciabatti, by emphasizing that there was no need for Marc Marquez in the ranks of his racers for MotoGP. The current material is quite satisfactory. Which means that Ducati has closed the door for Marc Marquez because maybe his time has passed, and besides that, Ducati itself also has many young riders in their satellite team at this time. _{Source: id.motorsport.com}

[tokeweed]

A possible comeback in Formula 1.
Vettel can race at the start of the season with Aston Martin.

Stroll has his hand broken and it is not sure he will race, it is improbable.

In his place, it will race their 3rd driver or Vettel.

Vettel never seemed like the kind of guy who will take his word back and join the Formula 1 again. He is a racer at heart, but when I saw his goodbye message I thought that this is surely final. Alonso can't get enough and people thought he might stop driving years ago. Perhaps he is still driving when he is 45.

Yup and if ever he's gonna return to F1 again, I think it's gonna be as a team principal or a team strategist role.  He has a good mind for the sport and has always showed his interest behind the scenes in the paddock.  I remember before when he used to be a young racer in Red Bull whenever he had a DNF, he's always there beside Horner and Newey in front of the monitors and trying to learn new things about the sport.

I hope we see him as a team principal as I think he'll be good at it.

[swogerino]

Many local social media wrote Marquez was a little disappointed with Honda. This was because Honda's development of the Bike did not appropriate expectations. This left him dissatisfied and there were rumours of Ducati being interested in him. This is because he also hasn't gotten a contract renewal that expires in 2024. Indeed, if you look at the current strength of Ducati I am pessimistic about the strength of Honda and Yamaha. In addition there are four Ducati teams at the moment, that means there are eight riders.

This rumor seems to have begun to be debunked now, although I did not have time to read about the rumor because in the past two days there have also been many local media saying that Ducati is no longer interested in Marquez. And that was said directly by the Director of Sport for Ducati, Paolo Ciabatti, by emphasizing that there was no need for Marc Marquez in the ranks of his racers for MotoGP. The current material is quite satisfactory. Which means that Ducati has closed the door for Marc Marquez because maybe his time has passed, and besides that, Ducati itself also has many young riders in their satellite team at this time. _{Source: id.motorsport.com}

They at Ducati must be feeling really confident to close the door to a talent like Marquez.They only could have benefits from him as I think someone needs to remind them of the Stoner era where Honda was the best bike but Casey Stoner could ride a Ducati like no one couldn't at that time and he won a season with this team.I think that if they left the door open for Marquez,it would be the same,he would win with a good bike normally thanks to his skills but he would also be a great challenger to the title even if Ducati had not the best bike.

I have difficulties confirming the above for their satellite drivers.

[SquallLeonhart]

As long as Alonso feels confident and has reflexes he can race.We all saw in the last season that he did some pretty nice races despite him racing in a middle to low performance team like Alpine and in certain tracks where driving skills prevail he surely put himself in the spotlight and the fact that he manages to easy beat and overtake young drivers says a lot about his personality.

I never liked him in the Ferrari or Renault era but I changed my mind when he joined McLaren and made those funny statements like "GP 2 engine,GP2 engine" as I thought this guy must be crazy talking against his team like that but in the end he was right,since then I have only respect for him as a driver.

I think it's not even about that, it's about getting contracts as long as he can. Look at Dany, he didn't do so well and he couldn't find himself a team, he could have easily gone to Haas and still be racing today, just ask for as little as possible, ask literally nearly nothing to cover just expenses of a season and all that, and you would be racing today, and yet he declined and now he is third string in Red Bull for some reason.

This is why I believe that Alonso is still driving not just because he can, but because he is offered to and that's a very important distinction because we have seen plenty of drivers who can drive, and yet asked not to.

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1 day at the start

Hamilton said: we are not at the level of Red Bull and Mercedes

Leclerc said: Mercedes will be competitive.


Someone here is lying.

[alegotardo]

1 day at the start

Hamilton said: we are not at the level of Red Bull and Mercedes

Leclerc said: Mercedes will be competitive.

Someone here is lying.

Although liars, at least they are humble

But this "friendly" atmosphere should end as soon as the cars enter the track (it's what we all hope), and I'm sure that Ferrari and Mercedes will "spice up" a lot the title dispute in the 2023 season against Red Bull, which will probably will see its domain, conquered last year, be threatened now in 2023.

Both the Italian team and the German team have their cards up their sleeves to try to surprise the current champion.... There were many technical changes and reformulation in general for the tracks and races.
Something "new" should happen this year (it's very unpredictable) and it should change our bets on the new "favourite" of the competition this year.

I won't risk any bets until I see how everyone's "presentation" goes.