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

[Koal-84]

After being successful and becoming the fastest by breaking his own lap record, Pecco Bagnaia is now more confident and also feels very comfortable riding his Ducati GP23 this year. So that will make him stronger in undergoing this season, especially in undergoing the opening race at Algarve Portugal. In addition, Marc Marquez and Joan Mir still lack confidence and are optimistic about their Honda RC213V this year, so they will not target a better position in this opening race.

For Ducati and Bagnaia it will again come down to how much innovation Ducati has put into the new bike. Ducati have usually had a bad start to the season in the past because they change so much with the new models and introduce innovations that they have to understand. Maybe this year they learned from that and didn't change too much, which takes some time to understand.

As for Honda, it's going to be difficult for Honda (can they ride the bike this season?) and especially for Marquez, I expect he's still not fully fit.

Leclerc will have 10 positions penalty one next GP for a change on his engine.

So this race it is almost impossible to get on the podium, in addition this engine is defective and can no longer be used? Would be the next presumed penalty after one race if the number of engines is exceeded during the season.

[RealMalatesta]

Kinda like how it was last year?  It could happen but dunno...  The new cars seem to have everything in order except for a couple of adjustments in the upper midtable, like Aston Martin getting replaced by Mercedes by the time the GP's go to Europe?

I feel like Mercedes' engineering team are too good to be beaten by the likes of Aston Martin.  But it's a good start and it's good to see imho.  The team I want to see rise on the grid is Williams.

The problem for Mercedes is that Aston Martin engineers are not Aston Martin engineers, it was the red bull engineers that walked away and joined Aston Martin and that caused the special betterment of the car suddenly. That type of improvement doesn't happen suddenly just because your engineers figured something out, they literally replaced a whole set of engineers with new ones from red bull, and those engineers knew the secret of redbull and how they got so fast, and used the same thing on Aston martin.

By the looks of it, I can say that they could be as high as second right now, even better than Ferrari, so we will see if that's the case again this race as well.

[BitcoinAccepted]

In any case, the relationship between Lewis Hamilton and the rest of the Mercedes team is not good. Or rather bad. Hamilton has already spoken out after the first race that the management is a mess and that they gave him a bad car. He can't possibly continue to enjoy driving this car, it seems to me. Maybe a chance for Russell to show what he can do in this car. In the meantime, Red Bull will just rumble on and Ferrari actually seems to be the only competitor, if you can call that a competitor at all. Leclerc is the only one who can get a little closer to Verstappen, but the question is whether even that will succeed. Probably going to be 2 out of 2 for Verstappen this weekend.

[Davian144]

I think Bagnaia did great last year and he will start building up on that which should be a great race for him if he is confident enough and does not go the extra mile with his Ducati already in the first race which can cost him a retirement or even worse.

In general Bagnaia has been very happy with the test results in Portugal and the Ducati bike he has been riding has also shown very serious improvement so he was very comfortable with the bike during the test. And this shows that the character of this year's Ducati GP23 motorbike is very suitable for Bagnaia's racing style so that the Italian rider and also the defending champion this season must still be taken into account in the first race which will also take place in Portugal.

I have high hopes for Marquez,I don't know if he has recovered completely but despite the Honda not looking as good as Ducati I think a rider like Marquez has already demonstrated that he can ride that bike like no one else and this is enough for me to think that if he has truly recovered I think he may be aiming for the title this year in MotoGP.

If you were very serious about following the news about Marquez during the break or in the winter before the pre-season tests arrived until now, of course you will know that Marquez has completely recovered and he has been complaining more about his Honda motorbike.

Because the steps taken by the Honda manufacturer are still very few so the increase is also not much even though the Honda manufacturer has used a swingarm from Kalex which Kalex will also design a chassis for Honda motorbikes this season although for a while Honda still has to use its own chassis because the chassis is The new Kalex can be used in the Jerez series later.

[coinlocket$]

So this race it is almost impossible to get on the podium, in addition this engine is defective and can no longer be used? Would be the next presumed penalty after one race if the number of engines is exceeded during the season.

Not sure, in this track is kinda easy overtake if you have a top speed, they can go for Podium IMHO

[LTU_btc]

Leclerc will get 10 place grid penalty in Saudi Arabia race. It's only allowed to use 2 power unit control electronics components per season and Ferrari already done it 3 times. It's second race of season and Ferrari is starting to get penalties, it's just ridiculous.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.ferrari-confirm-charles-leclerc-will-be-hit-with-grid-penalty-for-saudi.2TMC3MUCnDCBgZQahmyLuC.html

[tokeweed]

new year,old news.

Leclerc will have 10 positions penalty one next GP for a change on his engine.

 

There are also some words swirling around that there could be a mass exit happening sooner or later this season.  I know they're just rumors getting the journos excited but if there's smoke there's also prolly fire.  

Anyway you got more access to Italian media and the Italian fans...  What are they saying and what's the sentiment around Ferrari?  Are the fans as hopeful as they were last year with Binotto?

Verstappen to win the race is at 1.45 and I was thinking Leclerc going to the podium could be a good spot with his new engine but at 2.70, no value imo.

[FanEagle]

I'm also looking forward to watching the Saudi Arabian GP because this circuit is still "new" and only two races have been held there since its opening.
In the first race still in 2021, Lewis Hamilton was the winner, but with several controversies between him and Max Verstappen. Already in last year's race, the Dutchman from Red Bull triumphed after a duel with Charles Leclerc, from Ferrari.
And now in 2023, who will consecrate themselves first?

In this next GP, I believe that Red Bull's favoritism will tend to be confirmed even more and my bet goes to Max Verstappen.

I also believe that Fernando Alonso may be able to conquer his 100th podium in Jeddah, not least because Aston Martin has a very competitive car that will always be at the head of the field that involves the other "intermediate" teams.

The fact that there were bombs going off right next to the track and they still forced drivers to participate was the biggest story about it. I still can't believe that racers agreed to that, whatever the fine, whatever the punishment, whatever the deal was, they could have hired someone else, put the third driver in and find a fourth driver from juniors to fly and come down there and race that day, hell get someone from formula 2 if you have to.

That way FIA would learn their place, what are they going to do punish all 20 drivers? Of course they can't, the whole world would hate them. But, drivers accepted the fear of punishment and a penalty, so they raced even with the bomb incident, which was sad and spineless.

[Davian144]

For Ducati and Bagnaia it will again come down to how much innovation Ducati has put into the new bike. Ducati have usually had a bad start to the season in the past because they change so much with the new models and introduce innovations that they have to understand. Maybe this year they learned from that and didn't change too much, which takes some time to understand.

It's not always about the future that has to be equated with the past, because Ducati itself also sees the past as a very valuable lesson for them to improve their new motorbike from the start and from Bagnaia's own response that he is very comfortable with his new motorbike this year even though he just tried it in the pre-season test.

As for Honda, it's going to be difficult for Honda (can they ride the bike this season?) and especially for Marquez, I expect he's still not fully fit.

I see that Marquez is fully fit, but he still complains that his Honda motorbike may not be perfect this year so that the Honda factory is still a little behind compared to the factory Ducati which has brought more innovation so far.

[CLS63]

Ferrari are still continuing to be a big joke. This time there was a need to make a change in Leclerc's car which led to a 10-position grid penalty. It won't be easy for Leclerc to even climb to the second position. This is a big advantage for Alonso as well actually. He was very impressive in his first race with Aston Martin and I'm waiting for him to have an interesting season.

However it is still difficult for Alonso to make it to podium of course. Because there are still Verstappen, Perez and Sainz who are more likely to be on podium. Alonso's podium in the first race was also thanks to Leclerc's incident.

[Davian144]

Aerodynamic development in MotoGP has accelerated since Ducati entered the 2015 season with winglets on its bikes. At last weekend's Portugal pre-season test, Aprilia unveiled a radical Formula 1-inspired aero concept on its RS-GP featuring wings on the front fork behind its main front aero fairing, strakes on the swingarms and t-wings on the seat unit wings.

On the final day, Yamaha unveiled a large F1-style rear wing on the bike that aims to assist with turning. MotoGP has moved to address the massive outlay that comes with aero development by limiting the number of permitted fairing designs to two per season per manufacturer. But aero's effect on safety and its impact on the spectacle of racing has been repeatedly debated by riders, with Marquez known to oppose developments such as aerodynamics and ride-height devices. _{Source: motorsport.com}

[tokeweed]

Ferrari are still continuing to be a big joke. This time there was a need to make a change in Leclerc's car which led to a 10-position grid penalty. It won't be easy for Leclerc to even climb to the second position. This is a big advantage for Alonso as well actually. He was very impressive in his first race with Aston Martin and I'm waiting for him to have an interesting season.

However it is still difficult for Alonso to make it to podium of course. Because there are still Verstappen, Perez and Sainz who are more likely to be on podium. Alonso's podium in the first race was also thanks to Leclerc's incident.

I wouldn't call it a big joke just yet as it's still the start of the season.  These technical issues are kinda expected really and pretty much normal esp with a team with a new set of staff and engineers like Ferrari.

As for Aston Martin, give Mercedes some time imho...  I'm still not convinced until we see Aston Martin has consistently good qualifying sessions and races until Monaco.  If they're doing good by then, I'd start saying we have a new contender for podium spots.

[coinlocket$]

1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m29.617s
2   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m30.100s
3   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m30.315s
4   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m30.577s
5   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m30.771s
6   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m30.787s
7   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m30.924s
8   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m30.949s
9   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m31.030s
10   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m31.110s
11   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m31.118s
12   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m31.181s
13   Nyck de Vries   NED   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m31.450s
14   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m31.491s
15   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m31.552s
16   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m31.566s
17   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   1m31.922s
18   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m31.970s
19   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m31.986s
20   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m32.149s

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1022222/1/f1-2023-saudi-arabian-grand-prix-friday-practice-results


Results of the 1st hour, RBR is ahead but it is basically the only team who only tested fast laps.

Ferrari seems to be much better this week in comparison to the start of the season.

[FanEagle]

Ferrari are still continuing to be a big joke. This time there was a need to make a change in Leclerc's car which led to a 10-position grid penalty. It won't be easy for Leclerc to even climb to the second position. This is a big advantage for Alonso as well actually. He was very impressive in his first race with Aston Martin and I'm waiting for him to have an interesting season.

However it is still difficult for Alonso to make it to podium of course. Because there are still Verstappen, Perez and Sainz who are more likely to be on podium. Alonso's podium in the first race was also thanks to Leclerc's incident.

Climb back to second position? First of all we have Perez there fighting against Max, dude is adamant about trying to win this season after Max didn't let him through and help him be second, he could have easily done that but he didn't and that is why Perez won't be so helpful to him this year and will try to win no matter what whenever he can.

And also, in order to be at the top, you need to finish the race, and I feel like I am not too sure about Charles finishing the race lol, it's a Ferrari after all and any tifosi would know that there is a chance Charles could end up not even finishing the race, let alone be in the podium positions.

[coinlocket$]

Call me crazy but if Leclerc can do the 1st turn without damage this Sunday he can go on the podium.

Ferrari seems very solid this weekend with the tires ignore the timers of Today, they only tested full of fuel.

[Koal-84]

Call me crazy but if Leclerc can do the 1st turn without damage this Sunday he can go on the podium.

Ferrari seems very solid this weekend with the tires ignore the timers of Today, they only tested full of fuel.

I don't think Leclerc can reach the podium, as it looks like even Aston Martin is faster than Ferrari before qualifying. What shocks me the most at the moment is that Mercedes is very very slow at the moment, I honestly didn't expect such a big gap.

Why do you think Ferrari and Leclerc can deliver such a good performance?

[coinlocket$]

Verstappen will start 15th.

His car failed him, for the pole position be aware of Alonso.

[Koal-84]

Verstappen will start 15th.

His car failed him, for the pole position be aware of Alonso.

Due to Verstappen's defect, my bet with Perez came true after all, but a bet tomorrow with Verstappen as the winner will be very difficult, he will need a lot of luck and above all a good start from position 15.

Leclerc will start 12th and probably be ahead of Verstappen, as Alonso will start 2nd he even has a chance to win, it will be an exciting race tomorrow.

[Zackgeno96]

We're going to have a completely different race season than usual tomorrow. Verstappen has problems in qualifying and as a result he now only starts 15th, how is that possible we wonder? You would think that they would have made some adjustments to the engine and that they would have received a penalty, but that appears not to be the case. It is still early in the season, but if other teams and drivers want something, tomorrow is the time. I see Verstappen still driving forward of course, but for drivers like Ferrari's Leclerc this is the time to do something. Hamilton, who was not too enthusiastic about his new car, thinks that the gap with Red Bull has widened again.

[dothebeats]

We're going to have a completely different race season than usual tomorrow. Verstappen has problems in qualifying and as a result he now only starts 15th, how is that possible we wonder? You would think that they would have made some adjustments to the engine and that they would have received a penalty, but that appears not to be the case. It is still early in the season, but if other teams and drivers want something, tomorrow is the time. I see Verstappen still driving forward of course, but for drivers like Ferrari's Leclerc this is the time to do something. Hamilton, who was not too enthusiastic about his new car, thinks that the gap with Red Bull has widened again.

They really have to make a play to not let Verstappen reach the front, else he'll be smoking the rest of the competitors when given the chance. Alonso and Leclerc's chance to get the first position is here, and they just have to widen the lead in order to take that away from Verstappen. Rooting for an Alonso win but Perez is still a tight competitor given how crazily spec'd that car is that he drives. Then again, it's a different thing when Verstappen leads forward.

Call me crazy but if Leclerc can do the 1st turn without damage this Sunday he can go on the podium.

Ferrari seems very solid this weekend with the tires ignore the timers of Today, they only tested full of fuel.

I don't think Leclerc can reach the podium, as it looks like even Aston Martin is faster than Ferrari before qualifying. What shocks me the most at the moment is that Mercedes is very very slow at the moment, I honestly didn't expect such a big gap.

Why do you think Ferrari and Leclerc can deliver such a good performance?

Possible if his car won't fail him. He's been pretty good this weekend. The only thing scary in rooting for a Ferrari win is that most troubles occur on race day and not on qualifying or test runs :v