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

[emrecemsan]

This is the current weather predictions for the weekend in Miami. But on some websites they show Sunday like it might rain. If it really rains then this race can get more interesting for us. I would like to see some action here to tell the truth after watching that mostly boring Azerbaijan GP. Rain might make difficulties for at least one of the Verstappen and Perez duo in this race. I still remember that Singapore GP under rain in which Verstappen had a really hard time climbing places and finished in 7th place.

But if we don't see anything different with weather in Miami then I will be expecting Red Bull to dominate the race as always.

[coinlocket$]

1   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m30.125s
2   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m30.337s
3   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m30.449s
4   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m30.549s
5   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m30.724s
6   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m31.104s
7   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m31.231s
8   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m31.337s
9   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m31.392s
10   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m31.542s
11   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m31.566s
12   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m31.810s
13   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m31.853s
14   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m31.902s
15   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m31.903s
16   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m31.997s
17   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m32.134s
18   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m32.169s
19   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   1m32.619s
20   Nyck de Vries   NED   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m34.637s

1st hour gone! Mercedes ahead but the time is influenced by the fact the used the new tires at the end of the session while nobody did.

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1025579/1/f1-2023-miami-grand-prix-friday-practice-results

[jakdanyel]

FP1 results were quite interesting. Mercedes drivers had a really solid session and Leclerc was following right behind indeed. The time gap among the first a few places was so close really. Practice sessions can be deceptive most of the time but I mean it for the race especially. But as for qualifying session we can see some similarities in the places. This can happen after all practice sessions end and especially FP3 can be similar to qualifying.

FP1 and FP2 become quite different mostly unlike the usual. Red Bull don't show their real strength at first. But we should be seeing Verstappen having the last word in FP3. Red Bull drivers are already favoured to dominate of course. I will be wondering the fight among Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin here rather than that. We can see some really good action among the drivers of those teams in this race.

[coinlocket$]

Pos    Driver    Nat.   Team    Time
1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m27.930s
2   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m28.315s
3   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m28.398s
4   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m28.419s
5   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m28.660s
6   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m28.741s
7   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m28.858s
8   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m28.930s
9   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m28.937s
10   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m29.048s
11   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m29.098s
12   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m29.171s
13   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m29.181s
14   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m29.189s
15   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m29.216s
16   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m29.339s
17   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m29.393s
18   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m29.613s
19   Nyck de Vries   NED   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m29.928s
20   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   1m30.038s

As predicted the track improved a lot and it will improve again more since they have a new asphalt.

Ferrari improvements seems to be real

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1025579/1/f1-2023-miami-grand-prix-friday-practice-results

[swogerino]

Pos    Driver    Nat.   Team    Time
1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m27.930s
2   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m28.315s
3   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m28.398s
4   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m28.419s
5   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m28.660s
6   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m28.741s
7   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m28.858s
8   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m28.930s
9   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m28.937s
10   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m29.048s
11   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m29.098s
12   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m29.171s
13   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m29.181s
14   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m29.189s
15   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m29.216s
16   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m29.339s
17   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m29.393s
18   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m29.613s
19   Nyck de Vries   NED   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m29.928s
20   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   1m30.038s

As predicted the track improved a lot and it will improve again more since they have a new asphalt.

Ferrari improvements seems to be real

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1025579/1/f1-2023-miami-grand-prix-friday-practice-results

As long as Ferrari keeps them coming and as long as the distance of just 0.300 is real also in the race distance and not for a single lap we may have a Championship open again.I would love to see the massive upgrades which should come to at least since the Monaco track of F1 from Ferrari but in that track probably we won't notice them as it is a really slow track so most likely after that track we would see some nice upgrades to this Ferrari which seems to have picked up pace.

Miami is a nice track but seeing Verstappen and his driving skills I doubt anyone else except him will win this race unless he has some mechanical or electrical failure.

[JooBra]

I would like to see that updates that Ferrari brought work and that they will be closer in race. They have good qual tempo, they just need to improve in race and tire degradation. If they can fix that in next couple of races we can have maybe a fight for championship.

[Velvet78]

It is good to see some improvement from Ferrari drivers in the second practice session. I would like to see Leclerc and Sainz both having decent results in this race. Ferrari have been able to collect quite few points compared to their rivals so far. There is a big difference between the previous season and this one right now. The Azerbaijan GP was a start at least as Leclerc was on podium.

But they still need some consistency. Here the track condition will also be important for Ferrari. Because they aren't the best about tyre saving under a very hot weather for example.

[coinlocket$]

1   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m27.535s
2   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m27.941s
3   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m28.050s
4   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m28.125s
5   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m28.407s
6   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m28.428s
7   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m28.456s
8   Nico Hulkenberg   GER   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m28.497s
9   Alex Albon   THA   Williams Racing   1m28.561s
10   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m28.606s
11   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m28.607s
12   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m28.618s
13   Lewis Hamilton   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m28.718s
14   Lance Stroll   CAN   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m28.723s
15   Zhou Guanyu   CHN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m29.074s
16   Yuki Tsunoda   JPN   Scuderia AlphaTauri    1m29.179s
17   Logan Sargeant   USA   Williams Racing   1m29.264s
18   Oscar Piastri   AUS   McLaren F1 Team   1m29.375s
19   Lando Norris   GBR   McLaren F1 Team   1m29.401s
20   Nyck de Vries   NED   Scuderia AlphaTauri   1m29.447s

Results of the hour, it seems an easy pole for Verstappen.

Qualy in few hours: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1025677/1/f1-2023-miami-grand-prix-final-practice-results

[swogerino]

Worst ever qualifying on US soil for Lewis Hamilton which is out of Q2 now and is 13th on the grid for tomorrow race.His team mate made it to the top ten being last there and Alfa Romeo made it to Q3 for the first time during this season.It is a strange track this one in Miami as the track conditions changed a lot during Q1 and Q2 and even drivers we are not used to see in top 10 there are a lot of them in Q3 now from not the greatest teams.

The only one who looks to not care much about track conditions is Verstappen which is doing fastest laps even when he comes out first of the pits and even when he comes in the last 2 minutes,Leclerc seems to have found pace,it looks interesting for tomorrow race no matter what happens in this final session of the official qualifying.

[coinlocket$]

   Sergio Perez   MEX   Oracle Bull Racing   1m27.713s   1m27.328s   1m26.841s
2   Fernando Alonso   ESP   Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team   1m28.179s   1m27.097s   1m27.202s
3   Carlos Sainz   ESP   Scuderia Ferrari   1m27.686s   1m27.148s   1m27.349s
4   Kevin Magnussen   DEN   MoneyGram Haas F1 Team   1m27.809s   1m27.673s   1m27.767s
5   Pierre Gasly   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m28.061s   1m27.612s   1m27.786s
6   George Russell   GBR   Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team   1m28.086s   1m27.743s   1m27.804s
7   Charles Leclerc   MON   Scuderia Ferrari   1m27.713s   1m26.964s   1m27.861s
8   Esteban Ocon   FRA   BWT Alpine F1 Team   1m27.872s   1m27.444s   1m27.935s
9   Max Verstappen   NED   Oracle Red Bull Racing   1m27.363s   1m26.814s   No Time Set
10   Valtteri Bottas   FIN   Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake   1m27.864s   1m27.564s   No Time Set

It could be probably and easy pole for Max but he got the Leclerc accident and he could not complete the lap.

Source: https://www.crash.net/f1/results/1025729/1/f1-2023-miami-grand-prix-full-qualifying-results


Also Hamilton out of the top 10.

The dream for Perez continues.

[Captain Corporate]

We seriously need to revamp the whole " someone crashed so we have to stop" thing. I mean I get it, we are talking about something that should exist in the first place. Just like other rounds and sometimes practice, hold the time, restart after everything is clear. This is why we should be considering this method we should restart it so everyone can race to their deserved place. In any case we may keep it this way so that we could just have more fun as well, think about it Max started like this recently as well, forgot which race it was but he did start one like this as well and he ended up bening second like by lap 25. So he could end up being at high level easily very well but this will help Perez a lot and should be considering that as a good thing for sure.

[Pulsar77]

It was a really awkward ending to the qualifying session. Leclerc made the same mistake at the same turn once again. It is unbelievable! I waited for him to have learned from his mistake in practice session. I wonder if he has some concentration problems on this week. Because concentration is really everything while driving an F1 car. Even a minor attention deficit can cause crashes like this one happened.

It helped Perez a lot of course. There wasn't much time left for preparing for a new lap attempt so it was the right decision by FIA to finish the session there. Verstappen couldn't even have a lap attempt which must have been really frustrating for him. He is starting at the 9th position tomorrow as it seems. But I don't doubt that he will climb the positions and enter a race for the win with Perez anyway.

[coinlocket$]

We seriously need to revamp the whole " someone crashed so we have to stop" thing. I mean I get it, we are talking about something that should exist in the first place.

Yeah but how?
In some categories, the following rule exists.
If you are causing flags when the others are pushing you will be penalized.

But this does not fix the problem, since if you crash the qualify needs to stop/slowed done for safety.

[LTU_btc]

We seriously need to revamp the whole " someone crashed so we have to stop" thing. I mean I get it, we are talking about something that should exist in the first place. Just like other rounds and sometimes practice, hold the time, restart after everything is clear. This is why we should be considering this method we should restart it so everyone can race to their deserved place. In any case we may keep it this way so that we could just have more fun as well, think about it Max started like this recently as well, forgot which race it was but he did start one like this as well and he ended up bening second like by lap 25. So he could end up being at high level easily very well but this will help Perez a lot and should be considering that as a good thing for sure.

Rules are rules, it didn't happened fo the first time, but indeed, such ending of qualification is awkward indeed. I think it's time to change this rule. Though, now we can expect very interesting race, Perez have great chance to win another race and make some pressure on Verstappen. While Verstappen may have difficult time to go from P9 up.

[Koal-84]

It could be probably and easy pole for Max but he got the Leclerc accident and he could not complete the lap.

The dream for Perez continues.

Verstappen was pissed at Leclerc, so Verstappen didn't make the time. It's good for Perez, of course, so the win should be possible for him today. Or could Alonso possibly pull off the big coup and win this weekend?

For Verstappen it will be very difficult to win the race, my tip for the race was actually Verstappen, Leclerc and Perez... That's probably not going to happen.

[Velvet78]

After getting angry at Russell in the Azerbaijan GP this time Verstappen must be really frustrated after Leclerc's simple mistake and having an accident after. Leclerc also stated that he was so sad about making this mistake twice on the same race week. Perez has a good opportunity in hand as a result but let's see how effectively he will use it. He was pretty impressive in the previous race.

Verstappen would be the only threat to him even though Verstappen will start in 9th position. I wonder how determined he will be this time to overtake Perez and be the winner.

[alegotardo]

After getting angry at Russell in the Azerbaijan GP this time Verstappen must be really frustrated after Leclerc's simple mistake and having an accident after. Leclerc also stated that he was so sad about making this mistake twice on the same race week. Perez has a good opportunity in hand as a result but let's see how effectively he will use it. He was pretty impressive in the previous race.

Verstappen would be the only threat to him even though Verstappen will start in 9th position. I wonder how determined he will be this time to overtake Perez and be the winner.

To try to lessen this guilt from Leclerc, RedBull boss Christian Horner declared that Verstappen and Leclerc's mistakes were caused by gusts of wind

It was unfortunate to see Verstappen start only in ninth place because, on top of that, he aborted his first attempt in Q3 because of a slip he had.

I understand F1's safety rules, but I keep asking myself if it was really so necessary to interrupt practice with only 2 minutes left and LecLerc's car stopped several meters from the track. I think they could have followed normally until the end, or does anyone disagree?

[swogerino]

After getting angry at Russell in the Azerbaijan GP this time Verstappen must be really frustrated after Leclerc's simple mistake and having an accident after. Leclerc also stated that he was so sad about making this mistake twice on the same race week. Perez has a good opportunity in hand as a result but let's see how effectively he will use it. He was pretty impressive in the previous race.

Verstappen would be the only threat to him even though Verstappen will start in 9th position. I wonder how determined he will be this time to overtake Perez and be the winner.

To try to lessen this guilt from Leclerc, RedBull boss Christian Horner declared that Verstappen and Leclerc's mistakes were caused by gusts of wind

It was unfortunate to see Verstappen start only in ninth place because, on top of that, he aborted his first attempt in Q3 because of a slip he had.

I understand F1's safety rules, but I keep asking myself if it was really so necessary to interrupt practice with only 2 minutes left and LecLerc's car stopped several meters from the track. I think they could have followed normally until the end, or does anyone disagree?

Absolutely not.There was no reason to stop the Q3 to not start again,for me it should not have stopped at all but since they put a Red flag they should have started or better restarted the Q3 as there were 1.38 minutes,enough for every car to come out and try one final lap for those that still could.I understand that Leclerc could not but I am sure Verstappen were ready and a lot of other drivers were waiting to improve themselves because the track conditions as we saw throughout the whole qualification kept improving so F1 safety rules are becoming a joke,a real bad joke for me.

[FanEagle]

As long as Ferrari keeps them coming and as long as the distance of just 0.300 is real also in the race distance and not for a single lap we may have a Championship open again.I would love to see the massive upgrades which should come to at least since the Monaco track of F1 from Ferrari but in that track probably we won't notice them as it is a really slow track so most likely after that track we would see some nice upgrades to this Ferrari which seems to have picked up pace.

Miami is a nice track but seeing Verstappen and his driving skills I doubt anyone else except him will win this race unless he has some mechanical or electrical failure.

I think the issue was never the car difference, car difference is low enough that whenever Red Bull has an issue, Ferrari could win and they would be getting more points. Even in a situation where one of the Red Bull cars finish first, if Ferrari could finish second and third together, then they would get more points and that's good enough.

The issue here is that we are talking about a team that constantly ends up being the one that loses points, look at Australia as the biggest example, the whole team got zero points, and they had one of their worst starts ever in the first three races. So the issue is not the car speed, obviously do get faster if you can, but try to finish races without issues is their biggest weapon, Red Bull is amazing at that.

[retreat]

-snip-

Verstappen would be the only threat to him even though Verstappen will start in 9th position. I wonder how determined he will be this time to overtake Perez and be the winner.

Verstappen's chances of winning in the upcoming races appear to be quite slim, considering that he started from 9th and above him there are Alonso and Sainz, who have a much better chance than him. Instead, I'm more interested in seeing how Verstappen from 9th place can compete against Russell, where in the last race he was quite angry with Russell for being too aggressive. I want to see how they overtake each other and show who is the best.