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

[Davian144]

Bagnaia and also Ducati dominated the whole weekend, Marc Marquez crashed again. You have to admit, luckily Bagnaia also crashed once in a while, otherwise the world championship would be pretty boring.

The world championship will not be boring, especially championships like MotoGP as long as in each race there can be constant competition. Likewise with the points in the standings and this week MotoGp will immediately return to the German circuit which is a circuit that suits Marquez very well and also with Honda although I hope that there will be a new winner there this weekend.

Ducati has improved in all aspects over the last few years, and they still have the most powerful engine, they don't change too much as in previous years, but improve the weaknesses.

Ducati has almost no weaknesses this year and I see that from several Ducati riders who have always been able to compete in the front row, especially their own factory rider, Bagnaia. The power possessed by the Ducati Gp23 is truly extraordinary even though it is slightly different from the Gp22, but if the rider is able to tame it better in the race, he will be difficult to beat by his opponents.

It looks like Ducati will be winning again this MotoGP season and I think they have worked really hard to achieve such performances.They usually were focusing in the main straights and top speed before and they rarely won Championships with this type of approach and when they did it was always because of the skill of the rider like the example of Casey Stoner as the only rider who could win races with Ducati.

Apart from Casey Stoner who was able to become a champion with a Ducati motorbike in 2007, last year there was already one more name who was also able to become a champion with a Ducati motorbike, namely Francesco Bagnaia who this year is also still competing fiercely in every race and this will continue happened this season including in the German series this weekend.

Now they are dominating completely in every single inch of the track.It is a shame for Honda and Yamaha who are left behind and this is very well demonstrated by Marc Marquez who keeps crashing because he want to get the maximum from his bike but Honda is not responding to his riding skills.

Honda and Yamaha did not develop as expected, so the two Asian manufacturers were unable to compete fiercely with European manufacturers such as Ducati, Aprilia and KTM. And not only is Marc Marquez continuing to slump at the moment, but Fabio Quartararo is also still slumping at the moment because there is no better development on their bike.

[FanEagle]

I think Hamilton can't because Mercedes just doesn't have the car for it and doesn't look like they are getting any closer neither. The question right now is how many more races will Max win, that's it. I think we need to wait out another season, this season is already over, and it is going to be him winning it. I think the biggest chance is by 2026, because that year is the time almost all regulations are gone and new ones will be installed and the cars will be quite difficult to adjust.

So, we could literally see Mercedes and Red Bull be the slowest cars, to be fair that's unlikely but in theory that's possible because they will build cars from scratch. If the teams are working on building a good one for that year, Max could become not so great at all anymore.

[Luzin]

Another easy win for Bagnaia.
He should have 50 more points on the leaderboard so far but he did a lot of mistakes when he was leading.

I think this year he will have an easy job for the title...

Some weeks I didn't follow a Moto GP race. It seems that Ducati is still dominating. Looking at today's provisional rankings there are three Ducati riders in the top. Honda, Yamaha still seem to struggle to compete with them. In fact, it seems that only KTM is able to keep up with the speed of Ducati. Maybe this season Honda and Yamaha will find it difficult to compete. It looks like they are not serious about developing their bike for this season. I think Ducati will still get the constructors' championship and keep the championship this season.

[LTU_btc]

Impressive win for Ferrari at le Mans.
After 50 years they went here and in the 1st race, they won.

It could even be a 1-2 for them but the second car got a problem with debris.

The monopoly of Toyota has been closed

Ferrari win is best thing wha could happened for Le Mans. After so many years of Toyota dominance it's becoming boring, only question was which Toyota car will win that year. From what I read that after strict budget caps were introduced in F1, Ferrari had lot of available money and engineers and decided to go to Le Man and develop car which can win there
Amazing race, after 24 hours both leaders finished in same lap and on last Ferrari pit stop  hearts of their fans probably almost stopped. And really surprised to see Cadillace finished 3rd and 4th.

[emrecemsan]

Impressive win for Ferrari at le Mans.
After 50 years they went here and in the 1st race, they won.

It could even be a 1-2 for them but the second car got a problem with debris.

The monopoly of Toyota has been closed

I was able to watch the Le Mans a little and that rain made things very difficult for the drivers to tell the truth. There was a chaos after that and we saw many drivers having big issues with keeping their cars still on the track. As a result we watched some accidents unfortunately. But despite all the hardships congrats to Ferrari on their huge win here.

Some accidents under rain: https://youtu.be/kFXpQowR30g


When it comes to who can be a solid rival to Verstappen in the future I also see Hamilton first. It is all about his having a fast car and that's it. I'm pretty confident about watching another season with huge rivalry between these two drivers just as there was in the 2021 season. I would like to see Leclerc also in this rivalry but not only Ferrari are terrible with strategies but also he started to make simple mistakes often recently.

[swogerino]

Another easy win for Bagnaia.
He should have 50 more points on the leaderboard so far but he did a lot of mistakes when he was leading.

I think this year he will have an easy job for the title...

Some weeks I didn't follow a Moto GP race. It seems that Ducati is still dominating. Looking at today's provisional rankings there are three Ducati riders in the top. Honda, Yamaha still seem to struggle to compete with them. In fact, it seems that only KTM is able to keep up with the speed of Ducati. Maybe this season Honda and Yamaha will find it difficult to compete. It looks like they are not serious about developing their bike for this season. I think Ducati will still get the constructors' championship and keep the championship this season.

I think the domination of Ducati will continue for years now,they used to be happy with having the fastest top speed in straights and to have a very difficult to ride bike for most riders with the exception of few of them like Casey Stoner but now they have improved in almost every single part of most tracks and it will be difficult now for any other team,be it Honda,Yamaha or any other team to cope up with Ducati.I know the Japanese manufacturers have dominated this sport for many years but things are not the same now,they will have to fight Ducati,a bike maker from Italy and I doubt now they have the power to do so,it will be interesting to see how things develop further.

[retreat]

I think Hamilton can't because Mercedes just doesn't have the car for it and doesn't look like they are getting any closer neither. The question right now is how many more races will Max win, that's it. I think we need to wait out another season, this season is already over, and it is going to be him winning it. I think the biggest chance is by 2026, because that year is the time almost all regulations are gone and new ones will be installed and the cars will be quite difficult to adjust.

So, we could literally see Mercedes and Red Bull be the slowest cars, to be fair that's unlikely but in theory that's possible because they will build cars from scratch. If the teams are working on building a good one for that year, Max could become not so great at all anymore.

This season seems to have belonged to RBR and Verstappen, no one doubts that. It is unlikely that other teams or drivers can overtake them, even Mercedes and Ferrari cannot keep up with their performance. Yes, this is a pretty boring race again, but I really applaud what RBR and Verstappen have done to get to this point and make it look like they're racing in a different league. It will surely take several years for other teams to be able to match or overtake the performance of RBR and Verstappen.

[Distraction]

This season seems to have belonged to RBR and Verstappen, no one doubts that. It is unlikely that other teams or drivers can overtake them, even Mercedes and Ferrari cannot keep up with their performance. Yes, this is a pretty boring race again, but I really applaud what RBR and Verstappen have done to get to this point and make it look like they're racing in a different league. It will surely take several years for other teams to be able to match or overtake the performance of RBR and Verstappen.

It is just likely to be another season under a big dominance of Verstappen. It is no different than Hamilton's time in the turbo hybrid engine era. Mercedes are just having struggles to adapt to the new era and it is difficult to make a solid prediction about when they can bring back their old times. But they aren't like Ferrari at least. They are much better at preparing strategies and applying them in a race.

Mercedes are just lacking in power compared to Red Bull but this isn't impossible to get fixed. They just need some more time to make bigger improvements. I would like to see this happening next season because I really missed a real competition for the championship.

Ferrari are lacking in engine and strategies both so they have a longer way to go. They should start with changing their crew who are responsible of making strategies.

[coinlocket$]

some flash news for the Gp of Canada.

Rain is expected on Saturday.
If it will not rain cars will have a problem with high degradation on tires.

IF it will rain be aware of Mclearen for poleposition, they are very strong under the rain

[Pulsar77]

some flash news for the Gp of Canada.

Rain is expected on Saturday.
If it will not rain cars will have a problem with high degradation on tires.

IF it will rain be aware of Mclearen for poleposition, they are very strong under the rain

It looks like not only on Saturday. All three days on the race week are likely to be under rain. This situation can make the race even more interesting. McLaren to go for pole? I don't know. I don't feel like they can do that much great job as long as Verstappen has some serious issues in qualifying session. Norris was really impressive with getting the 3rd place in qualifying in Spain but I don't think he can be consistent about even that.

Maybe Alonso can be evaluated for the possibility of taking pole position from Verstappen's hands under rain. I'd like to remind you of the qualifying session in Monaco. Alonso was nearly making it if it weren't for Verstappen's extraordinary last sector effort.

[alegotardo]

some flash news for the Gp of Canada.

Rain is expected on Saturday.
If it will not rain cars will have a problem with high degradation on tires.

IF it will rain be aware of Mclearen for poleposition, they are very strong under the rain

Lando Norris is not having a great performance, but he is confident for the Canadian GP, is it because of this rain? Or is it because historically McLaren has had great success in the past at the Canadian GP?

I even believe that McLaren can do very well in this and along with the rain Norris and Piastri are also promised to receive the first update of the MCL60 at the Canadian GP. Later, a new version of the car should be seen at the British Grand Prix.

[Captain Corporate]

It is because no driver goes out and says "We will suck this weekend", that's not how PR works, he will always talk and say they have high hopes for the next race, whatever the next race is. Lando grew up in the racing circuit since he was a little boy, not many people talk about him in the same light as Stroll, Latifi, Mazepin and so forth where they all raced with their dads money and had no talent, because Lando did race with his dads money as well and wouldn't be in F1 if his dad wasn't this super wealthy person but he also turned out a great driver, haven't won a single race in so many years, but showed that if given a decent car he could do very well. I am expecting him do leave for another team soon, he can't wait Mclaren to finally build a decent car, its just not possible, he is aging more and more while waiting.

[Davian144]

I think the domination of Ducati will continue for years now,they used to be happy with having the fastest top speed in straights and to have a very difficult to ride bike for most riders with the exception of few of them like Casey Stoner but now they have improved in almost every single part of most tracks and it will be difficult now for any other team,be it Honda,Yamaha or any other team to cope up with Ducati.I know the Japanese manufacturers have dominated this sport for many years but things are not the same now,they will have to fight Ducati,a bike maker from Italy and I doubt now they have the power to do so,it will be interesting to see how things develop further.

The development of Honda and Yamaha motorbikes is unlikely to be very significant this year, but for next season I also don't know how they will be even though the presidents of the two manufacturers promised to make their motorbikes more competitive in order to be able to fight against Ducati. But I'm also still not sure that it can happen easily, because the fact is that currently Ducati is still very dominant which is still very possible that things like now can also happen next season again at Ducati because Ducati also makes progress every year.

[Koal-84]

When it comes to who can be a solid rival to Verstappen in the future I also see Hamilton first. It is all about his having a fast car and that's it. I'm pretty confident about watching another season with huge rivalry between these two drivers just as there was in the 2021 season. I would like to see Leclerc also in this rivalry but not only Ferrari are terrible with strategies but also he started to make simple mistakes often recently.

I don't see it that way, it's like in MotoGP, the old guard Rossi (retired) and Marc Marquez are not the youngest anymore and can fight for wins, but in 2 years I don't think Hamilton can still fight for the title, sure you could mention Alonso who is having a fantastic season this year, but Hamilton would also have more competition from his own team with Russel than Bottas ever had, more like Rosberg back then.

Ferrari is another matter, I would have expected them to catch up with Red Bull this year, but the car is not ready and as you said, they clearly make too many mistakes themselves and have done so for years.

[Velvet78]

I think there are enough good drivers there that given a great car can fight Verstappen at least in the same level of performance of Hamilton and I would keep in this list,Leclerc,Sainz,Russell,Alonso and Perez,they just don't have a winning car except the case of Perez as I don't know why he must suffer the complex of inferiority against Verstappen,probably because the team does not support him as much as they do with Verstappen.

Nevertheless we need a team capable of performing not the same as Redbull,even a bit less but to be near them and it is up to the drivers then to show their skills in beating Redbull even with not the best car,we had the McLaren 1998-2000 era where they beat Ferrari even being the second best car thanks to Mikka Hakkinen.

Yeah Perez has the same car with Verstappen according to Red Bull's words. But still he can't be competitive enough in this rivalry. Of course Red Bull care about Verstappen more and this is a reason indeed. Because there is a hierarchy in the team. The drivers are not seen equal like it is at Ferrari. Apart from that Perez has started to make individual mistakes as well recently and this also caused the gap to get even bigger in the championship.

For example the simple mistake in Monaco qualifying session.

The Red Bull automobile's formidable prowess has certainly forced Mercedes into a chase. Nonetheless, let's remember the multitude of talents lining the grid, which due to a lack of sufficiently equipped vehicles, remain underexplored. Ponder this, with an optimum automobile, Alonso, Perez, and others could stand neck-and-neck with Verstappen. Hamilton and Verstappen are undoubtedly proficient drivers, yet we shouldn't overlook other skilled contenders. Much like a prudently biding pack of wolves, they merely require the right juncture to leap into action! Is the prospect of a sequel to the Hamilton versus Verstappen duel truly desirable?

Of course I don't intend to overlook the other very skilled drivers. We never know what they are capable of until having a strong car like Verstappen has now. But I just wanted to evaluate the situation considering the past of the sport. Hamilton and Verstappen names have been the ones ahead of the others in the recent years.

Alonso is doing really great with Aston Martin and I would really like to see Perez being replaced with Alonso honestly. Because Perez is more prone to make simple mistakes considering the recent times.

[Juggy777]

When it comes to who can be a solid rival to Verstappen in the future I also see Hamilton first. It is all about his having a fast car and that's it. I'm pretty confident about watching another season with huge rivalry between these two drivers just as there was in the 2021 season. I would like to see Leclerc also in this rivalry but not only Ferrari are terrible with strategies but also he started to make simple mistakes often recently.

@emrecemsan if Hamilton can move to Ferrari then he’ll definitely be able to challenge Verstappen but this move isn’t official and it’s quiet possible that it may not take place at all. Furthermore Leclerc really needs to introspect as to what went wrong and work hard if he’s to win the title for Ferrari but I’m starting to wonder will Ferrari stick by him or he’ll be asked to leave as his performances haven’t really improved.

[Davian144]

There is some news for a number of riders who will appear and will not appear in the German MotoGP series this time, but in the local media I see that there is news that is a little more sticking out that the Mandalika circuit is in big trouble so that the circuit will be crossed out by WSBK because of because of the huge loss. This is very bad news for fans in Indonesia in particular because they have really enjoyed WSBK racing there in the last few years. Source: cnnindonesia.com

[coinlocket$]

McLaren to go for pole? I don't know.

It can be a high risk, high reward bet.

Mclaren is actually overheating the tires so when it rains and it is cold, so when it rains but only at some condition they have an incredible grip and they fly on the track.

After a few laps, they destroy the tires but this is another story. 

[retreat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6g7A0qpB4g

We are back at the Canadian GP, an interesting circuit with slightly the same characteristics as Monaco and has a straight track and sharp turns which are quite tricky and a track that is a bit dusty which will be a challenge for the drivers. What's interesting about the interview above is when Leclerc made a statement that Aston Martin would be quite profitable with the circuit layout and RBR which would always be at the forefront. I laugh quite a bit when Leclerc makes statements like this and doesn't give a bit of credit to his team and car. Well, from this we can see that Leclerc is quite disappointed with the team and the car he drives and that's quite understandable.

[swogerino]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6g7A0qpB4g

We are back at the Canadian GP, an interesting circuit with slightly the same characteristics as Monaco and has a straight track and sharp turns which are quite tricky and a track that is a bit dusty which will be a challenge for the drivers. What's interesting about the interview above is when Leclerc made a statement that Aston Martin would be quite profitable with the circuit layout and RBR which would always be at the forefront. I laugh quite a bit when Leclerc makes statements like this and doesn't give a bit of credit to his team and car. Well, from this we can see that Leclerc is quite disappointed with the team and the car he drives and that's quite understandable.

I think this track has absolutely nothing to do with Monaco except those low speed corners which in here are a few and most of this circuit is run full power so hopefully we are going to see a better race than in Monaco here,the DRS would be making a difference here,a big one much different than in Monaco.Since there is rain in the forecast during all the weekend we can even expect a better race as long as we will be racing in wet conditions,those conditions put in the forefront the drivers skill more than the power of the car so who knows who wins this race in these conditions.