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

[Distraction]

Alonso is giving hope again but I won't buy it - yet.    Aston Martin just seem more capable when it comes to qualifying. About racing pace I'm afraid they aren't much good for now.    They took 9th and 10th positions in the Bahrain GP you know. 2023 season started amazingly for Alonso if you remember but now there is no such start.

I don't expect any competition against Verstappen as usual - even from his teammate. But Perez can still make sure of any other driver not finishing between themselves at the end of the race.

I hope to see a good performance by Leclerc without technical issues this time.  

[coinlocket$]

So in the end Sainz is out, he needs to go on surgery.

The young Bearman will take his spot.

[swogerino]

So in the end Sainz is out, he needs to go on surgery.

The young Bearman will take his spot.

That can change a lot for Ferrari as no matter how good this new guy is I very much doubt he will be able to bring a significant result because of the lack of experience.So for me if he ends in the points in tomorrow race that would be a nice achievement and I think it would be the minimum required from him by the team for this race.If this guy is truly exceptional he will have a chance to express all his potential with a car like Ferrari.

[boltz]

Seems like Aston Martin have worked really hard since last weekend to improve the car and we can see this in practice were Alonso managed a p2 and then p1. Maybe with a bit of luck , they can get a p3 with Alonso on qualifying session a bit later.

Sainz can't enjoy it's time with Ferrari no matter what he tries right ? I feel bad for him for missing this race and I hope he gets back healthy and will perform great until his last race with Scuderria.

[swogerino]

Seems like Aston Martin have worked really hard since last weekend to improve the car and we can see this in practice were Alonso managed a p2 and then p1. Maybe with a bit of luck , they can get a p3 with Alonso on qualifying session a bit later.

Sainz can't enjoy it's time with Ferrari no matter what he tries right ? I feel bad for him for missing this race and I hope he gets back healthy and will perform great until his last race with Scuderria.

The final practice ended and this just underlined the same performance of cars that we saw last race and I did not saw a lot of changes compared to the last race.The only change is the rookie at Ferrari showed his lack of experience and ended 8th with near a second difference against Verstappen.I think the race of tomorrow will be another linear race where the real fight will be from P2 and below as for P1 I think in normal conditions Max is going to win.

[FanEagle]

Aston Martin is not really a bad car, I would say they are definitely in the top 5 without a doubt, which means that when you combine that with Alonso, it becomes a pretty good result in many cases. Of course in this track anything could happen, so we shouldn't really be surprised about it, but that also doesn't mean that it is going to be too hard for him to go for that top 5 in drivers as well.

Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes are usually better, so that's 6 drivers, but Alonso could do a consistent result and while others may crash out, he may just finish at high places and get that fifth position. Same can't be said for Stroll, he is just cruising with the car thanks to his dads money as we all know, he wouldn't be in f1 without that, he doesn't have the talent for it.

[coinlocket$]

Pole position for Verstappen once again.

Decent confidence for Bearman, he was so close to join q3.

Max already won the 2024 title

[swogerino]

Surprised at Aston Martin pace but not surprised with Alonso doing so great in a really fast track.Fast tracks are the tracks where great drivers excel,I never thought that a great driver like Alonso would show great skills in low speed tracks although he made a super awesome overtake in Hungaroring many years ago so maybe the true great drivers.

We have to give huge credit to Bearman as I doubted him because of the lack of experience and he showed that despite making a mistake in the first run he barely knocked out Hamilton from Q3 in his F1 debut which is with a great team like Ferrari.Personally I will watch most of the race with the Sky decoder red button through his race camera,it will be really interesting.

[Distraction]

Pole position for Verstappen once again.

Decent confidence for Bearman, he was so close to join q3.

Max already won the 2024 title

Exactly! Bearman performed better than my expectation.    I was worried about him about not being able to reach even Q2. But he did more than that and even missed Q3 by only 0.064s. He drove for only 22 laps in FP3 before so it is quite impressive effort despite that. I will be curious about his performance in the race today.

Yeah, Verstappen was so comfortable as usual. Red Bull have given him a wonderful car and we know how great driver he is also. The combination is just very strong. 

The gap between Leclerc and Perez was so close - 0.016s.    I can't wait to see them compete during the race also.

[swogerino]

Pole position for Verstappen once again.

Decent confidence for Bearman, he was so close to join q3.

Max already won the 2024 title

Exactly! Bearman performed better than my expectation.    I was worried about him about not being able to reach even Q2. But he did more than that and even missed Q3 by only 0.064s. He drove for only 22 laps in FP3 before so it is quite impressive effort despite that. I will be curious about his performance in the race today.

Yeah, Verstappen was so comfortable as usual. Red Bull have given him a wonderful car and we know how great driver he is also. The combination is just very strong. 

The gap between Leclerc and Perez was so close - 0.016s.    I can't wait to see them compete during the race also.

That small gap is reminding me of the race of 2021 where Checho won I think in the first Saudi Arabia held race or 2022 don't remember the real season but it was really close between him and Leclerc and most likely we are going to see that battle again if Leclerc has no braking issues like in Bahrain.The real fight I think will be even between these guys and McLaren and why not Aston Martin and Mercedes,so the real race to watch will be from P2 and below because for P1 if normal conditions of the race don't change then it is going to be an easy win for Verstappen.

I think I will have a bet or two for McLaren and Aston Martin in top 3,just trying my luck to also incentive my race emotions.

[tokeweed]

Pole position for Verstappen once again.

Decent confidence for Bearman, he was so close to join q3.

Max already won the 2024 title

Meh.  I hate to say it but yeah.  It could be another one of those dull and boring seasons again.  And around September when you're watching a race, you'll be at a mindset asking yourself...  'Wtf am I even watching this?'.  Lolol.

Looking at the quali's results...  Pretty sure Sainz would've gotten third and would be defending Leclerc's rear to give the him a go at it vs Verstappen.  Could get dicey with Perez behind him.

Here are quali's results.  Enjoy the race later.

2024 F1 Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying Results

Max Verstappen   1:28.171   1:28.033   1:27.472   
Charles Leclerc   1:28.318   1:28.112   1:27.791   
Sergio Perez   1:28.638   1:28.467   1:27.807   
Fernando Alonso   1:28.706   1:28.122   1:27.846   
Oscar Piastri   1:28.755   1:28.343   1:28.089   
Lando Norris   1:28.805   1:28.479   1:28.132   
George Russell   1:28.749   1:28.448   1:28.316   
Lewis Hamilton   1:28.994   1:28.606   1:28.460   
Yuki Tsunoda   1:28.988   1:28.564   1:28.547   
Lance Stroll   1:28.250   1:28.578   1:28.572   
Oliver Bearman   1:28.984   1:28.642      
Alexander Albon   1:29.107   1:28.980      
Kevin Magnussen   1:29.069   1:29.020      
Daniel Ricciardo   1:29.065   1:29.025      
Nico Hulkenberg   1:29.055   DNF      
Valtteri Bottas   1:29.179         
Esteban Ocon   1:29.475         
Pierre Gasly   1:29.479         
Logan Sargeant   1:29.526         
Zhou Guanyu   DNF

2024 F1 Saudi Arabian GP Qualifying Highlights
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mquz3QK0SNY

[panjul07]

MotoGP is coming back, tomorrow we will watch the 1st race of the new season.
Qualifying result for tomorrow race is as listed below:

1    Jorge Martin        Pramac Ducati (GP24)    
2    Aleix Espargaro    Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24)    
3    Enea Bastianini       Ducati Lenovo (GP24)    
4    Brad Binder        Red Bull KTM (RC16)
5    Francesco Bagnaia    Ducati Lenovo (GP24)    
6    Marc Marquez        Gresini Ducati (GP23)    
7    Fabio Di Giannantonio VR46 Ducati (GP23)    
8    Pedro Acosta            Red Bull GASGAS Tech3
9    Alex Marquez        Gresini Ducati (GP23)    
10    Maverick Viñales    Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24)    
11    Jack Miller       Red Bull KTM (RC16)    +0.551s    
12    Raul Fernandez        Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP23)             
13    Johann Zarco        LCR Honda (RC213V)    
14    Miguel Oliveira        Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP24)    
15    Marco Bezzecchi    VR46 Ducati (GP23)    
16    Fabio Quartararo    Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)    
17    Joan Mir                Repsol Honda (RC213V)    
18    Augusto Fernandez    Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16)    
19    Takaaki Nakagami    LCR Honda (RC213V)    
20    Alex Rins                    Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)    
21    Luca Marini            Repsol Honda (RC213V)    
22    Franco Morbidelli        Pramac Ducati (GP24)

What an irony for the Pramac Ducati, Jorge Martin get the pole position but Morbidelli as the teammate should start from the last position.
Marc Marquez with his new bike will start from the 6th position which is not that bad.
Jorge Martin, as predicted that he will remain the same as the previous session.
Who will win this first race? Ducati's riders will have big chance ofc as Ducati is still the best bike.
I hope to see the battle between these 3 riders; Jorge Martin, Pecco and Marc Marquez.

[Koal-84]

The first sprint race is over and Martin has won it, a slightly (fortunately) different podium than expected, there are three different manufacturers on the podium and not three Ducati as feared. We'll have to wait and see if the long term race tomorrow is as even.

But Yamaha und Honda had an worst start...

[LTU_btc]

Despite that Saudi Arabian track is fastest on calendar, it's not easy to overtake here and it makes races here not very interesting. And if last season we saw Max alone racing in his own league, now it seems that Perez is getting hard to reach for rest of drivers too.
Very solid debut race for Bearman, expected that he can get points, but he looked above my expectations.
Not watching MotoGP often, but tuned in first qualifying and sprint race of season. What surprised me that there is OnlyFans team in MotoGP. This is some proper marketing .

[boltz]

What a race right ? Piastri is proving race after race to be way better than Norris but also he can be a top 4 easily race after race with just a bit of improvement to the car because the kid has everything it needs to bring success to McLaren.

Charles looked so focused the entire race that he forgot he was on the podium because his mind was still racing at that point and barely cameras barely got a smile from him so I guess this version of Charles 2024 is the most motivated one so far.

[PokerBetting]

This season F1 is really not interesting. 2x early series redbull racers finish always one two. not interesting there is no resistance from other than redbull racers. redbull cars without opponents are less exciting. if motogp ducati is without opponents but there are many ducati user drivers so it's more exciting.

[swogerino]

This season F1 is really not interesting. 2x early series redbull racers finish always one two. not interesting there is no resistance from other than redbull racers. redbull cars without opponents are less exciting. if motogp ducati is without opponents but there are many ducati user drivers so it's more exciting.

The only good thing out of the F1 race was this guy coming from F2 with never being in a F1 car before with just one hour free practice he near missed Q3 in his first race,in his debut and came today to finish 7th ahead of Norris and Hamilton.This guy is a true master class for me and he deserved,well deserved that huge percentage in driver of the day at 46% or 48% don't remember now.This guy is only 18 years old and his name is Oliver Bearman,I won't forget this game as it is the first time I see such debut and I do not credit all of it debuting with a car like Ferrari,all credits to him,overtaking guys with whole lot years more experience than him.

[coinlocket$]

Despite that Saudi Arabian track is fastest on calendar, it's not easy to overtake here and it makes races here not very interesting

Cars has changed.

The prediction made in 2022 was to reduce the drag resistance of the car using the bottom of the car.
In the 1st year of this generation of cars it was true, cars was able to follow in dirty air.

In just 2 years teams empowered their cars and now if they are following in dirty air they will lose drag, so we are going again to have the 2020 problem when cars weren't unable to follow in turns due the loss of drag.

[Republikcoin.com]

What an irony for the Pramac Ducati, Jorge Martin get the pole position but Morbidelli as the teammate should start from the last position.

Morbidelli is a new rider at Pramac Ducati who this season is teammate with Jorge Martin, because last season Morbidelli was still at Yamaha and he also did not have time to take part in official tests in Sepang and also in Qatar because he had to undergo a period of healing from an injury. So it is very natural that Morbidelli is in last place in the first race this season.

The first sprint race is over and Martin has won it, a slightly (fortunately) different podium than expected, there are three different manufacturers on the podium and not three Ducati as feared. We'll have to wait and see if the long term race tomorrow is as even.

But Yamaha und Honda had an worst start...

Jorge Martin was completely untouchable by other riders during the Sprint Race, where he was really ready to start this season by being on pole position and also winning his first Sprint Race. I think that in today's long race Jorge Martin would also do the same thing if no rider was able to overtake him in front. Although there will also be differences because in the next 22 laps all riders must be able to maintain their tires well enough to be able to finish in a better position.

[Distraction]

There wasn't a proper challenge even between Leclerc and Perez despite the qualifying results. Ferrari are really slow when it comes to race pace in comparison with Red Bull.    But it was still nice to see the young F2 driver Bearman doing a superb work in his first F1 race.

He didn't have much time to get prepared for even qualifying after Sainz's urgent surgery. Still Bearman managed to finish in 7th position by gaining a few more. 

Probably Bearman will finish this season ahead of a few F1 drivers after collecting 6 points yesterday.