Formula 1 - 2023 Season

[Pete]

Apparently this is why people freaked out over Alonso’s long runs in testing day 3 evening (the usual caveats of sandbagging apply):



You can see that, unlike the Ferrari or Merc and the typical higher lap times due to tire wear over a long run, Alonso’s Aston exhibited the elusive negative tire wear.

Negative or not, his times were also competitive with the Red Bull, with the caveat that Alonso’s long run came in the very last session with perhaps ideal conditions (evening track temps, the most rubbered in track, done while others were doing fast laps with maybe softer tires):



Images by BrrrakeF1 (former Red Bull strategist) taken from Autosport‘s F1 2023 Testing Analysis - A Race Engineer Explains.

Peter Windsor’s 2023 F1 Bahrain GP Friday has some nice long run data:



Alonso’s still showing pace to rival Ferrari and maybe trouble a Red Bull. Lewis seems way off.

 

[Bludd]

be still my heart

im still scarred by 100 grid penalties in one race for mclaren in 2015, and from alonso being stuck behind petrov at abu dhabi

 

[Pete]

Nando’s F1 debut was 22yrs ago.

 

[iroboto]

Good movement on qualifying here. Hulkenberg goo!
Shocked by how far Aston has come here. They could be competing for 4th if Mercedes can’t bring it together. But then again Stroll is driving, so it pretty much guarantees they cant get to 4th.

 

[Pete]

Lance gonna Lance, tagging teammate Alonso from behind on lap one just to let him know who’s boss.

Edit: I’ve never seen penalties compound so rapidly as with Ocon and Alpine. He parlayed a five sec grid box pen into a ten and then 15, all additive. Well played, monsieur.

 

[Globalisateur]

I am quite impressed by Alonso's pace and energy here. He is really spicing the whole thing up.

He might end on the podium here! I really hope he does.

 

[iroboto]

I am quite impressed by Alonso's pace and energy here. He is really spicing the whole thing up.

He might end on the podium here! I really hope he does.

No kidding!! Lol wow you called it.
Hooolo shit Aston is going for it. Wow. It’s happening

 

[AlphaWolf]

Is Aston faster or is everyone but redbull slower this year?

 

[mr magoo]

Holy cow rip McLaren

 

[iroboto]

Is Aston faster or is everyone but redbull slower this year?

Seems like the whole pack is very close, no one pulling too far ahead and falling too far behind here In times. Very good sign for an amazing season.

 

[mr magoo]

Sad to see Ferrari having issues again, Mercedes performance is not where it should be. Just after Alonso overtook Saintz Hamilton was struggling a lot and gave up. During this time Alonso got healthy few seconds advantage. This shows how quick AM is.
Second third and fourth place will be very interesting to watch this season. Anything can happen.
Pierre Gasly 11 overtakes is impressive as well. Great start. I’m hyped.

 

[Bludd]

alonso \o/

okay verstappen unbeatable (perez is perfect for verstappen, he cant touch verstappen)
but behind red bull it was fireworks

i would have broken something if lance had crashed into alonso harder on lap 1, those front wings on the astons can take a whack it seems

 

[iroboto]

Stroll getting points is a big deal lol.
Williams placement is a big deal, points and 12th.
McLaren is hurting bad there. Short debut for Piastri given the controversy.

 

[Pete]

Ferrari doing all they can to break Charles. Look how they massacred my boy.

 

[Bludd]

Ferrari doing all they can to break Charles. Look how they massacred my boy.

he should be used to crushing disappointment by now

 

[Globalisateur]

Stroll getting points is a big deal lol.
Williams placement is a big deal, points and 12th.
McLaren is hurting bad there. Short debut for Piastri given the controversy.

Indeed. Stroll has being routinely way behind Alonso in practice, quali and race. He finished P6 with the third fastest car?

Gasly got to 9th starting from P20 in the fifth fastest car and it was just a solid drive for many.

 

[AlphaWolf]

Indeed. Stroll has being routinely way behind Alonso in practice, quali and race. He finished P6 with the third fastest car?

Gasly got to 9th starting from P20 in the fifth fastest car and it was just a solid drive for many.

As much as I enjoy the Stroll hate. He is driving with a broken hand and a broken toe. He also missed testing. He was actually lifting his hands from the wheel on the straights in practice to avoid the vibration. I imagine a 90m race is at the very least uncomfortable. I am not saying he is as fast as Alonso, but the data pool is extremely limited.

 

[Bludd]

stroll did show grit by coming back while still hurt and missing out on practice cant be helping so overall, he did well

uncle joe classifies stroll as the only real pay driver in the field and i dont necessarily disagree but joe contends that only by beating fernando can lance lose the pay driver label and im not sure thats needed, but he needs to be closer than 3 places back like this race

 

[Kaotik]

uncle joe classifies stroll as the only real pay driver in the field and i dont necessarily disagree but joe contends that only by beating fernando can lance lose the pay driver label and im not sure thats needed, but he needs to be closer than 3 places back like this race

Seriously? 6th for 3rd fastest car is far more than enough regardless of your teammate really, assuming of course it's not just 1 off result

 

[Bludd]

Seriously? 6th for 3rd fastest car is far more than enough regardless of your teammate really, assuming of course it's not just 1 off result

yep joe thinks the fact that daddy bought the team weighs higher on the pay driver scale than just buying a seat

as i said im not disagreeing with the bought the team thing but i also think lance isnt terrible. he doesnt crash all the time but he needs to really grab the bull by the horns. who knows, maybe next years car will be terrible (remember when bmw fucked kubica because they didnt focus on that years championship even though the car was really good)