All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

Oh, that Haas is absolutely a dog to drive. Grosjean and Magnussen would be struggling like hell in that car. But Mazepin is in the car because his dad's money is keeping the team afloat and Schumacher is there because his dad's name is bringing in sponsors. (Mick may be a very good driver at some point, but I don't think he's in F1 with a different last name at this stage.) They're going to be hugely off the pace all season. Mazepin can't even keep it on the road.

I was really happy to have an American team but I've grown to really dislike everything about Haas. They never even considered an American driver -- and Rossi was looking for a drive when the team started. They still have Dallara building the chassis and the team just doesn't seem to understand it -- every single year they get worse as the season goes on. Supposedly Haas has rejected efforts to buy the team, so I can only assume he is waiting for the cost cap to be in full effect and hoping that makes the team more valuable. He clearly does not care about putting a decent team out there.

As for Red Bull -- I think it comes down to the car being fairly tricky to drive and the team foolishly insisting on putting drivers from their youth system in the second car. Kvyat, Albon and Gasly all sucked in it. I think Perez will be a huge step up. Even after a miserable weekend and dropping to last at the start he still managed fifth. Verstappen is a generational talent. They can't expect anyone to really challenge him, but they need someone who can stay close enough to be useful. Perez should be that guy. Expecting rookies or guys with 10 races of experience to do it is just dumb.

 

At least Red Bull will stay far away from driver rivalries within the team. Mercedes owes Bottas a lot for not making waves given that, from what I've seen, he's more than capable in his own right.

The drawback is that the second driver needs to be strong enough to help Verstappen out there at least on occasion. Perez's issue were clearly with the car ... I don't even want to imaging the bleeps that Sky would have been dealing with had that happen to Verstappen's sled.

If Haas doesn't care about putting a decent team out there, then stop firing drivers. That's only going to make things worse ... at least the last drivers had some clue about how to get those dogs to sort of get around the track. Kid Schumi makes sense ... the marketing will try to capitalize on the opportunities, but how quickly will they dry up if he's nothing but a back marker/rolling chicane? Could do more damage to him long-term than letting him develop elsewhere in a better machine relative to that circuit.

Mazepin learned not to try anything too drastic on cold tires. Took him ... about three turns?

 

Haas had no choice but to replace the drivers. Gene doesn't want to spend money and they couldn't find major sponsors. They would have kept one of the veteran guys if they could have.

Mazepin's dad is a gazillionaire. His money is keeping the team afloat. He's been trying to buy a team for his kid. There's a reason the car is painted to look like a Russian flag. There's an excellent chance Mazepin's dad owns the team by the end of the season.

 

He's the fifth-highest paid driver in F1 and the only ones ahead of him besides Hamilton are all on new contracts for this season. Bottas will get a nice pay raise in his next contract and he still gets to drive for Mercedes. If he's not beating Hamilton in the Silver Arrow, he's not going to do better elsewhere.

 

Unless Hamilton retires I think Bottas is probably out at Mercedes next year. Russell will be in the seat.

 

Just catching up. The start of this Bahrain GP looks like the end of a GWC NASCAR race.

 

I thought Ferrari had a good weekend too. Yuki Tsunoda should be fun to watch for Alpha Tauri. Seb Vettel doing Seb Vettel shit as usual.

 

I don't think Verstappen should have let Hamilton back in front. He was already partially past, and Hamilton forced him wide. It's not like he was behind and cut a corner.

 

Fair point. I guess the overarching point I was trying to make is that Mercedes doesn’t really owe him anything. He’s getting paid well to drive the best car in F1 and I don’t see a reason he would leave the team of his own volition. He’s not doing them a favor by staying on as long as he has.

 

Yeah, I agree with that. He's had a drive in the dominant car on the grid and he's been very good... but not great. Mercedes has shown they will let you challenge Hamilton if you're good enough. Bottas hasn't been good enough.

 

I've thought Vettel was done for about two years now. This race pretty much reinforced that. He makes an amazing number of unforced errors. Punting Ocon and then suggesting Ocon changed lines was absurd.

 

Watched from the end. I wasn't quite as thrilled about the race as some of the commentators were, but I was also kind of distracted, and it was 2 a.m., so maybe I'll check out the abridged version later on. I also think the Bahrain track kind of sucks.

It is nice to see Verstappen able to put up more of a fight. Hopefully that bodes well, but he's gonna need Checo to be a factor or else stuff like Bahrain is gonna happen.

Didn't get much screen time (as usual), but McLaren (particularly Lando) look like they've got a good car. I think I've finally settled on being a McLaren stan, even if that "papaya" color is kind of nauseating. Danny Ric is kind of a dick but in a fun way (the dictionary definition of the Aussie slang term "larrikin,") but appears to have a personality unlike some of the guys on the grid.

Real nice first outing from Tsunoda to keep his nose clean and finish on the lead lap.