2023 Austrian Grand Prix

donthaveanickname

donthaveanickname

Team Owner
Joined
Aug 6, 2016
Messages
13,637
Points
883
Location
Zwickau, Saxony (Germany)
Sprint weekend, qualifying just concluded and Perez has missed Q3 again after exceeding track limits twice in Q2.

This format is even worse than the previous sprint format, I completely forgot qualifying was on today.
 
Between Perez and De Vries, Red Bull - Marko in particular - have to be absolutely pissed with these performances this season. At the very least they should take a chance on Palou at whatever Alpha Tauri is called next season. And Checo’s recent form is worse than any stretch I can remember from Gasly and Albon.

aunty dive said:
The track limits thing is out of control.
Click to expand...
Arguably the worst track in the world for track limits. Every corner.
 
There were over 47 time deletions. A joke.

Also the FIA has canceled the driver’s meeting that was scheduled for after qualifying. Umm I wonder why..
 
FLRacingFan said:
Arguably the worst track in the world for track limits. Every corner.
Click to expand...
Kind of makes you miss the old Osterreichring, doesn't it?

Good to see Stroll is on it. Good to see the new McLaren running well and the Ferrari updates are very encouraging.

What the hell is wrong with Checo?
 
Max might just be in trouble. Called to the stewards for possibly impeding Magnussen.
 
Maybe put grass where you don't want then to drive and the limits are self enforcing.

racer.com

Verstappen unhappy track limits make drivers look amateurish

Max Verstappen secured his fourth pole position in a row at the Austrian Grand Prix but was left frustrated after qualifying with the number of lap times deleted for exceeding track limits. His Red…
racer.com racer.com

Ferrari looks much better. Stroll is finding his groove and Lando has another great Q1 run.

Clearly the Mercedes updates were good but not enough. They need a new tub, and they need to put the driver where Hamilton says. Why would you pay a guy $20 million and not listen to him? Goerge doesn't understand what went wrong, so the old diva can still rear her ugly head. They can't replace that turd soon enough.

We're probably going to see another Max runaway. That part will be boring, but everyone else seems to be pretty tightly packed up. It could be interesting, especially if Max gets jumped at the start or otherwise delayed.
 
Doc Austin said:
Take out the curbs and put the trees back in. That will stop it.
Click to expand...
Will definitely not happen as long as this track hosts stuff like MotoGP, but they should have stuff like turf and gravel traps. I’m pretty tired of places with acres of painted, paved runoff.

Still a great track, but the track limit monitoring there is the worst.
 
FLRacingFan said:
Will definitely not happen as long as this track hosts stuff like MotoGP, but they should have stuff like turf and gravel traps. I’m pretty tired of places with acres of painted, paved runoff.
Click to expand...
Well, COTA is coming if you can't get enough of giant parking lot racing.

The part I find amusing is they have a full car width curbs and then more full width pavement outside of that, most of which you can use legally. Then they turn around and brag about beating the lap record or otherwise talking about how fast the times are.

The only problem with grass is when it gets wet it's worse than ice. If you drop a wheel off, you're already screwed. However, that track limit is vigorously self-enforcing.
 
donthaveanickname said:
Damn :(
The description of his crash sounds an awful lot like Hubert.
Just saw the video. Not even at high speed but his car was hit right where the ****pit is.
Click to expand...
It's amusing the electro-nanny won't let you say it. We're going to have to come up with a new word for the driver's compartment.
 
Saw the FRECA incident at Spa as well…I don’t think there is any question that Spa and more specifically Eau Rouge/Raidillon is the most dangerous place in the world as far as road courses at the moment. Despite the runoff changes, the way it all still funnels onto the Kemmel Straight is incredibly dangerous and drivers are incredibly vulnerable to secondary impacts after incidents.

A one-lap shootout after a safety car in the pouring rain also sounds ridiculous to me. Too many of these open wheel series have dove head-first into racertainment, which is just ridiculous for such a dangerous form of racing. Give your ****** head a shake.
 
This Sprint is admittedly really good. A wet race on a classic course, without being a total washout, is great to see.
 
I bet Jos Verstappen lost a lot of his shiet on that first lap.
 
Greg said:
I bet Jos Verstappen lost a lot of his shiet on that first lap.
Click to expand...
Max squeezed Sergio off the road, Sergio runs Max to the grass, Max runs Sergio wide! Horner must have been mortified.

They seemed friendly enough in parc feme, but you know they are going to have a sit down with the boss.

Stonking race from Hulk, but that car burns it's tire too eagerly. Further back, Mags had another good race. If they can get a grip on the tires they could move up.

There was so much action I'm going to have to watch it again. Sure, Max put a beatdown on them, but behind him the racing was really good.
 
Get ready for the return of the Eau Rouge chicane.

I don't see another solution. The problem is the elevation makes it a blind entry, so if there is a pile up, you won't see it until it's too late. They could probably shave down the peak of elevation, but that would be a too much work and a lot of money. A lot.

ek03exc3nwj01.jpg
 
As many chops, blocks and swerves as Max laid on everyone before last year, not to even mentioning running guys off the track, it's amsuing to see Max complain about getting rough treatment.

 
Doc Austin said:
Get ready for the return of the Eau Rouge chicane.

I don't see another solution. The problem is the elevation makes it a blind entry, so if there is a pile up, you won't see it until it's too late. They could probably shave down the peak of elevation, but that would be a too much work and a lot of money. A lot.

ek03exc3nwj01.jpg
Click to expand...
Before 2006(?) the corners were just a little more tight and not flat-out. Changing back to get could reduce momentum a bit.

Probably won't help in the heavy rain but having spotters on top of the hill might also not be a bad idea
 
donthaveanickname said:
Before 2006(?) the corners were just a little more tight and not flat-out. Changing back to get could reduce momentum a bit.

Probably won't help in the heavy rain but having spotters on top of the hill might also not be a bad idea
Click to expand...
The problem is the sightlines. If that corner was flat in elevation, drivers could see far enough ahead that they would have time to react.

This time, though, the accident happened after the rise. It was a result of not being able to see through the spray. In the end, it is up to the race organizers to provide a safe environment and especially since this was much less experienced drivers, they probably should have at least delayed the start.
 
After watching it again I really think most of the blame here can be attributed to the visibility/conditions. I don’t know if FRECA has onboard marshaling systems like many other single seater series, but that looked like there were three separate incidents in succession, the fatal impact coming in the third, well after any FCY/red flag should have been displayed. It looked like most of the field just didn’t slow. The visibility through the rain was definitely not good enough to see the incident from a driver POV at those speeds without some sort of message on the steering wheel.

It’s hard for me to imagine why they’d go back green for a 1- or 2-lap shootout in that situation.
 
Media on my MSN feed are calling for someone to be held "accountable." I don't think in a sport that can kill you we need to be pointing fingers unless something really egregious went down. This was just a dumb accident. No one planned it. Short of putting in a chicane, everything as probably done by the book. As soon as we start assigning "accountability" the lawsuits will fly and it's a pandora's box we don't want to open.

However, it's clear now something has to be done, and I wonder if that won't happen before the GP date. I'm thinking the return of the Eau Rogue chicane is probably a 50/50 bet right now.
 
Probably not the right place for this, but now muscle cars are "assault" weapons. Not sure if this is parody or stupidity.

 
Doc Austin said:
Media on my MSN feed are calling for someone to be held "accountable." I don't think in a sport that can kill you we need to be pointing fingers unless something really egregious went down. This was just a dumb accident. No one planned it. Short of putting in a chicane, everything as probably done by the book. As soon as we start assigning "accountability" the lawsuits will fly and it's a pandora's box we don't want to open.

However, it's clear now something has to be done, and I wonder if that won't happen before the GP date. I'm thinking the return of the Eau Rogue chicane is probably a 50/50 bet right now.
Click to expand...
Race Director will have some serious questions to answer, IMO…conditions didn’t look any better than what F1 opted not to race in back in ‘21.
 
Race car fatalities, subs imploding, people getting sucked into jet engines, war, death, destruction, swirling debris. It's been a right grisly week.

Hopefully we're done for awhile.
 
Max is so annoying by the way. He can hold a grudge. Zero need to ruin Hamilton’s lap but still did it anyway.

Dear FIA not even bothering to note the incident is hilarious.
 
Reck said:
Max is so annoying by the way. He can hold a grudge. Zero need to ruin Hamilton’s lap but still did it anyway.

Dear FIA not even bothering to note the incident is hilarious.
Click to expand...
Drivers usually raise hell if they are impleaded. Hamilton just stays chill and has a good race anyway.

Race control was much improved last year, but they still blow a call every race. Maybe we need professional stewards who go to every race and provide a little consistency.
 
Sainz seems faster than Leclerc but he got screwed by Ferrari strategy.
No clue what Aston did. Alonso pitted under VSC even though he started on hard tires, Stroll had to wait and dropped from 8th to 15th.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom