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  1. MRC Mar 3, 2023

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    I am surprised the drivers have any idea what is next to them them with these cars. Must be relying on the radio from a GPS watcher in the pits I guess. In 1970s F3 cars it was bad enough already and the solid (not very...) parts of the car ended at waist height.
     
  2. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Mar 4, 2023

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    Fernando really is looking good but I just have this feeling Red Bull Ferrari and Merc will turn it up and pull away in Quali, its going to be very interesting if Aston’s pace is legit
     
  3. tnt9 Mar 4, 2023

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    So...

    When you're a Ferrari fan and you see that already in the first round of qualifying, parts of their cars fall off...
     
  4. Vercingetorix Spam Risk Mar 4, 2023

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  5. 8100_RPM Mar 4, 2023

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  6. Evitzee Mar 4, 2023

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    Now is a hell of a time to decide to change the concept, shouldn't that have been addressed over the winter? After last year's woes wouldn't they have realized that they weren't making progress on their design concept? This is not a third tier team, this is the cream of the crop. Toto Wolff's explanation doesn't make total sense.
     
    Edited Mar 4, 2023
  7. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Mar 5, 2023

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    Amazing race, very excited to see how this season progresses!
     
  8. Linzer Mar 5, 2023

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    It’s great to see Alonso on the podium again!
     
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  9. texasmade Mar 5, 2023

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    I wouldn't call this one amazing. Great battles from 2-5 but there was no doubt who was going to win after lap 1. 2022 and 2023 Max is basically equivalent to 2014 and 2015 Lewis with both being extremely talented drivers in a superior car vs the rest of the field.

    Also, Ferrari...smh. It's only one race into the season but still a disaster.
     
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  10. Shabbaz Mar 5, 2023

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    Yes indeed. Max just put his foot on the pedal, drove away and won. But you dont hear me complain. I'm from the Netherlands. By the way, such a small country and two dutch drivers in F1. Very special. Nice to see alonso.
     
    Edited Mar 5, 2023
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  11. YY77 Mar 5, 2023

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    Remember the time we even had 2 drivers in the same team?
     
  12. MRC Mar 5, 2023

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    Well into the time I followed GP racing, but I still had to look it up :(

    de Beaufort and Pon in 1962.
     
  13. Shabbaz Mar 5, 2023

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    Albers and Doornbos?
     
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  14. Evose Mar 5, 2023

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    What a sad race today. People complained about LH winning and Mercedes dominating, now Horner seems relatively quiet with the opposite true. I understand the regulation change in order to prevent the richer teams from just throwing money at the issues, but this restriction also prevents teams from crawling out of deficits (if and should have they switch philosophies), as we can see here with Mercedes. Poaching of key team members aside.
     
  15. dsio Ash @ ΩF Staff Member Mar 5, 2023

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    The restrictions on CFD and windtunnel testing are going to really bite Red Bull this year though, while Aston in particularly is very open to develop, it could yet get tighter over the season.
     
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  16. texasmade Mar 5, 2023

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    I think the wind tunnel and CFD order resets mid season so I expect AM to start going backwards later in the year if they're top 3.

    As for RB, they're miles ahead of everyone. They can start focusing on 2024 by race 15 and still win both championships. Max was dropping Leclerc by several tenths of a second per lap in the opening stint while Checo easily caught and passed Sainz.
     
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  17. Evose Mar 5, 2023

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    That's precisely my concern. They're in a different league.
     
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  18. vbrad26 Mar 6, 2023

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    So I did finally break down and get an F1 TV subscription. Didn't check it out much but it does seem worth it.
    Was happy to see Alonso on the podium and Aston Martins pace in general. But can't help but think if Seb was still there.
    Was disappointed to see the results from HAAS.
    Was not surprised by a Ferrari DNF.
    Was thinking Gasly did great going from P20 to P9.
    And those are my final thoughts. Oh and I'm secretly happy to see Mercedes/Hamilton finally struggling but equally upset to see RedBull/Max just taking that place so easily.
    After the race, I headed downtown to watch the Indy Car season opener. Here's a pic of former F1 driver Marcus Ericsson crossing the finish line in P1 after a bit of luck (partly thanks to another former F1 driver, Romain Grosjean)

    4119BD4F-843A-4CAF-8DF3-D316FE010709.jpeg
     
  19. Albe100 Mar 6, 2023

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    The race wasn't a classic by any means, but a pretty good opening to this 2023 season. I'm happy for Fernando, love him or hate him, he is one of the greats (forget the number of championships). I don't think Seb would have done what Alonso did yesterday. It will be interesting if AM can keep the pace throughout the championship.

    Max...by lap 9 he was about 6 or 7 seconds ahead of Leclerc....as a Ferrari fan, I'm hoping that last year's opening race and end of season results are a sign of reversed luck for Ferrari. DNF first race and then catch up and win the WDC and Constructor's. One can dream :)

    Hopefully things will change by round 3 or 4 and we don't see RBR dominance and we can get an interesting championship.

    I'm quietly happy that Merc is struggling, I want to see how GR matches up against LH this year. If it was a championship winning car, say what you want, but Merc would be favouring LH.
     
  20. Vercingetorix Spam Risk Mar 15, 2023

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