2024 F1 Thread

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There is no room for error in F1, they are unsparing when the regs are breached. The other day Max, Checo and some other driver were cited and fined for going 80.1 km/hr in the pit lane. MB messed this up, it's not Russell's fault.

I can't understand Perez, he starts second on the grid and ends up seventh, Verstappen starts 11th and ends up fourth. Perez didn't seem to have any pace from the get go, don't know if it's him or if the car setup is wrong. But whatever it is it's not working out for the team overall, a change needs to be made now.

RB's domination wasn't going to last forever, it never does. Now we have a competition. Alas Ferrari still can't seem to fire on all cylinders.
 
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Really terrible for Russell! ..of course I'm Happy for Hamilton he drove an amazing race, but I'm sure this could have been mitigated by picking up more (1.5kg) marbles on the in-lap, he was probably unaware and so overjoyed to win!
There was no cooldown lap so he never got a chance to do marble pickup.
 
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There is no room for error in F1, they are unsparing when the regs are breached. The other day Max, Checo and some other driver were cited and fined for going 80.1 km/hr in the pit lane. MB messed this up, it's not Russell's fault.

I can't understand Perez, he starts second on the grid and ends up seventh, Verstappen starts 11th and ends up fourth. Perez didn't seem to have any pace from the get go, don't know if it's him or if the car setup is wrong. But whatever it is it's not working out for the team overall, a change needs to be made now.

RB's domination wasn't going to last forever, it never does. Now we have a competition. Alas Ferrari still can't seem to fire on all cylinders.

Yeah they're pretty strict, it stands to reason that changing to One Stop early on you're going to lose a lot more rubber from the tyres, and the circa 1.5-kilo weight loss would ordinarily have been mitigated by picking up enough marbles, and it's pretty risky to try and do that in race conditions, especially with Hamilton right up your ass; also as far as I understand, if a car is underweight as a result of damage, the FIA usually lets this go.
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There was no cooldown lap so he never got a chance to do marble pickup.
Oh yes, that's correct
 
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Doing another 7km and running out of fuel would not have helped Russell at all.
 
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cars are drained of fuel before weighing
So they weighed the car before pulling the 2.8 liters out and it was finethen had to re weigh the car and it was 3.5lbs short.

the long stint on the tires and no cool down lap to pick up marbles to add back weight is also theorized to be part of it.
 
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Races should be won on the track. Not post race in the stewards room.
Yes I realise that there are rules to be followed, but these rules should be written and framed in a way that would minimise this shit.
Otherwise why bother with the race and just have a competition between lawyers.
 
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Races should be won on the track. Not post race in the stewards room.
Yes I realise that there are rules to be followed, but these rules should be written and framed in a way that would minimise this shit.
Otherwise why bother with the race and just have a competition between lawyers.

This argument doesn't really make sense for George's DQ though. Mercedes broke a very clear cut rule by being underweight. They aren't disputing it, they aren't saying it wasn't clear, they acknowledged they broke it pure and simple. What exactly do you want to see changed? The weight limit is the weight limit, if they were lenient on it then you'd see more disputes, not less.
 
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The simple solution is the weight limit should be without fuel so the weight is consistent regardless of how much fuel is left.
It’s the drivers and their cars that should be racing on the track, not rule book racing after the fact.
Now there will always be the possibility of winning by rule book but the opportunities for this should be minimised whenever possible, not baked in and to be used as the first resort.
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The simple solution is the weight limit should be without fuel so the weight is consistent regardless of how much fuel is left.

Right, I see where you're coming from now. May be a byproduct of the need to measure the car when fuelled up and/or measure the fuel utilisation or some other reason why they've chosen to do it this way. Honestly not sure. Either way though, George was underweight so while I like him and was happy for his win, I don't have a problem with this particular disqualification either. The rule was known and agreed in advance.
 
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Doing another 7km and running out of fuel would not have helped Russell at all.

The fuel is not weighed with the car.

If, like other F1 racetracks, he'd had enough fuel to do a cool-down lap (requiring very little fuel) he would have been able to pick up enough marbles and mitigate a 1.5-kilo loss, and would not have been disqualified.
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The fuel is not weighed with the car.

If, like other F1 racetracks, he'd had enough fuel to do a cool-down lap (requiring very little fuel) he would have been able to pick up enough marbles and mitigate a 1.5-kilo loss, and would not have been disqualified.
Enough fuel to do a cool down lap would have weighed enough to cost him the win is all I’m saying.
 
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Enough fuel to do a cool down lap would have weighed enough to cost him the win is all I’m saying.
Highly doubtful, relatively speaking, a cooldown lap, if permitted (together with the other incredibly powerful energy sources available), uses a tiny amount of fuel; also you have to have enough fuel left in the tank for random sampling (this does not get included in the weight of the vehicle) at the end of the race.
 
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Highly doubtful, relatively speaking, a cooldown lap, if permitted (together with the other incredibly powerful energy sources available), uses a tiny amount of fuel; also you have to have enough fuel left in the tank for random sampling (this does not get included in the weight of the vehicle) at the end of the race.
Last I knew teams were not even painting parts to save grams, but I guess you know better.
 
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Last I knew teams were not even painting parts to save grams, but I guess you know better.
Save weight wherever you can and then add it back with ballast in the floor to change the car's balance front to rear. That will also lower the CoG.
 
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The simple solution is the weight limit should be without fuel so the weight is consistent regardless of how much fuel is left.
It’s the drivers and their cars that should be racing on the track, not rule book racing after the fact.
Now there will always be the possibility of winning by rule book but the opportunities for this should be minimised whenever possible, not baked in and to be used as the first resort.

but it is.

The car has a minimum weight after the 2.8l or whatever of fuel is removed for testing which is not optional. The issue was AMG weighed the car before the fuel sample was removed for testing.

Mercedes made an error. At least two other time in the past decade drivers have been DQ’ed for not having that much fuel left at the end of the race.
 
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Last I knew teams were not even painting parts to save grams, but I guess you know better.

That's a bit silly.. You're completely ignoring the other energy sources on board that could virtually power an F1 car around a cool-down lap if needed.
Paint? Most teams got over that problem a long time ago
..maybe you have a sight impairment or have monochromatic vision or the like (and I completely understand if you have)
..or perhaps you're watching in black and white, but most teams are painting (circa 6kg) their cars ..they're often very colourful👍
 
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Sainz to Williams

Beneath him. Glad he has a seat but I hope he can get into a front running team soon, or at least for 2026.