Ask r/Formula1 Anything - Daily Discussion Thread

[u/F1-Bot]

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[u/pinecoconuts]

I began watching the sport halfway during the 2007 season and immediately began to love the history of the sport as well.

At the time reading about the Senna, Prost, and Mansell era felt like it was long ago, but now I think about how the 2007 season is basically as long ago as the end of that era was when I began watching.

And then it doesn't feel like 15-20 years is that long ago, especially given that we still have drivers on the grid who raced in 2007.

[u/armchairracingdriver → u/pinecoconuts]

I agree with this (started in 2004) and through watching a lot of past races over the last couple years I have gotten the same impression, but it’s not so easy to think of why.

I feel like it is probably something to do with how more recent changes to the sport have had more staying power. Engines for example have been highly uniform. Everything has been very tightly homologated on that front since approx 1996 with the V10s, then after 2005 with the V8s and since 2014 with the hybrids. Those regs have included development freezes too. Compare that to the immediate post-turbo environment where you had Ford V8s vs Renault V10s and Ferrari & Honda V12s and it feels like a completely different sport, a Wild West version of F1.

Then we have the circuits - Tilkedromes have basically been a constant since approx mid 2000s and the only real difference is they aren’t universally thought of as bad for the sport today. We’ve had more street circuits recently though and I like the variety they provide. Along with the circuits we have had the global expansion of the sport going back to 2004 with the introduction of Bahrain and China. Before then, F1 was basically a championship of Europe, a little bit of the Americas with Japan and Australia tacked on.

In-season testing also just hasn’t been much of a thing in our time. Gone is the unlimited Ferrari running around Fiorano. There’s probably far more I’m missing - I didn’t mention how bulletproof the cars seem in comparison to the 1990s, but I definitely feel like the F1 of circa 2001 has far more in common with today’s F1 than it does with the sport of ten years prior.

[u/rodiraskol]

I noticed a statistical quirk about the 2021 season:

McLaren’s 1-2 in Monza was the only 1-2 that season. Mercedes or Red Bull won 20/22 races and achieved 8 and 4 double podiums respectively, but neither managed a 1-2.

[u/jesus_stalin → u/rodiraskol]

Reminds me of a vaguely similar quirk about 1997: Villeneuve and Schumacher were the two title contenders but they never once stood on the podium together.

[u/fake_hester → u/rodiraskol]

that's really funny! reminds me the stat that hamilton verstappen hold record for most 1-2 finishes. not sure what is the exact number, because that had some since this article came out.

[u/HarvgulI]

Is there a date for when the first photos of Hamilton in red will come out?

I know he’s doing the tests on the 19th Jan but will they release photos before then?

[u/Astelli → u/HarvgulI]

No official date. Maybe they'll want to wait until the big reveal in February, maybe they'll want to get pictures out as soon as possible - your guess is as good as mine!

[u/KiwieeiwiK → u/Astelli]

It's Ferrari, so your guess is as good as theirs 

[u/Le_Pistache → u/HarvgulI]

The earliest is January 1st, as that's when the F1 contracts begin. Existing deals that are expiring officially end on December 31st.

Will they post photos on Jan 1st? Probably not, but then again this is a big move. But my expectation is to see him in a Ferrari suit during the test on the 19th, nothing official until their launch in February. Depends if Ferrari allow journalists in during the test.

[u/fake_hester]

So what are your thoughts on Hadjar? I'm pretty hyped and curious to see what he can do in F1. Horner said that he was quicker than Yuki in RB20. We know he's fast but still a bit rough around the edges in terms of race craft. Any thoughts?

[u/creatorop → u/fake_hester]

Quick but emotional

I think they will coach the overreaction out of him considering Marko was quite critical of him for this

But Brother is fockin fast, can surely keep Lawson on his feet in the Red bull

[u/Affectionate_Sky9709 → u/creatorop]

Honestly, after Marko was critical, Hadjar really really cleaned up his radios. Even when he had the most frustrating race ever, he was in control- upset, but not rude, not a bunch of meme worthy messages coming up.

[u/Samsonkoek → u/fake_hester]

Hard to say really. Obviously in F2 he has been quick this year but I can't remember him setting the world on fire before that. His FP outings haven't been that great either, sure it is FP but it didn't look like he was comfortable at all in the car.

So I'm going into 2025 first wanting to see whether Hadjar can get comfortable with the car and extract around the same pace as Yuki. And then it is probably race craft that'd be interesting to follow, given it was a weak point in 2024.

[u/Disastrous-Beat-9830 → u/fake_hester]

So what are your thoughts on Hadjar?

He has improved by leaps and bounds over the past three years. Part of that was down to his being immature; he was probably promoted to Formula 2 a year too soon. Part of that was down to having a better relationship with his team; he was always fighting his engineer at Hitech, but really settled into a rhythm at Campos. The challenge will be in building on that because it's possible that his maturity and his team relationships were masking his true pace, which means he might have already reached the limit of what he's capable of.

[u/McFigroll]

How much will Aston Martin improve in the next couple of years with newey on board now? I can't imagine a huge jump next year but maybe 2026?

[u/AnilP228 → u/McFigroll]

Newey won't have an impact on 2025 but he will definitely impact the 2026 car. Of course, so will Honda, arguably more so.

[u/Affectionate_Sky9709 → u/AnilP228]

Newey could impact the 2025 car if they wanted him to, in the way the car develops across the season. He's had big impacts before when he came in after the initial car was already made. But, yeah, since it's the last year of these regulations, I highly doubt he'll do much to the 2025 car. Maybe hand over a notebook of thoughts on his first day, but he'll dive into the 2026 car that will already be in deveopment at that point.

[u/cafk → u/McFigroll]

It'll heavily depend on the new Honda PU and Newey led aero team working well together.

Newey also isn't the all knowing god, Fallows (who was recently fired from Aston) was supposed to be his prodigy and we saw how well that went at Aston.
Similarly Newey has been more of a CTO, overseeing and managing the technical team and not so much hands on going into every detail and aspect of the car.

[u/dl064]

https://www.instagram.com/share/p/BAGbXG2HvZ

I think Piastri would be 11/10

[u/Suspirium17]

Can anyone recommend a good f1 podcast in German? I want to improve my German by listening in my everyday life. Ideally one that is not too technical as that might be a bit too difficult to understand

[u/Somlal]

Just finished watching the senna series... Was prost always a dick? Did people like him back in the day?

[u/Astelli → u/Somlal]

I wasn’t watching at the time, but he had a reputation for being cold and calculating which has endured over the decades.

Of course, you have to be careful with artistic license and TV narratives. Any media where Senna is the hero and protagonist is likely to portray Prost in a more negative light. Reality is usually more subtle and nuanced than it’s portrayed on TV.

[u/cafk → u/Somlal]

People tend to consider Senna more of a dick, due to his extremely aggressive racing style crashing competitors out and justifying it through "if you no longer go for a gap, you're no longer a racing driver".

[u/Defiant-Diver-6041]

Given this season's circuits, which car would be better, a car with

- 55% straight line speed + 45% cornering speed or,

- 55% cornering speed + 45% straight line speed

[u/DangerousTrashCan → u/Defiant-Diver-6041]

It doesn't really work like that, it's not a slider that you can drag around, so there isn't an answer to this.

[u/Astelli → u/Defiant-Diver-6041]

Hard to say with such an odd setup. With the first constraint you'd probably have the cars going round corners faster than they were going on the straights.