Tag: Red Bull Racing

Categories
2024 Racing Season

F1 2024

(Editors note- As I was getting ready to publish, the news that Horner is keeping his job went public. Some of the content below covers what a post Horner Red Bull would have looked like.)

The 2024 F1 season is officially here and fans the world over are anxiously waiting to find out………Who will Mercedes hire to replace Lewis, will Checo keep his Red Bull seat, where will Sainz land, will Horner get sacked at Red Bull for inappropriate behavior, can Lewis and Ferrari win in ‘25??  Yes, 2024 is officially the year of The Silly Season.  Barring some really bizarre circumstances, it’s a foregone conclusion that Max will cruise to a 4th world title so let’s just crown the champ now and get into the good gossip!

I have to confess, I will still attempt to watch every single lap of every race, Max domination or not, but I’m more excited for the game of musical chairs that is about to take place than spending 100+ hours on the couch watching Max look like he’s on a Sunday drive along the coast.  F1 has always been part sport, part soap opera, and this season is shaping up to be a Netflix directors fantasy.  I spent the better part of an hour last night watching the sad plight of Nyck de Vries in his failed Alpha Tauri rookie season in the latest Drive To Survive episode 2, so can you imagine how dramatic it will feel when the heavyweights start swapping around?  Move over Kardashians!  Similar to what the NBA is experiencing at the moment, the actual race broadcast numbers will likely decline drastically due to the predictable outcomes over 24 races, but social engagement through the various platforms should go through the roof when some spicy news hits the wire.  Is there a media insider who breaks the news before the teams announce it?  I want Ted Kravitz dropping Twitter (X) bombs.

To recap, this all got started when Lewis Hamilton shocked the world and announced that after 10 years and 6 world titles with Mercedes, he was trading his silver overalls at the end of the year for the red of Ferrari in 2025.  Interesting side note, after Ferrari announced the signing, their stock price jumped 12%, adding $10 billion in market cap.  Do you think Lewis deserves a raise?  On top of this, Red Bull has very publicly stated that Perez must improve his performance over the second part of last year or he is out.  Can you imagine, a Mercedes and a Red Bull seat up for grabs at the same time?  

This thought calls for a fantasy timeout:  The worst case scenario is that Sainz signs with Mercedes and Perez does enough to keep his seat at Red Bull.  This would crush dreams and put the silly season to rest in seconds.  However, let’s say that Sainz does decide that he is the man to spearhead the Audi F1 project into the future and Perez buckles under the Red Bull pressure, then, oh yes, we would be looking at full scale change of epic proportions.

Under this scenario, here is how I envision it all playing out:  

Two things that seem solid for ‘25 is Ferrari will have Hamilton and Leclerc and McLaren will have Norris and Piastri. From there, let’s get crazy.

Mercedes – Toto smiles that devilish grin and mutters “Fuck You Lewis” under his breath as he signs Fernando Alonso to a two year deal to team up with George Russell.

Red Bull does a deep dive into its past drivers Sainz, Danny Ric, Gasly and Albon and comes to the conclusion that it’s none other than Sainz who they have been missing all these years.  Max, now firmly confident in his place within the team, green lights the move for Carlos to come home.  

Aston Martin – Lawrence Stroll, feeling the strain of world domination slipping from his fingers, signs Pierre Gasly to replace Alsono and tells son Lance that ‘25 will be his last year before moving into management to make way for Honda’s golden boy, Yuki Tsunoda.  

Alpine- Fading into irrelevance, Alpine do the sensible thing and promote academy driver Jack Doohan to team with Ocon.

Visa Cash App RB (VCARB): After finding that Yuki is going with Honda to Aston in ‘26, VCARB promote Liam Lawson to team with the always smiling Danny Ric, forming a Down Under super team.

Sauber-Stake-Audi:  Planning for the future, Audi start working behind the scenes and pry Alex Albon out of his Williams contract while signing Nico Hulkenberg to be their initial guys to launch their assault on the F1 world championship.

Williams:  Seeing the value in Checo as a development driver and North American sponsor magnate, Williams bring in Perez to be the benchmark for young Kimi Antonelli, on loan from Toto for two years.  

Haas – Picking last after all the moves have been made, Haas go with Ferrari academy driver Ollie Bearman to team with the veteran Kevin Magnussen.  

In this world, Bottas, Zhou, and Logan Sargeant are left without seats while Yuki spends ‘25 on the sidelines.  Will this happen?  No way, but I’d love to see it.  

So, back to this business of F1 racing, 2024 style.  We know that Max will be the champ and could conceivably win another 20+ races, but after that, there is a fascinating eight man battle shaping up for second.  Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, Perez and Alonso all fighting to fill out the podium will be my focus for the season.  Even if Max is some twenty seconds up the road, the thought of drivers and teams of this caliber duking it out should make for fun tv.  In fact, I’m hoping that Oracle will be left disappointed with their tv exposure figures because the world feed director will spend the majority of the show riveted to this pack of eight.  Max can watch from the trackside screens like the rest of us if he wants to feel involved.   

Why will it be so close (for second, of course)?  This is year 3 of rules stability and the word of the day that you will likely see thrown around is Convergence.  The teams have all had three years to copy each other, hence bringing about convergence from top to bottom, and with zero driver turnover this past year, the engineers have hopefully been able to take the drivers feedback and come up with solutions that plagued their ‘23 cars.  The Ferrari should be nicer to its tires, the Mercedes more predictable on turn in, the McLarens better mid corner and the Aston faster in a straight line.  It’s just too bad that Red Bull appear to have come up with a revolutionary design that has measurably improved upon the all conquering RB19. 

Either way,  It will be exciting to watch these guys go into Q2 and Q3 with zero margin for error and then get after it on Sundays.  And if racing for 10th place is your thing, then you are in for a big year!  The 8-pack plus Max equals 9, so we should have the rest of the grid scratching and clawing for that elusive single point awarded to 10th.  (Note – If this sounds boring and you enjoy watching racing to see dramatic finishes for victory, then I recommend watching Moto3 motorcycle racing or go visit your local dirt or kart track.)

Now it’s time for Bulseyeview Wants To Know brought to you by The Onion | America’s Finest News Source:

Red Bull – Will Perez buckle under the pressure of being the perfect #2?  Will there be an exodus if Horner is forced to resign?  Did they get too greedy in coming up with a unique new design rather than sticking with an evolution of the old 22 out of 23 race winning warhorse?  

Mercedes – At what point do they start to phase out Lewis and put all of their energies and development bits into Russell’s side of the garage?  Who the heck are they going to sign?  Do they have the engineering staff in place to regain the upper hand come 2026?

Ferrari – Have they found a solution for their long run tire woes?  Same as above regarding Hamilton, at what point do they phase out Sainz?  After pulling off the Hamilton signing coup, can Fred Vasseur assemble the technical team to return Ferrari to glory?

McLaren – Will they start the year on competitive footing to make a run at second in the constructors race?  Will Piastri make the 2nd year leap and give Norris a real fight for inter team superiority? Can Zak Brown set the record for most blue chip sponsors on the side of a car?

Aston Martin – Will Lawrence Stroll be able to accept being a 5th place team or will he tire of mediocrity and cut bait?  Can Lance close the massive gap to Alonso?  And if not, does he keep his seat as long as pops owns the team?

Alpine – Who will emerge as the victor in the Ocon v Gasly battle?  Who is now managing this team and will they last a season?  Is the Renault board still all in on F1 knowing they could sell the team for a massive sum?

VCARB – Can Danny Ric get the upper hand on year 4 Yuki?  Will this be the surprise team who claim a fighting 5th in the constructors championship?  

Stake – Will the Sauber gang do anything noteworthy this year?

Williams – Will Sargeant become a respectable F1 driver this season in year 2?  Is James Vowles the man to lead Williams back into the hunt for race wins?  Can the team retain Albon if they show significant gains?

Haas – When will Gene give up the fight and sell? (Andretti-Cadillac anyone?).  

With that, here is a Bold Claim:

Horner gets fired, causing Adrian Newey to rethink his place within the team and the world at large.  He’s conquered the world with Williams, McLaren and Red Bull, but there is one team outside of England who is the grandest of them all.  They just signed Lewis Hamilton.  Winter and spring in Italy are lovely.  The food and wine in the region is excellent.  The cycling and motorcycling is about perfect.  Maybe, this would be a fun chapter to close out a glorious F1 career?

Fast Forward to 2029:  After Verstappen easily won the ‘24 and ‘25 titles, the Adrian Newey penned ‘26 Ferrari came out and decimated the field, allowing Lewis Hamilton to win his coveted 8th WDC.  Struggling to get anywhere near the pace of the Ferrari in the Red Bull-Ford entry, team Verstappen forced their way out of Red Bull and into the arms of Vasseur to partner Hamilton.  (And cue to the Prost v Senna ‘88 documentary).  In ‘27, Max reasserted his dominance to win his 6th title with little resistance from Hamilton.  In ‘28, Lewis dug deep and used canny old man Niki Lauda style tricks to get into the head of Max, who made a series of bizarre driving errors, allowing Hamilton to steal #9 and retire as the GOAT.  

(Note – The GOAT designation didn’t last long because starting in ‘29, Google F1 entered their AI designed car piloted by Lighting Bigsby, the best AI pilot the world has ever seen, and won an astonishing 734 races in a row without ever making a single mistake. The podium celebrations became slightly awkward but Google remedied it by placing a cute robot into the cockpit who would then go up to the podium and was capable of spraying champagne.  Google even came up with their own company anthem that accompanied each win).

Should I send this idea to the Brad Pitt movie team to save them from making another version of Driven?

Here are the picks:

Verstappen – 19 wins

Perez – 2 wins

Leclerc – 1 win

Russell – 1 win

Hamilton

Sainz – 1 win

Norris

Alonso

Piastri

Danny Ric

Stroll

Tsunoda

Gasly

Ocon

Albon

Bottas

Zhou

Hulkenberg

Sargeant

Magnussen

Do yourself a favor and check out the MotoGP Ducati wars and don’t forget to support your local Indycar series.  Here’s to a safe and exciting season!

Categories
2023 Racing Season

F1 ’23 RECAP

F1 2023 has been relegated to the history books and 30 years from now when I ask my AI companion to tell me in great detail about the ‘23 F1 season, my companion will gaze at me as only a lovable robot buddy can and provide a simple one word answer:  Verstappen.  To that response I will say, “Ah yes, the Verstappen years indeed.  Now buddy, would you be kind enough to draw my bath and prepare my sleeping chamber.”

The RB19 in the hands of Verstappen was utterly dominant and will undoubtedly keep the rest of the paddock up late into the wee hours throughout the winter trying to uncover the secret. What was the secret?  What sort of aero wizardry did Adrian Newey discover that made the car so kind to its rubber, so fast on the straights, so stable in the fast corners, slow corners and on the brakes?  How did Max make it look like a Sunday drive in the park and win 19/22 races while the rest of the field struggled?   I’m envisioning a private room at the Red Bull holiday party deep in the Tyrolean mountains where the top brass and Max are all raising a glass of fine Veltliner and toasting to The Secret.  Meanwhile, Sergio Perez is in the lobby area having an awkward conversation with an admin staffer who has consumed too many Red Bull-vodkas.  

The season got off to an ominous start in Bahrain when it was quickly evident that neither Mercedes nor Ferrari had created a Red Bull beater and in fact, Red Bull had widened the gap. Max led Perez home by 11 seconds, while that old wily Alonso was the surprise of the weekend in his Aston Martin debut, scoring a podium +38 secs to Max.  Sainz was the lead Ferrari in 4th, +48 secs back and Hamilton led the Merc charge in 5th, +50 seconds back.  Sadly after just this lone race, it was obvious that the Red Bull advantage was insurmountable. 

The next race in Saudi Arabia provided a little extra drama when Max had mechanical issues in qualifying and was forced to start 15th, while Checo was on pole.  In the race Perez had a relatively easy time of it, beating Max to the flag by 5 seconds.  It was business as usual in Australia where Max took the win with Perez a messy 5th.  If you want to say that there was a turning point in the season, you have to look at the 4th race in Baku.  Perez arrived looking like the street maestro and flat out beat Max.  He out-qualified him, he won the sprint on Saturday and he won the race on Sunday.  Afterwards, Checo was talking about the drivers championship like he was in it to win it.  Meanwhile, no doubt fuming on the inside, Max claimed that he spent the race messing with his settings and discovered something that he later on admitted propelled him for the rest of the season.  Did he unlock the secret?  Whatever he learned about the RB19 in Baku, he suddenly became a party of one, winning 17 of the final 18 races and setting all sorts of records in the process.  

For those of you who have been around for a while, think about this:  19 wins in 1 season is only one less than 2- time world champion Mika Hakkinen achieved in his career.  It’s mind boggling stuff.  

So is it time to anoint Max as the GOAT?  It’s an interesting thought, but I think I need to see Max switch teams and win again before crowning him.  During my time following this circus religiously, Prost*, Piquet, Schumacher and Hamilton have all won titles driving for more than one team.  Alonso came extremely close, Vettel came reasonably close, and I’m sure Senna would have won multiple titles at Williams had he survived, but I need confirmation that this isn’t another example of Vettel exploiting a Newey design masterstroke.  Remember, at one point Vettel won 4 titles in a row and was looking like he belonged in the discussion, until he was first beaten by Danny Ric at the beginning of the hybrid era within the team and then became a quick driver prone to making horrible mistakes at Ferrari.  I think Max may just be the guy, but he’s not better than Senna or Prost in my eyes until he goes to a competitor, crushes more teammates and wins more titles.  

*The little professor was darn close to winning titles for 4 different teams.  In ‘83 he led the championship in a Renault until the final race, when a DNF handed the title to Piquet in the surging Brabham BMW.  Prost then took the fight to Senna for Ferrari in ‘90 until the infamous Senna Suzuka payback ended that championship in the turn one gravel trap.  

That said, here are a few categories that rank the current crop of 20 drivers based on what I saw this year.  This does not reflect the fact that some of these guys are young and may still be getting better.  

Max Class

Max Verstappen- Complete package.  Crazy quick, ultra competitive, loves driving, doesn’t feel pressure……I could go on and on.

Genius but Human

Hamilton- Amazing feel, may not be quite as motivated racing for second in his twilight years.

Leclerc- One lap wonder, great race craft, might not be mentally ready to take on Max. And hallelujah to that.  I like my Ferrari drivers quick and overly passionate.

Alonso- Relentless, fast, smart, usually leaves a team on bad terms after 3-4 seasons.

Excellent

Norris- Massive talent waiting for the car to give him that first win.  Made too many mistakes in qualifying late in the year when he had the second best package.

Russell- Put in his place by Hamilton this year, Russell is a big talent and seems like a confident, team leader in waiting.

Sainz- Brilliant drives in Singapore and Monza, quick and experienced, good teammate.  

Really Good

Piastri- Fought through a really tough beginning to the season and emerged as the golden child.  Great kid, super quick, needs to learn how to manage the tires in order to threaten Norris.

Gasly- Quick, tough, experienced.  With all the administrative chaos at Alpine this year he kept his head down and got on with it.  Welcome to driving for the French National team!

Albon- The man who finished 3rd to Russell and Norris in the 2018 F2 championship looks like a rock steady driver who will have a long career at Williams.  

Ocon- See comments for Gasly above.  This guy is a fighter who matched Alonso at Alpine.

Liam Lawson- Got thrown into the deep end after the Danny Ric injury at Zandvoort and made the most of his big break.  Essentially matched Tsunoda right of the box and scored points in Singapore, while finishing 11th in Italy and Japan.  

Pretty Good

Perez- Brilliant start to the year unraveled quickly starting in Monaco.  He incredibly failed to reach Q3 eight times over the season and seemed to be crushed by the relentless speed of Max.  Throughout the chaos, he still emerged 2nd in the drivers standings.

Yuki- He’s now a legitimately quick, experienced driver who has earned a 4th season in the merciless Red Bull camp.  Give him a decent car and look out.

Hulkenberg- Returned after a couple of years away playing with his kids and was startlingly quick in the Haas.  Sadly, the tire eating Haas chassis left him fighting for scraps on Sundays.

Average

Stroll- Hard to call P10 in the drivers standings average for young Stroll but seeing that his teammate was 4th and 132 points ahead makes you realize that he had a pretty great package at his disposal.  What is Aston to do if they have aspirations of climbing the constructors standings?

Bottas- Fun guy, bad car.  What can you do?  He doesn’t seem to have much on Zhou which I would like to see if I’m evaluating him for a drive when the team becomes Audi.  

Magnussen- Out qualified by Hulk 15-7 and outscored 9-3.  

Danny Ric- Great to see him back, but other than a nice weekend in Texas, he seemed to have a difficult time matching Yuki.  I know he’s marketing gold, but put Lawson in the seat!

Guanyu- Alfa (Sauber) is like a ghost team out there but the record shows that Z recorded 6 points.  His head to head with Bottas was 7-15 in qualifying, 10-12 in the races, and 6-10 in points.  

DeVries- Got the ‘ol Tost chop rather quickly but didn’t seem like he was making a complete fool of himself.

Yikes

Logan Sargeant- Tough to beat up on a rookie driver in a Williams, but that was a poor season.  Shocking that he’s back for another.  LS left a lot of expensive body work and parts in the tire barriers and guardrails of F1 circuits around the globe.  Out qualified 22-0 and outscored 27-1 by Albon. 

Time For A Rant

There are too many races.  It was amazing to see Drive to Survive propel the sport into the global mainstream, but now Liberty Media are starting to look downright greedy.  I understand that they are in the business of creating wealth for their shareholders, but I feel like they’ve reached the oversaturation point and people are going to start losing interest, especially with Max likely dominating again in ‘24.  It’s hard to tell a great story when all 24 chapters are very predictable and you can see the obvious outcome from a mile away.  Enough with these jetlagged drivers and teams going through the motions week in and week out.  I’m waiting for the day that Lewis Hamilton says, “Hola Mexico” to the fans in Brazil.  Back in the days of 16 races, each one felt like a crucial event towards crowning a champion and the waiting part for the next one generated even more buzz.  (at least that’s how the world felt to me pre internet – lol)

So Liberty Media, I took the liberty to pare your schedule down to 18 races.  Out are the majority of what I refer to as the Paddock Club grands prix, where the circuits and stands are totally devoid of any real soul, but the teams are hard at work entertaining high net worth individuals with the hope of receiving large checks in the form of sponsorship.  Do we really need 4 races in the F1 rabid Persian Gulf region? (I can just hear Zak Brown protesting now)  Therefore, with apologies to all who are affected, the following GP’s have been canceled for ‘24: Saudi Arabia, Miami, Imola, Baku, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.  (Zak Brown has now blacked out standing up and face planted on the ‘93 MP4/8 in the McLaren showroom)

This leaves the following schedule for the Max Domination Tour ‘24:

Bahrain

Australia

Japan

China

Monaco

Canada

Spain

Austria

England

Hungary

Belgium

Holland

Italy

Singapore

Austin

Mexico

Brazil

Vegas – Yes, Vegas is so silly and outrageous it has to stay and become the finale, just to really mix things up.

Here are a few final awards to close out the season:

I’m tempted to just say, “Red Bull, well done, take ‘em all home and that’s a wrap, thanks for coming and see you next year.”  But there has to be a few other things to praise so I’ll try to get creative here.

The OpenAI In Season Development Award

McLaren started the year looking like one of the worst cars on the grid by the final race they were arguably the second best team.  Think about this, after the first 8 rounds they had a total of 17 points and they finished the year with 302.  I did a little calculating and if you total constructors points from Austria through Abu Dhabi, here are the totals:

Red Bull – 539

McLaren – 285

Ferrari – 284

Mercedes – 242

In Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri they have an amazing young driver lineup, Zak Brown is a sponsor magnet and they just upped their Mercedes engine deal until 2030. Exciting times ahead for the papaya cars.  

The Grecian Formula Legends Award

It was great to see Fernando Alonso get his hands on a good car again to remind us that he is a master of his craft.  While Ferrari, Merc and McLaren all started the year struggling, Aston Martin came out of the blocks with a well balanced car that Alonso took to 6 podiums in the first 8 races.  Unfortunately, Aston were not able to develop their package as quickly as the teams around them, but Alonso closed the year with an amazing battle with Perez for a podium in Brazil and then passed Yuki Tsunoda on the very last lap in Abu Dhabi for 7th to secure 4th overall in the drivers standings.  

The Ayrton Senna Foundation One Lap Wonder Award:

Sorry Max, The recipient of the ASFOLWA this year is Charles Leclerc. (pan to crowd and see a visibly shaken Max table).  Leclerc, by virtue of his 5 poles, gets the award for always being able to pull out an impressive flier when it counts.  In fact, if you look at pole positions as a whole, Red Bull only beat Ferrari by a score of 14-7.  

The Apprentice Team Chaos Award

Alpine, no surprise, wins the 2023 award for team chaos.  When Alpine CEO and F1 newbie Laurent Rossi went public with the manufacturers intention to be title contenders after 100 races, I’m sure there were more than a few smirks from their rivals up and down the pitlane.  Fast forward a couple of years and after losing Alpine reserve driver Oscar Piastri to McLaren and Alonso to Aston Martin, suddenly we were told that they may need 120 races.  It was clear from the beginning of this year that they were going to have a very difficult time matching the 4th in the constructors that they achieved in ‘22 and after both cars crashed out of solid points paying positions and ended up totalled against the turn 2 wall in Melbourne, Rossi lost it and called the team amateurish.  Needless to say, these comments didn’t go over well with the Renault board and within a few months Rossi was sacked, team principal Otmar Szafnauer was out, and sporting director Alan Premane, a 30+ year employee of the team dating back to the Benetton days, was sent packing as well.  In the end, Alpine finished a lonely 6th in the constructors championship with Gasly and Ocon each getting one podium.  

Final Thought:  Would Liberty Media and FOM just please allow this Andretti-Cadillac entry already?  In my opinion it’s a win all the way around.  If they are a complete disaster and only last 3-5 years, then you have collected their $200m and everyone gets to say, I told you so, and feel all high and mighty.  If they become a solid midpack team with a GM motor and an American driver, then they are adding real value to the TV/social media world.  And in some crazy scenario that they become title contenders with an America vs the world attitude, F1 views and clicks will get pushed into the stratosphere.  Let’s Make America Great Again!  

Happy Holidays

Categories
2023 Racing Season

F1 2023

Greetings Racefans!  Who is ready for some exciting Formula 1?  I know I am.  I can’t wait to see if Jos Verstappen can win the drivers championship, the constructors championship and the Indy 500.  It’s going to be awesome to see Lewis Hamilton in that silver Mercedes speed through the corners.  I’m predicting that Mr Hamilton wins his 3rd championship.  And what about Gunther Steiner?  That guy is crazy.  How many times is he going to say, “Fucking Hulkenberg!” this season?  Speaking of Fucking Hulkenberg, how does that German guy have a ride again while Danny is a spectator?  We all love Danny, so why no Danny at Haas?  Danny won in the McLaren and the Arrows, so why not the Haas?  I say, “Fuck you Steiner!”  Bring back Danny Ric.  Geez, I’m excited.  I mean, Binotto got his ass fired, so now we get to watch Freddy Vasseur making excuses for those morons in red who can’t decide what tires to use.  And what about Horner and Toto?  I say get those two guys on the track and let them battle it out!  My money is on the big old Austrian oida, even if Horner raced in 14 F3000 races across the 1997-98 seasons.  This is fun!  No one has asked me to write about F1 yet.  Now it’s time to talk Botttaasss Bitch……..

Okay, Okay I’m going to stop this right here.  I confess, I thought I could save a ton of time by enlisting a chatbot to write the season preview, but this is getting a little too sideways.  I attempted to download ChatGPT but didn’t have any luck so I instead went with the “other” chatbot. I think it’s safe to say the good folks over at Google need to stop gathering information from racing site comment sections and online forums and put a little more emphasis on old Autosport articles.  More Nigel Roebuck, less Indydude69.  That said, I am loving this little Chatbot’s style and I am intrigued with where he was going with Bottaasss.  But for something as important as the season preview, I figure I better take the reins back and provide some more restrained and hopefully insightful human thoughts as we embark upon another season.

So the 2023 world champion is……

First, before I crown the champion (hint- rhymes with wax), I need to mention a few tweaks that may slightly alter the status quo.  There are only a handful of people on this earth capable of understanding both the technical and legal rule books that govern F1, so I will try to briefly explain in layman’s terms:

-Porpoising sucks so the 2023 cars will incorporate higher floor edges and have a new set of diffuser rules to play with.

-Going against the traditional F1 ethos of “may the best team win” (again and again and again), there is a new balance of power, sliding scale allotment of wind tunnel and CFD time permitted based on finishing order in the past championship.  So, Williams, being last in the ‘22 championship, will be permitted the most wind tunnel time while Red Bull, due to finishing first, will be allowed the least amount of time in the windtunnel.  Time will tell if it makes a difference.

-There are new DRS zones being added and a few DRS zones being shortened. (Insert straight face emoji)  I wish the rules committee would do a more in depth study of the DRS zones at each circuit and come up with a solution that allows the cars to arrive at the braking zone at the exact same time, or introduce a defense button that can be deployed a few meters after the following car opens its wing so the lead car at least has a fighting chance.  This current DRS system is too easy!  And bring back V-10’s!

If the lone preseason 3-day test at the Bahrain international circuit is anything to go by, Red Bull appear to be a step ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes, Aston may become the new darlings of the midfield unless Alpine have something to say about that, and McLaren are in the shit, again!  The rest are fighting for scraps.   

For a little more in depth look, it’s time for a quick run through the field brought to you by Sunoco Fuel.

Red Bull – In ‘21 it came down to the Masi decision. In ‘22 you could argue that the cost cap breach gave Max the unfair advantage.  Will ‘23 be a straightforward Max walk in the park?  The simple answer is: Yes! The championship core is back together and I see no reason why Max won’t repeat as drivers champion.  They will have to overcome the aforementioned balance of power wind tunnel development disadvantage plus the 10% additional windtunnel reduction penalty due to the ‘21 cost cap breach, but this team is led by the most valuable player in the history of F1, Adrian Newey, and has an all time great behind the wheel.  At this point, these guys are racing into the history books.  Whether they repeat as constructors’ champions will come down to the man known as Checo. At the beginning of ‘22, it appeared that Perez had closed the gap to Max, but as the season progressed and Max was able to find the RB18’s sweet spot, Checo was left in the dust.  This season will be a huge opportunity for Perez to cement his legacy as a top flight driver.  Beating the two red and black cars will be no easy feat, so if Red Bull can pull off the double, Checo will be the unsung hero.

Ferrari – Ferrari, I love you.  But please, find a way to make that rubber last!  The Scuderia have a quick car, an ace in Leclerc and a very good second driver in Saniz, so now is the time to capitalize and win a bunch of races.  Mattia Binotto took the fall for last season’s endless parade of tactical errors, so it will be fascinating to see if they correct their issues under the new leadership of Fred Vasseur.  Mr Vasseur is a battle tested racing lifer, but he will need to have his loyal soldiers in the key spots before he can invoke real change in this tragicomedy.  F1 is always a better place when Ferrari are in the hunt so my dream is a three team battle royal with RBR and Mercedes.  

Mercedes – After 8 straight constructors titles, last year was a bit of a shock to see Mercedes mystified by the W13, but it was no surprise to see them keep digging and eventually win a race.  For ‘23, they will likely take over the primary role as Red Bull hunters, but it’s the battle for superiority within the team that should make for great drama.  There is no denying that Russell is a force, and the final tally last year read Russell 275 points (1 win) to Hamilton’s 240 points (no wins), but if you look a little closer I think Lewis still has the edge.  Like Max, Hamilton has that little bit of extra magic that only a small handful of people possess at the top of professional sport and I’m expecting to see a motivated champion fighting to prove that he’s still The Man.  His legacy is on the line.  Since his debut season in 2007, Hamilton has only been out-scored by a teammate 3 times. (Button 2011, Rosberg 2016, Russell 2022).  If Russell were to beat Lewis again this season in a straight fight, there would be a seismic shift within the team and Lewis would be looking at the end.  I don’t think he’s ready for the end.  Damn this is going to be good!

Alpine – France’s National F1 team seems to be a well managed outfit with two quick drivers, yet 4th in the championship seems to be their ceiling.  I just don’t see how this team will be capable of taking the fight to Red Bull, Mercedes or Ferrari anytime soon and car manufacturers typically run out of patience when shareholders start griping about cutting costs.  Andretti-Cadillac powered by Renault anyone?  Gone for ‘23 is the polarizing yet often brilliant Fernando Alonso and in his place is Pierre Gasly.  It will be interesting to see how Gasly performs now that he’s finally able to shed his Red Bull wings.  To add a little spice to the mix, word on the street is Gasly and Ocon are not the best of friends.  Two French drivers aiming for top dog status in a French team invokes feelings of passion, romance & violence.  To the winner goes the spoils, to the loser, death!  

McLaren – I think it’s common knowledge that Zak Brown is the best in the business at signing on sponsors, and he’s proven to be so adept at signing drivers that at one point late last year he had the following drivers on the books for McLaren’s F1 and Indycar teams: Lando Norris, Danny Ric, Oscar Piastri, Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou, Alex Rossi, Felix Rosenqvist and lord knows who else?  He even has Kyle Larson signed to race for McLaren in the 2024 Indy 500.  But, the one area where he may be lacking is finding and employing the right minds to lead McLaren back to glory.  2022 was a pretty miserable year and now McLaren are squarely back in the Formula 1.5 category looking at a massive, seemingly insurmountable gap to the top 3 teams.   In Lando they have a proven driver who looks ready to graduate to a top flight team.  In Piastri they have a rookie with an impeccable junior career resume who is tipped to be big time.  I can’t wait for this battle.  If Piastri comes out of the gate quicker than Lando, then it’s safe to say that he’s a surefire future world champion and Lando will forever be stuck in the midfield.  So much is at stake. I guess that’s why they call it, “Drive to Survive.”

Alfa Romeo– For the next three years, this Swiss based team will be cruising around in the midfield while gearing up to transform into the mighty Audi works squad.  Look out world when that happens!  For now, let’s just enjoy Valtteri Bottas for all his Finnishness and his Chinese teammate Zhou.  An oddball pairing if there ever was, Bottas is still capable of a banger lap when the settings are to his liking.  He reminds me of Jarno Trulli:  Blindingly quick when everything is just right, very mediocre when things are not right.  I’m also expecting Zhou in year two to be solid and consistently quick.  Last year he may have had the worst reliability luck in the 20 car field so he had barely any points to show for it, but his qualifying head to head with Bottas was 8-14 so he’s definitely not a wanker.  Go Zhou.  A competitive Chinese driver in a works Audi F1 car sounds like money raining down into the Liberty coffers.  (Stock tip of the day: Liberty Media F1 Group – NASDAQ – Symbol: FWONA)

Aston Martin – Lawrence Stroll has told anyone willing to listen that he’s building up a war machine capable of world dominance, it’s just not ready to happen in 2023.  Call it supply chain and covid delays.  But by golly when he’s ready, he’s going to paint the world green.  In all honesty, taking on Alonso may lead to Lance’s downfall and a lot of door slamming in the team trailers, but I’m expecting the 41 year old Spanish wonder driver to be in the hunt for the mythical F1.5 drivers title, also known as 7th place.  Stroll Sr does seem to be assembling a solid crew of engineers and this team has a history of overperforming (think Checo winning in the pink Force India), so I’m expecting a significant jump up over last year’s disappointing 55 total constructors points.  

Haas – By doing the right thing and dumping Moneybags Mazespin and bringing back the loveable K-Mag, Haas immediately jumped back to respectability in ‘22 and had a few decent weekends to show for it.  As is almost customary, they came out of the gate fast (in Bahrain, MAG qualified P7 and SHU P12), but by the end of the year they were circulating at the back.  I know that F1 is bloody difficult, but they need to reevaluate the people in charge of in-season development and spend their money wisely.  Go Cost Cap!  For ‘23 Gunther has replaced the up and down Mick Schumacher with the hopefully reliable hands of Nico Hulkenberg.  The Hulk has always been a steady, quick driver in midfield cars so it will be interesting to see how he stacks up with Magnussen.  At 30 and 35 years of age respectively, these two will be the old dogs on the grid.  

Alpha Tauri – Arguably, the most amazing piece of information coming into the ‘23 season is that Yuki Tsunoda is getting a 3rd year to prove to this team, famous for firing its drivers, that he’s worthy of taking the Perez Red Bull seat in the next year or two.  I’m all for Yuki, but he must have friends in high places to keep Trump, I mean Tost, from uttering his favorite words: “You’re Fired!”  Paired with Yuki will be the intriguing Nyck de Vries.  It’s been a long and winding road for the ‘19 F2 champion and ‘21 FE champion, but de Vries brings a ton of knowledge of the inner workings at Mercedes and knows how to pedal a race car.  He should be a great asset to the RBR family and once again, this is likely a win or go home intersquad teammate battle.  You can say that F1 is boring on the track, but man it’s cutthroat and requires humans to dig deep.  I love it!

Williams– Is there anyone for Williams to beat this year?  Albon did a nice job hanging around the top 10 on multiple occasions last year looks to be in his prime, but can the team take the next step?  Just leaping the Haas and Alpha T teams would feel like winning the Super Bowl for the second most successful team in the sports history.  For those of you new to this, Williams has 9 constructors titles and 7 drivers titles!  But F1, like life, never stands still and now Williams find themselves at the back.  Hoping to avoid being at the very back of the grid will be American rookie Logan Sargeant.  Not an easy task, but LS has shown some flashes of speed in the junior categories and I think he will gain more respect than his predecessor, Nicolas Latifi.  That said, it will be a minor miracle if he can survive the next couple of seasons and earn a contract somewhere else up the grid. Go USA.  

Armed with that knowledge, now it’s time for some BOLD PREDICTIONS!

-Max achieves the unthinkable, essentially the equivalent of tossing a perfect game, and wins all 23 races.  And you might as well throw in 23 poles and 23 fastest laps. 

-F1 learns how fickle the American sporting public can be and sees its ratings plunge to pre Drive to Survive levels due to the predictability of the Max parade.  This causes most American companies to pull their sponsorship deals.  The tech bros also quit buying million dollar suites and the predominant appearance of the typical fan at the 2024 Miami GP is a shirtless male in a Speedo with crooked teeth, cigarette hanging out and a Fosters oil drum can in hand.  To compound this misery for Liberty and F1, the new Netflix series produced by the Drive to Survive folks about the PGA Tour turns golf into the next big thing.  Suddenly for $900,000, you can get a cabana hosted by Paris Hilton on the 18th fairway of the Phoenix Open with hot tubs, unlimited locally sourced organic food and beverage, a state of the art virtual golf simulator, a shaman, yoga mats, meditation chamber and of course, 5G wifi.  

-The FIA and F1 hold a press conference in Manhattan to announce the 11th and 12th teams to the grid and lo and behold, it’s Penske-Porsche and Ganassi-Honda.  Michael Andretti then makes a $1 billion dollar offer for Alpha Tauri but Helmet Marko counters back at $6 billion.  Sadly, some things aren’t meant to be.  

-Felipe Drugovich subs for the injured Lance Stroll in Bahrain and finishes an amazing 5th place.  Lance returns for Saudi Arabia and finishes 16th and one lap down.  Lawrence Stroll then shocks the paddock by sitting his son for the remainder of the year.  It’s not without personal repercussions as Mrs. Stroll files for divorce and claims that her settlement money from the split will go towards getting Lance back in F1.  

-One unlucky Dutch fan is killed and three others are hospitalized after ingesting too much orange smoke omitted from smoke bombs in the grandstands at Zandvoort while celebrating Max’s 3rd straight victory on home soil.

-One down and out team principle will become tabloid fodder after its revealed that following the Vegas GP, he hosted an all night coke fueled party in his suite attended by expensive call girls, wealthy degenerate gamblers and Ted Kravitz.

I’ve seen the future and I can tell you that the following will be your 2023 finishing order from top to bottom:

Verstappen – 15 wins

Perez – 2 wins

Hamilton – 3 wins

Leclerc – 2 wins

Russell – 1 win

Sainz

Alonso

Norris

Gasly

Ocon

Piastri

Bottas

Stroll

Magnussen

Zhou

deVries

Hulkenberg

Tsunoda

Albon

Sargeant

Here’s to hoping that my premonition of the Max Army painting the world orange doesn’t come to fruition and we are instead treated to a season long three team mega fight for the championship with the midfield only separated by a couple of tenths.  With 23 races on the books, that equates to something like 138 hours of sitting in front of the tube listening to the good folks at Sky Sports, so for the Love of God, make it exciting!  I wish I was going to be attending one of these 23 GP’s, but this new surge in popularity has made things difficult for the common fan and to be honest, I’ve seen the mountaintop and it ain’t Vegas or Miami.  

Don’t forget to support your local Indycar series.  This year is looking to be fantastic.

Categories
2021 Racing Season

F1 Down To The Wire

And then there were six.  The final stretch to decide a champion is upon us.  Six races over eight weeks.  Lewis vs Max.  Mercedes vs Red Bull.  Time to brace the family for Crofty and his Sky Sports cohorts yelling in the living room throughout the weekend.  Netflix must be licking their chops.  This F1 season has been great theatre to date and the final act is guaranteed to have more plot twists than a season finale of ……..Dallas?  (I feel like I’m dating myself a little with that reference, but has anyone done it better?).  

 

So how is this going to shake out?  As I type, Max is sitting with a scant 6 point lead over Lewis, but the pace of the Mercedes at the last round in Turkey looked ominous.  Seeing that this is now my 40th year of being an unapologetic F1 junkie, I’m going to dip into my memory of championships past, and predict the future for you, the Bulseyeview reader.  

 

Austin – Lewis has dominated the US round at the bumpy Circuit of the America’s, winning five of eight races, and he will do so again next Sunday in front of a full house.  More importantly, this new free flowing, stress free Bottas, coming off a feel good win in Turkey, will hold Max at bay and bring home a 1-2 for Toto’s boys.  Max will be best of the rest and finish on the bottom step of the podium in 3rd. (Lewis fast lap)  

 

Points – Lewis 282.5 – Max 277.5  

 

Note – the last time we had half points awarded in a race during a championship, Niki Lauda defeated Alain Prost  in 1984, 72 – 71.5, due to the Monaco GP being called early because of extremely wet conditions.

 

Mexico – There is something about the Honda engine at 7,300 ft above sea level and Max on a circuit without a lot of rubber on the racing line that makes for an unbeatable combination.  Max strikes back with a resounding win to swing the championship back in his favor.  Perez, urged on by the boisterous home crowd, beats Bottas and follows Lewis home in 3rd.  The Ferrari boys have a P5-P6 weekend to close the gap to McLaren.  (Max fast lap)

 

Points – Max 303.5 – Lewis 299.5

 

Brazil – It wouldn’t be Brazil without chaos, so heading into turn 1, Lewis from p2 on the grid goes for a gap up the inside and Max turns in on the Mercedes.  Lewis makes contact with his right front to the left rear of Max, sending the Red Bull into a spin.  Lewis continues in p1, Max remarkably doesn’t get collected by the rest of the field and rejoins in the back.  Lewis incurs a 5sec penalty for his troubles.  It’s looking like a Mercedes 1 -2 until with 10 laps to go the skies open into a downpour.  Bottas immediately spins off.  Lewis ignores a call to come in for intermediates and does a two minute lap.  Out of nowhere, Carlos Sainz emerges through the spay and wins his first race.  Lewis recovers to p6, Max winds up p7.  (Lando fast lap)

 

Points – Max – 309.5 – Lewis 307.5

 

Qatar – The Losail GP in Qatar will be run under the lights on a high downforce, 16 turn track prone to having sand storms.  F1 has never raced here before, but this feels like a Red Bull type circuit with low grip and many slow to medium speed corners.  Lewis will be brilliant, but Max will control the pace and take the win on a circuit that is almost impossible to pass on.   Leclerc will be a surprise 3rd place for Ferrari, giving the Scuderia the constructors lead over McLaren. (Lewis fast lap)

 

Points:  Max – 334.5 – Lewis 326.5

 

Saudi Arabia – The Saudi street track is being worked on 24/7 to be completed in time for the Dec 3-5 weekend, but sadly, it will be discovered that the tarmac wasn’t finished properly and the F1 cars will tear the circuit to bits by Saturday FP3.  Think Dallas GP ‘84.  Race control will do everything in their power to make the race happen, but after 12 cars crash during a delayed Sunday morning qualifying attempt, the race will be cancelled.    

 

Points:  Max – 334.5 – Lewis 326.5

 

Abu Dhabi – So here we are, down to the final race to decide if Max will win a first title or Lewis will claim a record 8th world title.  The Yas Marina circuit has undergone a much needed facelift, opening up a few corners to make it a quicker track.  This favors Mercedes, and Hamilton and Bottas lock out the front row of the grid.  Max will start P3.  If they finish in this order, Lewis will be champion.  If Max can overtake Bottas, he will win the title by 1 point!  This is amazing.  As the lights go out, they get through T1 somewhat conservatively and fall into line as they qualified, Lewis, Bottas, Max.  It’s looking like the tires are holding up well so it’s going to be a 1 stopper.  Red Bull blink first and attempt to undercut Bottas near mid distance.  Mercedes cover the following lap and keep the Red Bull at bay, just.  Now Max will have to pass Bottas on the track to take the title.  Hamilton has checked out.  Max can get close, but the dirty air hurts his tires and the Mercedes has a HP advantage in the two DRS zones.  With 5 laps to go this is starting to feel like 2010 all over again when Alonso in the Ferrari couldn’t find a way past Vitaly Petrov in the Renault, handing the title to Vettel.  Max keeps the pressure on, but Bottas is resisting.  Will this go down as Bottas’s finest drive as a Mercedes driver?  The short answer, NO.  On the very last lap, Bottas runs wide in the second to last right hander, allowing Max to flick to the right and make a lunge in the final corner.  Bottas closes the door and the two collide.  It looks like a blatant move.  Bottas is out on the spot.  After what seems like an eternity, Max renters the track minus a left front wheel.  The injured Red Bull is crabbing and sparking as Max sees the waving checkered flag.  Max is 200 yards from the finish line and a world title when suddenly, the orange McLaren of Lando Norris accelerates beautifully off the last corner.  To complicate matters, Sergio Perez is tucked under his rear wing trying to take the position.  In a blur, Lando veers left and passes Max just before the line.  Perez hears the radio at the last second and slams the brakes to keep behind Max.  It’s pure confusion for a few seconds until it sinks in.  Lucky Lewis is champion again.  In the commentary booth, Crofty has lost the plot completely and DiResta is resorting to unintelligible Scottish slang.  For Max, it’s heartbreak.  He quickly unbuckles himself just over start finish and starts sprinting down the side of the live track back to the final corner to find Bottas.  The fine folks at Liberty Media and Netflix are beyond ecstatic.  On the pit wall stand, Horner is exchanging heated words with Toto.  Jos Verstappen and Helmut Marko are seen passing behind them on a scooter heading towards the scene of the crime both clutching what appear to be large socket wrenches.  It’s pure pandemonium as Hamilton brings his winning car into parc ferme.  The Brits in the grandstand across from the pits are going wild.  The Dutch army are chucking beers.  Lewis can’t get out of his car as he’s overcome with emotion…………   (Lewis fast lap)

 

Points:  Lewis 352.5 – Max 349.5

 

The Fallout

 

In the weeks following this insane finish to the ‘21 season, the FIA assumed the role of judge and jury and doled out some draconian penalties.

 

-For being judged to have intentionally taken out Max in Abu Dhabi, Bottas is fined $3m and is suspended for the first 3 rounds of the ‘22 championship.  Interestingly, new Alfa-Sauber team owner, Michael Andretti, drafts in his new Indycar driver, Romain Grosjean, to partner American rookie Colton Herta while the Finn serves his suspension.

 

-For running down a live track to confront Bottas, Max is fined $2m and is placed on triple probation.  Nobody really knows what triple probation is but it sounds serious.  For throwing punches directed at Bottas, Max is stripped of his 3rd place race points, thus giving Lewis a comfortable 352.5 to 334.5 final points tally.  

 

-It was confirmed by eye witnesses that local Yas Marina security officials were able to thwart Jos Verstappen and Dr Marko’s attempt to assault Valtteri Bottas, but local police requested to hold them over for questioning over the following days.  Somewhat mysteriously, presumably orchestrated by the top boss, Dietrich Mateschitz, the Verstappens and other RBR top officials reportedly arrived at a local airfield on Sunday night and departed on an unidentified jet to an unidentified location.

 

-Lost in the shuffle, Lando’s last lap gift of second place gives McLaren a 1 point edge over Ferrari for 3rd in the constructors championship.  Zak Brown is later spotted shirtless in the garage slamming Heinekens and chest bumping startled engineers.  

 

-On a personal note, after Netfilx air Drive to Survive Season 4 in March ‘22, being an F1 fan becomes all the rage, particularly in blue state America.  It takes a little prodding, but I decide to come out of the closet and tell the world my big secret.  Immediately, I find myself the man of the hour at cocktail parties and Sunday bbq’s.  Suddenly everyone from the mailman to the soccer moms at the park have an opinion on Danny Ric’s shortcomings in the McLaren   For the first time in my life, admitting that I’m a racing junkie doesn’t give the public the impression that I spend my Sundays tanking beers in a lazy boy chair watching Nascar for 5 hours.  It’s a little strange, but I enjoy my time in the sun.

Categories
2019 Racing Season

F1- 2019 Season Preview

It seems like just a few short weeks ago that Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso were putting the final touches on the 2018 season with a synchronized doughnut display worthy of a perfect 10 score by the judges at the Yas Marina circuit, but here we are with new cars, new rules and regulations, new driver pairings and fresh optimism for a new championship.  The pursuit of building the perfect racing machine is never ending for the ten constructors comprising the grid, so let’s dive right in and make some predictions about where they stand as we close in on the green flag at Melbourne.

 

Disclaimer-  I’ll just get this out of the way now:  F1 cars should be loud and should be a handful to drive, even for a top flight professional who has been racing since the age of five.  Unfortunately, the 2019 cars do not fit this description.

 

The word for the 2019 season is PRESSURE.  F1 is always a pressure packed environment, but I can’t remember a season where you have more young talent trying to fight their way to the top while the established old guard is fighting to keep the status quo.  This will be the ultimate game of driver Survivor and more than one career will be made or broken over the coming 21 events.

 

Constructors Battle:  It’s Ferrari vs Mercedes in a flat out development race that will continue all the way to Abu Dhabi.  I’d love to say that Red Bull Honda are going to join this fight right out of the gate, but I think they will need a season before they are legitimately in the title hunt. The trend the past 2 seasons has been for Ferrari to start the season with a slightly better package, only to lose out to the German marque as the season progresses.  In an attempt to remedy this situation, Ferrari sacked the movie star cool Maurizio Arrivabene as team principal and replaced him with Mattia Binotto. I don’t know too much about Binotto, but he has the look of a hard core engineer so maybe the Scuderia will get back to the glory days of Jean Todt and Ross Brawn at the helm.

 

Driver Battle: The 2019 title fight will be all about 5 time world champion Lewis Hamilton, 4 time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, Dutch Sensation Max Verstappen and the relatively unknown, Charles Leclerc.  Hopefully this will be epic, but what really has me jazzed up are the inter team battles from Merc all the way down to Williams. There will be 10 mini wars taking place in each garage up and down the paddock that will be exciting to track throughout the year.  Here’s a closer look:

 

Mercedes:  Lewis vs Bottas.  We’ve seen this movie before.  Hamilton and Bottas start the year relatively equal over the first quarter of the season, but then the Finn runs into some bad luck (Baku puncture while leading) and before you know it, Lewis is miles ahead in the points and Toto Wolff is referring to Bottas as the “wing man.”  Bottas then seems to become demoralized and is trounced by his teammate after the summer break. With Estaban Ocon waiting in the garage, this will be the last chance for Bottas to prove he belongs with the sports finest team. He is going to need to pull a Nico and rattle Lewis early or else he’ll be looking for work in the mid field for 2020 (if he’s lucky). Prediction for the higher classified car at the end of each GP:  Lewis 16 – Bottas 5

 

Ferrari:  Vettel vs Leclerc.  Team leader Vettel loses the comfort of a compliant #2 in Kimi and suddenly finds himself having to prove his worth against a young man who clearly has some genius behind the wheel.  Leclerc was the 2016 GP3 champ, the 2017 GP2 champ, and last year was the breakout rookie for Sauber. This battle should be fascinating. Vettel still has the speed to win more titles but his racecraft was below average on more than one occasion last year.  Leclerc had the Sauber in positions it had no place being in last year so there will be multiple weekends when Vettel will have to take a backseat to the Monégasque prodigy.  Will they be able to coexist if this happens?  Who will crack first? Prediction: Vettel 14 – Leclerc 7

 

Red Bull:  Verstappen vs Gasly:  Max comes into this season as the true team leader and should thrive without having to worry about Danny Ric stealing his thunder.  Gasly will be desperate to prove to the Red Bull brass that they made the right decision and will be on the limit and then some trying to keep Max in his sights.  He will also be lobbing a healthy dose of schadenfreude at the Toro Roso drivers in hopes of keeping his seat safe. Gasly is legit and will be quick, but I’m calling that this is the year Max becomes the full package and takes the next step towards becoming the world champ.  He reminds me of Senna and Schumacher in his unwavering self belief and dedication to his craft. The guy truly was bred to be in this position and I still believe he will go down as one of the 10 best ever when it’s all said and done. Prediction: Max 16 – Gasly 5.

 

Renault:  Hulkenberg vs Ricciardo:  For Nico, this is a huge opportunity to prove to the paddock  that it’s been his equipment holding him back over the years and he really is worthy of a big time ride.  It’s insane to think that he’s never had a podium after 9 full seasons, but now he’ll face a motivated teammate in his prime with 29 podiums and 7 wins to his name.  For Danny Ric, first he’ll have to be on top of his game to get the best of Nico before he can focus on building a team around him with big aspirations and factory resources.  The Aussie can certainly get it done on the track, but it remains to be seen if he has that ruthless political side that is necessary to bury his teammate and take a team to the top.  Prediction: Ricciardo 13 – Hulkenberg 8

 

Haas:  Grosjean vs Magnussen:  The French artist vs The Viking.  It seems that when the mood is right, the lighting is right, the wine is tasting splendid and she’s giving him the look, Grosjean can deliver big time.  On most others days he’s pretty dreadful. Magnussen on the other hand is all right foot and big balls. It’s a strange driver pairing and I don’t think they are helped by their strategists on race day compared to the rest of the field.  If Grosjean can keep the car off the walls then he should prevail, but if he has a repeat of 2018 he will likely be looking at a career in FE or WEC. Prediction: Grosjean 11 – Magnussen 10.

 

Alfa Romeo:  Raikkonen vs Giovinazzi:  I just love this pairing. At this point Kimi is sticking around purely for the love of driving an F1 car on the limit.  He may be the only guy on the grid without an ounce of pressure and will likely thrive under the circumstances. Giovanazzi on the other hand is an Italian rookie in the unofficial Ferrari junior team going against a man they (Ferrari) just sacked because he couldn’t get the job done next to Vettel.  Talk about pressure! If he can’t beat Kimi on a regular basis then Ferrari will likely go with another option when the time comes to replace Vettel. Prediction: Kimi 13 – Giovinazzi 8.

 

Racing Point:  Perez vs Stroll:  Another intriguing battle pitting a young driver in Stroll out to prove that he’s more than just the son of the team owner against an established vet in Perez fighting to keep his reputation intact.  If Stroll does prove to be a worthy competitor, look for more fireworks along the lines of Ocon vs Perez. Checo made it very clear over the past two years that he will drive his teammate into the wall on a regular basis if necessary.  Here’s hoping for a Carlos Slim – Lawrence Stroll chest bumping, finger pointing argument in the back of the garage at Monza. Prediction: Perez 16 – Stroll 5.

 

McLaren:  Sainz vs Norris:  Yet another great case of a veteran at the ripe old age of 24 in Sainz trying to keep his career trajectory headed in the right direction.  To do so, he will have to comprehensively squash British boy wonder, Lando Norris. Sainz didn’t do himself any favors with a mediocre year at Renault alongside Hulkenberg in 2018 so his F1 career now likely depends on leading a McLaren resurgence.  At 19, Lando comes to F1 with a really cool name, a world karting title, the Euro F3 title and a series runner in GP2 under his belt and no doubt will be determined to show that he’s the next Lewis Hamilton. If McLaren produces another dog these guys will likely both be tossed to the scrapheap.  This should be fun. Prediction: Sainz 14 – Norris 7.

 

Toro Rosso:  Kvyat vs Albon:   This is an intriguing battle between two drivers that have not had an easy road to the 2019 F1 grid.  For Kvyat, this is his third go round with the Red Bull brass. The first two attempts obviously didn’t end well but maybe a year away at the Ferrari finishing school has given the Russian the right tools to maximize his talents.  Somebody with some pull at Red Bull obviously rates this guy because getting a third chance is unheard of. For Albon, just getting to F1 has been a minor miracle because he didn’t have a Brinks truck full of cash or factory backing for much of his time in the junior categories and his results were all over the board.  Last year in GP2 was a true breakout for the 22 year old by winning four races so it will fascinating to see how he gets along with the pressure of Red Bull on his shoulders. Prediction: Kyvat 12 – Albon 9.

 

Williams:  Russell vs Kubica:  And bringing up the rear of the field may just be the best interteam battle of them all.  Kubica, essentially driving with one arm after an eight year layoff, is taking on yet another British Boy Wonder, the 2017 GP3 champ and 2018 GP2 champ, Mercedes protege George Russell.  I’ve always considered the Pole to be in the Alonso, Lewis, Vettel class prior to his devastating injury but taking on a kid with the golden boots may be a tall order. I’d love to see Kubica dominate the kid, but if the Williams is consistently bringing up the rear of the field it will likely play into the hands of youth and exuberance.  Prediction: Russell 14 – Kubica 7.

 

So with that said, here are the 2019 Predictions:

Hamilton – 8 wins

Vettel – 7 wins

Leclerc – 2 wins

Verstappen – 3 wins

Bottas – 1 win

Gasly

Ricciardo

Hulkenberg

Kimi

Perez

Giovinazzi

Grosjean

Magnussen

Sainz

Stroll

Norris

Kvyat

Albon

Russell

Kubica

 

And just for good measure here are 5 Bold Predictions:

 

-Last year there was one podium finish for those not driving for Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.  For 2019, there will be………..2!

 

-Kimi Raikkonen will be spotted in a rooftop bar in Singapore drinking cocktails 2 hours before the start of the GP and will then finish 4th.

 

-Liberty Media will make such a mess of the 2021 rules and prize money distribution package that the 2021 grid will be comprised of the following teams:  Williams, Racing Point, USF1, Gentilozzi Racing, Andrea Moda F1, Harding-Steinbrenner, RuSport, Jaguar, Minardi and MasterCard Lola F1.

 

-Vettel is going to toss away a 20 point advantage to Hamilton over the final 3 races and will retire to the German countryside to focus on German Beard competitions.

 

-Lewis will capture his 6th title and will then retire to focus on his global brand and get his first of many plastic surgeries that will eventually lead to him resembling the late Michael Jackson.  The 2020 Mercedes lineup will be Ocon and Russell.

 

Enjoy the season and RIP Charlie Whiting!

Categories
2018 Racing Season

F1 2018 Preview

Happy days it’s March again.  Time for Spring weather, longer evenings, March Madness, sundresses (can I still say that?  Ok let’s call it shorts) and F1. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of March. For the true F1 fan, it’s a time for optimism and hope.  Hope that the engineers of the contenders have got all their sums right and are busy at work producing a car that is worthy of fighting the silver cars from Brackley.  Optimism that we are going to witness a fascinating 21 grand prix season with more plot twists and turns than a season of “Falcon Crest.” I’m not going to beat around the bush here, my gut feeling tells me that we are in for a burner of a year.  I’m talking 1981 vintage, or maybe more appropriately, 1986, where we had Prost in the McLaren snatch the title in the last round from Mansell in the Williams while Nelson Piquet was only 3 points adrift in the sister Williams. And don’t forget the the 4th player that year, young Ayrton in the difficult Lotus-Renault, who managed to grab 8 poles, 6 podiums and 2 wins out of the 16 rounds that comprised the championship.  Sound familiar? The buzzardly winds emanating out of Europe are speaking to me and I like what I’m hearing.

 

You may be asking why?  Why am I so bullish on 2018, with these gently whispering hybrid motors, that dreaded dirty air, and the hideous halos bolted over the drivers heads?  How can I make such a claim without even seeing true testing times due to rain and snow rendering Barcelona testing pointless to date? Bottom line, I’m betting big that Renault has made enough gains to allow Red Bull to fight Lewis and Seb from the green light in Melbourne all the way to the giant nightclub finale that is Yas Marina.  I witnessed the beginnings of this perfect storm brewing from the grandstand in Texas last fall, where Lewis and Seb were dueling for the win while Max was coming from last to third, and I envision 2018 as the continuation of this battle. Remember, over the last 6 GP’s of 2017, Max and Lewis were level at 100pts each. There are so many factors that are contributing to this perfect convergence of competitiveness, with 3 transcendent drivers leading 3 legendary teams, that I can’t wait to get to Melbourne to see this play out.  

 

THE BIG 3

 

It’s borderline crazy to publicly state that anyone will touch Mercedes in this turbo V-6 hybrid era, as Mercedes has racked up a remarkable 63 wins out of 79 races, but as we enter year 5 of this engine formula, it’s time for Ferrari and Renault to step up their game.

 

Mercedes-   Everything’s in place for Merc to continue their winning ways.  Lewis has nothing left to prove and is now driving for the record books and his love of competition.  He’s chasing history with 29 more wins needed to tie the Great Michael SchumiSchumacher and seems to be relishing the opportunity to fight with Max and Vettel.  Bottas is driving for his career and it will be fun to see which Bottas shows up this year? The 2017 car seemed to have a narrow set-up sweet spot that Lewis could drive around when necessary, but after a solid start, Valteri came back from summer break inexplicably a few tenths slower than Lewis and didn’t regain his form until Lewis had clinched the title.  I advise Bottas to pay Nico a visit to learn which buttons need to pressed to get under Lewis’s skin.

 

Red Bull-  As I mentioned above, if the Renault engine only gives away 2 tenths a lap to the Mercedes engine, then Adrian Newey’s chassis in the hands of Max and Ricciardo will be able to take the fight to Lewis.  Max is signed long term with the team and is primed to take over the sport. He may already be the best in the business at wheel to wheel racing and both his qualifying and race pace is phenomenal. Ricciardo is driving for a contract and will be desperate to keep up with Max.  He’s already been publicly lobbying for a seat at Mercedes so the interteam battle will be fascinating to watch. If he can step up into the Lewis, Seb, Max realm, then we will be in for a battle royal as Danny-Boy (or Rickey Rocket) is the most exciting overtaker in the game.

 

Ferrari-  Seb won 5 races last year and led the championship through much of the summer, but then made a critical error in judgement at the start of the Singapore GP and was further let down by mechanical issues in Japan that derailed his hopes of a 5th title and glory for the Tifosi.  It will be very interesting to see how Seb copes with Lewis and Max making life difficult for him. Seb seems to turn into a lunatic in a split second so his therapist may be the secret weapon that gets him back to the top. I’m envisioning the first 3 corners of last years Mexican GP becoming a theme in 2018.  And then there’s Kimi. Kimi’s best days are now well behind him and he’s officially a Ferrari employee trying to score constructors points and help Seb win the crown. I hope he proves me wrong and we see the Kimi from Monaco last year on a regular basis, but I’m afraid that 2018 will be Kimi’s last in the sport.

 

The Next Three

 

Last year there was a pretty significant gap from the big three to the rest, my hope is this year a next three or B league scrum forms that is swarming 15-20 seconds down the road at the flag from the leaders and making for great tv.

 

McLaren- McLaren and Alonso, I officially welcome you back to sharper end of the F1 grid.  My how we’ve missed you! I have a hard time seeing McLaren returning to their winning ways this year, but I can see Alonso playing the role of pest all season and grabbing a podium or two when the cards fall his way.  My feeling is it was such a late switch to the Renault powerplant that they won’t truly be up to speed until next year, but we can count on Alonso constantly starting on row 3 or 4 and going for any and all gaps. Vandoorne had a really low key rookie campaign and has the great misfortune of being teamed with a teammate crusher, but he showed signs of pace and will now be on display for the world to see as he navigates the battles in this fierce Next Three pack.  We need competition for Max in the future so let’s hope that he is a star in the making.

 

Renault-  It’s time for Renault to stop making excuses for their lack of competitiveness as they have been building up over the past two seasons and start delivering.  This is a factory team with huge resources and I’m sure the company board will start asking questions if they have nothing to show after 2018. In Hulkenberg and Sainz, they possess two drivers in their prime of their careers with much to prove.  For Hulkenberg, it’s a trip to the podium! It’s hard to believe that Hulkenberg is the F1 record holder for the most GP’s without a podium. And for Sainz, he’ll be driving to reclaim his seat at Red Bull and another chance to take on Max. The brilliance of Carlos has been hidden a bit at Toro Rosso and he’s still prone to a foolish mistake 1-2 times per year at the start of a race, but beware of the Spaniard as he now has a legit top 8 car to work with.  Here’s hoping for some epic Alonso-Sainz battles that spill over into the paddock and Spanish media. “Que estabas pensando idiota!?!?”

 

Force India-  If intersquad battles are your thing, then look no further than Force India as the upstart Ocon looks to gain control of the team over the experienced Sergio Perez in his second full season.  At one point last year after a scary coming together on the run down to Eau Rouge at Spa, Ocon tweeted:

 

Damage limitation today, we were having a good race until Perez tried to kill me 2 times! Anyway he didn’t manage to do so ending up P9!

 

Ok this might not have the significance of Senna driving Prost into the wall down the straight at Estoril in ‘88, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless.  Perez is a consistent, rapid driver who is top notch at managing tires throughout a race, but Ocon seems to have that special something and is on my radar as a future champion.  He is the property of Mercedes after all, so I could see him taking

This is getting awkward
This is getting awkward

over for a underperforming Bottas or a retiring Hamilton in the next 2 years. In Austin this past year he was on my buzzard radar all weekend and he passed everything that I’m looking for in a driver, including a dirt track moment in the mist where he kept his foot down and fought a massive 4 wheel drift for a few hundred yards.  What is it about the French GP driver? Overall, I’m predicting that Force India’s run of 4th place constructor championship points finishes is under threat from McLaren and Renault.

 

The Rest

 

What is one to do with the remaining four teams that compromise The Rest?  It seems like a lot of money spent just for the honor of being an F1 backmarker.  Miracles can happen though, as Sebastian Vettel demonstrated in the Toro Rosso by winning at Monzo in the wet in 2008.  Or how can one forget Fisichella’s win in the wet in Brazil in 2003 in the lowly Jordan-Ford. Fisi’s next best finish that year was a 7th on his way to 12th in the championship, while Jordan finished 9th out of 10 teams.  On paper the remaining four teams are all very professional racing outfits well stocked with brilliant engineers and talented drivers, but for various circumstances, are still chasing that elusive 1-2 seconds per lap necessary to be a real player.  In other words, sadly, there isn’t an AGS or Andrea Moda to marvel at the incompetency.

 

Williams- It’s sad to see this iconic, historically great team fall into this category but F1 can be a cruel business.  Williams start the year with two inexperienced young pay drivers in Stroll and Sirotkin attempting to extract the maximum out of Paddy Lowe’s first true design after a wildly successful spell at Mercedes.  Winning seems to follow Paddy so keep your eye on this package, but we may be left wondering in the coming years just how good the FW41 really was. It’s just disappointing to see a team that has Nigel-Mansell-Cappitted Jones vs Reutemann, Piquet vs Mansell, Hill vs Villeneuve, running drivers with no chance whatsoever.  I personally feel that they would have been much better off with an old man lineup of Massa and Kubica, or could have done something really cool like going after Felix Rosenqvist and Josef Newgarden. I think I know what Frank and Patrick Head would have done. In fact, any and all motorsport personnel decisions should be based on the question, well what would Frank and Patrick do?   

 

Haas- For a team to start from scratch and achieve what Haas has in their first two years is nothing short of amazing, but as they embark on year three, I’m still seeing them resigned to the 8th placed constructor.  Their partnership with Ferrari has been very beneficial in getting started and in Grosjean and Magnussen they have two drivers capable in getting after it. When Grosjean has a car to his liking he’s a top 10 talent, but his seemingly never ending frustration with the brakes supplied by both Brembo and Carbon Industrie have got to be sorted out immediately.  With Magnussen, they have an uncomplicated second generation racer who has a heavy right foot and no problem telling a rival to, “suck my balls” on tv after a race. Let’s see how long Gene Haas is happy to spend billions just to be #8 in this ultra competitive environment.

 

Toro Rosso-  Wouldn’t it be amazing if Honda got it right this year and propelled their little works team into the fight?  That would be about par for Alonso as he’s usually in the wrong team at the wrong time. Honda was showing signs of real progress towards the end of last year and I found it very telling when Brendon Hartley stated that his ‘18 Toro-Honda has more power than the Renault powered car that he drove at the end of last year.  But this is Scuderia Toro Rosso (formally Minardi) after all, so I expect that they will be relegated to keeping the Williams and Haas cars honest while the drivers fight each other to avoid the dreaded Franz Toast call into the office. Pink slips anyone? Gasly will have a lot of pressure because at 22 years old and the 2016 GP2 champ, his reputation will be at stake if he’s playing second fiddle to Hartley, who at 28 is a dinosaur by F1 rookie standards.  Hartley, with years of factory Porsche WEC and F1 simulator work may be an excellent development driver, but it makes me ask the question: Has the Red Bull young driver pipeline gone dry?

 

Sauber-  And last but not least, it looks like it will be Sauber yet again.  However, with a new significant Alfa Romeo partnership and access to more Ferrari components, this team should be able to avoid getting lonely out there and set their targets on Toro and Haas.  I’ll be very curious to see how Ferrari protege Charles Leclerc fares in his highly anticipated rookie campaign. He looked like a surefire next big thing in GP2 last season, but when I saw him drive in the damp FP1 in Texas, I wasn’t very impressed.  He was tender footing around at the bottom of the time sheets and did nothing that says future world champ. Hopefully he proves me wrong. If he routs veteran teammate Marcus Ericcson and scores a handful of points then he very well may be in Kimi’s seat for 2019.  

 

So after unloading that stream of consciousness, here are the official Bulseyeview picks for 2018:

 

  1. Hamilton – 7 wins
  2. Vettel – 5 Wins
  3. Verstappen – 5 wins
  4. Bottas – 2 wins
  5. Ricciardo –  2 wins
  6. Raikkonen
  7. Alonso
  8. Sainz
  9. Hulkenberg
  10. Ocon
  11. Perez
  12. Vandoorne
  13. Stroll
  14. Grosjean
  15. Sirotkin
  16. Magnussen
  17. Gasly
  18. Hartley
  19. Leclerc
  20. Ericcson

 

Enjoy the Show!

 

Categories
2014 Racing Season

Oh Canada!

O Canada!

Home Of Circuit Gilles Villeneuve!

You Let Alesi Have a Win!

And Made the 2014 Season Fun Again!

 

Yesterday really did have all of the ingredients that can transform a F1 race into something special.  We had Mercedes AMG teammates duking it out for the lead and then simultaneously suffering a bizarre overheating issue, leading to brake failure for Lewis and leaving Nico to soldier on while giving up chunks of a 20+ second lead to a 7 car pack in desperate pursuit.

Then there was Force India attempting to pull off a miracle one stop strategy for both drivers from the middle of the grid and just missing out.

And suddenly, it was enjoyable to watch Red Bull exhibit their championship pedigree and execute flawlessly to offset their shortcomings down the straight and get the jump on their Mercedes rivals.  I’m one who is seldom moved by the technical brilliance that goes into a F1 car, but when the team was asking Ricciardo where he needs his extra energy boost to fight Perez, I was clapping like a trained seal.

It was a display of unpredictable, dramatic racing that has seldom been seen this year and appropriately ended with a bang!  Literally.  Massa and Perez had a 170mph “misunderstanding” on the last lap and suddenly the race was over.  As the dust settled, the amazing Daniel Ricciardo was a first time winner and AMG Mercedes’ quest for 19 race perfection was over.  The race was so chaotic that Nico Rosberg thought he finished 5th!

The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve really is the perfect place to hold a race.  It has long straights into heavy braking zones, variable weather conditions, ominous concrete walls at the exit of every chicane waiting to punish a driver for the slightest mistake, a brilliantly devised pit exit that creates a drag race to the exit of turn 2, and massive grandstands on top of the corners that transforms a hairpin into a electric stadium environment for the passionate fans.  It was great to see the old park roads on the Île Notre-Dame produce another thriller.  Somewhere the great Gilles approved.  Let’s just hope all of the marmots made it through the weekend unscathed.

Witnessing a race of that caliber restores my faith in F1 and provides affirmation that YES, it is totally rational to spend 90 minutes on Saturday and 2.5 hours on Sunday in front of the tube ignoring family, responsibilities and perfect weather.  Here’s hoping that the Austrian Red Bull Ring will provide some more fireworks in two weeks time.

Score:  Wins: Lewis 4 – Nico 2.  DNF’s: Nico 0 – Lewis 2.  Suddenly that double points season finale at Abu Dhabi is looking more exciting by the minute!
Side thought- I can only imagine how nutty the peripheral Red Bull activities will be at their showcase track.   Will they bring out their entire stable of death defying stunt wackos to entertain the drunk buzzards?  That could be the best show on earth!  A Red Bull Buzzard Fest is the new Burning Man.

 

sittingMarmotL