Grand Prix thread HEINEKEN SILVER LAS VEGAS GRAND PRIX 2023

I definitely had Toto breaking out the lawyers and the consequences that follow in mind when I wrote that. Then I read the bbc story that says the reason they didn’t do it was exactly that: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/67461305

 

And the hookers!

 

seem well suited to me.

 

Unbelievable? I think not, it's standard to let Max off with as much as possible and blame every other driver for his mistakes.

 

I think it was actually quite a good race baring the Max penalties that should have been awarded.
I'm not sure it would be good next year as they will have lots of data. Plus I think quali made a few out of place which also helped.

 

Fell asleep towards the end so need to catch up. But what I watched was pretty bloody good in comparison to the rest of the season. Other than taking 8 laps to decide that Max forced Charlie off.

I think they should scrap stewards in F1, scrap VAR in football and just refer these decisions to Jack down the pub for some common sense.

 

They should refer these decisions to US. We’ll sort em out.

 

I really don't get the leniency with Max. His go to seems to be just throw it up the inside regardless of if he can make the corner or not, and repeatedly gets away with it. They could have cut this issue out years ago.

 

Not sure how that equates to dollars though. Maybe I'm missing the point.

You would think this season that they would be more prepared to meat out punishment given how ridiculously dull it has been, since they like to apply the rules that way sometimes.it feels like there is more to it and I can't quite wrap my head around it.

 

I’m not quite clear which incident from today you’re referring to?

 

Benson of the Beeb has got his crusty sock out over the Las Vegas race calling it a wow setting to rival Monaco. No, it’s a crooked seedy ****hole,

 

Off the start.. just blatantly running Charles off the track.. it took 8 laps to dish out 5 seconds. In other circumstances he'd have been that distance up the road. There was no reason to take that long to come to that conclusion when it was clear for all to see. It's a move that Max has pulled many times historically and should have been stamped out years ago.

 

Thanks - I was confused because of him ultimately being punished. To be fair to the stewards, their attention was probably taken for some of those laps by the safety car and making sure the track was safe after the Norris incident. Leclerc did also seem to accept that it was just a case of a missed braking point, rather than anything malicious.

I do agree - and commented earlier - that a better solution needs to be found for these penalties because teams have worked out it’s generally better to act dumb and take the pain later now.

 

Fair points. It just had a feeling of leaving it as long as absolutely possible.

I may just be bitter given how dull this season has been, despite it actually being a pretty good race.

 

it was a very heavily drs influenced race and they'd need at least another 3 or 4 days round that track to put any rubber into the thing.

2 safety cars and two nearly safety cars based on cars just making recovery roads did have a.major impact.

we had

a) a heavily mixed up grid
b) safety car influenced early pit stops that further mixed up the gird.
c) a complete scrum mid race with exta pit stops but also brought the whole field together.

there's a lot of things that might have been different or will be different next year when we slink back to this pig (spiderpig) of a track.

what I would say is that Singapore wants to be a night race to hide the narrow and hard to pass track. there's absolutely no reason for Vegas not to be a day race but the sphere and town will look ****.

we will back with a zero grip cold track next year and might not have a safety car to bring people together.

 

Better sans the rubber in all fairness. Though does make it more dangerous, which realistically isn't a fab thing

 

Given it's a high speed, cold circuit with close barriers you'd expect most races going forward to be safety car fests.

This race has been compared to Monaco a lot, but it probably has more in common with Baku. It's never going to be a great drivers circuit, but might carve out a niche for the unpredictability that a lot of the "better" circuits like Monaco, Suzuka and Zandvoort never provide

As for the penalties, it's hardly a Verstappen specific thing. A penalty harsher than 5 seconds is a once a year event. I have complained a lot over the last decade that drivers who get the 5 second penalty very often benefit more than they lost.

This year it seems the drivers have begun to realise and exploit this, hopefully it forces the stewards to be harsher. 10 seconds should be the default

 

Not really. Why? Its not technical and has run offs. Unless a car fails mechanically there's no real reason to hit a wall. there's no unsighted parts of track like Jeddah (deathtrap)

Yes I agree its more akin to baku but baku has higher forces being applied to tyres and more technical slow bits.

I'd see safety cars being deployed for breakdowns parking on the straights more than i would see accidents due to poor grip. They did at least have run offs and avoided two safety car scenarios due to the driver showing the least bit of common sense and park the cars in an escape road (the same one actually)

I'd also agree that if you pass illegal then have the ability to sail off in to the distance and take the penalty in the first pitstop then the penalty is not a penalty at all. Its more than worth it to a faster car.

For example if i was in Monaco and held up it seems more than worth it to lash straight across the chicane and say well i tried to make it than stay behind a slow care for 20 laps.

 

I think perhaps Big Ern is pointing to the fact he’s box office , and they may look favourably because of his very high profile ( not a good one imho )

I mean he gets talked about A LOT , like I’m doing just now .

Another box office star that got away with loads , was John Mc Enroe