F1-Recap

09/07/2023

Silverstone is a wrap and what a race it was, it started with qualifying which shook everything up and where Perez once again failed to get through Q1, according to the Mexican it was due to timing but as always bad qualifying or performance is not down to him. Where Nick de Vries gets no chances from Helmut Marko the Mexican gets them legion, perhaps de Vries and Perez should swap seats one race and then compare the differences ? Anyway the Race, where Norris and Piastri had a nice starting place second and third on the grid thanks to a good qualifying from the Mc Larens. Norris immediately took the lead thanks to a poor start from Verstappen but that didn't last long and Norris was quickly relegated back to second. Behind the trio, an enjoyable race unfolded to watch, with the midfield close together and Albon standing out with the Williams, something that also stood out during qualifying. With several battles on the track, it looked to be an average race until one of the Haas drivers suffered a problem with the power source leading to a VSC which in turn became an SC. To the horror of some drivers who had just come in for a pit stop. After the various stops, they prepared for what looked like an interesting final "sprint" to the finish. With both the Mc Larens on hard tyres and the Mercedeses on Soft, it could be a spectacle and it proved so when Hamilton went on the attack on Norris, but thanks to good defending, Norris retained his second place and once the temperature came up in his tyres Hamilton had nothing left to contribute. Behind the first five it was still a hard fight with Stroll knocking Gasly off the track which resulted in Renault's second retirement, Stroll receiving a mild five-second penalty for doing so. Albon managed to pass Sainz who immediately lost two more places due to his defensive action. But Sainz was uncomfortable thanks to the pit wall at the Scuderia. In the end, Max won ahead of Norris and Hamilton, who managed to drive himself to place three.

Another personal note to the so-called "Fans" of the sport. During the Parade Lap, there were some British fans who again treated us to booing and booing and whistling at Max Verstappen, which Norris also expressed his Displeasure at to the "Fans". We think by now it's time to let "it" go "Hey" it's been almost two years now and it's starting to get pathetic, or are you guys going to keep going until the FIA decides there should be no more spectators at races ? The same thing happened to Vettel in the past and now you come across posts from the same "Fans" who first booed him how great Vettel I. how seriously should we take these kinds of figures? Personally, I am absolutely not a Fan of Hamilton, but I will not shout or whistle at him, Hamilton (and Mercedes) have also done wrong things that were on and over the edge. It's part of the Sport learn to accept if someone else does it too. We miss the men like Irvine, Webber and Raikonnen guys who tell it like it is and don't mince words like Verstappen they give color to the Sport again and not all the politically correct bu****it some drivers spewed out. As Kimi said "I was taking a s**t"

Thoughts ?

02/07/2023

Update 23:15: The stewards are looking into several drivers, and a protest from Aston Martin, so at this point the final standings are provisional 😳. Let’s wait how this mess unfold.🙄

Austria delivered. What an action packed weekend Austria has given us. The Qualification on Friday was a Track Limits frenzy with Perez as the 'victim' not making Q3 for the fourth time in a row. How much more can Perez take ? With Perez and de Vries underperforming we feel both drivers are in their last races for the team. Too bad for de Vries who has set his mind on F1 for a long time and as a former Formula E champ we had high hopes for him but he has bad luck that the AT is a s**t bucket this year, something Tost said earlier in the season.

The Sprint Shoot out was a good one with the usual drivers in the top, With some impeding across the field there were some drivers that were called to the stewards. The Sprint Race was a good one and from the get go the two Bulls were making it difficult for each other, with the move of Perez being on ( maybe over ) the edge but Verstappen corrected it in the next few corners leaving Perez behind. With margin of twenty seconds there is no doubt that Verstappen had it in the bag, and within twenty four laps that is quiet impressive. And with the changeable weather conditions we saw a pretty action packed Sprint race with pit stops.

Sunday's main event was also a fun race to watch, with the two Ferrari's in second and third on the grid the task for Verstappen was obvious. And with a well timed start after a safety car Verstappen was gone. At first we thought the Ferrari's could pull it off but in the end they screwed it up yet again with the strategy of Sainz, what the achieved was ending the leading lap streak of verstappen which took him to 248 laps lead, also a number you shouldn't be ashamed for. Further down the grid there was fighting in different positions, with Hamilton, Norris, Russel and Perez ( who started in 15th place, a position that he had only himself to thank for, but he blamed Albon ) Hulkenberg had a good start of the race but the Haas broke down, how unlucky can a driver be? We feel for Nico and he deserves a Podium in F1. We think he should be in the second Bull instead of Perez, he brings much more to the team than Perez but unfortunately it's not up to us. With Verstappens lead now up to eighty points he is slowly but surely reeling in his third ( yes his Third ! ) championship and with the upcoming races in the next five weeks it is rather sooner than later.

Next week Silverstone !

20/06/2023

First of all we want to apologize that this recap took so long, due to some technical issues. Canada was the next race on the calendar and we've enjoyed it, the Free Practice 1 was an absolute joke. Maybe they should fine the FIA when they don't have their Sj&* together as they do with the F1 Teams. The Qualification was another one for the books with the changing weather, and showed who was on top of their game. Too bad that Hulkenberg was penalized, on live tv they said the time was set before the red flag so it was a nasty surprise to learn he had a three place grid drop. And what about Perez, the third time he didn't reached Q3 ( without any incident or issue ) in our opinion this is not acceptable and we feel that Marco sees it the same way. I guess Red Bull has taken special interest in Albon's qualifying and race.

De race was again pretty straight forward, with the exception of Hamilton an Russell who found some speed ( as the have shown in the Free Practice ) We had some hope that Alonso would have a great day and took the win, but Max had it under control, something that Russell lacked and put his car in the wall. And Hello Safety Car... some people were stuffed due to the fact the just pitted, others took advantage but according Perez the SC screwed his race. The fight was again in the middle of the field and on the back of the field Magnussen and de Vries tried to have a battle of their own, which ended on the run off area. But good to see fights are across the field.

FP and Qualifying and impeding this is something of the modern era after they changed the qualifying format in '06, sure in the past there was some impeding too however there were little penalties given. We feel that F1 should consider to take the best of the old days and reintroduce them in the current format including refueling. Imagine what that would do for the various strategies, but it's not up to us unfortunately. Thoughts? we love to hear from you.

On to the next one !!!

04/06/2023

Ola Barcelona, It was a straightforward race at the front and it was quite obvious that Max had it in the bag if there weren’t any mechanical issues. But behind Max there was a lot to see, the continuing overtaking was fun to watch and this was really the interesting to see.

We had higher hopes for Ferrari and we can’t figure out where it went wrong. It’s a race to forget for the scuderia. To bad the Norris was a victim of a first corner incident ruining his race. The Mercedes team are the big winners in the end with both drivers on the podium, something nobody could predict. kudos for Tsunoda and Hulkenberg who were doing the most overtaking. Shame that the stewards were inconsistent again to give tsunoda a five seconds time penalty. What are your thoughts on this ?

We are looking forward to canada a circuit that we love.

See you in a week or two

28/05/2023

Wow!!!! We’ve witnessed something special this weekend! After F1 decided to skip the Emilia Romagna ( the only one they could take imo ) we went to Monaco, most races there are labeled as a ‘snoozefest’ …..

But not this weekend, practice provided some interesting insights, all eyes were on the Mercedes team that brough new updates with some form of expectations. Perez ( the ‘street master’ ) didn’t do himself a favor by parking his bull into the barrier as did albon and hamilton.

But what we witnessed on Saturday comes only ‘now and then’ . Q1 and Q2 were pretty straightforward. But the most intense part of the weekend was Q3 ! At the end of Q3 it was anyone’s Pole ! With Alonso as the best candidate to grab it. He drove a stellar lap and everybody thought ( as did we ) his time couldn’t be beaten, until….. verstappen got ready for his lap and after the first two sectors he was still down on alonso’s time. But the last sector was Red Bull territory all weekend and Verstappen took pole despite several encounters with the barriers leaving everybody guessing how he did that. Everybody really would love to see the pole for Alonso… but you can’t help being impressed with Verstappen and what he did.

The race was a typical monaco race where most drivers were stuck on the position where they started. Sainz was faster than Ocon but when he tried to overtake him they touched and sainz lost a part of his wing. We can’t help but feel that Ocon moved under braking and we are surprised that race control didn’t note that incident, but noted the first round incident between hulkenberg and sargeant It looked like a pretty straightforward race, until it started to drizzle and that turned into rain in certain areas of the circuit. With norris pitting and leaving with the hard tire and alonso going for the medium we were confused why ? Verstappen told afterwards that the team wanted to fit the hard on his car as well but he opted for the intermediates. As did alons a few laps later. The key to finish was to drive sensibly and the majority of the drivers did, which resulted in only two DNF’s. Verstappen finished first with alons second and ocon third.

We really enjoyed this weekend and we would love to see these type of races every time😉. Next up Barcelona..
Any comments on this race recap or did we forgotten anything? Please let us know and share your thoughts.

09/05/2023

So called ‘Fans’ 🙄🙄🙄🙄

Max Verstappen was afgelopen weekend doelwit van de Pérez-

08/05/2023

Miami is a Wrap! And this race was one of the best one to watch this season. With a ted flag during qualifying few people were out of position and that promised a interesting start of the race. Magnussen on the second row in a Haas and Verstappen on 9th position, with Perez on pole with Alonso next to him.

The start was pretty conventional and everybody ( well almost everybody ) had a clean start. Don’t know what de Vries his problem is but this is not worthy of a FE-WDC after his epic drive last year for Williams I thought he was a good replacement for Gasly. I hope he can get his act together.

With Verstappen on the hards and Perez on the mediums the objective was clear and simple for both drivers, drive the wheels of the car. And so they did, Verstappen took it easy with the start and reeled them in one by one, Perez couldn’t build up a good gap due to degradation he told after the race. I’m curious what the outcome would be if they both had the same strategy. In end Verstappen showed his skills and why he is the current WDC. Love him or hate him he has one thing on his mind an that’s winning. It was a shame that some so called ‘fans’ were booing.

Ferrari had another nightmare weekend with Leclerc crashing in Q3. It looks like this car doesn’t suit both Ferrari drivers and i fear that is going to be the whole season unless there are going to be updates that work.

Another driver way out of place was Hamilton on P13, this season couldn’t start worse for Mercedes and Hamilton. The concept seems to be complicated and not working, despite some now and then succes. At least Russell looks like he is getting a grasp on the nightmare.

Next up is Italy, home of Ferrari and the fans demand success. I’m glad my name isn’t Vasseur.

30/04/2023

Baku has been completed. What did we learn from the raceweekend in Baku ?

First of all the Sprint Race... It doesn't do what the organization wanted to be. It's ridiculous and they should stop inventing artificial means to keep us entertaint. We feel the FIA should be more consistent on rules and punishments. What do we want to see ? Racing like spa 2000 with Shumacher and Hakkinen, up in the gear box without DRS and rules that hurt the sport and entertainment. We think the FIA should clean up the rule book and let them race.

The sprint Race...
Nice try but no sigar, a 17 lap show with the same outcome as a race. The teams further back don't stand a change and because of the Parc Ferme rules you can't touch your car ? It just a matter of time before there is an accident due to these rules if someone's car isn't set up right and they need to change the rules for that. Bottom Line... Clean up the rule book and stay consistent FIA and stewards.

The race...
It was a boring race with some overtaking in the midfield but that sums up the race. Checco won it with some margin on Verstappen who didn't bring his a game this weekend. Could the Sprint Race have something to do with this ? We grow fond of Alonso who with his new team is playing the team game something he didn't do in the past. The raceweekends are more and more less appealing due to these rule changes and other artificial steps the FIA and F1 are taking, they should go back to basic and sort out this mess.

Share your thoughts....

02/04/2023

Down Under, Was A blast.

What a race that was, it has been a while since we witnessed such carnage and restarts. We were surprised that Mercedes was so much closer than in the first two races and it seems they are going into the right direction. And with George his good start it looked the few first laps that this race could bring out some surprises .. and it did !

It's a shame for Albon who was on top of his car the whole weekend ( putting in several purple sector times in his Williams ) loosing the back-end and causing the first red flag. And how big are Nico Hulkenberg his Cojones ? driving through the dust cloud. And then some were questioning if he would be the best choice for Haas, it seems so as he took his first points of the season.

The middle part of the race was filled with several fights on track, between Fernando and Lewis ( too bad that didn't unfold due to the red flag and safety car ). Norris, Tsunoda, Gasly were also at it and it took Gasly some time to overtake Norris ( to our surprise )

But the biggest driver that lost out was Sainz who got a penalty that in our opinion was not justified, Why was this not treated as a race incident ? It was a start after all and normally the stewards are more forgiving, What will be the penalty for Gasly ? after the penalty for Sainz. Poor Gasly, he was disillusioned after the race and we feel for him, and how come that Ocon is involved in the majority of crashes between team mates ( not saying this was his fault ) but the stats are there.

Tsunoda was lucky to get a point for the team, so every team has scored a Point. What a sjit bucket has the Scuderia AlphaTauri become, what happened there? I can see why Tost was irritated when he said he didn't trust his engineers, personally we would have said in a different way but at least they now how Tost feels. And poor Nyck de Vries what a first races he had .... From the point scoring Williams to the Bucket of Alpha Tauri, hopefully the car get some functioning updates soon.

It was a race that will have some impact for the next few days with all the protests and controversies. We hope ( but fear ) that the upcoming weeks are going to be filled with toxic media, and fans who made bitching and threatening there new hobby in between races. We are looking forward to read what your moment of this race was or who we forgot.

19/03/2023

Saudi Arabia is done! A race with some action but not the same as last year. The start was pretty clean and there were no major incidents. The rookies handeld themselves well with nyck de vries as leader of the rookies for piastri and sargeant who got overtaken in the end.

It’s good to see Aston Martin taking it to the Bulls, but the need to introduce some updates soon to keep the connection.

Alonso seems to be his own old self and we enjoyed his dedication, too bad he got the penalty in the end denying his 100th podium finish.

Checo did nothing wrong and took the victory, before Verstappen. But he was aware for verstappen who kept marching on.

Verstappen drove a calculated race and secured 2nd place and the fastest lap,which kept him in the lead of the wdc.

Other rhings that stood out were McLaren and Alpha Tauri, what a sjit bucket they build. Two midfield teams last year that are now where at the beginning of this season, what happened there ?
And what about Ferrari? let’s hope these teams get it right soon.

We are looking forward for the next race and what it’s going to bring us.
Feel free to comment.

05/03/2023

1st race is done! And what a race it was! It’s good to see teams closer together ,( 1.1 Second in qualifying ) and if this carries on we are in for a epic season.

P1- Max Verstappen; He drove away as if it was a Sunday drive. Despite the penalty for the budget cap, the car feels better than last year. And if you look at the tire degradation it’s going to be a lot of work for the other teams.

P2 - Sergio Perez; After a horrible start he overtook Leclerc and finished 2nd after Max. Don’t see how he is going to beat Max this year without DNF’s or external influences.

P3 - Fernando Alonso; “El Plan”, ”El Matador” most people didn’t understand the move and to be honest he didn’t made the right choices in the past, but it looks like this was the right one. And he we all like to see Alonso driving as he did today.

We enjoyed the “midfield” battle and it looks it’s going to be a good and epic one. But how about the Mc Laren team, it’s getting worse each race and we can’t understand what went wrong with the once so dominant team.

Any thoughts on this race? Feel free to comment.

We’ll be back after the Next One!

20/01/2023

Can he make it three in a row? Or is Lewis with Mercedes back on track ? Seeing the various posts and reactions on the various socials it’s clear that fans of both drivers are getting ready for another season with toxic comments on the socials. We’re more interested in the rookies and how they will do, the top three is likely to be determined and the question is how the ‘midfield developed their car. We can’t wait. What are your thoughts? 😎

07/01/2023

The new season is starting soon and we can’t wait. And with this new season we are launching a new Page for all F1-Fans and we invite everybody to discuss, share and talk about F1. No matter which driver or team you support, as long as your not toxic or disrespectful to others we welcome you. Stay tuned for the Race Recap and other news.

Team F1-Recap

23/11/2022