#we're a second slower than the mclaren

[revcuse]

it just gets worse

[sixdegreesofbali]

Omfg we're half a second slower than HAAS.

Edit: tbf so were the Mclarens.

[umlewis]

2007 Monaco GP, post-qualifying interviews

Interviewer: "Lewis, as we say, a clean sweep for the McLaren-Mercedes team. It looked as if you were held up by Mark Webber going through the tunnel." Lewis: "Yeah, I had a fantastic qualifying, I think. It was quite exciting, and then it started to rain in the middle part of the session. I think I was P1 at the time and I was hoping it would continue to rain, but unfortunately it didn't. It was a bit of a gamble, a bit of a lottery, really. I called in and said let's come into the pits on this lap just in case it rains towards the end. The lap was fantastic; it was really on the limit. I think I touched one of the barriers on the exit of turn four, and I was three tenths up on my previous best, and then I got held up by Webber. He was on an 'out' lap. I don't know whether he saw me or what, but he didn't let me past until turn eight, so I lost half a second behind him. I still managed to pull it back. I was only a tenth off my previous lap, but still, the tires were gone and that was that." Interviewer: "Lewis, you've won three times here before, twice in Formula Three, once in GP2. It just looks as if you love driving a Formula 1 car around here." Lewis: "I do. I do. It's an awesome track. It's my favorite, and just knowing that you're brushing the barriers all the time, that there's no room for error... It's extremely quick. You wouldn't believe how quick we're going round here, 180 miles an hour between… There's not really much room there. And to me, for my first grand prix, I'm really happy to be second. It's good for the team, and I think Fernando did a great job, but I think tomorrow is going to be interesting."

Press Conference:

Interviewer: "Lewis, very interesting time on your very first lap when, in theory, you've got a race fuel load which was only 0.2s slower than your fastest time in the first session. Does that tell us about your fuel strategy?" Lewis: "I don't think so. You can take what you want from it, but it definitely doesn't mean anything about my fuel load. I think we were just extremely quick and I felt great in the car. I thought it was almost exactly the same time as I did at the end. I thought I did 1m15.9s on heavy fuel. I think that's what I qualified second with. It was good, a good lap, but at the end… It was a really exciting qualifying session. I think we did a very good job. I thought the team was quite accurate with the weather conditions; they said it was going to rain when it rained, and mid-part of the last run, it started to spit. I was on a good lap and I was fortunate to finish it, but then we couldn't push for the rest of the laps. We came in, got the tires on and started the lap, and it was good. I was three and a half tenths up by turn four and then I caught Mark Webber and I lost half a second behind him but still managed to do exactly the same time. I'm really happy with it. It's good for the team and I think it will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow." Interviewer: "You seemed to have a drama at the hairpin, Portier. Was that Webber-induced?" Lewis: "Yeah, well I caught him through turn four and I don't know whether he didn't see me or what. In the drivers' briefing he was saying they need to be hard on us for holding people up, and he came out and held me up. But I think it was the same for everyone. It doesn't really affect me; I still got second. That's good."

Journalist: "Rodrigo Franca, Racing Magazine. You three said Monaco is special because of everything. Ayrton Senna was remembered just yesterday and I would like you all to say something about him." Lewis: "Ayrton was my favourite driver, and when I first started watching Formula 1 it was the red and white car at the front, and as a little boy I was always dreaming of driving that car and I'm driving it now and, so, you know, when you come to Monaco… I have lots of memories of watching him win here and when he lost a race when he crashed, and I was definitely emotional when he passed away, but still... It's great to be racing here and to be doing as well as he always did when he was racing." Journalist: "Livio Oricchio, O Estado de Sao Paulo. For Alonso and Lewis, you're first and second on the grid and in the championship. All the drivers this year who led through the first corner went on to win the race. Will you talk to each other about the start?" Alonso: "The team will say to us something, I think. We respect each other, obviously, and want the best for the other one, inside the team, and we want to beat our opponent that this year seems to be Ferrari, and starting first and second at Monaco what we aim is to finish first and second because it is the most points, and apart from that I don't think there are any problems between us and it should be just a normal race." Lewis: "I agree. The team will speak to us before, but we're professional. We respect each other and we are teammates and we want to do a good job for the team, but we also want to win and we will go into that first corner probably not as aggressively as we would if we were going into it with a Ferrari. But we're going to be conservative and see what happens. We're on different fuel strategies, similar pace, so we'll have to see how it goes. It's going to be difficult tomorrow with the conditions, and also you never know when the pace car is going to come out. We'll see."

Journalist: "Frederic Ferret, L'Equipe. Lewis and Fernando, how is the pace of the McLaren in the long runs?" Lewis: "I think we've seen in the past the Ferraris have been extremely very quick, but I think if you look at it we've been the quickest this weekend. I think we have a great car, the best car, and I think on Thursday we had a very good long run, very consistent, so I have no worries going into the race." Journalist: "Andrea Cremonesi, La Gazzetta dello Sport. Kimi had a bad day. Do you think this will have an affect in the championship?" Lewis: "Sorry, I was in a daze therr. I didn't know if that question was for me! I think it was unfortunate, but I don't really know what happened to him. I thought he spun and I got held up by Felipe. He had to stop and I had to stop on one lap, but I think it's difficult for him at the moment. Obviously Felipe is doing a better job, and whether he's being more fortunate or what I'm not sure, but he's doing a good job. As Fernando said, it's a long season and there's a long way to go, so he has time to catch up if he needs to." Journalist: "Ian Parkes, The Press Association. Lewis, are you happy to curb your natural instincts at the start of the race tomorrow?" Lewis: "Yes. I think you have to run on your natural instincts and see how the start goes. If I get a better start and it looks like I can pass, then I probably will, but I won't do anything silly to risk pushing both of us out of the race. It's a long, long race and I think I feel good about our strategies, and I feel we can come away with a one-two, so it's important we're sensible." Journalist: "Malcolm Folley, The Mail on Sunday. Lewis, have you had a chance to put into perspective what starting the Monaco Grand Prix from the front row of the grid will feel like?" Lewis: "I think it's going to be, well... Driving this track every year is just something special for me. To come here and to drive for a team I always wanted to drive for in my first grand prix here, it's a very, very special moment for me. Tomorrow we just want to finish the race in the points, continue the way we've been going this season. It will be amazing to be sitting at the front there."

[ehcahache]

Heyy! Here's something you could ponder on while driving:

What will be the grid line-up in 2024? And will Alex ever leave Williams for another team? 🩵 Or Charles? ❤

Hope this can entertain you a bit 😁 Enjoy your trip!

Omg thanks, I really needed this! Imma go team by team for this 'cause I really have time to write a lot here ahahha

(spoiler: this occupied me for more than half of the trip, thanks really)

Red Bull

Max V. / Checo P. - Daniel R.

This might not make a lot of sense but hear me out, Max is obviously going to stay there because he has a contract AND the team would be stupid if they let him go before the end of it.

Now, Checo has a contract 'till the end of next year. Depending on how he keeps his performance this year and the start of next, they might change him in the middle of the season with Daniel. Why Daniel? Because Red Bull doesn't have anyone better to replace him with, not at the same level of performance and they already know Daniel. I don't think they see Yuki prepared enough for being in a top team and it's unlikely anyone would want to be the second driver to Max.

Checo performed well enough for what he should do last weekend in Spa, qualifying P3 and ending in the podium. Horner and Marko say that they are happy with his performance but qualifying P18 and then overtaking everyone WITH THE BEST CAR is not the flex they try us to think.

Mercedes

Lewis H. / George R.

This line up shouldn't change, there's no need to fire someone. The thing is, I am a bit weirded out by the fact that they still haven't announced Lewis' renovation, especially because of all the noise about him going to Ferrari at the beginning of the season. Mercedes should already have done the renovation to say "we're still here, keeping him, we still have the most successful driver and he still has us"

This makes me think of two options: Lewis is asking for too much, Mercedes can't give it to him and Lewis won't back down from what he asked OR Lewis might surprise us with his retirement sooner than later. Not next season but maybe if he can't achieve the 8th in 2-3 years

Aston Martin

Lance S. / Fernando A.

Another line up that I think won't change. Fernando supposedly has a contract until 2024 and we all know how Lance is there. I've seen English media say that Lance might retire by the end of next year, but I don't think that having a teammate like Fernando, who is winning by a far margin, would demotivate him so much. No more to add here.

Ferrari

Charles L. / Carlos S.

The team would be incredibly stupid if they didn't want this line up for next year. They have Charles, who might be faster in qualy but fails in consistency and Carlos, who might be a bit slower in qualy but has incredible consistency and reading abilities. From there, Charles might continue with them for years but I think Carlos would go to another team after next season. It's clear how Ferrari doesn't like Carlos and he should look for a team where he is appreciated.

McLaren

Lando N. / Oscar P.

Lando was the one who caused more controversy about this, with every team wanting him as soon as the car performed better. But that's exactly the reason why he won't leave the papaya team. He already said publicly if I'm not wrong, on the lowest of the team he thought about leaving and taking someone's offer but now that the team is working and the results show it, he won't leave now that they have success.

Alpine

Esteban O. / Pierre G.

I am not really sure about this one, after all, they are changing everything inside and thus could result in affecting the divers. Maybe it's because I don't like Pierre, but I don't think they'll keep him after 2024. He's not performing as expected (by the team) I think and has been involved in bug crashes. He's a driver with lots of points, on the verge of a race ban. If I were a team principal I wouldn't like a driver "problematic" as him. If they get to manage everything correctly, Jack Doohan looks like the best option for them from their academy.

Williams

Alex A. / Frederik V.

Okay, hear me out. Alex has a contract with Williams until 2025 (as Horner revealed) and Logan is a rookie who needs to be given opportunities but he should've stepped up next year, not this. He still needed a bit more experience.

I literally know nothing about how Vesti is doing in F2 apart from that he is second in the championship. My point is, Williams is powered by Mercedes and they could do a deal like they did with George, put him there to gain experience and then move him up to Mercedes. What could Williams get in exchange? Literally anything because that team has literally nothing, it is still surprising to me how good they are doing lately knowing how bad their installations are.

Haas

Nico H. / Pietro F.

Günther does weird things with this team, he loves drama. My only reasoning after this is that he loves to compliment a driver a lot during a year and the next year he'll fire him. He did this with Mick and I already see the same happening to Kevin.

Giving lots of content to Netflix as always.

Alfa Romeo

Zhou G. / Theo P.

Yesterday some rumours of the team renovating Zhou came out, that's the reason I keep him here. I'm not putting Valtteri here because I think this will be his last season in F1. Since the start of the season I've thought that he will retire this year and those rumours last month about him doing it kind of made this though stronger. That and the fact that he's doing all these "crazy" things that Mercedes wouldn't let him do in a thousand years. I think he's just enjoying this season as much as he can before giving us the last bye.

Alpha Tauri

Yuki T. / Daniel R. - Checo P.

Another year, another season Yuki will spend in AT. I don't think Red Bull will ever let him try a seat in their top team until Max retires ahahah. I would like to see him next to Max but there's some favouritism in the structure and Yuki is not the favoured one.

The second seat is already explained up.

Now, do I think Alex and Charles would leave their respective teams?

I think that Alex will. I don't see him as connected as Charles to Ferrari or Lando to McLaren. He's comfortable in the team because after all they are treating him correctly, with respect, not like the Red Bull structure. If he wants to be a champion he'll need another opportunity in a top team because I see it really difficult for Williams to step up their game in a short time. They need to renovate their facilities and that takes years (I do hope they can do it though, it'll be beautiful to have different teams between the top ones we've had the last 2 decades)

About Charles, I think he will realize he doesn't owe anything to Ferrari very late. Like, he loves Ferrari so much after everything they've done that I think that the only way he'll realize he won't achieve anything in there is if Carlos does well outside that team. Why Carlos? Because he'll be the only ex-teammate still in the grid, no other reason. He has too much confidence in that team and it will backfire on him. Probably the love the tifosi and the Italian media have for him won't help to make a decision.

[f1]

Hungarian Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc top in practice with Lando Norris second

The Hungarian Grand Prix is live on 5 Live and BBC Sport website Ferrari's Charles Leclerc headed McLaren's Lando Norris in Friday practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Leclerc was 0.217 seconds quicker than Norris, who surprisingly beat the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen's Red Bull. Leclerc was comfortably clear of the two drivers who will most likely be his key rivals this weekend. Sainz was 0.231secs behind his team-mate and world champion Verstappen 0.283secs off the pace. Mercedes appeared to be struggling. George Russell was their quickest driver in eighth place, 0.910secs slower than Leclerc and behind McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo, Alpine's Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel. Russell complained of recurring brake locking going into the first corner. "What the hell is going on at Turn One?" he asked over the radio. "I just can't get around it without locking brakes." Lewis Hamilton was even worse off, in 11th place and 1.102secs behind Leclerc, and complaining the car was "unstable" on his race-simulation run. Leclerc had to abandon his race-simulation run when he felt a problem with the engine at the start of it, complaining of a lack of torque in fourth gear. He was told to pit, and he asked: "Is there a problem?" "We're checking it," his engineer said. But he managed to get out on track again, and he had a significant pace advantage over Verstappen, Leclerc as much as 0.3secs ahead on average with both running the medium tyre. Sainz's first run was on the softs and could not be compared. Mercedes were in as poor shape on the race run as on one lap, Russell lagging about a second behind Verstappen on average. Leclerc needs to win on Sunday after losing major ground in the championship by crashing in France last weekend. He trails Verstappen by 63 points with 10 races remaining. McLaren were running a tweaked diffuser design, but the two most intriguing upgrades were at Aston Martin and Haas. Aston Martin have introduced a design that reintroduces a form of end-plate. The 2022 regulations were written in a way that intended to prevent these parts of the rear wing being used, replacing them with a curved transition from the sides of the wing to the downforce-creating elements. This was part of a package of changes to reduce turbulence and make it easier for cars to follow each other. The other notable upgrade was on the Haas, which features an extensive package of changes and has been dubbed the 'white Ferrari' for its similarity to the car that has been the qualifying king this season. via BBC Sport - Formula 1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/