2024 Formula 1 Season Paddock

Any other drivers, first lap racing incident, but Oscar driving into the back of Colipinto was all you needed to know.

Why would anyone drive into the back of something called pinto?

Apparently a lot of interest in Zhou. Even as a reserve driver, cash will roll in.

 

That says a lot about the whole F1 experience. And humor.

 

Great race.....my thoughts, just my opinion:
1. Verstappen is and always will be a douche canoe but at least the end of the race and after the race had literally nothing to do with him.
2. So psyched McLaren won the constructors championship.
3. It was extremely sad to see Checo go out this way, as well as Bottas for that matter.
4. Leclerc did do some amazing driving to go from 19th to 3rd.
5. Yup, Verstappen is still a douche.
6. This really shows how Abu Dhabi really is a great track when either championship is on the line.

 

Responses in order
1. It was great to not hear them mention Max or RBR for the last half of the race, a real breath of fresh air
2. Ditto!!!!!!!!!! Long time coming
3. Eh, Checo has had what seems like a shitty mentality for a while and news of him cheating on his wife when the downhill trajectory started didn't help. Valtteri though... super sad he's done, have always loved him. Shit way to end, too.
5. Confirmed
6. Indeed, it really is a great circuit with a good amount of passing, just in time for new regs haha


Great race today
Greater season overall
Greatest of all to see Papaya on top

 

LeClerc really did prove his mettle.

Love his comment too when asked to pour it on. Classic. (as in you idiots, you think I've just been sleeping out here and need to be woken up, sheesh!!)

 

Very enjoyable season overall

I hope Aston Martin can improve their car for next year

 

A few thoughts

24 races with an additional six sprints is too long for the traveling circus. As much as I enjoy watching all those races, it is too much. The broadcasters platoon the races they cover and Sky even covered many of the early races with much of the staff in studio to avoid burnout but drivers, mechanics and support staff are expected to endure (think Williams).

The odd three week gaps followed by three race weekends in a row.

Too many street circuits and too many tracks with little to no elevation changes.

I like that they have made changes to correct some of the faults with the Abu Dhabi circuit. Past years the double drs sections lead to a lot of gamesmanship of holding back in the first section and making the pass on the second section. Not much of that today (Gasley I recall). Now add some gravel for track limits.

Four years into this car design and some parity has come to the grid making for some great racing at the top of the grid and the mid field. Problem is the clean airflow goal of the design has been negated so passing without drs is more difficult and the resulting drs trains are boring.

Sad to see Bottas go. One of the few low key humorous characters on the grid. He'll be missed. Given a reasonable car, it would have been nice to see what he could have accomplished. Tutoring a less than mediocre pay driver in the worst car on the grid is a sad end.

Next year will be an interesting balance as teams decide when to stop development of the existing car and concentrate on the 2026 car.

A shake up in wind tunnel/CFD allotment could make things more interesting.

Adrian's influence at Aston will be something to watch for but will likely be more evident in 2026.

How much work is Renault hours to put into supporting their engine in the final year?

 

You mean something like the Mercedes when it was winning consecutive driver and constructors championships?

<facepalm>

 

Why did Checo retire? I know he was in an incident, but I couldn't see any damage.

 

Not the way Merc and their zero side pods were.

 

Yeh, honestly, not much written about it.

 

Yep, it really was a good season, especially when the teams tightened up in terms of performance. 4 different teams in contention for the win on any given weekend, pretty rare in F1.

I'm not sure what happened to Aston Martin between 2023 (280 constructor's points) and 2024 (94) but their consistency appeared to go away completely. Daddy Warbucks has been on quite a spending spree however so Aston Martin really should move up the rankings next year. Stroll has made no secret about wanting to win the constructor's title.

 

2024 Season - Brought me back to F1 frankly - the stupid movies brought back many other fake fans too unfortunately. I doubt they have staying power though. Maybe they are Max fans?

 

What? He was with Merc 2017-2021 when they won the constructors championship every single year. It was an absolutely dominant car. Hamilton used it to win the drivers title in all but 2021 and IMO that one was stolen.

 

I'm talking about after Merc dumped him for Dickhead who hasn't outperformed what Bottas was doing.

 

Cadillac entry to run Ferrari power unit and gearbox for first 2 seasons

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/...lac-f1-team-in-multi-year-agreement/10681394/

 

Santander sponsorship dollars move with Sainz, from Ferrari to Williams. Probably a far bigger deal to the latter...

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/1061504/1/major-sponsor-moves-carlos-sainz-ferrari-williams

 

Yeah. Williams is stoked. Ferrari are fine. And Hamilton will bring his own sponsors.

 

we'll see what newey cooks up

 

Well I guess he thought it best to move on. https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/43006370/red-bull-tried-everything-help-says-christian-horner