F1 2023: Australian GP - Melbourne (Apr 02)

[Killed by Death]

[NYG]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

6.4 kph over the limit that's 3.97 mph over, stewards got nothing better to do?

I think Ocon was like a tenth of a kilometer above the limit.

[G30M]

i used to take the kids there for swimming classes (no not in the lake) and then stroll around the park after. great city to live in.

[Artemis]

Alonso going rogue again - quite some bad blood between those two:
https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/10...ses/?rt_feed=1

Alonso says Hamilton 'has weaknesses' that are now showing
Stuart Hodge - Friday 31 March 2023 16:39 - Updated: 17:12
Fernando Alonso insists Lewis Hamilton "has weaknesses" that are showing as Mercedes struggle to compete at the top end of the pack in 2023.
Alonso has finished on the podium in both of the opening races, behind the two Red Bulls, while Hamilton is in the midst of the longest win drought of his entire career.
The seven-time world champion began his career as Alonso's team-mate at McLaren and overtook the Spaniard on his very first start to set up a fervent rivalry between the pair.
In recent years, the rivalry thawed between the pair, but last year the frostiness reared its head again last year as Alonso called Hamilton "an idiot" after a collision at the Belgian Grand Prix before later apologising.
Now, 41-year-old Alonso has been pointing at how his fellow grid veteran has been struggling now that the Mercedes machinery is no longer the best on the grid – with George Russell the only Silver Arrows to achieve a win last year and already having out-qualified Hamilton in both races so far this season.
"With a normal car you can see that he has weaknesses," said Alonso. "Before, he was out alone ahead or sometimes with his team-mate. But look, he holds the record for poles and George is beating him 2-0 in qualifying this season.
"He hasn't suddenly forgotten how to drive. It just goes to show how much the car is still a key factor in the performance. To win titles, you need the kind of dominant cars that Lewis has had."
Alonso believes Hamilton was WRONG about Red Bull
Despite Alonso's blistering start to the season, the Red Bulls have been untouchable with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez trading wins over the opening couple of races.
Hamilton remarked that the Red Bull car is "the fastest he's ever seen" but Alonso believes that's hyperbole.
"I don't agree at all," said the Asturias native, in a tell-all interview with L'Equipe. "Last week I finished 20 seconds behind Checo (Sergio Perez) and Max (Verstappen). He and Rosberg were a minute behind the rest of the field in 2014 and 2015.
"And on top of that, after slamming two or three fast laps, they would protect their engine and drop the performance.
"He has a short memory, he's getting old."

[NYG]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Alonso going rogue again - quite some bad blood between those two:
https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/10...ses/?rt_feed=1

Alonso says Hamilton 'has weaknesses' that are now showing
Stuart Hodge - Friday 31 March 2023 16:39 - Updated: 17:12

Literally nothing he said is wrong.

Lewis has always been a false hero for weaklings. He's celebrating wins then becomes a victim when he isn't. The worst kind of person.

[Artemis]

Verstappen:

Russell:

Alonso:

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Alonso going rogue again - quite some bad blood between those two:
https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/10...ses/?rt_feed=1

Alonso says Hamilton 'has weaknesses' that are now showing
Stuart Hodge - Friday 31 March 2023 16:39 - Updated: 17:12

ALO saying some home truths about HAM.

[GuidoK]

Hammy's biggest weakness is George Russel.
He drives the same car for the same team, has the same resources and frequently scores better than Hammy. Last season Russel was clearly the better driver. And this year we can probably tell it's gonna be close.
He doesn't need Hammy to start at P14 to finish above him

My prediction for raceday:
1. Max
2. Checo
3. ALO
4. LEC
5. STR
6. RUS
7. SAI
8, HAM
9. BOT
10. GAS

With all the speculating lets hope there's no crash between Max and Checo......

And lets hope that there's no mechanical problems for the teams. For Ferrari that's a big thing to ask...I know....

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

Hammy's biggest weakness is George Russel.
He drives the same car for the same team, has the same resources and frequently scores better than Hammy. Last season Russel was clearly the better driver. And this year we can probably tell it's gonna be close.
He doesn't need Hammy to start at P14 to finish above him

My prediction for raceday:
1. Max
2. Checo
3. ALO
4. LEC
5. STR
6. RUS
7. SAI
8, HAM
9. BOT
10. GAS

With all the speculating lets hope there's no crash between Max and Checo......

And lets hope that there's no mechanical problems for the teams. For Ferrari that's a big thing to ask...I know....

+1 with your prediction GuidoK , as far as mechanicals go there is some small issue that's trying to be solved with the downshifts but it doesn't seem to slow the bulls.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

6.4 kph over the limit that's 3.97 mph over, stewards got nothing better to do?

It's like in Belgium my friend . 8 speedcams per intersection !

And the trajectory controls are even worse !

#Tom&Jerry

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Alonso going rogue again - quite some bad blood between those two:
https://www.gpfans.com/en/f1-news/10...ses/?rt_feed=1

Alonso says Hamilton 'has weaknesses' that are now showing
Stuart Hodge - Friday 31 March 2023 16:39 - Updated: 17:12

The Russell boy : He is used to drive in a Williams 5H1Tbox
LEW : He is used to drive in a spaceship AKA the USS Enterprise in warpspeed 7

That's why...

[Autobacs]

So Hamilton is complaining about the MERC this year. Fair enough as he's frustrated.

ALO was doing the same thing at McLaren but he got persecuted by some for doing that.

WTH is Hamilton doing different than what ALO did with his situation at MCL a lot worse off than Hamilton now. I don't read anything in the press castigating Hamilton for moaning and complaining.

Some sort of privilege going on or a bias against ALO?

[G30M]

top teams not coming out at start of Q1. waiting for the back benchers to lay down some rubber

[G30M]

Perez blocks Verstappen in 2023 by getting gravel trapped

he's been practicing this i must add, this is the 5th time in the same gravel trap today. he must think the team sabotaged his brakes.

[Artemis]

Qualies: Checo went into tractor mode...

[Artemis]

A kiwi crossed the track when Verstappen passed during Q2.

And The Hulk doing Hulk things.

[Artemis]

Great final lap by Verstappen, Russell and Hamilton. Quite a surprise how both Mercedes cars performed during the qualies.

The start battle VER-RUS and HAM-ALO will be interesting tomorrow.

[Autobacs]

My prediction for the race/

1. VER
2. ALO
3. RUS

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

It's like in Belgium my friend . 8 speedcams per intersection !

And the trajectory controls are even worse !

#Tom&Jerry

Max on pole as he cuts it finely on the low grip track and Checo understeers into the gravel in Q1 getting trapped in the shingle and starts 20th.
Well looks like the wolf man was lying again, what a surprise saying the Merc will not be competitive, more sandbagging from Merc than I've had hot dinners and HAM running out of excuses as low salary earner Russel tags him for 2nd.
Report here
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...W95o5C1sE.html

[M5Rick]

22 career poles for Max equalling that of double World Champ Alonso.

[JustinHEMI]

Well done GR! Max was just blistering on that last lap!!! Kid is unstoppable! RB has the formula this year.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

HAM running out of excuses as low salary earner Russel tags him for 2nd.

The career of Russell shows that he was/is a super talent. What a driver. Great to see him boldly squeezing everything out of his car. Not star-struck by Hamilton. Made his mark from the get-go at Mercedes, doing a stellar job, showing his colors: new team, new car, quickly adapting and regularly outperforming his legendary team mate Hamilton in 2022. And today he pulled it off again - yet another performance that may induce Mercedes a "let them race" approach, instead of "Bottas'ing" Russell to favor Hamilton. If Hamilton wants to finish races ahead of Russell, he will need to do what he's paid for (± 10 times the Russell pay): race. The days of "Valtteri, this is James" favors seem to have vanished.

We will never know, but imagine for a moment a 2007 'young' Hamilton (instead of 2023 'old' Hamilton) competing with Russell at Mercedes.