Always worthwhile listening to these broadcasts. No clickbait and moronic headlines, just honest appraisal and sensible comments. I agree totally with the comments on Alonso - for a driver with such clever on-track craft, it was a real lapse and his execution was so clumsy and hence a bit out-of-character. Not that Alonso isn't a hard guy on track, but he's normally very intelligent and fair and the incident with Russell was none of those things. I would also add that I think Russell was really caught napping and that made the situation worse (but it still wasn't his fault). Agree also that Dan Ricciardo has many, many fans and all are, like me, disappointed that his return to F1 hasn't shown his talents - it instead has shown that his "head" still isn't right.
Where you bin, bruv? You have been sorely missed, for sure. It's so good to have your balanced view on the crazy world of F1. Thanks Marc, have a great Easter
Has social media always been so full of people being totally against reality? This weekend seemed to have way more people pushing against basic facts 🤦♂
Great to have you back, to add on the Alonso penalty, its just the actions of the driver that are taken into the account, not what happens to the other drivers, even without Russel crashing, he could have gotten a penalty for his actions.
For the red flag on the last lap, I saw a video from Depielo that thinks they didn't raise the red flag because the podium protocol was getting ready and the pitlane started to get full of people...
Williams was correct, but need extra chassis. Mercedes was NEVER best at aero. They had best PU etc. So in an Aero based fomula limited $$ they cant make 3 cars pick one that works aero wise like they used too. Thats why they cant beat Rbr in an Aero formula. Eventually everyone would catch up right about time we change rules. We need a 10yr rule set with every 2 yr updates but a stable base that teams can close up. That said minus Max grid is as close as ever. So i enjoy it. DR wont be kocked out unless he just completely is last every race. If he beats yuki next 2 races he'll be ok. That said Sainz vs Max in a red bull would be interesting
Marc, I tend to agree with your opinions more often than not, and this is no exception. Of all the points you covered here, I think I come down on the same side with all (sadly including the Danny Ric situation, hoping he improves). Appreciate your content, even if we can't get the Monday night live streams anymore.
Red flag would have meant Russel would have retained his finish behind Alonso. I think they need a race control system like FE where the race director can instantly talk to all drivers. Although they also need a race control that can make quick ( and correct would be useful too ) decisions first.
No just pointing out it would have changed something, and I think their slow response shows they were also thinking not doing. In the meantime a blanket radio system would warn all drivers quicker than teams getting the message and passing it on and/or hoping the drivers noticed the red boards. DC seems to call out driving or incidents far quicker and fairer than the race control team.
@@F1Elvisofc we do, because you made the claim it would change nothing, when that's a blatant lie or an utter incompetence, red flag would mean russle stays in the rankings, what's worse with alonso's penalty, he gets promoted for his foolish crash to 5th place, all the while k-mag is out of the points and haas is down by two points, while russle and merc are up by ten points. So yes ofc we have to talk about it, it's racing, it's huge money on top of it and you made a false claim in the first place, it would change whola lotta things!
Russel would have gained a position as Fernando still would get his penalty so it’s more fair for Russel and Fernando would have lost out to Russel also
Completely agree with Alonso. It was disappointing to hear his 'throttle issues' comment over the radio inmediately after the shunt. He still hasn't grown up in all these years. Shame.
As a Williams fan i did feel they were damned whatever they chose to do. But given it is a business, and Albon being more likely to score points which in turn is money, it was the right decision
Mercedes suddenly found a lot of extra speed halfway through the 2021 season and soon caught back up to the championship leaders. - I wonder why that design route was not continued in 2022 and onwards?
I shall stay tuned with baited breath. Does not seem that long ago since the very first vlog with your mobile.. and all these years later a great hit... Just remembered..... ..'electric Tuesdays' lol. Keep up the great work
Missed ya mate! Glad you're back. You were at my work a couple weeks back at The Concours Club apparently, but i was off work that day. Shame i missed ya.
@F1Elvis I don't know. It is not the first time that a car has lost ground effect being close to other cars. A long time retired designer lives close to me and we have discussed this often. He was around the first time Ground effect was around and hated it because of the uncertainty while close to other cars. We sometimes watch races together and he sees a lot more than I do about how cars react.
Sorry Marc but you're wrong about the red flag. It would have changed the results, as finish order would have gone back to the previous lap and would have included Russell. Incident on last lap should NOT be red flagged.
So we are more interested in drivers finish position than their safety? Russel deserved to have his position reinstated anyway so correct decision is red flag
Saying the red flag would not change the result is just wrong given that they then have to take the results from 2 laps back from the red flag! That would include Russel for example and it would open the door if not a very small chance for potential deliberate crashes in the last lap to alter results. You can't just red flag everything when there are other ways of neutralizing races... People got too used to red flags in my opinion and feels like the SAFETY car is just decoration in incidents!
I’m certainly not saying red flag everything, but the car was literally blocking the track! Not sure we should be worrying about the result over safety?
@@F1Elvis Lives are more important than anything yes, I am not saying it is not. What I am saying is not to be trigger-happy with stoppages when there are other means of procedures available that are much better suited for the situation. For example if I am remembering right both red flag and VSC have their own deltas, right? In that case a red flag is not doing much more than a VSC, and certainly neither is stopping Stroll for example to arrive at the scene at speed like he did because he was close by. So a VSC in my opinion was the right call, it achieved the same like the red flag would have done and saved some potential backlash later on. And for bonus the teams should be on the 'phone' anyway as soon as the crash happens that there is a car on the middle of the track! Sorry for the rant Marc, red flags just trigger me as of the last few years especially the ones for 'gravel'. XD
Totally fine to rant, I love conversations like this. It’s never an easy decision in the moment, but my point is that the VSC keeps a competitive element to the race where drivers can’t afford to lose out whilst trying to navigate the crash site, red flag removes that and ends the race immediately.
Red flag would immediately appear on the dash and the drivers would immediately back off and expect the worst ahead. The fact that stroll's engineer had to come on the radio to warn Stroll even before the VSC was deployed was just plain wrong. Race director should immediately realise the risk of a car in that position and raise the red flag as a duty of care, otherwise he/she is not fit for the job.@@gregokaj9968
Slightly disagree abouy George/Fernando. What if hypothetically Alonso suddenly had an ICE failure like Lewis had? (Remember Nico and Lewis Spain 2016 and the derate of Nico.) This needs further investigation or explanation for me. Totally agree on the red flag situation and the Williams decision.
So you cannot defend outsmart you opponent anymore. George should have taken over on 1 side, when Alonso breaked early. But George hasnt got the smarts todo that, or do something other, and Alonso knows that. I think Alonso should not be punished, George should be punished for tunnel-vision.
lol, when your in a drivers slipstream you expect them to brake at a certain spot, braking early like Fernando surprised George and I don’t believe any driver would have the reaction times you dream of to pull the move you described
Agree w most your points other than the Albon one. This decision was only to the detriment of the team in that it shows their lack of belief in Sargeant and lowers his confidence even more. Would only have been worth switching chassis if Alex managed to get points Sunday. Instead he didn’t despite the fact 3 of the top drivers had dnfs
Last year Williams made 28 points. 1was from Sergeant, the other 27 from Albon. Easy decision to make. Sergeant has the entire season to prove himself. If he is good, he will show it..He has to..like every one else in F1.
I see VSC as the safest result because of the defined speed. Red Flag does not define speed per the sporting code (31.6? I think), just achieve the minimum lap time in returning to the pit.
As much as I like Carlos Sainz, I dont think he is the right fit for Mercedes & their ambitions to be a Championship contender again. I think he is an UNBELIEVABLY hard working, & a Consistant, Intelligent driver.. But not a Title Contending driver... MERCEDES should get ALEX ALBON. I think Sainz & James Vowles would be PERFECT for eachother & as a Duo would bring Williams Back into the fold as a strong Mid Field Team! RedBull & Perez? I donno what the solution is there..They have a lot of Good young drivers but not PARTNER VERSTAPPEN material... Alonso would be FUN to see but I wouldnt want to be Christian Horner .. That presents two possibilities ONE bad ONE worse 😂
L take on alonso, if a driver wants to slow down for a better exit to defend from DRS, why should he accommodate for the driver behind? These DRS overtaking drivers these days are a spoiled bunch arent they, should they just ban defensive driving altogether?
@@tombardsley3081 'alonso made a mistake' why did he get penalised for making a mistake??? why wasnt russel penalised for following alonso dengerously close? ridiculous
Mercedes will bounce back but not till 2026 atleast, getting James allison back is great but he can't do wonders by himself nor can any they need a team, they are hiring people just doing it in the background
How long does it take to make a spare chassis from scratch? I'd guess 5 weeks. Social media were acting like Williams should have 3D printed one out in a couple of hours 🤣
Agree with the red flag point, i didn't understand why there was a delay at one of the fastest parts of the circuit. Disagree with the Alonso penalty, you're removing the skill of defensive driving and enabling a procession of a race heavily reliant on DRS. And let's face it, if there was no gravel trap or open angled tyre barrier, chances are the accident Russell had wouldn't have shunted him back across the track.
I think my point is it’s a bit like trying to go for a late braking lunge into a corner to overtake. We want that encouraged and it means a driver doing something different (braking later) to make it happen, but if they get it wrong, lock up and run someone else off the road in the process, surely that’s penalty? Alonso got his defensive tactic wrong, he made a mistake, and it caused a potentially dangerous situation. No?
@F1Elvis The problem I had with it was that Alonso was up the road and Russell can be seen closing on him coming up to the corner when Alonso has slowed. For us mere mortals, our reactions would have been delayed to that decrease in speed , but to F1 drivers they make decisions and react so quickly so I can't see how this is "potentially dangerous driving" as opposed to "dangerous driving" where you defend super aggressively no matter what! Also, I do wonder if there was no huge smash propelling the car into the circuit, whether the stewards would have even looked into it? Alonso's maneuver was supposed to be off putting, and if the driver in front pulls a strategy like that then shouldn't it be down to the driver behind to adapt - it's what makes the top drivers great isn't it? And I can understand the ruling if Russell was, say, 25 metres away and very close to that dirty air, but he wasn't anywhere near Alonso to start with, the plan would have been that Russell's momentum through that corner would enable a potential over take at the next heavy braking zone. Alonso has always operated in that grey area and he tends to balance it so well - the danger is that this ruling sets a precedent and I just wonder if this kind of driving will be ruled on like this consistently.
@@Bikerz_rule I think the points you make are valid from a visual understanding of the incident but the stewards have access to telemetry that enables a much deeper understanding of what both drivers did leading up to the corner. In simple terms, Alonso braked much earlier than he did on this lap than any other, accelerated then braked again. It was the unexpected nature of his action that the stewards had a problem with (on such a high speed corner as opposed to a common defence move of braking predictably on a low speed corner, “parking on the apex” then getting traction on the exit early at the expense of the guy following). I don’t think there was anything malicious about what Fernando did but it wasn’t executed well and caused a dangerous situation and that (not Russell crashing) was the reason why he got a penalty. Note he did a very similar move on David Coulthard in the early 2000’s if memory serves.
What I find strange with Mercedes is just how far they have dropped away from the front, regularly, RB 🤢are clear of all, but Ferrari, McLaren, Aston Martin have all made big strides forward, look how Aston Martin started last year and the turnaround from McLaren at Austria, why did Mercedes continue with zero sidepods just crazy and another year lost, could see the back end of both cars struggling, looked very scary, have they lost confidence on their design team ?, I have lol.
The issue with Mercedes as far as I can see it, is that they have had a lot of brain drain to mostly Red Bull. Allegedly for massive pay rises which begs the question…..how? They have the same cost cap limits.
@@pgkr67 I think you’re the only one now pg…Ferrari had to prefer Charles as number one due to contract but now Carlos is free from care he can actually just drive for himself. (The last two seasons won’t show that in any stats)
I don't get this going to Mercedes being a good thing at the moment. They are the 4th or 5th team on the grid at the moment. F1 being a business where no team ever ended a winning streak to start another winning streak. With a red flag, the result is the result of the previous lap doesn't it? So George would have had a result, that's why he yelled red flag. George is a smart customer and a bit of a drama queen. VSC means cars have to go to a certain delta which is slow enough to be a safe speed. That taking 8 seconds to be enforced however is way too long.
TLDR : 10minutes of Brit Bias. Geeez. On the Russel situation.. the VSC was fine. With a red flag there would be all kinds of trouble with cars being a lap behind on the last lap.. the tracking system of F1 being something out of a Flintstones episode .. Also : the delta speeds during VSC or SC are the SAME. A red flag would just be a hassle. It was the last lap. And it would reverse the results to 2 laps back. That's why all the britboys are crying that it should've been a red flag so that George "wall-magnet" Russell at least got a few points instead of a DNF. That Russell was shitting his pants.... well, it just proves that these kids nowadays are no gladiators by any stretch of the imagination.
There are also a few gladiators, Verstappen, Sainz, Norris to name but three. These boys will occupy the podium almost constantly over the next few years…
I was thinking when Ferrari announced Hamilton that Mercedes and Ferrari should have worked out a deal to swap Lewis and Carlos this year, it would give Mercedes a good chance to see what Carlos brings to the team and check his data plus it protects the inner knowledge of heir cars
I think a considerable amount of re-engineering is required to accommodate different drivers in each car so probably not allowed (or afforded) mid season…
@@philtucker1224 It would have been before the start of the season, I believe the teams cars are built to same specs but driver positions are set up individually so it would have been a case of a new seat fitting and moving pedals, steering wheels etc. They can change driver specs during a race if needed as Ferrari did so I don’t believe it would have been too difficult to swap the drivers but the biggest problem would be sponsers
@@knight2425 yes, very good point. It’s easy to focus on the drivers but in reality the industry (aka “the sport”) obviously goes far deeper than that and probably does sometimes take a year or more to negotiate..👍
@@philtucker1224 Funny thing with the sport though is if people want something to happen they can find ways to do it, I just think it would have been perfect for Lewis to come to terms with his future team and for Mercedes to evaluate Carlos as a possible replacement plus neither Lewis or Carlos with have 100% focus from their team as they will not be their next year and the teams will want to protect their next years development which starts on this years cars.
Agree with everything you said. Esp Alonso!..Lets face it he's got form for this I recall he brake checked DC at the Nurburgring in 2003 and lucky he did not get sent into Orbit & Only last year at AD with Lewis too. The guys a f.g clown if you ask me..can't stand him. Both RIcciardo and Perez should be dropped altogether..Albon or Sainz should be alongside Max and the other to Mercedes. Liam to RB with Yuki but I would also consider Yuki as next best option to drive with Max he's driving really well. Mercedes cant spend 1/2 Billion like they did on these PU 2 years out and perhaps that is their biggest problem they haven't worked out how to champion being a "small budget team" but ya never know something may just click and they're off...but Lewis already seems like he's checked out even if he says otherwise.
Red Bull need a slightly dodgy second driver, otherwise it will become quite embarrassing for Formula One. May the slightly dodgy second driver continue ... please
It should have been a red flag but it was the last lap so I don’t know there’s so much grey area. The cars are not designed to be impacted from the bottom so it really should have been red flagged
Younger drivers think that race driving is a repetitive pattern. If you penalize Alonso for such a clever move then Senna whould have been banned from F1 championship for life.
100% Red flag. Example, Sainz runs over debris, gets a puncher and doesn’t finish. What are these people thinking. Sometimes I think the show is greater than the sport.
spot on Marc, exactly as the scandalous final race in 2021 - Masi should simply had call red flag. As you mentioned the clock would have been stooped and we would have had a standing start - thrilling as hell and what everybody wanted.
I think Mercedes has been in crisis for quite awhile now. It seems there must be something amiss with their software in their sim, or their sim itself, something. Either way it's odd to me that they have simply continued for months & months along what they must know early on are errant paths. They've done this several times now. Perhaps Toto is initially unwilling to admit defeat, I can understand wanting to stick with a concept you've invested so much into, but after the 2nd or 3rd time, I would think it's clear there's a fundamental problem somewhere in the process.
I think it's more so that the SIM is right, it shows huge performance. But only under ideal conditions and setup. Once it's outside that envelope, the performance falls off a cliff. Just like how they got that win at interlagos. Found that perfect window
Ok, but you can apply this to each of the other teams that are not at the sharp end too. Are they in crisis as well? Or is their car just not as fast as the top team
@@suitandtie2251 It's probably the higher the performance the smaller the window. If I design something that is significantly faster but it's only able to do so in a 1.0% margin of error setup, and another one that is 1 second a lap slower but I have a 20% margin in my window. I can stay in window.
They are finished nobody at the organisation understands ground effects well enough and they are too arrogant to employ anybody from another team who does time for toto to go
He’s a great PR personality but has not really cut the mustard for more than three years now. I can only assume he must have a fantastic manager to have kept him in a car over the last three years!
@@pgkr67 I suspect his “race winning” mojo is gone now but clever negotiating by team PR and sponsorship offers has probably kept Danny in the sport a few years longer than his racing performance would have done. He’s a lovely guy and I’m pretty sure he will remain in the sport media for many years, but not by occupying a precious seat that a hot youngster could jump into..
I feel Mercedes should learn from ferrari and McLaren no big name no keep on changing concept every engineer need time look at McLaren they were almost last in 2023 but they turn it around surely it has not happened overnight it took time same way ferrari had bad start to 2023 but later they too turn it around now they are winning so Merc need to be give time and understanding to their concept their too much nagative in their team right now toto saying post race we do not understand why are we slow most shocking thing their driver in between race when Redbull pass them saying they are rocketship what impact it put on team their focus is lost I feel as a team
Nay of the decisions made buy the F! stewards have been questionable to me and hard to understand. There things that happen in the pit lane that appeared to be very dangerous and nothing is done. I think by firing Sainz Ferrari may have done him great favor. He seems to be very motivated and aggressive. One he got out front he really drove a smart race. I don't know who Mercedes hired for the design of their cars, but they need someone else. Since Daniel Ricardo left Red Bull he seems to be very over confident and lacks a lot of aggressiveness. He behaves like someone who has won a lot of races. If your the RB team why wouldn't you replace him? He may have lost all confidence. Someone needs to do an intervention with him about his racing.
Hey Elvis - gotta say that a red flag was absolutely needed immediately in that scenario - penalise Alonso and then penalise themselves in my view - both causing driver danger!
Weird name for an app ngl, bit too late to the party I'm afraid, ship sailed a while back to get on the f1 bandwagon dts hypetrain. But enjoy the videos nonetheless.
