F1 2023 Melbourne(Albert Park) Pre-Race Thread

I am SO ready for the racing to begin! 22 days to go! Forza Ferrari!!!!! and thank you to Joe for the pics...

 

Checking in early this year!

Who’s ready for some massive disappointment!!?

 

Hope springs eternal!!
Although, it gets easier and easier to just give up on the season as the years have gone by.
You find other things to enjoy about the season.

 

unless Mercedes has another all conquering beast in the pipeline, I've a feeling I won't be disappointed much

 

I like your optimism

 

well being a Ferrari and Red Bull fan helps matters...If Merc hasn't found something crazy, I'm pretty confident at least one of my teams finishes ahead of the rest

 

Mercedes will be back and will win races this year. If so we will have 3 teams competing for race wins, both WDC and WCC should be close contests.

 

I am not that optimistic about Ferrari's chances. I think the car and drivers are ok... but the damage done from last season - political turmoil has not been fully washed out. so Unless Vasseur turns out to be a huge improvement and he has 100% authority vs. Elkann, Piero et al.... there will be more self destructive Ferrari ness going on. the worst would be to drive Leclerc away. Motorsport's last issue, one of the F1 pundits called it... Ferrari has been trying to be all Italian.. and the point is not that Italians are not good, but that they are not always the best in the world in every category... if you look at MB and RB - they are multi-national... and get the best no matter the nationality.... I don't see Ferrari doing that .. .and now with the cost cap it will be even harder..... I fear it will be another long painful year.

As I have followed Ferrari from the early 70's - I'm used to this feeling... every year back then I would think - maybe this year??? that is / was half the fun.

 

Ferrari works in isolation; that proves to be a handicap.

 

I get stomach pains reading Mercedes winning posts.

 

Yes ... Todt and Di Montezemolo had it right to get the best of the best no matter the cost or nationality.... in todays world you just cant hope to develop everything in one country and win... especially as the UK is the know mecca for Motorsport. I would also think Brexit will make it even more difficult in hiring brits in the EU... so either Ferrari bites the bullet and moves the F- 1 team to the UK ... or it hopes for 2nd or 3rd for a while more. The Forgiheri's days are long gone, when one guy can design and build the engine, and car, and then engineer it at the tracks.... I highly doubt people like Colin Chapman or Gordon Murray could do that today... even the team of Brawn and Byrne would struggle.... Ferrari has to start to recruit the best from the world ... and do it early.

 

Whilst I do agree that logistically (engineering talent wise) the UK is the best location I don't believe it absolutely necessary for Ferrari to be located there...and the cost of such a move will be absolutely astronomical with having to essentially fire Italian based staff (very unpopular and extreme costly) or move them over at insane cost (housing, moving, family move, schools, legal).

Last year showed that Ferrari clearly has some very talented people working for them, it was just a mess at the pitwall. Would Ferrari have won it last year without the mistakes? No, but it would've been a damn sight closer and really the only thing that did Ferrari in was TD39. Ignore the F ups and TD39 and it would've been a battle down to the wire.

We have Mclaren with a massive budget as well, doing absolutely nothing.

 

So why are we talking about Australia (race three) when we haven't even had race one and two?

 

Because the build up for the race has already started and Joe kindly provided us with pictures of that

 

+1 spot on.

 

Looking forward to it!

I'm more interested in the global picture, and the midfield teams...and to make snarky comments about HAM, and probably MAX...

sjd

 

Britain has a larger pool of talents than Italy, even if most of them come from different English-speaking countries.

For instance, Gordon Murray isn't British, nor is Steve Nichols, etc ...

Most of these specialists have gathered experience working through different series and moving from teams to teams.

Many have settled in UK, and moving to Italy would be a big jump, without safety net.

But I cannot see the Scuderia ever moving lock, stock and barrel to Britain; the tradition argument will always win.

 

The John Barnard days were just stupid - it was never going work the tech was not there like it is today, and the politics is what killed all that.... again the whole notion that Ferrari had to be homegrown - Piero and Dr. Posthelwhite saw to that - but it was also at the time of who was going to call the shots after Enzo... but today - there is nothing keeping them from having a UK design office - build the car in both places etc... and still be able to share all the tech... Yes it would be great to have it all done in Maranello.... but in the end its a Brit-based industry.....

 

Albert Park adds fourth DRS zone for 'fastest race ever"

https://f1i.com/news/466233-albert-park-adds-fourth-drs-zone-for-fastest-race-ever.html

 

I thought they had DRS 1 in there last year but removed it after a couple practice sessions for safety? Is that changed for this year?