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Ah right.

We have a bit of a break here as we wait for Singapore in a couple weeks. Not much news to report aside from driver market stuff, but that's rather roundabout at the mo,

The big news coming out of Formula 1 is next year's schedule.

24 rounds, which we knew already. What we didn't know is which tracks would be included and when they would fall on the schedule.

2023 Formula 1 Schedule

As always, we start and end it with Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. Monaco is extended a couple years and Spa makes the cut too. Interestingly Shanghai is in, but that must be provisional, as China's covid restrictions would need to be lifted I think. Vegas slots in as the penultimate round, and could settle a championship. New circuit in Qatar, Losail, which I know little about. But I did notice that one of the stadiums built for the World Cup is also called Losail, so I imagine this is a complex with both, sort of like Sochi in Russia.

The most races ever in a F1 season. I can remember when they ran like 11.

The problem here as I see it is the geographical disorder. I know there are a thousand considerations to be made when setting a schedule. Is the venue available? What's the weather at any particular time of year and so on and thereforth. But for an organization that postures itself as eco-green it just doesn't make much sense to have so much globe-hopping required. China>Azerbaijan>Miami>Italy for example. There has to be a better way. If you're going to talk the talk you should walk the walk as the saying goes, and this just doesn't align with their public posturing about environmental concerns.

3 in the US is one too many, 4 in arab countries is 3 too many.

Apart from this, I'm good with this calendar, glad Monaco and Spa are still in.

I think Shanghai may drop, if China keeps its zero covid policy.

I'm OK with three US rounds. And not because I'm American, but the market is huge and growing, and the United States is as big as all of Europe. If you superimpose the US over a map of Europe, Oregon is in Ireland, Florida is in Syria and Maine is almost in the Crimea. Considering this I think three races is reasonable. Let's see how well these events do, and Miami has to be considered an inaugural success I think. I can't see how Vegas fails, unless the track is lousy. But as a Saturday night race with the strip in all its pomp I think it's going to be spectacular. Whether the racing matches the setting is yet to be determined.

It seems Colton will not be granted any favours towards being awarded a superlicence. The powers that be should be reminded of the case of Kimi Raikkonen who after having completed only 23 car races (of which he won over half) was granted a superlicense.

Latifi leaves Williams after the 2022 season.

Who will replace him?

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...-end-of-2022.2sCmC3LBpGoSuEGDyHe6RH.html

Gotta make sure there's room for the Mazepins and Latifis.





Good for Williams, finally making this call at least one year too late. Nothing against the man, who seems a good bloke. But he's not up to the job and doesn't belong on the grid.

Who will replace him? I think Williams would like De Vries, but if I have to speculate I'll say De Vries goes to Alpha Tauri and Logan Sargeant takes Latifi's seat.

Back at it this week boys. Singapore's Marina Bay is the venue. Been a couple of years, but it's back on the schedule now. A tight, bumpy, temporary street circuit. Very difficult to overtake here, but just as easy to make mistakes. Some oddly shaped entries and exits -- as is common on temp streets -- make for some interesting battles, especially when overtakes are attempted.

We're getting down to the sharp end now.

BREAKING:

Formula 1 calendar to feature six Sprint events from 2023 onwards.


Read more about it:


https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...2023-onwards.6JpUPQeXnDnmYEzvlcySXk.html

It's OK with me. I like the additional jeopardy, and more points to fight over. And how it makes the teams scramble that much more with less free practice time. We'll have to wait and see which tracks are sprints.

As long as they don't spint in Monaco .....

This could be serious, or?

"Media outlets from Germany and Italy have reported that Red Bull and Aston Martin breached F1's budget cap in 2021."

https://racingnews365.com/did-red-bull-breach-the-budget-cap-in-2021

Rumours say that Red Bull breached the 2021 budget by 20 million dollars.
Commentators here are speculating if Verstappen could lose his title.
That`s not wishful thinking from them, as they clearly supports him.

Yes, I have to admit I'm worried about this. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. I'll have more to say then.

Wet conditions today, not sure if it will be wet in qualifying. Leclerc looks quick.

Max and the Bulls just need to score points. A win would be great, but the aim should be score both cars and off to the next race.

For fantasy I mostly kept last week's lineup, but swapped Stroll in for Albon.

I thought for a moment Hamilton would be on pole.

Instead it's Leclerc, congrats to Ferrari.

Russel out in Q2 which is a surprise. I thought if there was a track remaining for him to break his duck this would be it.

How about Alpha Tauri? They were nowhere, then were in Q3. Both cars too.

Stroll let me down, but did better than Albon. This is why fantasy is so great. It gives me much more to follow and root for than just Max and the Bulls. Normally I wouldn't give two figs where Stroll qualifies. But today I did!

Too bad for Max. He was looking good for pole but they called him in. Would have run out of fuel it seems so they had no choice (other than to put enough fuel in the car that is)

That was quite a race. High attrition, as we probably expected. The nature of the track, plus wet conditions gives the drivers trouble.

Max could have done better, his overtake attempt on Lando was impatient, but otherwise it's OK. He needed to score points and did so. Congrats to Checo. What a drive. That was masterful in very difficult conditions, and with the Ferrari nipping at his heels the whole way. The way he drove away from Leclerc over the last few laps was impressive, and that meant his penalty had no effect.

I had a poor week in fantasy, but it appears my competition did even worse! Alpine were on a ten race points scoring streak when I swapped to them as my constructor and added Fernando. Since the moment I made that switch they have been sh!t. Astonishing that McLaren have already re-overtaken them. That battle for fourth has been the best one all year.

Next up Suzuka in one week's time.

Only saw the highlights, it seems that the drivers were quite exhausted by the end, I hope I can see a replay or extended highlights at some point.

Glad DR had a good result, sadly for him as usual Lando did better.

George indeed let me down, and I had lost faith in Perez so I pay the price.

I can't believe that McLaren overhauled Alpine. It's insane. Just a few weeks ago the battle for fourth was over, wasn't it? McLaren were sinking fast. But it flipped so fast. As soon as I put Alpine in my team boom, they haven't scored since.

If Max wins Suzuka plus fast lap, other results won't matter and he takes the title. But then the FIA will vacate all of Red Bull's results for 2021, 22 and 23, Max will be zero-time champion and they'll give the now-vacant titles to Toto Wolff to complete his collection.

I think Toto doesn't want that. If indeed RB cheated, they will probably get stripped of constructor championship position for the years they cheated, which could lead to give MUCH money back, but I don't see max stripped of 21 title. 2022 maybe, but only if the verdict comes before the end of the year. In neither case it will directly benefit Toto, except maybe for 23 is RB is badly hurt.

I think that if Red Bull, or any team for that matter, is in 'material breach' that the way to penalize them is to dock points at the start of next season. If the FIA is going to take a whole year to get around to working it out then retroactive penalties would suck.

But here's the thing.... no way Red Bull submitted paperwork showing them in violation. So that means that (if they are the ones in violation) the FIA believes Red Bull are lying or cheating or at least being deceptive. That they believe costs incurred that should have been included were instead excluded. How would they know? And how can they be sure other teams are not doing the same thing? The whole thing stinks. And for such a 'confidential' procedure, Toto sure seems to be well informed.

I'll wait until they tell us more, but this is going to be very messy indeed if one team is found in material breach while the others get their certificate.

Quote of the day during Training 2 in the rain at Suzuka:

MacLaren engineer to Norris::-"How is the track?"

Norris : -"Wet."



Just got to love British humour.