The interesting thing with Red Bull will be how they handle their other 3 cars long term. Max is going to be there for at least the next 3-4 years barring any disasters, but I wonder what Checos future looks like despite the 2yr extension. I think much like Tsunoda the lull in talent coming through the RB Academy will probably give them 2023 at least but something doesn't seem right.
I mean of the current grid, 8 of them have had Red Bull ties, Verstappen, Perez, Gasly, Tsunoda, Albon, Ricciardo, Vettel, Sainz.
Though they may not have a superstar coming up, and seem to be going for quantity over quality in the lower categories right now, I'd imagine their play for Herta means 2023 will be Verstappen and Perez, Herta and Tsunoda, with 2024 being Verstappen and Herta and 2 new faces in at AT, unless they decide to draft Albon back in, or keep Gasly, who looks to be Alpine bound
Will Buxton tweeted yesterday and seemed to hint that RB wont successful getting Herta the Super Licence exception - In which case Gasly stays @ AlphaTauri for at least another year.
If that does happen then surprisingly it appears that Jack Doohan is the favourite to occupy the second Alpine seat... Wonder if that's because they don't want a repeat of the Piastri fuck up, because I feel he could do with another year in F2, might as well give the spare seat to Schumacher or Ricciardo for one year
Will be a remarkable year for Doohan as only a year ago I thought he was crazy to switch from the RB to Alpine Academy because of Oscar being ahead in the queue, and Alonso still there.
Could also end up with two Aussies on the grid next year... Neither of them Ricciardo.
Will Buxton tweeted yesterday and seemed to hint that RB wont successful getting Herta the Super Licence exception - In which case Gasly stays @ AlphaTauri for at least another year.
If that does happen then surprisingly it appears that Jack Doohan is the favourite to occupy the second Alpine seat... Wonder if that's because they don't want a repeat of the Piastri fuck up, because I feel he could do with another year in F2, might as well give the spare seat to Schumacher or Ricciardo for one year
Will be a remarkable year for Doohan as only a year ago I thought he was crazy to switch from the RB to Alpine Academy because of Oscar being ahead in the queue, and Alonso still there.
Could also end up with two Aussies on the grid next year... Neither of them Ricciardo.
Absolutely agree with you on Doohan , one lap pace you can't fault but his racecraft can leave a lot to be desired , Imola springs to mind instantly. I think he's a year short and needs to do next year in F2 and mount a real title tilt. Mick or Danny Ric for a year would be perfect.
So Bearman has to finish top three tomorrow regardless, if he does finish P3 then...
- Martins cannot get higher than P10, or P10 with Fastest Lap - Hadjar cannot finish higher than P7
Looking at the grid with Martins | Stanek | Maloney | Leclerc ahead of him, I think P2 in the Championship with Martins getting the title will be a great achievement for Ollie.
Especially after his early season form, he's just ran out of races I reckon.
Pretty rough experience at Monza today. Took a while to get into the circuit and then once in all bars are operating a token system where you have to queue to buy tokens before queueing to buy drinks (including water) and the queues for both were well over 30 mins.
I’d brought a small bottle with me but there are only a few water points so you can imagine what the queues are like. My ticket is GA and viewpoints are also pretty limited tbh, especially compared to GA at Silverstone. Got the above pic once we’d found a good spot towards the end of FP3 but the area we were in for qualy was pretty packed so left the circuit 10 mins in.
The organisation and water situation has kinda ruined the experience for me so I’m not that excited for tomorrow. Luckily I was going to Italy anyway and I didn’t pay hundreds for a grandstand ticket but still…
A nice mixed up grid tomorrow thanks to all the penalties. Verstappen will probably charge through the field again, but overtaking at Monza in recent years has not been as straightforward as you might intuitively think. Might be different this year if drivers can follow more closely exiting the last corner and entering the start finish straight. If Max can’t make such rapid progress through the field then Russel has a chance. Merc have been a match or better for Ferrari in race pace recently, although straight line speed not their strength. Another strategy/pit stop misstep for Leclerc and Russell might be there to pounce.
Felipe Drugovich confirmed as F2 champion, with 3 races to go, even though he was unfortunately forced to retire early from today's sprint race.
Not tied to any team, which greatly hurts his chances of an F1 drive, but he's been pretty dominant overall this season
F2 field has probably been the weakest for a few years - Wouldn't automatically put any of them in an F1 car next year - Regardless of Drugo's luck he's taken advantage, and has done damned well.
It certainly helps being part of an F1 Academy, but if Doohan is the only driver promoted (and gets the Alpine seat), that's two years on the trot where the F2 Champion hasn't got into the top tier, yet someone who has finished lower does.
Felipe Drugovich confirmed as F2 champion, with 3 races to go, even though he was unfortunately forced to retire early from today's sprint race.
Not tied to any team, which greatly hurts his chances of an F1 drive, but he's been pretty dominant overall this season
F2 field has probably been the weakest for a few years - Wouldn't automatically put any of them in an F1 car next year - Regardless of Drugo's luck he's taken advantage, and has done damned well.
It certainly helps being part of an F1 Academy, but if Doohan is the only driver promoted (and gets the Alpine seat), that's two years on the trot where the F2 Champion hasn't got into the top tier, yet someone who has finished lower does.
Almost as silly as the SL points structure.
When Alex Jacques was reading off the F2 title winners and then added Drugovich , it did show how below par this year has been.
Next year if most of the F3 front runners graduate should be a lot more interesting.
Felipe Drugovich confirmed as F2 champion, with 3 races to go, even though he was unfortunately forced to retire early from today's sprint race.
Not tied to any team, which greatly hurts his chances of an F1 drive, but he's been pretty dominant overall this season
As far as I’m concerned if you’re not a first time F2 champ / runner up at least - forget it.
Likes of Bruno Senna, Jolyon Palmer, not so quick Mick Schumacher. All second or third time champs. Drugovich is a third time. Not the same class as a Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc or Rosberg
Felipe Drugovich confirmed as F2 champion, with 3 races to go, even though he was unfortunately forced to retire early from today's sprint race.
Not tied to any team, which greatly hurts his chances of an F1 drive, but he's been pretty dominant overall this season
As far as I’m concerned if you’re not a first time F2 champ / runner up at least - forget it.
Likes of Bruno Senna, Jolyon Palmer, not so quick Mick Schumacher. All second or third time champs. Drugovich is a third time. Not the same class as a Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc or Rosberg
Absolutely agree with this , the guys that are the serious talents usually dominate even as a rookie or are at least right up there in a title fight. Drugovich will probably carve out a decent career in some series but he's not some super talent that every F1 team with a spare seat should be fighting to sign.
Martins deserves it - He drove a very clever race - But this is just bullshit from the FIA, how the hell can they be put in charge of anything... I mean even the likes of Pierre Gasly were tweeting last night not knowing their starting place on the grid today.
Hard luck for Bearman... Did a great job to finish P3 in the Championship.
Feel it should have been P2 at least but cant do anything about it
Bearman looks a real talent , still raw but I'd be very surprised if he's not with Prema in F2 next season. There's some real talents in this F3 field that will hopefully graduate.
The one I really don't rate is Arthur Leclerc , even today some brainless moves.
Hard luck for Bearman... Did a great job to finish P3 in the Championship.
Feel it should have been P2 at least but cant do anything about it
Bearman looks a real talent , still raw but I'd be very surprised if he's not with Prema in F2 next season. There's some real talents in this F3 field that will hopefully graduate.
The one I really don't rate is Arthur Leclerc , even today some brainless moves.
I would... Still reckon Leclerc will get the F2 seat with Prema next year, especially if there is only one available.
Reckon Bearman will be with another team, but he's shown his talent this weekend
Hard luck for Bearman... Did a great job to finish P3 in the Championship.
Feel it should have been P2 at least but cant do anything about it
Bearman looks a real talent , still raw but I'd be very surprised if he's not with Prema in F2 next season. There's some real talents in this F3 field that will hopefully graduate.
The one I really don't rate is Arthur Leclerc , even today some brainless moves.
Leclerc can be fast and at times is really good but, like you say, is pretty brainless and has a knack of finding trouble. I'm yet to be convinced by Bearman.
Hard luck for Bearman... Did a great job to finish P3 in the Championship.
Feel it should have been P2 at least but cant do anything about it
Bearman looks a real talent , still raw but I'd be very surprised if he's not with Prema in F2 next season. There's some real talents in this F3 field that will hopefully graduate.
The one I really don't rate is Arthur Leclerc , even today some brainless moves.
Leclerc can be fast and at times is really good but, like you say, is pretty brainless and has a knack of finding trouble. I'm yet to be convinced by Bearman.
Just feels like he'd be a penalty magnet in F2 with some of the driving standards we've seen this season.
Comments
Though they may not have a superstar coming up, and seem to be going for quantity over quality in the lower categories right now, I'd imagine their play for Herta means 2023 will be Verstappen and Perez, Herta and Tsunoda, with 2024 being Verstappen and Herta and 2 new faces in at AT, unless they decide to draft Albon back in, or keep Gasly, who looks to be Alpine bound
If that does happen then surprisingly it appears that Jack Doohan is the favourite to occupy the second Alpine seat... Wonder if that's because they don't want a repeat of the Piastri fuck up, because I feel he could do with another year in F2, might as well give the spare seat to Schumacher or Ricciardo for one year
Will be a remarkable year for Doohan as only a year ago I thought he was crazy to switch from the RB to Alpine Academy because of Oscar being ahead in the queue, and Alonso still there.
Could also end up with two Aussies on the grid next year... Neither of them Ricciardo.
Absolutely agree with you on Doohan , one lap pace you can't fault but his racecraft can leave a lot to be desired , Imola springs to mind instantly. I think he's a year short and needs to do next year in F2 and mount a real title tilt. Mick or Danny Ric for a year would be perfect.
Think he's got too much to do sadly after Quali in Zandvoort let him down.
V. Martins 127 pts starts 4th
I. Hadjar 121 pts starts 16th
O. Bearman 114 pts starts 6th
R. Stanek 109 pts starts 3rd
Z. Maloney 109 pts starts 2nd
A. Leclerc 104 pts starts 5th
Not quite sure what Bearman was doing there during the Argentinian national anthem, holding his hand over his heart.
- Martins cannot get higher than P10, or P10 with Fastest Lap
- Hadjar cannot finish higher than P7
Looking at the grid with Martins | Stanek | Maloney | Leclerc ahead of him, I think P2 in the Championship with Martins getting the title will be a great achievement for Ollie.
Especially after his early season form, he's just ran out of races I reckon.
Alex Albon has had to pull out of the Italian GP with appendicitis
It certainly helps being part of an F1 Academy, but if Doohan is the only driver promoted (and gets the Alpine seat), that's two years on the trot where the F2 Champion hasn't got into the top tier, yet someone who has finished lower does.
Almost as silly as the SL points structure.
When Alex Jacques was reading off the F2 title winners and then added Drugovich , it did show how below par this year has been.
Next year if most of the F3 front runners graduate should be a lot more interesting.
Likes of Bruno Senna, Jolyon Palmer, not so quick Mick Schumacher. All second or third time champs. Drugovich is a third time. Not the same class as a Hamilton, Russell, Leclerc or Rosberg
Absolutely agree with this , the guys that are the serious talents usually dominate even as a rookie or are at least right up there in a title fight. Drugovich will probably carve out a decent career in some series but he's not some super talent that every F1 team with a spare seat should be fighting to sign.
Cmon, this is ridiculous
Feel it should have been P2 at least but cant do anything about it
The one I really don't rate is Arthur Leclerc , even today some brainless moves.
Reckon Bearman will be with another team, but he's shown his talent this weekend
I'm yet to be convinced by Bearman.
Just feels like he'd be a penalty magnet in F2 with some of the driving standards we've seen this season.