2023 season kicking off !!!! The wait is over.

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comment by Admin1 (U1)
posted 2 minutes ago
Live @ https://www.ja606.co.uk/articles/viewLiveArticle/452305
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Cheers admin

Oh man.. how did I miss this?
F1 is back baybeee! Let’s av it.
Come on Mercedes. Take down Red Bull.

Thank fack this is back!

Going to be an epic season me thinks. 6 cars batteling up front.

Max seems to be flying, probably bodes well for the first race of the season.

I mean it’s usually the case to not go flat out, showing your rivals what you’ve got underneath.
But Max still leasing the way, doesn’t bode well for the season.
I’m hoping Mercs are gonna send a message out next week.

Mercedes are usually not showing their teeth in testing. So yes, could be they come out flying next week.

Uh huh. And there goes the Red Flag on Russell..

Saturday line-up
We wave goodbye to the likes of Max Verstappen, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu now as their time in the car has come to an end.

Red Bull - Sergio Perez (all day)

Ferrari - Charles Leclerc (am), Carlos Sainz (pm)

Mercedes - George Russell (am), Lewis Hamilton (pm)

Alpine - Esteban Ocon (am), Pierre Gasly (pm)

McLaren - Oscar Piastri (am), Lando Norris (pm)

Alfa Romeo - Valtteri Bottas (all day)

Aston Martin - Felipe Drugovich (am), Fernando Alonso (pm)

Haas - Nico Hulkenberg (am), Kevin Magnussen (pm)

Alpha Tauri - Nyck de Vries (am), Yuki Tsunoda (pm)

Williams - Alex Albon (all day)

Red Bull's Sergio Perez set the fastest time of Formula 1 pre-season testing ahead of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.

RB looking good. Probably best of the lot, but the first race will see who held back their real power in testing.

How do I get HTML code privileges ?

Red Bull in a league of their own again this year.

the fight will be for the rest at least early in the season.

Aston look quick and if they get it right with Alonso he can create all sorts of drama up top.

Early predictions Merc will be battling Mclaren for 4th in the beginning of the season before the merc starts to move forward.

I think it will be closed than that Whodunnit. Red bull is fast, but I am sure Mercedes is better than they claim to be. Ferarri increased their straight speed, although curve speed might have suffered, I think they will be close. Leclerc is a very good driver, and so are Russ and Ham.

I am excited to see what Nick can do in a Taurus.

*closer

comment by Cloggy (U1250)
posted 24 seconds ago
I think it will be closed than that Whodunnit. Red bull is fast, but I am sure Mercedes is better than they claim to be. Ferarri increased their straight speed, although curve speed might have suffered, I think they will be close. Leclerc is a very good driver, and so are Russ and Ham.

I am excited to see what Nick can do in a Taurus.
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still working on a modified last years car, they need to start from scratch again.

the car didnt look balanced or quick.

I think the Norris / Piastri battle is gonna be good. Norris has gained a bit of ego about him now which is normal after he has a bit more experience and Paistri has a lot of talent.

I think Red Bull might clean up, the car is miles ahead of the competition.

Expect them to win just about every race.

Fair enough, season kicks of in 3 days !!!!

comment by Cloggy (U1250)
posted 42 seconds ago
Fair enough, season kicks of in 3 days !!!!
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yeah, still looking forward to it ..... binged drive to survive at the weekend. it was average it missed some major points in the season.

the season will be better for it inter team battles rather than a title challenge I feel.

*better for its inter team battles

Have to agree that Red Bull will again walk this. Ferrari have built a car to appease the Monza crowd. Mercedes will still fall short until they accept the red bull concept is the better car.

comment by Harambe (U22339)
posted 8 minutes ago
Have to agree that Red Bull will again walk this. Ferrari have built a car to appease the Monza crowd. Mercedes will still fall short until they accept the red bull concept is the better car.


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yeah this red bull will be as dominant as the merc in the lewis / rosberg days.

Ferrari may pick up the odd win.

Merc might get stronger later in the year.

But I reckon that red bull now (day 1) will be faster than any other f1 car on the final day of championship after their updates.

Mclaren look quite poor to start with. and look to be a step behind the best of the rest fight. Aston Martin look good, and Alonso could well be the talking point of the year if he has a decent car and that no fecks given attitude he could get a bit lungey!! that aston martin will be fighting with the merc early in the year I reckon.

Alpine will much the same as last year, can see Ocon and Gasly ruining each others season.

Red Bull clear favs early on but Ferrari won this last year. Some good battles between Aston, Merc and Alpine + the back runners all look congested. Will go for a;

1 Max
2 Leclerc
3 Russell

Followed by Perez, Hamilton and Alonso. Sainz to dnf

comment by Shaun M - Livin da vi la Roca (U9955)
posted 6 hours, 7 minutes ago
Red Bull clear favs early on but Ferrari won this last year. Some good battles between Aston, Merc and Alpine + the back runners all look congested. Will go for a;

1 Max
2 Leclerc
3 Russell

Followed by Perez, Hamilton and Alonso. Sainz to dnf

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I just cant see that Merc finishing ahead of either of the Red Bulls and the Ferrari.

Early rumours are that Merc have a fairly large upgrade package to be brought in for about race 3/4. In these early races though I think they will be battling maybe even behind the aston martin.

Mclaren look well off it for the start of the year.

Any of the top 3 (Mercedes, Ferrari, RedBull) could be the leading car...

RedBull looks planted, stable with great speed and traction out of the corners in testing...maybe already found their optimal setup. Some pace left in the pocket for sure, hidden pace which will ultimately be revealed on qualifying and race day. Easy to be on the front front, when you are the Champion Car. Mighty. Newey is a genius.

Mercedes were testing a multitude of things...didn't even use the low DF rear wing in testing which will produce more pace in Bahrain, the team that were sandbagging the most.
Their rear instability is a slight concern but that maybe as a result of testing the car to its absolute limit, chasing balance. Good race pace and low deg, with the high DF wing (which won't be used in the race).
They must be quietly confident, to not use the optimal wing at any point in testing or simply tried to see if the horrendous porpoising from last year still remains with the suboptimal rear wing.
Narrow operating window was the bane of the car, appear to have been banished this year by the looks of things. Lost some personnel to RedBull & Ferrari, but remaining team don't suddenly forget how to be World Champions.

Ferrari traction & (power unit) speed is still there, they focused on long run pace in testing. They weren't far off. Their degradation wasn't great, but they haven't shown their full hand either...much more pace and speed in the tank to extract.
They've got work to do in optimising the suspension and deg, whether that will be solved / fixed with updates remains to be seen. Nowhere near maximised their setup, don't be surprised if they find the sweet spot in Bahrain and qualify on the front row again.



Lots of variables at play, difficult to definitely know until the first Grand Prix starts...even then, might not know the full picture of the leading car as Bahrain track is a bit of an outlier.

Overall, I'm glad that Ferrari & Mercedes have stuck to their different philosophies, didnt veer towards a RedBull model which would be boring. Innovation in F1 is what the sport is all about (The Mercedes lack of sidepod concept has the most potential).


Aston may have stolen RedBulls exceptional aerodynamist Dan Fallows and race simulation pace from Alonso looked really good, but I refuse to believe they would have made up such a gap to the top 3 in under a year. Top of midfield? Sure, believeable.
Challenging top 3 teams consistently? No no.
Aston would have to make up the best part of 1 and a half seconds (that's how far behind they were last season) to be close to the top 3.