Motorsports Thread

[Davo]

No confirmation yet, but a lot of big sources including Sky Sports are reporting that Hamilton will drive for Ferrari next year.

[Sithslayer1991]

9 hours ago, Davo said:

No confirmation yet, but a lot of big sources including Sky Sports are reporting that Hamilton will drive for Ferrari next year.

Lol even Fabrizo Romano twitted it. Its confirmed now by F1 that Hamilton will move Ferrari next year.

[Davo]

As a Ferrari fan this is really weird. Even that photoshop looks illegal.

I've never disliked Hamilton, but other than the Seb Red Bull years it's pretty much always been Hamilton as the main rival for Ferrari so I've never wanted him to win. I went through the same thing when Alonso was the villain against Schumacher then came to Ferrari and I supported him. Same with Seb after Red Bull.

[MathyouWSW]

It's so weird to see Lewis Hamilton in these photoshopped Ferrari outfits. But, it'll eventually happened.

So I guess Charles LeClerc will be 'car 2' for Ferrari now?

I'm curious to see who'll replace Hamilton at Mercedes. Some of the names I've seen mentioned are:

- Alex Albon (him and Russell are good friends as they were both at Williams, been a top contender for the spot so far)
- Andrea Kimi Antonelli (An Italian F2 rookie that won a few championships last year and in 2022, a lot of mentions for this guy to be a top contender)
- Fernando Alonso (Contract with Aston Martin ends at the end of the season. He'll be 43-44 years old next year)
- Carlos Seinz (So him and Hamilton basically do a swap in teams)
- Esteban Ocon (contract ends with Alpine at the end of the season)
- Pierre Gasly (also has his contact to end with Alpine at the end of the season)
- Mick Schumacher
- Fredrik Vesti (Came 2nd in the F2 championship)
- Felipe Drugovich (F2 championship winner in 2021, Test driver for Aston Martin)
- Nicholas Latifi 

[Davo]

You'd have to think Albon is the favourite unless Antonelli dominates in F2.

As far as I know Albon moving to Williams meant he separated from the Reb Bull system so he can go wherever he wants. He'd jump at that opportunity. Antonelli is part of the Merc young driver program and they have big hopes for him, but I think 2025 is too soon unless he does a Piastri and wins F2 as a rookie.

There were a lot of rumors that Sainz was talking to Audi as they planned to take over Sauber. If Bottas moves or Zhou doesn't kick on they could park Sainz there for a season before Audi come in.

Also I'd be surprised if Leclerc became number 2 at Ferrari. He has a long term contract and he's still young so he would be Ferrari's long term plan. I reckon they'll have no lead driver then back whoever leads in the championship.

[MathyouWSW]

Personally, what I would like to happen is Albon goes to Mercedes alongside George Russell and then Liam Lawson gets a spot at Williams.

[Davo]

Weird situation in the F1 Academy series.

They run as support races for the Formula 1 and have two races each round. They only have one qualifying session for the whole weekend, so each drivers fastest time sets the grid for the first race and their second fastest time sets the grid for the second race.

Qatar last weekend was the second last round. Doriane Pin took pole for both races, getting 2 points for each pole, and won the first race. However Abbi Pulling finished second meaning she had an 83 point lead with 82 points remaining and became the champion. The second race was on the Sunday, but there was a crash in the Carrera Cup race right before and they couldn't fix the damage to the barriers quick enough so that  second race was cancelled.

This weekend is the final round in Abu Dhabi and they decided to add a third race to the round to make up for the cancelled race. Qualifying has been updated so the drivers third fastest laps will set the grid for the third race, meaning there are 2 points on offer for pole position in each of the three races.

The weird part is they've let Pin keep the 2 points she picked up for pole in the race that was cancelled, effectively adding an extra qualifying session and an extra 2 points to the championship. Pulling is still 83 points ahead but there are now 84 points remaining so she is no longer champion. Probably won't matter, as Pin would need pole in all three races, win all three races with fastest lap, and for Pulling to score zero points all weekend. Her worst result this season was third in Zandvoort.

[Neverbloom]

That was a very weird situation, formula academy has 2 Australians I believe, currently at race of Champions 

[MathyouWSW]

F1 begins this week.

I decided to try the F1 fantasy league this season. For those that don't know how what it is, here: https://fantasy.formula1.com/en/game-rules

tl:dr
- you have 100 million dollar budget
- You pick 5 players and 2 constructors within that budget
- you get points in qualifying, sprints, races, pit stops etc.

This year, I've picked the following for my team:
- Oscar Piastri
- Carlos Sainz
- Fernando Alonso
- Oliver Bearman
- Nico Hulkenberg 

Constructors:
- Ferrari
- Williams

I was tossing up between McLaren which I love and Ferrari but then I realised I didn't have enough for McLaren and Williams. I was in a league with friends last year. I missed the first GP but finished 7th out of 11th and I changed drivers and constructors last year which you get penalised for with -10 points per trade.

 

[Neverbloom]

I do have Oscar in my team, I forget who else 😂 

 

It's only practice but it's finally back, I really missed it 

[Smoggy]

It’s 15c and raining in Melbourne which is making for an interesting F1 start! Not managed a full lap without the safety car yet.

[Carns]

Hadjar crashing out on the formation lap in his first F1 race, poor bastard.

Jack Doohan admitting he'd never driven an F1 car in the rain and crashing out lap 1 wasn't much better. But Sainz doing the same under a safety car shows it's not just the rookies under threat.

Guaranteed to be more carnage.

[Neverbloom]

I feel bad for hadjar and Doohan, was nice of Hamiltons father to help comfort him, hate Hamilton but class act from his father 

 

You were not incorrect about the more chaos thing, the Australian curse at Albert Park strikes again 

[MathyouWSW]

Man I screamed "NO" so loud when Piastri lost it.

Poor bloke. We all just wanted a podium finish for him. However, I'm glad he managed to get out and continue.

[Sithslayer1991]

18 minutes ago, MathyouWSW said:

Man I screamed "NO" so loud when Piastri lost it.

Poor bloke. We all just wanted a podium finish for him. However, I'm glad he managed to get out and continue.

Yea heart sank when he pushed that final turn. They were just about to swap tyres as well. I think he admitted that he got a bit greedy he was pushing Norris for that win. Zak may have to reign that in a bit too avoid mistakes or unwanted "accidents".

 

On the other side how good is that WIlliams car. Albon is the most bank for money driver there is and finished 5th after Antonelli got his appeal for the 5 second penalty overturned.

[MathyouWSW]

On 17/03/2025 at 9:47 AM, Sithslayer1991 said:

Yea heart sank when he pushed that final turn. They were just about to swap tyres as well. I think he admitted that he got a bit greedy he was pushing Norris for that win. Zak may have to reign that in a bit too avoid mistakes or unwanted "accidents".

On the other side how good is that WIlliams car. Albon is the most bank for money driver there is and finished 5th after Antonelli got his appeal for the 5 second penalty overturned.

I'm calling it now. McLaren, Williams, Mercedes and Alpine are the teams to watch this year (and maybe next year) as they'll all use Mercedes engines. The other will be Aston Martin as they'll swap to Honda. I feel they are only doing that because of Adrian Newey joining from RedBull to Aston Martin this year and Newey probably knows how Honda's engines run since that's what RedBull currently use (and they are changing to Ford of all engines).

I was actually keen to see how Hadjar would go cause I was tempted to take him for my F1 fantasy league instead of Bearman as I feel Haas are going to struggle this season.

I did have a bit of a giggle at Hamilton but it's only stages in the season. 

Got a gut feeling we could see Tsunoda and Lawson doing a swap later in the season. Once again, it's still too early to call that as the rain didn't help the whole field.

Hopefully the weather is a lot better in China this week.

[Sithslayer1991]

Probably was the only person excited that Albon in Williams placed 5th. I always had a soft spot for Albon since his marathon managing of wheels at the Aus GP a few years ago. Sainz also there makes me happy Williams have a competitive car. 

I too think Tsunoda and Lawson will be swapping later in the season. I know Red Bull are hesistant on Yuki because he has a few too many mistakes in him but he has more experience than Lawson. Yuki just needs consistency.

[Smoggy]

One for the oldies in the board…

how awesome was it when in the 80’s you had (inset over excited Murray Walker voice)….

’ITS SENNA 1, PROST 2, MANSELL 3……’

Many who were hardly into the sport watched it back then…my sisters were both big Senna fans…McLaren v Williams…some stunning races…and the personalities to match. You had James Hunt and Walker in the commentary…who never really got on and was always likely to go off…

What a time to be alive that was. We would get Schumacher would come up to ranks and create some amazing scenes in the 90’s, but for me that 80’s period with Senna, Prost and Mansell…it was compulsory Sunday afternoon viewing.

[EmMac]

7 hours ago, Smoggy said:

…my sisters were both big Senna fans…

I was a massive formula one fan back in the 80s and yes... had the hots for Arton

[Legionista]

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/f1-fan-calls-out-feral-behaviour-from-men-at-grand-prix-weekend/news-story/84c2ea9e35e534ca8a39ff62b22ea242

[Neverbloom]

Senna was a bit pedophileish for me 

[EmMac]

3 hours ago, Neverbloom said:

Senna was a bit pedophileish for me 

I just read up on it. Yeah he was 25, she was 15. No way around it... that's Elvis territory 

[Neverbloom]

1 hour ago, EmMac said:

I just read up on it. Yeah he was 25, she was 15. No way around it... that's Elvis territory 

It was legal and maybe a bit more normalised in Brazil at the time but still dodgy, that still doesn't take away from his talent though but I don't respect anyone as a person who wants to date a 15 year old and is older than 20 

[MathyouWSW]

Well, I did a few changes to my F1 fantasy team:

GONE
- Fernando Alonso (Geez, he's been bad lately, he's making Stroll look like the better of the two at Aston Martin)
- Carlos Sainz
- Nico Hulkenberg (I just hate Stake...) 
- Ferrari
- Williams

IN
- Alex Albion
- Issac Hadjar
- Esteban Ocon
- MacLaren
- Haas

So the team is now this:
- Oscar Piastri (with DRS meaning all his points are double)
- Alex Albon
- Oscar Bearman
- Esteban Ocon
- Issac Hadjar

Constructors:
- MacLaren
- Haas

Because I did 4 changes, I got hit with a 20 point deduction for this race week.