Grand Prix 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

[cider_and_toast]

Oh deep, deep joy.

 

[sobriety]

Given the current quality of the racing there's an argument to be made that it wouldn't be good use of the BBC budget, even if the rights were free.

 

[Brogan]

What a colossal waste of £1 billion.

 

[Andyoak]

Couldn't have happened to a nicer media company

 

[Il_leone]

What a colossal waste of £1 billion.

Dont think Murdoch cares

 

[F1Brits_90]

BTW did anyone see the performance from the Ferrari rookie? Forget his name, wasn’t really mentioned. I thought he looked promising, especially when likened to Nick de Vries.

Bearman Was highly impressive because in jeddah, it couldve gone so wrong so quickly as its a high speed monaco, fully deserved driver of the day

 

[Bill Boddy]

If you want someone to blame for the state of F1 you need look no further than Saudi Arabia.

The same applies to all sports.

 

[F1Brits_90]

If you want someone to blame for the state of F1 you need look no further than Saudi Arabia.

The same applies to all sports.

i dont understand your point because saudi dont invest in red bull, pay verstappen wages or influence the 2022 rules

 

[Bill Boddy]

i dont understand your point because saudi dont invest in red bull, pay verstappen wages or influence the 2022 rules

Have you not noticed how many races are held in Arab countries and how many events have been bought in places which are in unsuitable venue?

 

[Speshal]

What a colossal waste of £1 billion.

You seen Twitter recently? 44 times worse

 

[F1Brits_90]

Have you not noticed how many races are held in Arab countries and how many events have been bought in places which are in unsuitable venue?

true but has F1 always gone to the highest bidder, look at russia, during the 80s F1 was the only sporting thing that south africa was a apart of. the rest of sporting world had exiled them from olympics, cricket & the rugby

we've joked for yrs that if the money was right there would be a North korean GP

 

[F1Brits_90]

theres alot of revisionist history & short / terrible memories from alot of people who seem to think that what red bull & verstappen are doing is no different to have hamilton & Mercedes did which i find madness

because mercedes won 7 in a row some of those season were monotonous 2015 & 2020. but the rest were far more competitive & were far more along the scale to the prost/senna side than the schumacher side

2014 & 2016 we had title deciders

2017 by the summer break vettel & Hamilton won 4 races each & vettel lead the championship by 14pts

2018 - Vettel threw away the championship. crashing from the lead in germany, italy & singapore & again had Hamilton & Vettel won 5 of the 1st 13 races

2019 - again you cant blame Mercedes for taking advantage of Ferrari incompetence. ferrari took 9 poles & had the opportunity to win 10 races

 

[FB]

I know it doesn't make it right, but F1 raced in South Africa during apartheid, had drivers taken in armoured convoys to the Argentine GP when a military junta was in charge, raced in Spain when Franco was still in charge, and took dirty Russian and Chinese money. As much as I despise the latest crazy for Arab cash in sport it probably shouldn't come as any surprise that F1 is front and centre grabbing as much as it can.

 

[TR]

theres alot of revisionist history & short / terrible memories from alot of people who seem to think that what red bull & verstappen are doing is no different to have hamilton & Mercedes did which i find madness

because mercedes won 7 in a row some of those season were monotonous 2015 & 2020. but the rest were far more competitive & were far more along the scale to the prost/senna side than the schumacher side

2014 & 2016 we had title deciders

2017 by the summer break vettel & Hamilton won 4 races each & vettel lead the championship by 14pts

2018 - Vettel threw away the championship. crashing from the lead in germany, italy & singapore & again had Hamilton & Vettel won 5 of the 1st 13 races

2019 - again you cant blame Mercedes for taking advantage of Ferrari incompetence. ferrari took 9 poles & had the opportunity to win 10 races

You might want to consider whether it is your memory of those years that is tinted by your fandom.

For example, while 2016 end with a title decider most of the races were rather dull with the title protagonists rarely getting near each other after the first few laps. For example, 2016 featured a grand total 0 on track overtakes between the two Mercedes drivers. Behind them not much off interest was happening in the top 5 is most races either. For most races, you could tuned out after the first 10 minutes of the races and still know the correct result.

2024 is shaping up to produce a similar level of borefest, much unlike last year, which was (relatively) action packed for positions 2-10 in most races.

 

[F1Brits_90]

You might want to consider whether it is your memory of those years that is tinted by your fandom.

there is obviously room for debate but it is fact that verstappen era is far beyond anything F1 has seen going into austraila no driver had won 10 in a row & he had the chance to do it twice inside 12 months . me or anyone isnt blind to what max is doing. i voted for Max as driver of the year in 2022 & 2023. 2010 & from what ive heard Prost/Senna is alot like how you described 2016. not a great individual races but championship went down the wire. surely that we want

do you any issues with the other years that mentioned

 

[cider_and_toast]

Unlike last year, which was (relatively) action packed for positions 2-10 in most races.

This is true, for every team I follow across a whole range of sports, I watch them desperately hoping they come second.