Max drove brilliantly, with the exception of that spin and the strategy was great. He deserved to win. And from 10th it’s bvvg.

But I think the distance between Max and Checo was at least as much of an enditement on Checo

Yup. Hedged with Max winning after quali @9.5

Did lose a big bet on Sainz finishing top 3.

Won most of the matchup bets, faded Ricciardo mostly and payed off. Took most drivers that were vs Ricciardo.

Down a couple units on the weekend though. Sainz finishing out of top 3 hurt the betting bankroll.

Fundamentals! Redbull just super polished, all those years battling have made a big difference. They hardly ever make unforced errors, clever team with mixed with experience playing for high stakes.
Ferrari having a slow pit stop is excuseable but multiple slow ones in a race is not.
What a joke they are. Feels like they a stubborn bunch.
Over the break, hopefully they personnel in the Strategic team.

——————
Alonso to Aston, holy sh*t!!!
Shocker!

Lol. This coming from a guy that won multiple championships where Merc cars finished the majority of races 1-2.

I reckon he is telling Sky off that is the last time he's doing the expert comments as he needs to concentrate on the race.

Trololololol what a joke

Alpine releasing the news that they have contracted Oscar Piastri and the driver himself denies that and states he will not be driving for Alpine

Amazing

He has obviously an other contract close to signed, probably McLaren

The only way I see this as being acceptable by Piastri and not signing with Alpine is if they undermined or held him back from signing with a team for this year. The only team I can think of is Williams but that would mean Williams would need to play ball with being a development driver team.

McLaren

I think I've said before itt that I own an executive recruitment business?

My guess is that his agent was negotiating with another team as well as Alpine. He/she has made enough encouraging noises with Alpine at final offer stage that they think they've got Piastri but in fact the agent is using the deadline of that offer to flush out the best deal from the preferred manufacturer. Which is relatively common but a tricky balancing act...particularly if you have to work with both companies moving forward. Alpine have misread the signs and have announced it before a contract was signed (or within the standard cooling off period) but the agent has found and agreed a deal with the other manufacturer but just hadn't told Alpine yet

Yeah could be

Going to be fun. Contract registration bureau apparently has said Piastri has 2 valid contracts for 2023. Looks like Webber is an idiot who will never get to manage a talent in one of the drivers academies again. Alpine invested millions in Piastri and Webber/Piastri decided to ignore that and tried to walk away which will now definitely end up in the courts. McLaren gets screwed as well as Ricciardo can basically just hold out for the max amount to buy out his contract.

https://youtu.be/JfKF4OpvOC0

(Cannot embed this)

Agree.

Foolish move by the Piastri Team, would make more sense if Oscar was a veteran on the tail end of his career, getting the biggest contract matters.

He's 21, has years ahead of him. Just looks bad, no loyalty, crude. Screwed future endorsements with a Blue Chip company.
Penny wise, Pound foolish.

seriously....how long a ****ing break do these guys need? get them back to work - I need entertainment

Yup but it is tradition - it is weird when they try to squash 23 or whatever many events per year but we still get this 3 week summer break for all the F1 drivers and head honchos to go cruising the Mediterranean

Ricciardo leaving McLaren

They seem to be very confident that Piastri will drive for them and not for Alpine.

I would be surprised to see Ricciardo go to Alpine after what he pulled on them two years ago.

Maybe he can be useful for Williams or Haas. Certainly better than Latifi, please to not see him back next year

I believe Ricciardo is overrated, better bet for teams to take on a younger more promising driver with potential and much much cheaper.
Alonso is old, but has proved he's still got it and beats his teammate.

Ricciardo has been painfully bad, he's 33 with average IQ when it comes to making decisions.

Will be interesting to see how this all plays out, Piastri looks like a lock for McLaren, Alpine seems to think there's a shot he can't leave.

I don't see him going to either Williams or Haas. Williams can't afford him, and even if they could, would they want to? He'll be demanding an incredible sum of money and based on the past two years, would a team like Williams be benefitted by paying it? They're far more likely to drop Latifi and go with Logan Sergeant, especially with the US races next year and the added exposure that will bring to the team. A US driver, for an iconic team in THREE US races would likely pull in just as much cash as Latifi did...

I don't see him going to Haas - they're far more likely to go with Gio if they don't end up keeping Schumi. Daniel doesn't have any Ferrari links and costs a bunch of money. I just don't see it happening.

If Daniel goes anywhere i'm sure it will be Alpine and he's likely their only option if they lose the Piastri case.

McLaren also have a relative safety-net if the High Court rule in Alpine's favour with their Indycar drivers.

It'll be interesting to see on how long of a contract Piastri signs for if he does. Palou, O'Ward and Herta are all testing for the team surely with the view to have one join the team alongside Lando who's on a multi-year deal.

Maybe Piastri's going to IndyCar! Who ****in knows. Zac Brown must be having a right chuckle at all the **** he's been stirring up in Silly seasons.

Lots of grid penalties incoming. Could be an interesting race

Audi joining in 2026 as PU supplier.

Also rumours of them buying 75% of Sauber and presumably forming a team around it.

Exciting...

Why not? They are probably bored with everything they have achieved in GT3 and need a new challenge and once more to take it to Mercedes who are also their arch enemies in GT3 and once more (once more again!) Porsche is slated to be buying a large stake in Red bull and they compete with both in GT3.

I'd still really like to see Honda continue (maybe with Williams) as I think the new regs really suit what their short term aims are with the phasing out of ICEs.

Fortunately both Max and Charles take those penalties. Just Charles would have further boring-ified the wdc.

Golden opportunity for Checo, Carlos and Mercedes to win a race.

How does it work to determine who starts ahead of whom in case they both take penalties (assuming the penalties taken are the same) ?