Law Enforcement is clearing the stands, and they say FP will resume in 5 minutes. 4 minutes left on the DVR.
So far, a really great F1 Weekend!
The issue wasn’t the one that came up - it was the two dozen other ones along the track.
And I’d be “burn the entire place down” livid if I had paid for first day tickets. Nine minutes of one practice, then kicked out under threat of trespassing hours later, with still no zoom zoom?
Oh yeah, Ferrari has to basically replace Sainz’s entire damn car AND take grid penalties for it.
And they pretty much just poured concrete over the drains.
This “flagship” Grand Prix is pretty quickly becoming a joke. Let’s hope tonight goes better.
Unapologetic Cash-Grab. I’m kinda embarrassed for the sport. Kinda. Also kinda feel sorry for the fleeced masses. Kinda.
A 10 pm start time in Vegas = 1 am on the East Coast; 6 am in London; 7 or 8 am throughout most of the rest of Europe. The only live TV audience during a 9 am to 9 pm viewing time range would be Asia and the Pacific.
Eh, it’s Formula 1. It’s always been about conspicuous consumption and elitism.
The Sphere is pretty cool. Interesting tidbit - the team that does most of the content for it is based in a business park in Burbank, just down the sidewalk from a Disney building my cousin works in. I was only mildly aware of its existence until a couple weeks ago.
Race is over, and the only thing I’ll say is that Vegas has redeemed itself from FP1.
Yes! I could not have been more wrong! I simply lacked the imagination to envision what they did with that city. What a great race, great track and spectacle. Well done!
Seeing what they did is nothing short of Mind-Blowing. Having lived there, and knowing the place somewhat (been gone a long time) it’s just hard to grasp the amount of work they did to pull that off. It must have been a nightmare for the locals for quite a while, but it certainly was an event. Glad that it has a 10 year run to come. Maybe I’ll make it down there sometime. Don’t have a place down there anymore, but what the hell.
I don’t hardly recognize anything there anymore, but I reckon that permanent pit building is built pretty much on the site I once lived, way back in the day.
I’m watching it now. Currently in lap 4. I don’t understand how Verstappen can push people off then claim that he didn’t do anything wrong because he was ahead. Yeah, you’re ahead because you didn’t bother braking for the corner!
That was simultaneously the most amazing and most boring season of all time. At least during the Mercedes era Hamilton’s teammate was nearly always a threat to win.
I’m not sure whether Verstappen has proven he can rage cleanly. He’s hardly had to race anyone this year. But he basically hasn’t made a mistake in two years and is approaching Hamilton consistency levels. I don’t think there is much chance of a competitive championship until the 2025 rule changes.
Is this a typo? I can’t be sure… 
After watching binging all seasons of Netflix RTS this spring I decided to watch my first season of f1 from the start, after never watching a minute of f1 outside of RTS.
I really enjoyed it! Even with Max dominating the season (he is my favorite driver!). I love the format of the races and especially the length of them.
As a west coast viewer, I was okay with the time zones. Qualifying and Sprints were my Saturday afternoon treat and GRand Prix races were my Sunday morning treat!
I believe they are starting with new cars, so I look forward to seeing the lead-up of the season with what changes the various teams are implementing.
I am hooked and counting down to the start of next season (96 days)!
MtM
I binged all seasons of Drive to Survive earlier this year. My wife kept saying “You love that show” and I said “It’s actually pretty bad. I’m not sure why I keep watching.” I eventually realized that I was watching just for the glimpses of racing they showed (which in an average episode might be three or four minutes tops). I started watching the races halfway through the season and I’m hooked. I will still watch DTS but it will be mostly to see how they twist the real stories to manufacture drama.
I’m definitly looking forward to seeing the new season of DTS in the spring, especially after watching all the races this season. While watching the races, in the back of my mind I kept thinking “I’ll bet this will be in DTS!” (particularilly Max swapping tires on the final lap, because he had a 28+ second lead and wanted that extra point for fastest lap. Which his team mate [Perez] currently had! LEGEND!)
MtM
Bumping for offseason drama.
BusinessF1, a magazine that apparently has zero credibility, published an article claiming Toto and Susie Wolff for inappropriately sharing information, as revealed by a team principal stating Toto slipped confidential information in a TP meeting. Commotion ensues, and the FIA - with no known evidence such a transgression was occurring - announced an investigation into the couple. Almost immediately, both Wolffs proclaim their innocence, and in short order, every single F1 team also states no such thing happened in nearly identical releases. Two days later, the FIA annouced the investigation is complete, there’s nothing there, and everything is fine.
The Wolffs are understandably upset, and there’s rumblings of legal exchange, and concern that FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem really put his foot in it. On top of it, he spent the Awards Gala being his regular cringy self. The common conspiracy theory is this is an F1 power play to try to displace Ben Sulayem.
On a ENTIRELY unrelated note, has Drive to Survive already finished filming?
I am not a big racing fan, but I enjoyed watching DTS. But to my ignorant ears, it sure sounded like a lot of the main players had a lot of fingers in a lot of different and potentially conflicting pies. Didn’t some of the principals represent drivers on other teams? Just seemed kinda unseemly. But made for fun TV!
I would think so. I guess they could be doing some interviews of drivers and priciples to tie up some loose ends.
I’m assuming it will be dropped a couple weeks before the first race.
MtM
Next year will start with the same driver lineup that finished this year… any historians know the last time that happened?
I dunno, but it is kinda surprising. I would have figured at least Seargent would have been heaped.
Sky is at least saying they’re pretty sure it’s the first time ever. And de Vries was the only driver that lost his seat during the season, right? That’s some boring driver drama…
Hopefully 2024’s silly season is more entertaining, given 2/3 of contracts will run out at the end of the season. Verstappen, , Hamilton, Russell, Norris, Piastri, and Bottas are the only drivers signed through 2025 or later. There’s been rumblings of LeClerc agreeing to a contract through 2029(!), but nothing signed as of yet.
Does anyone know if there any stats for total positions gained during a race over a season?
I’d like to see how many positions Perez gained compared to the rest of the drivers. How many times did Checo fail to get out of Q3, but still get a top 5 or even a podium?
MtM