2023 British GP Heroes and Zeroes

[Jericoke]

Heroes

Max/Newey:  6 straight wins.  Effortless wins.  We often debate the best drivers of all time, but is there even a question who the best car designer is?  For that matter, Horner has put together two separate strong teams.

Norris:  McLaren gave him a great car, and he ran with it.  For the first time Red Bull didn't immediately run away with the race.  Sure, it was a foregone conclusion, but even without the safety car, I don't know that Verstappen would have gotten his normal pitstop+ lead over Norris.

Hamilton:  you've got to be lucky to be good, and Mercedes/Lewis won their bet on when the safety car would show up.  Solid races against Norris and Alonso.

Piastri:  I understand that McLaren brought updated cars, but Piastri still had the 'slow' parts.  He had a great race, suffering from back luck more than anything else to miss out on a podium.

Albon: I know he drives under a Thai flag, but it felt a little unfair that he wasn't included with the 'British Drivers' being feted at the Grand Prix.  Nonetheless, drove a great race.  Like McLaren, Williams has made progress, but you still need a driver to take advantage.  Albon's career hasn't been as strong as it should have been, but he's proving that he belongs at the pointy end of the sport.

Alonso:  had a good race, as always, but clearly Aston Martin has lost whatever early advantage they had.  Can't blame Alonso for that, he had a great day.

Pirelli:  We're quick to point out when tires ruin a race, but today Pirelli really provided the tires that everyone was hoping for.  Different tire strategies that were equally feasible and interesting played out on track, which added to the spectacle.

Zeroes

Ferrari:  it just feels like no matter what progress they make, something always comes up to put a damper on the weekend.  I don't even know what Ferraris problem was this weekend per se, but they seem to have found it.

Stroll:  I'm as big a Stroll fan as anyone, but he isn't getting better.  I was really hoping Alonso would guide him, and maybe he is still a work in progress, but today wasn't an example of a 'future champion'.  I still feel that Stroll is good enough to be in F1... but I don't still feel that he's good enough to stop someone else from getting a chance.

Perez:  In the days of Hamilton, Schumacher or Vettel 'dominance', their teammates were solid drivers who could contend for wins and even championships.  Maybe Max really is that good and no one could catch him, but I really feel like Perez should be doing better.

AlphaTauri:  whenever someone wins, someone has to lose, but the AlphaTauri organization has won races, contended for podiums, and now they're not getting much done at all.

[Dare]

Winning the race with ease wasn't enough for max he had to get that important one point for fast lap too.

I'd like to know what's up with Ferrari? I don't think it's
the drivers

[Monty]

Again I think Jeri tells it as it was.
I would put the track high on the heroes list - the old tracks are classics for a reason!
Pleased for Albon - a really good weekend.
McLaren were fantastic and, as a Brit, I was really pleased for Norris.
Of course, I have to put in a few bad words for Verstappen. Why does he have to moan and whine during every race? “These tyres are not good” as he puts in a fastest lap. “The car is moving around” as he pulled another half second on the rest of the pack. Why doesn’t he just shut up and drive?

[Jericoke]

Why doesn’t he just shut up and drive?

Kimi 'ruined' the radio for everyone.  Part of his legend is his radio banter; 4 or 5 years ago both Hamilton and Vettel were clearly trying to come up with 'catch phrases' that would grant them legendary status.  (Go to any F1 merchandise vendor, you'll find "Leave me alone I know what I'm doing" shirts).  I don't know if Verstappen has been instructed to be verbose, or if he's chosen to do so himself, but someone is hoping he says something 'golden' on the radio, which means he's going to continuously dump whatever thoughts he's having over the air.
 

[lkjohnson1950]

Again I think Jeri tells it as it was.
I would put the track high on the heroes list - the old tracks are classics for a reason!
Pleased for Albon - a really good weekend.
McLaren were fantastic and, as a Brit, I was really pleased for Norris.
Of course, I have to put in a few bad words for Verstappen. Why does he have to moan and whine during every race? “These tyres are not good” as he puts in a fastest lap. “The car is moving around” as he pulled another half second on the rest of the pack. Why doesn’t he just shut up and drive?

He wants the team and fans to know it's his skill that makes the car unbeatable, not the fact that Newey and a budget cap violation have given him a superior car. R/B seem to be slightly less dominate in qually, but the race pace of the car is far ahead still.

[lkjohnson1950]

I'd like to give a shout out to Haas and Magnussen for blowing up at exactly the right time to scramble the race.

[Alianora La Canta]

Heroes:

Norris: Had a fantastic race day with lots of speed, following what had already been a very good qualifying. Brought lots of smiles.

Albon: That Williams may have improved a lot, but Alex still brought it well into the points despite few retirements (and all from cars that were slower than Alex was, to boot).

Russell: For making those softs last so hard that everyone else's strategy changed (or collapsed) in response to his discoveries.

Zeroes:

Ferrari: Just in case electrical failure for in the session and for the driver most essential to Ferrari's preparation wasn't enough, just in case leaving Sainz out (albeit at his request) on old hard tyres wasn't enough, and just in case being so hard on medium tyres that soft tyres probably wouldn't have lasted even if Ferrari had thought to try them wasn't enough... ...a Ferrari engine failed in Magnussen's car. It's reached the point where it feels like the drivers and team principal are trying to hold the house of cards together all by themselves for justifiable lack of faith in the others. (Note that this was Laurent Mekies' last race before he goes on 6 months of gardening leave, agreed when Mattia Binotto was new in post. Ferrari are trying to swap people out, but the long period of leave needed between staff going into and out of that team is likely to continue affecting them into 2024, even if the replacements turn out to be better).

Stroll: that was a terrible move on Pierre Gasly, and he was lucky it wasn't treated as a 4th track violation as well as a collision (he only got 1 penalty for the incident). A hard day that should not have been that hard.

Brundle: not so much for trying and failing to interview Cara Delavigne, but for trying to convince her to change her mind by lying to her - and then calling her rude because her agent knew better. Celebrities are not obliged to speak to interviewers and F1 circulates a list in advance of which celebrities are not to be interviewed on the grid. (Yes, they give priority to the ones who are to be interviewed, but if they need non-interviewable ones to fill the numbers and earn the money, that's what they will do). Unfortunately, behavior like this is why celebrities are increasingly bringing protectors with them onto the grid. If people going onto the grid can't rely on working staff following their contractual expectations, they will likely become more reluctant to give voluntary information, which given Liberty still thinks it needs the money, means more celebrities on the grid with "no-interview" orders and more celebrities (of any stance) bringing protectors (which reduces space for everyone else).

FIA Fail of the Weekend:

This has been highlighted by a survey done by More Than Equal, done by David Coulthard's company (I was surprised he never mentioned it in the Channel 4 coverage, despite Jamie Chadwick sharing punditry duties), about the equality gap in motorsport. If anything, the gap appears to be growing since 1997. While FIA fails in that are apparent in many parts of the survey, the kicker for me was simply promoting which series women are allowed to do. Nearly 50% of the fans completing the survey not being sure if women are allowed to be in F1. Note: that's not "unsure if women could compete in F1" - 80% of those surveyed think a woman will race in F1 in the next 10 years - that's "the FIA may need to change the regulations before a woman good enough for F1 would be allowed to be hired as a F1 driver". Also note: several other FIA series scored even worse for this! (If you really want a laugh, note that 22% of survey respondents thought women were forbidden - not even "maybe compete", forbidden - from racing in W Series. The clue was supposed to be in the title, but it got more certain "can't" responses than any of the mixed series).

Actual competitors were less likely to make the error (and survey-fillers who were neither fans nor competitors were too small a group for their results to be statistically analysed), but several major obstacles were still identified - most notably that companies wouldn't sponsor women due to no woman getting a F1 seat in 30 years (which proves to those sponsors that no ROI exists, and thus prevents sponsorship from large companies of any significant size).

This survey was issued several days ago. The FIA's response? Nothing.

[Monty]

Don’t get me started about women in motor sport. Yes of course there is currently a very small number of women even trying to progress in the sport but every half hearted attempt by the FIA to involve them starts from a patronising position - by giving them inferior; sub F2 cars. The W Series was a perfect opportunity to to force F1 teams to run third cars for the ladies. Now all that is available is the ‘Academy’ - even the name suggests they are just ‘learners’. These are incredibly accomplished drivers in their own right. They may not be at current F1 standard but then the hundreds of drivers in other series aren’t either. They are all just looking for a break and if the FIA genuinely wants to promote women in racing they need to build their profiles not denigrate them!

[Willy]

I seem to be getting lazy as I now wait for Jeri to put in her post as she always gets it right and I can just say " I agree with Jeri".
Jeri appears to be the hero of GP Wizard.

I will comment that the track is always a good watch and it is one of the iconic tracks that need to be kept on the calendar.

F1 TV does not offer Martin Brundle or his group and I for one am happy to not have to listen to him confirm once again that he an overstuffed, self-important pompous ass.

As to when women will be allowed to race in F1.....the old guard needs to die off before that will happen. There are now more than a few women racers who could easily take seats from current F1 drivers and do better. Case in point, Stroll who has reached his best before date.

[cosworth151]

I'd like to give a shout out to Haas and Magnussen for blowing up at exactly the right time to scramble the race.

 :'(

Big winner of the week:

Danny Ric - He'll be back in an F1 car for Budapest! 

[lkjohnson1950]

There is some doubt that the Alpha Tauri is an actual F1 car. I think they're bringing DR in because he's familiar with F1 machinery and can help identify exactly what the A/T is or isn't.

[John S]

Don’t get me started about women in motor sport. Yes of course there is currently a very small number of women even trying to progress in the sport but every half hearted attempt by the FIA to involve them starts from a patronising position - by giving them inferior; sub F2 cars. The W Series was a perfect opportunity to to force F1 teams to run third cars for the ladies. Now all that is available is the ‘Academy’ - even the name suggests they are just ‘learners’. These are incredibly accomplished drivers in their own right. They may not be at current F1 standard but then the hundreds of drivers in other series aren’t either. They are all just looking for a break and if the FIA genuinely wants to promote women in racing they need to build their profiles not denigrate them!

I agree wholeheartedly with your sentiments about FIA, especially with cars in Ladies series - W series cars were even lower in power than F3 cars, never mind F2. 

However the evidence at present shows that there is no female driver on a level to get near qualifying for a superlicence to be on F1 grid in maybe 10 years let alone 5.
Currently the only female on F3 grid Sofia Floersch sits in the bottom six of a field of 33, mind you everyone else up to 22nd has no points too.

There needs to be a massive change at Karting level, and maybe F4 & F3 too. Reckon the only way to get females progressed will be to limit grids in International Karting, F4 & F3 to no more than two thirds male entrants. Also mandate all teams in these lower categories to have at least one female driver for each 3 cars or under.
Yes it's positive descrimination but it maybe only way to advance more females into higher single seat motorsport.
Once woman make an impact by winning races or even being highly placed in mixed packs more sponsors will come surging forward.

[lkjohnson1950]

Sophia is no longer at 0. 

[John S]

Lonny nice try however Sofia was later dropped from point scoring result for technical infringements with car so she still has 'nil point'.

Sure she finished in 9th but it don't count I'm afraid, it's a tough life in racing whether you're male or female.