multi21

I'm about halfway through it now and have to say it's kept my interest. It's surreal looking at 4 team bosses that are not there anymore (Franz, Binotto, Steiner and Otmar). I would have bet that Binotto would have been with a new team by now having satisfied his gardening leave period, but being up in the Dolomites and sitting in his vineyard looks like a very nice life indeed and he has minimal gray hairs!

Gunther is a different story altogether. The way he spoke during the 2023 season just told you he was done with HAAS and maybe even F1 altogether. Then I read this yesterday and suspected that there was more to the story than just going a different direction as the choice was not made after the season by Gene Haas but rather early in 2024.

Dutch journalist Jack Plooij shared insights on the altercation between Günther Steiner and Haas. He recounted the heated exchange between the two parties:
“Günther and I spoke at the beginning of the week, but we weren't allowed to ask how it actually went with Haas and what he would do. But then he sent me a message, allowing me to tell what happened."
“Günther found a 20 million sponsor, but told Gene Haas he wanted shares in the team to stay and continue the relationship. Haas however did not accept this, and so Steiner himself left the team.”
VIA: [formulapassion.it]

ProCoach

I remember some kerfuffle about Gunther reportedly in discussions about becoming "part owner" in the team, then Haas supposedly rapidly walking that back. It may have even been back closer to 2021-2022, after the team crisis.

Rig.Stunts

Trying to get past swarmy Christian 'Horny' Horner in DTS s6. Generally less racing and more soap opera?

I predict this year could be five percent less boring than last. Hopefully reality proves me wrong . . .

winders

Well, "one or two mechanical DNFs" are a lot different than the "reliability problems" @StoogeMoe is predicting. You both made it sound like systemic reliability problems were coming for Red Bull and I wanted to know the basis for this conclusion. I already said that odds are Red Bull will be less reliable than last year based on Max's perfect record last year. But, there is nothing Red Bull has changed that suggest they are suddenly going to have reliability problems.

StoogeMoe

Well, my reasoning is that RB is going to feel the heat more from behind, with Ferrari, McLaren, and Mercedes making significant advances. That is going to force them out of their conservative engine mappings and such, and are going to be pushing the equipment harder. That’s when the weak points start showing. The bullet proof drivetrain might not be so reliable as we witnessed last season. We shall see…

Carlo_Carrera

To me two mechanical DNFs is a "reliability problem".

Back in 2016 Lewis had one ill-timed DNF due to an engine failure with five races to go and directly because of it Nico won the WDC.

That said I still have Max as the overwhelming favorite to to win the WDC. I just have the feeling it will not be the cake walk last season was.

winders

No team has perfect reliability every year....and no, it does not mean there is a reliability problem. It can mean that is a reliability problem, but, correlation does not imply causation...

skl

https://racer.com/2024/02/26/wayne-t...ic-appearance/


Not about 2024, but this is a pretty neat story... hope the link works.

multi21

Programing note:

The first two races in Bahrain and SA will be run on Saturday, not Sunday, and broadcast in the US on Saturday morning due to the start of Ramadan.

LuigiVampa

The other shoe is about to drop:

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12...ore-bahrain-gp

Formulabob

And now back to racing. I believe Mercedes was sandbagging and very likely will be a strong contender for best best of the rest. At any given race, Mercedes, or McLaren, or Ferrari could push Max. Good drives from Perez will be necessary to ease the pressure on Max. Nevertheless, Max is the best driver and in the best car but will Horner’s plight and the Red Bull power struggle sabotage the F1 teams season?

wildcat077

Ford is also involved in the Horner investigation ... they have zero tolerance for any sexual or abusive misconduct by their associates and they will have their word to say wether Horner keeps his job
or gets the boot !
From all the evidence that is now publically known, it doesn't look good for him.
Should be an interesting season with Sainz being kept out the critical Ferrari team meetings and i'm sure Hamilton will be left out as well as soon as MB confirms their driver for 2025.

Just sayin ...

OK, back to racing as well , only two more days to go !


Cheers
Phil

Carlo_Carrera

What evidence?

Estoril

The is no publicly known evidence. I hope all the people who are so eager to judge would be okay with being judged under similar allegations in the same rush-to-judgement way.

multi21

With respect to “back to racing” off track issues/circumstances have always has been part of F1. Whether Horner stays or goes, it will directly impact the results on track, maybe not immediately, but given how dominant RBR have been, keeping the band together will be imperative.

With regard to Ford, quite frankly, who cares? They haven’t done anything in F1 since the sale of Jaguar and coming in now and puffing their chest out to like they’re entitled to something is a joke. Their photo op is over.