100% Agree with you Mike. I think it may have been Piastri who made some sounds of dispair highlighting the massive impact this had on his McLaren and I’m sure Hamilton would have suffered very similar issues, blunting any passing opportunities.
Must say (again!) I found the whole thing very engaging for once and I do sympathise with Russell’s failed roll of the dice staying out so long.
Peter
Perez is staying until the end of 2024 so no in-season change of driver according to crash dot net. I wonder how much the many millions from Mexican sponsors he brings into the team contributed to this decision. The cynic in me thinks it must be a lot if it is worth risking losing a place in the constructors championship.
Kind of sad. Williams is so bargain basement. 
Like going from Nordstrom to Walmart. 
He chose them ahead of his other options though, including what will be the Audi works team. He must have seen something he likes.
Should have stayed at McLaren mind.
That and who’s available that would do a better job than Perez driving a car that’s designed and set up for Max?
I suspect pragmatism won out in the ‘talks’
Ricciardo. A pointy car style driver. In his Red Bull days, when he couldn’t find a setup he liked (he is supposedly not so good in talking tech with engineers), he simply copied Max’ setup.
This Perez decision probably says a lot about their attitude towards Ricciardo’s performance at RB currently.
Funny a friend of mine is a friend of DR’s commercial manager and they often communicate during the race. DRs manager opinion is totally different to yours. Daniel is extremely liked by the Red Bull team in particular Max, he and Daniel are quite good friends.
I’m not saying Daniel should replace anyone or not but I do believe given the right car and conditions he’s as good as at least half the drivers on the grid.
However none of this detracts from the fact that RB are currently operating with one driver/car.
I don’t really see the disagreement? I actually agree that DR could be a good candidate in a Max style car. Not doing too well currently seems to not help him at the moment
Sorry I might’ve missed read your post.
The truth is Daniel even liked by the team is still under a lot of pressure to perform. I think if they do let Perez go they’d be better with a younger driver.
I am afraid so. Might very well be the last season for DR. A shame, would have loved to see him confident again in his signature late braking moves.
It’s an odd one. I thought Danny Ric was sick of the young agressive crashing Verstappen being favoured over him and influenced his leaving RBR originally. As you say he appears very happy with Max and the RBR team these days
Also Hamilton’s tyre advantage on newer tyres would diminish as the race went on and providing George’s didn’t fail they were going to equalize.
Aston Martin, and not Ferrari!
Source?
Not sure that either move will benefit Newey;
Ferrari - well they would have shot themselves in the foot due to the number of ‘plans’ they run with, Newey would probably have ended up redesigning the wheel nuts.
Aston - Why go to a team with a talented driver coming to the end of his career and a the owners son who is also at the end of his career.
The move to either of the aforementioned teams has been the subject of much speculation with ‘insiders’ each claiming one or the other, my gut feeling and based on nothing other than that is Newey will end up overseeing a big part of the F1 operation at Williams.
There has to be something going on behind the scenes at Williams to get Albon to re-sign for multiple years and to get Sainz’s signature on a similar contract, maybe that something is a combination of Newey and an engine manufacturer?
Autosprint of Italy.
Interesting, but I’ll wait for the official announcement.
The female RBR employee has lost her second appeal
Hmm.
Why Verstappen has been talking very nicely about Fernando lately?