F1 - 2024 Season

So they give them an expensive piece of jewellery for doing their job of driving a car fast and then ban them from wearing the prize in the car :wink:

I think individual drivers have been sponsored by different watch brands for years . As soon as a race finishes you see them putting on a watch, normally the size of a side plate.

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Interesting - I always assumed (probably completely wrongly as I never bothered to check my theory!) that the watches were foisted onto the drivers by the FIA sponsors, not the individual driver sponsors. Sixes and sevens though!!

Peter

A good question. suspect there is a bit of both. Some drivers have images of watches on their gloves so I suspect that is probably personal or team sponsorship, whilst the jewellery given to the drivers as prizes is by F1/FIA sponsors. Please let us know what you discover about this,

My understanding is that where a watch brand has some form of sponsorship on a team, IWC - Mercedes for example, then the drivers will wear the watches of their sponsor when they are working for their team.

Richard Mille has deal with both McLaren and Ferrari so you will see the drivers wearing these watches, I would also presume that key personnel are given watches by the team sponsor - Lando was sadly mugged leaving Wembley stadium after the Euro’s final a few years ago and had his RM watch stolen as he got in his car.

I’m not aware of Rolex issuing drivers winning or finishing on the podium with any watches, the drivers wouldn’t be able to wear them due to it conflicting with their team sponsorship deals.

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Toyotari? Ferrota?

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Error.

Red Bull has been forced to modify their updated car ahead of the weekend. I suspect Horner is a bit peeved that the FIA found out about their bending of the rules. I wonder which disgruntled employee tipped them off?

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I just read that as well. A device fitted to the car to raise or lower the front of the floor. For instance to enable a different set up between qualifying and race day. Which is not allowed. Of course, it was never used you understand, just fitted.

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Red Bull accused of making illegal change to car before race

What’s the bet that if RBR and/or Max win their respective championships that McLaren will contest it?

Tangentially…

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Just for clarity. It was used and is used by every single F1 team because they all have them fitted.
The difference though is that RBR’s Bib height can be changed from inside the cockpit. But even to change the height of RBR’s Bib, some of the cockpit has to be removed. This is impossible to do under Parc Ferme rules because there are 2 FIA officials along with multiple cameras in each teams garage. The FIA have said that all Bibs will be sealed between the end of quaili and the start of the race. This really is a non story because nothing has fundamentally changed, other than a seal.

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Depends what you read. Some reports say it can only be accessed with nose cone off and through another panel, others state a mechanic can access it directly within cockpit.

The fact that the FIA has ordered it sealed suggests they had concerns about accessibility…

Just watching Zak Brown discussing it on Sky right now, he’s clearly in possession of a strong opinion but is being careful.

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Watched that a few mins ago, and yes he is being very carful in his choice of words.
I did just have a little chuckle to myself though. Martin Brundle just said that teams have to be very carful, because personel do move from one team to another, a not too well disguised nod to Adrian Newey me thinks :grinning:

No Nothing to be read into this ride height thing only teams ramping up the pressure for the title challenge. It was practically impossible to change it during racing or in parc ferme. Also all teams have such items and hundreds that can not be touched in parc ferme.
Looks like Max was struggling without it too.

An interesting article that was written by an ex-F1 designer.

He has suspicions about RB’s intentions with this design feature and its purpose. We will never know if RB used it or not, but that it was available for use is an issue for Gary Anderson. F1 designers have a long history of exploiting grey areas. Maclaren with the F duct is one that immediately springs to mind, I know Zac Brown wasn’t around then but it shows how teams look for the edge and then complain when others find one.

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Don’t forget that if you can get everyone looking at another team they won’t be looking at your team.

Wonder if Mr Brown is hiding something so is more than happy to have the FIA and anyone who might be interested crawling all over the Red Bulls.

:roll_eyes:

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The F-duct was a brilliant bit of thinking. Not illegal at the time.

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