Kanha

Neil Taylor

Faris Habib

Jon Gordon

Rahil Michael

 Today was qualifying for the Barcelona Grand Prix.

 It was an interesting session. Barcelona traditionally was the track that was

 most used for testing so the reasons it was used for extensively for preseason

 testing is because it has characteristics of slow corners, fast

 corners, straights etc that allow for testing aerodynamics.

 to this track or actually they bought upgrades

 to Monaco but because of Monaco's unique characteristics they weren't able to test them.

 So all eyes were certainly on those and especially Mercedes with their newer or updated concepts.

 Practice was dominated by questions around the weather. Despite the amazing

 weather we're having today, or the last few weeks in the UK, it was actually

 raining for parts in sunny Spain. So that made it interesting. But

 when we came into qualifying, the key thing was that Charles Leclerc was out

 in Q1, which was very unexpected, and then also Sergio Perez and

 George Russell didn't make it into Q3. So some big hitters not making it into Q3.

 All eyes were on our homeboy Alonso, but unfortunately he finished further down

 the section in P7. Massive step into a pole, but Lando Norris did great, showing

 that McLaren are enjoying the characteristics of the track. The weather

 tomorrow is 30% chance of rain, so it'll 

 interesting to see what goes on there. you

 For the no people that are listening to this, 

 rain is always a dynamic that is often enjoyed

 in F1 as it throws some jeopardy. In fact, famously, Bernie Eccleston, who used to own

 F1, commented he might put sprinklers on a track to simulate rain races to make things

 more interesting. Anyway, it's quite expected that Max Verstappen will win tomorrow, but

 any sprinkler rain will certainly throw in some jeopardy and Fernando Alonso is certainly

 Hey folks, I'm really glad that there's a room for Formula 1 here.

 Any thoughts on the Las Vegas Grand Prix?

 Hello, great that you found this room. So thoughts on the Vegas Grand Prix?

 I think that because the season is essentially over, because Max Verstappen has won the championship

 and the Constructors' title, that it's good that 

 Vegas is at the end because I think it's going to be

 an interesting and probably slightly farcical race. I don't think the Miami Grand Prix's have been

 particularly good, but it's certainly going to be 

 interesting to see the F1 cars going down the strip.

 I always love the Singapore Grand Prix because it 

 looks fantastic from the air and the street tracks

 do make for things interesting, although I think there's too many street tracks on the calendar.

 The biggest thing is going to be the cold 

 temperatures from a technical standpoint, but there's a lot

 to play for and the cold temperatures should mix up where Williams and McLaren come

 and I'm personally hoping that Lewis Hamilton does well. What do you think?

 Hey, thanks for responding. I thought this was gonna be a dead room.

 Hey, so I watched the opening ceremony this morning.

 I'm not really a big fan of the opening 

 ceremonies, and yeah, the Miami one was bad.

 They're not good for drivers, they're not good for fans either.

 city of Vegas was just so, so good to see.

 all of those lights and fireworks and the

 Las Vegas sphere. It's really beautiful. I mean, it's 

 just magnificent and I can't wait to see it on Sunday.

 I think this is going to be a historic race.

 Nobody knows what's going to happen. Nobody knows how the 

 cars are going to perform and that just makes it more exciting.

 The circuit, the Las Vegas circuit, looks like 

 upside-down pig, but the good thing is there's a

 There's a really nice long straight over there. So seeing 

 on that, that's gonna be really fun. I'm looking forward to that.

 And a lot of people are talking about the pit lane 

 being a problem because it just opens out onto a turn.

 We might see some crashes. I don't know. I think...

 Can't really say much about that, honestly.

 Yeah, the temperatures, the cold temperatures are 

 going to be a problem. We saw how hot it was in Qatar and

 And now it's like the opposite of that. It's gonna be 

 really cold, possibly the coldest Grand Prix in history.

 Street circuits and nighttime races are really fun to watch.

 I love Singapore. Singapore is amazing. And 

 think Las Vegas is also going to be up there.

 because they have this theme or like a concept

 that creates a unique culture around that circuit or around that Grand Prix.

 Vegas is obviously themed on casinos and, you know, Vegas.

 But I really like all of the new car deliveries.

 The Red Bull one is probably the best, followed by AlphaTauri.

 Even the Ferrari one is nice. Alpine is just mid, I would say. And, yeah.

 I'm really hoping for a positive outcome for Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.

 I've been an Aston Martin fan. They were my favorite 

 at the start of the season and then I lost faith in them.

 But Brazil was really good. Brazil went down 

 well for them. So yeah, I'm hoping that continues.

 I haven't watched the opening ceremony I'll have to do that although I do

 agree I think they're they're pretty cheesy the Miami ones it's it I guess

 it's just the the American way of doing things

 That's interesting, I've not heard about the pit exit. I'll have to look at that because 

 I've mainly been hearing about the temperatures, the braking zone after the straight, at 

 least there's a run-off area because when the brakes are cold it could be quite dangerous.

 But it's going to be, I believe, the second or third fastest track on the circuit, even 

 faster than Spa, mainly because of the really long straight and there is another straight.

 I did hear that this, I mean the sphere looks amazing as an amazing piece of

 architectural technology but they're not allowed to use red, amber or green in

 to see what they put on during the race actually.

 I guess that's part of the point. We're talking more 

 about the show than the race itself, but the race itself...

 I just hope that the temperatures throw sort 

 dynamic to mix the races, the racing, up a bit.

 I think that would be, that would be cool.

 Yeah, Aston Martin's a funny one, isn't it? They started the season really well.

 They only performed well in Brazil because they reverted back from all the upgrades,

 which is interesting when you, you know, you 

 spend all this money and but end up going back

 to what you had originally. It shows that what happens on 

 computer models and what happens in real life is quite different.

 So the weekend's not started very well. I 

 woke up this morning because I'm in the UK

 and while I was making the kids breakfast 

 put Free Practice 2 on but it was cancelled

 because of the manhole cover issue which happened apparently 5 minutes into the first session.

 Considering the amount of hype that's going on, it's pretty embarrassing and dangerous.

 I have been fairly nervous about this. I remember I was 

 quite nervous when they first did the Saudi Arabia race,

 said it was going to be the fastest track.

 It just looked dangerous and it proved to be quite dangerous as well.

 So I'm fairly nervous about this race from a 

 aspect, which means it will be more of a spectacle.

 But it now seems like they're going to have to go 

 round and repair or replace all the manhole covers.

 Obviously there's been accusations they've cut corners, I don't think that's the case, but

 this has happened before at street races.

 It's good I guess it happened in FP1 and no one was hurt.

 But if you've got the time, search on YouTube for the Team Principals press conference

 because it's quite fun to see how annoyed Fred Vasseur is.

 To be honest, I don't think the opening ceremony is worth much of your time

 Because most of it is just those shows those performances and they were also pretty mid

 number one the Las Vegas Circuit scenery and number two was

 Obviously that the driver intro in the Game of 

 Thrones style when they come up on those platforms

 You should see that that was pretty cool

 FP1 was sad, but FP2 was pretty good. I'm really 

 happy for both the Ferraris and Fernando Alonso as well.

 He was the third fastest on that track today.

 So yeah, I'm hoping for a really positive outcome, 

 maybe like a P3 or a P2 or something for Fernando Alonso.

 Mercedes is still not doing too well. I'm sort of disappointed with Hamilton for that.

 Even George Russell, I think he was out of this practice. I'm not too sure.

 Yeah, that's enough of the really interesting parts to have fun.

 This weekend, Nico Hulkenberg is racing without the upgrades that Haas did to their cars in

 But Kevin Mandeson is keeping the upgrades.

 So in Free Practice 2, Kevin Mandeson finished 13th, whereas Nico Hulkenberg, without the

 upgrades with his old specification, he finished an impressive 7th.

 So yeah, interesting to see what happens to Haas this weekend.

 Also, Max Verstappen is not a big fan of the Las Vegas stuff.

 He didn't hesitate to say that they were 

 just looking like a bunch of clowns up there

 in the Las Vegas Throne pre-opening ceremony

 when they were raised onto that stage. I think it's pretty funny, though.

 So I'm a big Ferrari fan and I was very 

 disappointed to hear that Carlos Sanz was

 going to get a 10-place grid drop after 

 he had to essentially replace a lot of his

 electrical components for his car after hitting one of the drain covers,

 which seems like a ridiculous rule from the 

 But other than that, I'm pretty happy about the

 times Ferrari posted in the practice sessions. We'll see how this Grand Prix goes. I'm excited

 that it's a new track, but yeah, it definitely seems more show than tell.

 And that's because Max Verstappen is not your typical world champion.

 For him, it's a job. He gets in, he gets out.

 He's not Nico Rosberg. He's not even Fernando Alonso or any of the other champions.

 He gets in, he gets out, he leaves. It's a job.

 So Logan Sargent just did an amazing qualifying. He's starting 

 on Sunday, which is incredibly impressive. I'm so happy for him.

 So I just watched qualifying. I had to frantically get the notifications from

 AirChat off my screen so I didn't see what happened. But yeah, really good. Shame Hamilton

 out. Nice to see Ferrari fast. Logan Stargent did 

 really well, so it should set it up for a good race.

 Yeah, gutted for Carlos Sainz. It's not 

 actually the FIA that does it, they're only allowed to

 implement what is in the regulations and there's no common sense clause in the regulations.

 To that extent, they're not interpreting law, they're interpreting, for the most part,

 they're interpreting the rules as laid out very 

 comprehensively in the full end-to-end framework agreement. So, yeah, shame.

 Regardless, there definitely needs to be some kind of update to that rulebook for mitigating

 circumstances. You can't penalize a driver just because the racetrack was not up to par

 with expectations. I think this happened a while ago in Monaco as well,

 drivers, if I'm correct, but I can't remember

 what year that was. But anyway, in no way should 

 signs have gotten that 10th place grid penalty. Thank you.

 I think the Las Vegas Grand Prix is going to be great.

 You have the Ferraris on top, you have Max, as usual, chasing Leclerc on pole.

 I mean, if you are in the US, are you watching the Grand Prix?

 Yeah, I'm actually going to a bar in Seattle 

 my family and friends. We're watching it tonight.

 Should be interesting. I have been actually listening to some of 

 the interviews with Max Verstappen and some of the Ferrari drivers.

 Some of their insights on the Las Vegas Grand Prix is interesting.

 I'm wondering if anyone is actually in Vegas right now and can confirm 

 some of the thoughts that Verstappen has. I'll post it in another chit.

https://x.com/f1guydan/status/1725934547894685990?s=46&t=cAfCbV1x78HfR90Bm2qQOA

Max Verstappen took over 2 minutes to fully explain his issues with the Las Vegas GP and it really shows how much he lives & breathes motorsports. 

Every fan and F1/Liberty Media executive should watch this. Everything he said is 100% correct.

Dan’s DRS Zone (@F1GuyDan) on X

 Las Vegas, yes, it's glitz, it's glamour, but it's the end of the 

 season, it's already wrapped up, there's nothing really interesting, and 

 from my friends who are there, for them it's 99% networking and 1% race.

 The whole thing really feels cheap, and you've created a spectacle 

 from a track that has no history, no nothing, and so to me this is... I 

 wouldn't pay to go see an F1 race in Vegas, it just doesn't make sense.

 For me, F1 has been the sport that I've watched since I went to go to 

 Monza in 1989 to watch Ayrton Senna race sitting on top of my dad's shoulders.