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Post by Carl on May 4, 2024 17:08:56 GMT
Miami blues. Real fans simply customize their car per race weekend.   A beautiful Seicento! The small FIAT city car designs all flowed so smoothly. Imagine what Abarth could do with this one...
Carlo Abarth worked magic 
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Post by René on May 5, 2024 10:55:43 GMT
I think FIAT is great. They are almost always good driver's cars, just like Alfas. My parents used to have a 124, you know, one of those square blocks (Newey's nightmare). Later they owned more fancy and more powerful cars, but my father often said that the Fiat drove really fantastic with a great little engine and tight steering. Abarth versions are of course absolutely fantastic!  My parent's car, exactly this color.   The 1978 Fiat 131 Abarth rally legend.  A 500 and a 124 Abarth, both from 1973. |
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Post by René on May 5, 2024 11:19:39 GMT
Another Max win in the sprint, win no.1278 I believe. The car was not entirely to his liking so he only won by a 3 second margin. Good to see that Charles has found his mojo again and an impressive result for Daniel Ricciardo. Credit where credit is due.  Sprint race result1 Max VERSTAPPEN - Red Bull Racing 2 Charles LECLERC - Ferrari +3.371 3 Sergio PEREZ - Red Bull Racing +5.095 4 Daniel RICCIARDO - RB +14.971 5 Carlos SAINZ - Ferrari +15.222 6 Oscar PIASTRI - McLaren +15.750 7 Nico HULKENBERG - Haas F1 Team +22.054 8 Yuki TSUNODA - RB +29.816 ___ Qualifying was not that much different with another pole position for Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc his closest challenger.    Piero Ferrari and Adrian Newey in Miami. Qualifying results and starting grid
1 Max VERSTAPPEN - Red Bull 1:27.241 2 Charles LECLERC - Ferrari +0.141 3 Carlos SAINZ - Ferrari +0.214 4 Sergio PEREZ - Red Bull +0.219 5 Lando NORRIS - McLaren +0.353 6 Oscar PIASTRI - McLaren +0.434 7 George RUSSELL - Mercedes +0.826 8 Lewis HAMILTON - Mercedes +0.866 9 Nico HULKENBERG - Haas +0.905 10 Yuki TSUNODA - RB +0.951 11 Lance STROLL - Aston Martin 1:28.222 12 Pierre GASLY - Alpine +0.102 13 Esteban OCON - Alpine +0.149 14 Alexander ALBON - Williams +0.191 15 Fernando ALONSO - Aston Martin +0.205 16 Valtteri BOTTAS - Kick Sauber 1:28.463 17 Logan SARGEANT - Williams +0.024 18 Daniel RICCIARDO - RB +0.154 19 Kevin MAGNUSSEN - Haas +0.156 20 Guanyu ZHOU - Kick Sauber +0.359 |
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Post by mikael on May 5, 2024 15:55:39 GMT
I agree about Fiat - the Italians have a unique ability to make good engines; this applies not only to Ferrari's, but also to Alfa Romeo's and Fiat's; and certainly also to motorcycle engines, and - in particular - to kart engines. And, yes, Italian cars are all well-balanced - they are fun to drive.
A "cut-away" drawing* of a racing-spec Fiat Abarth 1000 ccm. More than 100 HP to around 500 kg; so actually, a seriously fast car!
*This is a scan of a calendar which appeared in the Japanese version of "Car and Driver" (a very nice magazine) in 2013. I think I have posted it before; but hopefully, it is worthwhile posting it again.
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Post by Carl on May 5, 2024 16:26:21 GMT
I agree about Fiat - the Italians have a unique ability to make good engines; this applies not only to Ferrari's, but also to Alfa Romeo's and Fiat's; and certainly also to motorcycle engines, and - in particular - to kart engines. And, yes, Italian cars are all well-balanced - they are fun to drive.
A "cut-away" drawing* of a racing-spec Fiat Abarth 1000 ccm. More than 100 HP to around 500 kg; so actually, a seriously fast car!
*This is a scan of a calendar which appeared in the Japanese version of "Car and Driver" (a very nice magazine) in 2013. I think I have posted it before; but hopefully, it is worthwhile posting it again.
It's an excellent cut-away of a legendary pocket-rocket. I've always thought the engine cover wide open for cooling and, some thought, higher top speed, was so cool...  |
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Post by René on May 5, 2024 17:47:46 GMT
FIAT!
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Post by René on May 6, 2024 12:52:11 GMT
Finally! A well deserved win for Lando Norris. Long overdue but hopefully for him this will break the spell and more wins will follow.  Would he have won without that safety car? Definitely not, even if he had the pace which he had. But had the safety car picked up Lando instead of Max, which it should have, Norris would not have had a free pit stop and would have come out behind his teammate, Pérez, the Ferraris and Max. So no way he would have passed them all. But it happened as it did and Lando was lucky this time. The only negative was the orange individual with the maga cap shaking people’s hands in the McLaren box and congratulating Lando. But hey, it’s Miami… and the color did match. Miami Grand Prix classification1 Lando NORRIS McLaren 1:30:49.876 57 laps 2 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing +7.612 3 Charles LECLERC Ferrari +9.920 4 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari +11.407 5 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing +14.650 6 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes +16.585 7 Yuki TSUNODA RB +26.185 8 George RUSSELL Mercedes +34.789 9 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin +37.107 10 Esteban OCON Alpine +39.746 11 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team +40.789 12 Pierre GASLY Alpine +44.958 13 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren +49.756 14 Guanyu ZHOU Kick Sauber +49.979 15 Daniel RICCIARDO RB +50.956 16 Valtteri BOTTAS Kick Sauber +52.356 17 Lance STROLL Aston Martin +55.173 18 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team +64.683 19 Alexander ALBON Williams +76.091 20 Logan SARGEANT Williams DNF |
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Post by Carl on May 6, 2024 18:08:00 GMT
The caution period caused by Kevin Magnussen cleared the mandatory pitstops, leaving everyone with relatively fresh tyres and clearance to drive hard and fast to the end, freed from the restraints of pitstop strategy. It's notable that Kevin's father Jan Magnussen, despite fearsome talent, badly damaged his career with stupid mistakes. Speaking of stupid mistakes, what braindead moron at McLaren invited the hollow pompadour for a visit? It wasn't the race organizers, who had the good sense to disavow and cancel a planned fundraiser by the co-conspirator of insurrection. There was some great racing for position: Hamilton and Hülkenberg, Sainz and Piastri, Alonso and Ocon 
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Post by René on May 6, 2024 19:13:35 GMT
Speaking of stupid mistakes, what braindead moron at McLaren invited the hollow pompadour for a visit? It wasn't the race organizers, who had the good sense to disavow and cancel a planned fundraiser for the co-conspirator of insurrection. Word has it it was FIA president Ben Sulayem who made this happen. It was weird, even more because trump was wearing a maga cap when he congratulated Norris which made it even more political. And a bit disappointing that Lando was very complimentary about trump: “Donald is someone that you got to have a lot of respect for in many ways.” We don’t know of course if he meant it or it was simply the situation and all the cameras that made him say this. But he shouldn’t be in that position in the first place. But in all honesty, it isn’t that long ago that Vettel and Hamilton shook putin’s hand after the Sochi race. Politicians often use sports to wash their image… |
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Post by Carl on May 6, 2024 20:04:44 GMT
Speaking of stupid mistakes, what braindead moron at McLaren invited the hollow pompadour for a visit? It wasn't the race organizers, who had the good sense to disavow and cancel a planned fundraiser for the co-conspirator of insurrection. Word has it it was FIA president Ben Sulayem who made this happen. It was weird, even more because trump was wearing a maga cap when he congratulated Norris which made it even more political. And a bit disappointing that Lando was very complimentary about trump: “Donald is someone that you got to have a lot of respect for in many ways.” We don’t know of course if he meant it or it was simply the situation and all the cameras that made him say this. But he shouldn’t be in that position in the first place. But in all honesty, it isn’t that long ago that Vettel and Hamilton shook putin’s hand after the Sochi race. Politicians often use sports to wash their image… Thanks René, Not surprising that Mohammed Ben Sulayem, whose code of ethics and morality is infinitely flexible, would extend the invitation. He and trump have subversion of results in common.
I imagine poor Lando had to say something nice. When in Rome, shake hands with Caligula has always been true. While most drivers throughout history have been apolitical, the great prewar Mercedes driver Richard Seaman was clearly reluctant to affect the nazi salute after winning the 1938 German Grand Prix, but had no choice.
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Post by chrisb on May 9, 2024 16:44:17 GMT
there is a dreadful picture of the England football team in the late thirties playing Germany and being ordered by the English FA to give the Nazi salute, one player refused and was sent home.
Just picking up on the Fiat story, many years I drove the 132 and it was the 1st car I drove with a 5 speed box, my word did it chug along, loved it all the way to Le Mans
Well done Norris, sometimes it doesn't matter how you win your first it matters that you won with dignity - shame it was spoiled by whatshisname -
It would be so good if this was the start of many alternative winners.
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Post by René on May 10, 2024 14:48:20 GMT
Ferrari has tested their major upgrade package at the Fiorano filming day. A lot of aerodynamic changes but also a lot of internal packaging changes. Is this the step needed to grab Red Bull by the b****? We’ll see next weekend in Imola. Forza Ferrari!   |
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Post by mikael on May 10, 2024 15:35:52 GMT
It's notable that Kevin's father Jan Magnussen, despite fearsome talent, badly damaged his career with stupid mistakes.
Yes, the case of Kevin Magnussen is quite interesting. Arriving at the F1 level on a high note, coming home 3rd in his very first Grand Prix (which was even elevated to 2nd) he has never been able to repeat that level of success. Having been in F1 for quite a number of years now, the amounts of good luck and bad luck should be evened out by now. Of course, it is possibly the case that he has never, since that glorious debut race, had a car as competitive as that 2014 McLaren. Still, it doesn't seem that he actually has made much progress during the last ten years in terms of his level as a driver. But, in one way, it's nice to be reminded how high the level in F1 actually is.
The case of Jan Magnussen is very different. He had an extremely high level of natural talent; yet he was simply too disorganized to "survive" in the perfectionism-culture of F1. Kevin is different in that respect, I believe.
The podium of the 2014 Australian Grand Prix, first race of the season.
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Post by Carl on May 10, 2024 18:14:55 GMT
Mikael,
Thank you for your inside knowledge of fellow Danes. I was supremely impressed by the young Jan Magnussen in F3 and disappointed that he fell from grace, although he eventually settled down and excelled as number one driver for General Motor's Corvette Grand Touring team.
As for Kevin, he's extremely quick but I believe he tries too hard.
Cheers, Carl
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Post by robmarsh on May 11, 2024 8:55:18 GMT
I think that Jan Magnussen went to the wrong team, Stewart Racing, when he first joined F1. Jackie Stewart was always trying to change everything about him, the way he drove, his smoking, his undisciplined lifestyle etc. From my understanding it was done in a rather hectoring manner and it simply closed Jan down. He was a youngster making his way and probably was looking for an elder brother as a mentor and not a critical father which is the way JYS went. Pity because I believe he was an untapped F1 talent and I for one was very sad it didn't turn out well.
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