Gasly ‘not surprised’ after both Alpines knocked out slowest in Q1

32 comments on “Gasly ‘not surprised’ after both Alpines knocked out slowest in Q1”

1. 

   Andre Furtado
   2nd March 2024, 0:26

   We live in a world where 10 tweets is a viral truth. In a world where people can fake videos live calls and voice and someone is crucifying someone because of leaked text messages that anyone with 39 mins of their life can fake it. Seriously how much hate and credibility do we need around. Everyone is guilty until proven otherwise nowadays. And every news media has no accountability for having opinions that can clearly damage people’s personal and professional life.
2. 

   lynn-m
   2nd March 2024, 0:49

   WEC’s ballast of performance is show over sport manipulation.

   It’s a sad state of affairs that a sport that used to be about pushing boundaries & developing cars, engines, tires, brakes etc.. aimed at beating the competition by as big a gap as possible has turned into a show that’s all about handicapping those who have done a better job in order for those that haven’t to be able to catch up ‘in the name of the show’.

   Are all the show over sport people blind to the fact that all of these categories that have now gone spec (Indycar, F2, F3 etc..) or gone down the gimmick route (Like WEC with nonsense like BOP) were far more exciting & significantly more popular before they went down these paths?

   It’s blatantly obvious that the gimmicks & standardisation do nothing but turn people off. The dedicated, knowledgable fans run away from these things & those who remain don’t care enough to stick around for long. Hence why all these categories struggle to draw the attention, crowds & ratings they once did.
   1. 

      Coventry Climax
      2nd March 2024, 0:59

      Thank you lynn-m.

      To say it in B.B. King’s words: ‘The thrill is gone’.
   2. 

      Tristan
      2nd March 2024, 2:11

      Capitalism and sports don’t really play well together when you think about it. One is all about maximum value for as little work as possible. The other is about the pursuit of excellence, to be the absolute best within a defined ruleset at any and all cost.

      There’s friction here which motorsports haven’t been able to solve. How do you have a fair competition with vastly technical machines, while keeping expenditure reasonable so that it can attract a field that achieves return on their investment?
      1. 

         Nick T.
         2nd March 2024, 2:37

         At any cost = just as ridiculous as balance of performance. Having to be the best winning a maximum amount of resources = showcases brain power and reflects the real world than success through $.
         1. 

            Tristan
            2nd March 2024, 6:28

            I agree, but then what are the options? BoP or a spec series… People complaining no matter what makes me think it’s a fools errand.

            Despite the tiresome complaining it draws, F1’s efforts to balance it all with the artificial cost cap combined with some spec parts and restrictive technical regulations is far better than BoP or fully spec just relying on setup for competition.
            1. 

               MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
               2nd March 2024, 7:09

               In many ways, it already is a kind of spec series. The team rankings and the results themselves appear to be more or less set in stone in later years. The door is obviously shut on newcomers. It’s a closed-off club.

               “It’s a spec series, Jim, but not as we know it…”
            2. 

               MichaelN
               2nd March 2024, 11:56

               F1 can get away with that because it is coasting on its decades-old popularity that guarantees teams are paid out near-enough $120 million a year (as RaceFans covered a few days ago).

               That’s more than the highest budget in LMP1 ever was, but those budgets were still so high that it drove everyone but Volkswagen and Toyota out of the class. Sportscar teams don’t have that same luxury F1 teams have, and thus the governing bodies have to make choices to protect their series and classes from being hollowed out by manufacturers turning it into a spending war – which they will always do if given the chance. So cutting costs dramatically was one of the main targets for the LMH/LMDh class, and that came with some restrictions and guarantees to participants that they would be competitive.

               The BoP-complaining has some merit, but the FIA/ACO had it perfect at Le Mans last year. They have just been unable to replicate that, and it’s only going to get harder with more cars in the class. But what doesn’t help is if teams, primarily Toyota and increasingly Ferrari, keep moaning and blaming all their own problems on the BoP. It’s neither true nor fair, and it drags the whole series down. The WEC Sporting Regulations ban it for good reason, and they should be enforced harshly to stop this from becoming the norm.
      2. 

         Coventry Climax
         2nd March 2024, 11:38

         But Tristan,

         How do you have a fair competition with …

         Why do people constantly say this? There’s so much discussion going on about having a level playing field, while it was always level to begin with.
         Is it ‘unfair’ when some teams manage to attract more sponsor payments than others? How so? The rules around it are the same for everyone, even when there aren’t any.
         We’ve always seen teams with less money doing a relatively great job, as well as the other way round. Force India and Ferrari are perfect examples. Yes, the teams with more money may get better results and attract even more money, but it is not ‘unfair’, it is the nature of things. ‘Lower’ teams could put together a good plan, explain it well, attract the money for it and then actually prove they’re worth the trust. That’s always been part of the game of F1 and other motorsports.
         Anyway, that has already all been levelled out now, with the budget cap, yet we still get more and more rules hampering better teams in all sorts of efforts to bring the lesser teams forward. I can’t for the love of nature (I’m not religious) see why, as to me, when the rules are the same for everyone (and applied consistently, but that’s another matter), that inherently means the rules are fair.
         Apart from that, these lesser teams are now rewarded for performing below par, with no incentive to improve, yet kept afloat by a ruleset that everyone deems ‘fair’. For a supposed top level sports, that’s beyond me, sorry.
         1. 

            S
            2nd March 2024, 13:39

            You’ve focused this entire comment around only one of the two important words in the chosen quote – “fair” – but I think perhaps you could have given more thought to the second word – “competition.”

            The technical competition isn’t the only one that people watch F1 for – and when the other (on-track) competition sucks (almost exclusively as a result of the technical one), people stop watching it – and that costs ‘F1’ lots of money. You know F1 is all about money… The teams certainly like it that way.
      3. 

         MichaelN
         2nd March 2024, 11:59

         There’s friction here which motorsports haven’t been able to solve. How do you have a fair competition with vastly technical machines, while keeping expenditure reasonable so that it can attract a field that achieves return on their investment?

         It has, most of the world’s motorsport takes place in those circumstances. F1 is the outlier, not the norm.

         It’s totally fair if some people prefer the F1-model to that of other series; there’s no arguing taste. But a series with a 178-page technical rule book is not nearly as open as some claim.
   3. 

      pcxmac (@pcxmac)
      2nd March 2024, 7:09

      WEC was kind of over after Audi left LMP1. And the fuel restrictions went in to full effect. Of course the guys who like to control who wins and loses ended up BOPing diesel out of LeMans, and allowing Porsche to run away with it. Now its almost a spec series with further BOPing and control measures.

      WEC’s biggest problem is the branding for F1 and the FIA. take away the threat of not being able to run on certain circuits and the fuel restrictions or how to build the car and the series would be the best on the planet, far exceeding F1.
      1. 

         S
         2nd March 2024, 7:47

         WEC’s biggest problem – if we want to call it a problem – is that it is exactly as much a part of the FIA as F1 is.
         They are intended to not compete with each other – not for viewing figures, not commercially and certainly not on performance.
   4. 

      JA
      2nd March 2024, 10:14

      Are all the show over sport people blind to the fact that all of these categories that have now gone spec (Indycar, F2, F3 etc..) or gone down the gimmick route (Like WEC with nonsense like BOP) were far more exciting & significantly more popular before they went down these paths?

      It’s blatantly obvious that the gimmicks & standardisation do nothing but turn people off.

      So you got any valid research to back that up or is it just a personal opinion? Motorsports as a whole has been declining and it could a be a number of reasons – other sports with better performances in terms of marketing and competiveness and easier access to the public, better and/or less expensive TV rights, and a general public that is moving away from racing in general due to changes in the guard with better knowledge of the planet and how we affect it, essentially that means less newcomers. From what I hear and see F2 have for years been more exciting than F1 due to the competitiveness between the teams and drivers. In WEC no one is really talking BoP as an issue until the obvious better car is struggling to compete.

      But okay you have found the _ONE_ reason why motorsports is struggling.
      1. 

         Coventry Climax
         2nd March 2024, 11:59

         It’s fine if you doubt ‘reasons’ that are given yet lack the proof to back them up.
         However, none of the reasons in your defence, or other possible reasons you give for decline or success, can claim they’ve been researched either, or against such standards that their outcomes can be compared.
         The problem with all of the terms used here, like success, competitiveness, accessibility, exciting, popular, fair, decline, better, is that you can research and investigate all you want, but they have different meanings to each and all of us. Even if you would use fixed definitions for all of those terms and kept them exactly the same throughout all of these researches -as that’s a condition for being able to compare all their results- some will still disagree with the definitions, and hence the results.
         So yes, at best, we’re talking sentiments here.
         My sentiment agrees with what lynn-m says.
   5. 

      MichaelN
      2nd March 2024, 11:41

      It’s a sad state of affairs that a sport that used to be about pushing boundaries & developing cars, engines, tires, brakes etc.. aimed at beating the competition by as big a gap as possible has turned into a show that’s all about handicapping those who have done a better job in order for those that haven’t to be able to catch up ‘in the name of the show’.

      Yes, and that happened in the late 1980s when that boundary pushing made race cars too fast and thus too dangerous. These things always reach a natural limit, and motorsport found its limit many decades ago.

      It’s just more pronounced in motorsport because the cars play such a big and visible role in the outcome of the races, but it’s no different in many other sports – from marathons banning certain shoes to alpine skiing tightly regulating the skies.

      But if car development was the sole determining factor in motorsports, there would be total randomness to the result of spec series, which is clearly not the case. There are a lot of other things that go into racing.

      Are all the show over sport people blind to the fact that all of these categories that have now gone spec (Indycar, F2, F3 etc..) or gone down the gimmick route (Like WEC with nonsense like BOP) were far more exciting & significantly more popular before they went down these paths?

      Quite to the contrary; Le Mans attracted a huge audience last year, was broadcast live in more countries than before and saw a 250% increase in viewers, upwards of 110 million, which is more than an average F1 race. Also last year, the Indy 500 attracted near-record crowds just shy of the sold-out 100th running in 2016.
      1. 

         Coventry Climax
         2nd March 2024, 12:31

         But if car development was the sole determining factor in motorsports, there would be total randomness to the result of spec series, which is clearly not the case. There are a lot of other things that go into racing.

         Noone here claimed it was the sole factor, so you’re using an argument noone used to prove them wrong.

         Point us to the origins of the figures you quote please. I’d like to see who ‘investigated’ and whether that was independant, verify the figures and find out the definitions they used for ‘huge’ (sounds familiar, where did I hear that word again?), ‘more countries than before’ (does not necessarily also means more people), ‘increase in viewers’ (including those that watched the 5 second news item at night?), ‘upwards of’ (vague at best), ‘more than average’ (oh dear..), ‘near-record’ (how near? Verified consistent figures, anyone?) and 2016, while were currently talking 2024, so the height was apparently eight years ago already.
         It all sounds very Trump-like, and we all know his relationship with truth.

         Look, I’m teasing you here, but the point is your claims are as good as anyone’s, and -so far- just claims. Your ‘backing them up’ may use a lot of figures, but they’re like a shampoo commercial: 50% less breakage!
      2. 

         lynn-m
         2nd March 2024, 14:31

         @MichaelN Quite to the contrary; Le Mans attracted a huge audience last year, was broadcast live in more countries than before and saw a 250% increase in viewers, upwards of 110 million, which is more than an average F1 race. Also last year, the Indy 500 attracted near-record crowds just shy of the sold-out 100th running in 2016.

         True. However I was talking more about the categories as a whole rather than just there biggest showcase event.

         Indy for example was still drawing big crowds & TV numbers even as ratings/attendance for the other races were pathetically dire. Same for Le Mans, It was still drawing huge crowds even in the days when Sportscar racing was at the lowest it had ever been after the Group C period ended.

         I don’t think anyone could argue that Indycar today is anywhere near where it was in the CART era & I think a part of that is that seeing 20-33 identical looking cars just doesn’t excite or maintain the same sort of interest as was the case when you had a variety of different looking cars with more development that provided that extra bit of technical interest to keep people engaged from race to race.

         Seeing a grid of identical spec chassis just makes it look & feel more like a lower junior formula rather than the top of the US open wheel scene.

         And with WEC, I actually like the look of current cars & the bit of extra freedom they have in areas of the design. Peugeot going in a completely different way created that bit of extra interest even if it ultimately doesn’t seem to have worked.

         But then with the BOP there’s always that wonder of if a result was down to the car/driver or because of how the officials manipulated the performance that weekend. And that element just makes it feel that bit unsatisfying, Especially when you are able to see how much teams were helped/held back when weight limit increases & stuff is announced.
3. 

   Coventry Climax
   2nd March 2024, 0:52

   So F1 evolved from drilling drivers to not say anything about certain topics to having rules and fines installed about saying things about certain topics, to venting guesswork opinions about certain topics because they bring such wonderful controversy and mediacoverage.
   Love the direction F1 is heading.

   Ferrari rages against BoP? It’s brought them the Le Mans victory last year, fcs.
   Oh, and isn’t this ‘bringing the sports in discredit’? Or does that FiA rule only apply to F1?
   1. 

      Nick T.
      2nd March 2024, 2:39

      Well said.
   2. 

      MichaelN
      2nd March 2024, 11:44

      Ferrari rages against BoP? It’s brought them the Le Mans victory last year, fcs.

      No, Ferrari running a good race won them the event. Everyone knows LMH/LMDh has BoP. It’s then up to the teams to make use of that, and do a good job. Porsche, Cadillac, Toyota, even Peugeot all led the race at Le Mans on pace. They all stumbled for various reasons, and while Ferrari was not flawless, they had the best race.

      Oh, and isn’t this ‘bringing the sports in discredit’? Or does that FiA rule only apply to F1?

      It isn’t, but the sporting regulations to forbid public complaining about the BoP.

      Unfortunately, tolerating Toyota’s whining last year – a year they dominated – set the precedence where this has, predictably, become just as common in LMH/LMDh as it was in GTE.
4. 

   Tristan
   2nd March 2024, 2:04

   Independent article is absolute drivel, it’s for this reason; uninformed bandwagoners writing far-reaching and ill-informed nonsense that this Horner saga is bad, in its entirety, for F1. How can one possibly say they’re a fan of F1 yet never see women taking part, Williams and Kaltenborn were team principals not that long ago.

   Vettel article on the other hand is great. A great palette cleanser. I hope the talks with Domenicali go well and we see him in some sort of leadership role. It would be great to see him have more opportunity to exemplify his ideals.
   1. 

      Ludewig
      2nd March 2024, 2:37

      @Tristan

      The writer of the Independent article is obviously just a person with an agenda seeing what she wants to see. The writer also lies about only Horner sending secually suggestive messages, to paint a picture of him harassing her, which is simply not the truth.
      1. 

         notagrumpyfan
         2nd March 2024, 10:44

         The writer of the Independent article is obviously just a person with an agenda seeing what she wants to see.

         Unfortunately there are poorly written ‘agenda’ articles even in reputable publications.

         But why does this site keep on linking to those articles? I know it creates more clicks and comments, but in the end that is nothing less artificial than BoP in WEC.
         1. 

            ludewig
            2nd March 2024, 13:14

            It’s normal human behavior to rationalize away selfish behavior, where people pretend that they do it for mankind. On this site, you often see that the bad articles fit within a certain political agenda that is very popular among journalists. People with those political beliefs commonly think that behavior is justified that has traditionally been considered immoral, like gossip, assuming guilt until proven innocent, using lazy stereotypes, generalizing, as well as outright racism and sexism.

            So they feel morally justified in doing it and they benefit from it as well.
   2. 

      marcus (@wombat1m)
      2nd March 2024, 4:04

      It is a shockingly poor piece of “journalism” – I hesitate to call it that as it’s an insult to the career I’ve spent 25 years in. Admits the information they have could very well be fake and then tries to use it impugn the individual its targeted at, and use it for the writer’s own agenda. As you say absolute drivel.
   3. 

      AlexS
      2nd March 2024, 9:58

      Vettel article is horrible. F1 is to do racing, if he wants to politicize everything then we have Totalitarianism.

      And i am sure he would sung another tune if politisation of F1 was going contrary to his uncultured opinion.

      If you politicize everything, then when the winds change – because they will – then the people you have made enemies will have too much power- and the Vettels of this world will end up in the in guillotine like Robespierre.
      1. 

         baasbas
         2nd March 2024, 12:08

         @AlexS
         Are you alright? Do we need to call someone for you?
         :-)
5. 

   kpcart
   2nd March 2024, 4:40

   Alpine were last but only 1 second behind first spot in q1. It shows that all the drivers are so close in speed but it really is all about the car in f1
   1. 

      notagrumpyfan
      2nd March 2024, 10:49

      It shows that all the drivers are so close in speed but it really is all about the car in f1

      Based on that statistic (cars close together), and knowing that there are some significant gaps between teammates and subsequent laps of single drivers, it appears more of drivers championship now.
6. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   2nd March 2024, 5:25

   They’ve had more than enough time to jump towards the front like AMR & McLaren managed, yet they still struggle over & over again + oppositely making a step backwards.
   Embarrassing for a Renault-owned manufacturer team & a pity for Gasly-Ocon having to suffer in low positions.

   Politics may have been among the discouraged topics back in his junior formula days, but he eventually ended up taking a stance on such matters later in his F1 career.
7. 

   S
   2nd March 2024, 8:19

   Vettel’s totally wrong IMO. The politicisation of ‘sport’ is far more divisive and counterproductive than beneficial, both to the ‘sport’ and the cause they are hijacking it for.
   Same goes for the next article right below it

   Ferrari entered WEC knowing it is a BoP series. This is exactly what they signed up for.
   There will be times it works against them, but there will also be times it works to their advantage.
   Commercially speaking – it is always working to their advantage, or else they wouldn’t have entered into it or would leave it immediately.

   And CotD – Norris’ honest reviews of his own performances are refreshing, and work quite well to his advantage in a number of ways. It may not make his driving faster or more clean, but it shows he is aware of where he is lacking and where improvement needs to come from. Many drivers fail in that aspect.
   Besides, it’s quite likely a sign that he’s still not completely comfortable talking to the media – blurting out unpleasant truths, often without prompting, isn’t uncommon in that situation.

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