2023 Austrian Grand Prix [SPRINT] discussion thread

This was by far the best on-track product of the season so far. Yes, Max winning by 20+ seconds sucks, but apart from that this had everything. Lots of great battles, plenty of overtakes, drama, tension and even a crucial strategy call. And the camera work wasn't even terrible!

Gutted for Albon, but at least Hulk managed to capture some points from a great performance. Too bad the Haas burns tires like a chainsmoker. Also a little curious about the Aston strategy. I guess it's not hugely important this season, but given the potential for Alonso to fight for P2 in the drivers championship, you'd have thought they'd want to prioritize giving him maximum points possible. This is the second time this season where they let Lance stay ahead if he gets ahead, regardless of pace. To be fair to Lance, though, he was great today and showed that he can hang when he's on it. He had a great start and was solid throughout. Once again underrated in the wet.

This is already better than every race we've had so far this season

The passing hecame boring as soon as DRS was enabled. The pre-drs overtakes and switchbacks were entertaining to watch before we went back to drs-drivebys on the straights.
The passing hecame boring as soon as DRS was enabled. The pre-drs overtakes and switchbacks were entertaining to watch before we went back to drs-drivebys on the straights.
That was super entertaining, lots of great passes and the drama with the pit stops was fun.

Win by a 20 second gap in a sprint race. Insane.

Nearly a second per lap faster on average. Jesus.

Granted Checo was stuck behind Hulk for 13 laps. I wonder how far ahead Max would have been if not for that.

I would love to see Hulk in a more competitive car

Man, lemmy.world is struggling. I guess Rexit is real.

Anyway, what was Williams thinking by pitting Albon ...

Yeah it's chugging at the moment. I bet a steam turbine powered by the residual heat of the server stack could power a small city. Let's hope the upgrade to 0.18.1 later today sticks this time and improves performance.

Also yes. Poor Albon. I feel so bad for him.

What a fantastic morning of racing. Thoroughly enjoyed all of it.

Perez was absolutely humiliated

Yea, 100%. But, when you’re teammates with Max, that’s bound to happen. Being Max’s #2 is not a role I’d want any more than being Ham’s during his dominance.

What a fantastic morning of racing. Thoroughly enjoyed all of it.

How are starting positions determined in a sprint? Was confused why HAM was 18th?

They have a sprint qualifier session before the race, essentially just a shortened version of regular qualifying.
- Ahh, missed that. Will have to look for the highlight why HAM was so low.

Cant believe Russel is trying slicks in these conditions, hope its faster so the rest is forced to pit as well

Your prediction came true - made for some pretty great racing at the end!
- That rush for slicks made the racing feel a lot like INDYCAR. The shuffle was a ton of fun to watch.

Lando said in his post-sprint interview that he went into anti-stall. It really looked like he just decided not to go for the inside line past both red bulls. There was plenty of room and he even started to turn in for a split second but then filed back in behind the red bull. Is there any confirmation that his car actually went into anti-stall? Or did Lando just not go for the gap?

And it's raining again

OT: Does anyone know if the moderator here is still active?

Seems like a wannabe power mod. Hope we can get some mods who are passionate about F1

Making Max angry is not a good idea, as Checo found out

I wish someone could push Max like that every race, I think his temper is his biggest problem and it could get him to make some mistakes

Max by about 20 seconds while on inters. Game’s broken. It’s like lewis winning with three wheels.

In 24 laps. I don't like to be too down on drivers but Perez has been shocking lately.