[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Max has asked his fans to be realistic and with the nature of the Jeddah track a win is a big ask.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...l-failure.html

Yeah . MAX has been taking it easy after his DNF in Q2 .
Further he said : Today I got bad luck , DNF can be just part in F1 .
It is what it is , hope to drive a great race .

[Rono63]

Piastri starting P8 is impressive. Will have to see what his race pace is and if the McLaren can finish the race.

[a5m]

Originally Posted by TTM0TION

I dig the track. Nice to have walls and not a million miles of run off. Yes it’s dangerous but wasn’t it always. I don’t want anyone to die or anything but these boats for cars actually look fast here. I’m into it.

Exactly. If it was anywhere else in the world it'd be hailed as the greatest track ever

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Confirmed final update from ORBR, driveshaft mechanical failure on car 1.

Check this out . LEW's typical reaction to MAX's DNF

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Yeah . MAX has been taking it easy after his DNF in Q2 .
Further he said : Today I got bad luck , DNF can be just part in F1 .
It is what it is , hope to drive a great race .

Rather it happen in quali or FP than in the race.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Check this out . LEW's typical reaction to MAX's DNF

Well my friend, are we surprised..

[jsf721]

Max is a competitor this will light a fire in him. Hoping for a great showing from him.

In any case it should be a great race. Crazy track for sure

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Well my friend, are we surprised..

As usual , LEW's sportsmanship is far to seek ...

[HeelToeShift]

Hopefully Max can run through 5-7 on the first lap or two and work his way up along with the help of maybe a SC or two. By the looks of it though, his ability to extract performance is simply on another level than anyone else since Senna or Schumacher.

[3798j]

Only Sergio has better odds than Max to win...it shouldn't take very long.

Sergio PerezEVEN
Max Verstappen+135
Fernando Alonso+500
George Russell+2500
Carlos Sainz+5000
Charles Leclerc+5000
Lewis Hamilton+5000
Lance Stroll+6600
Esteban Ocon+15000
Pierre Gasly+25000
Oscar Piastri+50000
Lando Norris+100000
Guanyu Zhou+150000
Kevin Magnussen+150000
Nico Hulkenberg+150000
Valtteri Bottas+150000
Alex Albon+200000
Nyck De Vries+200000
Yuki Tsunoda+200000
Logan Sargeant+250000

[NickyC]

Pretty good setup for the race tomorrow, looking forward to it!

[TTM0TION]

Betting ALO at +500. Let’s gooooooo

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by M5Rick

Max has asked his fans to be realistic and with the nature of the Jeddah track a win is a big ask.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...l-failure.html

Verstappen (P15) will be on fire, "Max doing Max things", steadily working his way through the field as far as feasible, with Leclerc (P12) as trailblazer.

If taking high risks works out without DNF, Driver Of The Day will be either Verstappen, Alonso or Leclerc. Perez (P1) can hold no candle against an unleashed Alonso (P2) who smells the victory and has his reputation of outsmarting competitors. Alonso knows that getting past Perez during the first lap(s) will get him into free air and will frustrate Perez. Would be great if Alonso wins this race. He got Aston Martin's second front row start in their history (Roy Salvadori started P2 for Aston Martin at the 1959 British Grand Prix at Aintree).

Chance of yellow and red flags is high on this dangerous high-speed street circuit, so the pack can regroup.

IMHO all eyes will be on Alonso, Leclerc and Verstappen.

And between Verstappen and Hamilton (P7) there is still some unfinished Jeddah 2021 business. Will be spicy when Hamilton will try to fence off Verstappen knocking on the door.

Should Verstappen win this race, the 2023 WDC season will be virtually over, LOL.

Only request: let no driver incur bodily harm.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Yeah . MAX has been taking it easy after his DNF in Q2 .
Further he said : Today I got bad luck , DNF can be just part in F1 .
It is what it is , hope to drive a great race .

Strat guru Hannah will have her work cut out getting Max through the skittles, he could have an advantage with the way he used his tyres before the Q2 d/shaft break.
https://racingnews365.com/what-is-ve...en--2023-03-19

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by a5m

If it was anywhere else in the world it'd be hailed as the greatest track ever

Nonsense.

This is the most dangerous F1 street circuit of the calendar. No matter where it would have been built on the face of the planet, its layout is a recipe for disaster, an accident waiting to happen. Several F1 drivers expressed safety concerns.

A high-speed crash on this circuit during a sim race only hurts the ego. A high-speed crash on this circuit during an F1 race can injure or kill the drivers involved. Safety must have priority over entertainment for all of us, armchair F1 drivers.

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Verstappen (P15) will be on fire, "Max doing Max things", steadily working his way through the field as far as feasible, with Leclerc (P12) as trailblazer.

If taking high risks works out without DNF, Driver Of The Day will be either Verstappen, Alonso or Leclerc. Perez (P1) can hold no candle against an unleashed Alonso (P2) who smells the victory and has his reputation of outsmarting competitors. Alonso knows that getting past Perez during the first lap(s) will get him into free air and will frustrate Perez. Would be great if Alonso wins this race. He got Aston Martin's second front row start in their history (Roy Salvadori started P2 for Aston Martin at the 1959 British Grand Prix at Aintree).

Chance of yellow and red flags is high on this dangerous high-speed street circuit, so the pack can regroup.

IMHO all eyes will be on Alonso, Leclerc and Verstappen.

And between Verstappen and Hamilton (P7) there is still some unfinished Jeddah 2021 business. Will be spicy when Hamilton will try to fence off Verstappen knocking on the door.

Should Verstappen win this race, the 2023 WDC season will be virtually over, LOL.

Only request: let no driver incur bodily harm.

That's about the gist of it and the longevity of the hard tyre will be a telling factor as I mentioned in my last post. Lets hope for a clean race from everyone.

[M5Rick]

In an RN365 poll 36% of fans put Max down to win and Checo at 30%, Fernando received 20% of the vote with Charlie at just 6%.

[Artemis]

At Spa-Francorchamps 2022 Verstappen went from P14 to P1 (winning with almost 18s and 27s ahead of Perez and Sainz who had started P2 and P1).

Remains to be seen how he will perform today. Street circuit is a very different environment, but with Verstappen anything is possible if his car performs properly.

[GuidoK]

Too bad ALO didn't manage to get pole position.
This is probably his best chance to win a race this season with Max having mechanical problems and this being a street circuit.
Obviously 2nd place on front row isn't bad, and Checo might just start the same way he did last race
But Checo is a street circuit specialist.

I think everyone here would love to see ALO win at least one race this year, in this part of his career.

It could get an interesting race, I'm looking foreward to it.

[TTM0TION]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Nonsense.

This is the most dangerous F1 street circuit of the calendar. No matter where it would have been built on the face of the planet, its layout is a recipe for disaster, an accident waiting to happen. Several F1 drivers expressed safety concerns.

A high-speed crash on this circuit during a sim race only hurts the ego. A high-speed crash on this circuit during an F1 race can injure or kill the drivers involved. Safety must have priority over entertainment for all of us, armchair F1 drivers.

Ehhhh seems a bit extreme. They are free to slow down a touch if they don’t have it. The penalty for error and looking bad is what the drivers don’t like. Ala Lando during quali. Track penalizes errors like Monaco but they can actually drive fast.

[Fliplegend]

Turn 1 could get gnarley at the start

[M5Rick]

Originally Posted by Fliplegend

Turn 1 could get gnarley at the start

Turn 1 usually is