Answering your F1 mailbag questions on Ocon to Haas, strife at Red Bull, and extra

We have reached the halfway level of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

This weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix kicks off what could possibly be a second half for the ages. Will somebody really problem Max Verstappen within the Drivers’ Championship? Will one in every of Red Bull’s rivals really put the stress to them within the Constructors’ Championship?

Consider this: Already six totally different drivers have gained a Grand Prix. In simply 15 seasons within the historical past of F1 have more than six drivers won a Grand Prix. Should two extra drivers win a race — say Oscar Piastri and Sergio Pérez, for instance — that will deliver the entire to eight, placing the 2024 season right into a tie for third on this particular class. (The 1975 season noticed 9 totally different winners, whereas the 1982 season stands alone with 11 totally different drivers having gained a race).

Given all of this, we right here at SB Nation thought it was time to open up the F1 mailbag. Thanks to the unbelievable neighborhood that’s “F1 Threads,” we solicited questions from a improbable fanbase.

Here are the questions, and our solutions.

Our first question comes from my pals on the Dirty Side of the Track podcast.

I feel what we’re seeing in F1 is sluggish progress in the direction of going absolutely sustainable. The vehicles beneath the present rules use E10, a gasoline that’s 10% sustainable ethanol, and 90% fossil gasoline. The upcoming rules will use a 100% absolutely sustainable gasoline, which I feel is a crucial step.

The different factor to think about is that beneath the present rules, the facility manufacturing between the inner combustion engine and the hybrid system is round 75/25, whereas within the upcoming rules that break up will probably be nearer to 50/50.

So finally I feel we’re seeing evolution with sustainable gasoline applied sciences in F1, simply not at a very fast tempo.

A bunch of questions were sent in by Adam, let’s deal with the primary three earlier than shifting on to the following three he despatched in.

On Esteban Ocon to Haas

Thursday’s information that Haas and Kevin Magnussen have been parting methods opened the door to such a pairing.

This is a type of strikes I might want to see in motion earlier than I should purchase in. Let’s simply say I’m skeptical of pairing Esteban Ocon with Oliver Bearman. Ocon has definitely endured an, as you say, fascinating historical past with teammates.

The “glass half full” view is perhaps that lately Ocon was paired with a residing legend of the game (Fernando Alonso) who he was making an attempt to match himself, after which lately he was paired with a peer with whom en loved one thing of a spotty historical past.

Perhaps in additional of an “elder statesman” function, Ocon can lastly really feel snug throughout the group, and as such thrive?

That’s the wildly optimistic method, but when that is really the trail Haas goes down, that is perhaps what they’re pondering as effectively.

On Red Bull drivers

There’s a cause the second seat at Red Bull is also known as the “second seat of loss of life,” and it has little to do with what vitality drinks can do to the physique …

But sufficient about my heart specialist.

Nyck de Vries may need been final yr’s instance — and the jury could presently be deliberating concerning Sergio Pérez — however the group’s historical past has extra examples. Both Alexander Albon and Pierre Gasly got their possibilities to drive alongside Max Verstappen, and each have been proven the door. And let’s not overlook that Verstappen slid right into a seat as soon as occupied by Daniil Kyvat, who himself was benched after a collision with Sebastian Vettel on the 2016 Russian Grand Prix.

Formula 1 just isn’t a sport identified for endurance, and that definitely is the case at Red Bull. In some ways, their historical past helps gasoline the continued hypothesis about Pérez.

On De Vries

Honestly, I feel De Vries was put in a troublesome scenario. Christian Horner mentioned as a lot following the transfer to sack him mid-season, calling him one thing of a “stopgap” method.

As somebody who additionally covers the National Football League, I at occasions discover myself making comparisons between drivers and quarterbacks. And if you happen to consider the 2 positions, there’s some important overlap.

One of the teachings in quarterback analysis that has at all times caught with me is one thing that Bill Walsh, one of the vital good minds in soccer, mentioned about quarterbacks within the NFL. It takes three years for them to determine it out.

Franz Tost, the previous boss at AlphaTauri, said the same about Formula 1 drivers.

However, fan bases and possession teams will not be precisely affected person on the subject of younger quarterbacks within the NFL, and the identical could be mentioned about F1. In the NFL there are simply 32 quarterbacks, however the sphere of F1 drivers is even smaller. There just isn’t numerous endurance given to youthful drivers, given the expertise within the decrease ranks, and Red Bull/AlphaTauri had a number of choices.

Could De Vries have figured issues out finally, if given three years? Perhaps. But given his age coming into the game, and the choices Red Bull/AlphaTauri had behind him, the leash was at all times going to be quick.

Now let’s deal with the following three questions from Adam.

On F1 books

The one I’m ending proper now’s The Formula, by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg. It’s an excellent “huge image” view of the game as a complete, and of a few of the twists and turns in Formula 1 which have formed it into the game it’s as we speak.

How to Build a Race Car by Adrian Newey can also be a must-read, each for the technical perception the legendary designer affords, but additionally for his writing type. As somebody who writes professionally, I usually discover myself extra in awe of his writing type, than his good engineering thoughts.

This low season I’ll completely be tackling Driving to Survive by Guenther Steiner. Because it’s Guenther. Enough mentioned.

On SB Nation overlaying F1 Fantasy

Check again within the low season …

On the following younger driver to get an FP1 shot and whether or not that’s Paul Aron

Well, apparently Aron is getting an FP1 session with APXGP this weekend in Budapest:

(I wildly vacillate between the social media marketing campaign for “F1” — which features a social media account for the group relationship again to final season, the place they apparently moved on from Nyck de Vries on the finish of the yr — being superb or exhausting, however I digress.)

The straightforward reply right here is Andrea Kimi Antonelli, proper? Not solely is his 18th birthday developing after the summer time shutdown, however the adjustment of the Super License necessities means the door is open to Antonelli not less than getting an FP1 session quickly.

This is a fantastic question. I want I might supply extra in approach of a response.

However, I’ve simply been to Miami, so I can solely converse to that have.

Which was unbelievable.

In speaking with followers who have been on the Miami Grand Prix one of many cool points is the flexibility to enter Hard Rock Stadium, the place the paddock is positioned. You can sit or standing the 300-level of the stadium and have a fowl’s eye view of the paddock. As somebody fortunate sufficient to be down within the area itself, the roar of the group when a driver, group boss, or different F1 persona confirmed up was an ideal second.

The different factor in regards to the Miami Grand Prix is that given it’s held at an NFL stadium, the facilities out there to followers and media members alike are phenomenal. And the race organizers have definitely tried to cater to each degree of fan. On the morning of the Miami Grand Prix, I used to be in a position to chat with Tom Garfinkle, the Managing Partner of the Miami Grand Prix and the CEO of the Miami Dolphins. He outlined the extent to which race organizers have been making an attempt to make the race accessible for all ranges of followers.

“I imply, we had, it was actually enjoyable as a result of for the third yr it was at all times type of the imaginative and prescient and yesterday it occurred greater than the primary two years. At one level I walked out, and the 300 degree [of Hard Rock Stadium] was in all probability half full. So the campus move holders can go on the highest of the stadium,” described Garfinkel.

“They can go, you realize, if you happen to look proper throughout the way in which right here, you see these stands proper right here the place there’s folks standing, these are campus move holders, they’ve risers that they will stand on them. Once the vehicles go by, that’s $450 for 3 days.

“It’s $150 a day to face on a riser proper subsequent to the racetrack. Get every kind of meals, go throughout the bridge. You can go up within the stadium, stroll across the high of the stadium, see nearly the entire racetrack, look down within the paddock. The concessions up there are the identical as they’re for Dolphins video games.

“So for $150 a day, you realize, I feel you’ll be able to have an ideal expertise after which there’s $15,000 for the best finish. You know, lobster from Carbone, so we’re making an attempt to run the spectrum up and down. We need it to be a spot the place everyone can come and have an excellent time.

“And in case you are a star or a dignitary of some kind, your means to get out and in simply to be safe with out folks asking you for a selfie each two steps you are taking and to be with your folks and be capable of get pleasure from positive eating or one thing and check out to do this as effectively.”

Garfinkel’s aim is to show each attendee right into a fan of F1 by the point they depart.

“Well, hopefully by the point they depart, they’re all race followers,” mentioned Garfinkel when requested if he had a really perfect break up in thoughts between race followers and movie star followers.

“I feel on the finish of the day, the racing comes first. We needed to supply a racetrack that delivered high quality racing and the place there was overtaking and the place there’s thrilling locations to observe the racing,” described Garfinkel. “And then after that, we need to create an ideal expertise round that and hopefully whether or not you’re a hardcore fan or whether or not you’re only a informal fan that desires to return out right here and have an excellent time, you realize, you’ll be able to have each.”

I’ll be heading to not less than another Grand Prix this season, if no more, so watch this area for added ideas. But I’d say that Miami was an amazing expertise for myself, and people I used to be in a position to speak to who attended.

F1 Threads is stuffed with great folks, and Helz completely tops that record. Helz is a improbable advocate for what a optimistic social media neighborhood could be and wears many hats in F1 Threads, from their function because the official greeter in addition to serving to run the P10:DNF contest every race weekend. Cheers to you Helz

However, Helz brought the heat with this question.

One of the items I’m proudest of since beginning out on this motorsport journey is that this, whereby I attempt to summarize simply what it takes to be a race automobile driver. My major takeaway from all of the drivers and motorsport figures I’ve been fortunate sufficient to talk with and listen to from by the previous year-plus?

Being a race automobile driver is extremely onerous.

Whether F1 drivers, F1 Academy drivers, IndyCar drivers, NASCAR drivers, group principals, group homeowners, or others, the primary level I took from each interplay is that driving a race automobile is difficult. From listening to Abbi Pulling describe a lap at Monza to Alexander Rossi speaking about the whole lot that goes right into a lap on the Indianapolis 500, it’s an extremely onerous job.

And then Jack Doohan affords up the reminder of simply what’s at stake if issues go awry …

One factor that, in my thoughts not less than, ideas the scales in the direction of F1 being the more durable collection is the schedule. 24 races, all throughout the globe, with some brutally troublesome stretches. The current tripleheader is one such stretch. Then there’s the tripleheader that may come on the finish of the season the place the grid will go from Las Vegas to Qatar after which to Abu Dhabi to shut out the yr, all inside three weeks. That is hard on the drivers and the groups.

But this could not take something away from IndyCar. At all. It takes a very totally different type of human to hit a few of these speeds you see throughout qualifying on the Indy 500. And then to have the mentality of “put it within the wall or put it within the present?”

That is … totally different.

This from Jahl is quite the question to end on.

Sportswashing is under no circumstances distinctive to Formula 1.

I’m a Newcastle United supporter in spite of everything.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) continues to widen its method, pushing into the world of golf and luring soccer stars to play within the Saudi Pro League. Other nations with vastly questionable observe information concerning human rights have made comparable inroads on the earth of sports activities.

From the place I sit, I feel there’s a perception in all of those sporting leagues in the concept that, for instance, bringing the grid to a specific nation — together with the media — will assist to shine a lightweight on a few of these points, and over time enact optimistic change.

Perhaps that may be a wildly naive viewpoint. And in fact, the response to that’s to take a look at the shortage of optimistic change over time and to marvel if these leagues will ever draw a line within the proverbial sand.

I want there have been a straightforward reply to this query. Perhaps an unintended results of the elevated reputation of F1 around the globe will open the door to different nations being allowed to host races, and maybe a rotating schedule of types would permit the game to maneuver away from a few of these nations with troubling information of human rights abuses.

As I sort this, the world is on the point of come collectively for the 2024 Summer Games. There was a time when the Olympics would function a reminder of our shared humanity, and supply hope of a brighter future for all.

That, too, is a imaginative and prescient that’s maybe too naive for our present world.