They really, really donât need my help on that front.
I posted on our WhatsApp group, when news came that Charles will take the penalty, that I coincidentally had my reliability engineering spreadsheets open in front of me. A little bit of data wrangling gave me the odds of a Ferrari not failing before Jeddahâs checkered flag.
31%.
Obviously itâs tongue in cheek, way too little data to draw real conclusions, and the inherent assumption is that there is no behind the scenes improvement to the electronic control unit, but it really does not paint a good picture for the quality of Scuderia Ferrariâs engineering quality.
Meant to mention this earlier in the year, but, old and forgetfulâŚ
For those with F1TV Pro subscriptions, have a look at MultiViewer for F1. Especially nice if you have the bandwidth and screen space, and watch F1 on your PC anyway. Hereâs my current dual screen layout:
(cobbled two phone camera pictures together because screen captures donât work. All the screens would show blank as the app developer follows the F1 DRM rules in a constant effort to avoid upsetting F1 and getting slapped with take down notices.)
This is awesome. As someone who has been cobbling together manual multi views, this is highly appreciated.
The DRM can eat a bag, itâs the reason I canât watch the race in a VR cinema with as many side screens as my PC can handle. Itâs also why we canât have VR watchalongs.
The worst kind of DRM is one that negatively affects the paying customer more than it affects the pirates.
What a solid weekend for Checo - well deserved win. Jos Verstappen - Sour Chop of the Year Award, holy shit. Papa Checo celebrates the team wins as much as everyone. Papa Verstappen needs to smoke a little pretsigaret and CTFO.
Another world class performance by the Race Stewards. Over an hour later, and only after the podium celebrations, and then hand Fernando a penalty? What a crook oâ shite that is! There needs to be some serious investigating as to what the heck is going wrong with both the pit penalty taking process, and the grid markings that triggered the start line penalty. Weâve had two identical issues in consecutive GPs.
We need a perpendicular line added to the yellow line that tells them where to stop. Driver aims to put the front right wheel on the yellow line. And for the pit stops, the 5- or 10-seconds stationery should be taken after the pit crew finish. Normal pitstop procedure, the moment they finish and the crew chief hits the button to go green, the FIAs override kicks in, and the light stays red until the penalty time is served. Then it goes green. If any crew member touches the car while the penalty timer is running the car must go out and return immediately for a stop-go penalty double the length of the original.
Decentish return to some form for the Mercs. Another one to forget for the Ferraris. What the heck is going on with that McLaren? Bested in a straight line by the Williams! Never thought Iâd see the day. Itâs early season still and hopefully they get things figured out. Would be nice is Piastri could have a decent maiden home F1 GP in a couple of weeksâ time.
Oh, and I fear for the safety of the military band that played the not so good rendition of the Saudi national anthem - someone should check on them in the morningâŚ
All in all, a semi-meh race. It scores 6.5 sweaty camels on the Reddometer.
Glad though that Alonso regained the podium position. Reading through the evidence presented by AM, that in 7 other instances of penalties being served the jack touching the car was not considered to be an issue, I think it was a fair decision.
I do like @GregReddâs idea for the penalty to be served after work has been done on the car. The current approach seems to be leading to too much uncertainty and controversy.
Kimi and Jenson going NASCAR racing at COTA today. Theyâre both competing in the 68 lap EchoPark Automotive Cup Series race.
Raikkonen qualified 22nd in his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, and Button will line up directly behind him in 24th position in his Rick Ware Racing/SHR Ford.
