Formula 1 Discussion - And favourite driver?

  • 🔧 At about Midnight EST I am going to completely fuck up the site trying to fix something.
At the San Marino GP in 1994 he had an Austrian flag in his car that he was going to hold during the cool down lap like he normally did with the Brazilian flag for Ratzenberger who died in a qualifying crash. Of course we know he never made it to the cool down lap himself but it was a great sentiment.
Imagine being the person who found that flag in the car and then realising its significance.
 
LOL

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So, this is happening in a couple weeks. Interesting concept, the shape of things to come? I found the comment I highlighted in yellow to be interesting. While I am too lazy and not interested enough yet to dig into it any more right now, I am curious to know the engine/fuel etc being used for the car.

I think I will give it a watch as it can't be any worse than Formula E, and this A2RL will most likely be better than that joke of a series.

WHAT IS A2RL AND HOW DO I WATCH IT?​

Apr 11, 2024

Motorsport and technological advancement are inextricably linked. Always have been, always will be.

It was inevitable, then, that with autonomy evolving at a remarkable pace that motorsport would end up becoming a testbed for systems that could change the way we travel.

Step forward A2RL.

A2RL - the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League, to give it its full name - is, as the name suggests, a groundbreaking autonomous racing series that’s new for 2024.

The inaugural A2RL event, which takes place at Formula 1's Yas Marina Abu Dhabi Grand Prix venue on April 27, will bring eight teams together in the quest for victory in this most pioneering of races.

Each will compete with its own autonomous, modified version of the Dallara-developed Super Formula SF23 car with a prize fund of $2.25million on the line.

WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?​

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A2RL, which is planned as an annual fixture, will feature teams from the UAE, China, Singapore, Germany, Hungary, Italy and the USA.

Testing of the autonomous SF23 - which is the fastest single-seater outside of F1 - has already been conducted as part of a comprehensive build-up period for teams to refine their understanding of the car, ahead of a two-week training schedule at Yas Marina that precedes the April 27 race.

The base car that each team has now been handed will be identical but teams will have the freedom to 'code' their cars - which feature an autonomous ‘stack’ in place of a driver - as they see fit in preparation for the main event.

WHICH TEAMS ARE COMPETING IN A2RL?​

-Fly Eagle (UAE/China)
-Code 19 Racing (USA)
-Constructor University (Germany)
-Kinetiz (UAE/Singapore)
-HUMDA Lab (Hungary)
-Polimove Autonomous Racing Team (Italy)
-Unimore (Italy)
-Technical University of Munich (Germany)

HOW WILL THE FORMAT WORK?​

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Think experimental! While the precise race programme is still yet to be shared, part of the challenge is to give the competing teams a variety of race formats to successfully complete.

This will comprise full-distance and sprint-style races, and will be informed by what is achieved during the two-week training period.

But race day will progress in keeping with an ethos of pushing the boundaries in the pursuit of scientific and technological progress - in essence, the format will take teams to their limits.

As Tom McCarthy - executive director of ASPIRE the programme management and business development arm of ATRC (Advanced Technology Research Council) that’s behind the concept - puts it: "What you will see throughout the day is racing at levels that have been achieved to date, and then some shorter exciting races to push speed with multiple cars on the track, and then pushing to the limits of science and pushing beyond that."

WHO’S BEHIND IT AND WHAT’S THE AIM?​

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The A2RL concept comes from the ASPIRE group, the programme development arm of the UAE capital's Advanced Technology Research Council.

It promises to bring together "the exciting impact of AI on our lives and its incredible potential for autonomy" by demonstrating the "remarkable pace" autonomy is developing at - something that the series will make instantly obvious.

This is the first step in what ASPIRE plans will later also extend to the realm of autonomous drones and dune buggies.

It has also set out four wider goals it hopes to achieve:

- Pioneering the future of transport: that is, "stress-testing" on the track to improve autonomous vehicles' safety on roads

- Inspiring the next generation of STEM talent: the A2RL wants its teams to be "embracing curiosity, reimagining possibilities, reinventing ideas, and re-engineering a brighter tomorrow"

- Accelerating Abu Dhabi's knowledge economy: A2RL wants to serve as a "dynamic R&D hub" for Abu Dhabi by offering "an immersive experience into the world of AI"

- Creating an impact beyond the track: it's hoped that the research and development from this process can be applied far beyond the autonomy sector
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The race will be broadcast live on The Race’s YouTube channel.
Follow A2RL’s social channels for the latest news as well further broadcast and event timings information.
 
Man that is going to be a glorious cluster fuck of ridiculously slow lap times, dumb incidents, and probably a massive pile up. Definitely worth a watch.

Though I wouldn't put it past them to have glorified RC cars with a controller and pretend they're AI driven to try and scam some investors.
 
So apparently, simulations have found that the incoming 2026 cars are unstable when aero isn't engaged as part of its active/passive thing.
Entirely possible if we're talking about mercedes. Apparently their simuations for the 2024 car was an entire second off the track time for the first 2-3 races.

The alonso news is good too.....I think? Kinda happy he didn't go to mercedes tbh, though he'd easily replace checo for another two years while RB search for a longterm (lol) second driver.
 
This is a fairly early sorting out of next year's calendar. They're still doing the stupid hopping over to Canada and back again tho. They should couple Montreal with Miami or something. Or add another Canadian race! LOL

Melbourne made season-opener again in 24-race F1 calendar for 2025
12th April 2024, 12:31 | Written by Will Wood

The Formula 1 season will begin in Australia for the first time in five years in 2025.

Formula One Management and the FIA have confirmed the schedule for next season much earlier than usual.

Following four consecutive years with the season beginning in Bahrain, the Albert Park circuit will host the opening round for the first time since 2019. It was due to do so in 2020 but the race was cancelled after teams arrived in Melbourne due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 2025 championship will again feature 24 rounds, the same as this year, running from mid-March to early December, finishing once more with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit.

Following the reorganisation of some races for this year’s calendar to provide a more logical geographical progression to reduce travel time and costs, FOM is attempting to take a further step in this area next year. The season will begin with a double-header in Australia and China, followed by a triple-header including the Japanese, Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix.

The Miami Grand Prix retains its early May slot, again followed by the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix in Imola. Monaco will be followed by the Spanish Grand Prix a week later, before the series heads to Canada and returns to Europe for the Austrian, British, Belgian and Hungarian rounds.

The summer break will lie between Hungary and the Dutch Grand Prix in August, with the Italian and Azerbaijan Grands Prix completing the European phase of the season. Singapore will be followed by the United States Grand Prix with Mexico a week later before the Brazilian Grand Prix runs on its own in early November.

The season will again end with a triple-header of the Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix, the same as this season.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem says that the revised 2025 calendar is a “further illustration of our collective mission of meeting sustainability objectives through the regionalisation of events.”

“While our focus is on the overall stability of Formula 1, we also have a shared duty to the environment and to the health and well-being of travelling staff,” Ben Sulayem continued.

“Formula One Management, under the direction of Stefano Domenicali, have produced a calendar which strikes a good blend of traditional circuits and modern venues. We thank the host ASNs, the local organisers and the many thousands of FIA volunteers for their tireless efforts in making Formula 1 a truly global, mass audience spectacle.”

2025 Formula 1 world championship calendar
1 Australian Grand Prix Mar 14-16
2 Chinese Grand Prix Mar 21-23
3 Japanese Grand Prix Apr 4-6
4 Bahrain Grand Prix Apr 11-13
5 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Apr 18-20
6 Miami Grand Prix May 2-4
7 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix May 16-18
8 Monaco Grand Prix May 23-25
9 Spanish Grand Prix May 30-Jun 1
10 Canadian Grand Prix Jun 13-15
11 Austrian Grand Prix Jun 27-29
12 British Grand Prix Jul 4-6
13 Belgian Grand Prix Jul 25-27
14 Hungarian Grand Prix Aug 1-3
15 Dutch Grand Prix Aug 29-31
16 Italian Grand Prix Sep 5-7
17 Azerbaijani Grand Prix Sep 19-21
18 Singapore Grand Prix Oct 3-5
19 United States Grand Prix Oct 17-19
20 Mexican Grand Prix Oct 24-26
21 Brazilian Grand Prix Nov 7-9
22 Las Vegas Grand Prix Nov 20-22
23 Qatar Grand Prix Nov 28-30
24 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Dec 5-7
 
Given how the Concorde Agreements work wouldn't this necessitate two teams voting themselves out of existence?
Which teams? There's only ten teams on the grid and this is purely meant to be them nailing the doors and putting up barbed wire around the notion of anyone ever trying to expand the grid for any reason.
 
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Which teams? There's only ten teams on the grid and this is purely meant to be them nailing the doors and putting up barbed wire around the notion of anyone ever trying to expand the grid for any reason.
Ah, whoops, right. They're literally supposed to have more now.

Everyone rushing towards a franchise/charter model makes me highly uneasy.
 
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Remember all that talk of "No Andretti please don't sue us for jerking you around you need to just Trust The Process™ and reapply once you have a real engine ready"?
The only way they honestly could have made it more clear that they are not interested in ever letting anyone join would be paying a group of hired killers to storm the Andretti facility and demolishing it to the ground with Semtex.
 
This Andretti drama sounds incredibly homosexual. Why do they keep him out? Prize money concerns?
TV money concerns. There are teams out there that depend on the travel and TV money split for their sheer existence. In the old days (at least in the US) they'd be start-and-parkers.

If Andretti comes in the pie gets split another way and for nohopers that's devestating.
 
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