Leclerc takes Vegas pole as Sainz’s penalty costs Ferrari a front row lock-out

33 comments on “Leclerc takes Vegas pole as Sainz’s penalty costs Ferrari a front row lock-out”

1. 

   Johns
   18th November 2023, 9:54

   I dont understand the penalty for a bad track. If anything, F1 should gift FER one million dollars
   1. 

      ykiki (@ykiki)
      18th November 2023, 9:58

      So Sainz should be rewarded with a fresher power unit than everyone else?
      1. 

         Todfod (@todfod)
         18th November 2023, 10:19

         At least reduce the penalty to a 5 place grid drop. These are unexpected circumstances.. and the penalty needs to be modified bearing the context of who’s fault it actually was.
         1. 

            Hotbottoms (@hotbottoms)
            18th November 2023, 10:45

            @todfod
            I have understood that the current rules don’t allow more lenient penalty based on circumstances. I’m not sure if such clause would be wise either: then we’d have endless discussions on teams complaining that some factor outside their control resulted in component change.

            Luck has always been part of Formula One. At least Sainz now has the chance to score good points in the race. If the accident had happened during the race, the result would have been a lot worse (zero points from this race and grid penalty for next race).
            1. 

               Dominique (@tryneplague)
               18th November 2023, 11:06

               If this had happened during the race, we would have gotten a red flag and no more race resulting in the biggest farce in years given the money involved. F1 just dodged a huge bullet there and should be grateful Sainz was hit in its place. That alone should be reason enough to void the penalty..
            2. 

               SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
               18th November 2023, 12:46

               The teams together could had decided not to punish Sainz. And 9 out of 10 teams voted in favour of this. You do the math who voted against.
            3. 

               AlanD
               18th November 2023, 15:35

               @spafrancorchamps, which was the one team out of ten that voted against waiving the penalty? Given their track record for screw ups, it was probably Ferrari.
      2. 

         emuload
         18th November 2023, 11:17

         yes, bare minimum compensation for having sabotaged his car. There is definitely a slight imbalance in such a scenario, but it’s far, FAR less of an imbalance that what has come to pass.

         A complete and utter failure of the venue, organizers, and inspectors has lead to a competitor losing massive amounts of time, money, and opportunity on top of having created a massive risk for one of the racers. (more than one, in fact)

         There is absolutely NO world where the slight advantage of a fresher power unit is less acceptable than destroying a competitor’s race and equipment.
         1. 

            S
            18th November 2023, 14:07

            “Sabotage” is quite the choice of word, there.
      3. 

         Sham (@sham)
         18th November 2023, 16:23

         Should he be rewarded for hitting a heavy piece of metal that shouldn’t have been able to be there at very high speed? Frankly, yes… Yes he should.
         It wasn’t his fault, he couldn’t do anything to miss it and it could have killed him and anyone very near him. If it had managed to enter the cockpit through the survival cell it split open, or burst the batteries/fuel/oil tanks…. Or bounced up into someone else’s path.. it doesn’t near thinking about.

         So, F1 allowing him to repair his car without penalty is the absolute least they should do.
   2. 

      Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
      18th November 2023, 11:03

      You can’t change the rules as you go along (and save the 2021 title discussion for another time). Regardless of the reason, Sainz should get a penalty. The finantial side of it is probably going to be sorted, as it did with Haas when they ran over a drain cover a couple of years ago in Malaysia.
2. 

   RR
   18th November 2023, 10:06

   Ham not in the running at all. No doubt focussing on his movie scenarios.
   1. 

      S
      18th November 2023, 10:58

      Someone will say he’s sacrificing his own performance to test setups for next season, no doubt.
   2. 

      Moi
      18th November 2023, 18:16

      Russel was very close to Max, the speed for 3rd was definately there for Mercedes
3. 

   MichaelN
   18th November 2023, 10:16

   The panning shot in the last kink looked really cool. From the approach with the skyline, the big swing showing the great speed; nice!

   The rest, especially onboard, looks awfully grey. But that’s always going to happen if you put hundreds of incredibly bright lights on the track. The dynamic range of a camera sensor can only capture so much of the darker parts when they’re having to expose for multiple floodlights pointing straight at them. They’re going to have to put in a lot of helicopter/drone shots to sell the city vibe they’re going for.

   It’s always great to see Leclerc on form in qualifying. He’ll probably, and unfortunately, add another pole without a win to his already very list – but when it comes to making a car dance around the track in qualifying there aren’t many who can make it look more exciting than Leclerc.
   1. 

      Todfod (@todfod)
      18th November 2023, 10:21

      He’ll probably, and unfortunately, add another pole without a win to his already very list – but when it comes to making a car dance around the track in qualifying there aren’t many who can make it look more exciting than Leclerc.

      Agree.. he’s hands down the most impressive qualifier on the grid. His special racedays are slightly more rare though. If he has a Bahrain 2022 kind of fight with Max tomorrow… then it would be exciting for the fans.
   2. 

      Ciaran (@ciaran)
      18th November 2023, 10:31

      Very good point on the grey colours. I did like their helicopter shot of the cars cutting through the Strip, but that’s the only reason they were there in the first place! But the rest of the track just doesn’t look impressive at all.
4. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   18th November 2023, 10:26

   Both Mclarens eliminated in Q1 is something that hasn’t happened for a little while, so surprising, as were Hamilton’s & Perez’s Q2 eliminations or, more so, the former’s.
   Both Williamses in Q3 were a positive surprise, though.
   The new LV circuit ultimately proved to be only the outright seventh-fastest current circuit rather than third, which I expected beforehand.
   The Sphere section alteration from initial planning had a bigger impact on average lap speed than I could envision.
5. 

   Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
   18th November 2023, 11:08

   This track it’s by far the worst in the calendar. You have no idea where they are on track… it’s probably a nice view from the grandstands (if they allow you to watch) with all the building and stuff but from the TV it looks horrible.
   1. 

      Ferdinand
      18th November 2023, 12:10

      Struggling as well, but maybe it needs a bit more time to get used to or rather get familiar to as we’ve not raced this track before.
   2. 

      Ferdinand
      18th November 2023, 12:22

      And it’s also because of the definition of a street circuit; all those horrible Formula E fences make all parts look the same. You could basically run anywhere on the planet since it all looks the same. It’s like a movie prison scene in which inmates are allowed to be outside for a certain period. We will have to get used to it, I am afraid, as Liberty would love to just have street circuits. It’s a wonder (and blessing) they don’t put up those fences in Monaco (yet).
   3. 

      SteveR (@stever)
      18th November 2023, 20:05

      Totally agree. I’ve studied the track map but am failing to figure out where a car is in that concrete tunnel, especially as the cameras are switching around so much. I’m not even sure I’ll watch the race.
6. 

   PeterG
   18th November 2023, 11:19

   I have to say that this circuit is seriously dull.

   Has to be one of the worst tracks F1 runs on right now & is easily top 10 worst F1 tracks of the past 40 or so years.

   And the fact that we were seeing just as many higher shots of the trackside scenery as we were the track action itself tells you everything you need to know about the order of importance of things during this entire farce of a show.

   There simply isn’t anything about this track that is particularly exciting or which looks like it’s any real challenge. It just offers nothing as a track, There’s no thrilling corner or sequence that makes you go ‘wow’ because you know it was a big test of driver skill or anything. It’s just a nothing track that offers nothing.

   According to F1TV commentary they extended the DRS zone on the strip by 50m so maybe we’ll see a lot of DRS-ing but I don’t really find DRS to be all that fun when it tends to be a bit too easy on track configurations like this so that prospect does nothing to excite me.

   Like with Miami & Saudi I just can’t wait for these circuits to fail & vanish into obscurity never to be spoken about again outside of popping up on ‘worst circuit’ lists.

   And thats the thing. Would anyone really be disappointed if Vegas, Miami or Saudi dropped off the 2024 calender? Like with Valencia & Sochi there tracks that nobody would miss & which would be very quickly forgotten because none of them are especially good circuits.
   1. 

      Ferdinand
      18th November 2023, 12:25

      +1 horrible track. Entertaining environment for sure, but not a sporting event, just 100% entertainment monetization. Liberty at its best.
   2. 

      some racing fan
      18th November 2023, 14:04

      I agree 100 percent that Saudi needs to drop off the calendar. In addition to it being in Saudi Arabia, a country with barbaric, medieval laws and atrocious domestic human rights violations the Jeddah circuit is shockingly dangerous- there are tracks from the 1970s that are less dangerous than that place.

      But Miami is a track that with a few alterations would become much better than it is now.
      1. 

         Red Andy (@red-andy)
         18th November 2023, 16:23

         The main alteration needed for the Miami Grand Prix is to move it 650 miles or so to the north and have it at Road Atlanta.
         1. 

            SteveR (@stever)
            18th November 2023, 20:08

            Or go a bit further and end up at Road America at Elkhart Lake…..
7. 

   Maisch (@maisch)
   18th November 2023, 13:47

   This was even worse than I expected, such an incredible boring layout, it looks like it could be anywhere with the night lights and fences. And its just cars blasting down a narrow straight and wrestling the cars around way to slow bends. I dont want to be negative, but i have very low hopes for the race, since i dont enjoy DRS passing very much. I hope im wrong…
   1. 

      Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
      18th November 2023, 16:35

      @maisch Fear not, the DRS is particularly weak here due to the low downforce.
8. 

   Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
   18th November 2023, 15:03

   Everyone will be relieved and excited to go to Yas Marina after this. It’s all part of the plan!
9. 

   Jim from US (@jimfromus)
   18th November 2023, 15:26

   It’s not like there’s thousands of acres of barren desert just outside the city where a nice track could be built, oh wait.
   1. 

      RR
      18th November 2023, 18:44

      Too late. Plans already touted for a 10,000 acre olympic ice rink in the desert.
10. 

    Jim from US (@jimfromus)
    18th November 2023, 20:43

    Here’s what I’m expecting for the race, big crash turn 1 first lap. Takes hours to fix damage to track. All fans sent back to their hotel rooms and told to watch rest of race on tv. 25% off next year’s race tickets given as compensation.

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