The 2023 Season

[Penfold]

Less than two months to go so thought I'd better get a wriggle on. Calendar seems a sensible place to start:

March 5: Bahrain (Sakhir)
March 19: Saudi Arabia (Jeddah)
April 2: Australia (Melbourne)
April 16: China (Shanghai) - Covid dependent
April 30: Azerbaijan (Baku)*
May 7: Miami (Miami)
May 21: Emilia Romagna (Imola)
May 28: Monaco (Monaco)
June 4: Spain (Barcelona)
June 18: Canada (Montreal)
July 2: Austria (Spielberg)*
July 9: Great Britain (Silverstone)
July 23: Hungary (Budapest)
July 30: Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)*
August 27: Netherlands (Zandvoort)
September 3: Italy (Monza)
September 17: Singapore (Marina Bay)
September 24: Japan (Suzuka)
October 8: Qatar (Losail)*
October 22: USA (Austin)*
October 29: Mexico (Mexico City)
November 5: Brazil (Sao Paulo)*
November 18: Las Vegas
November 26: Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)

*unfortunately this little guy denotes Sprint rounds

[Chrill]

It might be worth re-adding China with a bit of a "TBC". The Chinese government recently went "oh fuck it, who cares?" regarding Covid lockdowns. As a result, everyone got Covid. No, almost everyone. In the Henan province (population of pretty much 100 million people), the local government confirmed 89% of everyone (That's 89 million people) have tested positive since the breakout.

That means they will all be either dead or not sick come April, so may as well host a Grand Prix yes? At least the Shanghai circuit is pretty neat.

[Penfold]

Well that's one way to approach Covid

[Chrill]

You can't die from Covid twice. Valid method.

[Chrill]

Let's try posting despite the forum being all broken. After one day of testing, here is my summary of how this year will go.

1. Red Bull
2. Mercedes (+0.1 seconds per lap)
3. Ferrari (+0.3 seconds per lap)
4. Aston Martin (+0.6 seconds per lap)
5. Alfa Romeo (+0.7 seconds per lap)
6. Williams (+0.9 seconds per lap)
7. Alpine (+1.1 seconds per lap
8. McLaren (+1.3 seconds per lap
9. Haas (+1.3 seconds per lap)
10. AlphaTauri (+1.4 seconds per lap)

So that's all tight and close. This is not based on lap times, not based on race long runs, but based on me making stuff up.

[Penfold]

Okay, I'll take a wild stab at constructor standings for the year...

1. Red Bull
2. Merc
3. Ferrari
4. Alpine
5. Aston - can see them being quicker that Alpine but minus one for Stroll being, well, Stroll
6. Alfa
7. McLaren - counting on good car development as testing pace looks horrid
8. Haas
9. Alpha
10. Williams

[Chrill]

After 3 days, I'll move Alpine up a bit and Red Bull ahead a bit more, plus demote Williams and Alfa Romeo a bit. McLaren stays down though.

1. Red Bull
2. Ferrari (+0.3 seconds per lap)
3. Mercedes (+0.4 seconds per lap)
4. Aston Martin (+0.7 seconds per lap)
5. Alpine (+0.9 seconds per lap)
6. Alfa Romeo (+1.0 seconds per lap)
7. Haas (+1.0 seconds per lap)
8. McLaren (+1.2 seconds per lap)
9. Williams (+1.3 seconds per lap)
10. AlphaTauri (+1.3 seconds per lap)

We'll see if these are the gaps we get in Bahrain.