2024 silly season is crazy this year. So many big names with uncertain futures.

The Marksman said:

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Ollie would be a great driver pick for them, but Zhou doesn't belong in F1 in my opinion

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Zhou brings China to the table. Thats the reason he is driving I would expect.

FIA is going through all the F3 drivers this morning, seems like there were private tests that the FIA wasn't told about.
Arvid Lindblad got fined 10k pounds for testing a GB3 car last month. Martinius Stenshorne, who was announced as a McLaren junior driver today, is disqualified from Silverstone later this year and got 4 penalty points.

As the expert, you'll have to forgive my ignorance, but what's the rationale for not letting F3 drivers test other cars?

jorgerr96 said:

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FIA is going through all the F3 drivers this morning, seems like there were private tests that the FIA wasn't told about.
Arvid Lindblad got fined 10k pounds for testing a GB3 car last month. Martinius Stenshorne, who was announced as a McLaren junior driver today, is disqualified from Silverstone later this year and got 4 penalty points.

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Didn't know much about this. I guess it is frowned upon to race in other series at the same track as an F3 race?

If it was at the same track as an upcoming F3 race, then it could be argued that it gives a driver an unfair advantage. But I could be way off on that. Seems a bit ridiculous.

Per FIA rules if they drive on a circuit that's on a future F2/F3 date then it's not allowed because it can be an advantage.

Arvid only tested so he gets a fine, but since Stenshorne raced a full GB3 weekend at Silverstone (which is in the F3 calendar) he gets a ban for that whole weekend.

Nikola Tsolov raced as well in Spa in EuroCup3, so he gets a ban for the Spa round which is one of the last ones in the F3 calendar.

Those two series (GB3 and EC3) are not FIA regulated so that also plays a part I would say.

F1 Academy is not FIA regulated so a few drivers did other series right before the F1A season started and even raced in circuits where they will race with F1A. Doriane, Bianca, Tina, Aurelia and Carrie raced in Abu Dhabi in January and then the Al Quabasi sisters and Aurelia did Qatar in February. All of them raced the F4 car so they are definitely getting an advantage over other drivers that have never raced at those tracks lol

Yeah that's what they argue, that it's being seen as an advantage especially if the car they tested with is similar to the F3 car. I get the race ban but the 4 penalty points for Stenshorne is harsh, especially when the move Tsolov did on Dunne in Australia (I recall the video being linked here as well) only got him 2 penalty points

Yeah, 4 penalty points is way harsh if you're going to ban them for the weekend any way.

🚨 | James Vowles on Sargeant and Williams 2nd seat for 2025:

“We’ve had a direct conversation, it’s a very hard conversation when you do it, but the simple matter of fact is, […], he is at risk.”

“We are talking to a few other drivers because we have to get our '25, '26, '27… pic.twitter.com/t50QsmbYbm

— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) May 17, 2024

yeah he is cooked lol

Piastri from 2nd to 5th. lol.

Agreed. Although I will maintain that the next rookie in that seat will be just as bad, if not worse.

Full B-team commentary this week

No kidding. Don't realize how much I miss Brundle

I think even Will Buxton has the week off.

So far, I'm liking this guy with Karun.

Crofty will also be out for Austria and Azerbaijan. It will likely be the same lineup as this week.

Harry Benjamin is the main announcer in Crofty's absence.

Crofty is taking off 3 races this year, so you will get him (Harry Benjamin) for 2 other races.

Lando might pull off another upset here !!

That last little off cost Lando any shot he had.
And I guess the 100% chance of a sc never materialized.

I'm excited to see how things progress and hope the development McLaren and Ferrari bring for their cars can keep the pressure on Red Bull and Max.

And I'm saying that as a Red Bull and Max fan. Makes for better races.

Agreed. I want racing for podium spots

I wonder what explanation Mercedes is going to give for pitting George and giving up track position to Lewis. Did they feel his tires were that bad and he would have lost the position anyway?

They had more leeway with Russell over Hamilton with any sort of problematic pitstop. Same amount of points for the team. So this was pure max team points and add extra point for 4th place.

That makes sense. I was suckered by the commentary.

Still, I'm sure Russell was a little ticked. He could have gained a point or 2 on Hamilton. He was 10 pts ahead coming in.

Yeah, by getting the fastest lap, it only cost George 1 point on his lead of Hamilton.

Just stumbled upon this TikTok about an incident at the F2 race earlier today. Very lucky no one was injured.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRKe1hY6/