Season 6: Still Driving; Still Surviving

[PrincessPurrsALot]

The new season drops on 2024.02.23.  Driving! Racing! Pit stops! Drama!  We're back and ready to race.

[woodstock]

Season 6 trailer is here!

 

[woodstock]

S6 Full trailer

That exchange between Lewis and Toto hits different now that we know Lewis is joining Ferrari next year.

I completely forgot about the Alpine drama with Otmar. 

[RunningMarket]

I still want a spinoff with Guenther and Mattia and their adventures in wine making (or drinking).

[Lamima]

Binge watched it all. I will miss Guenther. 

Can't wait for this weekend...race weekend. 

[woodstock]

Finally finished all episodes. Lots of random thoughts:

The Team Principals (and Management) seemed to be the focus and I did like seeing and hearing their perspectives on everything happening throughout the season. James Vowles is my new F1 crush; he is very thoughtful and he explains things in a way where you don't feel like he is talking down to you. I found Fred Vasseur to be very likable also. Otmar's firing was SO awkward; I felt bad for how that played out but he was crazy to think that pairing Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon was going to go well. Add in a bad car and an underperforming season and well....you could see his demise coming. And that was possibly the weirdest, lamest pep talk ever🤪. Unlike most people I don't hate Lawrence Stroll; he's always struck me as a no-nonsense, calculating, business-oriented individual who doesn't show much emotion. I'm pretty neutral on him.  I am so jealous that Toto Wolff can speak multiple languages and he switches between them so smoothly. My brain would freeze switching between English, German, Italian, etc.😂 And then there's Guenther Steiner. Poor Guenther. This show will not be the same without him. And I loved Mattia Binotto's cameo appearance!

Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes after the 2024 season makes sense now. He offered suggestions on how to improve the car after the disastrous 2022 season and the Mercedes' engineers basically saying 'you're wrong' then in 2023 having to admit that he was right and they were wrong spoke volumes. (Engineering 101: always listen to the end-user.) If Mercedes had implemented some of Lewis' suggestions in the W14 and they had not worked then the engineers could have said 'We tried it your way Lewis' I think Lewis would have been like 'ok you guys really do know better than me, I'll shut up now'. Instead, 2023 was another season of lost opportunities and frustration. I think Lewis has lost faith in the team's ability to design a competitive car. The clock is ticking for him; he doesn't have years for them to figure it out.

Apparently, there was a real possibility that Lando Norris would have left McLaren if they had not turned their season around...Ferrari really is a religion in Italy. I need to hire Nyck DeVries to clean my house...I hope Liam Lawson gets another shot in F1. Alex Albon is a budding tv/movie director.

Things that were missing or barely mentioned in S6:

Absolutely nothing on Alfa Romeo. Sergio Perez's and George Russell's struggles last season. Oscar Piastri's sprint win. Lewis' and Charles Leclerc's double disqualifications at COTA. Max Verstappen's and Red Bull's domination. Toto's rant during a press conference at the Las Vegas GP - I mentioned this because before the start of the race, a lady thanked Toto for speaking up in support of the GP and the people who worked at the event. If you haven't seen his rant that moment is missing context.