Been a week. Had time for things to coalesce. Let's see...

Congrats to Red BUll and Max Verstappen. Clearly head and shoulders above the field, for a number of reasons. At times it felt like Petronas domination circa 2014 - 2016. They got the regs and reliability right, and after playing 3rd string for so long get to rule the roost. It's not all candy and rainbows, as they have a decent penalty for the cost cap, and the interpersonal driver lineup with Max/Sergio/Danny is going to be something to watch and Horner to manage. Can they 3-peat? We will know soon enough.

Gotta feel bad for the Tifosi. Or, maybe not. Another season of high hopes, another season falls apart. This very well may just be Ferrari's MO. Sainz and Leclerc are very good drivers, but the car went from front of the pack to crap before the summer break, and both drivers never seemed to get on top of the car when they needed to. Binotto steps down, which was probably needed at this point, but I'm not entirely sure the fault was all on him. Fast car, wonky reliability, bizarre strategy calls, inconsistent pits, inconsistent drivers at times.... There are a ton of reasons Ferrari are where they are, and have been for years. Mattia being gone may be the first casualty, but I don't think it's the last

Goodbye and good riddance to the W13. Toto saying the cars are being placed in the lobby of HQ is a great thing, as Mercedes owns up to royally botching this season with an uncharacteristically bad car. Exactly what the concept was that they got wrong hasn't been said, but I'm not sure the extra slim sidepods were it. If there's any team that has the manpower and resources (most important, even in a cost cap series), it's Mercedes. Given the extra wind tunnel time they get finishing 3rd, and given RB is losing time, I think they can cut the gap. That said, they haven't been in this position since 2013, and with that car they knew what they needed to do for 2014 and stopped developing that car much earlier. Not entirely sure that can translate to 2023, but I have hope. George looks like the future, and Lewis didn't look like he got slower (though he had moments that didn't make sense, like Spa). They are the most stable team on the grid at this point, with the most decorated driver and the cache to back it up. Let's see how they get on next year

The midfield has the greatest shakeup. Will any of the moves get those teams out of F1.5? Who knows...

Alpine fills their driver hole with Pierre Gasley. This isn't a bad move for either party. Gasley has been much more consistent at AT (after getting booted from RB) and shown flashes of speed and consistency. Both he and Ocon seem pretty evenly matched skillwise, so they should make a solid team. The only things that may be a problem will be which driver will be top dog, and whether Renault/Alpine can give them and engine and car to break from the pack.

McLaren is also in a decent position to make some moves and break from the pack, but it's hard to say whether they will. Lando has great pace for sure, but it's harder to tell if it's the car or him that's holding him back from greater success. Piastri is the wild card, as he now has to prove the contract kerfuffle with Williams and Alpine were worth it to McLaren. I'm sure Zak Brown and company want to show and prove. Here's hoping they can

I've got no clue on Alfa. Zhou's results were hampered a bit by car reliability and some unfortunate crashes. Valtteri seems happy and made some decent moves through the field to end up 10th in the driver's standing. But unless the team has some cash injection or a development breakthrough, they may be facing more of the same

Grazzie Mille to Vettel. Got 4 chips at RB, but couldn't quite get it done at Ferrari, and seemed to waste his talents at Aston Martin. Even when they dropped the 'stroker' (cheater) engine in they couldn't quite beat Petronas, though not for lack of trying. Germany 2018 is going to stick with him. That said, it was nice to see him grow into a beloved elder stateman on the grid, with the 'Multi21' aftermath behind him. Here's hoping he enjoys his time away from F1 and goes to do great things.

That said, not sure Aston Martin is any better off with Alonso snapping up Vettel's barely cool seat. From a marketing view, it works great. On skill, Alonso still has quite a bit in the tank. Can Aston harness any of that? I have my doubts. I don't think he's that much faster than Vettel (if at all), and Vettel had struggles with that car. Regardless, he will likely do better than Stroll, who's just here because his dad owns the team, not because he's any good. He's still weaving on the straights at this point in his career,, which is all you need to know.

Gunter is a personality, that's for sure. As a team principal? Not sure getting two ex-girlfriends as your drivers is a great strategy long term or short term, but it was great K-Mag was back last year, and Hulk should be a welcome return as well. Was bringing Nico back better than sacking Mick? No clue. Mick has huge shoes to fill and likely will never be his pops, but he never was supposed to be. Does he have more upside than either of the seasoned Haas drivers? I'd like to think so, but there weren't many memorable drives during his tenure, and K-Mag outdriving him most of the season couldn't have helped. Regardless of whose driving, do they have a decent car to drive, or will they be near the back of the pack again? I'm betting on the latter, and more spicy clips on Drive to Survive from Gunther.

AT has a weird year. They had moments of competitiveness, and moments of malaise. Yuki should be placed as the man at that team, but it doesn't look like any of the data or development from RB has trickled down to AlphaTauri, so they could be in a similar spot next year. Can Nyck D handle the bright lights? Better conspiracy question: Will RB lok at either of their drivers over Danny Ricc (more on him later) when they chose to dump Perez? Not saying it will or should happen, but given Marko's history, I wouldn't bat an eye if it comes to fruition.

Glad Alex Albon has a seat, but it's at Williams, so...I guess he's doing it for the love of the race, maybe? I do think he got a raw deal at RB, but there's not a big enough sample size to say if he deserves a better ride. The car has been fast in qualis, so there's something buried in that heap. Will Alex be the one to help develop the car and program, or is he biding his time? No clue. Prepare for another blue flag season.

Ricciardo. I'm not sure what to say. He left RB not to be #2, only to go back as a #3 (if that)? Renault and McLaren weren't great stints for him, whether it was the car never suited his style or his skill regressed (or somewhere in the middle). But to play the understudy in a production you KNOW is not gonna go your way is puzzling. He knows how things went with him and Max. He's seen how the junior drivers have fared. He's seen how Sergio has been handled. Why would you sign up for another chance at any of that? He's fast, yes, but he was JUST faster than Max before he left, and I'm sure Max is much faster than Danny now in that RB. And there's no telling whether Helmut wakes up, has his coffee, and pulls a junior driver from F3 to pair with Max, let alone promoting Nyck from AT. If there's some ambassador role he's playing, great. Sounds like an easy paycheck. But as a move to stay a F1 driver? I don't quite get it.

<-- Dave Thomas knows what's up...
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