Thu 22 Mar – Sun 25 Mar 2018 | GMT+11 Practice 1 Fri 12:00 – 13:30 Practice 2 Fri 16:00 – 17:30 Practice 3 Sat 14:00 – 15:00 Qualifying Sat 17:00 – 18:00 Race Sun 16:10 – 18:10
Since there is no 2018 thread. X| Here to the race this weekend! (Will update this OP later)
Pumped for McLaren cause they don't have poop engine anymore. > _ > Haven't been really up to date with stuff, so not sure how they did in testing, but EXCITED! :D
McLaren kept derping in testing. If they are not level with RBR by May, someone head may roll.
We shall see how this season go. Looking great and someone may win his 5th title. But I prefer Ricciardo winning his maiden title while Mercedes wins the constructor.
I'm pretty hyped for this season. Red Bull really upping their game with Ferrari looking good in pre season testing. Mercedes sandbagging hard as usual.
I'll call it right now. Toro Rosso ahead of McLaren this year for maximum salt.
McLaren still had problems in testing and Torro Rosso powered now by Honda did fine with it, minus a couple of flaws on the last day of testing. McLaren say they don't have any issues anymore but i can see them retiring in Australia already xd
Merc vs Ferrari vs Red Bull should be great. All 3 showed pace on different dates with Mercedes pumping in the most laps of the 3 teams. Should be a great start to the season this weekend.
On March 22 2018 14:55 shiroiusagi wrote: Oh yikes serious? : s Oh man that would suck if Torro Rosso does better than McLaren. T_T
what are you talking about? this would make it the most dramatic story of the year, which potentially can lead to a lot of behind-the-scenes moves. I would be all where is my popcorn and beer.
The Halo really dampening my Hype for the season you cant even see the drivers helmet anymore in the car according to Magnussen. Liberty are going full Hollywood which I don't think is a great idea the commentary team is even going to have to be quiet for a few laps in the middle of the race while liberty plays their new action movie theme tune (can't wait for an important overtake or crash to happen while that is playing.)
Just hope it is a competitive year, Mclaren can get near the front and in the end Hamilton wins the title. But looks like Mercedes might be back to 2014-2016 dominance looking at the testing long runs. Driver market will hopefully be fun nearly everyone is out of contract.
Well Mercedes still seem the best over 1 lap but good to see Red Bull is close, Haas only 2 tenths off Ferrari and McLaren not too far behind also considering the trouble they have had hopefully this is a good sign of things to come.
Getting excited for the season but I'm still a little skeptical of the pace of Ferrari, and Red Bull for that matter. Practice isn't that telling of course, hoping that the GPS data isn't either. I just don't want it to be one-sided.
Early notes after qualifying: Looking good for the season!
Mercedes engine qualifying mode is a beast. Top 3 teams are the usual suspects. Midfield battle will be interesting with Haas, Renault and McLaren fighting it out. Williams and Force India fell off. Honda is still a shit engine.
On March 25 2018 14:51 LennX wrote: Haas just imploded. Both drivers out..... Mag rear left wheel wasn't attached properly Gros front left wheel wasn't attached properly
Wow. Was watching, but stream stopped loading for me after seeing many times of the Haas mess up replays.The gap between 4th and 5th so huge. DX
God dammit Hass I was so hyped watching that at the start thinking wow, Hass, America is here to play this season wowowow. Then they failed two pit stops in a row, within 5 minutes of each other. Not only did they do that, but they destroyed Hamilton and Raikonens races with it due to this absurd ruling that allows you to drive faster in the pit lane / exit than you can do on the track during a virtual safety car xD Then not only that, but the real safety car comes out 1 lap later, if that came out originally Vettel wouldn't have been able to do what he did, so it was just awful luck for Lewis/Kimi
Wow that was annoying end Rip Lewis, good start though was fun.
Oh come on, I see no brit complaining when the safety car is helping Lewis. It's just bad luck, it happens all the time in F1. It still looks like Mercedes have the strongest package this year and he's still one of the best driver out there so he's likely to win once more this year
Safety Car is different though, Safety car normally helps because it squeezes up the pack or if you are very lucky you can squeeze in the pit and keep your place. But the Virtual Safety car allows you to drive faster in the pit area run off though which again you can't do under a proper Safety Car xD
Ferrari 1/2, its been a while. Gasly p6 like a boss. Both Hondas in front of Mclaren and 1.5 sec behind the Red Bull with the same power unit... so much for the best chassis on the grid
Good news for Hamilton is that Vettel car is rumored to be having engine troubles from P3. He might be able to cruise through tomorrow enough for it not to matter though.
Gotta hope Hamilton can cruise through the field but i doubt it.
Max has also started this season off in awful form. In Australia was driving so poor, drifting and ruining his tyres way to much. This weekend so far he has crashed going around an easy corner way to aggressively. Not a good start for him and Red Bull
Bahrain really suits Raikkonen (and Ferrari) but too bad he wont get 1st in the race unless Vettel suffers a DNF. McLaren results were shocking given they have managed to finish decently in the past with a lulz worthy engine.
If Toro Rosso finishes ahead of McLaren, its a job well done! With Williams having no idea on whats going on, I'm glad that Kubica didn't join them.
Yeah im convinced both Hamilton and Bottas left it way to late to turn the engines up. Lewis in last 3 laps went from 12 seconds behind to 5. Bottas needed to pick up the pace way earlier but i don't think he had enough within himself. Think if it was Lewis behind him would have been a different story.
Oh well Mercedes will be happy as they just took a big lead in constructors, but Lewis is now already down some points on Vettel and Bottas well he very behind.
On April 09 2018 03:43 Pandemona wrote: Yeah im convinced both Hamilton and Bottas left it way to late to turn the engines up. Lewis in last 3 laps went from 12 seconds behind to 5. Bottas needed to pick up the pace way earlier but i don't think he had enough within himself. Think if it was Lewis behind him would have been a different story.
Oh well Mercedes will be happy as they just took a big lead in constructors, but Lewis is now already down some points on Vettel and Bottas well he very behind.
I dont think Mercedes even have hope for Bottas, In Q1 they asked Toto if they can beat Ferrari and his response was "we have Lewis Hamilton so its possible."
Yeah i would take the swap if Kimi still wanted to drive and take him as Mercedes no2. He would get more love without upsetting Lewis much as Kimi just is Kimi lol.
Oh hell no. Kimi is not really motivated in F1 and likewise for Lewis. I dont think you will want to have 1 unmotivated driver (Kimi) and 1 semi motivated driver (Lewis) in your lineup.
Ric gotta leave RBR. I'm seeing echoes of Webber/Vettel situation for Ric where RBR will favour the younger driver
On April 09 2018 19:48 Pandemona wrote: Yeah i think Bottas showed he didn't have much pace or nous in that Bahrain grand prix. Onto China next back to back weeks are fun :D
I mean pushing into dirty air with dead tires isn't exactly an easy thing to do. Vettel drove great with even more dead tyres though. The reason Hamilton managed to gain so much by the end should then be quite apparent.
We'll see how the rest of the season goes.
On April 10 2018 02:08 LennX wrote: Oh hell no. Kimi is not really motivated in F1 and likewise for Lewis. I dont think you will want to have 1 unmotivated driver (Kimi) and 1 semi motivated driver (Lewis) in your lineup.
Ric gotta leave RBR. I'm seeing echoes of Webber/Vettel situation for Ric where RBR will favour the younger driver
Says who? Kimi not being motivated in F1 is just not true, he may not be as motivated as before but if he really wasn't that motivated he wouldn't be in F1 to begin with. To be honest he simply just doesn't have the pace in this era, be it because of the difference in the actual cars, it not suiting his driving style that he had in the past or him being very particular to the setup. It could be any number of things but compared to the likes of Vettel and Hamilton he's just not there (anymore).
(Whether or not Hamilton is that motivated to continue is another matter though, I have gotten the notion he'd want to at least continue if he'd be able to snatch this years WDC. For that chance of beating Schumacher's record.)
Bottas didn't have dead tyres? Vettel was on soft tyres which die after 30 laps, by the end of the race he had ran them for 39! Bottas and Hamilton had 30 lap old MEDIUM tyres the same tyres they ran for well over 50 laps in practice without a bother which is why they were one stop statedgy. Bottas also pitted after Vettel so he had the fresher rubber that lasts way longer. He justs didn't have the pace to catch him, don't forget we saw Lewis get pulled in quite quickly on degrading tyres by Vettel on his fresh set of soft tyres, was within like 2-3 laps of him coming out of the pits on his Softs. Bottas didn't have the pace at all to challenge it seems and only caught Vettel due to Vettel really coming off the pace due to tyres dying. Bottas should have turned the engine up and went for him before lap 50 due to applying pressure to Ferrari making Vettel drive the car and causing even more issues. Martin Brundle mentions it during his race recap he posted yesterday.
On April 10 2018 16:46 Pandemona wrote: Bottas didn't have dead tyres? Vettel was on soft tyres which die after 30 laps, by the end of the race he had ran them for 39! Bottas and Hamilton had 30 lap old MEDIUM tyres the same tyres they ran for well over 50 laps in practice without a bother which is why they were one stop statedgy. Bottas also pitted after Vettel so he had the fresher rubber that lasts way longer. He justs didn't have the pace to catch him, don't forget we saw Lewis get pulled in quite quickly on degrading tyres by Vettel on his fresh set of soft tyres, was within like 2-3 laps of him coming out of the pits on his Softs. Bottas didn't have the pace at all to challenge it seems and only caught Vettel due to Vettel really coming off the pace due to tyres dying. Bottas should have turned the engine up and went for him before lap 50 due to applying pressure to Ferrari making Vettel drive the car and causing even more issues. Martin Brundle mentions it during his race recap he posted yesterday.
They were pretty dead when he finally got in DRS range, again not as dead as Vettel's but I think Mercedes themselves were really surprised how well Vettel handled it, that was quite lucky after all. You really don't think Mercedes (his side anyway) analyzed the situation and/or was an influence in the decision making? Unless you have pretty damning team radio evidence I highly doubt that's true. Shifting all the blame onto the driver here feels quite silly here, which was my point really.
I mean honestly are you really asking that much from a driver that's not Hamilton, Vettel or Alonso for that matter? No other drivers can really push like they can so expecting such a pace from an above average driver is just unreasonable, and it's not like there's any obvious choices to replace him out there either. "Get a driver like Lewis" just isn't a thing. Makes you appreciate Rosberg.
I doubt Lewis would have been able to pass Vettel were he in the same situation, he obviously would have made it closer but.. That's just stupid hypotheticals.
He had tyres that were able to go 50 plus laps and they had done less than 39 laps which is the number that Vettel did on the "soft" compound, on a car which was less than half a second slower than Ferarri's during practice on the same tyres in question. Why wouldn't you blame the driver for only catching him when the tyres dropped off severely and not applying any pressure to Vettel at all prior to the last 4-5 laps. Mercedes said they had the race 90% won, yet they didn't win? They said Lewis messed up that race for himself alot too (also noted in the Brundle recap). I don't see how you can defend Bottas for anything here when we saw Vettel breeze past Hamilton in the exact same situation within a lap (might have been 2) of getting fresh softs on when Lewis' Softs had deteriorated.
He caught up to a Vettel in the closing stages and the German was arguably there for the taking on those tyres, but the Finn was hampered by a costly lock-up and then perhaps wasn't quite aggressive enough on the final lap. As Sky F1 commentator David Croft noted: "I'd imagine that [someone like] Daniel [Ricciardo] might have made a lunge into Turn One to see if it would have come off."
This quote also from the Sky Driver Ratings analysis.
Lmao he pushed quite a lot early in his second stint, evident by the lap times so it's not like he was cruising on those tires. Not to mention Vettel got a little bit of help from traffic, although perhaps neglible. He did one lock up (yes I watched the race too) which was a little bit detrimental but I don't think it affected things that much. You rightly point out with your quote of yours that he didn't make a lunge, which was really risky at that corner with that distance.
You don't think it's more about Mercedes being surprised by Vettel? Sure he drives quite safe but that's not even that bad for a #2 driver. Does he need to improve his overall performance? Yes. Was this race a bad performance? No.
Sorry for not putting blame on drivers, and praising others instead I guess.
I am not saying Vettel didn't drive well, he did drive well but Bottas drove way to passively and was just cruising behind Vettel expecting him to fall off a cliff and cruise past him which is not going to happen. Hamilton would have been way closer way earlier just like in Australia where he was trying so hard for a long period before understanding he was never getting past Vettel on that narrow track.
I understand the bad air issue and you don't want to be behind and in it for a long period of time but as Hamilton proved in Australia you can have a real good go for a reasonable amount of time before it becomes an issue. Bottas was only ever behind him in the air for like 2-3 laps at most. I feel Bottas thought it would be easy pickings when the tyres come off and didn't force the issue of getting behind him quicker because he thought it was an "inevitable" win
On April 10 2018 02:08 LennX wrote: Oh hell no. Kimi is not really motivated in F1 and likewise for Lewis. I dont think you will want to have 1 unmotivated driver (Kimi) and 1 semi motivated driver (Lewis) in your lineup.
Ric gotta leave RBR. I'm seeing echoes of Webber/Vettel situation for Ric where RBR will favour the younger driver
Says who? Kimi not being motivated in F1 is just not true, he may not be as motivated as before but if he really wasn't that motivated he wouldn't be in F1 to begin with. To be honest he simply just doesn't have the pace in this era, be it because of the difference in the actual cars, it not suiting his driving style that he had in the past or him being very particular to the setup. It could be any number of things but compared to the likes of Vettel and Hamilton he's just not there (anymore).
(Whether or not Hamilton is that motivated to continue is another matter though, I have gotten the notion he'd want to at least continue if he'd be able to snatch this years WDC. For that chance of beating Schumacher's record.)
Yup, I meant that Kimi is not as motivated as before. He just doesn't seem to be able or willing to push much.He seems to be happy as a no2 driver and work for the team.
As for Hamilton, he has said he wasn't interested in chasing Schumacher's record. However the 5th WDC seems to be of interest to him to prove beyond doubt that he's the best driver of the current generation.
Race 1 - Whole race changes on stroke of luck due to Virtual Safety Car giving a 20 second window for an undercut, race win is decided Race 3 - Whole race changes when Red Bull are the only ones able to pit due to track position on the SC...whole race changes because of it
Maybe we can look into the rule of being able to pit and keep track position under SC/VSC because that is very silly. Verstappen has to be stupidly close to a race ban now as well and its only 3 races old lol, guy is nuts. Vettell for once was calm during race after it happened but still because of it got messed up severely and Verstappen still finishes ahead of him!
Riccardo win was good, some nice moves, the same move he did 3 times is just down to having grippier tyres into turn 1 from the long straight. Just was quite clear he had so much more grip that it kinda took away from the achievement imo. Was a fun race for some wrong reasons though, lots of drama.
On April 16 2018 17:24 Pandemona wrote: Maybe we can look into the rule of being able to pit and keep track position under SC/VSC because that is very silly. Verstappen has to be stupidly close to a race ban now as well and its only 3 races old lol, guy is nuts. Vettell for once was calm during race after it happened but still because of it got messed up severely and Verstappen still finishes ahead of him!
IMO it's even worse. Because Verstappen only got a 10 sec penalty this effectively also gave Hamilton extra points over Vettel. From Vettels POV either no penalty or a harsher penalty for Max would have been better but instead this joke happened. Meh. I was really surprised how calm Sebastian was afterwards. I expected him to be fuming.
In other news: what's actually going on with Verstappen? 5 crashes/big driving errors in only 3 races? This is even worse than last season. He is regressing from talented, upcoming hotshot to a slightly more talented Maldonado. This is his 4th season in F1. At some point he needs to mature and realize he doesn't drive in F3 anymore
He is just going so very aggressive for whatever reason i don't know either. He is like Grosjean crazy at this moment, making dives down the inside with no gaps, or just losing concentration. Im sure he will be told by Red Bull in the debreif he needs to watch himself.
Indeed i can't believe how calm Vettel was, he normally blows his lid for this stuff and righfully so in this case, he got screwed so very hard. However because Hamilton was not at it again this weekend it seems (might be other issues im not sure) the points lost to him was not as much as it could hae been.
I forgot to mention i was a bit surprised with how much Vettel pushed Raikonen his own team mate out on the start, i know he did technically nothing wrong in the rulebook, but it was such an aggressive move from Vettel to cause Kimi to have no room at all. Was like wow, thats your team mate Vettel calm down xD
Well the start worked for Vettel, it also fucked Hamilton up too as he had to slow way down for Rai and then again as they were going round the corner which let Ver overtake both him and Rai. Hopefully Hamilton picks up the pace for the next race.
On April 16 2018 17:24 Pandemona wrote: Maybe we can look into the rule of being able to pit and keep track position under SC/VSC because that is very silly. Verstappen has to be stupidly close to a race ban now as well and its only 3 races old lol, guy is nuts. Vettell for once was calm during race after it happened but still because of it got messed up severely and Verstappen still finishes ahead of him!
IMO it's even worse. Because Verstappen only got a 10 sec penalty this effectively also gave Hamilton extra points over Vettel. From Vettels POV either no penalty or a harsher penalty for Max would have been better but instead this joke happened. Meh. I was really surprised how calm Sebastian was afterwards. I expected him to be fuming.
In other news: what's actually going on with Verstappen? 5 crashes/big driving errors in only 3 races? This is even worse than last season. He is regressing from talented, upcoming hotshot to a slightly more talented Maldonado. This is his 4th season in F1. At some point he needs to mature and realize he doesn't drive in F3 anymore
Its definitely a mental thing. Its no deniable Verstappen is extremely talanted, but last year with all the problems with Red Bull's reliability really struck him bad. He was supposed to be in fighting for the championship, and his frustration grew. He probably couldnt really cope with the reality and now you see him making these mistakes.
On April 29 2018 22:50 TheNewEra wrote: Should have red flagged it...
Probably would have made sense actually with only what 2 laps to go when the safety car went back in, plus when you crash during a safety car you know there is an issue lol.
Feel sorry for Bottas but happy for Kimi getting second, also happy for Lewis getting championship lead somehow even though he has not been in form yet.
Having only watched the official highlights on Youtube so much is left unexplained. Where the fuck did Sergio Pérez come from for example. The Red Bull crash looks like Verstappen's fault having just watched it and not heard anyone else’s opinion. I know it’s meant to be the guy bheinds fault not to hit the guy in front. But If you can defend like that on a track that narrow and the other guy has to break and get out of it we will never see an overtake in Formula One ever again. It's madness just kept checking to wherever Ricardo was until they hit. Hamilton must be more surprised than anyone he won this one. But absolute heartache for Bottas.
The rule is as well that you are only allowed as the car in front to defend in one direction, so if you go right like he did, you can't go back left to block off Riccardo, but oh well they both told off and they both were made to look silly.
Monaco is usually the most pointless race of the year. Now when they made the cars wider, it's even more pointless. It was funny to watch how 2+ sec/lap faster Verstappen with new tyre struggle to overtake Renault on 30+ laps old tyre. Nice win from Ricciardo, but meh... its Monaco.
Snoozefest front runners playing the championship game, one of them could have gone for a two stop but playing it safe. Well done Ric but I think Mercedes and Hamilton will be pretty happy only dropping 3 points to Vettel at their worst track, now we are going to Mercedes and Hamilton territory with fast tracks like Canada, France, Britain.
On May 28 2018 00:37 Pandemona wrote: Guess the race engineers all fucked up massively this weekend as the Hyper Softs were the fastest tyres not the supers.
Everyone knew hyper were the fastest but they could only last for around 7 laps for optimal performance and the other 13 laps being on par with the ultras while the ultras can last 60++ laps while retaining decent performance.
This is why P11 onwards mostly started on ultras while the top10 started on hypers because they had to due to Q2 restrictions.
Think i got confused somewhere but i thought it was, they all started on hypersoft then they moved onto the ultrasoft which were "slower" than the super softs or something.
I think i confused myself somewhere haha, but the top 4 all changed to the worst tyre minus Bottas who had pace but just couldn't get past anyone it seems.
Yep, Bottas on supersoft was faster than everyone else on ultra, but I think that this is true only for the Mercedes. They are pretty good on the hard tyres this year(which I think will be the deciding factor for the championship). Also driving behind the safety car ( AKA Ricciardo) increased the life of the ultrasoft tyre, so Bottas got screwed at the end. 60 laps is double the prediction of Pirelli for ultrasoft tyre on this track.
I think the top 5 did the wrong strategy for sure just were not punished because there is a big pace difference back to the rest, it being monaco and everyone was playing safe. I reckon Hamilton or Vettel could have won with a two stop maybe even Kimi or Bottas.
Kinda sad that Verstappen's move wasn't punished. He clearly was cutting the corner due to late braking. He also touched Sainz in a typical Verstappen move one lap earlier. Don't get me wrong, he's a great driver, but his recklessness is beginning to annoy me. He also threw away a possible double podium for RB with his crash in FP3. Maybe the pressure's getting to him. So far, it's a terrible season for the dutchman.
Even though the GP was pretty boring, Ricciardo's performance was spot on over the whole weekend. He dominated every session. I'd really like to see him in a top tier car next season... But who knows, as long as RB are strong on slower tracks, he still might have a shot for this year's title.
On May 28 2018 07:01 virpi wrote: Kinda sad that Verstappen's move wasn't punished. He clearly was cutting the corner due to late braking. He also touched Sainz in a typical Verstappen move one lap earlier. Don't get me wrong, he's a great driver, but his recklessness is beginning to annoy me. He also threw away a possible double podium for RB with his crash in FP3. Maybe the pressure's getting to him. So far, it's a terrible season for the dutchman.
Sainz had cut the corner when Verstappen tried to pass him the lap before, he probably would have been ordered to give Verstappen the position anyways.
On May 28 2018 07:01 virpi wrote: Kinda sad that Verstappen's move wasn't punished. He clearly was cutting the corner due to late braking. He also touched Sainz in a typical Verstappen move one lap earlier. Don't get me wrong, he's a great driver, but his recklessness is beginning to annoy me. He also threw away a possible double podium for RB with his crash in FP3. Maybe the pressure's getting to him. So far, it's a terrible season for the dutchman.
Sainz had cut the corner when Verstappen tried to pass him the lap before, he probably would have been ordered to give Verstappen the position anyways.
Well, it looked like he was pushed off, but I guess both were fighting hard, so no real problem overall. Verstappen did drive well yesterday, even with a faster car it's very hard to overtake @ Monaco.
On May 28 2018 07:01 virpi wrote: Kinda sad that Verstappen's move wasn't punished. He clearly was cutting the corner due to late braking. He also touched Sainz in a typical Verstappen move one lap earlier. Don't get me wrong, he's a great driver, but his recklessness is beginning to annoy me. He also threw away a possible double podium for RB with his crash in FP3. Maybe the pressure's getting to him. So far, it's a terrible season for the dutchman.
Even though the GP was pretty boring, Ricciardo's performance was spot on over the whole weekend. He dominated every session. I'd really like to see him in a top tier car next season... But who knows, as long as RB are strong on slower tracks, he still might have a shot for this year's title.
I doubt it. Last year Ferrari was faster on the slow tracks compared to Mercedess. Vettel was not even close to a title. The majority of the tracks are fast. That is why Ferrari changed their car and now are competitive on the fast tracks and slower on the slow ones.
Yeah, Ferrari is really looking solid overall this year. They could easily lead both championships if it weren't for some strategic mishaps and some bad luck (Räikkonen vs. mechanic, Verstappen vs. Vettel). Mercedes doesn't strike me as a top contender, even though HAM has 2 wins on his belt. But they surely have got a strong package and they will be a force on the faster tracks. It's gonna be a close season, which is awesome. I didn't follow F1 for years, but right now it's interesting again.
People are complaing about Monaco been a procession. But it has always been that in recent years. Monaco is the one race where the qualifying is more exciting than the race. The onboard shots give such a sensation of speed around the city that you just don't get with the bigger circuits. The drivers going for it all out on Saturday knowing how little chance there is of making a lot of overtakes and the marign for error and the difference between been a hero and a zero so small. It's an exciting quallfying. But we don't want too many Moanco style street circuits in a year because the actual race is almost always boring as a race. It's a spectacle.
The race may be helped by having a different tyre combination. For example, hypersoft, soft and medium. This will force the teams into who gets the best pitstop window but it may mean that finishing 11th is better than finishing on pole.
I think the cars being as big as they are do not help either, it was the "reason" no one could overtake in Australia either. Hoping Singapore doesn't suffer as that night race is beautiful.
This is Formula 1 nowadays. The leading cars are built in a way that doesn't allow them to follow the opponents for long. Even if someone tries, they overheat and lose grip, because of the disturbed airflow. Basically you need to be 1+ second faster per lap to even have the chance to overtake, even with DRS, and you need to do it fast.
Here is a good article that shows the changes for the new season that address exactly that. www.formula1.com. Looks like the next season will be more interesting !
Yeah im confused as to why they would announce partnership with Aston Martin and not make them make them (lol) an engine. Honda is fine though, Toro Roso proving that they aren't as unreliable as McLaren make them look, but still, seems a risk to me.
Yeah i guess the Aston engines will come after if Honda don't supply good enough engines for next 2 years. However, Red Bull are in trouble if they have inferior engines for next 2 years as Riccardo will leave.
Mercedes came to France with new engine upgrade and won and had shut out in qualifying. Come to Austria with now multiple chasis upgrades! They are fastest in practice so far...
Hmm think Mercedes might have just won the season.
Anything can still happen and Austria is still a power track I think it puts to rest the stories about Mercedes only won Spain and France because of the different tyre type (which will also be in Britain.) Vettel is only 14 points behind anything can happen.
Yeah they said it was very bad because it sounds like he literally didn't hear/see him and Sainz had to go off of the track. Another mistake from Mr Vettell.
On July 01 2018 03:37 Pandemona wrote: Yeah they said it was very bad because it sounds like he literally didn't hear/see him and Sainz had to go off of the track. Another mistake from Mr Vettell.
No bias right?
There was no point or prior history that would have him intentionally blocking Sainz….it was a freak combination of timing and track position. And obviously a sleeping engineer in front of the GPS not giving the warning.
I think they should end the season now and give it to Hamilton instead of things like this.
The penalty is deserved imo but holy hell FIA needs to be consistent with them, there are numerous similar if not worse offenses this and last season that goes unchecked.
Having reviewed all alleged impeding incidents since the beginning of 2016, the penalty of a drop of three grid positions is consistent with all other similar incidents.
This has got to be satire right?
I can get the penalty... but saying this is consistent with similar incidence is taking the piss
Dammit James, what the hell kind of a call was that!! They watch Bottas clutch go, VSC comes out, see every pit crew moving out and refuse to pit Lewis. Now his race is over!
On July 02 2018 00:01 Zaros wrote: Joke race by Mercedes after the perfect start.
Vettel must have had a sinking feeling in his stomach after that start HAM 1 - VET 8 He 95% would have retired with loss of fuel pressure anyway even if they had the perfect stop strategy
All in all interesting race and makes the championship very exciting.
Defo best race in a while because people could overtake and the start was amazing from Kimi lol, great wheel to wheel action. Then with the added sausage kurbs destroying people who mess up every now and again was interesting. Plus the hot track was eating tyres up and peoples cars were starting to fail.
Ferrari is not looking anything shaky this weekend. Keep in mind Vettel was doing qualifying with neck problems without proper treatment, and Ferrari generally have slightly better race pace.
On July 08 2018 07:34 digmouse wrote: Ferrari is not looking anything shaky this weekend. Keep in mind Vettel was doing qualifying with neck problems without proper treatment, and Ferrari generally have slightly better race pace.
Yeah thats what I'm saying, Ferrari look very strong very scary and I think Hamilton's going to struggle to win.
Good race, need more tracks like the god track that is Silverstone so we can have great races in terms of over taking. Lewis carving from last to 6th in 12 laps wouldn't happen anywhere else it seems. Plus everyone else having good time as well.
We've had a few races this year that have come alive at the end. I think we all would like more rain in races than we currently are getting.
Great drive from Lewis today to come from 14th to win, he clean drove away from Bottas after that first lap so the team orders had zero impact on the result.
Seb has already made quite a few costly mistakes this year, this one was a bad one too like Singapore last year, cost him 35ish points in his title race to Hamilton. I still wouldn't be too concerned if I was a Ferrari fan, they have the best car now and it works on every type of track. It will be interesting to see the Hungary and Singapore pecking order, will Red Bull be the car to beat? (hopefully Danny Ricc doesn't have to take a penalty after his retirement today).
On July 23 2018 00:48 Aristodemus wrote: Great drive from Lewis today to come from 14th to win, he clean drove away from Bottas after that first lap so the team orders had zero impact on the result.
That is a strong statement when as soon as Bottas tried to pass he was clearly order to stand down. As soon as that order is given, you don't follow the car in front of you (one because that is the order, second because these cars are awful at that and he would be taking unnecessary risks for no benefit as he was not allowed to overtake).
Obviously Hamilton could have defended and was in the better position but a claim such as yours is, IMHO, a strech.
Regarding the win, all you Hamilton fans can relax. They said he was naughty and he promised to never repeat such a thing and the decision was to let him go ;-)
Regardless of how I feel about Hamilton or this race, taking his win away because of that would have been ridiculous. I've seen some ridiculous decisions this year but this would be too much so I'm glad someone had the decency to use their brain and let the result stand.
He wasn't told to hold back until after that first lap, by which point Hamilton was 1.5sec ahead I think, a gap which he increased by half a second a lap until the end. That's a big difference in pace. After Lewis got his tyres back up to temp (because they were older) he was always going to win.
On July 24 2018 04:41 Aristodemus wrote: He wasn't told to hold back until after that first lap, by which point Hamilton was 1.5sec ahead I think, a gap which he increased by half a second a lap until the end. That's a big difference in pace. After Lewis got his tyres back up to temp (because they were older) he was always going to win.
The moment the com is showed and the moment the com takes place are not the same.
Like I said, obviously after been given such an order Botas better start letting the gap grow, at least for car management purposes regardless if there are a few laps to go or a ton, those cars should not follow closely the car in front if no gain is to be obtained in the short term, let alone ever.
Again, I have no doubt that the possibility of having Bottas overtake was very slim, nevertheless, saying it had zero impact I think is not being fair (moreso considering your last comment on tyre temp). Obviously you can think otherwise, not trying to convince you or anything, just giving my view on it.
Unfortunately, I think Mercedes will have an edge this weekend as well so the gap between first and second should increase provided no surprises happen again.
On July 24 2018 04:41 Aristodemus wrote: He wasn't told to hold back until after that first lap, by which point Hamilton was 1.5sec ahead I think, a gap which he increased by half a second a lap until the end. That's a big difference in pace. After Lewis got his tyres back up to temp (because they were older) he was always going to win.
The moment the com is showed and the moment the com takes place are not the same.
Like I said, obviously after been given such an order Botas better start letting the gap grow, at least for car management purposes regardless if there are a few laps to go or a ton, those cars should not follow closely the car in front if no gain is to be obtained in the short term, let alone ever.
Again, I have no doubt that the possibility of having Bottas overtake was very slim, nevertheless, saying it had zero impact I think is not being fair (moreso considering your last comment on tyre temp). Obviously you can think otherwise, not trying to convince you or anything, just giving my view on it.
Unfortunately, I think Mercedes will have an edge this weekend as well so the gap between first and second should increase provided no surprises happen again.
Hungary is traditionally one of Mercs weakest tracks, although Hamilton is very good around there. I expect a Red Bull victory and unless Hamilton pulls out something special then Ferrari to be ahead of Mercedes.
The reason I said the call was made after the first lap is because both Bottas and Toto said that after the race, no reason to doubt that. We differ on whether we thought Bottas had a chance at winning after that point, let's leave it at that.
Agreed Zaros, I think Lewis will be lucky to be on the podium this weekend. Taking Monaco into account and the huge engine upgrade Ferrari have had since. If I was a betting man I would put my money on Max, he has been driving very well lately.
Edit: Quote from Lewis
"The cool thing was when we were back in the meeting room Toto stood there, said 'come over' and Valtteri was like 'it's fine, because by the time he gave the order he had already pulled away'. So it wasn't like he had told him whilst we were in battle," added the world championship leader.
The luck of Mercedes is unbelievable. On Silverstone Hamilton had no chance for front finish after bad start - double safety car. In Germany again no chance to win - accident of Vettel in the rain. Now, in Hungary, they couldn't even stay on the dry track 2 hours before the qualification... No problem - enjoy the thunderstorm.
Nah Bottas tires were shot by then when he was defending against Vettel. 2nd clash with Ricciadro, he understeered. I will say its more due to bad luck.
On July 24 2018 18:36 Aristodemus wrote: The reason I said the call was made after the first lap is because both Bottas and Toto said that after the race, no reason to doubt that. We differ on whether we thought Bottas had a chance at winning after that point, let's leave it at that.
Agreed Zaros, I think Lewis will be lucky to be on the podium this weekend. Taking Monaco into account and the huge engine upgrade Ferrari have had since. If I was a betting man I would put my money on Max, he has been driving very well lately.
Edit: Quote from Lewis
"The cool thing was when we were back in the meeting room Toto stood there, said 'come over' and Valtteri was like 'it's fine, because by the time he gave the order he had already pulled away'. So it wasn't like he had told him whilst we were in battle," added the world championship leader.
Assuming those statements are not just for show (those happen a lot) then I stand corrected obviously as you were right. Again, i say once that I was not telling that an overtake would take place….but a 0% probability was not correct from what I was seeing, just that
Regarding today's result I was, unfortunately, right. Although it was not the way I thought it would. I saw this as a track were engine power would not factor as much. hence the RB ability to be up there and the mercs fast cornering advantage in my mind. The free practices showed me wrong but the rain and Vettel's performance in Q3 turned things for the worse (will still watch the race later tonight).
Yo if Red Bull take Alonso that be nuts, but what the hell this is so left field for me. Why Renault? In my opinion Haas will over take them next season with how well they have been doing. I hope Renault make a resurgance anyway, one of the old school great teams from the past, but wow did not expect this.
On August 04 2018 03:09 Pandemona wrote: Yo if Red Bull take Alonso that be nuts, but what the hell this is so left field for me. Why Renault? In my opinion Haas will over take them next season with how well they have been doing. I hope Renault make a resurgance anyway, one of the old school great teams from the past, but wow did not expect this.
Renault have had a good trajectory, every year they have improved significantly but the biggest hurdle is yet to come in breaking into the top 3 and is by no means guaranteed to happen. Ricciardo is hoping to pull a Hamilton and winning surprise championships in a couple of years but he may yet be doing an Alonso and leaving Red Bull just as they get their works deal they have been wanting (all be it with Honda)
It's not a choice I would have made, but I can see why he made it. Red Bull have shown signs of favouring Verstappen even when Danny has been the stronger points scorer and over the last couple of months Max has been outperforming him. So if you decide that you want to leave RB and Merc/Ferrari don't want you then the Enstone team historically have a good record. Haas are a B team, they are not potential champions.
This will really shake up the driver market now. I highly doubt RB will go for Alonso, even if he offered to drive for free, there is a very good reason none of the big teams want him. Big loser in all of this looks to be Ocon.
i dont see any high caliber driver joining RBR, since anyone will always be #2 to Max due to their marketing strategy. So maybe Sainz's return is indeed an option. Promoting Gasly or Hartley would be nuts.
EDIT: lol apparently Max veto'ed Sainz from joining the team. What a dick.
I'm not sure an actual veto took place as I'm not sure he can actually have a say on this. However, it is well known Sainz and Verstappen do not like each other at all, ever since the TR days back when they were team mates.
In fact, it is speculated that one of the reasons for Max to jump to RBR so soon was due to how poorly the relationship between the 2 drivers was.
Regarding Ricciardo...well Renualt was always super sucessful a few years in, everytime they returned to F1. It has happened everytime and this year, they already have more points than last year and we are still half way in. It is a gamble as history repeating itself is not a given, but considering his options (basically no top 3 teams wanting him, including RBR for the money he asked) I think it was the best that could happen to him.
In respect of Alonso and a move to RBR I think it is almost certain it will not happen. One thing is the money. If they do not have money to give Ricciardo what he wants, Alonso's paycheck is out of their league. Another is Alonso as a character, not a good fit (that was already discussed a few years ago the first time these talks started, plus now RBR will have Honda engines!). Then there is the ever so closer day that will see Alonso retire from F1 to go for the tripple crown full time or something like that.
Sorry for the double post but also relevant is the fact that Stroll indeed has bought Force India.
This most likely means his son will move on to FI (will the name change? will a new livery be used for the car?) and one of Perez and Ocon will lose his seat, if not both.
My question will always be, is Stroll good enough to be an F1 driver withouth his father buying F1 teams? Last year he did not seem as bad as this year, then again, this year that Williams looks more rubish than a car so in what measure are his performances a result of his lack of skill and what is due to the car?
Both Perez and Ocon will lose their seats. Stroll and Kubica would likely be driving for the new team in 2019.
On Stroll himself I don't think he is in any means a bad driver. His performance was good enough for a rookie in 2017, and despite Williams' struggle this year he snagged quite a few points. He is very inconsistent, and his lack of experience means he can't contribute much to the car's development as much as the better drivers but there is not a lot he can do about that right now.
It was to be expected? He couldn't get a seat at 1 of the top teams. F1 is still a series that is 90% car dependent. Since he can't win a 3rd title, leaving for Indy make sense.
In hindsight, the decision to leave Ferrari backfired spectacularly.
It is confirmed that Force India will race this weekend, already under the new designation and without a single point.
In other news, a Portuguese news site is quoting an interview given by Alonso where he states he received several offers from RBR to replace Ricciardo.
It's all getting a bit interesting isn't it. Myself, as a Mclaren fan, really hope they can use all this change to make some improvements or at the very least speed them up. They have Sainz, but for the other seat I would be knocking on Toto's door and telling him we will take either Ocon or Russell in exchange for an engine contract (they will never run Ferrari engines so Merc is the best they can hope for). It seems Racing Point will definitely run Stroll, for obvious reasons, and Perez sounds confident of staying for next year too which leaves Merc needing a spot for a driver. It would leave Norris without a drive but again it can be used as a good thing. Toro Rosso have already showed their interest in him and I'm sure a deal could be done where James Key is released from his contractual obligations to join immediately in exchange for Lando driving for them next year. Mclaren would still have first option on him as he is under a long term agreement with them.
On August 24 2018 21:05 Aristodemus wrote: It's all getting a bit interesting isn't it. Myself, as a Mclaren fan, really hope they can use all this change to make some improvements or at the very least speed them up. They have Sainz, but for the other seat I would be knocking on Toto's door and telling him we will take either Ocon or Russell in exchange for an engine contract (they will never run Ferrari engines so Merc is the best they can hope for). It seems Racing Point will definitely run Stroll, for obvious reasons, and Perez sounds confident of staying for next year too which leaves Merc needing a spot for a driver. It would leave Norris without a drive but again it can be used as a good thing. Toro Rosso have already showed their interest in him and I'm sure a deal could be done where James Key is released from his contractual obligations to join immediately in exchange for Lando driving for them next year. Mclaren would still have first option on him as he is under a long term agreement with them.
McLaren are contracted to Renault until 2020. Red Bull Also want Lando for more than a year and ideally remove McLaren ownership of Norris completely.
Just like with James Key, an arrangement could be found with Renault I'm sure. Red Bull are in quite a dire need of drivers now for their B team, Horner admits that they have nobody within there own system ready to make the step up to F1. They tried to replace Hartley early in this season too so they clearly don't want him in the car for next year. I am also certain they want Norris to cut his link to Mclaren completely but just like when Sainz went to Renault it won't happen. If it did it would cost RB far more than Key being released.
Thank god for the halo is what Mr Leclerc is saying right now. Vettel so much fasters than Lewis but that was super impressive from the Force India's to stay 3rd and 4th. Good race on our hands.
On September 02 2018 23:56 KobraKay wrote: Vettel was stubborn and deserved his faith…..lewis was better and he deserves the win.
You meant Verstappen right? With the 5sec penalty at the end. I cant think of Vettel being stubborn unless you meant at the start of the race when he spun off and broke his front wing
On September 02 2018 23:56 KobraKay wrote: Vettel was stubborn and deserved his faith…..lewis was better and he deserves the win.
You meant Verstappen right? With the 5sec penalty at the end. I cant think of Vettel being stubborn unless you meant at the start of the race when he spun off and broke his front wing
Mercedes really outsmarted today Ferrari with their pit stop shenanigans and Bottas-micro. And Vettel got unlucky with the collision, since he lost both his front wing and tires, while Hamilton got away with almost no damage. Sad day for the reds.
I'd say that Vettel wasn't unlucky today but the opposite. Lucky he wasn't penalised for causing a collision and lucky he wasn't penalised for an unsafe release. Lucky that the safety car meant he wasn't a minute behind the pack and lucky that Verstappen being Verstappen meant he leapfrogged him at the end. If he doesn't win the WDC this year he can only look in the mirror. He has lost so many points through mistakes.
not fully agree with the first part, but you are totally right about his doing too many mistakes.
on another note: i kinda wish they promote Russel, Norris and Markelov from F2 to F1 asap. This year we are seeing quite a few of poor performances from half of the drivers in F1. The F2 races i've seen with these 3 drivers were insanely entertaining (and yes, i fully understand the difference in the series, however i do believe these 3 drivers have the potential to make splashes in F1).
On September 03 2018 05:09 fLyiNgDroNe wrote: not fully agree with the first part, but you are totally right about his doing too many mistakes.
on another note: i kinda wish they promote Russel, Norris and Markelov from F2 to F1 asap. This year we are seeing quite a few of poor performances from half of the drivers in F1. The F2 races i've seen with these 3 drivers were insanely entertaining (and yes, i fully understand the difference in the series, however i do believe these 3 drivers have the potential to make splashes in F1).
I like Russel and Norris and they deserve a place but Markelov is not F1 worthy, hes been in F2/GP2 for 5 years and he isn't close to winning a championship he is worse than Palmer who won after 4 years.
I can see why they have made this decision, I said before I thought that this was all an opportunity to get back with their ex (Mercedes) whilst being able to release James Key without too much fuss. That and the fact Ocon is also a very good driver.
I am happy to see another English guy on the grid, hopefully Russell can find somewhere to drive too. It's a bit rough on Vandoorne, after all Alonso has made every team-mate (apart from Lewis) look very average, but if he can find another team I still think he can have a good career in F1. If Ferrari drop Kimi then that should leave 2 seats at Sauber to go with 2 probable seats at Toro Rosso, so he has a shot. Williams will likely go to the auction house unfortunately and I presume Stroll and Perez will be at Racing Point or whatever they will be called.
Leclerc all but confirmed at Ferrari now which gives the Sauber seat to Giovinazzi with Ericsson still locked in. Kyvat is apparantly on his way back to Toro Rosso because they couldn't steal anyone else's junior and they have none left.
Are they seriously going to kick Raikkonen for a rookie who has not showed anything truly good (think raikkonen sauber good in 2002) yet? I can't wait to see a ferrari explanation of how 'it was Raikkonen's fault all along the season'....
On September 04 2018 02:08 Zaros wrote: Leclerc all but confirmed at Ferrari now which gives the Sauber seat to Giovinazzi with Ericsson still locked in. Kyvat is apparantly on his way back to Toro Rosso because they couldn't steal anyone else's junior and they have none left.
And somewhere far far away, Pascal Wehrlein is crying in his sleep.
On September 04 2018 02:25 TwiggyWan wrote: Are they seriously going to kick Raikkonen for a rookie who has not showed anything truly good (think raikkonen sauber good in 2002) yet? I can't wait to see a ferrari explanation of how 'it was Raikkonen's fault all along the season'....
That's a bit far fetched. Sauber was hovering around 5th at the time even without Raikkonen. Leclerc has a backmarker car and is still scoring points often. I think he'll do great at Ferrari, although yes they are fucking Raikkonen over once more.
Räikkönen should have retired not drive Sauber and stop young drivers getting a seat. Giovinazzi should be on the phone to red bull now it’s unlikely he gets a Sauber seat
Im hoping its more Kimi wants to retire and hinted at it which as forced Ferrari to move quickly to find a no2 for Vettel. Great move for Charles though, but maybe Kimi is about to ride off into the sunset
- Shorter wheelbase - less loss of downforce when following closely (losing 20% downforce when following closely, from 50%) - 18" wheels - Better Halo integration
They will be smaller then with shorter wheelbase then? Because that was/is a huge problem right now with overtaking on the small tracks like monaco and australia come to mind.
On September 15 2018 04:07 Pandemona wrote: They will be smaller then with shorter wheelbase then? Because that was/is a huge problem right now with overtaking on the small tracks like monaco and australia come to mind.
I don't know about width, but they're definitely shorter front-back than the current cars. I think they should probably go back to the 1.8m width instead of sticking to 2m, since that extra 40cm combined between two cars makes already tight turns impossible to pass through.
Hamilton, Verstappen and Alonso had really REALLY good performances this weekend. The race itself was dull.
I thought Perez was way out of order with what he did today, the Ocon incident wasn't great but I think he was just completely focused on Grosjean and had no idea he was there. The Sirotkin thing seemed intentional which is a disgrace. I thought he and Grosjean got off lightly with their penalties.
Yeah that was disgusting by Mercedes. I thought they would just let Hamilton past for tactical concerns and then swap back again at the end. This was almost as bad as Austria 2002, and completely unnecessary to boot. Blech
Why would they swap back? Bottas was over 100 points behind before the race, he isn't in a position to fight for the title. All it takes is one retirement and the title looks very different. Harsh on Bottas I agree with that part but it is a team sport. Another mistake from Vettel made it possible. In Austria it was about 6 races in and there was clearly no challenge to Schumacher, it's ridiculous to compare the two.
On September 30 2018 21:58 Aristodemus wrote: Why would they swap back? Bottas was over 100 points behind before the race, he isn't in a position to fight for the title. All it takes is one retirement and the title looks very different. Harsh on Bottas I agree with that part but it is a team sport. Another mistake from Vettel made it possible. In Austria it was about 6 races in and there was clearly no challenge to Schumacher, it's ridiculous to compare the two.
Yep, as long as it is in favor of the home town hero, everything is fine. Fuck the guy that was actually deserving the win.
On September 30 2018 21:58 Aristodemus wrote: Why would they swap back? Bottas was over 100 points behind before the race, he isn't in a position to fight for the title. All it takes is one retirement and the title looks very different. Harsh on Bottas I agree with that part but it is a team sport. Another mistake from Vettel made it possible. In Austria it was about 6 races in and there was clearly no challenge to Schumacher, it's ridiculous to compare the two.
There is no challenge to Hamilton this year either. 43 vs. 50 points will make no difference, especially as Ferrari is clearly declining. It comes down to gifting Hamilton a win he doesn't deserve at all. He did nothing Bottas wouldn't have done and he would never have been able to overtake him and that is just terrible.
Fantastic first laps from Max. A bit of disappointment from Ferrari, but with these dirty air generating cars, it is what it is. Great race from Leclerc, i'm actually really looking forward him sticking it to Seb next year. I'm surprised with the drama around cars swapping, its as if Valteri didn't know he was no.2.
On September 30 2018 21:58 Aristodemus wrote: Why would they swap back? Bottas was over 100 points behind before the race, he isn't in a position to fight for the title. All it takes is one retirement and the title looks very different. Harsh on Bottas I agree with that part but it is a team sport. Another mistake from Vettel made it possible. In Austria it was about 6 races in and there was clearly no challenge to Schumacher, it's ridiculous to compare the two.
There is no challenge to Hamilton this year either. 43 vs. 50 points will make no difference, especially as Ferrari is clearly declining. It comes down to gifting Hamilton a win he doesn't deserve at all. He did nothing Bottas wouldn't have done and he would never have been able to overtake him and that is just terrible.
50 points ahead with 5 races remaining it isn't over. 2007 a 17 point difference (equivalent of around 43ish) was overturned in 2 races. 2010 Alonso was 25 ahead with 2 races left. Things can change fast and nobody knows what will happen. If it is terrible weather (as predicted) in Suzuka then anything can happen. As for the Ferrari in decline comment, this weekend is the first since Austria that Mercedes have looked like the fastest car so it is very possible they will have the best car again in Suzuka. Whatever upgrade Merc brought to Russia looked very good I agree and they are favourites for the title. Hamilton didn't deserve the win today but it doesn't make it the wrong decision. It clearly doesn't sit well with Lewis either. They should have just undercut Bottas instead of making a poor call and letting Vettel undercut him. Only a Vettel error saved it from being a bad day for them.
George Russell confirmed at Williams next year and it’s looking increasingly likely Sirotkin is out and Kubica will be driving in 2019 but not confirmed yet.
For once Ferrari did good. Their strategy worked out for both pilots. Best winner's radio communication ever. "Yeh, it was about f* time." Kimi is the best.
Great final few laps, that is what we want as fans right? Top 3 all in chance to win it and fighting hard. Onto Mexico we go for the title and another good race in Austin.
My God Kimi, finally! Probably the best F1 personality today (I do love Rikkardo too though), great to see him snatch this one while still in red. I really hope RedBull pull their shit together and give Max a competitive reliable car. I dont wanna see Hamilton/Vettel staying for too long on top
On October 22 2018 06:40 fLyiNgDroNe wrote: My God Kimi, finally! Probably the best F1 personality today (I do love Rikkardo too though), great to see him snatch this one while still in red. I really hope RedBull pull their shit together and give Max a competitive reliable car. I dont wanna see Hamilton/Vettel staying for too long on top
There is a very good chance of that I think and I hope so too. RB have produced the best chassis for about ten years now which is why Merc and Ferrari refuse to even discuss supplying them. This recent Honda upgrade has been huge, Horner said this weekend that it puts the engine half way between Renault and the benchmark Ferrari/Merc so in effect RB will have a 30-40bhp boost for next year. Since his early season troubles, Max has been outstanding too it has to be said, I actually had a few quid on him to win yesterday which would have been a very nice payout.
As for Ferrari, they are saying they took off their upgrade from Sochi and all of a sudden they have the fastest car again! That's a pretty huge fuck up, I can't believe it took them so long to realise it was holding them back. Vettel has really fallen apart since his German GP too.
For such a good driver as Riccardo, I cant believe that this is only his 3rd pole. The race will be exciting as long as RBR doesn't cause their engine(s) to blow up again.
On October 28 2018 14:20 LennX wrote: For such a good driver as Riccardo, I cant believe that this is only his 3rd pole. The race will be exciting as long as RBR doesn't cause their engine(s) to blow up again.
Keep in mind he moved to the Red Bull team proper when the new engine regulations started so he's never really had a car with an engine that could compete with Mercedes in qualifying. I would bet he would have way more poles and wins if Red Bull had a better engine these last few years. In 2014 he was the only driver that seemed to be able to compete with Mercedes, had a bad car (or more a really bad engine) in 2015, was up there in 2016 and last year, and did quite well this year when his car wasn't too busy breaking.
I was gutted for him today when his engine blew again. He's had an engine or electronic failure almost every race since the summer break. I think they said 8 races so far he's DNF'd. He was on par with Hamilton and Vettel for the first part of the season. but then all the reliability issues started happening. His Monaco win was nuts given that his car was running without the majority of his hybrid system functioning.
I hope this Renault move doesn't backfire. Ricciardo's easily one of my favourite drivers, along with Kimi and Ocon, on the grid right now. I'm still sad that Ocon likely isn't going to have a seat next year while Stroll takes one of the better midfield seats.
So lets see if Hamilton gets a grid penalty like Vettel did a few races ago (Austria I think?). It really doesnt make a difference now but it will be nice to see the usual double standard (Hamilton hurt 2 Q laps, Raikkonen and Sirotkin in Q2).
Vettel almost got screwed by the random weight check on his car when it was about to rain on Q2 lol ok Vettel got fucked for destroying the weighting scale. G_G
As for the Hamilton incidents, it looks damning but its FIA after all. We shall see
First of all Sirotkin was on an out-lap and was trying to jump Hamilton, you can't compare it to Vettel clearly blocking Sainz on a hot lap. Kimi was very slightly disadvantaged and if they penalise Hamilton it is harsh. Vettel clearly disregarded procedure on a COMPLETELY RANDOM call to the weigh bridge, and broke it in the process. That's a slam dunk of a penalty.
streamable and Official f1 vod showing what happened in real time. I can't find any slow mo replays.
As for the random weighting incident, if it happened to Hamilton instead of Vettel, skysports (and English fans) will be calling it differently.
On the offical steward note, there was an alleged breach of the procedure for the weighting incident.. The fine and reprimand was for another reason. The weighting incident should cause the rules to be cleared up by next season hopefully.
The only reason the English jump on Vettel is because he keeps making mistakes and Hamilton doesn't so they highlight it a lot to get their point across that Vettel keeps making keep mistakes which has cost him a potential world title.
On November 11 2018 03:33 Aristodemus wrote: How anti-Lewis pro-Vettel can you be?
First of all Sirotkin was on an out-lap and was trying to jump Hamilton, you can't compare it to Vettel clearly blocking Sainz on a hot lap. Kimi was very slightly disadvantaged and if they penalise Hamilton it is harsh. Vettel clearly disregarded procedure on a COMPLETELY RANDOM call to the weigh bridge, and broke it in the process. That's a slam dunk of a penalty.
Edit: ....and Vettel gets away with it.
Hamilton also blocked him at the first turn afterwards IIRC, the replay was also shown.
I'm not pro Vettel, if I would be pro something it would be Verstappen, so stop with that nonesense to cover your own bias…..I already said in this thread that despite the rubish decisions and favouring, LH had to bridge the gap between the cars most of the season, and that he showed how talented he is. That is beyond the point that you seem to be missing.
Btw Vettel did not disregard any procedure, "how anti-Vettel can you be"? He did follow all procedures, he just complained for those morons to speed up since rain was possibly coming and he still had to make a lap. Considering they are on the middle of a qualifying session, that seems to be a legit complain. The calls are random but the idiots managing the scale should be ready to act when the call happens, not be there sitting and looking at the cars when they come and then move slower than snails. And how is that a slam dunk of a penalty if breaking the scale is not in the rules?! Jesus...Hamilton fans.
I'll try and just stick to facts to prevent my bias then Kobra we agree Lewis has had an outstanding year and deserves his title but I don't think he has had any favourable decisions myself. So...
What you saw on the replay was Hamilton overtaking Sirotkin which is allowed on your flying lap, it doesn't happen often because drivers leave a gap large enough before starting. This was what Hamilton was doing (creating a gap) when Sirotkin jumped him and what caused him to have his lap ruined. I said before I thought Raikkonen was slightly inconvenienced by Hamilton but he didn't need to lift and it certainly wasn't worthy of a penalty. During every quali drivers going slowly keep on the racing line and make the guys on hot laps go round them, right or wrong it's very common. Sainz in Austria came upon Vettel in the middle of the corner going very slowly, it forced him off track to avoid an incident, the key difference between this and Sirotkin is hot-lap and out-lap. You can't be guilty of blocking someone on an out lap.
As for the weighbridge, I will just post the FIA statement and you can decide if he disregarded procedure that everyone has to follow.
"The driver did not stop the engine at the time he was directed by the official at the scales, knocked over the cone placed to stop the driver from driving onto the scales, which he then did.
"At the time he was being shown a sign to have his "brakes on" by an official who was standing in front of the car, and while not hitting the official did force him out of the way while driving onto the scales. He then turned off the engine.
"Once the weight was taken, he then did not wait for the officials to push the car off the scales, and while the stewards accept that he may have misunderstood the indication from the official, he then re-fired the car and drove off the scales, which is not the procedure because it can damage the scales, which in this case he did.
"While no-one was hurt by the scales being thrown out from behind the car, and while the stewards accept that the driver did not drive off the scales in a reckless manner, the procedure is established exactly to prevent damage to the scales or a potentially dangerous situation, which is exactly what was caused."
Instead of a grid penalty as his punishment he received a reprimand and a £25k fine. I admit Seb was unlucky to get called in but that is the nature of having random calls.
Yea that was definitely a penalty for Lewis. It's so clear i cant even be bothered to look up similar incidents that received penalties to win arguments on the internet, and i love winning arguments on the internet. But people talk about inconsistency, and its not really. If you want consistency youd have the same steward lineup every race.
Vettel - now that shouldnt have been a penalty. Had the FIA staff left the blocking cone there, or not waved him off the blocks afterwards, all problems wouldve been solved. Vettel wouldve either wasted his time with his tantrum or wouldve driven off without permission and then he couldve been slammed with a proper penalty. But what happened was that FIA staff were persuaded by him to bend the rules and then complained. I don't think that should be allowed to happen. Officials are there to enforce the rules, and if they dont, it's not the drivers fault.
31.5 Any driver taking part in any practice session who, in the opinion of the stewards, stops unnecessarily on the circuit or unnecessarily impedes another driver shall be subject to the penalties referred to in Article 31.4
He can and shoulve been slammed with penalties for both Sirotkin and Kimi incidents. Dangerous driving is another option to consider.
Dangerous driving is reserved for serious offences, the last one I remember was when Vettel intentionally crashed into Hamilton under the safety car in Baku(?). I might be wrong on that.
Enjoyable season. I missed a lot of it because of work and a few through just terrible unwatchable internet. But I've found a pub that shows the F1 when it's on at a sensible hour here now. Vettel looked like he was going to push all the way but in the end his own mistakes robed us of close title race. Hamilton seems less whinny this year which is great. Really irritating when he winges. I'll try and make time for the last race.
That was a horrible crash. The other injured personnel seems to be okay for now.
"The marshal injured in the Sophia Floersch crash at the Macau Grand Prix had a laceration of the face, abrasion of the upper abdomen wall and a right maxillary bone fracture, according to medical report.
Medical reports from Sophia Floersch crash say a Japanese photographer had a concussion, while a local photographer had upper abdomen pain caused by a liver laceration"
Excited for all the young talent and some team swapping in 2019. Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Antonio Giovinazzi, Alexander Elbon, George Russel - this is really interesting.
Anything but Merz winning will make a great story. Tired of this. I went with my family last year for grand prix Austria and had one of the best weekends of my life.