Formula 1

[PepeLePew]

24 minutes ago, Dr No said:

Well then I hope he can’t repeat it every lap or it might get a little boring. 

Vettel and Ricciardo implied they didn't believe him. Anyway it doesn't matter now, qually is over and they never run 'party' mode in the race. Lets see who has the best pace over 58 laps.

That said it was an ominous lap.............

[Kim Jong Il]

First race over and its Vettel from Hamilton and Raikonen.

Bit weird all of that!

Quiet a boring race with Lewis leading comfortably and under no apparent threat and then the wheels came off......for Hass...... and out comes the virtual safety car.

I spent the next 20 laps trying to get my head around how Vettel made up more or less 10 seconds in the pit stop to come out in the lead and I still don't think I've quite got it!!!

I don't think that is quite the intention of the virtual safety car but it is what it is at the end of the day. I imagine Hamilton is the least impressed of all by the result.

Try as he may there was no way Hamilton was going to regain the lead on this track.

I just wonder if there will be any changes to the rules re what you can do under a virtual safety car after today.

Anyway, the season moves on!

[Scherzzo]

3 hours ago, Kim Jong Il said:

First race over and its Vettel from Hamilton and Raikonen.

Bit weird all of that!

Quiet a boring race with Lewis leading comfortably and under no apparent threat and then the wheels came off......for Hass...... and out comes the virtual safety car.

I spent the next 20 laps trying to get my head around how Vettel made up more or less 10 seconds in the pit stop to come out in the lead and I still don't think I've quite got it!!!

I don't think that is quite the intention of the virtual safety car but it is what it is at the end of the day. I imagine Hamilton is the least impressed of all by the result.

Try as he may there was no way Hamilton was going to regain the lead on this track.

I just wonder if there will be any changes to the rules re what you can do under a virtual safety car after today.

Anyway, the season moves on!

I dont think the rules need changing, I'm sure others have benefited from this strategy before. If this hadn't of happened the race would have been awful. The good thing is that ferrari are not that far away, it was looking bad during testing on the long runs for ferrari but seems they are maybe a tenth or two off.

[Darksider11]

6 hours ago, Kim Jong Il said:

I just wonder if there will be any changes to the rules re what you can do under a virtual safety car after today.

If no virtual safety car when Vettel pitted, Hamilton would have been at full speed when Vettel was in the pits and Vettel would have emerged 10+ seconds behind Hamilton (and behind Raikkonen). Hamilton would have cruised home.

Need to end cars pitting under the safety car, virtual or not. If they have to pit for safety reasons then a time penalty or re-join at the back of the field.

Edited March 25, 2018 by Darksider11

[jerry]

Boring circuit , see cars go round for 25 rounds without even a try or opportunity to overtake the car in front of them isn't exactly what i tune in for . To top it off the race gets decided by a strange rule of being able to overtake under virtual safety , naah . Hope the rest of the season brings a bit more more excitement .  

[PepeLePew]

Just luck, that was all. Every driver needs a bit to win a chpshp, just happened to fall to Vettel. No one overtook anyone during the VSC. Had it been a full safety car it would have been different, how so would depend on where Seb was when it was called, could have turned out well or badly.

Still bodes well for a Merc walk away. The Ferraris were not close, the Merc was flattering to deceive as Lewis was putting down whatever lap delta his engineer wanted. With the current regs making flat overtaking nigh on impossible the race is pretty much done and dusted on Saturday. That, the Halo and a number of other things meant I waited for the race report then fast forwarded to the 'interesting' bits. Spent about 5 mins watching the race

[eXplosief]

Mercedes said it was a fault in their own software that miscalculated the gap between the two. That led Hamilton to think he would end up ahead of Vettel. 

[PepeLePew]

19 hours ago, eXplosief said:

Mercedes said it was a fault in their own software that miscalculated the gap between the two. That led Hamilton to think he would end up ahead of Vettel. 

Yeah, that's like the 'our weather software didn't tell us it was raining' excuse.

As soon as Grosjean parked they should have thought this could help Vettel get into 2nd, and when VSC flashed up they should have known it was a threat to their lead. Over reliance on technology has cost many teams in the past.

[Tripp]

yet again the dickheads who run F1 have fucked up and screwed up, as they always do  How is it right that  Vettel wins having gained the lead from the pit lane, under a virtual safety car?  Why I continue to watch the boring crappy so called sport I have no idea. 

[Tripp]

On 26/03/2018 at 00:41, eXplosief said:

Mercedes said it was a fault in their own software that miscalculated the gap between the two. That led Hamilton to think he would end up ahead of Vettel. 

Its the fault of a flawed and stupid so called sport.  If its not this episode, its some other nonsense that makes a fool of the event  and all the people in it

[Tripp]

On 25/03/2018 at 13:56, Kim Jong Il said:

First race over and its Vettel from Hamilton and Raikonen.

Bit weird all of that!

Quiet a boring race with Lewis leading comfortably and under no apparent threat and then the wheels came off......for Hass...... and out comes the virtual safety car.

I spent the next 20 laps trying to get my head around how Vettel made up more or less 10 seconds in the pit stop to come out in the lead and I still don't think I've quite got it!!!

I don't think that is quite the intention of the virtual safety car but it is what it is at the end of the day. I imagine Hamilton is the least impressed of all by the result.

Try as he may there was no way Hamilton was going to regain the lead on this track.

I just wonder if there will be any changes to the rules re what you can do under a virtual safety car after today.

Anyway, the season moves on!

Yep, onto the next fuck up by the officials who run the 'sport'

[Scherzzo]

Bahrain should be better, plenty of overtaking, actually one of my favourite tracks under the lights. if merc and ferrari were not in the sport it might be actually good!

[Fire Bar Matt]

On 26/03/2018 at 01:44, jerry said:

Boring circuit , see cars go round for 25 rounds without even a try or opportunity to overtake the car in front of them isn't exactly what i tune in for . To top it off the race gets decided by a strange rule of being able to overtake under virtual safety , naah . Hope the rest of the season brings a bit more more excitement .  

There’s 3 DRS zones at the Albert Park circuit. To me that says there’s at least 3 overtaking opportunities on every lap, just because it doesn’t happen doesn’t mean the circuit is boring, it means either there’s a lot of equality amongst the top 5 or 6 teams in straight line speed or perhaps there’s not enough skill / determination in some of these drivers.

Bottas started 10th and didn’t really advance all that much, if Hamilton had been in the same position I’d hazard to guess he’d have made up many more positions due to his ability to drive the car.

[jerry]

1 hour ago, Dr No said:

There’s 3 DRS zones at the Albert Park circuit. To me that says there’s at least 3 overtaking opportunities on every lap, just because it doesn’t happen doesn’t mean the circuit is boring, it means either there’s a lot of equality amongst the top 5 or 6 teams in straight line speed or perhaps there’s not enough skill / determination in some of these drivers.

Bottas started 10th and didn’t really advance all that much, if Hamilton had been in the same position I’d hazard to guess he’d have made up many more positions due to his ability to drive the car.

Theoretically yes ... in real life no ... 

- Hamilton showed in qualifying he's able of going 0.7 of a second faster than Vettel but no change overtaking him in the race . 

- Verstappen 1.8 sec faster than Alonso in qualifying and at least as fast as Ricci loses a second per round at Ricci being stuck behind Alonso without a single chance to overtake him . 

- Bottas , 1,5 sec faster than Hulkenburg but not a chance to overtake . 

The cars seem to have a lot of trouble getting close enough to their opponents due to hot turbulent air and a loss of stability . 

I might be wrong but haven't seen a single overtake during the last 25 rounds ... if Hamilton is (in your opinion) the only one able to make up places this season it's gonna be very boring ...  . 

[Fire Bar Matt]

24 minutes ago, jerry said:

Theoretically yes ... in real life no ... 

- Hamilton showed in qualifying he's able of going 0.7 of a second faster than Vettel but no change overtaking him in the race . 

- Verstappen 1.8 sec faster than Alonso in qualifying and at least as fast as Ricci loses a second per round at Ricci being stuck behind Alonso without a single chance to overtake him . 

- Bottas , 1,5 sec faster than Hulkenburg but not a chance to overtake . 

The cars seem to have a lot of trouble getting close enough to their opponents due to hot turbulent air and a loss of stability . 

I might be wrong but haven't seen a single overtake during the last 25 rounds ... if Hamilton is (in your opinion) the only one able to make up places this season it's gonna be very boring ...  . 

You make some good points, so then maybe then F1 need to look at aero design a lot closer to make it more possible to overtake. 

I watch a lot of different motor racing and I know they have their detractors but both Indy Car and NASCAR deliver a much higher level of excitement and viewing entertainment due to the numerous overtaking that goes on during each race. 

[gmingot]

8 hours ago, Dr No said:

You make some good points, so then maybe then F1 need to look at aero design a lot closer to make it more possible to overtake. 

I watch a lot of different motor racing and I know they have their detractors but both Indy Car and NASCAR deliver a much higher level of excitement and viewing entertainment due to the numerous overtaking that goes on during each race. 

Agreed the aero design needs looking at. Just look at the complexity of the front wings and they are still sensitive when following another car. A lot of development  time and money spend on those and for no benefit to road car technology, a reason manufacturers often claim they go racing for. Should go back to a front wing with one mainplane and one flap, same with the rear wing. 

[PepeLePew]

11 hours ago, Dr No said:

I watch a lot of different motor racing and I know they have their detractors but both Indy Car and NASCAR deliver a much higher level of excitement and viewing entertainment due to the numerous overtaking that goes on during each race. 

Well that's subjective. Although Melbourne and perhaps the current regs being too aero dependent created an overtaking deficit I find the copious amounts of overtakes in Nascar and Indy to a turn off. This year remains to be seen but certainly last year when you saw an F1 overtake it was the result of skill and guile by the driver, nothing came easy. Sometimes, certainly in oval racing it comes across as a bit of a lottery. Sure over the season the cream rises but.......

[Tripp]

I have an idea. Why don't they make F1 a gaming sport.  Just put the drivers in side by side simulators and let them fight it out in virtual reality.  They may as well, as it couldn't be any more boring than it is aready.  It could then be truely open cockpit instead of having that stupid halo. To add a bit of danger, every third race, we take the back marker outside and break his legs with a baseball bat.

[Scherzzo]

What do you guys think for this weekend? Ferrari are suppose to be quicker on the straights. Hope it's closer!

[PepeLePew]

There will be more overtaking that's for sure as the delta needed is much smaller but I suspect there won't be much change at the top. The Mercs appear to have a much easier car to manage this year.

[Scherzzo]

Matter of interest, would you guys watch it if Ferrari and Merc were not in the sport?

[PepeLePew]

I would. I watched it long before Merc turned up anyway. Frankly if you took Merc and Ferrari out of the Melbourne race it would have been a lot more interesting, ditto all of last season.

[Scherzzo]

21 hours ago, PepeLePew said:

I would. I watched it long before Merc turned up anyway. Frankly if you took Merc and Ferrari out of the Melbourne race it would have been a lot more interesting, ditto all of last season.

Yeah thats what Im getting at, I think it would be better if they were not there. I believe Liberty are announcing plans for 2021 today.

[PepeLePew]

2 hours ago, Scherzzo said:

Yeah thats what Im getting at, I think it would be better if they were not there. I believe Liberty are announcing plans for 2021 today.

I don't think it would be better. It's just a case of watching the racing throught the field. If it's a good battle it doesn't matter to me if they are battling for 1st and 2nd or 15th and 16th.

Todays 'announcement' offered nothing unexpected and without any details it was disappointing. What was worrying was they said the distribution of money was going to more balanced but that historical franchise will be recognised.

[Kim Jong Il]

5 place grid penalty for Hamilton for a gearbox change this weekend.........