Formula 1

[PepeLePew]

9 hours ago, cbmgolfer said:

And the season is basically a formality from here.  Mercedes seem to have improved their engine enough to separate from the pack.  Botas won’t challenge.  Boring again till the end.

So far the season has shown us that the cars are more track specific than ever before. Clearly this was a Merc track but had Vettel chilled out a little at the start I think he'd have been challenging. Certainly 3rd would have been a shoe in and 2nd was on the cards. It's certainly far from all over.

8 hours ago, aussieoutcast said:

In the 90's cars went flat out for the entire race. Now, it seems more about tyre management and as the cars are so much wider, very limited passing.

In the 90's there was fuel refueling and very little overtaking. The ability to go qually fast over 20 laps meant Schumacher turned the sport into a snoozefest. As the fuel ran down usually faster than the tyres their was little management of them needed. If you want to go back to watching 90's style racing I'd suggest it would be cheaper to invest in a tin of emulsion, chuck it on a wall and grab a seat!

 

8 hours ago, aussieoutcast said:

I'm even starting to think that after qualifying, 70% of the race excitement is over?
 

I'd agree. The recent push to make the cars super fast makes the racing much less interesting but the qualifying is great to watch.

[Kim Jong Il]

Austria this weekend.

Mercedes have been pretty much on top throughout the Friday and Saturday practice sessions and so it was in qualifying.

Bottas

Hamilton

Vettel.

Grosjean put in a very good lap in the Hass to split the Red Bulls and take 6th.

An extra DRS zone this year so lets see how this pans out for overtaking opportunities.

[PepeLePew]

Merc imploded, both cars DNF'd due to tech failures though Lewis's shoe in win had already been thrown away by a stupid decision not to pit during a VSC. Half of RB also technically DNF'd, not the best birthday pressie for Dani. Ferrari allowed Kimi to finish in front of Seb!

[Kim Jong Il]

Its amazing how many times Mercedes have a made a cock up on the strategy front this season. I wonder if it will come back and bite them hard at the end of the year.

[Kim Jong Il]

Silverstone it is for the biggest F1 event on the calendar.....at least for the British fans that is.

Close between Mercedes and Ferrari but Hamilton pulled it out of the bag on his last run. That makes a record 6th pole at Silverstone.

Hamilton

Vettel

Raikonnen

Bottas 4th followed by the two Red Bulls.

Leclerc up there in the top 10 again....is he turning out to be next Max!

Will Hamilton take the win tomorrow for a record 6th win...we shall see.

With England beating Sweden in the football its been a good Saturday for the Brits!

 

[Kim Jong Il]

So it finishes ....

Vettel

Hamilton

Raikonnen

Interesting race.

Turn 3 on the first lap and Raikonnen hits Hamilton which relegates Hamilton to last place and gives Raikonnen a 10 second penalty.

Hamilton manages to carve his way through the field up to 6th before the pit stops start.

A couple of safety cars later and Bottas has the lead from Vettel and Hamilton.

Some good racing for the first 3 or 4 laps of the final 11 after the second safety car session. Bottas runs out of tyres, Vettel takes the lead with Hamilton up into second. Few laps later and Kimi takes third and that's how it finishes.

Good recovery from Hamilton but Vettel extends his championship lead to 8 points.

[Fire Bar Matt]

And Hamilton accuses Ferrari of deliberately taking him out, what a drama Queen. 

I guess everyone should just get out of the way and let Hamilton drive wherever he needs to right? Perhaps someone should tell him it’s a race, not a procession and that if could get better starts he’d not have to worry about actual racing during the first lap. 

[mikeyboy]

On 7/9/2018 at 10:00, Dr No said:

And Hamilton accuses Ferrari of deliberately taking him out, what a drama queen. 

I guess everyone should just get out of the way and let Hamilton drive wherever he needs to right? Perhaps someone should tell him it’s a race, not a procession and that if could get better starts he’d not have to worry about actual racing during the first lap. 

I think Hamilton later took it back , but needs to engage his brain before he opens his mouth .

Mikeyboy

 

[mikeyboy]

This thread seems to have gone very quiet .

With Hamilton winning in Germany and the villainous Bosche crashing out , and a further win in Hungary for 44 ,  Lewis going into the mid season break with a 24 point lead .   Sounds a lot but can disappear quickly .

Spa and Monza at the end of August next up , where the real racing begins .

Mikeyboy

 

[Ludhamlad]

31 minutes ago, mikeyboy said:

This thread seems to have gone very quiet .

With Hamilton winning in Germany and the villainous Bosche crashing out , and a further win in Hungary for 44 ,  Lewis going into the mid season break with a 24 point lead .   Sounds a lot but can disappear quickly .

Spa and Monza at the end of August next up , where the real racing begins .

Mikeyboy

 

It's an exciting title race.  A good reply in commentary from Brundle yesterday to all those saying F1 is boring these days that in 2 previous seasons when Mansell won and one of Schumacher's wins the World Title was already decided by this point.

Go Lewis. 

[likeaking]

When the deciding factors in winning races become tire choice and pit strategies rather than drivers competing against each other, then yes, it's boring to me. The are also only three teams = six drivers that have a chance of winning a race. I've stopped getting up at 06:00 to watch the races, I'd rather sleep with my eyes closed.

[aussieoutcast]

When the deciding factors in winning races become tire choice and pit strategies rather than drivers competing against each other, then yes, it's boring to me. The are also only three teams = six drivers that have a chance of winning a race. I've stopped getting up at 06:00 to watch the races, I'd rather sleep with my eyes closed.

Well since pit stops take about 2.2 seconds, I guess that leaves tyre management only...also think only 2 teams = 4 drivers have chance of winning...red bull just lost on their best track :(

Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk

[likeaking]

11 minutes ago, aussieoutcast said:

Well since pit stops take about 2.2 seconds, I guess that leaves tyre management only...also think only 2 teams = 4 drivers have chance of winning...red bull just lost on their best track :(

Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk
 

 

With the strictly enforced low speed zones entering and leaving the pit area and the speed the on track cars are travelling, a pit stop is often the deciding factor in who wins.

[Scherzzo]

Something needs to be done about the hungaroring track to make it easier to pass, if vettel had of dispatched bottas earlier we might have had a race. I like the track but it's not racing when they cant pass. I think liberty are getting on top of it but it's going to take time. possibly 10 years.

 

[Kim Jong Il]

I've missed posting the last couple of races.

I'll try and pick it up again after the break!

[Kim Jong Il]

Wow.

Daniel Ricciardo goes to Renault next season......didn't see that one coming.

[likeaking]

4 hours ago, Kim Jong Il said:

Wow.

Daniel Ricciardo goes to Renault next season......didn't see that one coming.

He may not be thrilled with the move to Honda powerplants by Red Bull next year.

[Scherzzo]

Think he feels undervalued compared to Max, I believe he's getting paid a good bit less than max. He definitely wont win the championship in the next 2-3 years at Renault and I don't see the point then as a seat could open at the two bigger teams in 3 years.

Shakes things up a bit though....

[Kim Jong Il]

@likeaking

@Scherzzo

I think he probably does feel undervalued at RB compared to Max. RB have clearly set their team up to run around Max for the future and Dani probably feels a bit left out! Remember as well Max has never beaten Dani over a season.

Agree, the Honda engine might not have much appeal to Dani, though it does seem to be performing better this year in the Torro Rosso than it was in the Mclaren. Whether this is down to to Honda or Torro Rosso who knows.

One thing we do know is both Renault and Honda are capable of building stuff that can win titles. The thing is how long will it be before either of them can get there.....I think its more difficult now to catch up than it was 20 years ago and Merc and Ferrari seem to be a long way ahead of the pack.

I personally would have liked to see Dani go to Merc or ferrari....though I reckon that would have been vetoed by Hamilton and Vettel.

[Monger D. Luffy]

It’s official, Fernando Alonso leaves the F1 and won’t run next season. It looks like he wants to try luck in other fields like IndyCar but he said nothing about it.

  Best wishes for him.

[gmingot]

So Alonso will be throwing his toys from a different pram in a different series next year. A good driver when everything is going his way but not one to have on the team when things are not going well or if he doesnt get his own way

Edited August 14, 2018 by gmingot

[Kim Jong Il]

Carlos Sainz to replace Alonso at Mclaren......

[jerry]

On 8/4/2018 at 20:12, Kim Jong Il said:

 

 

I think he probably does feel undervalued at RB compared to Max. RB have clearly set their team up to run around Max for the future and Dani probably feels a bit left out! Remember as well Max has never beaten Dani over a season.

Agree, the Honda engine might not have much appeal to Dani, though it does seem to be performing better this year in the Torro Rosso than it was in the Mclaren. Whether this is down to to Honda or Torro Rosso who knows.

One thing we do know is both Renault and Honda are capable of building stuff that can win titles. The thing is how long will it be before either of them can get there.....I think its more difficult now to catch up than it was 20 years ago and Merc and Ferrari seem to be a long way ahead of the pack.

I personally would have liked to see Dani go to Merc or ferrari....though I reckon that would have been vetoed by Hamilton and Vettel.

As a Dutchie i support Max of course but Danni is a very capable driver and pretty sure Vettel and Hamilton would have a hard time staying ahead of him . Not sure the works team from Renault is the right choice for him but there weren't many other options left . Hope he does well there as he's a likable personality .

Don't be surprised if Honda is going for the top 3 next year . With the MGU-H units gone next year (the part where Honda was struggling the most) it might well turn out that the Honda engine isn't that bad after all . Pretty sure Red Bull has turned the pressure up on Honda (and has a bigger budget than McLaren to do so to get that bit of extra power they need) . Don't think Honda can afford to have another season in F1 that does more bad than good to their name . Red Bull with (arguably) the best chassis , a driver that is eager for success after all the talk of being a future champion and a very focused Honda might well be going for the titel next year . I know my vision is a bit tinted but it would be great for F1 if it isn't Hamilton or Vettel (Mercedes or Ferrari) for once . 

[jerry]

..

[Kim Jong Il]

Red Bull confirm Pierre Gasly as Verstappen's new team mate for the 2019 season.