Formula 1

[Kim Jong Il]

Belgium and Spa it is for this weekend.

Q1 and Q2 was pretty much as expected but then came the rain and the fun for Q3.

Hamilton put in a last lap on a drying track which was 3 seconds quicker than anyone to take provisional pole with both the Force India's finishing quick to take provisional 2nd and 3rd but then along came Vettel on his last lap to slot into second and relegate the Force India's to 3rd and 4th.

What happened to Kimi.....not fuelled for enough laps? He was going well till he went into the pits and didn't come out again.

 

[ertert]

Yeah bizzare kimi and the red bulls weren't out at the end when the track was driest. Kimi was filthy.

[Kim Jong Il]

It finishes:

Vettel

Hamilton

Verstappen

Good start from Hamilton to keep the lead at the first corner but Vettel got past soon after and led the race from then on.

Carnage at the first corner which saw Alonso's car go airborne and fly over the top of Leclerc's car, along with a few bumps and bangs around a few of the other cars resulting in a few laps of the safety car.

Apart from that........

Good drive from Bottas to get up to 4th from the back of the field but Vettel in total control and never under threat.

Gap at the top down to 18 points now.

Monza up next.

[Kim Jong Il]

Italian weekend it is and could qualifying have been any better for the Italians....

Raikonnen

Vettel

Hamilton 

make up the top 3.

Long time that I can remember Kimi making pole and with a new lap record thrown in for good measure.

Will it be a good race or a walk over for Ferrari?

Edited September 2, 2018 by Kim Jong Il

[jerry]

1 minute ago, Kim Jong Il said:

Will it be a good race ... 

With a little luck Hamilton takes Vettel , Raikonen and himself out in the first corner ... 555 . 

[Kim Jong Il]

^^^^^^

Now that would be entertaining.

 

[Kim Jong Il]

Well @jerry , your 'prediction' almost came true!

Hamilton

Raikonnen

Bottas.

Some good racing, some good action.....non more so than Lewis and Seb coming together on the first lap as Lewis was overtaking on the outside.

Lots of overtaking all through the race made it a good race to watch.

Verstappen finished 3rd on track but was penalised 5 seconds for nudging Bottas off putting him down to 5th in the results.

Was that a super tactical race from Merc vs Ferrari to manage to keep Lewis out after Kimi's pit stop.

I think quite a steal from Merc considering the pace of the Ferrari's and their front row lock out.

When will Vettel stop making these mistakes......mistakes which at the end of the season could well have cost them the championship.

Special mention for Williams who managed a very rare point.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Kim Jong Il

[Fire Bar Matt]

Reported recently, Ricciardo’s new contract at Renault is $35 million a year making him the third highest paid driver behind Hamilton and Vettel. 

He might win or have a whole lot of success over the next 2 years but if it’s true, he’ll be very handsomely compensated for it. 

[Kim Jong Il]

So, Ferrari have done it!

Raikonnen is out and Leclerc is in.....

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/905204/1/leclerc-replaces-raikkonen-ferrari-2019

[Kim Jong Il]

Singapore this weekend.....one of the best places in the world IMHO.

Hamilton

Verstappen

Vettel

Wow, what a qualifying session that was!

Q1 saw Mercedes playing a bit of Russian roulette due to not having many hypersoft tyres available with Hamilton just scrapping through in 14th place.

Q3 saw some incredible laps.

Hamilton set pole time on his first fast run with an incredible lap of 1:36.....some 3 seconds faster than last years pole....amazing lap!

Verstappen also put in a blistering first flying lap to be just 0.3 behind Lewis.

All weekend it looked like Ferrari had it nailed on with both drivers being very quick but where did Hamilton pull that lap from .....epic or what!

Not the best track for overtaking on so we will see what happens tomorrow.

[roger buttmore]

H-V
0-0 - 2007 
1-0 - 2008 
1-1 - 2010 
1-2 - 2011 
1-3 - 2012 
1-4 - 2013 
2-4 - 2014 
3-4 - 2015 
4-4 - 2017 
5-4 - 2018

[Kim Jong Il]

Hamilton

Verstappen

Vettel

Not a brilliant race from the spectator point of view.....all about strategy rather than overtaking spectacle but I think that's what we kind of expected.

Having said that there was some good entertainment further down the field, a lot of which seemed to centre round Perez and Sirotkin.

So Lewis stretches his lead out to 40 points now.....surely he must feel one hand on the title, or will there be some big surprises to come in the remaining 6 races.

So whats gone wrong with Ferrari just lately? Trounced in qualifying and obliterated in the race despite being favourites by some margin.

It was all neck and neck with them and Mercedes up till the summer break but now its gone a bit pear shaped....a lot like last season, but this season they seem to have the faster car! Is it that the team can't handle the pressure resulting in some poor strategy calls or is that Vettel hasn't got the mental strength to take on Hamilton. Vettel's body language at the moment makes it look like he's already accepted that title is going to Hamilton.

Who would want to be a fly on the wall in Marenello on Monday morning.

Edited September 16, 2018 by Kim Jong Il

[aussieoutcast]

More interested in why Verstappen can suddenly outdrive Ricardo, conspiracy theory much ;)

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[vimto66]

Formula 1 is like premier league football, such an imbalance.

People rave about the `top` drivers but does anyone really think they`d have a cat in hells chance driving in a lesser car/team, put a so called lesser driver in a top team and he`d be there or thereabouts,  said it before but the car is very much the star.

Not saying some drivers arn`t better than others, but not to such an extent.

 

Edited September 17, 2018 by vimto66

[Guest]

Must be the most boring season ever.

[Footymadstreams]

19 hours ago, vimto66 said:

Formula 1 is like premier league football, such an imbalance.

People rave about the `top` drivers but does anyone really think they`d have a cat in hells chance driving in a lesser car/team, put a so called lesser driver in a top team and he`d be there or thereabouts,  said it before but the car is very much the star.

Not saying some drivers arn`t better than others, but not to such an extent.

 

Leicester City won the premier League 

[vimto66]

4 minutes ago, Footymadstreams said:

Leicester City won the premier League 

Yes they did, and what a surprise it was, but im speaking in general and do stand by what i said!

[gusincebu]

More interested in why Verstappen can suddenly outdrive Ricardo, conspiracy theory much ;)

Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk

Yeah ..wonder why ?

Feel sorry for Gasley next year ..scrambling for the crumbs from the table of " team Verstappen " !

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[aussieoutcast]

Gasley doesnt bring much so probably fits with the Verstappen camp, I really hope Riciardo Renault kicks there arse

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[Kim Jong Il]

Sochi in Russia it is for this weekend.

Bottas

Hamilton 

Vettel

Bottas beats Hamilton to pole and keeps up his record of never having been out-qualified by a teammate at this circuit.

Vettel and Raikonnen lock out the second row.

Nothing really surprising today then, Mercedes having been comfortably quickest all weekend.

Good drive from Bottas.

Lots of grid penalties here with some of the faster guys starting at the back.....should at least see some overtaking by Ricciardo and Verstappen as they make their way forward.

Will Bottas be allowed to win tomorrow if its close between him and Hamilton. Difficult to see anything other than a Mercedes win.

[jerry]

On 9/17/2018 at 20:37, aussieoutcast said:

More interested in why Verstappen can suddenly outdrive Ricardo, conspiracy theory much ;) 

Or maybe the young guy is still improving while Ricci is at his limit ...  ? 

On the other hand if there are updates and improvements available they will understandably go to Verstappen's car first . 

[Kim Jong Il]

So it finishes

Hamilton

Bottas

Vettel

Bit of a hollow victory for Lewis but gives him a 50 point gap at the top. As far as the team championship is concerned of course the finishing order is irrelevant when your drivers are 1 and 2.

I somehow think this line of team orders will continue at Mercedes until Lewis has won the title and then Bottas will be allowed to win the remaining races....should he be in a position to do so.

Another race where Ferrari seem to have no answers to Mercedes despite seeming to have the pit stop strategy worked out well for this race, Hamilton coming out behind Vettel but Vettel unable to consolidate his position and within a few corners losing it to Hamilton.

Excellent drive from Verstappen to finish 5th. Strange how his laps on the worn soft tyres were faster than his laps on the new supersoft tyres!

Still 5 races to go but can't really see past Mercedes for both the team and the drivers championships now.....but we shall see!

[Kim Jong Il]

Japan it is this weekend.

Hamilton

Bottas

Verstappen

make the first three.

Q3 turned into a race against the rain.....light rain but enough to destroy the lap times.

Ferrari were were first out for Q3 but with the intermediates fitted and the track too dry they just drove around the lap and back into the pits. In the meantime the Merc's flew round and set quick laps.

Ferrari came back out on slicks and had good track conditions but Vettel blew it and was in 9th.

Too late at this point for Vettel to improve as the light rain started to come down again.

Vettel starts 9th......game over?

Good qualifying from Torro Rosso with both drivers in Q3 and Hartley finishing ahead of Gasley.

No rain forecast for tomorrow and with Lewis on pole and being a bit nippy round the track he should get the win.....

[Kim Jong Il]

Hamilton

Bottas

Verstappen

Must admit I completely cocked up my waking up time for this so only saw the last 4 laps!

With Vettel down in 6th its pretty much all over.

I think if Hamilton can score 8 points more than Vettel in Austin then its done and dusted.

[mikeyboy]

On 10/7/2018 at 08:46, Kim Jong Il said:

Hamilton

Bottas

Verstappen

Must admit I completely cocked up my waking up time for this so only saw the last 4 laps!

With Vettel down in 6th its pretty much all over.

I think if Hamilton can score 8 points more than Vettel in Austin then its done and dusted.

Forgot to set my alarm and woke in a panic , missed the first lap but TV replayed it many times .

Can't help but think both Vettel and Verstappen make too many racing mistakes (contact) to really threaten the Mercedes on a regular basis .

Mikeyboy