Formula 1

[Edge]

Massa driving well   :-)

[Kim Jong Il]

 

So round 5 over and one of the better races to watch so far this season.

Before the start it became evident that Ferrari had copied the Mercedes steering wheel paddle system in the hope it would give them a better start.

Red lights out and away. Vettel leads Hamilton into turn 1.....maybe that steering wheel mod works then! More incidents at turn 1 as Bottas tags Raikonnen who then tags Verstappen which sees Raikonen and Verstappen having an early bath so to say. Further incident with Alonso being forced off the track and joining well down from his start position.

By lap 4 Vettel has a 2.6 second lead and already looks like he could have this one sown up.

Vettel in first for new soft tyres on lap 14 so looking like a possible 3 stop for him. Hamilton soon follows but comes out on the medium tyres but manages to keep pace with Vettel, helped by Bottas keeping Vettel in check for about 4 laps.

Vettel manages to pull out a 6 second lead on the quicker tyres when we get a virtual safety car. Hamilton comes in first for new soft tyres and Vettel pits a few laps later for the mediums. Vettel rejoins and its very close as they go into turn 1 but Vettel comes out on top. Lewis makes his move a few laps later and takes the lead. After that it was game over.

Finishing order Hamilton. Vettel then, 76 seconds later, Ricciardo.

Vettel still leads the championship by 6 points.

Next round Monaci in 2 weeks time.....minus Alonso who will be racing Indy.

Looks like this could be a good season after all.

 

 

[mikeyboy]

On 14/05/2017 at 2:36 PM, Edge said:

Massa driving well   :-)

Didn't really notice ,  not that the Williams will be anything other than middle of the pack at best ,  even with the best driver in it .

Have to admit the middle runners produce the best racing with evenly matched cars .

Mikeyboy

[Edge]

4 hours ago, mikeyboy said:

Didn't really notice ,  not that the Williams will be anything other than middle of the pack at best ,  even with the best driver in it .

Have to admit the middle runners produce the best racing with evenly matched cars .

Mikeyboy

I was referring to the point at which he got in the way of the German as he was trying to catch Ali G towards the end.

[mikeyboy]

4 hours ago, Edge said:

I was referring to the point at which he got in the way of the German as he was trying to catch Ali G towards the end.

Ah yes ,  a bit of misunderstanding there between the drivers .  Vettel was not amused 

Mikeyboy

[cbmgolfer]

Interesting interview from Alonzo after first testing at Indy ....

 

"Alonso also noted how the start-up process in IndyCar is vastly different from F1, and significantly quicker.

“Here, they ask if you’re ready, you say yes, switch the car on and you go. In Formula 1, it takes 6 minutes to fire up the car!” Alonso laughed."

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/distinct-f1-indy-differences-stand-211123981.html

 

IMO good insight into where F1 has gone astray ....

[Kim Jong Il]

 

 

11 hours ago, cbmgolfer said:

Interesting interview from Alonzo after first testing at Indy ....

 

"Alonso also noted how the start-up process in IndyCar is vastly different from F1, and significantly quicker.

“Here, they ask if you’re ready, you say yes, switch the car on and you go. In Formula 1, it takes 6 minutes to fire up the car!” Alonso laughed."

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/distinct-f1-indy-differences-stand-211123981.html

 

IMO good insight into where F1 has gone astray ....

It will be interesting to see how he does at his first attempt. I remember Mansell was oh so close....just got caught napping after the safety car with a few laps to go I think.

[cbmgolfer]

On 5/17/2017 at 6:55 PM, Kim Jong Il said:

 

 

It will be interesting to see how he does at his first attempt. I remember Mansell was oh so close....just got caught napping after the safety car with a few laps to go I think.

Will be a true test for him as the race will be way more chaotic than he's used to.  He seems really into it though.  Would be cool to see him win.  Either way it is a huge boost for Indy racing.

[Edge]

Going to have to work out the best source of streaming....Fox Sports?

I guess he's busy practicing already...   http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/events/indy500/event-info/schedule

[Kim Jong Il]

So, Alonso finishes qualifying in 5th place....pretty good for a first attempt. Mansell qualified in his first Indy 500 attempt in 8th all those years ago. Anyway, good luck next weekend Alonso.....be nice to see you in a car that get to the finishing line at least!!

[cbmgolfer]

11 hours ago, Kim Jong Il said:

So, Alonso finishes qualifying in 5th place....pretty good for a first attempt. Mansell qualified in his first Indy 500 attempt in 8th all those years ago. Anyway, good luck next weekend Alonso.....be nice to see you in a car that get to the finishing line at least!!

Should be good racing .... bunch of cars on similar pace.

[mbamber]

12 hours ago, Kim Jong Il said:

So, Alonso finishes qualifying in 5th place....pretty good for a first attempt. Mansell qualified in his first Indy 500 attempt in 8th all those years ago. Anyway, good luck next weekend Alonso.....be nice to see you in a car that get to the finishing line at least!!

Mansell finish 3rd and is the Only reigning F1 champion to win the Cart Indy world Championship so holding them both at the same time.

[Kim Jong Il]

Round 6 it is and the glitz and glam of Monaco.

During free practise sessions it looks like Ferrari have a comfortable upper hand with Mercedes really struggling.

On to qualifying and as we all know its important where you start here as there will not be much overtaking.

Q1 sees the usual kind of suspects eliminated.

Q2 sees Hamilton really struggling and he has do or die lap at his final attempt to get through to Q3. The attempt comes to an end when Van Doorne hits the barrier and the yellow flags come out.....Hamilton out of Q3 and music to Ferrari's ears.

Q3 sees it pretty tight at the end with Raikkonen taking pole, Vettel second and a wonder lap from Bottas sees him 3rd, just 2 one thousandths of a second behind Vettel. The two Red Bulls take 4th and 5th. Jensen Button takes 9th on his return to F1...not bad for his first drive in this car.

I'd like to say it will be an interesting race tomorrow but it probably won't be so. With overtaking difficult here it will probably be down to mistakes by the drivers.

Useless piece of information for the week....it is 129 races since Kimi was on pole!

[Kim Jong Il]

So...race over and no big surprises.

From the start nothing spectacular happened. Hamilton made one place directly off the line and Verstappen made a place a few corners later. And so the order stayed until the first round of pit stops.

Ferrari brought Raikonnen in first and Red Bull brought in Verstappen first. This moved proved to be a mistake for the said drivers as each of their partners powered ahead setting very quick times for the next laps which saw Vettel take the lead after his pit stop and Ricciardo get ahead of Verstappen (and Bottas) after his first stop. Overcut is king today! Penny for your thoughts on strategy Kimi. Was this an engineered way of getting Vettel ahead....we'll never know I suppose.

When Hamilton made his stop he came back out in 7th place so good progress for him after starting 14th, but really only due to pit stop timings.On lap 60 things started to get a little chaotic. Button tried to overtake Wehrline at the corner before the tunnel entrance which resulted in the Sauber on its side leaned up against the safety barrier. Out came the safety car and as the backmarkers were unlapping themselves the second Sauber ended up in the barrier.

Finishing order was Vettel, Raikonnen and Ricciardo.

All in all not a spectacular race to watch so roll on round 7.

 

[Edge]

Go Alonso.

[Kim Jong Il]

Apparently its live on BT Sport ESPN channel

http://www.crichd.sc/bt-sport-espn-live-stream 

Start time I think is 17:19 UK time

 

[Palaeojeo]

Good luck Fernando, stay out of the gray. Kimmi was robbed of a Monaco win by a flat tire. Bottas can't keep up his qual speed, and Lewis kept his cool but three others dove under cars and caused wreaks, one with the driver trapped could have been tragic. This one was caused by the last appearance of Jenson Button.  Vettel will win the championship. And by the end of the season Hamilton will have gone off the rails.  

Edited May 28, 2017 by Palaeojeo

[Edge]

Alonso in the lead Lap 41/200 and flying.

[Kim Jong Il]

So, same engine same problem Fernando. At least you gave it a good shot.

[tj916]

14 hours ago, Kim Jong Il said:

Apparently its live on BT Sport ESPN channel

http://www.crichd.sc/bt-sport-espn-live-stream 

Start time I think is 17:19 UK time

 

Good shout, watched it, I won't post results but well worth watching if you can catch reply or highlights.

Made Monaco look a bit tame.

[Edge]

42 minutes ago, tj916 said:

Good shout, watched it, I won't post results but well worth watching if you can catch reply or highlights.

Made Monaco look a bit tame.

They sure know how to do great crash 'scenes'.

F1 so safe and clinical now it's just boring?

[Kim Jong Il]

1 hour ago, Edge said:

They sure know how to do great crash 'scenes'.

F1 so safe and clinical now it's just boring?

There's always the TT if we want some balls of steel action....if I can find a link which shows it.

The worst is that statistically at least 2 riders will die during this meeting, the exact opposite of F1 sterile safety.

[Edge]

2 minutes ago, Kim Jong Il said:

There's always the TT if we want some balls of steel action....if I can find a link which shows it.

The worst is that statistically at least 2 riders will die during this meeting, the exact opposite of F1 sterile safety.

As I posted in that thread....not really.

MotoGP is as good as it gets IMO...plenty of crashes but thankfully not many Simoncellis.

Problem with the TT is that the course is so long it doesn't make for good spectating or even TV.

Indy 500 is the exact opposite where every spectator sees every crash.

For many spectators if they don't get to see crashes they switch off.

[Palaeojeo]

Yes, many humans want big crashes and think men driving at the limit through the streets of Monaco is boring. It doesn't get much better than getting so close to the barrier that your tire touches it at full gas. 500 miles is an endurance race and a lot of laps are in cruse mode. The Honda that let Alonso down won the race so its either bad luck or they didn't want his car in inspection. Now next season if they put Alonso in the red car with Vettel !!! 

[Kim Jong Il]

On we go with round 7 in Canada.

All through the free practise sessions its been nip and tuck with Mercedes and Ferrari, and so it would continue through qualifying.

Q1 and Q2 produced nothing out of the ordinary but saw things keeping close between the Mercs and the Ferraris with the Mercs just edging it.

Into Q3 and the real action started with Hamilton's first run producing a blistering lap which was the fastest all time lap on this circuit and the first ever sub 1:12 lap. Que Ferrari and Vettel produces a lap just four one thousandths of a second slower than Hamilton.

Last runs of Q3 saw Hamilton go even faster with a 1:11:459 which would remain unbeaten despite Vettel's best efforts.

Should be an interesting race tomorrow.

As an aside, Hamilton's pole here means he equals the all time record for pole positions in Canada and he also equals Senna's record for career poles.