Hamilton 5x World Champion ?

[ChrisE]

Nico though.... ugh.... BOTH Renaults.... at the same time.... *** hapened there? Were their cars operating on a timed schedule or something? One blows a gear box, and the other gets the yellow flag warning and its like the machine just goes "ok, well, that's that then, I'm out." *blip* .... O.O



-tg

Riccardo's Car was 'Live' , the Team said get out and don't touch nothing.
makes me wonder, they are telling und in Germany to buy new 'Electric' Car's
let's wait and see when the first person get's electrocuted

[NeedSomeAnswers]

Riccardo's Car was 'Live' , the Team said get out and don't touch nothing.
makes me wonder, they are telling und in Germany to buy new 'Electric' Car's
let's wait and see when the first person get's electrocuted

I am fairly sure that an electrocution system is not fitted by default in new electric cars you have to buy the sports package

[si_the_geek]

I think I'll avoid the sports package then

I've often wondered if Vettel is really that good or did Red Bull have a far superior car.

The first championship Vettel won was mainly about luck (during the final race he was 3rd favourite to win, but the other two messed each other up), and after that the car was superior - and the confidence shift in the drivers from the first championship meant he kept beating his team mate.

These days Hamilton is wrecking Vettels confidence, and I don't think Vettel has the ability to keep it together well enough (unless he has a long run of good luck to start re-building his mindset).

Hope Ferrari doesn't make Leclerc let Vettel pass.

It is good to see Ferrari being sensible, and the team boss openly refusing to do that... possibly due to the amount of times Vettel messed up last year, they are waiting until late in the season to consider team orders, so at the very least Charles has a good chance to prove himself.

Based on what LeClerc did yesterday, he's got a good chance of being on top.

Grosjean just has never learned how to take care of a car in traffic

He's a decent driver, but for years has managed to keep being involved in things like that... even being banned because of it for a while early in his career didn't get him to sort it out properly.

I thought that was one of the better races in a long time.

It was very good, all kinds of great things going on... there is certainly a lot of potential for the rest of the season (even my team McLaren making improvements at last).

[wes4dbt]

These days Hamilton is wrecking Vettels confidence

Very true. Hamilton has left no doubt who's the better driver. I get no pleasure saying that because I'm not a Hamilton fan. Was hoping Red Bull could close the performance gap so Verstappen could take the fight to him. Looks like Leclerc has potential, just needs experience.

[wes4dbt]

Been checking out a series on Netflix called "Forumla 1 Drive to Survive". Pretty interesting. It's not about the championship, it's more about what was going on behind the scenes in 2018. Hard to explain, worth a watch.

[ChrisE]

well Vettel looks strong in the sessions in China, I hope he can
get himself back in the Championship, I don't want another year
of Merceds making it clear who's gonna win

[wes4dbt]

Lately Ferrari seems to show more in practice than Mercedes. Mercedes seem to turn it up in qualifying. If Ferrari doesn't have reliability issues then I think they got a car that can contend for a Championship. This is just my opinion but to me it seems that Mercedes is a better all round team. their race day strategy is excellent and they just rarely make any mistakes.

[Zvoni]

Haven't read all posts now, but the one post about the Spa '98 race stuck, since i remember watching the race live on TV.
I've stopped watching F1 some years ago. I think the last one was Button winning the championship for Brawn, and boy, was that an upset for the established teams.

I say, Schu was definitely the better driver than any of the drivers today.
Does anyone of you remember that race in Spain, where Schu had start from Position 16, and ended up in second place?
With only two gears working in his gearbox (Second and Fifith gear if memory serves).

What i would really like to see (and i'd watch that from start to end):
Sit all drivers in the same car, and let them race!

[techgnome]

I've been finding it increasingly hard to watch F1 the last few years. It's been coming a lot like a parade. Which is why I've recently started watching Formula E racing... 5 races, 4 different winners. Everyone has the same chassis, the same batteries, and pretty much the same thing - with two exceptions - the motors and the drivers. With the Gen2 cars they're running this year, it's been a much more interesting run than in the past.

-tg

[Shaggy Hiker]

What i would really like to see (and i'd watch that from start to end):
Sit all drivers in the same car, and let them race!

Wouldn't that be kind of crowded?

[Shaggy Hiker]

I've been finding it increasingly hard to watch F1 the last few years. It's been coming a lot like a parade. Which is why I've recently started watching Formula E racing... 5 races, 4 different winners.
-tg

I've been watching Grecian Formula: A desperate attempt to get in the black before your creditors catch you.

[Zvoni]

Wouldn't that be kind of crowded?

LOOLL Shaggy.
Nice one.
OK, i walked into that one!

[wes4dbt]

Plenty of room.

the new 2020 F1 Car

Attachment 167473

[Zvoni]

Reminds me of the Ghostbusters....

[OptionBase1]

Tried to stay up late enough to watch qualifying last night but didn't make it. Planning on staying up for tonight's race. I usually root for Red Bull for the upset victories, and for Haas to be best of the rest, with the longshot hopes that the Mercedes take each other out on lap 1.

Gasly has been a big disappointment for his Red Bull debut this year, and Grosjean has stunk it up for Haas this year.

[si_the_geek]

What i would really like to see (and i'd watch that from start to end):
Sit all drivers in the same car, and let them race!

It would be great to see, as we'd find out how the drivers really compare to each other... unfortunately it is primarily a team sport, so I doubt it could ever happen.

Gasly has been a big disappointment for his Red Bull debut this year, and Grosjean has stunk it up for Haas this year.

Gasly is looking pretty poor so far, and there are already noises that he isn't likely to finish the season. Hopefully he'll get it together a bit, but against his team mate Max most people would look bad.

Lately Ferrari seems to show more in practice than Mercedes. Mercedes seem to turn it up in qualifying. If Ferrari doesn't have reliability issues then I think they got a car that can contend for a Championship. This is just my opinion but to me it seems that Mercedes is a better all round team. their race day strategy is excellent and they just rarely make any mistakes.

In terms of practice I get the impression that Mercedes are messing up their setup at the start, but are good at working out how to improve it a lot before it matters, whereas Ferrari seem to start in a better place but make much smaller progress.

It turns out that Ferrari have discovered their big issue (the aero package is limited), but unfortunately it could be a while before they get it properly sorted... and by then Mercedes might be equal on power.


Race 1000 wasn't a great one, but it was nice to see the drivers from both top teams being roughly equal, so at least there will be a fight for the championship... there just might not be as many contenders as we'd like, especially with Red Bull also being a bit behind.

Further down the field there were a few interesting moments, including both of my McLaren's getting hit at the same time on the opening lap. At the time it looked like Kvyat in the Toro Rosso caused it by being silly (which is why he was punished), but after more replays it seems like it was just a racing incident.

[wes4dbt]

I think I'm through with Monaco, I just find it frustrating to watch. I can't imagine how the Verstappen must feel, really all the drivers. After qualifying they should just put the cars away and on Sunday just party and maybe have a dance off. Most street courses have this problem but Monaco is the worst. It might be a nice place for a vintage car race but F1 has no business there anymore. The fans deserve more and the drivers and teams deserve to be able to race.

[si_the_geek]

The lack of overtaking is a problem there, so it isn't the most entertaining race.

It takes a huge amount of skill to drive Monaco quickly, but it's hard to appreciate that unless they show onboard shots, which are fairly rare.

It was great to see a better version of that on TV after qualifying: a proper drivers-eye-view camera (much lower than the usual onboard shots) of Lewis's pole lap, and seeing that view was easily the highlight of the Monaco experience for me... unfortunately I can't find the full thing online, but here is most of it (probably only available in the UK): https://f1.channel4.com/video/full-t...-chance-relax/

[ChrisE]

I think I'm through with Monaco, I just find it frustrating to watch. I can't imagine how the Verstappen must feel, really all the drivers. After qualifying they should just put the cars away and on Sunday just party and maybe have a dance off. Most street courses have this problem but Monaco is the worst. It might be a nice place for a vintage car race but F1 has no business there anymore. The fans deserve more and the drivers and teams deserve to be able to race.

+1 to that statement

I am just glad that those 2 guy's didn't get hit by Perez, he should get a Point
for that reaction driving between them, what the Hell went wrong there , Charlie Whiting we miss you !!

[techgnome]

The problem with Monaco.. and many, if not all of the classic courses is that over the years the cars have gotten wider, but the streets haven't. Now it's a lot harder to pass because getting two cars side by side isn't easy or safe. There's bare enough room on the starting line in some of these places. Monaco only has like three passing zones, all of them corners, and all of them have to be carefully timed in order to get it right and you have to practically be in the guy's gearbox to make it work.

Verstappen though I think should have taken his penalty early and made up the time during the race rather than trying to over take Hamilton. I think that was a bad decision. Gutsy decision, but a bad one.

On a more somber note, it was good to see all of the teams paying respects to Niki Lauda.

-tg

[wes4dbt]

Monaco only has like three passing zones

tg, That's being very generous. If you car has more straight line acceleration you can maybe pass coming out of the tunnel at the Nouvelle chicane. Other than that, if the car in front wants to contest the pass, your going to wreck your car.

Yeah, to bad about Niki Lauda. Never saw him drive (that I can remember) but it seems he was dedicated to F1. Don't know how factual the movie Rush was but he seemed to make F1 his life.

[jdc2000]

The 2019 Canadian GP was another race not worth watching.

[si_the_geek]

It wasn't as good as most races there, but it did have some good moments... unfortunately the main talking point was the penalty that Vettel got.

For ages it seemed like a really harsh penalty, until I saw a completely different camera angle (looking down on the cars from above), and that one showed a very deliberate change of direction that you couldn't see from the others. At that point it went from being really harsh to just a little bit harsh.

It was great to see him after the race moving the marker boards so that the Merc came second

[ChrisE]

I think the F1 Season 2019 must be the worst ever.

the only positive things are the new Drivers ..Norris, Albon
and McClaren seem's to get better and better.
The way Magnussen was having a rant .. well not nice for the Team

all in all a disapointing Season

[wes4dbt]

Well, the fact that Mercedes has complete dominance does take some of the fun out of it. They just have no weakness, best driver, car, team. Though twice this year Ferrari could have won. The penalty on Vettel was strange because I wouldn't consider that a run off area, it's just a little patch of grass, there was no way he could have not reentered the track. I think the more correct term should have been, failure to maintain control of your car and impeding the progress of another driver. Don't know if there is a penalty for that. But he sure cracked under pressure from Hamilton.

[si_the_geek]

I'm not sure if Merc still have the best car, I think that the various mistakes from Ferrari (including set up of the car) are hindering them too much.

As for the penalty, from what I see it wasn't about re-entering the track, but the change of direction towards the wall after he was back on track, therefore forcing Lewis to back off. I haven't found a slow-motion version, but the good view of it is 30 seconds into the video here:
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/a...hGG6oYkZs.html

[wes4dbt]

As for the penalty, from what I see it wasn't about re-entering the track, but the change of direction towards the wall after he was back on track, therefore forcing Lewis to back off.

Yeah, I've seen the replays but don't think there is enough there to prove it was a deliberate move or he was just in the process of recovering control of the car. But the penalty doesn't bother me too much, he should have keep the car under control.

[ChrisE]

France 2019
well Mercedes destroyed Ferrari again, this season is getting really boring.

Lando Norris is for me the Driver of this Race, hydraulics just about gone
shifting and steering must have been Hell but kept
Ricardo,Kimmi and Hulkenberg behind him
so 5***** Stars from me

[wes4dbt]

Yeah, as far as the championships, driver/constructor, there isn't any excitement. But luckily I enjoy watching anyway. The cars are amazing, I get a kick out of Leclerc making Vettel look average. The worst part for me this year, except the Monaco race (PU), is my favorite team, HAAS, has been steadily moving backwards.

[ChrisE]

I wonder what is going on with Haas, at the beginning of the season they looked
as strong as Red Bull, but now ????

well let's wait and see what happens in Austria

[wes4dbt]

Well I think Grosjean has lost his skills, mental problems would be my guess, but he has to go. I think Magnussen has lost focus and has started to whine louder than the engine. The team as a whole is not functioning well. Not sure if Steiner need to go, maybe just getting rid of Grosjean and getting a new driver with a positive attitude would be enough. Another thing is I have really heard much about improvements to the car. In this sport if your not improving then your falling behind.

[ChrisE]

Well I think Grosjean has lost his skills, mental problems would be my guess, but he has to go. I think Magnussen has lost focus and has started to whine louder than the engine. The team as a whole is not functioning well. Not sure if Steiner need to go, maybe just getting rid of Grosjean and getting a new driver with a positive attitude would be enough. Another thing is I have really heard much about improvements to the car. In this sport if your not improving then your falling behind.

don't know if that is possible 'getting rid of a Driver' in the middle of the season ?
do you really think a diffrent Driver would be Faster?

[OptionBase1]

Haas is toast, Gasly is terrible, Riccardo should be back in the second Red Bull seat, and Ferrari needs to ditch the new guy calling the shots and bring back the guy they got rid of at the end of last year. I would absolutely expect some mid-season seat shakeups - I wouldn't be surprised of we see Alonso racing again before the end of the year.

[techgnome]

They should have kept Ricciardo... dumped Gasly and given his spot to Verstappen. I think Ricciardo and Verstappen would be tearing up the tracks if that's how it had gone down. There was a time when I had hopes for Haas... now... bleh... I think they have a lot of problems, and it goes beyond just the driver.

-tg

[si_the_geek]

don't know if that is possible 'getting rid of a Driver' in the middle of the season ?
do you really think a diffrent Driver would be Faster?

It has happened many times before (in recent years mainly the two Red Bull teams), but the replacement driver is rarely a worthwhile improvement in the remaining part of the season... it tends to be more about making sure next year is as good as it can be (because the 'new' driver has more experience).

Haas is toast, Gasly is terrible, Riccardo should be back in the second Red Bull seat, and Ferrari needs to ditch the new guy calling the shots and bring back the guy they got rid of at the end of last year. I would absolutely expect some mid-season seat shakeups - I wouldn't be surprised of we see Alonso racing again before the end of the year.

Riccardo doesn't want to be in the same team as Max, so wont be going back to Red Bull (he'd rather be the big fish in a smaller pond), but under the right circumstances he'd probably consider another team.

Alonso is busy elsewhere with the McLaren team, and as their current drivers are doing very well (go Lando!) he wouldn't come back with them, and based on his reputation about dealing with teams he is very unlikely to drive for anyone else.

I'm sure that there are several other drivers ready to step in to any team that wants them, but some are limited due to engine allegiances (such as Ocon, who is basically stuck with Mercedes powered teams, which is why he isn't racing this year).

[OptionBase1]

I was thinking something like Gasly gets the boot out of Red Bull, Red Bull buys out Sainz from McLaren and brings him into Gasly's seat, and then Alonso fills the open McLaren seat. Unlikely, for sure.

Gasly had some great finishes last year in the "lesser Red Bull" team, so I don't know what the deal is this year in a better car. But barring mechanical or contact issues, there's really no excuse for a Red Bull car finishing lower than 6th in any race. The quality of the Red Bull car is being wasted with Gasly behind the wheel. Hell, fire Gasly and bring in Kimi into his seat. He won't finish out of the points in a clean race, that's for sure.

[wes4dbt]

si,

I'm sure that there are several other drivers ready to step in to any team that wants them, but some are limited due to engine allegiances (such as Ocon, who is basically stuck with Mercedes powered teams, which is why he isn't racing this year).

I don't understand, how does a driver get stuck with engine allegiances that would dictate who he could drive for.

[si_the_geek]

With the hybrid engines the manufacturers all do things differently, which brings a couple of issues... the smaller (and ignorable) one is that the driver needs to learn various new things when switching to a different engine, the big one is that the engine manufacturers don't want the competition to get the drivers knowledge about their trade secrets.

At the end of last year there were several seats available, and Ocon was going to be available (because Stroll's father bought the team to put his son in). Ocon is a very good driver so was in demand, but the engine manufacturer (Mercedes) got in the way.

I don't know all the details, but he is the test driver for the Mercedes team this year, with them stating that they intend for him to race in F1 next year, but no indication of which team it might be for... I expect it to be a team that uses Mercedes engines.


Most of the driver moves that happened at the end of last season were between teams that had the same engines (eg: Kimi moved from Ferrari to a Ferrari powered car, and Riccardo went from a Renault powered car to Renault).

[ChrisE]

well what a great performance from Max !
at last a good Race to watch, poor Gasly with 1 Round behind Max, wonder how much
longer Red Bull will put up with that performance

[wes4dbt]

Yeah I enjoyed that race a lot. Max definitely pushed Leclerc off track so I was was very interested to see what the stewards would do. I wasn't surprised when they didn't do anything, hell with all of the thousands of Max fans that was there they probably wouldn't make it out alive. lol Besides F1 seems to have this unwritten rule that if someone catches you and then pulls besides you in the corner, then you should give them the corner. Not a fan of that attitude.

What I found amazing was Max was turning faster laps on old worn hard tires than Vettel was on a new set of softs. I think that says a lot about both of there performances.