F1 2015: All Chat Here

[svensktoppen]

I guess one way of looking at it is that they won by 7 seconds, with one less pit stop (approx 23 seconds today). So in outright pace, the Merc was still around 15 seconds or so faster. Unless they can make do with one less pit stop for the rest of the season, they probably have some way to go still...

 

[gcon45]

What's most significant is that Vettel passed both Hamilton and Rosberg on track in a straight fight.

Is it a turning point?
Possibly.
Mercedes have the stronger package overall though, especially in the lower tyre deg circuits and I'd say Hamilton is still favourite for the title.

It makes it more interesting though!

 

[svensktoppen]

Lol, he "passed" them on fresh soft tyres, when the Mercs were on the last legs of the hard tyre - think you are clutching at straws there

Would still rather have Lewis get the c-ship than Vettel, but here's hoping for a closer fight at least! Still think Ferrari have some way to go, but they are getting there.

 

[gcon45]

What I meant was that no one has passed a Mercedes works car on track unless it was retiring / damaged since the start of last season. It happened twice today regardless of tyre strategy.

A significant moment as Martin Brundle said.

 

[lackingBHP]

Great to see......suppose now its James Allison who designs the best cars in the world and a monkey could win in it.........

 

[gcon45]

Great to see......suppose now its James Allison who designs the best cars in the world and a monkey could win in it.........

Lol! Just do a search on here for 'NEWEY VETTEL' if you want a laugh and read all the comments from the mongs who thought Vettel was nothing without Newey in previous threads.

A frightening thought would be Vettel or Alonso in one of those Mercs.
The championship would be over before it started.

 

[Nickyyy]

I won't think merc will be troubled this season barring no more strategic ****ups

 

[Shaun]

Enjoyed that race today, brilliant to see the Ferrari with real pace again and the mercs being challenged.

Also what a drive from Verstappen and Sainz

 

[jimcupra]

Just watched the lazy man's rerun. Nice to see a different winner even better it was a Ferrari. If I'm honest it did bore me think it's the lack of noise.

 

[svensktoppen]

Also what a drive from Verstappen and Sainz

This Those two keep impressing.

 

[davecoupe]

Fantastic to see Vettel winning with another car .... Even if it is in a damn Ferrari. Might shut the doubters up a wee bit. Kimi wasn't too shabby either. The ferraris seem to be performing much better than even the team expected. They have got results before applying the anticipated upgrades they have planned for the return to Europe. It will be great to see how they measure up to the mercs after they get the upgrades, they are expecting a big step in performance.

Fantastic race all around it has to be said. Positive steps taken by all the midfield runners except probably lotus. Battles throughout the field too.

McLaren definitely looking better this weekend, they might finally be working out the supposed torque vectoring rear diff system and be able to turn the Honda up a bit soon. Both drivers seem confident anyway.

 

[pablo]

Fair play to vettel. Nice to see Ferrari back in it.

So happy to see bottas get Massa on the last lap too

 

[DEEJAY.B]

Things shapeing up nicely . . .

 

[EP3 James]

glad no team orders between massa and bottas at the end

 

[svensktoppen]

Yes, Massa v Bottas was excellent

Tight down the field, some good battles going on there

I really hope RB get their **** sorted soon though, Ricciardo is too good to be stuck halfway down the field.

 

[EP3 James]

yeah i was expecting a lot more from Riccardo tbh.. defo not down to his ability, fantastic driver just seems redbull are stuck in a bit of a rutt atm

 

[svensktoppen]

Maybe the success of Red Bull was more down to the likes of Peter Podromou, who have now left, than to Adrian?

They definitely seem to be suffering in most areas this year. And the McL has some pretty interesting aero and packaging on it.

 

[EP3 James]

i guess we can all speculate but we will have to wait and see when they do improve, will just be a question of how much improvement can be done.

 

[davecoupe]

And the McL has some pretty interesting aero and packaging on it.

Rumours are there are a lot more trick bits than just aero on it, they have a new way of manipulating the power delivery through the rear diff using the ERS and that is why they are running the Honda at reduced power and generating so much confusion around the Alonso incident.

Might be a load of balls, but would go some way towards explaining the upbeat nature of 2 former world champs who are qualifying on the back row.

 

[svensktoppen]

All three drivers have said the car itself is good, and drives well. They just need to bring up the engine a bit at a time, sort out cooling issues and whatnot, one step at a time. No testing = all this has to happen at the races. Australia was the first (and only...) time the engine did a full race distance.

Just imagine the cost of this project... Still no real sponsorship on the car either... Deep, deep pockets somewhere...

Like you say, hard to know what is fluff and smoke screens, etc. Fingers crossed and all that!

 

[Wild Thing]

I think by 3/4 way throught the championship Mclaren will be the car to beat, between mcl and the wee jap men at honda, failure will not be an option and as said earlier those two drivers are far to cocky to be sitting at the ass of the grid on raceday. Might make it a bit more interesting this year.

 

[stevyg]

Glad to see someone shake Mercedes up a bit.
Ferrari winning won't show anyone how good Vettel is outside of Redbull. The only way we will know is by Vettel beating Kimi by the margin Alonso beat him last year. That will show how good he really is. So we will see....
I think this was a bit of a wake-up for Mercedes but the biggest wake up is for Redbull who were complaining that the FIA should step in to level things up just a week ago while others were saying they should work harder to bridge the gap. Ferrari stepped up to the plate.
I think Alonso made a huge mistake going to McL and Hamilton has been putting off signing a new Mercedes contract for months, could he go to Ferrari at the end of the season??

 

[Wild Thing]

After the huge hamilton alonso bust up at mcl years ago, there is something special there or he would not be back

 

[DC.]

Hamilton is due to sign his new Mercedes contract anytime now - worth upto £27m a-year.

Glad there's more positivity in this thread after the weekend compared to post Australia.

 

[svensktoppen]

Yep, Hamilton signed up to Merc again. No surprise there.

Merc is still the car to beat, Ferrari only got the win on the back of pulling off one less pit stop. Well done, obviously, but still some way to go on outright pace.