F1 2016

[jimcupra]

I watched the Australian qualifying and thought that's it. I have followed f1 for nearly 40 years and been to many great races, Belgium 91 being my favourite. Will I ever watch it again no, the whole sport needs to change and go back to being the pinnacle of motor sport. I will still watch f1 I have plenty of dvds from when the racing was just that racing. Senna v post hunt v piquet or Jim Clarke on the limit Gilles awesome drifting mid corner. Years on those races still excite maybe f1 needs to look to the past for the future.

 

[davecoupe]

Very rose tinted view there @jimcupra there was some unbelievably tedious years around those times too. F1 cars this season are faster than ever, Rosbergs quali lap in Bahrain was over half a second quicker than the old 3.0l V10 lap record.

Just caught up on the race tonight. Great GP and its shaping up to be the best championship in more than 10 years imo. There is no doubt that it's gonna be a Merc that wins the championship but Ferrari are closer this season and the Red Bulls are supposed to be getting a load more power for Spain (the Astom Martin partnership might be paying off) which should hopefully see them bridge the gap towards the other 2. Behind them there is nothing seperating any of the cars from 5th to 13th and the extra set of tyres for the weekend has really mixed stuff up in the midfield. Even the Manor cars can mix it with the cars in 10th etc this season and you never would have thought that from last season. They have really upped their game. Force India have regressed a good bit though but we haven't hit the low drag tracks that they have specialised at in recent seasons. There has been some amount of overtaking done this season so far, most of the midfield cars seem to be out of sync all the time, on varying strategies etc which makes for good battles.

Unreal performance from Hass too, a 6th and a 5th in their opening 2 GP's. They might be a Ferrari customer team but that's mighty impressive for a car that's just out of the box.

It was great to see Kimi back to his old self at Bahrain too, he passed more cars on Sunday than all of last season. He came out after his first stop like a man possessed and dispatched about 6 cars in 3 laps, forced his way past Bottas around the outside of T1 and all.

 

[simy]

I'm actually enjoying the Channel 4 coverage but that Steve Jones has to go. He just seems to be irritating everyone he talks to. Toto was close to slapping him. DC and Webber are very good together, the grid walk was (un)intentionally funny. As for the race, good to see the new guys dukeing it out mid field. Grosjean in the Hass is very impressive. Lewis knows he is faster and should be winning, but you can't blame Nico for taking advantage, and doing it in style. After losing interest last season, I'm kinda looking forward to the races now, hope it lasts.

 

[jimcupra]

Of course it is @davecoupe I'm a grumpy old man who hates change. Totally agree there was parts that were predictable but it was still better than the pish this last few years. Maybe it will get better, but racing glorified milk floats isn't for me.

 

[Dave..]

I'm actually enjoying the Channel 4 coverage but that Steve Jones has to go. He just seems to be irritating everyone he talks to. Toto was close to slapping him. DC and Webber are very good together, the grid walk was (un)intentionally funny. As for the race, good to see the new guys dukeing it out mid field. Grosjean in the Hass is very impressive. Lewis knows he is faster and should be winning, but you can't blame Nico for taking advantage, and doing it in style. After losing interest last season, I'm kinda looking forward to the races now, hope it lasts.

Steve Jones is crap, not sure about Susie Wolf either. DC and Webber are all we need.
Grosjean was great, one of the best races I have seen in years.

 

[simy]

Agreed, DC, Webber and Lee are all they need.

 

[DC.]

Susie Wolff has a weird Scottish/Austrian/German accent going on lol.

Steve Jones can go & jump but other than that it was a decent effort from Channel 4.

Fine drives by Vandoorne & Wehrlein too. Those pair will hopefully have a seat, at McLaren & Mercedes respectively, next year

 

[DC.]

Always good to get Martin Brundle's thoughts

Martin Brundle: F1 driving to a great season despite maddening politics

 

[Crow555]

Could YOU run F1? « Sniff Petrol

 

[DC.]

Found this today

 

[simy]

And Mercedes doesn't run Formula One these days...

 

[DC.]

TBF F1 has had Mercedes support cars for a long time.

I remember all the active F1 drivers racing AMG C-Classes way back in the 80's - a young rookie by the name of Ayrton Senna beat them all.

*Edit* found the video:

 

[simy]

Oh i know, but the current rules and car specs only really benefit Mercedes, and possibly Ferrari, they aren't really race cars, more development mules for future road car technology.

 

[svensktoppen]

Just caught up on the race. I think we were robbed of a potentially good race when Vettel's engine blew up on the warm-up lap, and then Lewis got taken out on the first corner.

Still pretty good with the come-back fights from Lewis and Kimi. And the fight behind them was superb, lol

Well done Haas again! I know they basically run last year's Ferrari, but still. Very good showing.

But at the front it is all about Merc and Ferrari, they both run circles around the rest. And while Ferrari might be closer, they are still clearly some way off. Just look at how Nico has run away in both the last races, and the way Lewis has been chasing Ferrari down from the back twice now.

 

[svensktoppen]

As for the running of the sport, I still have no idea why people blame Bernie. Between Todt (FIA) who apparently could not care less about anything, and Merc/Ferrari who control all the rules, he has no say about anything any more.

Merc and Ferrari rule the sport now. They set the rules, they decide how it goes. So direct the anger towards them.

The way the engine rules work, they are also the only ones capable of producing competitive engines. Honda/Renault will never catch up, the rules simply do not allow them to. And everyone else get detuned "customer" engines.

And none of that is going to change. At best, we might see Ferrari challenging Merc, but that is it.

 

[jimcupra]

Just shows how bad f1 is the support cars sound better than the race cars.

Found this today

 

[Deckz]

China this weekend.

Alonso cleared to race as well.

 

[svensktoppen]

Just saw Lewis is getting a five place drop this weekend from a gearbox change after the last race. Not having a good start to the season, lol, been lucky to get away with decent points so far. Hopefully get a better race in China, but that penalty realistically rules out a win unless Nico messes up somehow. But should be fun to see another battle with the Ferraris

 

[Crow555]

Even with the 5 grid penalty, I can't see him finishing less that 3rd at worst. The Mercs are just too strong still, despite what people are saying about Ferrari.

 

[Crow555]

 

[Deckz]

Hopefully Hamilton will be T boned again!

 

[DC.]

Get the feeling Hamilton's jet-setting lifestyle is catching up with him. Flew from Bahrain to New York then back to Shanghai.

Not ideal preparation for any sportsman.

 

[svensktoppen]

It does look excessive for sure. But in fairness, I think they are all like that. Back and forth between random "homes" around the world, press/PR stuff for the teams, dev work at team HQ, etc. And then personal stuff/events. Just goes with the job. Lewis is just more public about it, or at least more visible to us in this country.

 

[weeloaney]

Watching the qualifying highlights

Hamiltons luck continues, starting at the back of the grid.

Least the qualifying is back to normal, cars out till the very last second, no more empty track for the last 3 minutes.

 

[svensktoppen]

Yep, so barring Nico messing up somehow that is another uncontested win for him. Ah well.

Have to say Lewis is taking the bad luck well so far. Echos of a couple of seasons ago when Nico ran away with it in the first half after a string of bad luck from Lewis. See if he can repeat the feat of reeling it back in again. At least it sets it all up nicely for a good comeback fight

Other than that, Ferrari have no real response yet. Whatever they do, Merc just turn up a dial a notch or two. Good to see Kimi trying hard though!

Very tight and close behind, that is where the real racing is! Sad to see Haas qualifying so poorly this time.