The F1 thread

Norwegian_Blue

stickyfiddle said:

Do we know if Lewis has got the championship winning engineers again this year? I'm sure the other guys are just as fantastic at their jobs, but having the "better" half of the team would be a big psychological boost to any driver.

@Fretwired @stickyfiddle  I can't remember what the source was, I think either James Allen or Martin Brundle but Bottas has got Rosberg's engineers, so Hamilton hasn't had his own way there!

simonk

Norwegian_Blue said:

stickyfiddle said:

Do we know if Lewis has got the championship winning engineers again this year? I'm sure the other guys are just as fantastic at their jobs, but having the "better" half of the team would be a big psychological boost to any driver.

@Fretwired @stickyfiddle  I can't remember what the source was, I think either James Allen or Martin Brundle but Bottas has got Rosberg's engineers, so Hamilton hasn't had his own way there!

I think that will work in his favour TBH - better continuity sticking with the crew he had.

I'm going:

HAM
VET
BOT

thumpingrug

Ham
 Bot
Vest

Heartfeltdawn

thumpingrug said:

Ham
 Bot
Vest

Team Corbyn on the podium.  

thumpingrug

Heartfeltdawn said:

thumpingrug said:

Ham
 Bot
Vest

Team Corbyn on the podium.  

I've heard he has the Momentum.

Perhaps I should have gone

Hammy
Botty and 
Vesty

but I'm not sure that helps

sinbaadi

I think Bottas and Hamilton will collide in T1 in an incident where Hamilton should have backed out.

Vettel will concede his 3rd place on the grid as he takes to the grass in avoidance but come back through to finish 2nd behind Verstappen and ahead of Kimi who will disappoint.  Ricciardo in 4th just behind Kimi.

Wish I could be more specific.

TimmyO

I honestly don't have a clue.

I really like the first couple of races, seeing how things settle in.

Which year was it where the first race had cars dropping like flies? 

DesVegas

Max to win everything

HAL9000

Bottas
Hamilton
Vettel

simonk

TimmyO said:

Which year was it where the first race had cars dropping like flies? 

The first race of the latest V6 era in 2014 I expect. Seem to remember only 13 finished.

stickyfiddle

Alonso quizzed on what he'd change to improve F1: "Equal engines..."

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

Alonso quizzed on what he'd change to improve F1: "Equal engines..."

It's all Ron's fault. Binned Mercedes before Honda were ready and the rest is history. Honda should follow Mercedes and get the engine designed and made in England.

Heartfeltdawn

TimmyO said:

I honestly don't have a clue.

I really like the first couple of races, seeing how things settle in.

Which year was it where the first race had cars dropping like flies? 

2008. 7 cars running at the chequered flag and then Barichello got disqualified. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Australian_Grand_Prix

First race since 2001 San Marino GP to not feature traction control. 

Fretwired

Heartfeltdawn said:

TimmyO said:

I honestly don't have a clue.

I really like the first couple of races, seeing how things settle in.

Which year was it where the first race had cars dropping like flies? 

2008. 7 cars running at the chequered flag and then Barichello got disqualified. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Australian_Grand_Prix

First race since 2001 San Marino GP to not feature traction control. 

Forgotten about that - there were a number of big crashes that wiped out quite a few cars.

Heartfeltdawn

It's fun to look back over that period. When testing occurred in 2007, Massa was the most vocal about the lack of traction control as he'd never driven without it. Schumacher was half a second quicker in testing despite having retired by that point. Felipe talked of how you had to be gentle with the accelerator, have a smoother approach to driving... come 2009, you've got Button and Brawn, a fine car with a man with one of the smoothest driving styles around. 

TimmyO

Fretwired said:

stickyfiddle said:

Alonso quizzed on what he'd change to improve F1: "Equal engines..."

It's all Ron's fault. Binned Mercedes before Honda were ready and the rest is history. Honda should follow Mercedes and get the engine designed and made in England.

Yes that has seemed odd to me so far in this Honda thing - McLaren tout it as being the best solution as it's a factory engine partner, yet they operate on opposite sides of the world. Perhaps the investment was too large until they had something working - although that day looks like it may never come.

I don't know what the solution is, but I do know that it's pretty painful being a McLaren supporter and feeling like the season is a dead loss before it has even begun :-( 

Octafish

TimmyO said:

Fretwired said:

stickyfiddle said:

Alonso quizzed on what he'd change to improve F1: "Equal engines..."

It's all Ron's fault. Binned Mercedes before Honda were ready and the rest is history. Honda should follow Mercedes and get the engine designed and made in England.

Yes that has seemed odd to me so far in this Honda thing - McLaren tout it as being the best solution as it's a factory engine partner, yet they operate on opposite sides of the world. Perhaps the investment was too large until they had something working - although that day looks like it may never come.

I don't know what the solution is, but I do know that it's pretty painful being a McLaren supporter and feeling like the season is a dead loss before it has even begun :-( 

Ron's thing was that McLaren needed to a be a works team to be succesful rather than a Mercedes customer team. He had a point somewhat. Things wouldn't have been anywhere as bad with a Mercedes engine, but they would have unlikely been able to win much or challenge for the WDC/WCC as they wouldn't have had the same engine spec or integration as the Mercedes works team.

Fretwired

Octafish said:

TimmyO said:

Fretwired said:

stickyfiddle said:

Alonso quizzed on what he'd change to improve F1: "Equal engines..."

It's all Ron's fault. Binned Mercedes before Honda were ready and the rest is history. Honda should follow Mercedes and get the engine designed and made in England.

Yes that has seemed odd to me so far in this Honda thing - McLaren tout it as being the best solution as it's a factory engine partner, yet they operate on opposite sides of the world. Perhaps the investment was too large until they had something working - although that day looks like it may never come.

I don't know what the solution is, but I do know that it's pretty painful being a McLaren supporter and feeling like the season is a dead loss before it has even begun :-( 

Ron's thing was that McLaren needed to a be a works team to be succesful rather than a Mercedes customer team. He had a point somewhat. Things wouldn't have been anywhere as bad with a Mercedes engine, but they would have unlikely been able to win much or challenge for the WDC/WCC as they wouldn't have had the same engine spec or integration as the Mercedes works team.

Honda needed another 18 months or more to develop the engine. Ron should have stuck with Mercedes until the bugs were ironed out. Honda came with a half-baked engine and have been playing catch-up ever since. They need to get some British brains who are used to building racing engines on board.

Garthy

stickyfiddle said:

Alonso quizzed on what he'd change to improve F1: "Equal engines..."

The rules are the same for everyone. It is absolutely crucifying Honda only supplying one team vs the other teams supplying 3 or 4 teams each.

simonk

Ominous stuff from HAM so far.