The F1 thread

Fretwired

Yep, normal service is resumed. Feel sorry for Bottas .. :-)

TimmyO

So it looks like McLaren may be racing Sauber and Haas :-/ lol 

fretmeister

During testing there was a great moment on telly when Crofty asked Bouiller if McLaren could beat Sauber this year.

"Frosty" was an understatement from that moment on!

TimmyO

fretmeister said:

During testing there was a great moment on telly when Crofty asked Bouiller if McLaren could beat Sauber this year.

"Frosty" was an understatement from that moment on!

haha

Fretwired

Closer than anyone thought - Ferrari look to be back. Should be an interesting race.

stickyfiddle

Fingers crossed. Great to see someone finally so close to Mercedes.

Looking forward to seeing who has got the best handle on the new clutches at the start..

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

Fingers crossed. Great to see someone finally so close to Mercedes.

Looking forward to seeing who has got the best handle on the new clutches at the start..

Hamilton's Achilles heel. And Ferrari have always had good race pace.

Deadman

Well, feet up for the qualifying. Let's see if there are any improvements. I hope so.

stickyfiddle

Fretwired said:

stickyfiddle said:

Fingers crossed. Great to see someone finally so close to Mercedes.

Looking forward to seeing who has got the best handle on the new clutches at the start..

Hamilton's Achilles heel. And Ferrari have always had good race pace.

And great starts all last season. Let's hope they carry that to this year's car.

Boromedic

Mercedes admitted last year that they were to blame for the poor starts Ham and Ros suffered, I don't recall him having so many start issues before last year. With this new clutch system and more driver control again he should be absolutely fine, plus Ferrari really optimised the previous system so they won't have the flying starts they've been used to in the last few seasons. 

Ferrari's race sim pace during the practice sessions was nearly 1 second a lap behind the Mercs on fuller tanks, even Bottas was nearly 0.3 secs behind Hamiltons race sim pace per lap. Don't get me wrong I'm sure they were sandbagging through practice but they aren't up to Mercs race pace yet. If Lewis gets away and takes the first corner in the lead, I think its game over as long as they engine stays reliable. 

Deadman

I really hope the Ferraris are all over the Mercedes or at least one of the other teams gets up there. Can't take another yawn fest of a season.

stickyfiddle

I missed the first lap but it's all looking good so far in terms of the pace of Ferrari vs Mercedes. If we can get a safety car to shake things up a little it'll be great!

thumpingrug

Intertesting that Hamilton has no ability to keep up with Vettel and looks like getting caught by Bottas.  

Fretwired

Good race ... sets up the season.

stickyfiddle

Good result and great to see Ferrari at the front again. The top two are clearly quite closely matched with Seb in front and Kimi behind the Mercs. Hopefully that'll lead to a close season.

thumpingrug

I hope that we are in for a much closer season this year and whilst not a Ferrari or Vettel fan, its good to see them back in the game.   Lots of attrition in this race, that might come into play later due to the limited number of engines they are allowed.

Boromedic

Vettel should have won in Oz last year really, so we need to see how the next few races pan out at other circuits. Plus they've clearly made overtaking harder now so I suspect Lewis went in to conservation mode towards the end. One street circuit race isn't an effective barometer of a season.

Fretwired

Boromedic said:

Vettel should have won in Oz last year really, so we need to see how the next few races pan out at other circuits. Plus they've clearly made overtaking harder now so I suspect Lewis went in to conservation mode towards the end. One street circuit race isn't an effective barometer of a season.

Good point .. the Oz circuit is pretty boring with limited overtaking opportunities. I think cars can overtake on the right circuit. I think some of the teams made poor tyre choices.

Fretwired

Honda about to throw in the towel?

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/honda-admits-to-talks-over-other-f1-engine-supply-deals-886204/

thumpingrug

I thought Alonso was hanging in as best he could for a long time until they retired him.  He would be up there in the top 6 with a half decent engine.