The F1 thread

stickyfiddle

I'm ok with Stefano - best Ferrari boss of the post-Todt/Brawn era and seems to have done a good job at Audi/Lambo while keeping his toe in with FIA stuff. 

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

I'm ok with Stefano - best Ferrari boss of the post-Todt/Brawn era and seems to have done a good job at Audi/Lambo while keeping his toe in with FIA stuff. 

Agreed. And Todt stands down next year. I wonder if Wolff is interested in the role?

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Good qualy session! Vettel's shunt spiced up Q2, would have made the race extra-spicy if Lewis hadn't made it out of Q2 but wasn't to be. Although he's now being investigated by the stewards...

Great effort by Max to split the Mercs. Also cracking Q1 by Russell, finishing ahead of Vettel's Ferrari on pace!

Hopefully the race isn't the usual Sochi snoozefest.

Fretwired

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Good qualy session! Vettel's shunt spiced up Q2, would have made the race extra-spicy if Lewis hadn't made it out of Q2 but wasn't to be. Although he's now being investigated by the stewards...

Great effort by Max to split the Mercs. Also cracking Q1 by Russell, finishing ahead of Vettel's Ferrari on pace!

Hopefully the race isn't the usual Sochi snoozefest.

Ham's on the wrong tyre so a win will be hard unless he gets a helpful safety car. Max could beat Bottas.

The trip to the stewards is for not going around the bollards at turn two but his time was deleted so not sure they'll do anything.

Cols

Albon 1.2s slower than Verstappen and outqualified by Gasly.  Still, his racecraft is good.

I can only imagine that Gasly said something to Horner and Marko last year to piss them off to the extent that another shot at the Red Bull is completely out of the question.

TimmyO

Cols said:

Albon 1.2s slower than Verstappen and outqualified by Gasly.  Still, his racecraft is good.

I can only imagine that Gasly said something to Horner and Marko last year to piss them off to the extent that another shot at the Red Bull is completely out of the question.

It could simply be a symptom of neither of those old sods  subscribing to a view that they can ever be wrong 

chillidoggy

Max in P2 should hopefully liven things up a bit from the usual snorefest.

I confess I chuckled when Perez ended up in 4th, way further up the field than Stroll, and I reckon he must be driving his absolute best now if he wants a drive next year. I think he will be one to watch in the race.

Fretwired

chillidoggy said:

I confess I chuckled when Perez ended up in 4th, way further up the field than Stroll, and I reckon he must be driving his absolute best now if he wants a drive next year. I think he will be one to watch in the race.

If Albon doesn't improve Marco might have to swallow is the pride and sign Perez. He'd make a great number 2 to Max.

Ham is going to have to do a two-stop race so the end could be good with him doing a charge through the field.

TimmyO

Fretwired said:

chillidoggy said:

I confess I chuckled when Perez ended up in 4th, way further up the field than Stroll, and I reckon he must be driving his absolute best now if he wants a drive next year. I think he will be one to watch in the race.

If Albon doesn't improve Marco might have to swallow is the pride and sign Perez. He'd make a great number 2 to Max.

Ham is going to have to do a two-stop race so the end could be good with him doing a charge through the field.

I don’t buy that Albon is “only” this good. Is there something about how they are running the car or team that’s stopping him deliver to his potential? Everything he has done before suggests that in that car he is better than this. It’s odd. And a shame. But if they can’t work out what it is, or do it differently, then I get that that’s no reason to hold on to him. He may be better off elsewhere. 

Fretwired

TimmyO said:

I don’t buy that Albon is “only” this good. Is there something about how they are running the car or team that’s stopping him deliver to his potential? Everything he has done before suggests that in that car he is better than this. It’s odd. And a shame. But if they can’t work out what it is, or do it differently, then I get that that’s no reason to hold on to him. He may be better off elsewhere. 

Albon's problem is in quali. Race wise he's a top driver - he's had a podium and last year he carved his way from the pitlane to P5 with some outstanding overtakes. He'll do well today but he just can't hook up quali. He was over 1 second behind Max yesterday. Red Bull need him at the front to help Max.

TimmyO

Fretwired said:

TimmyO said:

I don’t buy that Albon is “only” this good. Is there something about how they are running the car or team that’s stopping him deliver to his potential? Everything he has done before suggests that in that car he is better than this. It’s odd. And a shame. But if they can’t work out what it is, or do it differently, then I get that that’s no reason to hold on to him. He may be better off elsewhere. 

Albon's problem is in quali. Race wise he's a top driver - he's had a podium and last year he carved his way from the pitlane to P5 with some outstanding overtakes. He'll do well today but he just can't hook up quali. He was over 1 second behind Max yesterday. Red Bull need him at the front to help Max.

Aye I suppose it could be that simple - who was the other driver that suffered with this? Was it Webber? Or am I misremembering - there was certainly a top team driver in recent-ish history who was known to be sub-par on one lap compared to race performance 

Fretwired

Penalty for Hamilton? A dumb move.

YellowLedBetterMan

Hamilton's a proper whiney little bitch isn't he

Fretwired

YellowLedBetterMan said:

Hamilton's a proper whiney little bitch isn't he

He needs to stop making mistakes .... another possible win thrown away.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Fuck's sake, forgot the race started earlier this week! 

breakstuff

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Fuck's sake, forgot the race started earlier this week! 

Me too. And the series link on Sky has turned off, so it didn't even record.

stickyfiddle

IMO Albon is a great driver, as is Gasly, but the Red Bull is a bit of a bitch to drive. Max is at the Alonso/Hamilton level where he can make it quick despite any foibles but almost no one else can. 

Boromedic

YellowLedBetterMan said:

Hamilton's a proper whiney little bitch isn't he

TBF, he did ask if it was okay to practice his start there and he was told yes. You don't get to be a great by being someone who doesn't get pissed off at decisions going against you. Senna, Schumacher and Alonso among others had the same mindset and moaned when shit went against them. He does need to curb the daft mistakes though, he's got four races with 10 penalty points on his license, any more and he'll get a ban.

Cols

TimmyO said:

Fretwired said:

TimmyO said:

I don’t buy that Albon is “only” this good. Is there something about how they are running the car or team that’s stopping him deliver to his potential? Everything he has done before suggests that in that car he is better than this. It’s odd. And a shame. But if they can’t work out what it is, or do it differently, then I get that that’s no reason to hold on to him. He may be better off elsewhere. 

Albon's problem is in quali. Race wise he's a top driver - he's had a podium and last year he carved his way from the pitlane to P5 with some outstanding overtakes. He'll do well today but he just can't hook up quali. He was over 1 second behind Max yesterday. Red Bull need him at the front to help Max.

Aye I suppose it could be that simple - who was the other driver that suffered with this? Was it Webber? Or am I misremembering - there was certainly a top team driver in recent-ish history who was known to be sub-par on one lap compared to race performance 

Not recent, but both Prost and Lauda (at least in their McLaren years) concentrated on their race setup and largely ignored qualifying.  

Conversely, Trulli was regarded as a qualifying specialist who turned into a mobile roadblock in the race.  Teams used to plan their race strategy around ‘where has Jarno Trulli qualified?’

fretmeister

Bottas! 

Ha ha ha lovely comment.