The F1 thread

thumpingrug

cgumtree said:

fretmeister said:

stickyfiddle said:

That is the result Lance needs to boost his confidence. Fantastic lap - he’s always been decent in the wet. Max must be fuming!!

Getting pulled in on that fast lap - I couldn't believe it.

Stroll has really shown he's up to the job now. Well done to him.

The shot of Max sat in the corridor head in hands after the Webber interview said it all. Wrong decision by Red Bull to go back to the inters along with everyone else after they struggled with them earlier in Q1. 

It was the fastest tyre - thats clear from Stroll's lap.  The car (or the driver) couldn't handle then.  I thought Max's behaviour was childish.

darcym

fretmeister said:

stickyfiddle said:

That is the result Lance needs to boost his confidence. Fantastic lap - he’s always been decent in the wet. Max must be fuming!!

Getting pulled in on that fast lap - I couldn't believe it.

Stroll has really shown he's up to the job now. Well done to him.

I don't think stroll has shown he's up to the job - he's been poor in almost every race of his F1 career in relation to the cars performance and every team mate, including stand ins has had the better of his. 

He did a 'good' job today, in a pretty changeable qualifying session, but there is an element of luck and right place at right time as well as the natural undoubted skill of anyone who's made it to F1 levels, it's a great achievement, but one session of pushing the car in changeable conditions while other drivers and teams struggle does not prove he's up to the job.

If his Dad didn't own the team - would he have a seat, no.

fretmeister

darcym said:

fretmeister said:

stickyfiddle said:

That is the result Lance needs to boost his confidence. Fantastic lap - he’s always been decent in the wet. Max must be fuming!!

Getting pulled in on that fast lap - I couldn't believe it.

Stroll has really shown he's up to the job now. Well done to him.

I don't think stroll has shown he's up to the job - he's been poor in almost every race of his F1 career in relation to the cars performance and every team mate, including stand ins has had the better of his. 

He did a 'good' job today, in a pretty changeable qualifying session, but there is an element of luck and right place at right time as well as the natural undoubted skill of anyone who's made it to F1 levels, it's a great achievement, but one session of pushing the car in changeable conditions while other drivers and teams struggle does not prove he's up to the job.

If his Dad didn't own the team - would he have a seat, no.

He's better than Kmag and Groj. So I think he may well of had a seat. Just perhaps not as far up the grid.

Fretwired

fretmeister said:

Getting pulled in on that fast lap - I couldn't believe it.

Stroll has really shown he's up to the job now. Well done to him.

Stroll did well today but the conditions didn't suit the Mercs (beaten by last year's car :-)) - had the day been hot and dry it would have been business as usual. I think Max will beat Stroll - I felt sorry for Max as he was in a different league in every session and a poor call and strategy (putting him out right up Kimi's exhaust) didn't help him. He couldn't get his inters up to temperature. A pole lost.

Should be an interesting race. I think Lewis will just keep out of trouble and let Bottas try and charge through the field without binning his car. Shame about the McLarens.

Fretwired

fretmeister said:

darcym said:

fretmeister said:

stickyfiddle said:

That is the result Lance needs to boost his confidence. Fantastic lap - he’s always been decent in the wet. Max must be fuming!!

Getting pulled in on that fast lap - I couldn't believe it.

Stroll has really shown he's up to the job now. Well done to him.

I don't think stroll has shown he's up to the job - he's been poor in almost every race of his F1 career in relation to the cars performance and every team mate, including stand ins has had the better of his. 

He did a 'good' job today, in a pretty changeable qualifying session, but there is an element of luck and right place at right time as well as the natural undoubted skill of anyone who's made it to F1 levels, it's a great achievement, but one session of pushing the car in changeable conditions while other drivers and teams struggle does not prove he's up to the job.

If his Dad didn't own the team - would he have a seat, no.

He's better than Kmag and Groj. So I think he may well of had a seat. Just perhaps not as far up the grid.

I bet you're better than Kmag .. :-)

Cols

Hats off to Stroll - he always does a good job in the wet.  That was an afternoon where it was a proper high wire act for all the drivers and super-easy to bin it.

Emiel

Very surprised that Mercs weren't at the front. After 7 years of total dominance I'd have expected something better from the lads! ;-) The Mclarens and Ferrari's were nowhere too.

Stroll did an amazing job. He always shows up when others are struggling. You gotta hand it to the kid. Gutted for Verstappen, he was stuck behind Ricciardo for quite some time and the inters clearly weren't working for the Red Bulls. But the race is tomorrow.

What's the weather prediction for the race? 

boogieman

Looks cool but dry for the race. 

Max must be furious... he was purple/purple in the first two sectors before they pulled him in for inters. Don’t understand why they did that at all. 

Fretwired

boogieman said:

Looks cool but dry for the race. 

Max must be furious... he was purple/purple in the first two sectors before they pulled him in for inters. Don’t understand why they did that at all. 

He wouldn't have beaten Stroll's best lap though.

stickyfiddle

Cracking race so far. Really hope it doesn't end with Merc, RB and Ferrari on the podium. Ideally I'd like Ham, Vettel and Stroll, though not sure how likely since Stroll's last stop.

More of this high-power, low-grip racing please; it's far better. The WEC boys would have no issues in this weather.

fretmeister

Cracking race.

stickyfiddle

Great race, and especially from Hamilton and Vettel. I have no words for Lewis really - just a phenomenal driver

Looking forward to all the "It's just the car" comments all over the internet over the next 24 hours...

stickyfiddle

It's gotta be Perez into Red Bull now, right? 

thumpingrug

Im a huge fan of LH, but even detractors would have to accept that was a masterful race.  Those tyres at the end.  Incredible way to take the title.  There really can be no doubt that Lewis is the best driver there has ever been.

stickyfiddle

thumpingrug said:

Im a huge fan of LH, but even detractors would have to accept that was a masterful race.  those tyres at the end. Incredible way to take the title.  There really can be no doubt that Lewis is the best driver there has ever been.

Yep. Quite telling that Hamilton, Vettel and "master of tyre management" Perez had faultless races while most others spun at some point. Vettel would've been second if not for that pitstop as well. 

I'm glad he's going to RP and I honestly hope Perez gets the RB job. As much as I like Hulkenberg he's never managed that sort of cool-headed drive and Perez does it multiple times a season.

Boromedic

Have yet to watch the highlights as I'm at work but managed to catch some of it on 5 live. What a way to do it another masterful drive, it's been amazing to watch him iron out his weak points over the years and learn from others around him.

Simply put the man's a legend and British, and worked his way to the top via his hardworking Dad. Proud to be a fan and happy he's now done it, greatest of all time easily. The cream works its way to the top, best car or not you've got to be good to get there.

One of the best British sportsmen of all time too. 

sinbaadi

thumpingrug said:

Im a huge fan of LH, but even detractors would have to accept that was a masterful race.  those tyres at the end. Incredible way to take the title.  There really can be no doubt that Lewis is the best driver there has ever been.

If he went to Redbull and smoked Verstappen, then maybe that's a more reasonable claim.  Or if he went to Ferrari and beat LeClerc.  Or if he went and won in Indy car and wrc and at LeMans.

Unfortunately I'm with Lando on this.  Lewis is without a doubt brilliant, but F1 is not a fair fight and he does not have 3 competitors on most weekends, let alone 19.

Rosberg pushed him close.  There's no doubt that Verstappen would, and in one season Lewis could go from goat to zero, but as I have already said, he's just playing the game really really well.  We're the ones trying to make impossible comparisons, he just keeps winning and so he should!

stickyfiddle

sinbaadi said:

thumpingrug said:

Im a huge fan of LH, but even detractors would have to accept that was a masterful race.  those tyres at the end. Incredible way to take the title.  There really can be no doubt that Lewis is the best driver there has ever been.

If he went to Redbull and smoked Verstappen, then maybe that's a more reasonable claim.  Or if he went to Ferrari and beat LeClerc.  Or if he went and won in Indy car and wrc and at LeMans.

Unfortunately I'm with Lando on this.  Lewis is without a doubt brilliant, but F1 is not a fair fight and he does not have 3 competitors on most weekends, let alone 19.

Rosberg pushed him close.  There's no doubt that Verstappen would, and in one season Lewis could go from goat to zero, but as I have already said, he's just playing the game really really well.  We're the ones trying to make impossible comparisons, he just keeps winning and so he should!

Max had the better car today but spun multiple times. He's super quick on a good day but still not on Hamilton's level over a season. Lewis has consistently shown the kind of maturity Max can only dream of.

Emiel

Experience counted today with three veterans on the podium. Nice to see Vettel up there, he really drove well today. Perez shows once again he can pull it off when its asked. Give that man a seat for 2021 please. Hamilton really thrived on the inters, while the Red Bull proved once again to be a difficult car to drive on anything but full wets, weirdly enough.

sinbaadi

stickyfiddle said:

sinbaadi said:

thumpingrug said:

Im a huge fan of LH, but even detractors would have to accept that was a masterful race.  those tyres at the end. Incredible way to take the title.  There really can be no doubt that Lewis is the best driver there has ever been.

If he went to Redbull and smoked Verstappen, then maybe that's a more reasonable claim.  Or if he went to Ferrari and beat LeClerc.  Or if he went and won in Indy car and wrc and at LeMans.

Unfortunately I'm with Lando on this.  Lewis is without a doubt brilliant, but F1 is not a fair fight and he does not have 3 competitors on most weekends, let alone 19.

Rosberg pushed him close.  There's no doubt that Verstappen would, and in one season Lewis could go from goat to zero, but as I have already said, he's just playing the game really really well.  We're the ones trying to make impossible comparisons, he just keeps winning and so he should!

Max had the better car today but spun multiple times. He's super quick on a good day but still not on Hamilton's level over a season. Lewis has consistently shown the kind of maturity Max can only dream of.

I think having a performance advantage often bordering on the ridiculous is probably a good way to settle a driver down somewhat.