The F1 thread

thumpingrug

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

New Jeddah street circuit for the Saudi GP:



Due to be the second longest circuit on the calendar after Spa. Predicted average speed of 250km/h so brutally fast. Doesn't look there'll be many long braking zones for overtaking though....

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1372486686291193859

Im sure it will be great if your the driver at the front, but even turn 1 doesn't really look like an overtaking spot and the rest of the track is too fast for any action. Snoozefest for spectators.  

prowla

Just waiting to see if Sky do an offer on F1 again this year.

PC_Dave

chillidoggy said:

sammysaber said:

chillidoggy said:

Anyone know how Alonso got on against his team mate? I haven't seen any times.

Very well indeed on the same tyres on different days - times posted below : 

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12244543/f1-testing-2021-the-fastest-laps-and-mileage-charts-for-each-team-after-pre-season-in-bahrain

Cheers!

Yes, he did very well, and so did George Russell. Very surprised the Mercs were not at the top, though. WTF happened to Vettel?

Gearbox issues apparently

chillidoggy

PC_Dave said:

chillidoggy said:

sammysaber said:

chillidoggy said:

Anyone know how Alonso got on against his team mate? I haven't seen any times.

Very well indeed on the same tyres on different days - times posted below : 

https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/12244543/f1-testing-2021-the-fastest-laps-and-mileage-charts-for-each-team-after-pre-season-in-bahrain

Cheers!

Yes, he did very well, and so did George Russell. Very surprised the Mercs were not at the top, though. WTF happened to Vettel?

Gearbox issues apparently

That was the last thing he needed. I reckon his career's on the line this year.

fretmeister

prowla said:

Just waiting to see if Sky do an offer on F1 again this year.

They did one via NowTV in February

It was Sky Sports sub for NowTV at £19.99 per month rather than £33 for 6 months.

not_the_dj

Had an email from Now TV today offering £20 a month for 9 months. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

not_the_dj said:

Had an email from Now TV today offering £20 a month for 9 months. 

Same here - quite tempted! If it wasn't for the fact I work shifts and usually end up missing a good few races I'd be all over it!

Boromedic

Season starts today, looking forward to seeing the times over the practice sessions so we can filter out the testing sandbags from the poor designs....

I think Mercedes are struggling with balance but are still fast, Red Bull look consistent and fast. However I have doubts over their engine reliability. Ferrari will be the dark horses I think.

Let's see!

stickyfiddle

Fantasy F1 thread now up here: https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/203659/the-fantasy-f1-thread#latest

I'll keep it in my sig but limit mentions of it in here and encourage folks to keep that chatter over there. 

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

First session done, no major surprises given what we saw in testing...

https://twitter.com/F1/status/1375426738528849920

Only slight anomaly in the expected order from testing is the Alpines were more off the pace than I'd expected. Hopefully for them they were just focussing on race pace.

stickyfiddle

I’m slightly surprised by Alfa being that high up- I’d have expected them and Alpine the other way around. Good to have Ferrari back in the mix - obviously early days but looks like them and McLaren should be the fight for 3rd

TimmyO

Haas are the new Williams (aka the old Haas) then 

stickyfiddle

I'm enjoying the visual gaps on Racefans, and especially the Mazepin one  

https://www.racefans.net/2021/03/26/red-bull-on-top-in-first-practice-as-verstappen-leads-bottas-and-norris/

It will also be fascinating to watch Perez as the sessions and races move on and he gets more used to the car. From today's times it looks like the RB is simply a decent midfield car and Max is just that good. 

Cols

TimmyO said:

Haas are the new Williams (aka the old Haas) then 

Not surprised.  

Gene Haas was very vocal about the cost of upgrades and his view that they didn’t seem to yield any performance advantage for his team.  As such, he’s clearly decided to avoid spending any more money on development other than what’s required to make the car legal to enter a race.

Effectively, Haas have gone from “competing in F1 races” to “attending F1 races”.  At this point they’re just treading water, either waiting for the 2022 regulation change or a gullible billionaire.

TimmyO

Cols said:

TimmyO said:

Haas are the new Williams (aka the old Haas) then 

Not surprised.  

Gene Haas was very vocal about the cost of upgrades and his view that they didn’t seem to yield any performance advantage for his team.  As such, he’s clearly decided to avoid spending any more money on development other than what’s required to make the car legal to enter a race.

Effectively, Haas have gone from “competing in F1 races” to “attending F1 races”.  At this point they’re just treading water, either waiting for the 2022 regulation change or a gullible billionaire.

Is the 107% quali time rule still a thing? 

Cols

It is, but assuming a pole time of 1m30s you’d need to be over 6s off the pace to get booted out.

sinbaadi

They have always made concessions to it anyway!

TimmyO

sinbaadi said:

They have always made concessions to it anyway!

Sometimes, and usually when there were mitigating circumstances eg lost running time

sinbaadi

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/107%_rule#:~:text=The 107% rule is a,Formula One racing qualifying sessions.&text=For example, if the fastest,to guarantee a race start.

More often than not!  Particularly in the last ten years.

guitars4you

I use to watch loads of F1 - But have not seen many races at all in the last 5/6 years as you almost know who will win before the race starts - Just far to predictable and very little competition for Lewis - I might watch a BBC web site race hi-lights with the whole race in 5-10 mins

However , just feels, at the moment as though it might be different this year and more competition/excitement etc  - So am going to watch this weekend, live, and find out if I can get my taste buds working again