The F1 thread

chillidoggy

I also think Hamster is a bit of a dick, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that. But I also think Senna was a dick.  Both are/were astonishing drivers, that is without question.

However, whether they’re dicks is immaterial to the F1 results, which don’t show on a scale of 1 - 10 of dickishness alongside their titles.

TimmyO

Fretwired said:

TimmyO said:

@Fretwired - erm I also missed the opportunity there to say sorry for being/seeming rude - which was rude of me - sorry 

That's OK. I don't mind people disagreeing with me if they simply put their case.

I agree with you - the Red Bull car was faster which is why I don't understand why Mercedes didn't go for the undercut. They may have still lost the race but then Ham is good at defending - for me it was the only strategy that stood a chance of being successful. The moment Red Bull went for the undercut they won the race. Hamilton was never going to overtake Max.

IMHO the biggest difference this year is Max. In this race, he managed his pace and his tyres and beat Hamilton with ease - he's matured as a driver. I think Max will win the championship this year and he'll deserve it.

Undercutting from P1 is a far tougher strategy call than from P2 

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

Cols said:

If I could pick one thing to change in F1 it would be to ban any pit-car communication beyond the pit boards, direct line from the race director and a button on the wheel to tell the pits you’re coming in.  Currently they’re all coached round by a legion of engineers to maintain the optimum pace and strategy to maximise their performance.  Take that away, and once the visor goes down each driver has only their wits and the car under them.

I'd go further - I'd ban the "home base race control" with legions of guys on supercomputers working out every possible iteration of strategy so no human has to use their intuition. It's mega impressive, but surely it's one of those things where once everyone has it there's no advantage so removing it saves cost and should improve the racing

I'd be happy to leave the radio open so the driver can talk but the pitlane can't answer. Then we'd still get the amusing rants and celebrations

It’s a problem which would sort itself out if there was no pit-car comms.  There’s no point having a platoon of real-time data crunchers beavering away back at Brackley or Milton Keynes if they can’t actually transmit their desires to the driver beyond what will fit on a pit board once per lap.

Left to their own devices, there would be a lot more individual variation between drivers; the hard chargers who take off like a stabbed rat and are back in 10 laps later because they’ve eaten up their tyres; the silent assassins like Prost who cruise round quietly and then murder you towards the end of the race; the Fisichella types who fall asleep, get nudged awake by their engineers and suddenly find another 2s per lap. It would certainly make races more interesting.

chillidoggy

100% agree with a ban on radio communications and a return to pit board comms only.

 Particularly as Kimi's retiring.

fretmeister

"I'm sure they'll let me win" - Checo


The team:

https://www.planetf1.com/news/sergio-perez-was-given-maxs-damaged-rear-wing-for-qualifying/

stickyfiddle

So. prediction time...?

Max to have an incident on the first lap, with whichever Merc is in 2nd place. Perez podium but not win. 

Cols

It depends on which Max turns up today.

Mad Max will go nuts on lap one, try to overtake everyone and end up in the wall.

Clever Max will take his time, wait for his chance and ease past the Mercs FTW.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

stickyfiddle said:

So. prediction time...?

Max to have an incident on the first lap, with whichever Merc is in 2nd place. Perez podium but not win. 

All depends on the first 30 seconds. Getting a clean getaway off the line, and that epic long drag down to Turn One will be make or break.

sweepy

I’ll go for it 
1 Lewis
2 Checo
3 Gasly 

stickyfiddle

Bloody hell… 

TimmyO

This is over already I reckon 

stickyfiddle

Yep, I can’t see anything happening at the front except Perez maybe making a play for 2nd via the pit stops 

TimmyO

Mercedes have to pit 1st

TimmyO

TimmyO said:

Mercedes have to pit 1st

They are racing Perez and can’t get undercut by him 

stickyfiddle

Yep. 

My only saving grace is I swapped McLaren and my midfield drivers for Ferrari & Leclerc in my fantasy team this week.

TimmyO

stickyfiddle said:

Yep. 

My only saving grace is I swapped McLaren and my midfield drivers for Ferrari & Leclerc in my fantasy team this week.

I on the other hand… 

dazzajl

Couldn’t really have been more boring could it. I still don’t really want to see Max win it all but on that performance, you have to say he’s earning it brilliantly. 

stickyfiddle

dazzajl said:

Couldn’t really have been more boring could it. I still don’t really want to see Max win it all but on that performance, you have to say he’s earning it brilliantly. 

Yep, utterly professional. He deserves it based on this season so far; crucially if he wins in Brazil he can be 2nd in the last 3 and still take the title. 

Equally if Ham overturns the current points gap, he's going to deserve it as well, because on current form it's going to be really hard work

chillidoggy

I have to say Max walked it this time around. Not sure why they didn't call Checo in earlier to clear Hamster, though. WTF has gone wrong with Bottas? 

To be fair, I'm glad I recorded it and watched it this morning. It wasn't the most exciting race I've ever seen. 

stickyfiddle

chillidoggy said:

I have to say Max walked it this time around. Not sure why they didn't call Checo in earlier to clear Hamster, though. WTF has gone wrong with Bottas? 

To be fair, I'm glad I recorded it and watched it this morning. It wasn't the most exciting race I've ever seen. 

I don't think anything went wrong with Bottas - it was business as usual. He's never been any good in the Merc in traffic, and this race was bad for everyone for that. 

I look forward to the new cars, just hoping there isn't a clear leader who is way out in front.