The F1 thread

markr76

Fretwired said:

stickyfiddle said:

It's McLaren I'm actually feeling most concerned for. Ricciardo must be looking at a last year before retirement, and I'm guessing Norris is going to be re-checking his contract's performance clauses...

I can see Norris at Mercedes with Russell. I think Hamilton has a couple of years left - he wants to win 8 F1 Championships then he'll quit IMHO.

Red Bull could have a major issue - it's not that easy to set up an engine manufacturing facility from scratch. And Max's expletive-ridden rants when the red mist descends won't help his driving style - the new tyres seem to need looking after, something Perez is very good at doing.

I think it will take a 3-5 years for Redbull to really optimise a new engine facility. They have some ex Mercedes engine staff there now who are all experienced. Although Andy Cowell didn’t go there as far as I know. If he went there they would definitely be ok. I think he had had enough of f1 and wanted a change. I’m sure some Honda staff would go there too. 

markr76

euan said:

Honda is still doing the manufacturing in Japan. 

I think the Honda’s race engines are built in Bracknell, or down that way. I might be wrong. But that’s where they used to be built when I worked for Honda

PhilKing

Mercedes tyre changes seemed to be about a second longer than everyone else in the top teams.   Is there any difference in the wheel mounts (other than the brake ducts), between teams?

It was a great race though and I really thought that CL had the measure of MV.  Especially when they were dueling for first and Charles would let Max pass at turn one, just to retake him on the next DRS zone.

Simonh

Max losing his composure in race one when under pressure does not bode well for him for the rest of the season.

Simonh

And super happy for k mag even though I said he wasn’t up to it! Proves just how much I know…

Cols

(Checks for any Red Bull sympathy)

Nope.  Worst luck, Max.

chillidoggy

Well, I didn’t see that one coming! Congrats to LeClerc and Ferrari, looks as though the stranglehold has at last been broken.

Boromedic

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahqhqhahahahahahhahahqhahqhahahahahahahahajajajauai, oh and fuck you Max and Karen. Doesn't bode well, 3 Honda engines grenading at the first race. Fuck off Red Bull.

Charles is a proper driver, well pleased to see Ferrari on the top step again. Always had a soft spot from the days of Il Leone red 27 and Michael. Mercedes will get there in the end, don't think this is Lewis's 8th this season but I'll take CL as a worthy champ. 

musicegbdf

Fretwired said:

stickyfiddle said:

It's McLaren I'm actually feeling most concerned for. Ricciardo must be looking at a last year before retirement, and I'm guessing Norris is going to be re-checking his contract's performance clauses...

I can see Norris at Mercedes with Russell. I think Hamilton has a couple of years left - he wants to win 8 F1 Championships then he'll quit IMHO.

Red Bull could have a major issue - it's not that easy to set up an engine manufacturing facility from scratch. And Max's expletive-ridden rants when the red mist descends won't help his driving style - the new tyres seem to need looking after, something Perez is very good at doing.

Agree,  Nando is LH seat once he gets no 8. Will look forward to it. This year anyone except Max..

sinbaadi

Max is a spoilt boy.
Redbull just got luckier than any team in the history of F1, so if the other teams get some points at their expense I doubt anyone will be too upset.

Better though was LeClerc taking Max to school.  He was just operating on another level in terms of racecraft.  If he made Max compromise his line in to t1 he was always going to be able to pass him in the next drs section.  Max continued to try to force it in t1.

And don't mention the restart!!  Max was made to look really stupid there.  What a stupid place to put the car.

Good fortune for Mercedes and others, but if I read another comment that Lewis "out qualified" the car!!  Such nonsense.  The Mercedes isn't top of the pile, but it's not a McLaren.  Maybe Ricc and Lando just need to drive faster than the car can go?  That makes sense, that's what Lewis did, right?

Boromedic

Lewis did outqualify the car, he was nearly a second ahead of his team mate race pace is different to Quali, otherwise Bottas would've finished ahead of Russell, no?

sinbaadi

But that just means that he outqualified his team mate.
In % terms, what are we saying George got out of the car compared with Lewis?  (Ignore that he didn't have the same number of sets of tyres left for q3).

Boromedic

No I'm saying the time he set was above the performance of the car on that day in full quali trim, it was awful. Race day is different is it not? Heavy cars, full of fuel, tyre management etc., you may not agree and that's fine but the reality is he outqualified Russell by quite a margin. Russell was a lot closer in Q1 and Q2, can't all be explained with the tyre issues. I also think he put the car higher on the grid than expected too. The pace looked like 7th/8th based on Q1 and Q2.

RiftAmps

Boromedic said:

but the reality is he outqualified Russell by quite a margin.

GR messed up T1 on his final lap, lost just under a second compared to LH. In reality, LH was only 3-tenths faster

AlbertC

I’m no particular Verstappen fan but I don’t think there’s any doubt he’s a talented driver, whether or not you like how he applies that talent with his aggressive style. 

The one thing he does do brilliantly though is give the whole F1 show a villain – a baddy character as it were. 

Yes, I want to see great racing and ultimately, I want a worthy, deserved winner and not for dirty tactics to prevail but having Max in the mix certainly provides entertainment and he’s a big talking point. 

It’s fine to hate Max but would F1 be nearly as exciting as it currently is without him?

markr76

Boromedic said:

No I'm saying the time he set was above the performance of the car on that day in full quali trim, it was awful. Race day is different is it not? Heavy cars, full of fuel, tyre management etc., you may not agree and that's fine but the reality is he outqualified Russell by quite a margin. Russell was a lot closer in Q1 and Q2, can't all be explained with the tyre issues. I also think he put the car higher on the grid than expected too. The pace looked like 7th/8th based on Q1 and Q2.

I think Russell was a lot closer to Hamilton. He made a mistake on the first corner on his hot run. Which made the lap look worse than it was. Either way the car is poor by our standards. But I’d agree that if you need someone to get more out of a car that’s a bit of a dog. Hamilton has done this time and again for us. 

musicegbdf

Max is clearly a very fast driver and could improve even more if he manages his aggression. 
A bad guy , would expect a Dutch forum might disagree. Sadly max has the wrong  people around him . I enjoy F1 for watching the skill and the technology and not looking for " entertainment " like the 2021 season. I find Moto Gp now much better to watch than F1.
I think the comment about LH is that he seems to find that slight bit extra that even the team doesn't expect. We saw the same in Moto GP. First Rossi and then Marquez both brought something ' extra" and others followed . 
Looking forward to when LH retires and Nando drops onto Merc with George

chillidoggy

I think mechanical unreliability cheats viewers from seeing the drivers duke it out on the track. I remember giving up watching F1 in the 70’s because I got fed up with so many of them falling by the wayside. The Red Bulls and Gasly failing to finish was sad, but hopefully they’ll get their act together from now on, and provide us with plenty of edge of the seat stuff.

fretmeister

chillidoggy said:

I think mechanical unreliability cheats viewers from seeing the drivers duke it out on the track. I remember giving up watching F1 in the 70’s because I got fed up with so many of them falling by the wayside. The Red Bulls and Gasly failing to finish was sad, but hopefully they’ll get their act together from now on, and provide us with plenty of edge of the seat stuff.

Unreliability is a part of the constructors championship. It's really no different to a driver making a mistake.

stickyfiddle

Yeah, I'd actually like to see slightly more reliability trouble if anything. Not like the early 90s sort of levels where 5+ would be falling off the track every race, but at least a few. Right now the penalties for blowing up engines are so big no-one wants to run anywhere near where they think the limit is.