The F1 thread

chillidoggy

Lots of moaning about the way fans were treated in Imola, too.

Cols

The plug’s been pulled on Colton Herta’s Alpine test, which was apparently intended to showcase his speed in an effort to get the FIA to grant him a superlicense (fast though he is, he doesn’t have enough points to be eligible right now).  The FIA have made it clear that they won’t be granting an exception under any circumstances.

This potentially puts the brakes on any move to Alpine for Gasly, who Red Bull were apparently happy to let go if they could replace him with Herta.  

I guess Red Bull thought that, having gone off piste with the rule book to their benefits in Abu Dhabi, there wouldn’t be an issue in the FIA doing it again.  Apparently not.

Brio

If you wanted to watch all the coverage live and have a VPN, then i suspect you could do worse than log on to RTL Luxenbourg. and watch everything including practice...

https://www.rtl.lu/sport/auto-moto-sport/a/1972512.html

DesVegas

What happened to Norris on that first practice session? 3.6 seconds off the pace

euan

Doing calibration runs with the new side pods and floor. 

Cols

Plenty of field spread; nearly all the team mates were 0.5-1s apart, with the exception of Stroll and Vettel.

chillidoggy

Chilli race win prediction* time -

1. Max
2. Carlos
3. George


*The usual warnings remain in place about the accuracy of the prediction.

stickyfiddle

Ok, so based on the foolproof "Chilli always calls it wrong" method, I'm going Ham, Charles, Perez  

DesVegas

George will get his first win and Max will bin it.

Carlos 2nd
Ham 3rd

Cols

Budget caps join the list of rules which Red Bull consider optional.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/63089233

stickyfiddle

Cols said:

Budget caps join the list of rules which Red Bull consider optional.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/63089233

OBVIOUSLY. Because they're the cool young rule breaking guys, which is cool yeah? Their boss even married a spice girl!

But most importantly they have truckloads of cash and zero consideration of sporting behaviour, so now instead of spending 300m a year on racing, they can spend 145m a year on racing, an extra 50 in overspend and an extra 100m on fines and STILL be 5m better off than the previous year.

(all speculation of course, but it wouldn't surprise me)

Cols

Well, punishing a budget overspend with a fine would rather defeat the point.

The FIA could always elect to reduce Red Bull’s permitted budget for the following year… and Red Bull could just proceed to ignore that reduced cap as well.

chillidoggy

stickyfiddle said:

Ok, so based on the foolproof "Chilli always calls it wrong" method, I'm going Ham, Charles, Perez  

Finally, someone has twigged!

Anyway, I’ll have you know I’ve got years of experience of shouting at various TV sets during F1 races. 

TimmyO

The elder TimmyO Jr (who tends to be more accurate than me) predicts a Mercedes win in Singapore, and possibly also in Japan, followed by no more this season. 

stickyfiddle

Horner says they're looking at legal action against the "defamatory claims" over the budget stuff. 

So they definitely did it then...

stickyfiddle

George oh shit
Ham not quite there  
Alo still got it in spades 
Max HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Cols

stickyfiddle said:

Horner says they're looking at legal action against the "defamatory claims" over the budget stuff. 

So they definitely did it then...

Whinger Spice is blowing smoke like crazy.  “The very suggestion... impugning our good name... of all the nerve...”

They’ve been caught bang to rights, and both Ferrari and Mercedes are sensibly kicking the media hornet’s nest to ensure that the matter isn’t just brushed under the carpet with a token slap on the wrist from the FIA.

Question is, what?  Docking some constructors points from 2021 wouldn’t accomplish much; Red Bull were well ahead of Ferrari, and could happily drop 200 points without affecting their position in the championship.  Even full exclusion probably wouldn’t bother Red Bull; with all of the sponsorship deals they cut off the back of Max’s DWC, they’re rolling in it and don’t need the prize money.  And penalising the golden boy Max himself is highly unlikely.

Exclusion from the next three races?  Not being allowed to race in Honda’s home race at Suzuka and the lucrative markets of USA and Mexico would certainly sting.

chillidoggy

stickyfiddle said:

George oh shit
Ham not quite there  
Alo still got it in spades 
Max HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I’m saving the laughter until I see the race! I still reckon Max is potentially on for yet another win.

stickyfiddle

chillidoggy said:

stickyfiddle said:

George oh shit
Ham not quite there  
Alo still got it in spades 
Max HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I’m saving the laughter until I see the race! I still reckon Max is potentially on for yet another win.

I wouldn't put it past him this year, even here. 

chillidoggy

stickyfiddle said:

Horner says they're looking at legal action against the "defamatory claims" over the budget stuff. 

So they definitely did it then...

https://www.planetf1.com/features/is-christian-horner-good-for-formula-1/

I agree with the summary. What we see is what Horner wants to project, effectively a manufactured persona for F1, played like a leading actor. I couldn’t do that, despite having been a manager for the last 23 years and being well versed in bullshit as a result. That’s why I believe he does a great job.

Remove him from F1, and I suspect you’d see a completely different character.