Formula One 2018 - General Thread

[Tensofbenz]

Good result for the MB team, i think Ferrari were just going through tyres to heavily, i don't think they had any other choice than to pit and fit new ones.
Hamilton is still getting too much bad press from British people in my opinion, i have read all their reasons but cant see what he is doing any worse than any other British successful high earner in the spotlight.

 

[GeeJayW]

Good result for the MB team, i think Ferrari were just going through tyres to heavily, i don't think they had any other choice than to pit and fit new ones.
Hamilton is still getting too much bad press from British people in my opinion, i have read all their reasons but cant see what he is doing any worse than any other British successful high earner in the spotlight.

It's what the British do. For some reason we cannot find it in ourselves to be complimentary about anyone that is talented, successful and/or rich. Look at the crap Andy Murray gets. That said, now that he has a hip injury that may well (IMHO) force him to retire, he'll suddenly transition into a legend.

No, we consider elite, success, wealth,... as dirty words and instead celebrate mediocrity whilst moaning about the lack of success. It's insane.

 

[Stratman]

I agree with a lot of what GeeJayW says, but what I dislike about many of these super rich sportsmen/women is they make a big deal of their Britishness when it's to their advantage, all from a tax haven somewhere. They'd do anything for their country except live there. Hamilton moved to Switzerland "for the weather". Of course you did Lewis

As for Murray, he's lauded in Scotland and rightly so. What irks some south of Hadrian's wall is the throwaway joke comment "Anyone but England" in a World Cup. It was indeed meant as a joke but sadly the tabloids realised there'd be more mileage in it if they left that factette out of their report. Incidentally, Murray lives (as far as I'm aware) in Oxshot, Surrey.

 

[Chrishazle]

Maybe it was not a joke! Having worked extensivly in/offshore Scotland I many time heard a reply to the question "Who do you support", and irrespective of the sport the answer from a Scot was often "Scotland, and whoever England are playing".

 

[Dryce]

Maybe it was not a joke! Having worked extensivly in/offshore Scotland I many time heard a reply to the question "Who do you support", and irrespective of the sport the answer from a Scot was often "Scotland, and whoever England are playing".

Pretty common attitude in Scotland. It does run to different depths in different people - and with varying degrees of 'seriousness'.

But you might reflect on why.

It used to be the World Cup would come along and the London based (maybe a bit more Salford based these days?) media would focus on the England team to the extent that even in Scotland somebody not very interested in football would probably be able to name more English players than Scottish.

These days I think it's not so bad ...... because Scotland doesn't qualify for the World Cup finals.

And Rugby isn't much better at times.

There have been complaints about BBC Commonwealth Games coverage over-focusing on English athletes.

Modern professional sport with big sponsorship money makes things worse. The branding around the English national teams and the likes of the English Premier League mean that in terms of other branding and publicity there is more resource available to them and more publicity.

The stupid thing about all this is that there are separate football leagues and that the UK competes as a non-united set of home nations in some events. Where you have one country with 90% of the population and therefore bigger sponsorship and higher numbers of sports people and that dominates the media then it's just asking for friction when it comes to dealing with Wales, NI, and Scotland. There are additional effects such as the relative invisibility of Scottish or Welsh league teams in the Champions League. So you have prime time football shows that are pumped up in the UK media that are likely to be disproportionately focused on English Premier league. Both Celtic and Rangers are masssive football clubs - the grounds and the attendances are bigger than many English Premier League clubs. But the money available to them is a lot less within the Scottish league.

There should really be a single British football league and at international events the UK should always compete as a single entity under a single flag.

If that had been in place a long time ago then the UK would be more culturally united.

 

[GeeJayW]

For me, if any of the home nations/teams are in a position to win where my own team is not, then I'm more than happy for the 'home' team to win and bring the trophy back to Old Blighty (for which I apply the British interpretation).

I also used to think that a British football league was the way to go. However, if there was a single British football league, there would still need to be some degree of regionalisation. Otherwise for example, the Plymouth Argyle v Inverness Caledonian Thistle fixtures would involve a fair bit of travelling for fans and players, possibly made more challenging by a couple of foot of snow somewhere along the A9. Another issue is that there really aren't that many Scotland based clubs that (are funded to the level where they) would hold their own in the premiership, much less qualify for EUFA Champions League etc.. The result would be that most of the big money fixtures would still be south of the border.

I think it's a real shame we lost the domestic International footie fixtures, cancelled if I recall due to crowd violence where at least one set of Wembley goalposts succumbed to the pressure. The six nations rugby show how it can be, footie fans need to follow suit.

The UK is united. The bickering between the home nations is like sibling rivalry. Woe betide anyone that threatens one of the brothers (or sisters).

 

[23 Romeo Tango]

Has the Halo saved first life ?
F2 driver escapes injury in Spain. 0:00 - 1:50

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[Deleted member 131833]

Well the ship is parked offshore of Monaco and it is pouring rain likely to be on all day.

So not even going ashore, nothing to see as all the cars will be tucked up in the garage.

Ah well there is always next year

 

[whitenemesis]

"World champion Lewis Hamilton says the return of female models to the F1 grid at this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix is "a beautiful thing"

Monaco Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton backs 'grid girls' return

 

[tbourner]

I reckon reverse grids could work, you'd have to award points further down the pack though, so people below 10th are less likely to just give up and go to the back. Maybe 25 points for first, 23 for 2nd, 21 for 3rd, then 19, 18, 17 etc. all the way down to 1 point for 22nd place. There'd be no point giving up points in the race before Monaco, just so you can be top of the grid there, as you'd lose as many points as you hope to gain.
You could also replace Saturday with some F1 games - extend practice and give points for fastest lap or quickest pit stop or something, maybe award extra engine and gearbox changes as well.

 

[Dryce]

Maybe 25 points for first, 23 for 2nd, 21 for 3rd, then 19, 18, 17 etc. all the way down to 1 point for 22nd place.

Think about the differences. 25 vs 23 for 1st/2nd. Hardly worth winning. I think the general consensus is that a win deserves quite a chunk more points than 2nd in order that the driver with the most wins should have a statistically very good chance of winning the championship - even though the downside is that a driver who gets a lot of wins early in the season can potentially build up a huge lead that means the chances of the WDC being deciided early in the season is high.

The provision of team points for the WCC does mean that lower end teams often pick up something through the season even with the cut-off of points after 11th.

It's quite difficult to design a scheme that doesn't potentially have some sort of downside. You could award more points for results as the season progresses - but we've seen a very crude version of that with double points for the last race disparaged. There have been schemes in the past to split the points from the first and sencond halves of the season - or limit the number of races from which points are added to a driver's WDC total.

You could also award extra points for being on the lead lap or having a larger gap to the car behind.

I don't think that F1 really has a problem with points. The problems lie in other areas - the split of money to the teams with some prefered over other - and the technical regulations that specify the cars (particularly aerodynamics and powertrain complexity) - the restriction on engine and transmissions which unduly penalise teams when there are reliability problems - and I suspect the restrictions on testing actually don't help the way they should either.

 

[tbourner]

I don't think that F1 really has a problem with points. The problems lie in other areas - the split of money to the teams with some prefered over other - and the technical regulations that specify the cars (particularly aerodynamics and powertrain complexity) - the restriction on engine and transmissions which unduly penalise teams when there are reliability problems - and I suspect the restrictions on testing actually don't help the way they should either.

I agree with that. Also the need to save fuel and tyres meaning racers have become strategists. I'm certain if it was nuts-out racing every lap that Hamilton would win a lot more than he does - he's a very strong racer but not too bright, so loses out against the likes of Vettel and Rosberg on strategy and technical stuff (despite the teams making most of the decisions).

I would just like to see reversed grids, so you can find those top drivers battling through the pack every race. They'd have to change the tyre rules and some of the aero limitations, to make overtaking easier when there are no blues being waved, but the main problem is still the points in a grid reverse, as soon as you get to within 10 laps of the finish, everyone from 12th/13th back would just stop with some unexplained "failure" and DNF.

 

[Dryce]

I would just like to see reversed grids, so you can find those top drivers battling through the pack every race.

They could perhaps experiment by suggesting that one of the races is a 'special event' with the race split in two - using a reverse grid. A cynic might suggest Monaco (two different processions in the same afternoon instead of one) - but a more open minded approach might be to choose a venue where overtaking isn't the easiest but is still possible - and set it up as a venue where defensive skills as well as attacking are to be tested.

They could also try other penalty systems that don't involve a drive through or stop and go - eg. block on using recovered energy for a given number of laps or time. A sort of reduced power sin bin.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Offer points on Saturday for qualifying. (Same as existing race day points)

Then start the race on Sunday in reverse order to qually. Award points on race day.

The Saturday points will encourage the top teams to get pole and then we get to see them advancing through the field on Sunday. (Hopefully)

Will also give the lesser teams a good chance of some points on race day.

 

[Stratman]

All the above shows how dull the 'race' in Monaco really is, having to invent artificial contrivances in order to generate some interest.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

All the above shows how dull the 'race' in Monaco really is, having to invent artificial contrivances in order to generate some interest.

Not at all Dull for me. I love Monaco. I could watch the onboard footage all day long.

 

[Nat]

All the above shows how dull the 'race' in Monaco really is, having to invent artificial contrivances in order to generate some interest.

+1

 

[190]

Monaco may not be dull as a venue and it is still a big challenge for the drivers but the race is often rubbish do to it being almost impossible to overtake.

As for reverse order starting I think we need F1 cars that can overtake first.

 

[tbourner]

Well yes. And the whole problem with boring procession races came about because letting the teams do whatever they wanted meant the teams with the most money could easily win - so they gradually added more and more restrictions to make it more fair for the newer teams - which resulted in all the cars being the same, and needing to add artificial contrivances to get the overtaking back

 

[zipdip]

Well the real excitement is in the qualifying,everything is about getting pole more so than any other track,with the fact the cars are wider means even less chance of overtaking,so the race is normally a procession,it is a shame but the cars have outgrown Monaco,not sure why the owners of F1 are courting more city races,something wrong there.