Formula One 2018 - General Thread

[bob6600]

Max had a face like smacked rse... Shame he lacked the grace to at least congratulate Danny.

A quick 'formalities' handshake was all he gave, at least could have looked like he meant it. Surprisingly Hamilton was a lot more cheerful than he usually is when he's not on top of the timing sheets and congratulated Daniel like Max should have.

Red Bull's first front row lockout in the turbo hybrid era

 

[zipdip]

Well lets get to the race whats going to happen,who will win,well I still think it will be a Mercedes Ferrari fighting out the finish,I think something that Red Bull will try to drum into their drivers that they have a great chance to control and win this race will be lost on one driver,I see both cars not finishing,we will see,but with a young hot driver against a driver who has had the most appalling luck all season there is all the ingredients for the worse to happen,I hope not, but DR showed MV that he is still one of the very best drivers out there and MV did not like that one bit.

 

[Nat]

MV to take all four out on the first bend.

LH to win his 5th WDC.
SV can say we tried but this time it wasn't my fault.
DR would have DNF'd anyway with enter xyz excuse here .....
MV to blame everyone else for having the audacity to race.

 

[bob6600]

Watching Ted's Notebook - Max was apparently making excuses stating there were issues but Horner had already said that they both had the same equipment and that Daniel did a better job. Max needs to learn how to be gracious in defeat. Reminds me of the Vettel-Webber days

 

[zipdip]

Well Horner is trying his best,we have a talk and they know we need to get a result sort of talk ,that man is seriously worried about the start,he has changed his pants at least three times,he has DM who will this time do anything to win after the season he has had and the young gun who just will do what it takes to win,who would be a F1 boss.

 

[Stratman]

From what I'm reading on the BBC text commentary this isn't about motor racing, thus far it's about dealing with comedy tyres.

I wouldn't be surprised if next season's choices are between Blu Tack, Plasticine and Play Doh.

 

[Nat]

The tyres aren't working for Merc. MV is on a mission.

 

[AMGeed]

Not his best race, but Lewis is World champion for the 5th time.
Ricciardo very unlucky with yet another DNF.

 

[Nat]

World Champion x 5

Yeah, totally gutted for DR. It was a bit of an odd race especially with the time differences between the drivers.

 

[LTD]

F1 is a comedy show now.

Crap tyres that don’t last, crazy fuel regulations, penalties for next to nothing and races that aren’t won on the track

 

[GeeJayW]

Breaking News: Wrigleys win F1 tyre contract for 2019.

 

[Deleted member 126251]

World Champion x 5
..................

Easy when you have the best car - difference between #1 an #10 on the grid is about 10sec/lap ! has become a farce! My dad used to take me to races when I was kid - in the olden days ( and even in the 60s we could park our cars next to the track and camp out for the weekend) - I have been a fan my entire life but........it is now too predictable & too many rules. The safety aspect is good but let them build what they like.

 

[Nat]

Best car? I don't think so. It's not the quickest nor the best handling and eats tyres for fun but I agree that from 7th backwards the gap is too vast.

Bringing back fuel stops, another tyre manufacturer allowing the teams to chose what tyres will be used the race before or that weekend, more engines per year as the amount of races have increased would be a few things to make it more interesting. Otherwise it'll just be the predictable six horse race we know now.

 

[GeeJayW]

I'd love to know when those halcyon days were, when every driver on the grid had a chance of winning the race and races were nip and tuck from start to finish.

 

[Dryce]

I'd love to know when those halcyon days were, when every driver on the grid had a chance of winning the race and races were nip and tuck from start to finish.

Looking back the 'best' years have been when there have been two teams slugging it out with the rest picking up the scraps. Reliability has shaken things up where each race was more valuable because there were fewer.

Once reliability became a big thing in the late 90s then we have seen single teams like Ferrari, Red Bull, and latterly Mercedes domnate. We don't expect top teams in a WDC or WCC winning year to drop races because of driver or car related DNFs the way we used to.

This year we have seen both Ferrari and Mercedes slug it out with each struggling relative to the other at different races. Yesterday's race and the one at Austin were examples where the Mercedes was not strong and the car didn't look invincible. It underlines that the differentiator this year has been the two top drivers.

• It could have been closer if Vettel hadn't wobbled a tiny bit with dire consequences for the title
  
• Hamilton would have won in the Ferrari - the Mercedes has been a bit better but not a lot better.
• If LH had done a Nico and retired last year leaving VB and some rookie in the Mercedes team then Vettel would be WDC.

So I think this year actually delivered reasonably relative to the mythical Halcyon Years.

I feel for Ricciardo. The year he bested Vettel he probably reckoned by now he'd be fighting for a WDC. Instead he's left with a nothing year of DNFs and a very fast favoured team mate taking the limelight - and no option of Ferrari or Mercedes - and the risk of disappearing into the shadows from next year unless there is a miracle at Renault.

 

[bob6600]

Mercedes got absolutely battered by Red Bull and Ferrari - Bottas even got lapped. Last year the drivers/teams complained the tyres were too hard so this year Pirelli gave them what they wanted. Mercedes ran out of new tyres and compromised their race, With a wet Friday, you would have thought they had tyres in stock.

Well done to LH, he was the best driver over the season.

Gutted for DR. He must have jetted of early or was excused from the team photo at the end as he wasn't there.

 

[zipdip]

The winner is dear old Bernie,was the old guy losing his marbles allowing the american's a slice of the pie, he should have known better,at their first chance they bought him out and took over F1,poor old Bernie,he got all that money got rid of a barrel full of problems,and those american whizz kids are now scratching their heads,what can we do next,maybe they should give Bernie a call,I doubt he will pick up

 

[baxlin]

Easy when you have the best car .

OK, when are you going to win then?

Or do you mean easy for Vettel who had arguably the best - ie fastest - car for most of the season?

Just look at LH's stats:

Podium in his first race, pole in his first season, race win in his first season, embarrassing his team-mate, a double world champion.

If this WDC is as a result of SV's mistakes, why didn’t Raikonnen win? And if as a result of Ferrari's mess-ups, why didn’t Bottas win?

And turning things about, if it wasn’t for Rosberg's tricks in 2016, he might have 6 WDCs now.

Blaming others' misfortune is like saying Ali was only boxing world champion because everyone else had a glass jaw.

Sorry, but LH is a worthy World Champion.

(Stands back for the flak!!)

 

[GeeJayW]

^ + only driver to win a race in every year he has competed in F1.

Having a decent car definitely helps as does being in the right place at the right time etc., but anybody that fails to recognise the shear driving talent that Lewis has is simply ignoring the facts. He may not be the most well liked driver, but he is definitely one of the very best there has ever been.

 

[Dryce]

He may not be the most well liked driver, but he is definitely one of the very best there has ever been.

Don't know why some people don't like him.

He exposes his feelings a bit much at times - both happy and unhappy. No scandals as far as we know. And I can't think of any time he's played nasty - compared with MS and FA and Senna there are no shadows. SV has been petulant and untidy on track when under pressure.

I'm a bit puzzled as to why - if younger sports personalitiies get knighthoods these days - that he doesn't have one (maybe it has been offered and declined).

Now that he has 5 WDCs my feeling is that I would like him to get another two. I'd like him to demonstate that you can get to 7 WDCs without ramming off an opponent or counting a victory gained through your team deliberately organiksing a crash to gain you that victory.