The extent of Channel 4's coverage will be the same as the BBC's - 10 full race weekends. Re the team, who knows atm. Coulthard is onboard though, obvs.
The extent of Channel 4's coverage will be the same as the BBC's - 10 full race weekends. Re the team, who knows atm. Coulthard is onboard though, obvs.
http://gppredictor.com/league/join/c...c1186c2207f23f
Code: d48ee2dabd6a48ba4ac1186c2207f23f
Get a predictor going.
Ill sign up for that, it will keep me interested
I've joined. Cor blimey, Wehrlein is a looker.
You know interest in your sport is in decline when it moves to Channel 4.
I've gone for Kimi to win down under.
I've left Kimi out of the top ten
Picked Rosberg to win.
I'm probably going to shift some things around after FP, mainly whether Haas or McLaren will break into the top 10 in the first GP. Can't see Renault getting a point unless K-Mag goes on a rampage.
I'm not too optimistic for McLaren, seeing as their cars are powered by a small band of Japanese sailor mice running on a wheel having had far too much sake to drink on shore leave.
Haas meanwhile have tested their car only in so far as pointing it towards the pit exit and making the wheels turn a bit.
Well I've heard from several sources that Haas are going to be in the points. Seems they're in a better situation than Renault.
In the points is a huge shout. Merc, Ferrari, Williams, both Bulls, and Force India will all surely be well ahead of them.
They aren't quite a new build as most of their parts fell off a lorry leaving Maranello but I'd be surprised to see them bothering the top ten in normal running.
Mercedes to win by slightly less than last year.
Renault's livery seems appropriate for a French team.
It's not yellow enough.
At least it's not grey.
It's the best colour scheme on the grid by a mile.
It seems like a much lighter yellow than the last time we had a proper Renault team. The 2010 version was my favourite livery at the time so it's nice to see some kind of colour coming back to the grid.
Needs more light blue.
Top 10 Australia
Vettel (Fastest Lap)
Hamilton (Pole)
Massa
Verstappen
Ricciardo
Magnus (Position Gained)
Bottas
Rosberg
Grosjean
Alonso
...in that order. It will probably be a three way between Vettel, Hamilton and Rosberg for the season.
Light blue cars just make me think of this.
Toggle Spoiler
Which is a horrible shame when it should remind us of far sexier things in gulf colours.
Rosberg
Brilliant, this new qualifying. Both Q2 and Q3 were pretty much single-lap sessions with the exception of the Mercedes, and were practically done with four minutes to spare.
It was trash
And people honestly thought Manor and Haas would be competitive at the back.
It doesn't really matter though does it? Only effects around 6 minutes on a Saturday and then grid still ends up the same as it would have anyway.
So long as they don't fuck with the race then it's grand.
That's what happens when you eliminate everyone except the front two, the guy who's behind couldn't go any faster and the guy in front didn't need to so they sit in the garage and save their tyres.
It matters (to track owners especially) because qualifying is SPECTACLE and the only time these days when cars are FLAT OUT ON THE LIMIT so it's important that it be full of exciting duels that people will pay money to come and see and give circuits a fighting chance of being in the black by the end of the weekend. I didn't think this was coming in until next year, and I'm not sure what was wrong with the previous format (but then I'm still a fan of going back to an hour long open qualifying and enforcing the 107% rule).
What a fucking joke this sport is.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35850766
I can't access the BBC... What's the article say? @Disco
Formula 1 looks set to abandon the controversial new elimination qualifying system in the wake of heavy criticism after its introduction at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone admitted it had not worked, but said he was reluctant to revert to the old system.
The 85-year-old wants to introduce an element of uncertainty in the hope it will hinder Mercedes' domination.
Teams are expected to meet in Melbourne on Sunday to discuss what to do next.
The new system sees the slowest car knocked out every 90 seconds in the second part of each of three sessions.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said the previous system - where the slowest six cars were eliminated at the end of each of the first two sessions before a final top 10 shootout - should return for the next race in Bahrain on 1-3 April.
After Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg qualified at the front at Albert Park, Ecclestone said: "If we go back, Mercedes would be first and second.
"What I don't want to see is where you and I could predict how the grid is going to be for the start of a race, and how that race is going to finish."
Teams advised the governing body that the new system would result in no cars on track at the end of the final session as a result of people running out of tyres - and that is exactly what happened.
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who was third, had time to change out of his overalls into jeans and team kit before the post-qualifying news conference after only doing one run in the final session.
But Ecclestone said he would prefer to retain parts of the old system and then have a way of demoting the fastest drivers on the grid.
"My idea was a simple one - you leave qualifying alone," he said.
"But I wanted to take the results of the last race, and the guy that won that race would have so many seconds, or tenths of a second, added to his qualifying time.
"So that might put the guy on pole in sixth or seventh or wherever, and then we would get a mixed-up grid and some good racing for at least half the race."
asdf
Cheers.
So Ferrari just gave up any attempt to challenge for the top 2 and didn't bother going out again - would they have not done the same in the old format? Are there less tyres than last year?
Nico is such a little bitch. Getting pissy with Vettel because he came second should get to answer before him.
A top eight shootout is fine. The elimination bullshit needs to go.
Hopefully the race tomorrow will be better than the fucking shambles that I just recorded earlier.
They could just have one long session (the breaks do literally nothing), do the elimination thing until you've got ten left then let them have eight or ten minutes as a final 'session'.
Doesn't the ban on pit lane refueling put pay to any idea like that as, as far as I can tell, they have to spoon it in with a teaspoon in the garage these days.
Just put more in at the beginning.
Yeah, but then you'd never see the cars GOING AS FAST AS THEY CAN due to the usable life of the tyre being about 1 lap. I reckon it would be good though. Everyone has to run for an hour, no limit on number of laps, just be on track for an hour. You'd have the pootlers trying to preserve their tyres and fuel (or lack thereof) for a push at the end. Maybe you could go out with a stupidly small amount of fuel in the tank, stick a lap in and then try to LIFT AND COAST for the remaining hour of a session, maybe some would just go out and try to set a good pace throughout. You could make it even more unfathomable by aggregating lap times to work out the final order. Stick some type of incentive to do more laps in and you've almost got yourself a little race.
If you kept it as one session and allowed tyre changes but no refueling then it makes fuel levels very tactical. Faster cars will need more to go later into the session so will be vulnerable early on from slower cars with lighter loads. The problem is you'll end up with everyone running out come the end, which again begs the question of why change it in the first place.
That start.
He's just walked away from that.
Decent spectacle. I cant remember what i did in predictor game. I know i had lewis winning
Edit: Nothing predicted correct.
Haas points called.
Ferrari strategy was shite at the safety car there, they messed up an incredible start.
Haas getting some decent points is pretty mega. That's ensured they'll finish above Manor and Sauber at least.
Not a bad start. Ferrari's strategy call though... wtf? Mercedes used 60 sets of mediums in practice, to think they didn't know what they were doing was ludicrous.
The red flag rules are stupid though.