Formula 1 2018 - No Women Edition

[Disco]

Those trophies look like they're made of mdf, can you tell we aren't coming back next year?

[Disco]

The Ferrari looks an absolute donkey of a car. How did this happen?

They seem to have brought an engine and little else.

[Disco]

I think I actually ranted about NASCAR at length a few pages back because I grew up going to the tracks and they really fucked it all up.

Now that I work Sundays in an empty office though I've basically just thrown whatever sports are on at the time on one screen and worked on the other, so I've caught a fair few races this year.

They're not bad once you get to the end but the first 90% of the race is usually, as you say, useless w/r/t the entire result.

Now, a day out at NASCAR is fantastic.. they let you bring in your own coolers and beer and what not so it's really not that bad... get one of those headset scanners and listen to the pitcrews talking to the drivers / the radio broadcast and it really is a blast.

Watching them race in a pack at top speed (like 190-205 mph) at the bigger tracks is honestly pretty intense and TV takes a fair bit away from that IMHO.

4 races in and I think I'm beginning to get it now. Also, Darrell Waltrip is an absolute treasure.

[bruhnaldo]

GOOD OL' D-DUBYA. Ya he's pretty good.

[Disco]

Lolonso.

[Lewis]

Is circle racing harder than he thinks, or is this just McLaren being toilet?

[Disco]

Toilet. They started their team from scratch but given all the cars are basically the same it's a pretty special effort to be this rubbish.

[Gray Fox]

What does he do now then?

Other than cut ties with McLaren, which he should do immediately.

[Giggles]

Is there a race on now?

[Gray Fox]

Is there a race on now?

Qualifying for Indy 500 just finished. Alonso missed out altogether.

[Giggles]

Qualifying for Indy 500 just finished. Alonso missed out altogether.

Ah yeah, I forgot her did that.

[Disco]

They really should have done a full season of Indycar but I don't think they were willing to divert that many resources away from the F1 program. You would think that being streets ahead of anyone else on the grid he would be able to walk into a decent (non-Honda) Indycar drive but does he want to waste his time doing that or just dip in and out trying to win the one race in the series that anyone cares about.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If he wants to waste his time that badly he should just get a Le Mans drive.

[Shindig]

He's done that. He's only interested in finishing off the triple crown but only for a fortnight a year.

[Gray Fox]

Lots of talk online that Niki Lauda has died overnight.

[Clunge]

Confirmed. Only 70. What a legend he was. His presence at Mercedes over the past few years saw him become one of the most refreshing, authoritative and authentic voices in modern F1, just as he was in his own heyday. RIP.

In other news, the last two Formula E races have been magnificent.

[Shindig]

Monaco actually looked like a circuit that gave the cars space to race. Makes you wonder what the fuck they're doing with the other circuits.

[Disco]

Sad news about Lauda but the writing was on the wall after all the lung ops. I was in the shower when it came on the radio and they had Murray saying something about him and for a second there I thought it was him.

Monaco was ok, but they have had 60 years to get it right. More amusing are all the people snagging off Barcelona and celebrating the addition of Zandvoort which will see no overtaking and be just as deathly dull only colder.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Tarzan though.

I always liked Jerez, though they seem to hate short tracks now.

[SincereTheRebel]

Imola would be terrible for overtaking. it does not have many large braking zones which is what you need?

[Jimmy Floyd]

The best place for overtaking or generally non-shit races used to be the old Hockenheim.

[Disco]

Istanbul (RIP), Interlagos (soon to be RIP), Montreal, Silverstone (to an extent), Spa, Suzuka, and China would be my picks for best tracks, or those that produce the best races.

[bruhnaldo]

Wait they're binning off Interlagos? For fuck sake.

[Disco]

They are. Or they aren't.

Depends on who you think is more corrupt and this being Brazil they take that shit seriously.

[Shindig]

Like Brazil would get another circuit together in time. We get less and less good races year after year now. I genuinely can't remember the last good race of this era.

[Shindig]

I've decided to divulge into F1's deep past. Looks like 1963 is probably the furthest I can get full races from on youtube.

[Disco]

Leclerc has, so far, sped during a VSC in practice and has now missed the weigh station. Stewards will have to work doubly hard to find a way around giving him a penalty today.

[Disco]

Nevermind. Lol.

[Shindig]

This is some Eddie Irvine shit.

[Gray Fox]

That's one way to keep Vettel in front of Leclerc.

[Giggles]

What happened? I'm not watching but my Dad just sent me a WhatsApp saying "the whole Ferrari management need to be fucked out and probably vettel along with them" :D

[Gray Fox]

Vettel can't stop hitting the barriers and Ferrari didn't send Leclerc out for another run in Q1 and he ended up dropping out there.

[Giggles]

He's not a happy bunny.

[Disco]

The best bit was that it was Vettel who knocked him out.

[Shindig]

Okay, I'm definitely continuing down this historical road of catching every old race I can find. 1963's Monaco GP was ... mostly good. Starts with Graham Hill holding off Jim Clark for ages until Jim clears off. Then Hill has to deal with Surtees. Then the coverage goes all to shit as they return from a Eurovision break or something and Hill is seemingly leading. The coverage is the part I do not like. Jim Clark taking the lead was being shaped up when the director decided to a vanity shot of a hotel. The commentator clearly hasn't got the footage as a reference because he took ages to react to Surtees overtaking Hill.

Meanwhile, I had no idea Jim Clark had retired six laps from the end.

Cool shit? No seat belts because the drivers assumed being thrown from the car was better than being trapped in it. I like the Gasometer hairpin which was where Jim Clark lined up his overtake on Hill. The way the road falls away at Tabac shows off the suspension and the corners leading to the tunnel show off how those cars loved to slide. Oh, and the faster chicane on the harbour. It's deadly but you're threading a needle at speed. 7 cars finished the 100 lap race.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I found the full race Brands Hatch '68 the other day with what I think is Murray Walker commentating. One of the first races with rear wings, which Murray is still trying to get his head around. Real nuts and bolts stuff, although being the British GP they had a few people around and could put a bit of effort into it. The proper coverage for foreign races didn't start until the 70s.

[Shindig]

You really start to miss the creature comforts of graphics as well. Gaps, laptimes, even what lap they're on.

[SincereTheRebel]

LeClerc putting his foot on Ferraris neck is good to see.

[Disco]

I'll be amazed if Leclerc finishes this race.

[Jimmy Floyd]

He looks like a human pending safety car diving into Rascasse every time.

[Jimmy Floyd]

There he goes. He needs to be black flagged really.

[John Arne]

Excellent work by the TV director to cut away just as Bottas, Verstappen and Vettel are just about to be released at the same time.

[Disco]

How did Bottas pit twice and only lose two places.

[Jimmy Floyd]

How did Bottas pit twice and only lose two places.

Because Dan had backed the rest of the field up an absolute mile. He seems to have lost eight places under the safety car, which is some effort.

[Disco]

What a silly race this is, Hamilton just pootling around and no-one can do anything at all.

[John Arne]

The front 4 were about 30 seconds up by lap 10.

[Disco]

And it ruined the tyres, hence why they're now going about 2 seconds slower.

[Gray Fox]

Monaco is a terrible race in this Formula.

I'm sure it was last year or the year before, whoever was winning was openly driving somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds per lap slower. No one behind them could do a thing about it.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Max will go for the pass at some point, which could go either way.

[Disco]

Monaco is a terrible race in this Formula.

I'm sure it was last year or the year before, whoever was winning was openly driving somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds per lap slower. No one behind them could do a thing about it.

Ricciardo last year, he won with about half an engine left.

[John Arne]

Kubica 25 seconds behind Giovanazzi :face:

[Gray Fox]

Kvyat coming in now opens it right up for someone getting the undercut.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Hamilton is always such a fanny about tyres.

[Disco]

I don't know what he's worried about, you could stay ahead on the wheel rims around here.

[Shindig]

He remembers Shanghai 2007.

[bruhnaldo]

Buddy is right why havent' they just told him he'll lose this race lol

[Shindig]

Peter Donnington :cool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

That was a great race. Overtaking can fuck off.

[bruhnaldo]

Indy 500 starting shortly if you enjoy cars actually passing each other

[Jimmy Floyd]

Passing each other to the point that it's totally meaningless.

What people don't realise about overtaking is that it isn't overtaking that creates excitement, it's the threat of overtaking.

[Disco]

Indy 500 starting shortly if you enjoy cars actually passing each other

I'll watch it tomorrow, or rather I'll watch the last 50 laps, the rest is completely meaningless.

[bruhnaldo]

Passing each other to the point that it's totally meaningless.

What people don't realise about overtaking is that it isn't overtaking that creates excitement, it's the threat of overtaking.

The threat is anticipation. If it never happens it's just foreplay.

[Shindig]

No. That's like saying Senna doing the same to Mansell was a disappointment. It wasn't. It's about defensive driving.

[bruhnaldo]

Nah I mean I enjoyed Hamilton and Max's little bit in all fairness but I'm always surprised by everyone being so against oval racing.

[John Arne]

The state of these 500 pitstops. It's like amateur hour. Wheels flying everywhere, drivers spinning and mechanics getting ran over.

[Disco]

There's nothing inherently wrong with oval racing but Indycar is a fucking bonfire of a series and American television is (I'm sorry) completely terrible.

[bruhnaldo]

I can't necessarily disagree to be fair.

[John]

I've just seen mention of the Indy being called to a halt halfway through for some 'Salute the Troops' flag waving nonsense. It's not really a race if you can stop in the middle to do something else before going back to it.

[Disco]

In that case cancel every American motor race ever held.

[Shindig]

Packed Zandvoort '63 in after 20 minutes. Jim Clark clears off and, once the pits shake out, nobody's scrapping. Ended up re-watching Senna instead. I'd give anything to have a Prost / Senna rivalry at the top again. Shame they never go long enough to fester into something like that. Webber and Vettel fizzed out, Alonso preferred to bugger off instead of scrapping with Hamilton. Schumacher was ready to retire by the time Alonso got fighty. Schumacher and Hill at least had a few years of it, even if Frank Williams kinda ruined it by giving away Damon's seat in '97.

[Disco]

Don't worry, I know how that one would have ended. There was a torrent knocking about Reddit with every season for the last 35 years, I never had enough space to grab it unfortunately.

I think in the next 10 years we'll get Verstappen v Leclerc maybe with Ocon thrown in.

[SincereTheRebel]

Canada is about to start and Vettel is on pole from the half black man. Vettel usually fucks things up when they are fighting together .

[bruhnaldo]

Apparently they recently had HAM's car in the garage working on a leak of some kind. Seems to be on the grid now but something to look out for maybe.

[Disco]

"London Born Thai"

Give it up lads.

[Giggles]

With Sky I forget these even happen these days.

[Pepe]

Vettel. :harold:

[Shindig]

He used to be relied upon to bang those laps out.

[Pepe]

Even Leclerc overtook him. :harold:

[Pepe]

I think that it was a BS call, but Seb, you could probably do without losing control every time you are put under pressure.

[Disco]

Is he going to get himself dq'd? :D

Harsh penalty but this is great, fuck the interviews, let's see where he went.

[Jimmy Floyd]

This is an all time great seethe.

[bruhnaldo]

Switching the #1 and #2 bits were hilarious

[Pepe]

Someone find a Fiat 500 and throw it into the grid with the other two cars.

[Pepe]

Hamilton seething there after getting booed.

[SincereTheRebel]

Canada is about to start and Vettel is on pole from the half black man. Vettel usually fucks things up when they are fighting together .

Germans are usually known for their efficiency. This is embarrassing from Vettel. Time and time again, he makes error when he feels pressure from Lewis.

[niko_cee]

It was a bullshit call (although you can letter of the law it) but totally worth it for the reaction.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I think it was an unlucky penalty but you can definitely make an argument that he should have been left (off the racing line) until it was clear. Maybe he didn't have the ability to control his car to that extent out of the grass, but then the stewards would probably say tough shit, no matter the reason you were still over the other side.

[Shindig]

Even if you think the penalty is rough, as a driver, you're main job is to put your foot down so it doesn't matter. Vettel sulked and moaned whilst in clean air at the front. A decade ago, he'd have relished that.

[Clunge]

Ludicrous decision.

In other news, Haas need to sack both their drivers - Magnussen can gtfo after bitching about how shit his car was after it had to be rebuilt because he stacked it in qualifying. And then Grosjean moaning about Perez’s (great) move on him and calling for the stewards to intervene. Get lost you whiny fuck.

[mugbull]

Grosjean came off as the biggest pussy of them all in that Netflix special

[Gray Fox]

Just caught up on the race. The right thing to do, if anything, would have been to instruct Vettel to let Hamilton pass a couple of laps after and get back to it.

Magnussen being told in a PG way to shut the fuck up with the whinging was great. Plenty of young guys are waiting to drive that car, shit or not.

[Shindig]

Should've fired back at him with, "Yeah, it wouldn't feel this bad if you hadn't smashed it on Saturday."

Seen the highlights. Right call. When you've got walls, any re-entry like that will be seen as dangerous. Lewis had nowhere to go, Vettel had space on the inside but he chose to get straight back on the racing line. It looks harsh but, if that goes wrong, Lewis is in the wall.

[Pepe]

Hamilton would have overtaken him if they didn't give him the penalty. At least now he has something else to blame.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Vettel would argue that he didn't have the ability to choose his line, but that's kind of what happens when you leave the track. This incident, by the way, is a great example of why grass runoff >>>>> tarmac runoff at this level.

[bruhnaldo]

Then why didn't he just overtake him and save everyone the headache?

Because he could just parade around the track and win anyways? I mean sure that's fair.

Hamilton said after the race he didn't think he could've passed him but that also could've been fan service.

[Disco]

Vettel could not have gone anywhere other than where he ended up going. 'Staying left' would have put him in the wall.

Hamilton would not have been able to pass him either. The only passing point was in the last sector and he was well off the Ferrari pace there all weekend. Plus, as soon as the penalty was given he was never going to risk a pass in a thousand years. The only tactic open to him was the one he used: apply pressure and hope to capitalise on a mistake.

[SincereTheRebel]

I didnt know Vettel moved the markers to show who he thinks won the race :D

He needs to fix up and stop making stupid mistakes.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvTc1z2jWgE

[bruhnaldo]

That shit was hilarious tbh.

[Disco]

I liked the marker moving, the earlier seethe and pushing his car down the pit lane looked a bit too much like a tantrum

[SincereTheRebel]

He has fucked up so many times with hamilton. Monza last year and when he just drove into the side of Hamilton are a few I can remember.

[Shindig]

Baku last year as well. He's such a fucking child.

[Disco]

Hockenheim too, that was the best one.

[Shindig]

I feel like you can pinpoint it back to when Button MINDGAMED him at Montreal 2011.

[Disco]

I don't see this as some sort of momentous revealing of character flaws, this season (and to an extent the second part of last year) is him over driving the car because it isn't as quick as the competition. He's always been a bit petulant when things don't go the way he wants but name a top driver who isn't, Hamilton spent the majority of the last race griping like a five year old from a very secure first place for example.

[Shindig]

The difference is that Hamilton will sulk but I can barely remember a time where he gave up.

[Shindig]

Le Mans is this weekend. Here are where the former F1 drivers stack up:

1) Kamui Kobiyashi
2) Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi
3) Stephane Sarazzin, Sergey Sirotkin
5) Vitaly Petrov, Stoffel van Dorne
6) Bruno Senna
10) Pastor Maldonado, Anthony 'Ant' Davidson
13) Jean-Eric Vergne
14) Paul di Resta
16) Giedo van der Garde
19) Will Stevens
31) Jan Magnussen
34) Sebastien Bourdais
52) Giancarlo Fisichella
56) Pedro Lamy

I'm pretty sure that's all of them. I've probably missed some Minardi sub from the early 90s.

[Jimmy Floyd]

You missed Gianmaria Bruni's 18 starts for Minardi in 2004, and, less forgivably, Olivier Beretta's star studded 10 starts for Larrousse in 1994 (best finish 7th).

I genuinely think I would be anyone's rival on 90s F1 trivia.

[Shindig]

Thanks for stepping up. That 2004 Minardi looked so forgettable. Not going to blame myself for missing Beretta, either. Or the three men who replaced him that season.

[Disco]

It says something that I've stuck with both Nascar and Indycar (what a truly odd fish that series is) this season but I can't imagine anything more tedious than Le Mans.

[Shindig]

You don't commit to it, really. You just dip in and see if anyone's crashed. Or if Radio Le Mans have managed to go five minutes without an ad break.

One hour in, the Toyota's are a lap ahead of the Audis already and Bruno Senna's engine just popped whilst he was in third. EDIT: It was fuel. :moop:

[Lewis]

lol at Toyota fixing it.

[Shindig]

Aye, I hate that. Ruins it as a contest. Fittingly, Pastor Maldonado was the last to retire in that race.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtiyBD-G78o

[Shindig]

And this weekend is the 24 hours of the Nurburgring. The only former F1 guy I can spot (because ADAC's website is shite for timing) is Markus Winkelhock. Plenty of streams with English commentary for this, though. In other news, the 2020 calender's been speculated on quite a bit.

Hockenheim, Autodrome Hermanos Rodriguez and Silverstone are potentially on the chopping block. Catalunya's expected to go in favour of Zandvort. The rest of the 21 date season appears penciled in. I'm tempted to put together a better effort. Hell, let's open that to the masses, pick your 21 preferred venues. Any circuit, providing it still exists.

[Disco]

Spain and Germany gone, Vietnam and Holland in. Everything else remains the same.

[bruhnaldo]

McLaren byke

[Pepe]

Didn't they just redo Silverstone?

[Shindig]

They've resurfaced the place after last year's MotoGP shitshow. And they're trying to build a museum there. The firm building it has gone bust.

[Disco]

It's a done deal, they're just fannying around because they want to announce it over the race weekend.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Why are McLaren suddenly outqualifying Vettel?

[Pepe]

This has been extremely boring. That track is an eyesore too.

[Shindig]

Yeah, I've not liked Paul Ricard since it came back. Flat and a bit useless. Magny Cours had more going on.

[Clunge]

This is dismal.

[Shindig]

I was so bored I looked for some pre-accident interviews of Frank Williams to see if he ever had a Geordie accent. I was left disappointed. :(

[Gray Fox]

In the most exciting thing to happen at the race, Ricciardo has been given 2 post-race penalties that take him from 7th to 11th.

[bruhnaldo]

6th and 9th for McLaren

Nice.

[Shindig]

Y'know, for a race where nothing happened, Perez gaining a place by taking the penalty road at the start was fun. As was Ricciardo deciding to fuck track limits off. And the weekly Grosjean moan.

[Disco]

Simon Pagenaud has one of the most distressing accents I've ever heard.

[Jimmy Floyd]

It is all a bit Jean Girard isn't it.

[Disco]

Audible cheers during qualifying, you don't get that very often.

[Shindig]

Probably because the A1 ring is a belting track and the only true good thing Tilke's ever managed.

[Gray Fox]

Now that's a very nicely set up grid.

[Pepe]

Verstappen. :face:

[Pepe]

Verstappen. :cool:

[Disco]

Be funny if they took each other out.

[Pepe]

Be funny if they took each other out.

:baz:

That was good.

[Pepe]

Using the Monaco flag on the podium. :harold:

[Gray Fox]

So we're nearing an hour after the race and the winner still doesn't know if he's the winner or not yet.

[Disco]

They're waiting until all the Dutch are too drunk to notice when they reverse the result.

[Shindig]

Been comparing Senna and Prost's careers and I've found nothing surprising other than Prost had a fucking rough start. Retirements everywhere until he got to McLaren. Once he had a car underneath him, he was dependable as fuck. Meanwhile, Senna had no middle-ground. Win, retire, retire, win, smash, retire. Had almost as many retirements as Prost in a career four years shorter.


During the qualifying session, there was controversy when Nelson Piquet made comments in the local media publicly insulting Ayrton Senna, though he later claimed he did not know he was talking to a journalist and was forced to withdraw his allegation under threat of a lawsuit (over time, these insults by Piquet – with the aid of Prost – also extended to claims that Senna was homosexual, particularly given his failed marriage in 1982; as it transpired in a 1990 interview of Senna by Brazilian edition of Playboy the gay claim may have been motivated by the fact that Senna had apparently had a relationship with Piquet's wife when she was single[1]). The World Champion had also been insulting about Nigel Mansell's wife Roxanne (calling her an "unattractive boxhead"), and both drivers' families.

Oh, wow. :D

[Disco]

The thread running throughout the 80's was that Nelson Piquet is a cunt.

[Giggles]

As was Senna in the main (as are all F1 drivers) but his legacy is protected by his death.

[Mellberg]

Unattractive boxhead :lol:

[Jimmy Floyd]

If I was married to Nigel Mansell, being called an unattractive boxhead by Nelson Piquet would be the least of my worries.

[Shindig]

It's been a good rabbit hole to go down. I didn't even know about Senna punching Irvine because he unlapped himself twice at ... Suzuka. :D Whilst under the suspended 2 race ban for that, he went into Prost again.

[niko_cee]

That fight with Senna pretty much made Irvine.

[Giggles]

I never would have had them in the same era at all. Time flies.

[Jimmy Floyd]

They only overlapped for about 5 races iirc. You wouldn't get Verstappen punching George Russell for such an offence now (or would you?)

[Shindig]

I actually checked to see how often F1 champions' careers overlapped. Jack Brabham and Fittipaldi wound up on the same grid. Alan Jones was on the grid for Graham Hill's last race in 1975. Piquet's last year was Schumacher and Hakkinen's first (1991). Some champions just run and run. Especially nowadays where careers in general are much longer.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I wonder what the quicket route back to the start is. Raikkonen was on the same grid as Alesi, Alesi with Patrese, Patrese with Ickx, Ickx with Brabham, Brabham with Fangio. That's only five steps from today to the first ever race.

[Shindig]

Depends if you want to get real creative by adding drivers who became team owners.

[Jimmy Floyd]

In that case we're just doing Giovinazzi - Ecclestone - Fangio.

[Disco]

They only overlapped for about 5 races iirc. You wouldn't get Verstappen punching George Russell for such an offence now (or would you?)

He had a pretty good pop at Ocon after Interlagos last year.

[Shindig]

I've learned something new about Frank Williams today. World's longest living Tetraplegic.

[Disco]

After watching an amount of Indycar this season I'd almost settled on my judgement of Alexander Rossi as sort of Grosjean-but-marketable. Then Grosjean spun in the pit lane today and I have to start all over again.

[Shindig]

I'd give his seat to Palmer at this rate.

[Clunge]

Get Kamui back.

[SincereTheRebel]

This Lando Norris is 13 years old. He isnt fooling me.

[Giggles]

Why have they not started yet? Its it a 3pm start?

[Shindig]

14:10.

[Giggles]

Never seen them do starts off the hour. Is that new this year?

[Shindig]

I think they've been doing that since Liberty Media took over. Not sure about the logic behind it.

[Gray Fox]

Fair fucking play Bottas. Where was this guy last year?

[Disco]

I think (boringly) they added 10 minutes to the start schedule to accommodate the anthem etc while still keeping the same timings past the hour for various deadlines.

Hamilton looks keen today doesn't he.

[Gray Fox]

Looks like Bottas got mugged off by the timing of that safety car.

[Disco]

Did Ferrari forget they had two cars?

[Gray Fox]

They've got to do something to stop LeClerc looking so much better than Vettel.

[Gray Fox]

Someone take Vettel out back and put him down.

[Clunge]

What a chump.

Safety car kind of ruined that race tbh. Shame.

[Disco]

This week in unsettling (or downright unbelievable) accents; Davide Valsecchi. I don't buy it, not even Gino Da'Campo doing his silliest Frankie Dettori is that comically Italian.

[phonics]

I've just seen the Verstappen/Vettel thing. How do they both keep going after a collision causes one of the cars to leap into the air while other cars are forced into retirement when you breathe on them. Was it pure luck or are the better cars more solid as well as faster?

[Shindig]

I've discovered Mahaveer Ragunathan. I want to know the exact steps he took to gain an International A license.

- Penalty points for passing the Chequered Flag twice.
- Penalty points for ignoring Virtual Safety Car limits.
- Took three minutes to back out of an escape road in Baku. Once back, his team boss had to explain he had to TURN THE FUCKING WHEEL to steer.
- Used the pit exit to gain places on the first lap in Monaco.
- Previous race experience comes in smaller series' contested by drivers significantly older than him.
- He's on average 4.5 seconds slower than F2 pole-sitters.
- His accumulation on penalty points has led him to be banned from the F2 races in Austria.

[Disco]

Suspension and wheels are the really delicate bits, as long as you don't break the diffuser there's not much you'll do to the back of the car at that speed. The worst damage would have been the floor which is the biggest aero surface on the car. I was surprised nothing broke after that landing though, I think they were very lucky to get away with it.

[Disco]

The F2 grid is a joke, I don't think there's anyone good in it this year.

[Shindig]

I felt spoiled with GP2 cranking out Rosberg and Hamilton back when the F1 grid had space for new blood. It's a bit cramped now.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I checked F3 the other week only to find another Piquet bopping around, that's all we need.

lol at Latifi still noncing about in F2 after what seems like about 15 seasons.

[Shindig]

There's a David Beckmann which raised a titter. Hope he makes it. They all have 'Formula 1' names though which is kind of upsetting.

[Disco]

There's an Alesi and a Schumacher in F2, neither of them are any good either.

[Jimmy Floyd]

I know, what the hell is Mick Schumacher doing? Just live your life ffs.

[niko_cee]

There's a Ralf Schumacher Racing van I've seen pootling around here in recent months. No idea what it's up to - is he into power boats now or something?

[Shindig]

https://www.tkart.it/en/toolbox/ralf-schumacher-launches-rs-kart-because-karting-will-never-be-boring/

Probably that. Or it's an elaborate cover to disguise his hunting.

[Shindig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qocIWfmBxGc

I didn't know footage of him on two-wheels existed. Reading up on his early career, it's amazing he managed to have run he had.

[Disco]

His route into F1 was very weird, he was barely even Williams test driver then five minutes later he's on the grid.

[Shindig]

Yeah, most F3000 graduates have stronger CVs but Damon grabbed a couple of podiums and got lucky with the test drive. He was 30, skint and unemployed. Frank Williams saw him as a good tester and little else until Patrese buggered off. Then he started showing Senna up before he died. One of the things I get from his interviews is how few people around the paddock really valued his talent. Williams decided he was finished in 1995 but already had him tied down for 1996, Ron Dennis offered him a £1m retainer to drive for them in 1998, Eddie Jordan tried his hardest to force him out in 1999 and even at Arrows there were rumblings of him being out of the seat early.

All that just enhances the man's reputation to me. Especially 1997 when he was pulling top 10 drives out of a Judd that could only rev to 14500 and was 20-50HP down on the rest.

[Jimmy Floyd]

He was class from mid 93 until some time in 99. Teams just got rid of him because of his age and they always wanted the next thing. Hiring Frentzen for 97 was the mistake that set Williams on the path to ruin (although obviously pissing off Newey didn't help either).

[Disco]

Why are all the Merc mechanics dressed as Fred Dibnah? (Obligatory lol at Ferrari).

[Shindig]

I don't know how Ferrari manage it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ein36zFN_jg

I enjoyed way too much of this. The fanmail confusing Damon for Mansell is outstanding. As is the post-credits bit where the Williams lot don Shumi and Todt. Above all else, having a crew follow you for six months whilst this is going on is something special.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Definite harder edge to him in those days, nowadays he just comes across as the nicest man in the world.

[Pepe]

Rain :drool:

[Disco]

They shouldn't even entertain the prospect of starting this under the safety car, nowhere near wet enough for that.

[Pepe]

Just looked at the grid. Ferrari. :harold:

[Shindig]

Vettel charging from the back in rain actually sounds like a decent spectacle.

[Giggles]

Is this sky only?

[Disco]

ESPN too I think but that may be just in the US.

[Disco]

Just looked at the grid. Ferrari. :harold:

It's great isn't it, every week they're supposed to have the fastest car (it's definitely true this time lads honest!) yet they're rarely at the front of the grid and haven't won any races. :harold:

[SincereTheRebel]

Leclerc is flying over the kerbs like its dry.

[Shindig]

Well, that's a first. Team fine for unsafe release. EDIT: KMag, you absolute spoon. "Raining? Get me on some slicks, lads."

[Pepe]

Crazy lucky for Leclerc there.

EDIT: FFS :face:

[Disco]

Lol, that's been coming all afternoon.

[SincereTheRebel]

Ferrari drivers are soft.

[Pepe]

Carnage. :drool:

[Shindig]

Okay, this is chaos. :D

[SincereTheRebel]

Dont teams have always onboard footage of their drivers. How can you not know what is happening?

[Pepe]

Absolute disaster for Mercedes.

[bruhnaldo]

Dont teams have always onboard footage of their drivers. How can you not know what is happening?

I mean from crash to pit it was probably 30 seconds, surely? And they had Bottas' tires ready to put on if I recall.

[Pepe]

Do we still have time limits? This one might take a while.

[Shindig]

2 hours or race distance.

[Pepe]

This race is a strong case for Bernie's sprinklers.

[SincereTheRebel]

Hulk :D

How many races is it without a podium? does he hold the record

Edit: 166 and counting. Sutil is 2nd with 128

[Pepe]

Hamilton having a 'mare.

[Shindig]

Haas need a new pair of drivers.

[Pepe]

Those costumes working out well lads. :harold:

[Disco]

Nobody with a commemorative paint scheme has ever won a race, I bet Toto is out there now scratching it off with his keys.

[phonics]

I wasn’t watching but this just confirms my theory that all the races should be done in artificial rain.

[Shindig]

We get this shit every time there's a wet race. Just be happy with the novelty, man.


I wasn’t watching but this just confirms my theory that all the races should be done in artificial rain.

Why? You didn't watch when there was rain here.

[phonics]

Because I’m not waking up at 7 in the morning?

[Disco]

With the calendar being extended to about million races I'm wondering how F1 would go around an oval, it would be the perfect second US race they keep banging on about.

[Shindig]

Just bring it to Sebring and make my dreams come true.

[Clunge]

Monster lap that by Verstappen. Makes Ricciardo's decision more ludicrous with every passing day. He (and Red Bull) would be donning it this year.

[Disco]

He would also be getting shown up by his team mate every weekend, which is worse career-wise than being in a slower car. He's got a factory drive, the shittest one, but a factory drive nonetheless.

[Shindig]

Hamilton crushed that. Great drive.

[Disco]

Absolutely mugged them.

[Jimmy Floyd]

With the calendar being extended to about million races I'm wondering how F1 would go around an oval, it would be the perfect second US race they keep banging on about.

Wouldn't the cars just take off unless they completely rebuilt the downforce package? Or is it a case of just tilting the suspension and off you go?

Then there's the dirty air problem, you'd need permanent DRS.

[bruhnaldo]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/76/Daytona_International_Speedway_-_Road_Course.svg/220px-Daytona_International_Speedway_-_Road_Course.svg.png

Bring 'em to Daytona and you can have a little bit of both :drool:

[Jimmy Floyd]

We did that before at Indianapolis, which was actually a bit of a rubbish event.

[Disco]

Wouldn't the cars just take off unless they completely rebuilt the downforce package? Or is it a case of just tilting the suspension and off you go?

Then there's the dirty air problem, you'd need permanent DRS.

They're all running adjustable ride height suspension anyway so I reckon that would be fine. Actually I think the engines would be the sticking point, you'd shred one doing a decent race distance and the MGU-K is just a hunk of metal you'll be dragging around for no reason. You also remove fuel from the equation which is half the fun of an oval race, and that's before we even get to the safety aspect.

I've been watching a lot of Indycar & NASCAR this year and have developed an appreciation of oval racing, now I want to see some with either non-shitty cars or non-shitty race structure.

[Jimmy Floyd]

As a compromise I'd like to see them attempt some kind of circuit similar to the old Hockenheim, with a massively increased % of the lap flat out but maybe with the inevitable goose step parade section at the end of the lap. See what the clever clogs can get those engines to do without going pop.

[Disco]

Viewers of the Foxwood Casino 300 will already have seen much the same thing as the New Hampshire (?) Speedway has very little bank to it. You could always just take the chicances out of Monza and you get basically the same thing (apart from it being exceedingly lethal).

[Shindig]

We did that before at Indianapolis, which was actually a bit of a rubbish event.

Well, it was marginally interesting in 2007. Or that MotoGP race they had hours after a hurricane.

On old circuits, I'm surprised how much of the old Spa layout was flat-out nonsense. There was that, Hockenheim, the full Monza, AVUS, Indy, Le Mans, Rouen. Tracks that just went on forever following highways until they had to turn around.

[bruhnaldo]

We did that before at Indianapolis, which was actually a bit of a rubbish event.

Well I thought this too but since it was suggested I figured I'd try to bring it home to Florida :drool:

[bruhnaldo]

Viewers of the Foxwood Casino 300 will already have seen much the same thing as the New Hampshire (?) Speedway has very little bank to it. You could always just take the chicances out of Monza and you get basically the same thing (apart from it being exceedingly lethal).

301*

Also, if we're gonna go for it, we need to either

A. go straight up Talladega with it... where they basically just run flat out on the throttle for the entire lap and would end up going 250 mph :drool: orrrr

B. go to Bristol, which is a half mile track, and watch the chaos as Mercedes and Ferrari try to fight lapped traffic as soon as lap 3 and absolute utter insanity breaks out

[Disco]

I wasn't convinced by Bristol, which is a shame because it looks like some mental tarmac colosseum. The places that have more than one viable line have been the better spectacle, the awfully named Chicagoland and Pocono (which we seem to have been to twice already) stand out for me.

[Disco]

Spain appears to have woken up and bunged some pesetas in the right direction and Catalunya will be back on the calendar for next year at least.

[Shindig]

Sucks to be Hockenheim. :(

[bruhnaldo]

Wild to think Lewis Hamilton will become the winning-est F1 driver ever by the end of next year at the latest.

Schumi 91
Ham 81

[Disco]

When he retired I was absolutely certain his records would never be beaten, now they all look very much within reach.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Hamilton has set his in less dominant machinery as well. There, I said it.

[Shindig]

When he retired I was absolutely certain his records would never be beaten, now they all look very much within reach.

Same goes for Valentino Rossi's bike records. Never thought I'd see someone up on those so soon.

Lewis' run has been great. He and Schumi have some good parallels when you consider they both had that torrid stint where they drove the wheels off absolute shite.

[Gray Fox]

Unless something goes pretty badly wrong, you imagine Lewis takes his 6th title from here. He'll be 35 at the start of next season, so the question becomes just how far he can take all of these records.

[Disco]

He has exactly the right number of years left on his current contract to get to 8 titles. :sherlock:

Interesting how that possibly plays into Bottas going in the bin.

[Jimmy Floyd]

If I were Merc I would keep Bottas around I think, quick enough to stick it on the front row on a consistent basis, but also fucks up enough that in the unlikely event of Ferrari or another team ever getting their shit together, Hamilton won't be compromised for the WDC.

[Gray Fox]

Depends what Mercedes want.

If you want to keep Lewis in his happy place and have someone who gets enough to bring in the constructors too, then Bottas is probably your guy.

Ocon has been sat waiting for the call for years now, so you imagine he's their next man up. I don't see them going too outlandish beyond that.

[Shindig]

Depends how long Bottas wants to play second fiddle. Hell, Lewis might grab the record or even stop short and decide to ruin Alonso's triple crown.

[Disco]

If I were Merc I would keep Bottas around I think, quick enough to stick it on the front row on a consistent basis, but also fucks up enough that in the unlikely event of Ferrari or another team ever getting their shit together, Hamilton won't be compromised for the WDC.

Normally I'd agree with that, he's decent enough without being a threat which keeps Hamilton happy, still nets a reasonable points haul and is there or thereabouts if he's needed to assist with strategy. Right now though they need a Hamilton replacement and he isn't that. You could argue that George Russell is that (his stint with Williams also very coincidentally runs until the end of Hamiltons Mercedes contract) but that remains to be seen, so the sensible choice would be to bring Ocon in next year and give him time to get his feet under the table. Keeping Bottas would seem a waste of time if you've already decided he isn't a replacement for Hamilton.

[Shindig]

The only Hamilton successor I see on the grid is Verstappen. You can never really tell who'll step up though. I never had Rosberg down as champion material but he stepped up. Same goes for Button who, despite the paddock being big on him, I never saw him outdoing Barrichello.

[Disco]

You only needed to look at the second half of 2006 to see that Button was the real deal, you can put everything else down to a truly horrific list of terrible cars and Flavio being a cunt.

I think all three of Albon, Norris, and Russell could make it. Albon is beating Kvyat (who's issue was never pace) in his first year, Norris is obviously very good and Russell beat them both in GP2 last year.

[Gray Fox]

Of the current grid I'd say Norris is the one I'd want in Mercedes shoes.
There'll also be a Red Bull driver coming in once they bin off Gasly too.

[Jimmy Floyd]

Lando is the one who stands out to me as champion class, albeit I haven't seen any Russell as he is always off screen and never racing anyone. Norris, though, shouldn't really be anywhere near Sainz at this point unless he's top tier. Sainz is good.

[Disco]

I reckon Gasly will get the rest of the season, purely because they have no other options. Kvyat: been there done that. Albon: risks being Gasly 2.0, which even the good Doctor mut recognise. Then who, is there anyone left in their driver program?

[Disco]

Oh dear, we've all ignored Leclerc. :harold:

[Jimmy Floyd]

Is Gasly that bad? I'd say Verstappen has no right to have that car anywhere near the Ferraris, and Gasly is more or less where you'd expect him to be.