US GP qually

[lipstick79 0]

Just watched the qually for US GP.
Hamilton interview on securing pole.
Got a head wind into turn 1.
Got a tail wind into turn 1.
That`s why this track is so difficult

>> So WHICH IS it Lewis, a head wind OR tail wind ??

Can`t have BOTH !!

 

[Ruslan 0]

Interesting race. Verstappen drove a hell of a race. Not sure I agree with the penalty at the end.

Was the Verstappen drive indicative of the power of the new Renault engine?

[Sakae 0]

Ricciardo was surprised how he is treated at RBR. Verstappen - by decision of RB management - had received upgraded Renault PU. Only one was available for the team, and DR learned about it as after-fact. Maybe writing is on the wall of things to come to him, which could perhaps explain why he is letting out via media (courting) balloons how he is dying to race against Hamilton in the same team. Horner however advised him - don't bother, you will be there only No. 2

[Publius Cornelius Scipio 0]

4 hours ago, Ruslan said:

Was the Verstappen drive indicative of the power of the new Renault engine?

some believe that it was indicative of the amount of fuel that that engine was allowed to burn 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio 0]

It could have been a great race, the track is certainly nice and it allows the drivers to make experiments and try new lines etc. Pity the Mercedes engine is so ahead of the rest of the field that we will probably have to wait for a new engine formula to see someone else be able to fully challenge them

Hamilton - he did ok, he didn't make mistakes and that is good but his car was much faster than Vettel's so it wasn't as if Hamilton had to work hard for that victory, watching how he was disappearing into the distance from Vettel's car outside every turn was painful, no one would have had the chance to challenge his car yestrerday

Vettel - he did what he could, he had a very good start, gave us some great moves (like the one on Bottas) but quite simply he was down on power and there was nothing that he could have done to change that

Vertsappen - luckily he started towards the back of the field and that in turn meant an interesting charge through the field. I wonder why the powers that be no longer show us how much fuel each engine is using (  ). I enjoed his move on Raikkonen, I know that it's against the rules and that he had to be punished but still it was a very nice move. I wasn't over impressed with his move on Bottas, that IMHO was worse than what he did to Kimi. I look forward to the FIA's reaction after he called the stewards idiots, I'm sure that he will receive the same treatment as Vettel (or won't he?)

Raikkonen - he can be fast on occasion but it's all rather pointless if he doen't attack or defend. He obviously knows how to drive that car but I feel that yesterday he could, and should, have done more to defend from Verstappen

Bottas - a mediocre driver (by F1 standards) who is there just to make sure that no one bothers Hamilton, this is wrong especiall considering that Mercedes has a regulatory advantage so massive that no one else has a serious chance of beating them at the WDC, in a sense good old Bottas is depriving us of a meaningful fight for the WDC. IMHO he needs to go, he simply doesn't belong to that level, he should be racing Massa

Ocon - good race but I will be more impressed by his performance when his team mate will be allowed to race him. On occasion he shows why he managd to beat Verstappen in the junior formulae

Sainz - wow, what a race, especially considering that he had never driver that car before. Pity the Renault factory team is bound by the old 100 litres of fuel rule, if they could use RBR's setting they would set the world on fire

Perez - a very good driver becoming frustrated and with the risk of being wasted, if his team doesn't want him to race Ocon why didn't they let him go?

Massa - he did ok, nothing to write home about, I'm surprised that he showed some fighting spirit yesteray, what is interesting is not Massa's performance but how far ahead of his team mate he was, despite the rather obious bias towards Stroll (understanble since his dad basically owns and bankrolls the team)

Kvyat - I think that he had a very good race, I think that Kvyat has talent, IMHO his problem is that he seems to be under a lot of pressure and does seem to affect him, I personally think that in a team such as Renault (where they seem to have created a pleasant working environment) he would do much better

Alonso - given the engine at the back of his car I think that his perormance yesterday was something to write home about, especially when you consider that Vandoorne did very well yesterday but still was nowhere near Nando

Hartley - I would have loved him to do well, pity his race was not too shabby (considering that he had never seen that car before) but not very exciting either

[BradSpeedMan 6]

Good to see you back Publius, nice analysis. I think Kimi was suffering from degration, remember they (Vettel and MadMax) was on newer tyres

[Sakae 0]

Thanks Publius for very much welcomed race summary.  Good to have you back.

S.

[Ruslan 0]

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 5:09 AM, Publius Cornelius Scipio said:

Pity the Mercedes engine is so ahead of the rest of the field that we will probably have to wait for a new engine formula to see someone else be able to fully challenge them.

 

Between that at the budget situation......I don't see how Formula One is anything other than a Mercedes/Hamilton stomp until such time as they change the engine formula and put in budget caps. Clearly, Ferrari is not quite within reach and the trend right now is downwards (both in performance and reliability). I gather they are looking at new engine regulations for 2021, moved forward to 2020, and a budget cap as early as 2019 (not sure how you put in the budget cap before the new engine formula). We shall see, but the current F1 has reached a natural dead end.

If anyone challenges Mercedes next year, it will be Red Bull. Ferrari may very well end up third in the constructor's championship next year.

<<Kvyat - I think that he had a very good race, I think that Kvyat has talent, IMHO his problem is that he seems to be under a lot of pressure and does seem to affect him, I personally think that in a team such as Renault (where they seem to have created a pleasant working environment) he would do much better>>

I think Kvyat has proven he belongs here, but suspect he will be gone next season. He ends up with some very inconsistent and odd races. I think it is due to his personality. It is a shame. Maybe Toro Rosso will go with Kvyat and Gasly next season, but I don't think anyone else will pick him up otherwise.

Renault, with Hulkenberg and Sainz as drivers, an improved engine and an improved budget will probably be a significantly improved team next year.

 

[Sakae 0]

Kvyat seems to be "between jobs" right now.

[Sakae 0]

27 October 2017   8:42 (CEST)

Mandatory reading for all of those claiming that FiA =  Ferrari international Assistance

FIA defends US GP penalty and Max’s behavior apparently

A case why we need more of such contributors to F1 media.

Based how Verstappen was treated, 

Quote

I would recommend that Sebastian Vettel tell the FIA to get stuffed over the community service requirements and demand his points back on his license.

 

[Publius Cornelius Scipio 0]

1 hour ago, Sakae said:

27 October 2017   8:42 (CEST)

Mandatory reading for all of those claiming that FiA =  Ferrari international Assistance

FIA defends US GP penalty and Max’s behavior apparently

A case why we need more of such contributors to F1 media.

Based how Verstappen was treated, 

 

The sport needs Verstappen,  as well as Red Bull's and Heineken's money, I'm not surprised, whereas in 2017 they believe that Ferrari has nowhere to go and so they have to accept every decision taken against them. Obviuosly 20 years ago it was not like this, the sport thought that Ferrari winning would be good for everyone and so Ferrari got a vry preferential treatment (until people got fed up with Ferrari winning, then the table turned).

F1 is not about fairness or a level playing field, it's all about who has a claim to some silverware, that is why I think that in a few years time we will see Honda getting some glory, they spent too much money and failure would be bad for F1, so magically they will become competitive (possibly with Red Bull, who not being a car manufacturer has no interest in being in F1 if they don't win)

[Sakae 0]

27 October 2017   11:17 (CEST)

Do they have to be so obvious with their shady politicking, or this is new dawn of mirrors and shadows and we better get behind to survive? Ferrari could be taken of course out of F1 and move to E series. I don't think that anyone wants to do that at the moment, but I expect backlash and changes at some point. SM doesn't like to be jerked around, and he is unpredictable. Then there is Brexit, and some protectionism on horizon thus business face of F1 is going to change. I am not so sure that both, Ferrari and Mercedes will sign up for beyond 2020. I am also not so sure that FOG can loose them without any thought and replace them with d#ck, Harry, maybe also Mary. Ecclestone knew perfectly well why he need them to make billions, and what he had to do to keep them interested.

BTW, if RB is not interested to stay without winning, do you think anybody else is? I suggest check with Haas. One can detect that after realizing hopelessness of staying in tier 2, he is (I think) really sorry he got involved. What's next for them is a good guess.

It's not money that will move cars from 2 sec off the lead onto podium. Change of technical rules is needed, and for that we need some new thinking in FiA.

[Publius Cornelius Scipio 0]

1 hour ago, Sakae said:

27 October 2017   11:17 (CEST)

Do they have to be so obvious with their shady politicking, or this is new dawn of mirrors and shadows and we better get behind to survive? Ferrari could be taken of course out of F1 and move to E series. I don't think that anyone wants to do that at the moment, but I expect backlash and changes at some point. SM doesn't like to be jerked around, and he is unpredictable. Then there is Brexit, and some protectionism on horizon thus business face of F1 is going to change. I am not so sure that both, Ferrari and Mercedes will sign up for beyond 2020. I am also not so sure that FOG can loose them without any thought and replace them with d#ck, Harry, maybe also Mary. Ecclestone knew perfectly well why he need them to make billions, and what he had to do to keep them interested.

BTW, if RB is not interested to stay without winning, do you think anybody else is? I suggest check with Haas. One can detect that after realizing hopelessness of staying in tier 2, he is (I think) really sorry he got involved. What's next for them is a good guess.

It's not money that will move cars from 2 sec off the lead onto podium. Change of technical rules is needed, and for that we need some new thinking in FiA.

My friend Haas is small fry, Red Bull invested a lot of money, their bargaining power is different (always based on the assumption that this is not really a sport but rather some sort of PR stunt / odd business), that is the sad reality of F1 these days

Re Ferrari I think that they should go, Porsche can live without F1, so why shouldn't Ferrari? I personally think that Marpionne couldn't care less about F1 per se, he thought he needed F1 to prop up Ferrari's share price, once he realises that rather than propping it up F1 can only bring it down he'll have a very different approach towards F1, I guess that at that stage they'll offer him some sort of "bribe" like a few winning races. IMHO Ferrari is only harming their reputation with the current F1 format, they are not really allowed to win the world championship, they spend a lot of money, they don't seem to make much money out of F1 and in the process they ruin their brand by being soundly beaten every other sunday

[Sakae 0]

In Tokyo I came across a kendo dojo. Today I am giving some thoughts joining them in hope, that perhaps after receiving some blows on my head a few times with shinai, long lasting impact of hits will let me forget about F1 for good.

Optics and maybe facts suggest total moral and intellectual bankruptcy in this sport. Dereliction of duty in some places is just too overwhelming.

[Sakae 0]

On 10/27/2017 at 8:46 AM, Sakae said:

27 October 2017   8:42 (CEST)

Mandatory reading for all of those claiming that FiA =  Ferrari international Assistance

FIA defends US GP penalty and Max’s behavior apparently

 

In Mexico Bottas naively thought he could complain about MV blocking him in Q3 on a flying lap, and guess what - he just wasted his time.

We had teflon Alonso, and now we can add teflon Verstappen. Great.

[VicVenom 0]

20 hours ago, Sakae said:

In Mexico Bottas naively thought he could complain about MV blocking him in Q3 on a flying lap, and guess what - he just wasted his time.

We had teflon Alonso, and now we can add teflon Verstappen. Great.

Verstappen did nothing wrong. Only a complete moron would say otherwise.

Alonso and Verstappen are saints on track compared to Vettel.