The F1 thread

Garthy

Heartfeltdawn said:

stickyfiddle said:

I wouldn't mind them knocking off 1 worst result for drivers, as it's very rare to go a whole season without a single DNF for car trouble. More than that and you'd risk giving a dickhead in a reliable car too easy a run. 

I wonder if it would've had any impact on the last decade of titles though. Maybe Vettel's first one, as it was so close, but as much as I'd love Webber's shit Korean GP to be discounted, I think everyone had a DNF at some point, so it wouldn't make any difference. 

Had a quick blast with the numbers. Had it been best 11 results per driver in 2008, then Massa would have beaten Hamilton by 92 points to 88. 

Massa had 6 wins to Hamilton's 5 that year. Hammy had one retirement (crash at Canada) versus two for Massa (spin at Malaysia and engine failure in Australia). So fewer wins than his main rival and with less mechanical reliability issues... can't remember the Hammy fans saying that this somehow cheapened his title. 

Yet one of those wins for Massa should not have been his in the first place. The most corrupt stewarding in F1 since the 1989 Japanese GP wrote a new rule after the race then implemented it retrospectively. Yet the actions of Raikkonen & Hamilton was no different to any race before, most notably at the Japanese GP of 2005 with Alonso vs Klien incident being identical to Spa 2008. The officiating for 2008 was so bad it was given a major overhaul for 2009.

Heartfeltdawn

Garthy said:

Yet one of those wins for Massa should not have been his in the first place. The most corrupt stewarding in F1 since the 1989 Japanese GP wrote a new rule after the race then implemented it retrospectively. Yet the actions of Raikkonen & Hamilton was no different to any race before, most notably at the Japanese GP of 2005 with Alonso vs Klien incident being identical to Spa 2008. The officiating for 2008 was so bad it was given a major overhaul for 2009.

I don't disagree on the poor stewarding that year. It's a different matter though to the original topic, the one of Rosberg's title win somehow been cheapened by him not being dominant and by his main rival having more mechanical failures. 

stickyfiddle

Stroll in at Williams. Everyone saying it's purely a pay drive, but he's just won the F3 title, winning half the races this year, so he can't be complete shit. Obviously they're taking a chance on him being the next Max and the cash from his Dad is convenient. On paper he's at least better than an Ericsson or Nasr. Time will tell.

stickyfiddle

What a race so far? If you can call it that. 

Glad Kimi and Erickson are ok. Pretty scary stuff and probably not the last we'll see this afternoon. 

Can we have a podium for Massa please?

Garthy

stickyfiddle said:

What a race so far? If you can call it that. 

Glad Kimi and Erickson are ok. Pretty scary stuff and probably not the last we'll see this afternoon. 

Can we have a podium for Massa please?

No but we can give him a penalty.

My thoughts on Massa shift constantly. He was going up in my estimation until that interview earlier where he said the Singapore 08 GP should be scrubbed and he should be awarded Hamilton's championship. He couldn't win the championship on track and he couldn't win it in the stewards room either.

Majorscale

Red Bull's strategist - Knobend
Max Verstappen - Genius

Fretwired

Majorscale said:

Red Bull's strategist - Knobend

Not really - they had to try something different. They were caught out by Charlie W. a couple of times. Max has balls of steel.

Majorscale

Fretwired said:

Majorscale said:

Red Bull's strategist - Knobend

Not really - they had to try something different. They were caught out by Charlie W. a couple of times. Max has balls of steel.

Seriously? Giving up track position and therefore losing 2nd place may be trying something different but it's not a clever idea. 

Fretwired

Majorscale said:

Fretwired said:

Majorscale said:

Red Bull's strategist - Knobend

Not really - they had to try something different. They were caught out by Charlie W. a couple of times. Max has balls of steel.

Seriously? Giving up track position and therefore losing 2nd place?

The Red Bull drivers ended up on the wrong tyres partly due to the red flags .. he'd have only gone backwards or into a wall.

stickyfiddle

I'm not generally a fan of Max (though that's probably clouded by his over-zealous/rabid fans online) but that was an astonishing drive today. Much as I love Ricciardo, I'm happy to call it now and say he'll be champion next year with the aero-heavy spec changes favouring RB.

I'm not going to the AD race this year, but will be watching at home. Just hope it's a good one and not a snooze for the finale.

thumpingrug

Not sure I've seen overtaking like that for a log time.  Verstappen would have been on fire if wasn't raining so much.  Looking like Nico will win at AD but I don't think he deserves it.

Garthy

thumpingrug said:

Not sure I've seen overtaking like that for a log time.  Verstappen would have been on fire if wasn't raining so much.  Looking like Nico will win at AD but I don't think he deserves it.

Nico really has had the rub of the green this year, it really is like a higher force is steering him a path to glory.

Max was awesome, easily the drive of the season. The last time I can think of someone picking others off like that was Hamilton in China 2010. We certainly saw something special today.

axisus

I'll be right pissed off if Rosberg wins the title. It's purely through Hamilton getting loads of bad luck. Still, it won't be the first time the best driver doesn't get the title and it won't be the last.

Garthy

axisus said:

I'll be right pissed off if Rosberg wins the title. It's purely through Hamilton getting loads of bad luck. Still, it won't be the first time the best driver doesn't get the title and it won't be the last.

Yes but that's usually because the (perceived) best driver is driving for a different team, how often has the 2nd best driver in the same team won the WDC? I guess some could argue the toss with Senna vs Prost though I rate them equally.

DesVegas

What a super race! The wet helped Max as he could take those wider lines. I thought they should have stopped it about half way round but glad they didn't. Loved the teams clapping Masa too. Best race I have seen so far

Electro_Ham

That was great! I'm all for sprinklers throwing water over every race-track. Turn the taps on and off, on and off. I'm all for that.

TimmyO

Glad I stayed up til nigh on 3am local in the end.

Interesting isn't it how when conditions dictate that out and out power is less of a thing, and grip (such that it was) is more even across the track that exciting things can happen. 

I've not been a Verstappen fan recently (mostly due to stroppiness - his not mine ;-)  )but that was an outstanding display of skill and courage. 

Glad it's going to the last race too although I can't see Rosberg throwing it away. 

Fretwired

Funny see one of my sons school friends on an F1 podium - Bradley Lord between Nico and Lewis who is head of Mercedes Comms/PR. A very bright guy.

boogieman

What a great race. Max was simply superb. 

rlw

I'm not expecting Max to make old bones after seeing him today.