The F1 thread

skullfunkerry

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Ooooh, wet race?! Should spice things up nicely! 

Let's hope so!

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Oof, what a shocking start for Ferrari! Tifosi will not be amused!

skullfunkerry

That front-on shot of Lewis & Fernando in slow motion when the sidepod came off really showed how much the Merc is bouncing: it looked like it was about to take off!

TimmyO

That'll do Lando, that'll do. 

axisus

Hamilton nowhere. I've always said it - F1 is all about being in the right car. I think it's the sporting world championship that is least based on ability*. Yeah, controversial opinion! They are ALL amazing drivers at that level, I don't doubt that, but the championship goes to the best car not the best driver.

*actually, I've just remembered horse stuff. F1 probably on a par with horse sports ....

Cols

Oh dear.  That’s Carlos and Lewis relegated to a supporting role for the rest of the season…

Boromedic

axisus said:

Hamilton nowhere. I've always said it - F1 is all about being in the right car. I think it's the sporting world championship that is least based on ability*. Yeah, controversial opinion! They are ALL amazing drivers at that level, I don't doubt that, but the championship goes to the best car not the best driver.

*actually, I've just remembered horse stuff. F1 probably on a par with horse sports ....

Except it doesn't (always), out of all of Lewis's Mercedes titles he had the second best car for the majority of the season in two of them. Alonso beat Schumacher who was arguably in the best car, Button took the title against a resurgent Red Bull that had the best car for the second half of the season. Would you like me to continue?

Yes you need a competitive car, but the cream rises to the top and the best drivers get the best seats. All those champion winning jockeys (a sport I'll admit I know naff all about cos I don't agree with it), get the best horses because they get the best out of them, consistently. That's what you pay for, otherwise why would teams pay millions when you could pick up any driver and win?

sinbaadi

Give it a rest.  Of course there are teams and drivers that blow it when they have the equipment with the edge, but come on.  
You need a pilot that will make the minimum number of mistakes whilst extracting the maximum performance of the car.   The latter is less important than the former, generally, as there isn't always another team with a car that has the exact same performance as another, and a driver that crashes unnecessarily a lot does not last.

There's also a lot more to driver contracts than just their driving performance.

The idea that the best driver each season just so happened to have been the driver that signed the right piece of paper!  F1 is the last place you want to end up if you want to prove yourself to be the best driver on the planet, but what F1 is spectacularly good at, somehow, is convincing its audience otherwise! 

 I hope Ferrari can fend off this inevitable Redbull onslaught.

sweepy

Well worth a read and possibly an explanation for RB’s speed and drivability 

https://www.racecar-engineering.com/articles/f1/the-cars-of-adrian-newey/

chillidoggy

A deserved win for Max, flawless performance, and more importantly it opens up the championship again.

Driver of the day for me was Russell, though. To get that car into 4th when world champion Hamster was languishing in 13th is nothing short of sensational.

Boromedic

sinbaadi said:

Give it a rest.  Of course there are teams and drivers that blow it when they have the equipment with the edge, but come on.  
You need a pilot that will make the minimum number of mistakes whilst extracting the maximum performance of the car.   The latter is less important than the former, generally, as there isn't always another team with a car that has the exact same performance as another, and a driver that crashes unnecessarily a lot does not last.

There's also a lot more to driver contracts than just their driving performance.

The idea that the best driver each season just so happened to have been the driver that signed the right piece of paper!  F1 is the last place you want to end up if you want to prove yourself to be the best driver on the planet, but what F1 is spectacularly good at, somehow, is convincing its audience otherwise! 

 I hope Ferrari can fend off this inevitable Redbull onslaught.

Can't decide if you agree or disagree here, you kind of mock my post but then say it's about the driver to some extent.... Weird.

Boromedic

chillidoggy said:

A deserved win for Max, flawless performance, and more importantly it opens up the championship again.

Driver of the day for me was Russell, though. To get that car into 4th when world champion Hamster was languishing in 13th is nothing short of sensational.

Yep, fair play to George, he's having a good time in a shite car thus far. 

musicegbdf

It is if course a combination of car and driver . As they always say it is a team that wins , not just the driver.
We have in the past someone like Vettel. Very fast driver in a fast car but not a racer and struggled  with a slower car.
I wonder about the bouncing of the current cars is physically tougher on the older drivers .
I was watching LH head and the bouncing must be like being in a boxing match . I reckon a lot of headaches . Could it be the younger drivers can manage it better? 

Cols

musicegbdf said:

I was watching LH head and the bouncing must be like being in a boxing match . I reckon a lot of headaches . Could it be the younger drivers can manage it better? 

It's pretty brutal.  George Russell has been complaining of back and chest pains as a result of the porpoising.

boogieman

Cols said:

musicegbdf said:

I was watching LH head and the bouncing must be like being in a boxing match . I reckon a lot of headaches . Could it be the younger drivers can manage it better? 

It's pretty brutal.  George Russell has been complaining of back and chest pains as a result of the porpoising.

Steve Jones interviewed George on C4 and asked if he was doing bum strengthening exercises because of the Merc’s terrible ride? George did confess it’s very hard on his arse too. 

TimmyO

Unfiltered F1 YouTube channel has the audio of Toto apologising to Lewis for "undrivable" car on the warmdown lap (as well as Ricciardo's awkward apology to the team - some.of that the.radio that they don't expect to be broadcast is pretty candid and telling sometimes) 

goldtop

TimmyO said:

Unfiltered F1 YouTube channel has the audio of Toto apologising to Lewis for "undrivable" car on the warmdown lap (as well as Ricciardo's awkward apology to the team - some.of that the.radio that they don't expect to be broadcast is pretty candid and telling sometimes) 

I liked it when Ricciardo's engineer rather downplayed the fact Lando was third. 

skullfunkerry

Cols said:

musicegbdf said:

I was watching LH head and the bouncing must be like being in a boxing match . I reckon a lot of headaches . Could it be the younger drivers can manage it better? 

It's pretty brutal.  George Russell has been complaining of back and chest pains as a result of the porpoising.

I mentioned earlier in the thread that yesterday there was a slow-motion shot of Lewis and someone else coming into a corner, and it looked like the Merc was almost leaving the ground, it was bouncing so hard. It can't be doing them any good.

TimmyO

skullfunkerry said:

Cols said:

musicegbdf said:

I was watching LH head and the bouncing must be like being in a boxing match . I reckon a lot of headaches . Could it be the younger drivers can manage it better? 

It's pretty brutal.  George Russell has been complaining of back and chest pains as a result of the porpoising.

I mentioned earlier in the thread that yesterday there was a slow-motion shot of Lewis and someone else coming into a corner, and it looked like the Merc was almost leaving the ground, it was bouncing so hard. It can't be doing them any good.

I think that was when they were showing slo mo of Alonso's bodywork coming off and all.i.c9uld look at was the Merc bouncing 

Cols

Here’s some helmet cam footage from Sainz, who doesn’t have it anywhere near as bad as the Mercs.  Looks horrible.

https://youtu.be/Mn0jyf8rB_U