F1 formula one chat/stuff

[Rusty Wishbone]

Wasn't that Alonso crash so terrifying to watch last week ? He is very lucky to be still alive, let alone walking away from a crash like that

I agree. Those barriers seemed to be so close and his head so exposed. A big relief to see him walk away. He must have been very shaken.

[Rambo]

Hard to believe you could walk away from this !! Just as well Alonso wasn't driving a Lotus Elan

[clemo]

Was a biggy .. thats for sure . The amount of carbon fibre shards that went everywhere I'm surprised nobody got a puncture next time they went round. The red flag Was the right thing to do though it did mess up everyones strategy and make for an interesting race.

Was pleased it wasn't another Lewis win . Though he is the best of British
Was pleased the ferrari's where on it . Though I'm not a big Ferrari fan , i am becoming one more so now.
Was pleased Hass scored points . Even thought they where the catalyst that created the chain link of events .
Was pleased that Jolyn Palmer finished ahead of Kevin ,even though he was only just out the points .
Was pleased that Torro rosso scored well even though the arrogance of verstappen is showing through .

Was not pleased with the Qualifying format . Was a shambolic mess .
Badly implemented without any consultation . Did not promote fastest drivers as didn't allow for drivrs to come in change tires / refuel and get back out before the drop of the chequered timed flag .

But all in all plenty to talk about .

[Rusty Wishbone]

I'm pleased and not pleased by everything you are pleased and not pleased about!

Max Verstappen could be a real problem for F1 before too long. He is plainly a phenomenal talent, and will be driving a front-line car very soon, but he seems to be a very unpleasant young man*. If he is this nasty when racing his teammate now, what might he be like if he was driving a Mercedes with Hamilton as team leader, or a Ferrari with Vettel? That would make Hamilton-Rosberg and Senna-Prost look like best buddy team relationships. F1 needs to put this lad in his place early, in my view. Perhaps he is too immature to cope with F1 at this point. Perhaps he is just bad. The Torro Rosso culture might be a significant factor too. Both of their (talented) drivers know that only one of them will survive at the end of the season, so it has become a gladiatorial battle. I fear that it is only a matter of time before Max takes his team mate out of a race. If he does that he might get the moniker 'Mad Max' dogging him for the rest of his career, which would be sad.

I watched 16 year-old Daniel Ticktum, a rising star of British motor racing, crash into other cars while overtaking them under a safety car at Silverstone last year, and the MSA quickly banned him for two years (the second year is suspended) in order to knock some sense into him and to protect the other drivers. I hope that he races again, but with some maturity and self-control. I can see a time when F1 might have to take similar action with Verstappen.

*Of course, his mother will think that he is lovely. I can only make a limited judgement on what I see on TV.

[Rambo]

I would tend to agree. MV is a great racer and driver but he needs to keep cool at times. Very difficult when you're young, feel invincible and want to win. I loved watching him last year when he made some outrageous manoeuvres stick but he needs to get an older head on those young shoulders

[lotos]

I'm excited for the field of drivers and the season in general, but the quali is an abomination. Also the tire strategy scheme is mind-bending.

[Rob P]

I like the new tyre strategy, having three options does give the opportunity for teams to try something different which I think will pay dividends in the future races.
Max V was great last season but I still think that Carlos Saintz can hold his own if they ensure the car stays healthy.

I think we might see some good racing up front and in the middle of the pack which means more people might get on board, assuming of course Jon Todd and Bernie don't mess around with the formula too much and listen to the Engineers and drivers. It is a sport not a lottery so don't try and mess with the grid, it is what it is and always has been and the faster drivers should be able to earn the front spots on that grid through a sensible qualifying process.

[lotos]

I'm all for more tire options, I meant the weird thing about picking the ones you want beforehand and having to start the race on your fastest Q2 lap, that sort of thing. Gets confusing. I'd be for multiple tire mfrs again. I'd be for lots of variables back in the sport. Every car is identical, it's as close to spec series as you can get without being one now. I want to see innovation. We'll never see anything crazy like this again:

[clemo]

thinks Brabham turbo fan car

[lotusflasherman]

The Tyrrel 6 wheeler was from an era when tyres lasted the whole race - bit tricky to do a quick pit-stop with 2 front tyres each side..
March tried a 6 wheeler with 4 at the rear... another silly idea..

[lotos]

I'm just hoping the future brings a difference other than livery from one car to the next. The last major time that happened were the weird noses the year before last. That wasn't very exciting. Let's allow a modicum of difference between the damned cars again.

[clemo]

Qualifying ...
Now more of the same as last time?

[lotusflasherman]

Qualifying ...
Now more of the same as last time?

I don't have Sky so didn't see last time but that format is as exciting as watching paint dry ! First time I've seen it and probably the last time I'll waste any of my time watching it.
All finished with over 2 minutes left... would have been earlier if Hamilton hadn't had a little excursion and had to do another lap to get a proper time. What idiot thought that would make it more exciting?

[Saltire]

Utterly stupid. I've been watching F1 since the days of Jim Clark, and this is the closest I've come to giving up. Might as well just have one single timed lap, as used to be the case. Dementia must finally be setting in for Mr Ecclestone if he thinks this will make it more exciting.

[clemo]

Even more terrible than Australia .
I actually phoned sky and complained that i will cancel my contract if it is still the same for the next race.

Imagine Abu Dhabi , Texas , Russia and even Spain ... all pretty dull races combined with an even more atrocious qualifying ? these are the races we close the curtains as the sun is beaming in .. races that i wish we had have gone out for a nice walk ...

Bernie reckons this format will improve the race dull race weekend ...

[lotusflasherman]

Utterly stupid. I've been watching F1 since the days of Jim Clark, and this is the closest I've come to giving up. Might as well just have one single timed lap, as used to be the case. Dementia must finally be setting in for Mr Ecclestone if he thinks this will make it more exciting.

Me too. Team Lotus disappeared and Bernie didn't worry that a team with more GP wins than Ferrari had gone. He said F1 could carry on without anybody - McLaren and Williams were providing entertaining racing at that time.

But the Concorde Agreements always favour Ferrari financially, Martin Brundle called the FIA "Ferrari International Associates" and we had rule change after rule change until Ferrari dominated in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.
Then the 'Stepney Affair' where Ferrari has designed a bendy rear wing contrary to regulations so Stepney felt obliged to tell a McLaren guy but McLaren got a massive fine... then Jean Todt who was in charge when they were cheating ends up as President of the FIA. Think F1 is as corrupt as FIFA.

We've had Mercedes dominating since the new rules, mainly because the Siemens Energy Recovery System has worked well straight out of the box, like their KERS did, and everybody is trying to play catch up. Bernie is worried about ... what exactly? Entertaining racing it should be but I thought Hamilton & Rosberg going at each other was good stuff but Bernie thinks changes are needed ... watch the video at 20 seconds...f1.channel4.com/video/when-met-bernie/

[Saltire]

I agree 100% about Team Lotus. And I don't care what anyone says, the "Jean-come-lately" cars driven by the likes of Raikkonen and Grosjean in recent years were not proper Lotuses at all. Should never have worn the badge. Real Lotuses come from Hethel, or Cheshunt, or Hornsey. Not Enstone.

[lotusflasherman]

What? You mean you think the Toleman/Benetton/Renault/Lotus team didn't build a true Lotus. Shame on you. (Good source of T shirts with Lotus badges though...)

Team Lotus effectively ended in '94 with the 109, which was only a revamped 107, when it was being run under administration by accountants and Johnny Herbert left mid-season as they decided they hadn't the funds to pay him. Old car, old engine, B List drivers is no way to get success to get sponsors back on board. Peter Warr kept the momentum going for several years after the death of ACBC but that's when it ended as far as I'm concerned. Everything recent is just 'badge engineering'.

[Saltire]

And the real kick in the teeth is that, AIUI, the-team-currently-known-as-Renault still owns the rights to the Lotus name in F1

[clemo]

It says something about an F1 race when nobody posts anything about the actual race .
Saturday visual disappointment leads to all round weekend waste of time .This will only compound the downfall of this terrible spectacle and more people will turn off than bother to turn on .