F1- 2018 Season.

Red cars not as quick as they were vs competition earlier in season. Funny how this has coincided with the authorities asking are they really sure they’re not doing some naughty blowing in the corners...

Easy Peasy for Lewis today.

Ricciardo was out of sorts. What happened? I thought I heard he had a spin but didn’t see anything. 

His team radio was a bit tetchy too I thought.

G

I was out all yesterday but have it recorded to watch as & when, I've already seen the Grosgean incident (guilty as charged)   

I need to work out why the 2nd SV pitstop didn't work for them,  peeps in the know are telling me they thought Mercedes missed a trick on that one with Lewis on a 23 sec lead & under the safety car; so why did they not stop when Ferrari did but it did not work for them.

Question is was it just a coincidence with the FIA warning over exhaust blowing & the apparent loss of whatever with Ferrari.   2nd question was why LH was so much faster than VB when they were so close in practice & qualifying.

Mike-B posted:

I need to work out why the 2nd SV pitstop didn't work for them,  peeps in the know are telling me they thought Mercedes missed a trick on that one with Lewis on a 23 sec lead & under the safety car; so why did they not stop when Ferrari did but it did not work for them.

Surely just a question of tyre wear, Ferrari felt SV wouldn’t get to the end on those tyres, they also fell for Mercedes mechanics coming out perhaps - I suspect VB was told do whatever SV doesn’t.  Then Ferrari has a slow stop putting him behind MV too.

Mike-B posted:

Question is was it just a coincidence with the FIA warning over exhaust blowing & the apparent loss of whatever with Ferrari.   2nd question was why LH was so much faster than VB when they were so close in practice & qualifying.

Yes, odd how Ferrari have moved from high levels of aero related grip with low tyre wear, to less grip and more sliding in corners with higher tyre wear....Plus apparently, since a bit of scrutiny, the Ferrari no longer makes the different sounds associated with funny engine mapping through the corners either. Just coincidence I’m sure.

Lewis says he kind of lucked out with wing settings for race day which made the car much more to his liking and enabled him to use it as a test session with no one else really in the fight for the win. Lucky chap. Will he share with other side of garage?

Eloise posted:

Mike-B posted:

I need to work out why the 2nd SV pitstop didn't work for them,  peeps in the know are telling me they thought Mercedes missed a trick on that one with Lewis on a 23 sec lead & under the safety car; so why did they not stop when Ferrari did but it did not work for them.

Surely just a question of tyre wear, Ferrari felt SV wouldn’t get to the end on those tyres, they also fell for Mercedes mechanics coming out perhaps - I suspect VB was told do whatever SV doesn’t.  Then Ferrari has a slow stop putting him behind MV too. 

I'm not convinced on that Eloise,  I'm more inclined to go with Jamie's suspicions about engine mapping & exhaust blowing;  Ferrari went from a car that managed tyres well to tyre wear & corner handling issues - all (coincidentally) associated with engine modes set for wing blowing.   My question was concerning the new tyres SV got at his 2nd pitstop,  they did absolutely nothing to improve the cars handling/speed - compared against the older tyres on MV's car he was chasing. 

Canada oh Canada...has it really got this dull and predictable from the start?

G

I just read the summary on Autosport and could no be bothered to watch it either live or re-run. Lamentable the state of F1 at the moment.

News this morning;    Red Bull will move to Honda engines starting 2019. 

The RB/Renault partnership (with Sebastian Vettel) won four consecutive championships 2010-2013,  but its all gone a bit pearshaped since the intro of turbo hybrid engines as Renault cannot match performance of the hybrid Mercedes & Ferrari power units.

It does seem RB are the one team that are getting the most out of the engine,  two wins & podiums so far this season underscore that,  both the Renault team itself & Mclaren can't seem to match them   I guess RB with access to the experience & data from the Toro Rosso/Honda partnership made the decision easier to make.

Silverstone should be interesting this year, the whole track has been stripped down to foundation level & relaid with a high performance asphalt. The new surface has a much smoother surface with improved grip & corner speed & the new asphalt includes better water drainage. They expect all classifications of bike & car lap records will be raised throughout the season. After a test session last week by MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow using a Honda RC213V-S (road spec version of a MotoGP bike) he says race lap speeds could be around 1.5 secs faster with the new surface.

A great & well deserved Austrian GP for Red Bull,  1st place for a RB, 1st win for MV, & finally a Red Bull win at the Red Bull Ring.  Must have been something special for MV with the (est)  18,000 Dutch fans all bedecked in orrange to show the world how to really support your driver.   Shame for RB that its was a DNF for DR's car.  

A good day for Ferrari with a 2nd & 3rd,  & especially good for KR who seemed to have the measure of the SV this time around.

And what about those Haas guys,  4th & 5th best ever finish & points totals

A bad bad day for Mercedes with both cars on a DNF,  plus some petulance from LH over the VSC pit stop miscalculation.    However this is  Mercedes, the most professional team &  I expect it all to be smoothed out by next weekend & Silverstone.   

To be fair to LH he did try to hold back on venting for what was a clunky team error that left him trailing in dirty air!

G

GraemeH posted:

To be fair to LH he did try to hold back on venting for what was a clunky team error that left him trailing in dirty air!

G

Yes agreed he did hold back in the car,  I was thinking of the pit/garage after he got out of the car.       

McLaren have finally seen the light & 'parted company' with race director Eric Boullier,  plus other restructuring of their leadership team.   Job titles have been changed & it not exactly clear as yet what/how the functional roles are w.r.t. replacing Boullier.   Simon Roberts, COO of McLaren Racing, will oversee production, engineering and logistics.  Andrea Stella former Ferrari engineer who has been with McL since 2015 is appointed Performance Director responsible for trackside operations.   Gil de Ferran former Indycar champion & had been working at the team as an advisor has the new role of Sporting Director to focus on the effectiveness of the team’s racing package.

I guess the TV boys will fill in the gaps this coming weekend.   

Who's  looking forward to Silverstone, dead envious if you're going as unfortunately I'm not able to this year.

New track (relaid under layer & top surface) should reset all the records.

The team with it all to do & with it all too loose has to be Mercedes; after the disaster of double DNF in Austria I expect a lot of team building & bonding has been done, & if one team is good at that its Mercedes, & none better (IMO) to make it happen is Toto Wolff.     I guess they are dreaming of a double pole, but only to add to the firm objective of a 1-2 finish. Added pressures; it is their 'home' GP with only 8 miles (13km) from the factory to the circuit. Its Lewis Hamilton's home GP, he's won the last four at Silverstone & Mercedes have won the last five. Add to that Hamilton will become the top British GP winner, a record he currently shares with Alain Prost & Jim Clark.     Like I say,  all to play for.

Red Bull must be well pumped up after Austria & Silverstone is also what the Milton Keynes factory consider as their home circuit at 21 miles away. Problem is they don't have the outright speed but might well be good enough for a podium if others fall by the wayside.

Ferrari must be riding high after a very satisfying Austria & now lead the Constructors Championship with +10 points clear of Mercedes. But I'm not sure Silverstone is a track that suits them in both car performance & confidence terms, Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said at a press conf that Silverstone looks quite difficult for them & they are concerned with aerodynamics. Question is are Ferrari sandbagging again ???    They are well overdue a Silverstone win as the last one was 2011 (pre hybrid). Sebastian Vettel's last Silverstone win was even further back in 2009.     

I can't wait for a good race on the best circuit & in front of the top race fans on the planet.

That was a fantastic last 10 laps & what a drive through the pack after a ‘tardy’ start by LH.

G

Agreed,  I have to blame the LH start, & I suspect he does too, for not being in contention for the race win,  apart from losing 2 places it was his start the got him into that position with KR.    He was always playing catch-up & for a load of reasons was on older & wrong tyres when he was able to challenge, however it appears Mercedes had run out of new soft tyres, so at best they would have been numbers of laps old;   but LH going from last to 2nd is no mean feat.

Congrats to SV & a big congrats especially to Ferrari for finding the performance to beat Mercedes;  so yes they were  sandbagging (again)   ............  methinks midnight oil will be burning at Brackley & Brixworth this coming week.

Whoa,  there's interesting !!!!   Hamilton told to switch off the engine & is out during Q3,  team radio said PU is at risk later reports say its hydraulic failure.     I won't post who is on pole etc as some peeps will be watching Ch4 highlights tonight 

I'm saying nothing,  but you guys that'll be watching C4 highlights later this evening are in for a treat.   

Good fun...

I would like to say something about the F1 race today,but I'm afraid Richard will ban for the rest of my life...????

Hold on..Hold on...

Reprimand:  Oh well,  rules is rules,  but it seems the stewards have been sensible;  it took place under the safety car & not in competitive conditions,   a time penalty would have been a shame as it had no impact or effect on other cars or the race result,  but a time penalty in itself would have.     

Sensible in the circumstances. I suspect that a few other drivers would have been in the book too otherwise e.g. many for going off track limits, some more than once, some for chucking half a tonne of dirt back onto it through wheelspin...

???????????? LOVELY MEMORIES ????????????

Watched on TV today,..F1 from the Hungaroring race track in Budapest,Hungary.
I and a large group of motorcycle riders,were the first individuals who were invited to run a lap at Hungaroring.

Afterwards,everyone put up on the start and finish-straight for photography.
As I said,....glorious memories.!!

This happened two weeks before they would have premiered on the first Formula 1 Grand Prix,10 August 1986...se below.
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The 1986 Hungarian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the newly constructed Hungaroring on August 10, 1986. It was the eleventh round of the 1986 Formula One season.

It was the first Formula One Grand Prix to be held behind the Iron Curtain, the first Hungarian Grand Prix in 50 years and was attended by a record of 200,000 spectators from everywhere from the Eastern European communist countries. This would remain as the record attendance for a World Championship Grand Prix until 210,000 attended the 1995 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.[4]
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/Peder????