That does nothing to diminish Damon's legacy
I really like Damon; he's a class act. He's also the first to say that he so nearly won the championship in '94; and that Senna would have won it easily.
If Senna hadn't cashed out, I doubt anyone would have had a chance at a WDC until he stopped driving or Williams lost the Renault engine.
4 WDC's up for grabs? Maybe.
Quite enjoyed reading the insider's report on the Benetton refuelling fire.
I had to grin to myself when reading about the level of technical assistance given to Ligier staff, of course the deal between Benetton and Ligier gave Benetton access to the coveted Renault V10s, so it was by no means a one-sided exchange. The Benetton B195, complete with the Renault engine was the car to beat in 1995. Interestingly, Johnny Herbert won twice in spite of having limited access to Schuey's data and testing mileage.
Love haterz saying Damon/Lewis etc only won cos they are in the best car..
Prost
Senna
Schu
How many titles did they win in a average car?
Glad to hear the qualifying climbdown from Bernie and Jean, but they'd better put on a hell of a show in China. I'd still put a few bob on some form of rejigged quali being introduced by the end of the year.
As for driver comparisons, a few years ago there was a karting competition where some top drivers were each given an identical kart and an engineer, then they went racing. Schumi left them all behind, so I expect he had the best kart with dodgy tyres and illicit traction control. 🙂
Also worth noting that the "best" car isn't always the best for everyone - eg vettels mastery of the ebd technique, or fisichella looking like he was in the form of his life until he sat in a Ferrari.
EDIT must've been the 96 edition I saw as looks like Schumacher didn't win that much after all, and my memory of the format is a bit addled. Ho hum
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_Karting_Paris_Bercy
I remember those kart racers. There was a real mix of winners, surprises too. Park the ego's and lay it all on the line. Wasn't Lewis bloody good in karts?
That insiders blog is a great read. A real insight into all the shady goings on behind the scenes! 🙂
That karting thing used to be an annual thing at Bercy, sure they had Senna Vs Prost one year. Nearest thing now is the Race Of Champions, good idea but not as good - suspect there may have been ego issues involved in getting all the top folks in identical machinery, nowhere to hide out there if you don't win... 🙂
Looks like Hamilton will be starting from 6th on the grid at best in Shanghai
http://www.pitpass.com/55864/Grid-penalty-for-Hamilton
Do we think he'll aim for 4th (behind Roberg & Ferrari's) and end up 9th with free tyre choice?
That means Rosberg stands a good chance of getting another win in a row, wont that be a record number in a row ?
Ah, so Merc want Rosberg to win this year?
Ah, so Merc want Rosberg to win this year?
Aye - give him a token championship, then ship him out at the end of the season for someone with talent! 😀
Aye - give him a token championship, then ship him out at the end of the season for someone with talent!
Pascal Wehrlein?
That means Rosberg stands a good chance of getting another win in a row, wont that be a record number in a row ?
Nope, would make him 3rd, behind Vettel (9) Ascari and Schumacher (7 each)
4th then 😉
Vettels were all in one season too, not split over two, and when his team-mate had packed his speedos as was mentally off on holiday!
Still, that's good for Rosberg. Might even cheer him up a bit (might!!)
Should anyone (regardless of the fact it was Hamilton) get a penalty for something out of their control? Can of worms maybe but the gearbox damage was not the fault of the team or driver?
Or maybe it is just engineered team orders?
just a thought.
It is rather harsh on the driver, but it means that teams have an incentive to ensure that engines/gearboxes last a prescribed length of time in order to ensure costs are cut.
This point may well be moot when you consider that a modern F1 engine is ten times as expensive as its counterpart from a decade ago.
Personally, I'd order the teams to remove all sponsorship from the car for the duration of the race and to be forced to paint a large, magenta penis on the car instead.
All teams have to keep each gearbox for 6 consecutive races.
Personally, I'd order the teams to remove all sponsorship from the car for the duration of the race and to be forced to paint a large, magenta penis on the car instead.
This made me chuckle 🙂
Great idea! That'd stop "tactical" changes for sure. 🙂
It's one of the ironies of the sport that cost-cutting measures make it more expensive.
There have been suggestions in the past that things like engine and gearbox changes should be penalised by deducting wcc points so they hit the team rather than the driver.
Hopefully we may have a race on this weekend. Ferrari fastest in FP2, Rosberg will have to go for pole, Hamilton will concentrate on race set-up...
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123765/raikkonen-leads-ferrari-onetwo-in-practice
It's one of the ironies of the sport that cost-cutting measures make it more expensive.
I wonder if anyone has actually looked at the real cost difference between having to build engines that last versus building hand-grenades that just need to hold out for a weekend?
Yes, it looks like it's gonna be a close one again. I see Ferrari are favouring the softest tyres again, which never seems to go well for them though....
I wonder if anyone has actually looked at the real cost difference between having to build engines that last versus building hand-grenades that just need to hold out for a weekend?
Could be about perceived waste as well. Disposable engines don't look good in this new green world. At least the new engines have some green credentials (if you ignore the carting them all over the world bit!).
I guess the vast bulk of the cost will be in R&D of designing the new ones rather than actually making them. Any rule change will push up costs as the R&D to design to the new spec soon adds up, hence rule changes always favour the richer teams, even if they are intended to reduce costs. And the more prescriptive the rules are the more true this is, there is little to no opportunity now for a team to come up with something cheap(ish) which no-one else has thought of (Brawn's DD being the last major example I can think of and that was years ago.)
Schu's wins back then? Right. Let's not go into the traction control software 'we didn't use it, honest but it was too expensive to remove'. The team manager later banned from F1, the numerous black flags, deliberately colliding with DH oh and other rumours around the car.Do you honestly think a F1 car of any calibre could be stuck in one gear yet still be mysteriously so good, or the driver can magically get a similar car to others stuck in one gear in that situation OK like that? The car wasn't legal. I wasn't convinced at the time that he was THAT good. He's very good yes but utterly ruthless, win at with all means.
Damon was robbed of at least another title, maybe three crowns total.
Enough with the Schu hating hora, you're talking out of your arse. Stop swallowing bullshine internet conspiracy theories.
I always supported Damon, but Schu was just better. End of.
Senna won Estoril '91 stuck in 6th, he even had to hold it in gear all the time. Exhausting work for a man at the peak of his fitness.
Well Hamilton is out of contention now, so a three way fight for the win - if Ferrari haven't messed up their tyre strategy.
I think they have
Interesting quali. Good to see Ricciardo on the front row! I reckon that the Ferraris will be quicker tomorrow though
Shame to see Pascal Wehrlein out so early too, he usually manages to pull off some magic
Expect Rosberg to make more gains in his lead. I bet Hamilton is glad Maldonado is no longer on the grid. My worry is some of the back markers are going to go for it against a Hamilton's Merc. Not often that Haryanto, Palmer and Werhlein get in the action with Hamilton.
The interesting battle is whether Kimi can stay ahead of Vettel and what happens if Vettel is faster than you scenario crops up. Fingers crossed the Mchondas give a good show rather than turning it down to reach the end.
It looks like a pretty decent grid, how refreshing it is to have the old quali back
How much time do Mercedes have to work on Hamiltons car before tomorrow? Not sure how it works between quali and the race.
Could make for interesting viewing him coming through the pack.
Morning!
Rather eventful so far!
Hamilton seems to have his big boy pants on this year, coping better when things aren't going his way (awaits a big strop now I've said that). I guess he's achieved his real goal which was to get three titles like Senna did.
Ricardo's a bit good today
Vettel's overtake on the pitlane was genius.
And Kvyat brusing him off in the cooldown roomm was masterful.
"You're on the podium, I'm on the podium; it's fine"
oooff ..thats going to take a while to digest.. expect the highlights reel to be quite lengthy. Vettel shows the why he is a champion.. its not just about the smiles.
Luck wasnt with Hamilton or Ricciardo today.
Probably just me, but for all that action, it still ended up feeling a little dull.
Well, a lot of action in that one. Shame it was only highlights!! 🙁
Anyone else finding it incrediably frustrating trying to watch on the C4 website? Jumping, skipping, going back and repeating the same few seconds over and over, stopping at random, missing stuff while it refreshes.
Iplayer and yuoutube work fine so pretty sure it's not my connection or computer.
Probably just me, but for all that action, it still ended up feeling a little dull.
I suppose having Mercedes win yet another one isn't the most exciting but I thought it was an amazing race, so much stuff going on my head was spinning. Felt like they were struggling to fit it all in the highlights! The only real shame was Ricciardo's puncture. Denied!!
Red Bulls aeroscreen makes its debut - looks acceptable from some angles but downright bulbous and ugly from this angle...
[img] 
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http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2016/04/29/aeroscreen-makes-track-debut-ricciardos-red-bull/
????[b]aero[/b]screen
