[Closed] F1 2016 (Bound to contain spoilers!)

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 ?

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] [/img]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2016/04/29/aeroscreen-makes-track-debut-ricciardos-red-bull/

[b]aero[/b]screen

[s]aeroscreen[/s] windscreen

[img] [/img]

That doesn't actually look too bad, not brilliant but far better than that Ferrari halo thing.

It would look better if it didn't have that black stripe on the top edge.

It would look better if it didn't have that black stripe on the top edge.

Maybe they could put the drivers name there

It'll also look a lot better when integrated properly into the aero package. Visibility in rain will be the real test

Wipers? 😆

Stick one of these on too...

[img] [/img]

scotroutes - Member

Maybe they could put the drivers name there
Posted 14 minutes ago # Report-Post

I like this idea, but not for drivers names, imagine the fun the teams could have with it:

[img] [/img]

Or better still, a scrolling LED display so other drivers can see when it's "Hammer-time" 😉

On twitter...

[img] [/img]

I'm off to buy shares in Rain-X

Guess the dobber: "Safety is a constant thing that always needs to be worked on, as long as it doesn't affect the aesthetics, the style and the coolness of Formula 1."

^ Mr T?

Apparently there's been another GP this weekend.

From the race review I've just read on BBC sport, I'm getting the impression that it was quite exciting for the first few corners of the first lap.

Hamilton to Ferrari next year?

Hamilton had said he doesn't think he'll go to Ferrari.

I see him in a red car in the next 3 years

From the race review I've just read on BBC sport, I'm getting the impression that it was quite exciting for the first few corners of the first lap.

The BBC are never going to say that a sporting spectacle on another channel was the most exciting thing in the world.

I caught a bit of the C4 coverage. It was bad.

Ham? Back to Mclaren, once their engine woes are sorted.

He's saying the stewards are after him now

same as usual really, first couple of laps were entertaining, mid pack young guns overtook each other a bit pointlessly, some former great teams did moderately better than they have of late. The cars that are mostly the same colour crashed into each other as usual. The two silver ones overtook more or less every one else. The track could have been anywhere, and it was probably somewhere you've never heard of.

Slacks, expensive haircuts, shirts open to the chest and large watches were worn...

...and Bernie got to sit with Vlad.

[img] [/img]

Boom - no room for errors at Red Bull!...

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-confirms-verstappen-kvyat-swap-for-spain-733539/

lets see what Mad Max can do to Vettel in the next GP

Kvyatt demoted and Max promoted

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/36206848

It should be interesting for Sainz who now has another benchmark. It does give us an insight as to how fast Verstappen is when in the same machinery as Ricciardo. Its played into Red Bulls hands nicely.

Edit: Too slow ..beaten to post by above 🙂

it'd be interesting to know what sir Jack thought about the screen.....

Wow!! Red Bull are not messing about, hey?

there are probably a few drivers glad that their teams can't be quite as 'immediate' as Red Bull!

That really is some bold and exciting decision making from Red Bull. It makes me wonder:

1) how much influence Vettel has over his former team following his chat to Christian Horner on the pit wall in Sochi
2) what's going to happen to Kvyet now- it's not looking good because RB will be wanting to add to new drivers to the Toro Rosso conveyer belt in 2017, so maybe a midpack team might buy him up? But that may have an effect on...
3) ...Sainz who also needs a new seat after this season.

Grosjean wasn't flavor of the month on a regular basis in seasons past for similar reasons and his prospects are looking up now, ultimately though it'll all be down to how Kvyat handles it and a chunk of luck!

What happens if he gets out there and shows up the A team once or twice, after all he's got the speed, the Torro Rossos aren't a long way off and if the luck should happen to fall his way.

Whatever, it's definitely added some interest. Maybe the drivers should be pooled and the teams draw drivers for each race! .....never gonna happen but then who knows what Bernie can pull out the hat! 😀

I'm not sure Verstappen is quite as good as he thinks he is.

He's now got a quality team-mate in a quality car. Let's see just how good he is.

And if he causes an almighty pile-up at the first corner, will he get busted back down?

Crikey,that's Kvyat's season in the sun over and done, then.

There is no doubting Verstappen's speed and his potential.
However Button's assessment, and it has to be said you can see the evidence on the TV week in week out, of Both 'Rosso drivers is that they are all over the road whenever you try to challenge them. Very much still driving as if they are in GP2. Be interesting to see how Max gets on in the thick of it with championship contenders around him.

However Button's assessment, and it has to be said you can see the evidence on the TV week in week out, of Both 'Rosso drivers is that they are all over the road whenever you try to challenge them. Very much still driving as if they are in GP2.

Works for me, means there's a danger of less snooze time per race!

Mark Hughes' (inevitably) interesting take.

[url= http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/f1/why-did-red-bull-replace-kvyat-verstappen?utm_source=KvyVer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Mark ]Linky[/url]

Joe Saward is sugegsting that there's also been a contract extension for Max at RBR, taking him out of the reach of Ferrari & Merc for 2017 and beyond. Given the timing that would also suggest that those discussions had been going on long before Turn 1 in Russia, so that's just a convenient excuse for the armchair fan.

Also covered here:
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/338915/verstappen-s-red-bull-deal-long-term/

In other news it seems that the Rebellion is gaining strength, and that Palpatine's days may be numbered.

http://www.grandprix247.com/2016/05/05/f1-teams-working-to-depose-ecclestone/

the Kvyat decision is daft, he can now crash into a ferrari with a ferrari engine in his car 😆

Verstappen's speed and his potential.

The thing about potential is that it frequently goes untapped.

Speed is easy without control.

If he was that good, how come 2 drivers were better than him before he came to F1? Half of his 'potential' is his Dad's overselling of him.

I remember Jos coming to F1 as the next big thing. It never happened, and he was in the same car as Schumi

Spanish GP drivers press conference - a lovely picture of joy and happiness!...

[img] ?w=750[/img]

Nicely cheeky scheduling by the FIA to have not only MV and DK there, but also adding Sainz into the mix!!

Ferrari's running nicely today, though as ever I think Merc have something in reserve.

This is interesting too, Manor first and third through the speed trap in FP2!

[img] [/img]

Manor first and third through the speed trap in FP2!

Well, at least there's an upside to not enough downforce!

😆

If only Crashtor was still around, could've given him a somewhat sketchy car for full on MarioKart antics!

I'm hoping max nerfs vettel on the first lap, elevating danni k to a decent position. That would be poetic.

Don't get the kvyatt thing. First touch, racing incident, second vettel, by his own admission wasn't at racing speed and, on not too close watching, kvyatt looks like he was tapped from behind. Maybe it's a clever tactic to get him to embarrass vettel.

Red Bull may be worried that Ricciardo will move to Ferrari, who can't be happy with how their year is turning out and will have noticed that DR thrashed Vettel when they were teammates. Red Bull had already decided to promote MV to the senior team next year, but may have decided they need to give him experience in the car in case DR leaves. Kvyat is quick on a good day but doesn't seem like a championship contender just now.

I can't see DR playing second fiddle to SV at Ferrari he'd want to be No1