MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
He can definitely go wheel to wheel when his heads not in its current state
Merc will probably still be a string car next year
I thought they were using carbon fibre these days...
Latest rumour mill is Grosjean out, Ocon in at Haas, possibly before the next race.
Hope he can bring Haas a new title sponsor, too.
Where have you seen that Purist?
Found them - not sure how I missed that one. Even The Express had it! 🙂
https://www.theweek.co.uk/formula-1/102323/f1-news-haas-romain-grosjean-esteban-ocon-german-gp
https://www.planetf1.com/news/grosjean-to-be-fired-haas-keen-on-ocon/
They're basically the same story, all stems from some bloke on reddit so keep it filed under 'rumour mill' until anyone reports seeing Ocon at the Haas factory having a seat fitting.
Grosjean is an interesting one. He's clearly not completely shit, back when he drove for Lotus he regularly got on the podium and even managed to calm down his "first lap nutcase" tendencies.
But he has been sub par for a couple of seasons now, with some really bizarre incidents like crashing under the safety car last year in Baku.
Still he does like his mountain biking.
After reading a bit more a Perez --> Haas and Ocon --> Racing Force Point India could be on the cards too, but not quickly, possibly next season.
The doubts of Ocon to Haas appear to be that Ferrari may not want a Mercedes man using their engines.
I really liked Grosjean during that (brief!) day in the sun at Lotus. Shame he couldn't make it stick!
Jenson in a Brawn - this is lovely.
Interesting seeing how the aerodynamics have changed over the decades, the Brawn front wing looks a bit basic compared with the latest cars.
2018 Mercedes
2018 Red Bull
2009 Brawn
1999 McLaren
1989 McLaren
1979 Ferrari
1979 Ferrari
1976 😉
1976
Well...umm...yeah, if you take it literally instead of thinking of it as a metaphor.
Lewis to Williams would be awesome.
Lewis to Williams would be awesome.
Yep, it would be right up there with Damon Hill going to Arrows. Only fly in that ointment is that Merc aren't stupid enough to sack a reigning world champion and Lewis isn't stupid enough to quit the most sought after seat on the grid, so zero chance Lewis will be anywhere other than Merc next year.
I know, I know. I'd love him to take on the challenge of building a team though.
Saying that, he could do the same with Ferrari.
even with all that tax he's saving Max can't afford a Zwift subscription #poormax
That sort of outlook needs a Peleton bike ruining it really.
https://twitter.com/ClueHeywood/status/1089923528722309120
he's no James Hunt ol' Max is he, hot tub on an overlooked balcony and not appearing in the scandal rags #f1disappoints
Anyone anticipating a "ve look like vankers again" from Gunther Steiner this weekend?
One of the most enduring mysteries of the sport is how Romain Grosjean has clocked up an impressive ten years as an F1 driver given his regular predilection for a bout of The Yips every other race.
he's got compromising photos of Bernie at one of Berlusconis bunga bunga parties.
“ve look like vankers again”
red flag as Magnussens Haas breaks down.
Still running the Rich Energy branding tho. Which either means they're being paid, or they're so skint they can't afford to change the livery.
Or they aren't daft enough to give RE a reason to break a contract. Haas would be foolish to rebrand until this mess has been sorted out in court - somewhere Mr Storey must be very familiar with by now.
So, Haas is best of the rest...in the same spec car as the first race of the season. And the car with all the latest upgrades on? Well, that one was 18th:
German GP: Ferrari top in Germany as Gasly crashes - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/49128377
Vettel out in Q1, not even set a time due to some sort of engine power issues.
No time set for Le Clerc in Q3!
I assume that means they got their quali mode released then?
I think Red Bull are probably more willing to rag the engines to get race wins and worry about any resulting penalties later than Ferrari as they were probably thinking they are not in the constructors championship (well not till the ferrari implosion)
As much as I love to see Vettel spend his Sunday going backwards in a cloud of his on smoke it was disappointing to see both Ferrari’s out.
I know Vettel not making it out of Q1 didn’t help, but the German crowd was as dire as ever. If it wasn’t for the Dutchers it would have been completely dead.
Looking at the bright side Leclerc is very likely to overtake Vettel in the drivers championship
Today forcast is rain, rain and more rain 😀
Lewis v Max 👍🏼
Vettel and Leclerc working their way through the field to salvage their weekend and Ferrari’s reputation also 👍🏼
What bike is Vettel almost riding at 1:49 in the video from Germany
Single speed, one brake lever on the right?
Ffs get the safety car in and get going!!!
That has got to be a penalty for an unsafe release.
Ferrari need some new leadership, they need to play it safe and build, they are not going to cut out the mistakes by keep on taking risks.
a fine :/
crazy race !!!!
LOL
mercrash
Interesting race 🤣
Woooooooooo male it rain every time to make teams do different things,
it's funny that the red bull going for mediums meant that Max had a lower speed spin earlier in the lap than the high speed spin the soft runners had on that final turn..... more luck than judgement 😉
With Autosport and beeb text commentary I’ve been trying to keep track of that one... I’m still not sure what happened! What’s going on?... that’s the third entertaining F1 race in a row, let alone a season!
Definitely need more wet races.
Cracking race. Struggled to keep up at times.
I thought Hamilton’s penalty was harsh, he’d just crashed under the safety car and was limping back to the pits. I couldn’t even see the bollard on the replays.
But then Ferrari only get a fine for an unsafe release? I’m sure they’d take that every time over potentially losing places.
Felt sorry for Le Clerc, he was on a proper charge.
The fine for the unsafe release is a joke, just goes to show that Ferrari's and Vettels histrionics at Canada worked, the stewards bottled it.
Le Clerc deserves a victory for this years performances, but I don't think Ferrari do.
Strange race for Hamilton, I think traditionally Merc have been cautious and played it safe for pitting under safety car (real or virtual) and they have got away with it, Today it really contributed to a bad day.
Another amazing race!!
Bloody hell, totally mental!
Just to top it off - both Alfa’s penalised for technical infringements and dropped out of the points, so Hamilton elevated to 9th and a couple of points.
Bonkers. Have to say, during the race I was struggling to comprehend a couple of Mercedes' strategy decisions. Ferrari were taking risks but Merc just seemed to be wasting opportunities.
Impressive drive by both the Toro Rosso boys.
I thought Hamilton’s penalty was harsh... I couldn’t even see the bollard on the replays.
You can't have been watching very closely because it was there (right at the head of the pit lane). You can't see it from the in car camera because he had driven by it but he will have known full well he had gone on the wrong side of it. I think it was a fair penalty. A bit of tough luck on Hamilton to be too far down the track to get to the right side of the bollard but it was the correct decision. And to be fair, others that crashed out on that corner suffered much worse fates so it could have been worse for him.
Well, everyone has a bad day and I don't think Hamilton, Bottas, and Merc will be under any illusions that they just screwed up royally. Verstappen is an annoying dick, but gotta give him credit for driving really, really well for the last 12 months. Vettel had a solid day too, easy to forget that he is a very good driver. Happy to see Kvyat showing his potential too, he always seemed like he was very fast, just a bit too unpredictable.
The wet races always brings out the best in the drivers. Hamilton did well considering he may not be 100% fit. Bernies water sprinkler idea may not be so far fetched afterall.
I expect the Mercedes operations debrief is going to be a stern affair. Worthy top 10 and Williams get their first point of the season
Very enjoyable race, I thought the financial penalty for the unsafe pit release was grade-A baloney though.
Great race. Credit where credit is due, Vettel had a great drive - kept his head when all around were losing theirs. Did he even make a single mistake? Would have won it if had started from a better position.
Lec should have learnt from earlier moments on that corner and not made the same mistake twice, let alone three times.
Always enjoy a wet race - just love seeing how slowly they have to negotiate the hairpin, feeling the grip, like watching in slow motion. Used to enjoy karting in the rain - it feels comically slow but such good fun.
I thought Hamilton’s penalty was harsh…
Nope. He got away lightly - the correct thing for him to do was to do another lap with a busted front wing, and that would have cost him way more than the 5 second penalty he was given for skipping into the pitlane (though on balance if he'd done the lap then Merc would have been ready for him so he'd not have lost so much time in the pits either). You can't really fault him for diving straight into the pits though, anyone's natural instinct will be to get the car in and fixed ASAP.
I think it'll be harsh if Bottas' DNF is counted against keeping his drive next year as plenty of other people (including Lewis) binned it in the same way. What might not be in his favour is the undertone of 'the team were telling me to push so it's their fault I crashed' in the post race interviews.
Oh and what are Haas gonna do about their drivers? Sure they grabbed some points but I doubt that'll ease Gunther's mood too much.
Gasly must be crapping himself everytime his phone rings today
Oops. I imagine that Pierre Gasly is waiting for his brown envelope this morning, to have thrown it all away by crashing a Red Bull into a Toro Rosso is quite possibly the second worst outcome imaginable for him.
That crash has sealed his fate, I reckon that he'll be in a Toro Rosso by Hungary.
That crash has sealed his fate, I reckon that he’ll be in a Toro Rosso by Hungary.
Torpedo in back the other Red Bull do you think?
They (sky f1 coverage) were suggesting Bottas was on the knife edge and had 2 races to prove him self. Sticking it in the barrier at the first of those perhaps not the best !
Can see Mercedes will be after a new tactician soon.
Not really. One bad weekend and how many good ones?
Nope. He got away lightly – the correct thing for him to do was to do another lap with a busted front wing, and that would have cost him way more than the 5 second penalty he was given...
Just doesn't fit the crime.
I think it does, the crime was not doing a full lap back to the pits. If it had been a wall there he certainly wouldn’t have thought about anything other than getting round.
Good race though. 2 good ones in a row - madness!
Torpedo in back the other Red Bull do you think?
Albon has been hugely impressive, so it would be nice to see him go up.
and Williams get their first point of the season
Hang on - whuuuut?!?
You can’t have been watching very closely because it was there (right at the head of the pit lane). You can’t see it from the in car camera because he had driven by it but he will have known full well he had gone on the wrong side of it. I think it was a fair penalty.
If it was fair it was fair. I only saw the in car replay which didn’t show the bollard and I didn’t see any replays other than the in car after the incident.
They (sky f1 coverage) were suggesting Bottas was on the knife edge and had 2 races to prove him self. Sticking it in the barrier at the first of those perhaps not the best !
I watched that too, would be interested to hear what Toto actually said. I think there are only 3 or 4 races that Bottas didn’t finish 1st or 2nd (but came 3rd or 4th) along with the DNF yesterday.
I'd be very surprised if they let Bottas go as he is doing an excellent job of helping to deliver constructors championships for the team
But would Bottas win the title for Mercedes if Hamilton jumped ship? That's what they need. I'd imagine that Ocon could almost match Bottas and still has a decent amount of potential on top of that.
But would Bottas win the title for Mercedes if Hamilton jumped ship?
He's currently running second in the championship so, if Hamilton was incapacitated and missed the second half of the season, Bottas seems to be good enough, especially considering that his teammate would almost certainly be told to assist him to take the title.
Hamilton is not going to jump ship next year, nobody takes that seriously. However, if he did, Merc would have Verstappen, Vettel, Ricciardo, Alonso, plus every other driver on the grid offering their services.
Nobody believes Bottas is as good as Hamilton, but Hamilton is one of the best drivers ever seen so they're not expecting his teammate to be at quite the same level. The question is whether they can find somebody better than Bottas who is not going to clash with Hamilton. Let's face it, Alonso is better than Hamilton, but Merc don't want him because of his reputation for chaos. Bottas is a solid, sensible team player, and he's capable of going very fast when he can get the car set up well. My money is on Merc deciding to keep him on.
I’d imagine that Ocon could almost match Bottas and still has a decent amount of potential on top of that.
The question right now is probably more who is the best wingman. They're better off with a driver who'll back up Hamilton's championship with a constructor's title than they are with someone who might risk undermining Hamilton whilst still not being a surefire champion themselves.
When Hamilton's seat is up for grabs, it's different. They need two drivers, and one of those needs to be capable of winning the title. So that's either Bottas, Ocon, or someone like Verstappen lured from elsewhere. Each has their own challenges: Bottas probably isn't good enough to be a clear top dog, which means risking having Mclaren's "divided and conquered" season in 2007; Ocon probably needs more experience; and transfers could be tricky—not just contractually, but in recent years especially it seems that drivers rarely switch to a new team and fire on all cylinders for at least the first half of the following season.
I'd say it's currently 60/40 in favour of Bottos over Ocon for the 2020 seat. If you were just considering 2020 I think Bottas would be clearly the preferable partner to Hamilton: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if their goal has been to nurture Ocon in preparation for being their next champion, then they're going to need to get him a race seat next year, either in a Merc or on a tight bit of elastic somewhere else.
Let’s face it, Alonso is better than Hamilton
Meant to say "Alonso is better than Bottas".
I think that Bez has it, it's difficult to see how Ocon could fit straight in to Merc after a year on the sidelines, he will need acclimatization and if his battles with Perez at Force India were anything to go by, he'll be aggressive in racing Hamilton which could risk putting them both out of contention.
I reckon the logical move is for Merc to offer Ocon on a one year contract so that he's contractually aligned with Hamilton. Obvious seats are Williams, Renault or Haas.
Russell is the other Merc superstar in waiting. Both he and Ocon will be anxious to avoid the fate of Wehrlein, who proved to be one driver too many for Merc's talent pool.
Both he and Ocon will be anxious to avoid the fate of Wehrlein, who proved to be one driver too many for Merc’s talent pool.
Apparently quite the diva also