F1 2016 (Bound to contain spoilers!)

Renaults in F1 should only ever be black and yellow, IMHO. 🙂

That Renault looks great!

Looks really good, really hoping it’s quick so KMag gets a decent chance.

It would be great if they beat Red Bull!

It would be great if they beat Red Bull!

I’m really really hoping they do

Looks like it’s been through the same paint bay as Renaultsport Clio. The Clio has a 1.6 turbo engine as well.

Looks nice!

Im liking the idea of run minimum 2 of 3 compounds for the race. Should provide a bit more interest than everyone on the same sets, maybe teams throwing on a set of ultrasofts or something for the middle stint to get infront of traffic or beat someone on the undercut. Or perez driving with hards all race then sticking some really fast tyres on for the last 3 laps and driving round everyone 🙂

Just hope Pirelli take a few chances and force the drivers to have a few slow sets or bring a wider range of compounds to races.

In a rare change for me I’ve decided to throw off my mildly xenophobic shackles and support a non-brit Driver this year after supporting LH since ’07.

This year I will be cheering for Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean, they seem unburdened by ego and genuinely happy to be an F1 driver, possibly the best job in the world.

It would be great if they beat Red Bull!

Not a chance. The chassis was designed for the Merc power unit before the Renault buy-out. They’ve had to chop it up to make their in house Renault lump fit, so it’ll be compromised in a whole heap of ways. If anything I’d be more worried about Manor and Hass beating them in the early races.

Pretty sure Jolyon Palmer could do with some support in his first year and he seems a nice enough fellow. Wonder how long DR will keep smiling after a disappointing season last year and the possibility of another great season from Max & Carlos.

Not a chance. The chassis was designed for the Merc power unit before the Renault buy-out.

The Red Bull was designed for a Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault, Honda or any other unit there was a slim chance they could get their hands on! 😀

What’s your predictions for this weekend then?
I’m going for a Merc front row, Rosberg on pole but Hamilton will win on Sunday and Vettel 3rd.
I’ve really no idea about the rest, just hope Button and Alonso can compete, with Button doing slightly better 😉 Although truthfully expect them to be in the rear of the mid-pack.

vettel to deny merc a front row

carnage of the new quali rules to see a couple of biggish name that you’d normally see nearer the front, missing out by not getting their fast laps in early enough. Massa probably. Maybe Button not making it through due to bad timing rather than having the pace of a mobility scooter.

Rosberg to cause Hamilton to drop out early due to hindrance, after Hamilton has to go for a 2nd fast lap after flatspotting on the first whilst up on time.

Haas to be the best rookie team for a very very long time

Quali will be as you were, with all drivers going out for a quick lap, then pootling saving tyres and fuel waiting to see if they need to put in a quick on for the final cut off. I don’t expect the McHonda to be anywhere near the pointy end of the grid.Merc front row and 1-2 finish in the GP. Vetell 3rd, Bottas 4th.
Also there’ll be some kind of shunt between both the Renault drivers resulting in neither of them finishing the 1st lap.
Oh, and Ferrari mk2 Haas to get points on debut.

Not a chance. The chassis was designed for the Merc power unit before the Renault buy-out. They’ve had to chop it up to make their in house Renault lump fit, so it’ll be compromised in a whole heap of ways

Stranger things have happened, remember Brawn GP?

Stranger things have happened, remember Brawn GP?

Yeah, but that chassis had 1)A massive wedge of cash put into the development by Honda before they pulled out, 2) A very fancy double diffuser which gave them huge amounts of down force, and 3) A decent engine from Mercedes (which Brawn somehow managed to secure as it was the best fit for the chassis)
The Lotus was poor last year and they had no money to develop it throughout 2015, yet alone look towards 2016. If Renault hadn’t had bought them out I doubt they’d have been on the grid at all, especially given Maldonados dodgy cheque.

Am I right in thinking this round is only being shown on Sky? anywhere else I can watch without having to remortgage my house for a sky subscription.

Highlights are on channel 4 both days

Hamilton to win.

Rosberg to moan a bit about how things went wrong and they weren’t his fault.

Raikkonen will be a lot closer to Vettel now front suspension is changed.

McLaren – no idea, mid-pack at best.

Ferrari – they will really hope they are a lot closer to Merc after todays reports that they have used a lot of engine tokens. So a shit-or-bust start.

Haas – will struggle with reliability and won’t finish.

http://sniffpetrol.com/2016-formula1-guide/#.VuqzieY6-Yi

Hamilton for the win, probably Rosberg second.

Button to be interviewed whining before the race has finished.

So much like last season really. I cant see anyone beating Hamilton to the WDC this year unless there was some spectacular sandbagging at the test sessions.

Rosberg just nurfed the barrier and broken his wing it is a bit wet though

interesting comments from the honda engineer about the engine 😯
“not good!”
“Should be better next year”

The love child of Bananaman and Condorman. (only folk of a cetain age will know either)

Thanks Klunk – that pic brought a smile to the start of the day!

I do hate a wet practice day though, always a bit of a downer as nothing can be learnt.

Well, looks like we’re having the halo system next year.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/123314/cockpit-halo-set-for-2017-green-light

Surely they’d be better with a fully enclosed cockpit rather than that half-arsed compromise? It looks ridiculous 😕

Cockpits can have visibility issues, even LMP type cars can have issues keeping them clear so the radius on an F1 car would be even harder to work with. Would look pretty awesome though

legend – Member

Cockpits can have visibility issues, even LMP type cars can have issues keeping them clear so the radius on an F1 car would be even harder to work with. Would look pretty awesome though

Do you mean clear from rain, oil etc? There must be something like rain-x but better that could be used.

The main issue I think would be extraction from the cockpit, I suppose they could use a small charge to blow the canopy off like on a fighter jet.

I remember they did these tests a few years back, not sure why they didn’t go ahead:

looks like we’re having the halo system next year.

That’s it I’m out. We now have this fudge coming in some lame attempt to pretend it is an open cockpit type of racing. It hasn’t even been risk assessed properly and currently has only been tested against loose wheels, which is odd as I can’t remember them killing anyone in the last 30 years in F1. So we have a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist.

Taken to the logical conclusion…

Why not close in the cockpit and cover the wheels, improves safety and we get this, far more relevant to the cars we buy as well.

Do you mean clear from rain, oil etc? There must be something like rain-x but better that could be used.

they do use it, still need a wiper though even at the likes of Le Mans and Daytona where they’re really cracking on

legend – Member

they do use it, still need a wiper though even at the likes of Le Mans and Daytona where they’re really cracking on

Can’t be any worse than a helmet visor though?

Moot point anyway, since Vettel, Massa and the other wimps all start crying to Charlie Whiting at the first sign of a shower and get the race red flagged. They don’t even bother making a proper monsoon tyre any more, only inter and wet.

Can’t be any worse than a helmet visor though?

You do know the visor is layered with rip off strips don’t you? Not quite as easy to have a windscreen tear off.

dooosuk – Member

You do know the visor is layered with rip off strips don’t you? Not quite as easy to have a windscreen tear off.

How many tear offs do you think there are on there? They’re to clear bugs, smudges etc, not rain.

How many tear offs do you think there are on there?

There’s usually 2, so you have a clear visor 3 times during a race.

Dragon – I hope you’re not suggesting we buy Audis?

It has to be said that when you’re sitting in a carbon bathtub, with limited visibility over the wheels, 900+bhp, no windscreen or roof, sharing a narrow racetrack with 21 other cars, being driven at the limit and it starts raining then most of us here – myself included – would need an urgent change of underwear before the start lights went green.

Regardless of whether we feel cheated of gladiatorial entertainment or not, Vettel, Massa et al have my utmost respect for saying “screw it, it’s wet” and not wanting to risk the lives of other drivers and spectators. Les we forget how poor Jules Bianchi was lost.