I hadn’t read that 🙂

And Ferrari fully behind the concept!… 🙂

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-underwhelming-concept-looks-like-old-champ-car/3176597/

Well that was pretty incredible, not just that lap but also the fact Andrew Bloody Benson didn’t use the word imperious to describe it…

Can’t believe nobody has a comment on Lewis in quali… Everyone given up on F1? I think today’s start could be as ‘interesting’ as last year’s.

Vettel and max fighting for the first corner could be interesting. As will the longevity of the hyper softs

Can’t believe nobody has a comment on Lewis in quali…

What’s your comment on Lewis in quali?

Mostly looking forward to next season now.

Kimi in a sauber, ricciardo in a Renault, new drivers in the mclaren and red bull powered by Honda engines. Could really shake up the top end of the mid pack.

I’ve been weaning myself off F1 as I thought it would be my last season following it as I won’t get Sky, so less posting and reading about it to soften the blow.

It was a massive lap by Hamilton, first in a while that’s made me pause for a second at how fast it was!  Today should be good or it will all be over in a lap or two, depends on what chaos Verstappen causes as he’ll be hungry for a good result and doesn’t have a championship to worry about.

+1 milky – Hamilton has most to lose off the start so expect he will be more careful than the other 2.  What odds on them all crossing the start line again?

Wouldn’t be surprised if Hamilton makes an okish start, Vettel makes a slightly better start but gets caught behind Mad Max, and Bottas sweeps past the two of them and takes up station behind Hamilton.

What’s your comment on Lewis in quali?

Pretty incredible as it came from nowhere. Forget all the “Marina Bay  is Mercedes’ bogey track” stuff, he was so much faster than anything he did over the rest of the week end that it was almost freaky. I wonder how much of it was down to his slower outlap keeping the tyre temps a bit lower as some pundits seem to claim, but anyway it has set up a great run into the first corner (if they get that far).

Hamilton has most to lose off the start

Vettel has the most to lose, Max the least. Vettel really needs to win this race and the start is his best chance of getting ahead. LH won’t care too much if Max gets ahead at the start, as long as he can keep ahead of Vettel. LH can afford to defend very assertively from Vettel because LH will benefit if they both crash out while Vettel really needs to score points here.

Fair point. I reckon it would be very hard for LH not to attack the first corner though even if the smart mice would be not to tussle with Max.

<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>smart move, not mice!</span>

I wonder if Ferrari will try something different during he pit stop, and not tell the mechanics/driver/ tyre man and loose it for themselves again?

Well barring a massive error from Lewis, Ferrari have screwed up again with strategy!

Dunno, another safety car could shake it all up.  Or a brief shower, but sebs got form there.

Barring any incidents Vettel will be lucky to finish higher than 5th!  Ferrari really are shooting themselves in the foot right now.

Wtaf is perez doing today? Trying to lose a seat for next year?

by the looks of it Perez has already lost it. I reckon Ocon to stay

I’m not certain that FI could afford to pay Perez all the money they owe him.

Bottas is going to lose his seat at this rate.

I’m not certain that FI could afford to pay Perez all the money they owe him.

It was Perez that forced the old FI into administration. The new FI don’t owe him that much 🙂

Super weekend from LH. That pole lap yesterday was off the scale. Assuming the car holds up I think he is now is such form as to be essentially unbeatable to the WC.

Perez did the administration thing at the request of the team to prevent them being locked out of races..

Anyway, Vettel and Ferrari clearly doing a great job of throwing this championship away. They’re going to need to be perfect to get it back now

it’s probably going to come down to reliability now and having to re-use older spec engines or taking penalties on a track you think you can overtake easily and get back in the top 5 (lewis probably has enough of a lead now for that option not to hurt him to much as it has benefits in the  races following the penalty)

Really disappointing race following LH’s lap of the season qualifier. As a racing fan I want to see cars and drivers on the limit from lights out to chequered flag, the tyre managing strategy for the first 15 or so laps was an insult to the spectators that have paid to watch the pinnacle of motorsport. The most exciting bit of the race was whether max would get out the pits in front of vettel, once he did vettel gave up and settled for 3rd, really was very disappointing.

What do folks think of the new ‘winners podium’.  I think Lewis was sat in the car for so long because he was trying to come up with a way of getting off the horrible thing.

The most exciting bit of the race was whether max would get out the pits in front of vettel,

I dunno. Bottas trying to get past Hulkenberg was the pinnacle for me, riveting stuff. And the battle for 17th place was awesome too.

Everyone given up on F1?

After 40-odd years of watching it I’m getting close. That was DULL. I can’t recall ever fast forwarding through a race before.

LOL – Alonso – the wrong time wrong place master!…

Another burned bridge could drive Alonso to NASCAR

Don’t agree with this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/45558975

One of the things I hate about the coverage of other sports like football is the constant betting adverts, especially on Sky.

With you there milky – I noticed the autosport live text feed has betting ads on it already. Come on liberty, forget all the frills and sort out the racing and access, then get fancy. New winners podiums, crap f1 apps and in play betting don’t address your core product or market. It’s like amazon putting glitter on the box but still delivering the wrong item.

Giovanazzi in at Sauber and Ericsson has been demoted to third driver – that must hurt!…

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/giovinazzi-to-partner-raikkonen-at-sauber-in-2019/3183233/

Ouch, bet Ericsson thought the money men would keep his seat for him, but maybe with more Ferrari cooperation they figure they can get more prize money by hiring a better talent.  Tho anyone know if Giovanazzi brings any funding with him?

Joe Saward reporting that the Miami GP has been booted into the long grass too.

Ferrari actually have a claim on on Sauber seat so in reality, Giovanazzi is replacing Leclerc and it’s Raikkonen replacing Ericsson – a straight scandi swap – it just wasn’t announced that way.

Good result for Sauber though – a potentially really strong driver pairing.

Hmmm.

Hmmm

Is that in response to Mercs team orders?

Not particularly entertaining I admit and even LH didn’t like it – you could see he was genuinely uncomfortable- but it was the right call.

I think the issue is most fans view it as an individual driver battle when in fact it is a team sport. No one bats an eyelid when a cycling team orders their no1 rider be protected etc and in essence F1 is no different.

Do feel for Bottas though. He deserved the win but then he isn’t in a position to win the championship.

what is it with these Finnish guys keep getting the dirty end of the stick !

Well at least its public now, much better than before when everyone “pretended” there were no team orders.

It’s different at this stage of the season though isn’t it? Bottas isn’t a title contender and Hamilton is. My problem with team orders is when there aren’t equal opportunities for each driver to win the championship. There were at the beginning. Bottas dropped out of the running. Now all the eggs are in the Hamilton basket.