toby1 watch any race from the Bridgestone Schumacher era and tell me it was better then. F1 fans always seem to believe there was a golden age where anyone on the grid could win and there was a fight for the lead until the last corner of the last lap. That never happened, but we all edit together our own personal highlights reel and think we’ll get another Bahrain 14 with buttons win in Canada and hakkinen and schumi going toe to toe at spa, then finish off with arnoux v villeneuve. Being an f1 fan has, for me, been about watching strategy slowly unfold, or the ebb and flow of technical development over the season. Each race is like a chapter in a book, some set the scene, some are full of action and some are just a sub plot, but the overall story is what I enjoy.

Red Bull are after engine parity from the Ferrari deal. If I was Ferrari I’d walk away from this. If they supply RBR with a slower engine Horner will spend all next season blaming the ‘slow engine’ if their not winning!

Or are RBR just trying to make it harder for themselves to stay?

And why would Ferrari care about that when the “same” engine in their own car is further up the grid? If anything it just makes their car look better.

Checo to Renault

Wrong! Staying at FI.

And Jens has demurred slightly on all the retirement talk. It goes on.

RBR are the bully of the playground, when everyone else has a growth spurt. Suddenly they can’t swan around like they own the place and they don’t like it much.

I wouldn’t be sad to see them leave.

F1 fans always seem to believe there was a golden age where anyone on the grid could win and there was a fight for the lead until the last corner of the last lap. That never happened, but we all edit together our own personal highlights reel and think we’ll get another Bahrain 14 with buttons win in Canada and hakkinen and schumi going toe to toe at spa, then finish off with arnoux v villeneuve. Being an f1 fan has, for me, been about watching strategy slowly unfold, or the ebb and flow of technical development over the season. Each race is like a chapter in a book, some set the scene, some are full of action and some are just a sub plot, but the overall story is what I enjoy.

This is a great point very well made.

Yeah, agreed. I’m pretty sure I sat through plenty of tedious processions in the 80s and 90s.

It’s just that you (obviously) never see those on the highlights that appear on the BBC F1 page or wherever, and no-one really remembers them.

2014 was as good a season as any I’ve seen, I think.

Or are RBR just trying to make it harder for themselves to stay?

Maybe they are trying to put the blame for quitting on somebody else – ‘we can’t get a competitive engine so we are off’. Easier to make it someone else’s fault, standard for RBR.

What the @purist said. Fundamentally F1 is mostly about the car, same as any design lead sport. The objective is to make a car in which any decent driver can win

Honer is involved in the British Americas Cup sailing team with Ainslee, he’s not doing that for the money relative to F1 but I’m sure it’s technically fascinating and a useful distraction. He can take a break from F1 and be back st any time

Honer is involved in the British Americas Cup sailing team with Ainslee

It’s Adrian Newey, unless you’re thinking of this bloke:

Autosport report Grosjean to Haas is a done deal – and they don’t usually report unless there is some truth behind a story…

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120977

Re the future Renault engine upgrade – I would laugh so much I might let out a little wee if it proves to be good! Would serve Red Bull right.

Horner has said the expected VW deal has “gone up in smoke”

Lovely pun for a man wondering who’ll be paying his mortgage in 18 months

well qualifying was fun.. hmm I have huge respect for Kvyat for getting out of the car and acknowledging the mistake. My stomach dropped when watching the crash. I hope tomorrow goes smoothly..Looks like its going to be a straight fight between the mercs.

Yep, good qualifying, shame Verstappen’s car died though. I was looking forward to seeing how he’d do! 🙂

ScottChegg – Member
Horner has said the expected VW deal has “gone up in smoke”

Lovely pun for a man wondering who’ll be paying his mortgage in 18 months

I very much doubt that he’s either wondering or worried.

Hamo was surely going to pip the pole? Can nico ever do it without some outside intervention?

…and again in a one on one Rosberg loses out.

Go Lewis!

I was expecting to hear a radio clip of him complaining.

I’m sure there’ll be one before the end

Yes

Enjoyed that. Especially Alonso’s messages back to the team.

Oooh. Ron’s interview was embarrassing. Good/bad news for Jenson, will be interesting to see his response.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

hamilton once again gets away with pushing rosberg off – considering last year they had a written agreement they would not do that in the first 3 laps but this time lewis “complained of understeer” at the exact same time nico was on the outside!

nice to see ron squirm, although a lot of talk from him i didnt really see him actually answer ANY question!

did merc throw the last race? for some reason? because they should have been disqualified from the previious race with the tyre issue – did they make some kind of backhand agreement to not finish in the top 3 ?

B2B – can you point me towards this written agreement? Fro what I saw rosberg ran out of road!

they should have been disqualified from the previious race with the tyre issue

Why?

more like that agreement with suzuka to not give mercs air time. I like the extra tv time for rbr. Some might say its to sweeten the deal to keep Red bull in the show. The camera work was a bit shoddy and that lovely cut away to the camera man who clearly woke up and started shooting the sky. F1 seems t move from one pr disaster to another. If it isnt renault going bust its mclaren going backwards and then rbr leaving, none of which is related to the sporting spectacle at all.

“Gp2 Gp2 rarrrghhh” – quote of the day 🙂

Bernie has lost the plot and people are taking advantage – both Renault and RBR are running circles around him

jeez do you guys watch f1?

merc had issue with tyre pressures at start of race 2 races ago, was going to get disqualified after race investigation but pulled the “oh but the procedure of the rule was a bit grey” and in theory they should have been removed from the race – perhaps a deal was struck then? in the “interests” of the show, let them win and they will throw the next one.

as for the agreement – nico and lauda both said on camera about an agreement that meant towards the mid-to end of last year they would not push each other off in the first ‘x’ laps of a race.

3 seconds of google searching for you
http://www.wheels24.co.za/FormulaOne/Nico-Lewis-feud-Why-theres-peace-at-Merc-20150722

Makes you think, eh?

You are JHJ and ICMFP

jeez do you guys watch f1?

We watch it, and understand it.

no one run rings around bernie,
if red bull pull out (along with torro rosso) then its 3 car teams, and bernie has been wanting that for ages
given that
silly season would go into overload

i get dibs on Nico, Lewis, Alonso at merc 🙂 🙂

Keep taking the pills b2b

The written agreement was for absolutely NO contact between the cars during racing and respectful distances in the first 5 laps.

Lewis got the better start, got the inside line and drove the racing line. This meant that it was Nico, not Lewis who was forced to agree to the agreement. He had to back out or collide. This was identical to Spa in 14, but in that instance Nico allowed his car to hit Lewis rather than back off. This time, post agreement, he had no choice but to back-off.

If he’d have realised this just a f reaction of a secon earlier, he’d have been able to slot in behind Lewis and ride the sister cars slipstream, rather than holding the challenge to the last possible moment and thn being forced on to the grass, losing 2 positions in the process.

Renault to buy Lotus- its official according to the BBC.

Spot on Daffy. Every weekend kartist knows this. Poor driving by Nico IMO but understandable as he knew that once Lewis got in front the race win was gone.

er, the procedure was a bit grey, and it seems quite clear that they did have the required tyre pressure at the point they measured it.

Daffy has it regarding Hamilton pushing Rosberg off – he had the advantage, hence it wasn’t down to him to back off to avoid contact. The agreement is to not do silly things when you don’t have the advantage, not to prevent the driver with the line taking advantage in the normal way by using all the road.

This time, post agreement, he had no choice but to back-off.

Agreement or not – contact wasn’t an option for either driver. Lewis couldn’t afford a puncture and few points after last weeks DNF. Nico had to finish high up to keep his slim hopes alive. So Lewis was taking a bit of a risk by squeezing Rosberg.

jeez do you guys watch f1?

The ironing.

I do my ironing while watching F1 usually, too 😉

Possibly EU investigation instigated by Force India and Sauber – the wheels are falling off F1, it’s in a bit of a mess right now…

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/09/29/two-teams-call-on-eu-to-investigate-f1/

Also rumours that British Grand Prix is under threat. If a race that attracts one of the biggest crowds can’t make it pay there is something seriously wrong.

I read that and decided it wasn’t worth commenting on as presumably it’s just Bernie playing games again.