New Grand Prix Season Is Almost Upon Us!!!

[Agathosdaimon]

i am fine with the halo now - i guess being that the drivers seem to be able to drive fine with it, i doubt they would move to glass because that is less opportunity for future advertising space [:'(]

[warspite1]

I get the feeling already its going to be one of those seasons for poor Lewis..... [&:][:(]

[Poopyhead]

Coultard told Sepp that statistically, no driver who won the first two races has lost the championship since 1982. However, even Sepp admitted that Ferrari won the first race by luck and mentioned that his tires were shot for the last 10 laps yesterday. I don't believe that Mercedes is going to swap out Lewis' gearbox before every race. Ferrari will eventually have to compete evenly with Hammer Time. However, it is a great rivalry to see who gets Championship #5.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Poopyhead

Coultard told Sepp that statistically, no driver who won the first two races has lost the championship since 1982. However, even Sepp admitted that Ferrari won the first race by luck and mentioned that his tires were shot for the last 10 laps yesterday. I don't believe that Mercedes is going to swap out Lewis' gearbox before every race. Ferrari will eventually have to compete evenly with Hammer Time. However, it is a great rivalry to see who gets Championship #5.

warspite1

A strange race. Ferrari seemingly well ahead of Mercedes all weekend but then get caught out on the under-cut to hand Mercedes seemingly certain victory (Bottas) only for another safety car incident that cost the German marque victory for the second time in three races.

Then there is Verstappen.....

Great win for Riciardo - if Lewis can't win then I hope this guy can. Great personality and perhaps the finest over-taker out there.

[Agathosdaimon]

Ricciardo's win was amazing! already one of my favorite drivers - though i like alot of the teams - all the cars have such gorgeous livery too i think. next up Baku, the veritable demolition derby that it can be, will it be Ricciardo there again? I wish i could have seen the race live last year there, just watching the replays from it and it was nuts - where vettel deliberately knocked hamilton- seems a bit unsportsmanlike yet at the same time it is great for the entertainment-theatrical pomp and circumstance that F1 has about it too

[Poopyhead]

Strategy rules this season. In Australia, Ferrari just out-smarted Mercedes' algorithm. In Bahrain, Sepp gambled on his tires making it to the end, but I am sure that the Belgium GP was on his mind, where his Pirellis turned into pin-wheels. Yesterday, the battling strategies left a window open for Red Bull to steal the show on fresher tires. It was interesting/amazing that Lewis radioed in the clear before the start that his tires did not look like they could do the one stopper strategy. Who should call the shot, the algorithm or the driver? We have a saying in the Army, "An intelligent man can only spell experience." On to Baku.

Will Putin sabotage the U.S. team, Haas?

[Agathosdaimon]

well is there a spread of this across the teams? that is, some teams are ruling by strategy and others may have more initiative and decision making afforded to their to drivers? - that is itself a kind of classic, even philosophical tension - makes me think of the old generalised summary of the difference between Soviet and Nato military doctrine -at least going by what my weighty manual for M1 Tank Platoon 2 and the novel Team Yankee described

[Poopyhead]

We have an axiom in the Army, "If you find yourself in a fair fight, then you did something terribly wrong." The teams push every rule, every pit stop, every safety car deployed to figure out a strategic advantage. However, the teams don't get a penny if they win the driver's championship and neither does the driver directly. The constructor's championship is where the team thoughts are. Kimi suspiciously slowed down in the race, perhaps in an effort to block for Vettel. Maybe Ferrari do want to give Sepp every chance to win #5. He really ran a risk of running his tires off in Bahrain and scoring zip. He gambled and won. The fans want to see the drivers go for the win every time. That's what they like about Verstappen. The rivalry between Lauda and Hunt portrayed in the film "Rush" dealt with this aspect of the sport as a sort of Spock vs Kirk clash of competing philosophies. If Elon Musk ever automates the F1 race cars, then no one would watch. Everyone connected to the team pushes it to the limit. I just don't care for a strategy that seems to favor points and not the driver. Mercedes should have pit Lewis and trusted him to go for it on fresh tires.

[Agathosdaimon]

hopefully they will see the error of their ways, i am sure Hamilton wont like to be stuck following a faulty strategy if it is repeated. The Spock vs Kirk analogy is good - its an essential opposition all throughout our culture and history - even perhaps at the heart of our being human -having the means to solve whatever problem comes our way, but unable to really ever prepare for the unknown - and both overpreparing and underpreparing have pros and cons.

That movie Rush was great, i really liked the portrayal of the two competing personalities, Daniel Bruehl was so good as Lauda and I liked how it was all shot, the colours and angles just had such a photographic quality to them like the images i would see in Grand Prix annual books when i was young. it was good to see recognisable features of the tracks too (even if that part is no doubt cgi)

[warspite1]

.....motor racing on the other hand is a fantastic sport and I've always said this [:)]

[Agathosdaimon]

i am looking forward to catching some of the monaco race coming up, hoping to see better fortunes for Ricciardo once again

[Poopyhead]

As if Danny had read your post:

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/head ... e-two.html

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/head ... -pole.html

His nick-name is honey badger, which are very aggressive down under.

[warspite1]

Danny Ric looks incredible around the principality [X(] But what has happened to Verstappen this season? I guess most top drivers have their annus horriblis and this is his.

[Orm]

He said annus... fnarr, fnarr.

[Poopyhead]

Incredible job by Danny after his engine problem. The Ferrari and Mercedes teams were locked in to the one stopper strategy and nursed their tires rather than race for the lead. The announcer nailed it when he commented that Ricciardo was like a wounded animal being chased by vegetarians.

Canada was 68 laps worth of yawning as the teams nursed their tires. Pirelli should make tires that allow the racers to, well gee, race.

[warspite1]

Poor result for Lewis at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a track he's pretty much made his own since since his debut there in 2007. Good to see him bounce back in France. Now its two more races in quick succession - a key time in the championship me thinks....

[Agathosdaimon]

on to Spielberg - probably one of my favorite of all tracks

[warspite1]

Great... another error from Vettel and he gets away with it and more....[:@]

[Poopyhead]

Great win for Verstappen. If you're going to win, do it at Red Bull's home in front of 35k Dutchmen.

So, anyone know when was the last time that the lead changed 4 times?

[Agathosdaimon]

great win for verstappen and a great race overall - so many unexpected mechanical failures and overtakes and drama on the team radios - Hamilton and Bottas must have been overcome with anger at their breakdowns surely, i dont think i have yet seen any interviews from them post race.
Does such a large dutch crowd normally come to F1 races to cheer for i presume Verstappen? they picked the right one today, and a track that the odds would have been on another silver arrows win.
I just wish Ricciardo could have gotten some points too, after already surviving the tyre issue earlier