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Formula 1 2018 Season |OT| Better Late Than Never

Breakage

Member
Found out this weekend that next year Channel 4 (UK) will only be showing highlights of the races next year. Only live one will be the British GP.

Yeah, fuck that. I already have to wait 5 hours on media blackout to watch highlights of half the races. It's already a pain in the arse. Not going to do it for a whole season.

Not going to subscribe to Sky so I may as well just not bother keeping up with the F1.

I would have thought Liberty Media would be keen to keep F1 on freeview channels but apparently not.

Still, sulky Lewis was funny this weekend.
Only one live race? That sounds terrible. I hate going on a media blackout for C4's highlights, and with Google Chrome's non-removable new tab news feed, it has become harder to avoid race results. To do that for an entire season is too much. I'll likely not bother with F1 next year, too.

I really don't understand why they'd do that. Surely it's in their interest to encourage more people to get into F1.
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
I find it really interesting that SkyF1 is beating this “money put into R&D” narrative to death this year.

Years of Mercedes dominance = crickets

One year of Ferrari competitiveness = outrage!

Anyone old enough like me has seen this attitude before in Formula 1.

Won’t ever happen, but hypothetically, if Hamilton switched to Ferrari, watch these blokes stfu quick smart. So funny.
 

Grieves

Member
Arse! Just seen quali results. I forgot I was supposed on a media blackout until Channel 4 show highlights in a couple of hours.
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
posted elsewhere

thoughts?
I’d be extremely surprised if he recieves any punishment.

The rules don’t seem to apply the same to Hamilton or Mercedes in general. Any kind of accident = racing incident whereas others get sanctioned. If they dominate = just too good whereas others must be cheating. They seem to operate in their own protected bubble.

He needs to appreciate the free ride he gets instead of having a cry next to his car when things don’t go his way.
 

Makariel

Member
The stewards will talk to him over a cup of tea (no milk, because vegan), but since he missed out on the rest of qualifying they probably won't do much.

Interesting to see that Mercedes isn't bulletproof in 2018. Looking at their four subsequent years of dominance in the sport, only one team/driver combination ever managed to stay on top for more than 4 years: Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari. All things come to an end and teams with Ferrari engines look mighty fast at the moment.
 
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Fox Mulder

Member
Ferrari seemed to have finally passed Mercedes and there's still two more years in this engine era to have amazing battles at the front like this.
 
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Makariel

Member
I think Mercedes is one engine upgrade away from being in front again, closest championship in a while.

Edit: if Mercedes ever again blame Ferrari for team orders all I can do is laugh :p
 
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DiuHOLKU8AAveFX.jpg:large

no pen for Hamilton for doing the same thing
 
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Breakage

Member
I switched off as soon as Vettel crashed out.No points at all is the worst outcome.
When it started raining, I just had a feeling that Vettel was going to bin it and Hamilton would take the lead.
 

Mohonky

Member
Yeah that puts a damper on the season. Mercedes is on top again and apparently also above the rules.

What was the rule that was broken?

Raikkonen incident was different because it was a track specific directive, not a rule that is regularly in place.
 
today's race wasn't that boring, surprising for the Hungaroring

bad pitstops and slow traffic cost Ferrari today
 
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Breakage

Member
When Vettel made contact with Bottas, I really thought he was going end with up another DNF. He was lucky not to get a puncture.

Max seemed more pissed off than usual on the radio today.
 

Makariel

Member
The hungaroring can throw in some surprises. And once again Bottas was used as mobile road block to cover Hamilton.
 

Makariel

Member
When I read the news last night I was sure that I'm just drunk. Today I'm sober and he still is at Renault, wtf?

I'm sad, RBR with Daniel and Max was my favourite team this year :(
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Redbull sound shocked and he was the perfect mix of winning driver with the personality that fits their image.

A shame they let him go, but they wasted no time throwing big money at Verstappen and Renault offered Ricciardo £20 million a year.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
It seems McLaren came "pretty close" to signing Ricciardo:
https://www.planetf1.com/news/mclaren-came-pretty-close-to-signing-ricciardo/

I wonder why he didn't go through with it.🤔

Reading around, and the impression I get is that Daniel's move to Renault came as a shock to Red Bull – apparently Horner thought he was joking.
I think he [Ricciardo] will end up regretting it.

Ferrari and Merc seats are tied up and Redbull's switch to Honda might let Renault slide up to third. Redbull isn't winning a championship before 2021 regardless, so Ricciardo gets paid big and drives for a rising factory team that may be strong in the new engine regulations.

Redbull let go of a perfect driver for their image. Gasly and Verstappen just won't be the same.
 
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Breakage

Member
Ferrari and Merc seats are tied up and Redbull's switch to Honda might let Renault slide up to third. Redbull isn't winning a championship before 2021 regardless, so Ricciardo gets paid big and drives for a rising factory team that may be strong in the new engine regulations.

Redbull let go of a perfect driver for their image. Gasly and Verstappen just won't be the same.
Yeah, seems like a gamble though. And I agree, Ricciardo was a good fit for RedBull's "push it to the limit" extreme sports image. When I think of Renault I still think of Nicole & Papa and the girly Clio.
 

Yagami_Sama

Member
That was a bold move. Maybe he thought that Honda will not deliver and that RedBull are too focused on Verstappen and moving to Renault he would be the number 1. Renault is improving but still ,his decision is a bet and lets see if it will pay off.

And poor Sainz, I thought that he will stick with Renault for a while.I wonder where he might go, I don't think that he will be willing to move back to "Redbull Junior".
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Sainz might go to mclaren, who will then boot Vandoorne or Alonso leaves. Lando Norris is also a possible driver they have to consider.

There's only so many seats and Force India is an uncertainty.
 

Yagami_Sama

Member
McLaren have too much drivers to consider. Lando Norris has a more "critical" deal, that McLaren must give him a seat until September or he will be free to run to other teams, something like that.

Force India, might be bought by Stroll's father, according to some rumor I read elsewhere.

Gasly might be promoted to RBR and will be interesting to see how Verstappen would behave if Ghasly were faster than him.

Ricciardo move, opened many possibilities it will be interesting to see the changes to the grid next season.
 

Scopa

The Tribe Has Spoken
Can’t help but feel like Ricciardo is going to have a frustrating next few years like Alonso has had.

I was really hoping to see him in a Ferrari and apparently they were keen at one point, but I guess the rise of Leclerc has changed their perspective.

Maybe one day.
 

Yagami_Sama

Member
If Redbull have the sampe performances problems with Honda's engine next year, like McLaren did, will be very interesting. Imagine Verstappen no reaching Q3 in several races, and Renault scoring more points than Redbull,the drama will reach new heights.
 

Mohonky

Member
If Redbull have the sampe performances problems with Honda's engine next year, like McLaren did, will be very interesting. Imagine Verstappen no reaching Q3 in several races, and Renault scoring more points than Redbull,the drama will reach new heights.

They will.

Renault always said they had problems developing the PU while having to fit it into Neweys ridiculously trim chasis. Newey has always been this way, expecting engine suppliers to work within small confines. Renault actually have an updated MGU-K but Redbull hasn't taken it because it would mean altering their chasis package, and consequently it's also the part that keeps failing. Honda is going to have the same problem next year. Honda blamed McLaren for taking a similar approach of going with a tight chasis to fit the PU. Honda have more freedom with Torro Rosso so they are quite happy to do their thing, but next year they are going to be in the same position where they'll have a car ultimately designed for aero to the detriment of cooling efficiency and they'll just have to make it work.

There's nothing to say Ferrari or Merc couldn't have cars that handle like the RBR seems to on tracks that require high mechanical grip / low aero downforce, but it would mean also pushing reliability of their PU; but Ferrari and Merc just compromise better and it seems Ferrari really have the total package right now.

Also yeh, the driver market is about to go apeshit.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Redbull is still the fastest Renault powered team and they push where they can to make up for their engine deficit.

If they had a better engine, they'd likely design a more rounded car like Mercedes and Ferrari have.
 

Yagami_Sama

Member
Expected. Force India situation just helped him "take over". So next year Force India driver might be Perez and Stroll and Williams future is a big question mark. They need some major sponsor to inject some money or else they will have another horrible season, worse than McLaren.

This changes are making things become very interesting.
 

Fox Mulder

Member
Stroll assembled a bunch of billionaires to invest in the team and he's not even the richest backer. Still think Lance is going, but daddy put a lot in Williams already too.

Williams might be saved by the simpler aero next year, they still have merc power, and there's always more money in russia. Perez or Ocon wouldn't be a bad pick up, but maybe Lance stays at least another year.
 

Yagami_Sama

Member
Russell was putting some pressure on Mercedes to have a sit next year, the deal with Force India could open a spot for him. Too many drivers out there, too few seats available. What a mess this season has become.
 

Yagami_Sama

Member
Two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso will not race in Formula 1 in 2019.

I was not expecting that. So he saw that next year the car will be not that good and he decided to move out and return if things improve. By doing that, he "saves" Vandoorne job and let a sit open for Lando Norris. And if the car for next year is not good, with this two, next season could might be tough for them.


https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/138025/alonso-will-not-race-in-f1-in-2019
 

Fox Mulder

Member
I kind of was. He's never getting a seat at ferrari or mercedes. He didn't even get a renault offer, and redbull basically laughed off the idea of signing him. Mclaren might only be a little better next year.

Mclaren apparently tried to sign Scott Dixon in Indycar for a new team, so he's probably going to do that. They can do Vandoorne and Norris and possibly slide Alonso back in if they drop Vandoorne after 2019 or something.
 

Makariel

Member
I was expecting that already, he wants to get the triple crown so focus on indy makes sense after winning le mans this year already. He can still continue to drive WEC as well.
 

Yagami_Sama

Member
If McLaren improve in a way that he might fight for wins he will return, else I too think that Alonso might go to Indy next season.
 

Yagami_Sama

Member
Ouch.

Ricciardo move to Renault was weird. Maybe he was not believing in Honda's engine or he was tired of people praising Verstappen a lot. Who knows.
Will be interesting to see how he behave in a team that is fighting in the midfield instead of the top.
 
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