2017 F1 General Discussion Topic

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

[Coops]

McHonda might as well throw the towel in now!

 

In other news, are Lance Stroll's eyebrows for real?

 

[camelspyyder]

1. Yup. 2.9 seconds off the pace on the same ultra-soft tyre.

 

2. He must be related to the Tracey boys (of 1960's Thunderbirds fame)

 

2A. He's just crashed it again. They lost yesterday after his off, and now he's stuffed it into the wall at turn 5/6

 

 

2B. Lucky his Dad does have a billionaires chequebook.

 

 

 

Edited 1 March, 2017 by camelspyyder

[camelspyyder]

Question?

Is the Ferrari running light or is it faster than the Mercedes?

Both are doing similar times every day this week but the Ferrari is managing to go that quick on harder tyres.

Or is it just "smoke and mirrors" ? - the SF16 dominated the Barcelona test last year but won nothing.

[Wet Kipper]

On 3/1/2017 at 15:23, camelspyyder said:

2B. Lucky his Dad does have a billionaires chequebook.

 

chequebook might pay for parts, engineers' salaries etc, but it won't get you points if you can't get to the chequered flag

[KenONeill]

6 minutes ago, Wet Kipper said:

 

chequebook might pay for parts, engineers' salaries etc, but it won't get you points if you can't get to the chequered flag

And "points make prizes", in this case in the shape of seven figure cheques for the team!

[Wet Kipper]

still, the long lingering shots of a Williams sitting nose first into a tyre wall will give Martini plenty of advertising screen time.

 

Did part of the JCB sponsorship come about because they agreed to get lifted off track by whatever heavy plant was around at regular intervals?

[Ally_bassman]

On 01/03/2017 at 15:26, camelspyyder said:

Question?

Is the Ferrari running light or is it faster than the Mercedes?

Both are doing similar times every day this week but the Ferrari is managing to go that quick on harder tyres.

Or is it just "smoke and mirrors" ? - the SF16 dominated the Barcelona test last year but won nothing.

 

The Scuderia's attitude is also intreguing... they're playing it down which suggests they are either quietly confident or they know they're flattering to decieve...no idea why they need to do that though, maybe they are running their power unit at full tilt to ensure it's reliable?

 

I'm a massive Ferarri fan, the car does look quick and reliable so I can only hope that come melbourne they can stage some sort of challenge to Mercedes.

 

I'm wary of Redbull, their car is very clean and does not have many aero parts bolted to it like the other cars. I've got a feeling they have spent test 1 ironing out reliabilty and power unit tests, and right now they are currently fitting the car out with their true aero setup for test 2.

[Wet Kipper]

On 2/28/2017 at 20:11, Coops said:

McHonda might as well throw the towel in now!

 

In other news, are Lance Stroll's eyebrows for real?

 

 

 

maybe he has a switch at the back of his head to look left and right

[vrskeith]

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39151187

 

Honda / Maclaren problems unknown?

[io1901]

Good way to promote a sport:

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/formula-one-f1-lewis-hamilton-bbc-channel-4-viewing-figures-drop-51m-britain-a7612306.html

 

 

[ColinD]

True but really, leading with hamiltons failure, nice headline bait. In a season where it pretty much came down to the last couple of races, you'd expect it to rise.

 

The most people I've seen watching a race last season was, in a pub in wales, all 6 of us, sorry 7 the barman too, watched it. Well I half watched it, read some emails did some work, looked up if DC sounded animated.

 

Maybe because CH4 player does not work on linux could be blamed... are there another 5.1m linux users out there? CH4 switch for me did it, too much hassle to catch up and never really knowing what or when it would be on... bbc had that too, but far easier to figure out.

[KenONeill]

There are several other people who've commented that (for whatever reason(s)) they do/will not watch PTV (never mind PPV) sports on the Indy's comments page. Never mind the faux news about Hamilton!

[Mindbomb]

I've pretty much stopped watching F1, after starting in around 1989/1990. Same for most of my friends too - we've all moved en-masse to endurance racing, primarily WEC and IMSA with some Blancpain thrown in for good measure.

 

The racing is harder and more entertaining, there's no "save fuel" or "nurse tyres", its not as artificial as F1, no enforced pit-stops, no "must run both compounds", no pass-flaps, it's streamed online for free or easy to get at via online apps. You can visit the race itself without handing over 450 quid for a ticket, the cars look better, the cars sound better and you can actually get into the pits and have a good look around them without too much hassle.

 

I'm not in the least surprised that the audience for F1 is tanking; might make the new owners wake up and do something about it before it vanishes up it's own wastegate.

 

 

[io1901]

4 hours ago, ColinD said:

 CH4 switch for me did it, too much hassle to catch up.

 

I noticed that the catchup took ages (days sometimes)  to appear on 4all (or whatever stupid name they have rebranded it to be). 

[Wet Kipper]

18 hours ago, io1901 said:

 

 4all (or whatever stupid name they have rebranded it to be). 

 

i got it mixed up with the iPlayer and ITVPlayer and called it "4play" in a conversation once 

[vrskeith]

Alonso not a happy bunny.

 

 

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39212377

 

Edited 8 March, 2017 by vrskeith

[KenONeill]

tl;dr version of the link - Alonso says "I'm faster than everyone else, but the engine is rubbish".

[camelspyyder]

50 bhp less than last year apparently. Alonso's career is over now he's stuck driving this ****box for another year.  MCL should break the contract with Honda asap. One of the other 3 engine builders would be obliged to supply them under current agreements with FIA and FOM

Edited 14 March, 2017 by camelspyyder

[Mindbomb]

3 hours ago, camelspyyder said:

50 bhp less than last year apparently. Alonso's career is over now he's stuck driving this ****box for another year.  MCL should break the contract with Honda asap. One of the other 3 engine builders would be obliged to supply them under current agreements with FIA and FOM

 

I'd agree, but that Honda deal is worth free engines (quite a lot of them it seems!) and a big bag of cash from Honda to Mclaren, who despite not being strapped for cash still don't have any big sponsors. If they dumped the Honda, they'd have to stump up for engines from Mercedes/Ferrari/Renault, all of whom would say they don't have the capabilities of supplying Mclaren at such short notice. They'd also lose the cash from Honda.

 

Looks like they're stuck with it until they can strike a deal with another supplier

[camelspyyder]

McLaren look to be following Lotus, Brabham & BRM to the back of the grid and onwards to obscurity. No sponsors, no chance of decent results, looking like it could soon be a team in its death throes to me.

[camelspyyder]

Well well. BBC report McL talking to Mercedes

 

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/39290908

 

I expect their Bahrani owner's can afford the financial hit of dumping Honda in order to get competitive and keep Alonso, who will surely walk otherwise.

 

Ever the politician, Eric Boullier says  it's not going to happen...

 

Hmmm?

 

 

 

 

Edited 16 March, 2017 by camelspyyder

[ben1990]

Wouldn't blame them. Points mean prizes after all

[Coops]

Wonder if Alonso has a clause connected with the team achieving results this year? Last year he could understand was a developmental year but with the expectation that improvements would come in this season, bringing the McL back to a competitive car?

 

Is the reason they don't have a major sponsor as a result of not actually needing it, or actively seeking one, because Honda fund the engines and driver bill? 

[ColinD]

It's a trap... they will be amazing .

 

 

They should run an engine at full tilt, for quali, it's only got to last three laps... then let it blow up on the grid on sunday.

 

Races might be a bit more if weights were enabled. But actually from my vague memory of last year, the mid pack got a lot more coverage than the silver arrows.

Edited 16 March, 2017 by ColinD