2017 F1 General Discussion Topic

[camelspyyder]

Coops. Nando is out of contract at the end of season anyway. Effectively a free agent now.

[camelspyyder]

At last, For all her fans on here, Suzie Wolff drives fast. The speedy Scot/German minx has just lost an appeal against a driving ban imposed for speeding. The most recent offence was 35 in a 30 zone... I always said she was too slow for F1 but I take it all back now 

 

 

 

Edited 18 March, 2017 by camelspyyder
getting the facts right

[tweenster]

I've been watching F1 since 1973. The week before the season starts I ALWAYS get excited, hoping that it will be exciting, the cars will look and sound great and the drivers will be allowed to race. The Schumacher years killed it for me, and since then I have taken only a general interest in the 'sport'. But, again, I am having those pre-season 'tingles of anticipation' as it seems that Ferrari, and possibly Red Bull, will be able to take the fight to Mercedes.

 

I do, though, remember the times when Ferrari were accused of running over-size engines in pre-season testing just to get the Tifosi excited and buying tickets for the races, flattering to deceive in the race or testing before Monza was another way of guaranteeing a sell out at their home race.

 

All will be revealed very soon. And then I will either stay interested or go back to Moto GP!

[WaveyDavey]

Can't believe no-one mentioned the new Force India livery the other day.....

[tweenster]

54 minutes ago, WaveyDavey said:

Can't believe no-one mentioned the new Force India livery the other day.....

WOW!!!

[WaveyDavey]

11 minutes ago, tweenster said:

WOW!!!

 

You'll definately not miss it in the pack!!!

[camelspyyder]

Maybe maybe not. Unusual colours don't always look good on TV. Jordan binned the beautiful gold B&H scheme for that exact reason, and the replacement yellow looked great and became iconic. The pink FI has lost its Indian distinctiveness and looks like a back of the grid indycar IMO.

[camelspyyder]

...Actually so does the MCL32.

[KenONeill]

On 3/18/2017 at 17:18, camelspyyder said:

At last, For all her fans on here, Suzie Wolff drives fast. The speedy Scot/German minx has just lost an appeal against a driving ban imposed for speeding. The most recent offence was 35 in a 30 zone... I always said she was too slow for F1 but I take it all back now 

 

 

 

In which context please note that this was a "totting up" ban for a 4th speeding offence (source "The Herald" 18/03/2017)

[camelspyyder]

You'd think a professional driver would know better?

[camelspyyder]

Mercedes and Red Bull have changed their suspension designs in response to the threat of protests (by Ferrari) in Oz.

 

I thought the days of the red team's rules veto were long gone...

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128594/mercedesred-bull-had-to-alter-suspension

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 23 March, 2017 by camelspyyder

[Ally_bassman]

On 20/03/2017 at 12:08, camelspyyder said:

You'd think a professional driver would know better?

 

True,

 

To make matters worse, she posted a picutre on her FB account holding some car keys with the tag line 'Cruisin' She then had to clarify that she lives in Switzerland and her ban is for the UK.... Oh dear her PR person must be shaking their head!

Edited 23 March, 2017 by Ally_bassman

[camelspyyder]

Read a piece by EJ yesterday - he predicts Hamilton will smash the field this year.

 

FP1 and FP2 were a good start.

[ben1990]

Looks as though Mercedes have shed one or two of the sandbags from testing. Ominous really as we know they don't use beast mode until the later stages of qualifying. 

[Coops]

Was inevitable really, wasn't it? Ferrari aren't going to be slouches though.

[camelspyyder]

Here's Herr Vettel on Friday, realising the Merc is a second faster than Ferrari on race pace, and all the advantage he had in testing was a sham.

 

Even after the Scuderia forced M-AMG to change their suspension design.

 

Doesn't look happy...

 

 

 

If anyone knows how fast the Ferrari is it's him, and he doesn't exude confidence now does he?

 

 

 

Edited 24 March, 2017 by camelspyyder

[camelspyyder]

...and here's the evidence

 

LONG RUN RANKING
1. Bottas (Mercedes) 1m27.968s (SS) 7 laps
2. Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m28.057s (US) 10 laps
3. Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1m28.925s (US) 8 laps
4. Vettel (Ferrari) 1m29.058s (SS) 13 laps
5. Sainz (Toro Rosso) 1m29.189s (US) 10 laps
6. Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 1m29.392s (US) 12 laps
7. Perez (Force India) 1m29.602s (US) 9 laps
8. Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1m29.620s (US) 7 laps
9. Grosjean (Haas) 1m29.780s (US) 11 laps
10. Ocon (Force India) 1m29.884s (US) 11 laps
11. Hulkenberg (Renault) 1m30.150s (S) 14 laps
12. Stroll (Williams) 1m30.174s (US) 5 laps
13. Ericsson (Sauber) 1m30.376s (SS) 13 laps
14. Vandoorne (McLaren) 1m30.661s (US) 9 laps
15. Wehrlein (Sauber) 1m31.761s (S) 8 laps

 

 

Do you think RBR are concerned too?

 

 

 

Edited 24 March, 2017 by camelspyyder

[ben1990]

Hopefully Bottas can be a bit closer to Hamilton as the weekend evolves. Iirc his race sim was done on lower fuel and fresher tyres. Be interesting to see if Ferrari and rbr have more in reserve than Mercedes but I have my doubts

[camelspyyder]

Enjoyed qually. A good fight and the cars look fast even if pole only 1.7 seconds faster than last year.

 

 

[ben1990]

Hamilton v Vettel showdown tomorrow, unless Hamilton aces the start. Reckon Mercedes have an edge in race trim

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Nice race, pleased for Vettel, he deserved that. Interesting to see how things will develop, Bo77as put in a strong drive too. Little overtaking action but then it's not the easiest track for that anyway. 

[camelspyyder]

Mercedes strategists have no balls.

 

Vettel did what? one? two? quick laps to threaten that he was coming in for the undercut, and Mercedes folded and brought Lewis in 2 laps too soon.

 

Once he was behind Max it was all over.

 

Well done Ferrari. By Sunday they were equal on race pace, but ahead in brain power and cunning.

[camelspyyder]

Toto Wolff equally has no balls. 

 

Publicly on one hand refusing to blame his strategists for the error but on the other hand his next sentence was:

 

"All of that leads to a decision, and in that case it was probably a couple of laps early."

 

Get off the fence man and do some managing of your team.

[KenONeill]

We clearly need to put Toto onto an initial 2 banana strategy on race day!

[gadgetman]

Audi invited to forthcoming F1 engine development meeting 

http://en.f1i.com/news/263462-audi-attend-next-f1-engine-meeting.html