11 hours ago, Wet Kipper said:

I'm getting fed up with the charmed life that Mr. Hamilton seems to lead. 

 

What about his opponent?

 

Max went off under safety car, and didn't get passed by Leclerc Norris etc because Charles plain chose not to. (no killer instinct I feel)

 

You know if the boot was on the other foot and the Ferrari had gone off leading approaching a restart, you wouldn't have seen the RedBull for dust as it streaked away.

 

That was a massive let-off for #33.

I nearly gave up on F1 at the start of the turbo-hybrid era. Flat, boring races without even the sound of a decent engine exhaust, yet the first 2 races this season have been EXCELLENT!

Some years of the hybrid era like 17 or 18 were pretty good though. Mercedes hunting down the championship leading Ferrari through those seasons.

 

This isn't the first year Mercedes have had competition.

10 hours ago, camelspyyder said:

Some years of the hybrid era like 17 or 18 were pretty good though. Mercedes hunting down the championship leading Ferrari through those seasons.

Was that the years when Ferrari were running an illegal fuel flow rate?

No that was 2019..

Montreal binned for 2021. Istanbul the replacement.

Sorry DC and Max; the race track is the dark grey bit between the white lines.

Going slightly off track (geddit?), I had to endure the UK terrestrial Channel 4 coverage of the race due to being on holiday in a static caravan. Firstly I had to avoid the result for 5 hours, then sit through Steve Jones’ drivel - he’s a good, passionate presenter but it’s like he doesn’t take F1 seriously yet it is the pinnacle of motorsport. Then there’s DC who couldn’t remember the drivers’ names on track and quite frankly I can’t trust anyone who wears a tee underneath a blazer. 
Then there was Channel 4’s equivalent of Ted Kravitz (who I don’t like at the best of times), calling Checo the ‘tyre whisperer’. Finally, after the opening laps I thought it was about to get really tasty… and the adverts came on. 
I’m not being a Sky snob but the terrestrial coverage has got to get its act together IMO. 

 

As for the race itself : right there’s the blueprint for the rest of the season

LOL 

 

C4 doesn't cost £80 a month! ...which is what I'd pay for SKY slow copper broadband, basic TV and F1.

 

I get 100Mb fibre internet in two houses (in different countries), mobile and a VPN for way less.

 

The VPN only costs about £1.50 a month but I can choose any worldwide English language coverage I like, even the SKY F1 version.

 

Funny that you like the SKY coverage. I've been reading that other countries that have had it forced on them are less happy, the USA in particular.

 

 

Edited 3 May, 20215 yr by camelspyyder

How did Marko not see that Max would lose the fastest lap point?

 

Even on C4 you could see he was way off track during that final lap on red tyres.

 

 

Each to their own.
I compared C4 to the BBC back in ‘09. Jake Humphrey, Eddie Jordan, Jonathan Legard & MB, an excellent team. They even brought back in Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain as the intro theme.  I just feel C4 had something to build on and they fluffed it with what, in my opinion, I’d call a tongue-in-cheek approach. 

1 hour ago, DiscoStoo said:

Each to their own.
I compared C4 to the BBC back in ‘09. Jake Humphrey, Eddie Jordan, Jonathan Legard & MB, an excellent team. They even brought back in Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain as the intro theme.  I just feel C4 had something to build on and they fluffed it with what, in my opinion, I’d call a tongue-in-cheek approach. 

 

I don't believe free to air broadcasters have access to half of the footage premium channels do. Bernie was against continuing free-to-air and I expect Liberty don't want to give it away either.

 

Either way, since I lost my free bonus F1HD channel on Sky a few years ago, I've just had to spend a few minutes pre-race finding the best streams (whilst saving a pile of money it has to be said.)

 

I certainly can't justify the cost of Sky any more, only spending about 5 months in the UK a year nowadays.

 

 

Edited 4 May, 20215 yr by camelspyyder

That’s fair enough 

My gf and I love football and I like the darts + IPL too so we don’t mind paying for the monthly subscription. 
 

I know we’re lucky enough to afford something like that and I was having a rant at the C4 coverage; to consider my whole BH weekend holiday was (secretly) based around it, I was truly disappointed. 

Edited 4 May, 20215 yr by DiscoStoo

The thing about the C4 coverage is you don't have to watch it as it's broadcast. If you get in late and it's still on you can restart it on All4, or it goes onto catch-up a very short time after the broadcast ends. It's good insurance if you're away from your sky box. 

 

And thats also ignoring Sky Go, which works all over Europe on your mobile devices.

Edited 4 May, 20215 yr by camelspyyder

I don't mind C4 highlights.. lose interest trying to watch a whole race so it works for me.. 

 

Worst part is trying to avoid F1 discussions until Sunday evening 

Worst parts of C4 for me:-

1. Steve Jones.
2. DC not understanding that the circuit is the dark grey bit between the white lines.

Since James Hunt passed, the only F1 commentary team I really enjoyed listening to was John Watson/Ben Edwards on Eurosport.

 

I certainly don't recall Wattie being a smug know-it-all like Brundle can be... despite being markedly the more successful F1 driver.

Totally get why people prefer some commentators to others. I like Ben Edwards but love Brundle; the season opener in Bahrain, Crofty asked him to go through the lap whilst onboard (Gasly?). His knowledge of the corners astounded me to the point where I took his advice and applied it the Xbox game online - I came first out of 18 other drivers far better than me. His little anecdotes are highly amusing, too: Drive To Survive season one when Bottas crashes - “that’s not going to polish out, is it?” and my favourite, “ambition over adhesion”. 
 

Anyway, looking forward to Barcelona, then it’s 3 weeks until the yawn-fest that is Monaco where I only watch the qualifying. They really need to get over this ‘jewel in the crown’ dross when Liberty are trying to attract viewers and get rid of this GP in my opinion. 

1 hour ago, DiscoStoo said:

yawn-fest that is Monaco

I guess you've never watched a race at the Hunboringring either?

10 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

 Hunboringring

 

Monaco is where the money is.

 

F1 is a business, not a sport, after all.

 

If it wasn't for DRS it would be awfully uneventful on most tracks though.

Red Bull must be a little bemused. Beat Hamilton by a massive half a second in Q2 and then he magics up 0.7 seconds on his very next run!

Spoiler alert!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to Mercedes and the Haminator. Perfect strategy separated Mercedes and Red Bull today as far as I can see.

 

The most interesting thing I took from the race was Bottas holding Lewis up a little even though he had been told that Lewis was 'on a different strategy and going for the win' (something Bottas was unlikely to be able to match). My take from this is that Bottas is feeling a bit grumpy, imposing himself a little and to the teams potential detriment and it opens the door for Russell to move into the team next season as a natural fit. Lewis probably only has this and perhaps one more season at the top of his game I reckon and although Bottas is quick, he isn't premier A++ quick, something that Russell perhaps is, or at least A+ quick if you see what I mean. So for me, it's Hamilton and Russell at Merc next season, with Russell taking over as lead driver the year after if all goes well.

Yes 👆

Think this is inevitable although my theory I mentioned in an earlier post has now evolved somewhat this weekend : Bottas to lose his seat mid-season, Russell to jump in it, Lewis to retire while he’s on top end of the season and to pursue outside interests, Ocon to Mercedes. Don’t forget there’s history between Max & Esteban - seeing them in similar machinery will be fascinating. 
 

Just like to mention that although Checo pulled a very nice move on the outside of Alonso, I reckon he’s been found out. Can’t see him being demoted to Alpha Tauri either. 

 

4 races in and I’m talking about the driver Merry go round 🤪

I'm thinking Mercedes will hang on to Bottas until the end of the season and Hamilton will want to stay one more season to either win a 9th or possibly an 8th title. I think he fancies beating Verstappen in similar machinery to silence some of his doubters. This would be doubly impressive as he is no spring chicken