Formula 1 - 2018 Season

[MiniDave]

This weekend it's Silverstone and the Mercedes is picked to run off and hide from the rest. Assuming they don't break of course.

[MiniDave]

Well, it didn't work out quite like Mercedes had hoped.....Hamilton's behavior - refusing to interview in parc ferme shows what a poor loser he is. It was his own fault too, as he got a terrible start and was well back when Kimi locked up and turned him around. I do give him full marks for a hell of a comeback run from dead last, but he was helped considerably by two safety car periods.

No question that if the Reds Bull had a bit more HP they would be right in the thick of things too....

This is proving to be a more even season than we've had in F1 in a long time!

Kimi also drove one hell of a race to finish 3rd after his 10 sec penalty.

[BruceK]

Great race to watch!   Once again Lewis' prima donna attitude is treated with deference by the fawning British broadcast team.   Again.   

[MiniDave]

Well, he came back with a good reply later in the interviews, but he's still a little prick and a sore loser IMHO.

[MiniDave]

It's interesting how the mid pack has changed too......

Sauber is now able to run with HAAS, which is considered to be the "best of the rest", Force India are struggling to make top 10 finishes. McLaren is only in there by dint of Alonso's efforts or they would be well out of the top 10 every race. Even Renault is struggling more than their customers at Reds Bull and Big Mac.

Was it Alonso who said there are now 3 Ferrari teams at the front? (HAAS, Sauber and the boys in the red Jammies.)

One things for sure, it won't be another runaway Mercedes title- they may win it still and if they do good for them - but three teams have each won three races this season, that's a significant change - and improvement IMHO..

[MiniDave]

Kimi's wife's reaction to Hamilton's snit after the British Grand Prix.....

[BruceK]

Haha.     

And what does she say about her husband's not-so-iceman-like losing his cool and complaining  when he's behind the wheel?

[MiniDave]

Today we got to meet not only Kimi's wife but also his boy as they cheered him on.......

Ferrari had two terrible pit stops (if you can call 4-5 sec terrible!) and put their boys out of contention for the win.

Ricciardo put on a masterful show of passing as he stormed thru the field but still only managed to finish 4th behind the Merc and Ferraris. Verstappen out early with powertrain failure - AGAIN! Red Bull must be chomping at the bit to get rid of these Renault slugs and on to the Honda power plants - especially when Gasly finished 6th for Toro Rosso and Brenda Hartlley managed to just miss the points in 11th - and that's with only 3 retirements in the whole field.

Williams had another miserable weekend....par for the course for them this year. Maclaren's Alonso finished an OK 8th on his birthday and Van Dorne was right behind him till his trans quit on him.

Bottas can claim all he wants that he's not the "2nd" driver, but he sure as hell played that roll today, keeping the Ferraris back so the Hamster could cruise home for an easy win.

The only really entertaining part of the race was watching Danny Ricky Bobby drive thru the field to finish 4th as Botta's tires finally gave up in the last few laps.

[BruceK]

That was a snoozefest of a race.   Although I don't miss Bernie (at all!) I sometimes think of his wacky idea to have sprinklers randomly wet the tracks to spice things up.  It would work of course.  But the fact he thought of it, and I fantasize about it, really speaks volumes to what is wrong with F1:  races that are nothing but high speed parades won by one of three or four drivers (and usually just the same driver).

[MiniDave]

The silly season begins!

Danny Ricky Bobby is leaving Red Bull at the end of 2018 and going to Renault!

Wonder who they'll pair with Mad Max?

[gr8kornholio]

Isn't that the engines that Red Bull use?  He think they going to be faster I guess than a honda powered red bull.

[MiniDave]

Well, it makes sense that a factory team will always have a hotter motor than a customer team, and since Renault is in it's second season as a mfr, I think he's on the right track. That's where the problems between Red Bull and Renault have been - Red Bull is convinced that they've been getting "seconds" from Renault. I think the Honda won't come good for another year or more, so Riccardo may be able to finish better than he is now. If they have engine failures, he sure knows where to point the finger too!  ;D

[gr8kornholio]

Or rant in a swear riddled radio message.  Mad max last week was tv gold.

[BruceK]

Since silly season has started, I wonder if Kimi will be replaced by Charles LeClerc. 

[MiniDave]

That was a strong rumor before sweaterman died, now his replacements are strong Kimi backers, Leclerc may get another season of seasoning.

[MiniDave]

Now Big Mac says they were *this* close to signing Ricciardo to their team.....that would have been an obvious and easy out for Alonso to go Indy racing.

Renault are currently (a distant) fourth in points so it makes more sense to go there if he wants to win some races next season.....Big Mac are only holding on to 7th because of Alonso's efforts so I really doubt they had a snowball's chance of signing Danny boy.

But, I think he missed a good bet not going to HAAS instead, think of what he could have done with that car, with the Ferrari engine now widely considered the most powerful on the grid....Big Jeans has been close to podium finishes several times this year and either crashed or did something stupid - I think we'd have seen a HAAS at least on the podium under Danny Ricky Bobby......and having him dicing it out with Mad Max would have been fun to see. I expect the problem there was simply salary - he can get a lot more from a works team than an independent.

As it is, if the Renault comes good next year and with him driving - plus 2019 being a learning year for Red Bull Honda - he could see Renault right where Red Bull is now, third in points and vying for the occasional win. I think it may turn out to be a good move for him after all, at least for the two years he's contracted, after that - with the rules change - he can move anywhere he wants. 

So drivers on the bubble this fall

Kimi at Ferrari

Sainz

Brenda Hardley

Alonso depending on what he decides to do next year

Who knows if Force India will be on the grid since they're in administration right now, so Perez and Ocon could be available.

If Stroll's daddy buys Force India he'll go there, moving one of the guys above out

That would give Sirotkin's backers a chance to buy or buy into Williams, maybe Kvyat comes back and we have an all Russian team?

This silly season promises to be extra silly....only the first domino has fallen.

Another interesting thing to ponder, here's a list of 2016 drivers no longer in F1 in 2018

Rio Haryanto
Esteban Guiterrez
Pascal Werhlein
Joylon Palmer
Felipe Nasr
Jensen Button
Daniil Kvyat
Felipe Masa
Nico Rosberg

2017 drivers no longer in F1
Antonio Giovinazzi
Daniil Kvyat
Pascal Wehrlein
Felippe Massa
Joylon Palmer


2018 drivers who may not make it to 2019

Kimi
Sergey Sirotkin
Fred Alonso
Romain Grosjean
Brendan Hartley
Ocom
Sainz
Perez

[MiniDave]

As predicted, Alonso is out of F1 in 2019.......

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

[MiniDave]

Quote from Danny Ricky Bobby this morning......

"What I have to do now is leave Red Bull, and I'm sad about that but I've been warned never to drink from a shoe again and that means avoiding race victories for the foreseeable future which is why I'm delighted to be joining the Renault F1 team."

Sniff Petrol

[gr8kornholio]

Hope that's full of sarcasm, which never comes across in print.  Not like Red Bull is winning either.  And next year they'll have Honda power.  Then they'll be fighting for points not podiums.

[MiniDave]

You've clearly never gone to Sniff Petrol, it's all sarcasm......and British!   ;D

sniffpetrol.com

[MiniDave]

Silly season now in full swing!

Rumors......

Kimi will stay at Ferrari another season and not be replaced by Charles Leclerc from Sauber.

Carlos Sainz is going to McLaren for Alonso's seat

Esteban Ocon is going to join him there,

Stoffel Van Dorne will replace Marcus Erickson at Sauber

Up and coming young McLaren driver Lando Calrisian will go to Toro Rosso as partial trade for James Key

Gasly will replace Danny Ricky Bobby at Red Bull Honda

Perez will stay at Force India - or whatever he team will be called after Lance Stroll's Daddy buys it.

My guess is Stroll Junior will join him there from Williams.

Sirotkin will stay at Williams with a pay driver to be named later

[MiniDave]

Another piece of the puzzle has fallen into place.....Gasly goes to partner Verstappen at Red Bull. I think this is an interesting move, and follows their pattern of promoting from the junior squad but that leaves an interesting situation at Toro Rosso....namely, do they keep Brenda Hardley or start over with two more newbies from the junior junior varsity? Or, do they go find a hired gun and shake things up a bit? It will also be interesting to see how they compete with the varsity next season, having the exact same power plants....

Larry Stroll has in fact bought Force India, so Lancelot will be going there for sure, and they've already signed Perez, so now Ocon is the one left standing when the music stopped. He could wind up at Big Mac after all......or maybe Haas, with KMag?

And could we see Kubica in a Williams after all? There is talk that lil Lance will be in a Force India by Monza.....if so Wiliams will need a driver, who else would they use?

[MiniDave]

Today's rumors?

Kimi IS staying at Ferrari as I expected, Leclerc tho is moving from one Ferrari powered team to another - HAAS! I think this is a great move for him and for HAAS and I think he will do well there. Grosjean is out......although he could wind up at Williams where he would help Sirotkin get up to speed. And Sauber could also snatch him up, or even Toro Rosso - but that is a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGGG shot.

[gr8kornholio]

Glad you've been keeping us up to date.  I almost forgot to set up the upcoming races to record.  Going to be a crazy end with all these changes and will take til the summer break next year to remember who is where.

[MiniDave]

Learned something new about F1 cars today watching practice, when the red light is flashing in the back of the car (when it's not raining) it's harvesting energy.....when some of the cars get to the end of the long straight at Spa they actually lose speed as they are harvesting energy at that point - Ferrari is not doing that and getting a tiny bit of a boost to their lap times at that point.....

Lando Calrisian made his bid for a seat at Big Mac next year, and was anywhere from a few tenths to a full second quicker than Van Dorne, but it turned out Van Dorne's car had an issue.....still.