Restoration-Mini

So, the new season of F1 will start in a little more than 5 weeks.  And this year it will be broadcast to Americans on ESPN who will simply host the Sky Sports F1 feed of race coverage. 

But Sky Sports F1 coverage is completely commercial-free.  I can't imagine ESPN will forgo commercials when they pass the broadcast on.  So when viewers rejoin the broadcast after a series of commercials, how do they plan on getting viewers back up to speed (so to say) on what was missed since the Sky broadcast team will be covering things non-stop?  The NBC sports team often did a re-cap or did picture-in-picture thing to continue to show the race along with commercials.   Or, is there any chance at all ESPN will no have commercials?  No chance, I would bet.


http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/11249198/f1-in-2018-sky-sports-f1-to-join-forces-with-espn

Quote
Sky Sports F1 will join forces with ESPN for the new Formula 1 2018 season.
An award-winning team of broadcasters will convey the excitement of the FIA Formula One World Championship to American viewers in 2018 as ESPN, Sky Sports and Formula 1 join forces to bring Sky Sports' presentation of the championship to the U.S.
Television audiences in the U.S. will be able to enjoy the Sky Sports coverage as ESPN and ABC air all 21 races in the championship under a multi-year linear and digital partnership between ESPN and Formula 1. Announced in October, the agreement brings Formula 1 back to its original U.S. television home as the first Formula 1 race ever aired in the U.S. was on ABC in 1962.

Sky Sports F1 to show every race live in 2018
Sky is a leading entertainment company in Europe, serving 22.5 million customers across five countries - UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy.

"We are excited to work with the Sky Sports team," said Kate Jackson, ESPN coordinating producer, motorsports. "Their coverage of F1 is second to none and we look forward to bringing their expertise and authenticity to our audiences."
Scott Young, Head of Formula 1 at Sky Sports, added: "We are delighted to be working with ESPN and ABC, and with this partnership extend Sky Sports F1's award-winning coverage overseas. Each season we look to find new ways to improve the broadcast and entertain our viewers and this year will be no different."
Sky Sports' comprehensive coverage will include commentary and analysis from a lineup of former world champions and current F1 drivers including:
Martin Brundle - regarded by many as the Voice of Formula 1. A star in F1 and sports cars; became a broadcaster in 1997.
Damon Hill - Formula 1 World Champion in 1996, son of former World Champion Graham Hill.
Johnny Herbert - raced 11 years in F1, three-time grand prix winner.
Paul di Resta - veteran of 58 F1 races, Williams reserve driver last year and competed at the Hungarian GP.
Anthony Davidson - Mercedes No. 1 Sim (simulator) driver and works with engineers to test the design and performance of the cars.
The Sky team also includes expert presenters Simon Lazenby, Ted Kravitz, David Croft, Rachel Brookes and Natalie Pinkham.
The agreement for ESPN to air the Sky Sports coverage was arranged by Formula 1, with the approval of ESPN and Sky.
ESPN and Sky Sports production personnel will work together on the U.S. presentation, with Sky Sports producing special segments that will appear on various ESPN platforms to supplement the television coverage.
Sky's F1 coverage includes storytelling innovations such as Sky's exclusive "Sky Pad," a large, interactive touchscreen TV used by pundits and guests to dissect highlights and information; race control and pit wall views, and some of the most advanced on-screen information available to race fans. Sky was awarded "Best TV Broadcaster for Outstanding Coverage" by F1 in 2012 and 2013.

(http://images.teamtalk.com/18/01/Others/4211745.jpg)

Well, it will be different hearing the Brits calling the race....I also wonder how they will do it, if they put in the usual amount of commercials it will be a disaster IMHO.

The Sky feed is on another level from the dumbed down American feed everyone is used to. I typically go on Kodi and grab a Sky feed, while the Hamilton Nut hugging can get annoying, the commentary is spot on, the technical information is on a level that will appeal to a true fanatic.  If the American feed does not screw it up you will see  the entire green room after the race which is just so awkward it is hard to not watch. Especially during the Roseberg Hamilton year two years ago, it was fantastic!! Better yet was when Vettel was in the room, he seemed to enjoy the tension between the two, happy most likely, it was not him and Mark Webber again.

I really want to be interested this season, I will check on testing results and will check out the first race (Is it still Australia or did they move it to a ME nation where they beat woman but we cannot have grid girls) and maybe the second, if it is another Mercedes runaway season, I will go back to my life I have and not interrupt it.

Yeah, the first couple of races will tell us not only if it's going to be another boring Mercedes 1-2 season, but also whether Renault can run with the big dogs and if Honda has managed to make some HP and reliability.

Gonna miss the grid girls though especially with the occasional wind induced wardrobe malfunction.

Any reason the Canada gp is so far ahead of the us and Mexico gps?  You'd figure if they are over here might as well get them all in.

Quote from: gr8kornholio on February 13, 2018, 08:21:27 PM
Gonna miss the grid girls though especially with the occasional wind induced wardrobe malfunction.

Any reason the Canada gp is so far ahead of the us and Mexico gps?  You'd figure if they are over here might as well get them all in.

I never understood the Canada in June and the rest in October other than it can get really cold in Montreal on October, although June has its moments there too.

I liked the direction the grid girls were going in during recent years F1 visits, they went from campy and cheeky to wearing more traditional clothing giving off a vibe of the local culture.

If Liberty wants to really make a statement pull the races out of the countries that have human rights issues as well as countries where woman are treated as slaves.  Stop this virtue signalling BS.  I never thought I would miss Bernie.  LMAO!!

Actually I live that they let the drivers shoot video in the pits and share on social media now.

Quote from: Jims5543 on February 13, 2018, 09:35:30 PM

Quote from: gr8kornholio on February 13, 2018, 08:21:27 PM
Gonna miss the grid girls though especially with the occasional wind induced wardrobe malfunction.

Any reason the Canada gp is so far ahead of the us and Mexico gps?  You'd figure if they are over here might as well get them all in.

I liked the direction the grid girls were going in during recent years F1 visits, they went from campy and cheeky to wearing more traditional clothing giving off a vibe of the local culture.

If Liberty wants to really make a statement pull the races out of the countries that have human rights issues as well as countries where woman are treated as slaves.

Agreed

The Haas drops first.....first look at the mandatory halo....also the T wings and shark fins are gone for 2018

Well, all the teams hit the track for the first day of testing, and of course - it rained. It's also supposed to rain the next 2 days so, so much for sunny Spain!

A few things to note - Ricciardo in the Renault/TAG Red Bull set the fast time (mostly meaningless in re-season play, just like other sports)

The STR Honda was dead reliable, and Hartley ran more laps than anyone else, and was 5th on the time sheets.. Take that, McLaren...

Speaking of McLaren, they did 10 laps before Alonso found himself in the gravel trap - a wheel came off. Not an auspicious start for the orange boys.

Could be an interesting year between the big three, Merc, Ferrari and Red Bull, and the mid pack will be pretty tight too between an improved Renault power plant, Honda showing promise and the usual good runs from Force India and even Haas - the only real backmarker could be Sauber - but if they do have current spec Ferrari engines that should give them a leg up too.

Big Mac really has something to prove this year, I hope Alonso isn't snakebit again this year..... 

Well, it's a little more than 2 weeks until the first race.  I just checked my DirecTV line up and found out that ESPN is indeed part of my channel lineup.  So that's good news.  Actually, I discovered that have several different ESPN channels - so I hope one of them is the right one for Formula One.   

It just seems to me like there is a complete information vacuum about how/when the races (and practices and qualifying) will be shown.   For those of you that regularly watch ESPN, are they running promos on the upcoming F1 races?  Heard any details?

Found this scheduling info (finally!).    So like NBC, F1 stuff will appear on different channels 

Now I have to go see if I even get ESPN3....  8.gif

Is the practice coverage usually worth watching?  I could never find it in English before. Not sure I have 3 either though.

NBC used to air some of the practice sessions too. I thought it was worth watching to learn the news and other developments that had happened since the prior race. 

Not a good start.   ESPN is supposed to be showing Formula 1 practice right now.   Instead  they are showing some lame ass sports talk show with four geezers sitting around a table talking about basketball.    WTF?!

On my system it's not supposed to start till 10 pm......could you just be early?

Thanks for the reminders. Got them all set to record.

On now on ESPN News channel

Quote from: MiniDave on March 23, 2018, 07:34:57 PM
On my system it's not supposed to start till 10 pm......could you just be early?

My channel guide said it would start at 8:55pm.  During the mindless basketball discussion I noticed ESPN ran a "program note" chyron on the screen bottom noting the change in time.   Quite a mismanaged debut for F1 on ESPN - seems to show how important they consider it.

It's only practice...I wonder if they delayed it due to rain? Maybe they delayed the practice session?

So far I'm not overly impressed with the commentators, they do ramble on.....

Yeah they talk CONSTANTLY.   And how many voices are we hearing?   Seems like 5-7 guys taking turns. 

Hard to tell who's in the booth, although I like the guy in the pits, he was very succinct. I think it was David Coulthard and Damon Hill in the booth, but like you say, hard to tell....... maybe as the season goes on we'll get more used to their voices but they weren't as distinct as Varsha, Hobbs and Matchett, or even *shudders* Daffey Diffey.

Not Coulthard I think. I  Believe the Scottish accent was Paul diResta.   

I realize we haven't heard a race yet, but so far  I don't feel that it's markedly better then the NBC coverage.  On the plus side, there are are fewer commercials so far.    But when the commercials are over and they cut back in it's in the middle of a sentence or in the middle of a qualifying session that has already started.  Very clear that broadcast continued on uninterrupted while we Americans were watching commercials. 

Martin Brundle and David Coulthard in qually.......

Quote from: MiniDave on March 24, 2018, 10:14:31 AM
Martin Brundle and David Coulthard in qually.......

Oh, okay.  So diResta was in the Practice session they aired. 

I wonder why they don't spend, oh, 5 to 9 seconds, and explain who the commentators are? 

Yeah, that would help......

I didn't get to see the end of qually as it ran over the limit and my recorder switched off.....have to make an adjustment there....

DiResta was doing some of the trackside commentary I saw - he explained ad nauseum why Bottas went off - they must have shown the clip of him spinning 30 times!

The screwups continue at ESPN.    I am trying to watch the prerace show live.  The first 10 minutes of the broadcast were live shots of Melbourne, the circuit, the crowd, pitlane, etc. all without any commentary - just the ambient sounds.   Then ESPN suddenly out on some sports magazine show for 10 minutes.  Now they have gone back to F1 prerace with Damon Hill and some other guy on the grid but it is silent -  there is no audio.

Edit:  audio now working. 

Well, that was certainly a surprise ending......

Dunno if it really portends things to come this season, but it made for a nice change.

As for the much vaunted and anticipated Sky feed........I don't understand what the hoopla was all about, frankly I'd rather have Varsha and Matchett on the mics.

I failed to realize that it was going to shown here in the UK early in the morning....I just checked the results.  I'm glad Hamilton didn't win and glad my fave driver (Ricciardo) finished as well as fourth. 

Nothing against Hamilton, I just get bored when he wins all the time. LOL

This race, much like all the others for the past 10 years or more, followed the same pattern. If you make it thru the first turn in the lead, the race is yours - unless something happens. Perfect indicator - Hamilton could not pass Vettel even tho he qualified faster and according to the numbers had a faster car. Likewise, Vettel could not catch up to the front cars when Hammy was leading, yet once in front he could maintain the gap just enough to keep the Hamster from getting into DRS range.

It's not racing when you can't pass.

The safety car was a godsend for several drivers, including Alonso - who figured between that and the Haas retirements gained him 4 places. Ferrari for once timed it absolutely perfectly to get Vettel in the lead. And again, even tho he was faster Kimi could not get back to the front.

What happened to both Haas cars was criminal.....but I think they proved the point that they will be the class of the midfield, not Renault or McLaren.

The Hondas lived up to their form too......unfortunately. All the Renault powered cars finished in the top 10 - that's saying something for their reliability and performance!

Over all a decent if typical start to the season.

I was encouraged to see no one particular team being able to run far away - teams seemed to be somewhat closely matched.   I was happy to see Vettel beat Hamilton, who I just really can't warm up to.   

ESPN's coverage was a disaster.   

First, the commentators at SkySports are not markedly better than those of NBC.  I'm not sure they are any better.  There was no shining insight, no well-articulated phrasing, nothing that pulled it above NBC.  In fact, Brundle's grid walk was second-rate compared to those of Will Buxton. (who, it is great to see, has a role at Sky)   Plus, Sky seems to have no equivalent commentary to Machett's technical insight. 

Second, ESPN must have used a chimpanzee to push the button to cut to the commercials.  Because it could not have been done by a human who was watching the race.  Haas team has major issues - let's not follow the American team on American TV, let's just show some commercials now.  Oh, the race is restarting?  Good thing there is the 17th frickin Mother's Polish commercial on during that event.  Post race coverage?  What is that?  Why would you want to hear what Alonso thinks of his car finally being competitive?  Why would you like to know more about Perez and him feeling ill?   Why would you like to hear how Riciardo felt he had performed after getting unfair penalties?  Instead, let's just cut off the Sky feed before any post race analysis and show some stupid sports shit. 

Leaving the live broadcast of a race for a commercial - even showing it on a dual screen during the commercials - and just rejoining the broadcast WITHOUT any commentary or explanation of what was missed is total crap.    It's a half-assed way to do things.

Oh, and it looks like I'm not the only one who feels this way:  https://jalopnik.com/espns-f1-season-opener-broadcast-was-a-catastrophe-1824057087

Totally agree on the commercial dumps and then the total lack of explanation of anything that happened during the split screen.

On a lighter note maybe hamster should remove that giant diamond booger from his nose. What the hell bowl did Vettle use to cut his hair. He trying to be loyd from dumb and dumber. Lol.

and no "shlamazole / shlamazile" to be seen anwhere

Yeah, several of those guys had that bowl haircut - must be a thing now....

As much criticism as they've gotten, I hope to see a real improvement in the broadcast at Bahrain in two weeks.

With my Cable Upgrade (I switched from ATT to Comcast) I received free TV for 2 years with a DVR, so I have the races being recorded.

After that shit show of a broadcast I am tempted to go back to Kodi and just get the British feed again.

The problem with ESPN is they are trying to put commercials in a broadcast that has no commercials, the SKY broadcast is commercial free from Lights to Flag.

I also found out ESPN did not pay a penny for the rights to broadcast, they got it for free, putting commercials in like they did was pure greed, especially since they are just using the SKY feed people pay $500+ a year to subscribe to.

If they were smart they would do something no one else does in the USA, go commercial free and put scroll advertising from time to time at the bottom, "The commercial free broadcast is being brought to you by (insert sponsor here) and splash a small graphic / logo of the sponsor. It will never happen though, because greed.


The commentators, while there is a warm feeling of nostalgia having Hobbs and Machette talking over the drivers radios, calling out wrong drivers cars, completely missing on track action as they try to outdo each other making a point or joke I was over it, mostly due to the never ending commercials that forced us to miss half the race.

BTW - When Buxton first replaced Peter Windsor I hated him, I felt like Buxton was a drama queen trying to make a story where there was not one.  I eventually changed my mind and actually met Buxton in Montreal 2011 at a pub. He goes out of his way to create more of a vibe with fans organizing a pub meet and trying to get F1 drivers, mechanics etc.. to come down to the pub and say a few words. (at least in Montreal)  I think he does it in Austin too.

I like the Sky feed, I like the commentators Brundle, Hill, Herbert, Di Resta and Davidson as well as now Roseberg all former drivers some current drivers some from ages ago all giving their input.

Not sure what sucks about that versus one mechanic from 30 years ago, I guess that is a matter of taste.

We completely missed the post show which in my opinion, while slanted towards Lewis, is awesome, they spend a lot of time going over items of interest from the race.

Also, you missed that they keep the cameras on the drivers from the moment the race ends to the point they walk out to the podium. Many times it is boring, when there was some fireworks on track, it is very interesting to see, the Roseberg / Hamilton green rooms when Nico won WDC were very interesting.

I was surprised to hear the SKY guys actually spending any time on explaining the obvious, they actually spent time describing the DRS wing on the car, to me, that is akin to explaining what a ball strike and out is to fans during every single baseball broadcast.

If you do not know what they are on about go look it up.

The ESPN coverage was horrible and really ruined the race, although it was a boring race, if it were not for the HAAS mess ups it would have been a procession to the end.


Mercedes Party Mode is terrifying and does not bode well for the season.  It looks like they can pull almost a second a lap out on everyone else in that mode which just sucks.

In race mode at least, it appears they are not able to walk away, there were two things that saved Ferrari, one the VSC the other Bottas wrecking out of qualy and sliding back the grid, he should have been up front being Lewis' teammate, instead Lewis was left to battle the red cars alone, if Bottas had been in the top 4 the Seb would have had to cover his pitstop and never would have had the opportunity to undercut during the VSC.

Australia never gives us the real picture. HAAS always does good in AUS and then starts to slide backwards. I suspect Mercedes have a lot more in reserve and did not show it in Australia. We may not see their true pace until after summer break when it is too late to answer.



I for one will keep trying to watch until it is apparent this will be another Mercedes 1-2 season. Then I will just read up on it on Monday morning with a cup of coffee.

If ESPN can get their heads out of their asses I think you guys will enjoy the SKY broadcast. Change always sucks (see Windsor vs. Buxton above) once you get used to the new guys I think you will like them.

Is ESPN seeking forgiveness for past sins?    I think they must be.

I watched Practice 3 and there were only 2 commercial breaks.  Didn't feel like I was missing anything and the return to the action was done smoothly. 

Then I watched Qualifying and was very shocked (and happy) there were NO commercials - just Sky coverage - which I am learning to appreciate more. 

It will be interesting to see how they handle the race tomorrow. 

totally forgot to set this up this weekend.  I'll be sure to get the race. 

Quote from: gr8kornholio on April 07, 2018, 10:51:23 AM
totally forgot to set this up this weekend.  I'll be sure to get the race.

It was off my radar too. Just showed up as a pleasant surprise on the DVR. 

I just had the race on live while I working on my laptop.  Commercial free for the entire broadcast.  The way it should be.

Well, THAT was an interesting race, especially from a strategy point of view......a real nail biter at the end!

Vettel did a MASTERFUL job of nursing his tires thru that race

Congrats to Toro Rosso Honda for a terrific 4th place - seems like Big Mac might have jumped one year early, it might be too early to predict, but I expect to see Red Bull with Honda power next year too.

Poor Kimi, if it wasn't for bad luck he wouldn't have any luck at all......

Interesting to see the expected improvemnet in Renault this year and the fall of Force India, wonder if all the turmoil with the ownership of that team is affecting their performance?

Sauber getting 2 points, first time in a LONG time......

Could things get any worse for Red Bull, and especially Verstappen?

KMag has had two great races for Haas to start the season, at least this time he got the points to show for it. Grosjean looked terrible in comparison......

Williams dead last, hard to accept given the history of this team, but boy was that a good move for Bottas at just the right time.

ESPN definitely redeemed themselves after the debacle in Oz, no commercials was prety fantastic, but I think they could do with a little less commentary, I don't think there were 10 sec the whole race without someone babbling away.

Great race!!

Well done ESPN.   You did good by not doing anything.   Much appreciated.


Oh, and Lewis Hamilton really is a whiny little bitch.

 ;D  4.gif

Interesting to see what getting a competitive engine and driver both did for Sauber, all of a sudden they're in the mid pack instead of finishing the order.

Two drivers really standing out in their early careers - Gasly for Toro Rosso and Ericson for Sauber. I thought Ericson was done and Sauber was his ticket to sports car racing but he has come back and really shown what he can do.

By the way, all the way at the end of the broadcast there was a brief mention that it was brought to us by Mother's Polish.   Super.   That's who has my business now. 

Quote from: BruceK on April 08, 2018, 10:56:05 AM
By the way, all the way at the end of the broadcast there was a brief mention that it was brought to us by Mother's Polish.   Super.   That's who has my business now.

I did not notice that I will be sure to do the same and let them know.

THIS is why I LOVE the Sky feed. You would NEVER see this stuff otherwise.

Look at Vettels face after Hamiltons dickhead comment = Gold!!

LMAO!!

https://www.gpfans.com/en/articles/1090/hamilton-on-verstappen-he-s-such-a-dickhead/




*edit*

I am tagging them now and emailing them as well I encourage all fans to do the same.
On Twitter

@MothersPolish @ESPNF1 @F1 @LibertyMediaUK Thank you for sponsoring the F1 race today. It did not go unnoticed and will be reciprocated with my exclusive car care business from now on.

No one has commented on the "oil mist" coming out of the back of the Ferrari (and the Sauber too) - you could only see it when the lights were just right, looking at the car from the side with the light behind it you could see it clearly. Gotta wonder exactly what that is?

BTW, the replay of the broadcast this evening had commercials - but they simply stopped the tape and resumed right where they left off.

Wow!

https://www.motorsportweek.com/news/id/17686?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook (https://www.motorsportweek.com/news/id/17686?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook)

That's AWESOME news!  It was sooo great.  I kept waiting for one and never happened.  Score for ESPN and the weekly sponsor.

Super news.  As you can see from the top of his thread, I saw the train wreck coming.  Then I saw it happen with the Oz F1 race.

Wonderful that ESPN has handled it this way.   Of course they are setting a precedent that they might have difficulty matching for next year...

I was super bummed that Ricciardo was out of the race so quick and for such a lame reason. 

But, I was at the edge of my seat at the end!

Well, it's Noah's ark at the front of the grid for the race in China tomorrow, Vettel just pips Kimi at the last possible chance in Q3 under cold cold cold conditions.....and they said the Ferrari had an advantage under hot conditions?

so tomorrow

Vettel/Raikonenenenene
Bottas/Hamster
Max/Ricky Riccardo
everyone else.......

Vettel is making the absolute most of his chances right now, with a fortuitous win in Oz, and an unbelievable stretch of his worn tires to win in Bahrain last week. If he can hold off Kimi for this one it will make one hell of a start to the season.

And what of the Hamster? He simply gave up on his last lap, after putting in a great lap to stat Q3.......but when the Red jammies boys went even quicker, he decided to take his ball and go home.

Real kudos to Danny Ricky Bobby's mechanics - when he blew his engine in preactice ony to find that Renault did not have a complete power unit available for him, they had to rob bits and bobs off of the blown engine and their own spares to try and build him one in time to qualify. They got him done in time for one flying lap in Q1 and a "well done" to him since he had very linited time in practice to get in a good lap and then go all the way to Q3 and 6th in terrible weather conditions.

The relationship between Renault and Red Bull has to just be in the crapper these days, after the bitter words last season and the poor reliability this season, which the other Renault powered teams don't seem to be having.

I hope Honda continues to shine in the Toro Rosso's so Red Bull can get a solid engine supplier for 2019.

Here is what blows my mind. Granted it is very early in the season, but Alonso is currently 4th in the driver standings!!  Fourth!!    More points than Kimi!!  4.gif

Missed the race but Ricciardo won it!  Now, to find the highlights.

Great Red Bull effort. Glad for Ricardo. To bad for max.  Just needs a tad of patience and would have been a 1 2.

Heck of a race, actual passing for the lead!

Congrats to Danny Ricky Bobby for taking the race to the leaders and making it stick. He made 3 terrific passes to come from 6th to the lead - and I have to believe the Ferrari  rumors are true that he's already signed with them for next year. Doubly well done for having to build a race engine and get it into the car in time to make it thru one lap of Q1 and on thru qually. However, I'm not sure that would be a good move for Ferrari, I don't think he and Vettel will be good teammates.

Still, that would also leave Verstappen in the #1 seat at Red Bull which I think will be good for him.

Vettel's race really fell apart after the contact with Verstappen, and then he claimed Alonso ran him off the track.

All in all a fun race weekend.

Heck of a race.   Great to see a not-Mercedes win again.     

Incredible stacked pitstops from Red Bull! 

Quote from: BruceK on April 15, 2018, 12:42:34 PM
Heck of a race.   Great to see a not-Mercedes win again.     

Incredible stacked pitstops from Red Bull!

+1

Love it when Daniel wins he is such a likable guy.  The Shoey though, bletch!! It needs to go.

Really exciting race, Red Bull outsmarted them all, took some chances and it paid off, as the Sky boys were saying when you are behind, taking chances is a luxury that can pay off.

If I was Seb, after that Max spin, I would have come in for Ultras and run through the field.  He came in 8th I am willing to bet he could have come in higher than this with fresh Ultras on the car.  I think I looked and he would have come out of the pits in 16th, I am sure he could have lapped a couple of seconds faster than the field for the final 15 laps or so.  What did he has to lose 4 points? I would have tried it.


I was disappointed in Kimi, he had a chance to run to 2nd and as usual ran up behind and played it safe following to the end.   I was surprised Max stayed behind them.


Great race, love that I no longer have to fight with Kodi to see commercial free racing. Thanks again to Mothers, they get all my business from now on.

I would like to see this commercial free thing Liberty has started spread thru the rest of the racing world, like Indy car and their ridiculous side by side commercials where you can't really see what's happening on the track.

Just placed a $150 order with Mothers with a note thanking them for their sponsoring commercial free F1 coverage.

I encourage all F1 fans to place an order as well.


Send a message.

Order arrived with gift in acknowledgement of my gratitude.

(https://photos.smugmug.com/General-Pics/n-PspN3q/i-9vFpJGC/0/dbc8b30d/X3/i-9vFpJGC-X3.jpg)


Got some free glass cleaner.
(https://photos.smugmug.com/General-Pics/n-PspN3q/i-pjb44Ng/0/330d1c37/X3/i-pjb44Ng-X3.jpg)

Great to see a company that GETS it.

So, where the $*&#^ is Qualifying today?  It is not set up on my DVR and I can't find it anywhere on any ESPN channel.   

The Interwebs says it will be a 8:55am ET on ESPN2, but that is simply not true. 

However, I can watch the "European Badminton Individuals Championships 2018" at this time.   UGH!   50.gif

Yeah, I don't have it either......maybe streaming online somewhere? A lot of times qually is more interesting and exciting than the race itself - sad to say.

Wow.  That was an entertaining race!   Wanna bet Red Bull has team orders in the next race?   

Ferrari would be stupid not to have Danny Ricky Bobby under contract for next year.....

That was an exciting one.  I was disappointed that Ricciardo made the mistake he did because he was likely to finish with some points.  Oh well.  An entertaining race, nonetheless.  Can't be mad when Lewis wins it like that. 

C'mon Vettel......I know it was a quick decision made at high speed on cold tires, but so was everyone else......you're better than this.

Still finishing 2nd and 4th keeps the championship fight close......

Sauber in the points again! Heck of a result for them, and even if it was because of a LOT of attrition thruout the field, still it is a strong result for a team that has always brought up the back of the grid.

Red Bull. What can you say? You don't win championships by bouncing off your teammate and everyone else every damn race -  Max. I don't know what they're going to do but Force India managed to get their two guys under control - Horner is going to have to rein Max in somehow without costing him his aggressive attacking mode. Either that or Danny Ricky Bobby is going to switch teams.

Wonder who Red Bull would promote if Ricciardo moves on?

Haas......Grosjean is not having a good year is he? Turns out he hit a switch somewhere that changed his brake bias without realizing it and it put him into the wall - behind a safety car fer chrisake. Steiner had nothing to say post race!

Sure tired of seeing Ferrari shoot themselves in the foot, but then....that's what they do, isn't it?

Someone needs to take Max out behind the shed and teach him suppin bout playing fair. A racing incident that should not have happened. A second move that takes out your team mate and you is not ok.

I'm pretty sure Mr. Horner will have Max's ears burning over the next few days - first thing he did was make them fly home and apologize to the team and factory people......

Raining in Max is a touchy issue, you do too much and maybe he looses that edge, too little and this repeats.  Also, as much as they OMG for the team, really who is challenging Red Bull for 3rd in the constructor points?  Cause they are already, well before this, 30 behind Ferrari/Mercedes so they won't be challenging for those.

I still put a little of this on Danny Ric, by now everyone should know Max's tendencies as a driver, and there is no way that he is going to give up the inside.  Heck earlier in the race he didn't even give up the outside.  Have to know your competition or likely pay the consequences.

Vettle definitely blew this one, and lucky he didn't straight up get smacked by another car with that Max style dive bomb. 

The Bottas incident is really odd, he hit debri at the beginning of the front stretch.  No one wrecked there so where on earth did it come from?  There were 2 large pieces in the replay and he ran straight over one.

Apparently they're no longer going to show qually "for free", I guess you can only see it on the streaming (pay) service?

Looks like Max Vercrashen will start from the back, while his teammate will start from the front. I think this is Danny Ricky Bobby's year to win Monaco, he had it in the bag 2 years ago if the team hadn't screwed up his pitstop, and he's been fastest (and crash free) all weekend.

Vettel managed to kick the Hamster out of 2nd at the last second, and well done to him. Kimi will start 4th behind the Haminator and Bottas behind him.

The Force India's apparently like slow speed tracks as they have looked strong all weekend too.

Should be fun to watch Ricky Ricciardo drive off and leave them tomorrow......

Quote from: MiniDave on May 26, 2018, 10:45:24 AM
Apparently they're no longer going to show qually "for free", I guess you can only see it on the streaming (pay) service?

My DVR recorded it off ESPN2 and I just watched it.  So it was definitely available and free. 

First they showed P3 this morning (and Max crashing), then for some reason, they replayed the Spanish race from 2 weeks ago right after that.  Then was Qualifying live.   So there was like 4 or 5 hours of free F1 stuff shown this morning.

I think what is happening is that ESPN is not doing a good job of listing specifically what F1 program it will be broadcasting, so the cable providers don't necessairly have it shown correctly in their on-sreen program guides.  And that means the DVRs aren't always picking it up to record it. 

As a safety, I sometimes I am casting a wide net and manually recording ESPN2, ahead and beyond the F1 broadcast, to ensure I catch the stuff I want to see.  But I didn't need to do that this morning.   

Yes, we just found that it played early this morning but my system didn't record it, it didn't catch the last race's qually either. Rose is looking at the settings to see how it missed it.

Looks like tomorrow's F1 race will not be on ESPN. Instead it will be on ABC right after the Indy 500.  So I guess we're going to see boatloads of commercials.    And we can probably expect some time delay too.

Edit:  the race should be on ESPN live at 9:05am EDT.   So the afternoon showing on ABC is an "encore" showing and I'm sure it will be packaged and edited

"Adrian Newey, the F1 whisperer"   ;D

The Monaco GP went as expected, but not without some drama....Leclerc drove a brilliant race and was well in the points when he lost his brakes and took out Hartley too. Ricciardo lost power about half way thru and everyone thought his race was done, but he still managed to keep it going - Vettel and the Hamster neither could get close to him by the end even tho he was 20KM down on top speed to them both.

Max managed to keep out of all the walls and barriers to finish 9th from dead last, although a couple of his passes were a bit "controversial" he managed to keep it clean oveall.

Poor Alonso lost a gearbox towards the end of the race and DNF'd. Too bad Indy is the same day as I bet he'd rather be there today than Monaco!

The Honda powered Toro Rosso's are showing promise, but only on the slow speed tracks - they still aren't on the same plain as the Mercs and Ferraris let alone Renault but their reliability has certainly improved and I think they can get there. I know Red Bull hopes they do since it's almost guaranteed they'll be running them next season.  No question the Red Bull chassis is top of the heap, not only is it keeping up with the top two teams and doing it with less power, it is by far the easiest on it's tires. If the Honda motor comes good, they will be tough to beat.

Sounds like he lost 7th and 8th gear. Good thing it was at Monaco.  Think Max would've taken a shot at the 2-3 cars in front of him the last 10 laps if not for his "questionable" pass on Sainz and the "warning" from his team to keep them clean.

Truthfully, it wasn't much of a race other than the possible drama of engine failures and such.......pretty much typical F1....get out in front and drive home.

Watching FP3 in Canada right now, looks like Vercrashen has this one by the throat, if he can stay on track and out of other people's wheels and off the walls he may get his first win of this season. He's led all three practice sessions this weekend. Only a tenth of a second between the top 4 drivers!

The red jammies boys are right there with him tho, less than half a hundredth of a second behind.

I noticed Ferrari has come up with yet another mounting for the mirrors, hanging them off the aero hoop now.

The Mercedes boys are close, about 1/2 second off the leader's pace.

Ferrari comes thru in qually.......well, at least Vettel does - to take pole in Canada. Kimi was on a flyer buy went wide in a corner and ended his last chance to take it from his teammate.


Bottas was ahead till the last lap when Vettel got a 10th on him to take pole away.

Max came 3rd and the Hamster 4th, so the first turn should be interesting tomorrow.

Nice to be able to watch these things at "normal" times instead of have to record them......

Quote from: MiniDave on June 09, 2018, 02:14:05 PM


Nice to be able to watch these things at "normal" times instead of have to record them......

If it was on a normal times but with commercials I would not have watched it live.  But thanks to Mother's Polish it was commercial-free!!  4.gif 

I refuse to watch any commerical network broadcast live.  Much more efficient to record it and zap through the commercials.   

Since tomorrow is on network tv I'm pretty sure it's going to have commercials.  I always record them anyway cause I can rarely have time to watch live.

Quote from: gr8kornholio on June 09, 2018, 07:31:34 PM
Since tomorrow is on network tv I'm pretty sure it's going to have commercials.  I always record them anyway cause I can rarely have time to watch live.

Well that is an unpleasant twist, especially since the Sky broadcast does not break for commercials it becomes extremely awkward and amateur-ish if ABC tries to slam them in.   Plus, you miss any action that happens during the commercial and there's no recap of what was missed.   

Hmmmm.  I see there will be a second showing of the Canada race on ESPN2 at 2:30am CDT Monday morning.    I wonder if that will be the full Sky broadcast without commercials?

Here's my plan: I will start watching the ABC broadcast and if any commercials are encountered, I'll bail and count on the ESPN broadcast to be commercial free. Fingers crossed.

Still underway, but a big Thumbs Up to ABC for the no-commercials race broadcast.  Much appreciated!   And thanks Mothers!!

The race is over now.   My jaw hurts from yawning so much.

Same o same o, pole driver leaves the rest behind and the only fight is in the mid pack.

This time the leader lapped all the way up to 6th place - that's pretty impressive and discouraging at the same time.
Leclerc got 10th in the Sauber - I don't know if that was his driving or the fact that they now have current Ferrari engines instead of 2 year old ones but Sauber now have 12 points on the year.

Poor old Fred, if it wasn't for bad luck...... I strongly believe he'll be in an Indy car next year. If he wins LeMans this year too, then all he'll have left is to win Indy.

Renault can't be happy about being lapped by a customer car, but they sure have to feel better than Big Mac.......

This race is all that is wrong with open wheel racing.  All those straights and braking zones and no passing?  How is that possible.  Then Ricky Bobby sets fast lap on the last lap?  Where was all that speed the previous 69?  It's all the settings and options and tire preservation and engine use restrictions and on and on and on.   I enjoyed the commentator comments about get rid of all the excessive fancy aero and over complicated drivetrain along with tires that last 70 laps.  Slick, simple cars that need pit stops would increase the excitement of racing. 

And was glad to see it go commercial free, even on ABC.

For those wanting to follow Alonso in his 24 hour quest Velocity channel is airing 25 hours of coverage starting tomorrow at 7 am. Part of me wants to plant it and watch from start to finish. But that ain't goin to happen.

For 2020 rules they're eliminating the MGU-K and the fuel restrictions, and changing the wings to a much simpler design so they're headed the right way if we all don't fall asleep forever watching the current formula.

Fuel restrictions?   You mean refueling will again be allowed?

Not necessarily, they no longer will restrict the amount of flow or the maximum amount carried on board........

Another ho hum F1 race, the leader (the Hamster) just drives around and the rest follow. Vettel got a fantastic start but hit Bottas at the first corner, so they started the race from the back. Vettel charged pretty hard to get back to 5th but Kimi on fresher tires managed to get to the podium.

All in all, a typical F1 race.

Quote from: MiniDave on June 24, 2018, 11:50:16 AM
Another ho hum F1 race, the leader (the Hamster) just drives around and the rest follow. Vettel got a fantastic start but hit Bottas at the first corner, so they started the race from the back. Vettel charged pretty hard to get back to 5th but Kimi on fresher tires managed to get to the podium.

All in all, a typical F1 race.

Yeah it's getting really really boring.  Even more than normal!    My ears perked up when I heard it might rain because that always makes things interesting but alas it stayed dry. 

F1 Austria, quallly....40% chance of showers.

But alas no rain, so business pretty much as usual - with one small exception.....


Bottas
Hamster
Vettel
Verstappen
Raikenenenenenenen
Grosjean
Ricky Racer

The rest........

Will Brenda Harley be an F1 driver after this weekend? I think not - they have other up and coming young drivers in their pool, and just like they did with the Russian, they can send him packing at any time. I think it might be time.......

Well, that was fun!

Rather unexpected finish too, but if it wasn't for bad luck it would have been business as usual I think.

Bad day for Mercedes.

Good day for Red Bull and Ferrari..............and HAAS!

Not to mention both Saubers in the top 10, when was the last time that happened, if at all?

One interesting point - the top 3 lapped everyone else.

Ferrari are now leading both the constructors and drivers championships

The last time the Mercs lost both cars in a race was in 1955, according to the announcers -

Insult to injury dept, Gasly in the Honda powered Toro Rosso passed Alonso in the MacLaren. Alonso noted the fact as Gasly went by too....all credit to Alonso to finish 8th from the pit lane start tho

Finally a good race to watch!  Dave you summed it up very nicely. 

But, if the Mercs hadn't broken, it could have been Merc 1-2, don't you think? Bottas had a terrible start, and the Hamster easily passed into the lead and was pulling away till the safety car debacle. Bottas also came right back and passed everyone that had passed him at the start and it was Benzer boys 1-2 til they both failed.

However, once again, when the Haminator gets behind he becomes a whiny little bitch.

I don't think it would have been a 1-2. Hamilton's race was severely compromised by the team not pitting him under the virtual safety car.
Great to see Ferrari on top though...

How to win by Max Verstappen:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DhBu6HLV4AAKlpI.jpg)

No question Max drove a great race, both to get to the lead and to nurse his tires over 50 laps and stay there.

But, again it shows the state of F1 these days, if you can get to the front (and don't break down or be the victim of poor strategy by your team) chances are you have the race.

Quote from: MiniDave on July 01, 2018, 11:17:47 AM

However, once again, when the Haminator gets behind he becomes a whiny little bitch.

He sure does.  Every single time.    I would love to see him melt down if he had to race in a Force India or Williams. 

Honestly, I wondered this with Schumacher (at Ferrari) and again with Vettel (at Red Bull) and with Hamilton (at Mercedes):   Does winning actually feel like winning a race if you simply lead from pole and just get the checkered flag first?  I mean it's not really racing, is it?   It can't really be fun or challenging or feed your racing soul.   

Quote from: BruceK on July 01, 2018, 07:22:06 PM

He sure does.  Every single time.    I would love to see him melt down if he had to race in a Force India or Williams. 

Honestly, I wondered this with Schumacher (at Ferrari) and again with Vettel (at Red Bull) and with Hamilton (at Mercedes):   Does winning actually feel like winning a race if you simply lead from pole and just get the checkered flag first?  I mean it's not really racing, is it?   It can't really be fun or challenging or feed your racing soul.

I always looked to the #2 car in the team. If the races are all 1-2's then its the car and it is more who is the better driver of the 2. When the #2 car is 5 positions back then I feel like it is the driver more than the car.  There were Red Bull seasons when it was the car, there were Ferrari seasons when it was the car, if you go back and look you will be surprised to see the #2 driver was not up front with the WDC.

Of course if you look at the Mercedes years it was typically 1-2 Mercedes most races or at the least 1-3.  It was a rare race in the Roseberg / Hamilton years when it was not a Mercedes 1-2.

In those cases I see it as more the car than the driver.

I still think the Mercedes is the fastest car on the grid, I think Ferrari and Red Bull have caught up to be within 0.2 to 0.3 per lap in qualifying.  I think Max, Seb and Dan are all excellent drivers.

I hate Max but he does have amazing raw speed when he does not dive bomb (he got away with one of his signature moves Sunday) he can run up front with the best of them. I am still not sure he is WDC material, he is kind of screwed in the head, I guess we will see.

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.

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.

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

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

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..

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

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?

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.

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).

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

sniffpetrol.com

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

Spa qually will be interesting.....Q1 and Q2 were dry, rain pelting down between Q2 and Q3 now.

Top 3 cars are 3 hundredths apart!

wow, rain is the great equalizer.....

Looking forward to the race tomorrow.  Spa is one of my favorite F1 tracks.

Has there ever been a Formula 1 race in the modern era that didn't have a cock up in the first few turns? What a mess......

The way Vettel passed the Hamster on the first lap was impressive.

Lewis again whinging about how he could have passed the Ferrari into the chicane after the safety car but the Ferrari just could smoke on by on the straights.

Not having the power advantage this year and he doesn't like it.....

Well, Spa was interesting on the first lap, then it fell into the normal F1 pattern, the leader drove off and was never really challenged again.

A couple of interesting notes tho, the Force India Racing Beat Pretty in Pink Point team is still a formidable mid pack race team, they were able to stay ahead of the Haas team all race. Those two teams are very close in terms of performance.....and Renault is simply not in their league. The best of the Renault engine teams - Red Bull - was able to stay on the lead lap OK, but Verstappen still finished half a minute behind Vettel, which translates to almost a second a lap slower pace - that's huge in modern F1 racing terms.

It was fun seeing Bottas carve thru the field from dead last (not so much fun for those he passed I guess) and the HP difference was very clear between the Mercedes and even the other Mercedes powered cars, let alone the Renault engine teams. The Hondas acquitted themselves well, which gives hope to Red Bull for next year. Ricciardo may be kicking himself next season for jumping ship, but time will tell.

No wonder Vettel wasn't too worried about not getting pole, the way he passed the Hamster down the Kemmel straight showed the clear performance gains Ferrari have made this year. In his own words, last year he tried the same thing and couldn't make it work......Hammy was pretty glum about it too, especially with another power track coming up this weekend at Monza. If Kimi can keep from getting punted in the first turn, it should be a good scrap between him and Vettel....he's sure been showing good form in qually -  he just has to remind the team to put in enough damn fuel!

Yeah, not a lot of passing in that race --  besides the back and forth battle for 10th (!).   

Nice to see the halo prove its worth.   

Next race it will be interesting to see who is better represented, the tifosi or Max's fans?  Because its in Italy, it has to be the tifosi.  But the orange crew does do a bit of traveling en masse to see their guy run. 

Monza is close enough that I expect to see a lot of orange smoke in the crowd too.

Singapore is right after Monza and the Mercs never seem to do well there, if Vettel and/or Ferrari continues his/their dominance the title fight will tighten up considerably. Nice to see Vettel having fun again and looking forward to the fight with Hammy. The Hamster said he would relish a good fight with Ferrari before the season started, he doesn't seem to be quite as happy about it now.

Great to see the Kimster get P1.   I guess he does know that he is doing.  ;D

I'm really surprised the Sky producer hasn't yet corrected "Crofty" for on-air screw-ups. On three different occasions today I heard him refer to the famous twin corners at Monza as "the Lesbos".   Hmmm.   Of course he is also the guy who says "Grand Prix's" instead of "Grands Prix" so its not exactly like he earns his living being paid to speak or anything.  ::)

Well, that was  pretty good race, despite Vettel's screw up on the first lap - which gave a lot of opportunity for passing as he carved up thru the field from dead last.

Kimi did a great job but Mercedes just had a better strategy, and with Vettel no longer there to run interference it was only a matter of time.

I loved Max's response - I don't care, I'm not going to just let him by even if I'm not really racing him (Bottas) after they assessed a 5 sec penalty.

Lots of real racing going on up and down the grid.....I think Alonso might as well go on to his next venture, he clearly has lost interest and only shows up to fulfill his contract.

Nice to see the Williams showing some life.

Christian Horner's description of Danny Ricky Bobby as their representative from Renault was pretty funny. 6th engine failure for him this season.....something is clearly wrong between them and their engine supplier. Alonso's not fairing any better with his Renault powerplants either.

Honda running strong athough if Red Bull wants to run at the front they're gonna need mo powah.

My only thing on Danny Ric is there were several replays of him banging that thing across curbs and the corner rumble strips.  Probably not the best on a freshly installed power plant.

I was surprised once he got in front Kimi couldn't put more distance between himself and the Hamster....

Wonder if the Hass DQ will stand?

Silly season coming into view now.....my thinking anyway

Mercedes - Hamster and Bottox
Ferrari - Vettel and LeClerc (maybe, probably, possibly, could be)
Red Bull - Verstappen and Gasly
McLaren - Sainz and Lando
Force India - Perez and Stroll
Williams - Sirotkin and Kubica
Sauber - Erickson and Ocon
Toro Rosso - unknown -
Renault - Ricciardo - TBA
Haas - Magnusen and TBA

What do you think?

As I am not a follower of F1, it sounds like a soap opera plot twist of who is messing with whom.

Rumors are strong that Leclerc is now in Ferrari red for next season......

If so, does that mean Kimi will retire again? Will we see the aggressive driven to win Kimi the rest of the season or the lackadaisical I don't give a shit where's the vodka Kimi?

I'm undecided whether it's a good move for LeClerc at this point in his career....I wonder if another season at Sauber or even better at HAAS wouldn't have been a better move for him? I guess we'll see next season, but one thing's sure it's going to be interesting at the front.....will he be uber-aggressive like Verstappen or follow Vettel around like a good #2 driver should?

It's also very possible that if Stroll strolls on over to Force India in Singapore, we could see Robert Kubica in a Williams the rest of the season.....and wouldn't that be special?

Well, it's official.....Sauber and Ferrari did a dealer trade - Kimi will go to Sauber next year and LeClerc will take his ride at Ferrari.

I'll be at Elkhart Lake - Road America - this weekend for the Sprite 60 Races and out of F1 range,  so try not to spoil the race results for me  ::) ;D

Quote from: MiniDave on September 11, 2018, 09:18:07 PM
Well, it's official.....Sauber and Ferrari did a dealer trade - Kimi will go to Sauber next year and LeClerc will take his ride at Ferrari.

I'll be at Elkhart Lake - Road America - this weekend for the Sprite 60 Races and out of F1 range,  so try not to spoil the race results for me  ::) ;D

I can take care of that right now.   Hamilton wins.  Or Vettel wins.    Done.  ;D

The Red Bulls do have a chance at being competitive this weekend, as it is the Singapore GP. I eagerly await the race...

Nah, I think Kimi will win, and won't that show em! no more helping Vettel to his 5th for Kimi!  ;D

Or maybe little Stroll will win driving for his daddy's team this weekend?

 A lot of people have said that kimi has been forced to help vettel this season. Personally I haven't seen much of it. Kimi is notoriously slow off the line and that often hurts his race. As amazing as his monza pole was, a contributing factor was the tow that he got from vettel. It later went on to hurt vettel quite dramatically on the first lap. So no preferential treatment there. People forget that the two are actually friends off the track and have great respect for each other. I would love to see a 1-2 this weekend to eradicate the painful memories of last year.

Hamilton has gotten far more help from bottas this season.

-from a biased ferrari fan

Well, that should just about do it....the Hamster is in great form, Mercedes seem to have gotten a handle on it's slow speed corners problem and their reliability has been as good as it can get. Barring some unforeseen issues I think you can put a period on this championship for the silver arrows and the Hamster.

Verstappen drove a great race to pass Vettel in the pits and keep him behind him for the rest of the race, I think Red Bull was wise to put him in the #1 seat, and no disrespect to Danny Ricky Bobby who I think is a great driver and competitor. I don't see many race wins for Ricky Ricciardo next season with Renault, tho finishing 7th shows they  can be at least at the top of the mid pack from time to time.

Unless Honda really makes some strides over the winter break, I don't see Red Bull taking any wins next season either, but everything from 5th on back should be wildly contested next season between Haas, Red Bull, Renault and Sauber, with the occasional Force India thrown in for good measure. Speaking of Force India, I wonder if Perez's contract will continue to hold up with FI, given how many times he and his teammate have removed one the other or both from a race, usually on the first lap? I wonder how well he and Stroll will get on next season, and if he takes Stroll out in the ifirst lap whether he will have a race seat the next morning - it don't pay to mess with the owner's son! This can't have gone unoticed by the new owners.....

So.....on to mother Russia.

I refuse to believe that it is over until the numbers say it is. Poor strategy from Ferrari's side cost them 2nd place, but I think it will finally be a late wake up call.

Now for a 2 week wait.....

Well, I'm a Ferrari fan as well, and I'm tired of seeing one team dominate the series year after year, but you have to admit Ferrari have been their own worst enemies this season, and for the last 3 seasons really. Poor strategy decisions, mistakes by the drivers and so on. Mercedes OTOH, have run a clean campaign, run good strategy and their drivers have not made stupid mistakes.....hard to win a championship against a team like that if you don't bring your A game to the table too.

Next season will see shake ups on the entire grid - except for at Mercedes. How do you beat that playing musical chairs with drivers and team personnel?

You're absolutely right, Ferrari have been their own worst enemy.
Mercedes have run like a well oiled machine, but I feel they have been quite ruthless with sacrificing Bottas. It's that ruthlessness which has put them at such an advantageous position.

It doesn't help that I can't stand Hamilton. I would absolutely love to see a twist to this tale.

And I agree with you about Hamilton 100%...

Another piece of the driver line up for 2019 has fallen into place.....

Kimi will be at Sauber, along with Ferrari up and comer Antonio Giovinazzi....now tell me Ferrari hasn't just set up it's new junior team ala Toro Rosso....

So
Mercedes - Hamster and Bottas
Ferrari - Vettel and LeClerc
Renault - Ricky Ricciardo and the Hulk
Red Bull - Max and the Gas
McLaren - Sainz and Lando Calrisian

Several teams are still not announced, although some inferences can be made...

Force India - Lance will Stroll on over, Perez is supposed to already have a contract.
Williams - Kubica and Sirotkin is my guess, if not Kubby, then Ocon if he wants the job
Toro Rosso -  I think they may bring Kyvyat back, the other will be....their reserve driver Timbuktoo if he can get his superlicense
Haas - I think Kmag will be back, not so sure about Mr. Big Jeans.

What's your prognostication?

Well, I think you can call this championship done.....stick a fork in it.

Mercedes was on the back foot the first half of the season to Ferrari, but has since found the answer and to my eyes look unbeatable for the rest of the year save an accident or mechanical failure.

Ferrari again shot themselves in the foot with their strategy and are clearly slower than the Mercs now. The only advantage they have that I can see is better tire wear under certain circumstance. That's not to say they might not win another before the end of the season, but the champ is done. Hamster for his 5th and he fought hard for it, so I can't fault him.

HAAS announced they're keeping both KMag and Big Jeans - I think they should have dropped Grossjean and hired Ocon, but I don't think Mercedes would have let him go there anyway, so it looks like he'll either be at Williams or sit out a season.

Next season should be interesting with all the new rookies on track, and some new guys moving up to name teams so I think next year should be fun, certainly in the mid pack.

I expect next season to be a carbon copy of this one with the possible exception of LeClerc at Ferrari and the introduction of the Honda power plants for Red Bull. Toro Rosso ran a new spec Honda motor this weekend and there was a clear improvement - expect to see that engine at Suzuka.

Questions for next year....

Will Renault see an mprovement to where they can fight with Ferrari and Mercedes?

Will Red Bull be competetive with the Honda Motors?

Can the mid pack get even tighter than it already is?

Will McLaren still be running at the back with Williams, or will Mercedes help Williams get back on track and move up? Who will Williams choose for drivers next season?

Which Kmi will we see driving the Sauber next year? The hard charging never say quit Kimi, or the I'm just out for a Sunday drive paycheck Kimi? I'm betting on the former for what will probably be his last season behind the wheel of an F1 car.

What do you think?

I agree that next year will be fun with the new drivers. I don't see Renault or sauber being competitive.

I have to disagree about this year's championship, I wont give it to Hamilton till its mathematically won.

Vettel is third, right behind him on the grid. He's always been a good starter and there's an enormous straight ahead before turn 2. A good start and the tow could be a game changer.

I say it's not over.

The only way Vettel can win now is if he wins every race to the end and the Hamster finishes second or worse....pretty tall order, especially as well as both MBZ's are running.

It would make an amazing finish to the year tho!

And that's that.....

You can argue all day about whether they should have done that or not,  but to my mind the winner should win, not have it handed to them.

Still clearly three teams and everyone else.....

Good job by Leclerc to be the best of the rest in 7th, should be fun to see what he does next year - could it be another Vettel/Riccairdo season, where the rookie came in and handed his ass to the more experienced driver?

Bottas helped him every step to that win. From giving the tow to Hamilton on the first corner, to holding vettel up on his out lap in the last sector, to boxing him on the one lap that vettel lead Hamilton. The position swap is another thing entirely.

Yet skysports still accuses vettel of making a mistake on his out lap,instead of trying to understand what happened. I cannot stand the biased British commentary, it drives me nuts. For once credit someone else other than the Hamilton and his 'genius'.

These cars can't run behind one another in turbulent air and it makes for appalling racing.  Change the regulations and reduce downs force for the sake of the sport.

It also doesn't help that kimi isn't even in the picture to at least try and fight Mercedes. Ferrari have to bring something special to Japan. I will continue to be hopeful, but I am not oblivious...... Tragic.

Yes, it's one thing to be a good teammate and help your fellow racer to keep ahead of his competition, but to have to hand off the race still strikes me as wrong...especially as it won't matter to the championships. It bothers me when Ferrari do it too.

Force India had team orders in place too, I think mostly to keep their guys from taking each other out but when the following faster guy couldn't get the job done, they switched them back again - as it should be. Now had Checko gone and passed KMag, then it would have been justified....but when he didn't, they swapped places back again.

I think they should have done the same with Bottas when it became clear that Vettel was no longer a threat to win or for 2nd.

Too bad about the Toro Rossos, with their new spec Honda motors I think they could have shown something this weekend, for sure next week at Suzuka - they better have whatever braking problem was bedeviling both cars fully sorted!

Agreed. The crowd was noticeably quiet in parc ferme.

I'm glad it's just a week till the next race!

That political BS is why I stop watching F1 years ago.  Drivers title doesn't mean shit to Mercedes so why screw your driver out of an earned win. Good thing for hamster that rosberg left.

Crazy thing with Red Bull is the two completely different routes their drivers took to 5th and 6th.  Too bad max had to change tires.  He should have started on the hypers, done a lap, pitted and put on the softs.  He might have won it. 

Woke up quite early in the morning to watch suzuka. Went from hope at the start to heartbreak.

I see all the hate and blame being put on vettel on social media. I think Anthony's analysis on sky race control was the best. Could vettel have waited? Yes. Was there a gap? Yes. The logic of waiting for max to serve his 5 second penalty doesn't work because vettel would just be wasting time and tires sitting behind the red bull. He had to get the move done but he could have just waited for the straight. Hindsight is 20/20 and he's a racing driver. As DC said, a desperate move by a desperate man. Max never gives an inch which is often ridiculous, but since he's not entitled to he will always have that reason to defend his often dangerous driving.

People say Hamilton has been flawless and is on another level. Really? All he's had to do is follow team strategy and lead every lap for the past 6 races. Any one of those drivers on the grid could do that, they are all talented enough. He's barely had to fight and if anything goes wrong he's on the radio saying 'Really guys, how did that happen?'. Ugh. Ferrari offer no competition by shooting themselves in the foot at every given opportunity.

I hope Vettel and Ferrari learn from this season and come back strong in 2019. That's what I thought last year too...
Anyway enough of my biased view.  11.gif 11.gif

I agree.....and I'm hoping Leclerc gives the team a shot in the arm too....but I have a feeling he's going to be a good #2 driver next season as they mount an all out charge to win the championships.

Watching Vettel and Ricciardo carve thru the pack puts paid to the idea that you can't pass in F1....but I can't help but wonder how Ricky Racer felt when it was so easy for him to pass both Renaults on his way to the front.

Quote from: MiniDave on October 07, 2018, 08:49:56 AM
I agree.....and I'm hoping Leclerc gives the team a shot in the arm too....but I have a feeling he's going to be a good #2 driver next season as they mount an all out charge to win the championships.

Watching Vettel and Ricciardo carve thru the pack puts paid to the idea that you can't pass in F1....but I can't help but wonder how Ricky Racer felt when it was so easy for him to pass both Renaults on his way to the front.

Ferrari really let down both Kimi and Seb on Saturday, then beat cheeks to try to make that up, Sebs move was exactly that a desperate move, he has nothing to lose he is not winning the WDC unless he makes a miracle happen.

When Merc wins 1-2 over and over again, I am convinced it is not the driver it is the car, we are back to the same standard BS we have had to endure for years.   We had a glimmer that Ferrari was going to spoil the party and they lost on the strategy and development fronts.  Typical Ferrari post Schumacher.

I have no answer, sad we are looking to Rookies to wolve the problem when in reality Merc is just on another level from everyone else. Really sucks the fun out out of the season.

I watch most races on fast forward, once the first set of pit stops are over very little changes.

What a great race. Great job Kimi!!

I don't understand how that ferrari always comes off worse after even the slightest touch. Great recovery by Vettel to remain in the hunt. Mexico in one week, looking forward to it...

The Kimster!!!  Exciting race.   Kimi earned it.   And Max going from 18th to 2nd, wow.   Happy there was no WDC at this race.  Seb was really pushing. 

Brilliant race, well done to Kimi....well done!

The lead car 'coasting'  on the laps to the end.     And the championship leading driver coasting until the end too.    Yawn times two.

It was a pretty interesting race till Ricky Racer's car died, then it was just a cruise......shows the difference between the top teams and the rest - they all lapped up to 6th place.....all of them, not just Max.

I'm interested to see what Leclerc does next year at Ferrari, I think Vettel's in for another season like he had with Ricciardo at Red Bull.

I also think Gasly will be strong with the Red Bull, as long as Honda can give them a competitive engine.

Kimi at Sauber could be fun too, at least he won't be #2 any more!

Mercedes hasn't won the constructor's yet, and that's really all they care about......but wouldn't that be a hoot if Ferrari won the constructors?

I'm hoping for a good battle for the constructors.

Next year will be Vettel's. I get that Leclerc is a talent, but he's still unproven. It will be a good season with all the young drivers in good teams.

Ricky's breakdown was a complete let down.  Geez. Steals the pole. Slips on the start but had the tires and the car to hold off Vettle and finish 2nd. Hope next years Renault serves him better.

Well considering he's DNF'd 11 out of 23, I'm not sure he can do worse.

However, considering his current team laps his new team almost every race, I'd say he's got a tough road ahead.

OTOH, Honda will still be a question mark - even in their 5th season.

So, Ricciardo's pain continues.....his car's exhaust caught fire last race, and when the fire marshal used his fire extinguisher to put it out, some of the fire suppressant went into the turbo and ruined it, so he had to replace it - and now he gets a 5 grid spot penalty for changing the turbo! How is that right?

The season can't end soon enough for him...

I'm not sure next season will be any better with Renault, but I know he's having a terrible season this year due to lack of reliability - with his Renault engine!

Only time will tell. I guess from his perspective he just wanted to get out.

Wow!  Every F1 race should be that exciting.   So many passes.  Congratulations to Max and Daniel for some great racing. Too bad about the eventual winner. 

Yep, an actual F1 race instead of a parade.....enjoyed that thoroughly. The only thing that race lacked was rain!  77.gif

Interesting stat, Hamilton has won 1/2 of all the races run in the "turbo hybrid" era.

Last F1 race of the year, Abu Dhabi.

The Red's Bull are very fast especially in the twisty bits.....next year's junior drivers are having a good weekend and for several drivers it's their last F1 race....maybe forever.

This is the last race for Fernando, Ocon, Hartley, Sirotkin, Van Dorne and Ericson.

A couple of teams still have not finlized their driver lineup, most have.

One interesting driver coming back to F1 - Kubica will be driving for Williams next year. Sirotkin will not so George Russell will move into the open seat at Williams. It will not be filled by Ocon who will be Mercedes reserve driver and spend a lot of time in the simulator - however if there is a track not suited to Kubby, Ocon may get the call as a loaner driver.

HAAS will retain Grosjean and KMag for next year.

Mercedes will have the Hamster and Bottas again

Ferrari will have Vettel, and Leclerc will move up to the varsity from Sauber

Sauber will get Kimi back - where he started - and will team him with Antonio Giovinazzi - a great chance for him to get some needed training from a great driver IMHO.

Toro Rosso say they won't announce their drivers till after the season is done, but current driver Gasly will move up to the varsity too, at Red Bull with Verstappen. Money right now is on Daniil Kvyat and maybe someone from the junior ranks, or maybe even Pascal Werhlein.

Renault will have the Hulk again and Ricky Racer from Red Bull

Force India - a team to be named later - will have Stroll and Checo Perez

Big Mac will have newby Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.

so some new drivers, some drivers moving into much faster cars, and some newbies to watch.

One more interesting developement - Mad Max is convinced (maybe just fingers crossed) that next year's car wil have considerably more HP in their Honda motors, if he's right I tap him to be world champ next year - although I can't say that Red Bull will be champ constructors - I think the MBZ reliability will trump the Honda's one more time.

But if we have three actually competetive teams next year, it could be an interesting season indeed.

As usual the midfield will be hotly contested, but wouldn't it be fun to see a Sauber on the podium? With Kimi driving and the current Ferrari motors, they definitely have to be in the hunt.

I'm afraid the Williams and Big Macs will still be fighting for the last grid spots, but who knows? Things there could change....