Formula 1 - 2018

Vettel takes the opening race in Melbourne in front of Hamilton. Dan the man did well to finish fourth after copping a grid penalty.

Thankfully it is over and gridlock traffic can ease.

boring as batshit.

I thought batshit was crazy, not boring?

Pretty decent first race, despite the lack of the forecast rain. Vettel got lucky being able to pit under the VSC though, that’s a rule that needs looking at. Conspiracy theorists might mention that it was Ferrari’s customer team Haas who caused the situation by not attaching their wheels properly (though they deserve Oscars for acting, if they did it deliberately!)

Ricciardo>>Verstappen

tricycle wrote:Ricciardo>>Verstappen

Go Dan the man.

What a fantastic drive. Overtaking 3 world champions in the process

If you need a car, it shouldn't be classed as sport.

Go Ricci!!

Red wrote:If you need a car, it shouldn't be classed as sport.

Ever tried driving an F1 car for 90 minutes? Majority of people wouldn't be in good enough physical condition to get anywhere close.

It's a physically and mentally demanding sport.

Looked likely to be a snoozeworthy Vettel procession off the grid, and a potentially decisive championship lead at this early stage. Like Ferrari a few weeks ago though, Red Bull benefited from their “junior” team’s mistake...

Ricciardo showed the right balance between aggression and common sense, whereas Verstappen, as so often, stepped the wrong side of the line. His age and experience can’t be used as an excuse forever, he’s in his fourth F1 season now, and he might just be proving himself too reckless to be a title contender. Still, his shunting Vettel down to eighth was good news for the title race.

It's to be expected when going straight from dodgems to formula 1. Silly driver. Needs a suspension a la grosjean.

As much as I dislike modern f1 because the techo bullshit, these guys are seriously brave or insane.

"There's only 3 sports, mountaineering, bullfighting and motor racing, the rest are merely games".

Hemingway got one thing right.

vilkrang wrote:

Red wrote:If you need a car, it shouldn't be classed as sport.

Ever tried driving an F1 car for 90 minutes? Majority of people wouldn't be in good enough physical condition to get anywhere close.

It's a physically and mentally demanding sport.

Aye vilks.

I was amazed at Clarkson and Hammond's complete inability to cope with the skills required to drive an F1 car in separate Top Gear segments. They said it was unbelievably hard to get the things off the line without stalling, and to change gears efficiently. They both came away in awe of F1 drivers.

skully wrote:

vilkrang wrote:

Red wrote:If you need a car, it shouldn't be classed as sport.

Ever tried driving an F1 car for 90 minutes? Majority of people wouldn't be in good enough physical condition to get anywhere close.

It's a physically and mentally demanding sport.

Aye vilks.

I was amazed at Clarkson and Hammond's complete inability to cope with the skills required to drive an F1 car in separate Top Gear segments. They said it was unbelievably hard to get the things off the line without stalling, and to change gears efficiently. They both came away in awe of F1 drivers.

And that's just to get the car moving. Then there are the F1 drivers that other F1 drivers are in awe of.

I've driven s car at 240kph and I've come into Alligator River and tried to slow down.These drivers are going 100kph quicker and they don't decelerate until they're 30m from the corner.

Bradman wrote:As much as I dislike modern f1 because the techo bullshit, these guys are seriously brave or insane.

"There's only 3 sports, mountaineering, bullfighting and motor racing, the rest are merely games".

Hemingway got one thing right.

The F1 boys are brave ... but the motorbike road racers are brave to the point of madness.



Here's what happens when things go wrong - both from 2010





You'd normally expect both those crashes to be fatal, but they're both still racing.

Yeah, I think part of the public ambivalence to F1 these days is that it’s seen as this safe, sanitised motorsport. I guess the detractors of the “halo” see that as a step too far in that direction, along with the aesthetic downside to it. While nobody wants to see drivers killed, the possibility that they could be I guess was part of the thrill. And that risk is infinitessimally smaller than 50 or even 25 years ago - although freak accidents like Bianchi a few years ago are still possible.

1. I meant. Adelaide River r

2.i. meant some other thing.

Snigger @ Grosjean. Funniest crash this year

And snigger at Vettel.

Pretty sure Christian Horner isn't sniggering at anything.

Pair made the race exciting. Otherwise, it was shit. Verstappen's fault, but both deserve it. Possibly why both aren't in the Alonso league...

3 of the 4 races decided by the SC. Could turn out to be a bit of a farce.

So in regards to grosjean. Were the mechanics making tea instead of tending the remote?

tricycle wrote:Pair made the race exciting. Otherwise, it was shit. Verstappen's fault, but both deserve it. Possibly why both aren't in the Alonso league...

3 of the 4 races decided by the SC. Could turn out to be a bit of a farce.

Hasn’t it always been the case, it’s the crashes, cock-ups, weather etc. that make races interesting. It’s like saying a football match would have been boring if it wasn’t for the goals.

Teams have to have their safety car strategies spot on, obviously you can get unlucky (which should even itself out) but sometimes they just miscalculate or react too slowly. Maybe they could return to closing the pit lane during SC period though? That was scrapped as cars were running out of fuel due to not being able to pit, but since they’ve got rid of refuelling (wrongly IMO) it’s no longer an issue.