Stevo985 Posted October 1, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted October 1, 2018 The last few races have been really dull. It's a shame as I thought the season started really well. Once Hamilton overtook Vettel after the pitstops yesterday it was obvious they would bring it home. I switched off shortly after those pitstops. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 1, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted October 1, 2018 Verstappen's charge through the field yesterday was incredible. Yes they were always going to end up 5th & 6th, but for him to be leading the most laps in the race was mental, and he game himself a chance of a better result. Leclerc had another starring drive. Putting that Sauber 7th on the grid was amazing, but finishing 7th was even more so. He's an absolute star in the making. Can't wait to see him alongside Vettel next season. I've absolutely no problem with what Mercedes did. It has always happened in F1 and they're entitled to do it. I think any grievance people had over the move was that; as far as team orders go; this was as close to 'unnecessary' as you can get, and that just leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. As evidenced by Lewis not enjoying the win and Bottas having a face like a slapped arse. When the team principal is being all sheepish to his own driver you know it was on the controversial side. But hey, 50pts instead of 43 is a significant difference as it gives Lewis 2 full DNFs in hand, and as said on commentary yesterday, there are some mad races coming up. Suzuka could be a wash-out and then worst case scenario you're down to 25 instead of 18 going to Austin. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Toto won't want to be going to Mexico or Brazil thinking 'why TF did I let Bottas win in Sochi?'. On the flip side if Hamilton pisses the title, everyone can get on their soapbox and ask Toto why he was so cruel in Russia. End of the day it's his job to deliver titles, and he has done his best to maximise Hamilton's title chances. Hell, even Vettel said what Merc did was a 'no brainer'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakotaDakota Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 (edited) 2 hours ago, mikeyp102 said: What’s everyone’s thoughts on Mercedes move? Personally I think it was the right move, they have to ensure they get the championship No problem with it at all. It is a team sport and they have guaranteed that their driver can basically crash out of 2 of the final 5 races in a worst case scenario and still be at the top. Sure it sucks for Bottas but if he had more points and had a chance to win the drivers championship it wouldn't have happened. At least they did it early and ot on the last corner (again i would also have been fine with this). If they had just been allowed to race does anyone honestly think that Bottas would have held off Hamilton ? I don't. Edited October 1, 2018 by LakotaDakota Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 1, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted October 1, 2018 18 minutes ago, LakotaDakota said: If they had just been allowed to race does anyone honestly think that Bottas would have held off Hamilton ? I don't. I've no doubt Bottas wins that race all things being equal. He had the whole thing in total control. Qualified on pole, had the lead and was managing it easily. But as we've both said, things weren't equal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted October 1, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted October 1, 2018 2 hours ago, BOF said: Verstappen's charge through the field yesterday was incredible. Yes they were always going to end up 5th & 6th, but for him to be leading the most laps in the race was mental, and he game himself a chance of a better result. Leclerc had another starring drive. Putting that Sauber 7th on the grid was amazing, but finishing 7th was even more so. He's an absolute star in the making. Can't wait to see him alongside Vettel next season. I've absolutely no problem with what Mercedes did. It has always happened in F1 and they're entitled to do it. I think any grievance people had over the move was that; as far as team orders go; this was as close to 'unnecessary' as you can get, and that just leaves a nasty taste in the mouth. As evidenced by Lewis not enjoying the win and Bottas having a face like a slapped arse. When the team principal is being all sheepish to his own driver you know it was on the controversial side. But hey, 50pts instead of 43 is a significant difference as it gives Lewis 2 full DNFs in hand, and as said on commentary yesterday, there are some mad races coming up. Suzuka could be a wash-out and then worst case scenario you're down to 25 instead of 18 going to Austin. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and Toto won't want to be going to Mexico or Brazil thinking 'why TF did I let Bottas win in Sochi?'. On the flip side if Hamilton pisses the title, everyone can get on their soapbox and ask Toto why he was so cruel in Russia. End of the day it's his job to deliver titles, and he has done his best to maximise Hamilton's title chances. Hell, even Vettel said what Merc did was a 'no brainer'. Yeah Toto himself said that if he didn't let Hamilton through and Hamilton goes on and loses the title by a couple of points then they look stupid for not taking that opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 1, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted October 1, 2018 3 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: Yeah Toto himself said that if he didn't let Hamilton through and Hamilton goes on and loses the title by a couple of points then they look stupid for not taking that opportunity. Yeah "I'd rather be the baddy in Russia than the idiot in Abu Dhabi" or words to that effect 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark359 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 5 hours ago, mikeyp102 said: What’s everyone’s thoughts on Mercedes move? Personally I think it was the right move, they have to ensure they get the championship For me it was clear that it wasn't pre-planned; they are all smart people and know the way it panned out was bad for the sport. It was the right call to make the swap at the time and made no sense to swap back later. It would however have been much cleaner letting Lewis pit first and completing a pre-planned undercut. Bottas wouldn't have been so unhappy had he known it was coming . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 7 hours ago, mikeyp102 said: What’s everyone’s thoughts on Mercedes move? Personally I think it was the right move, they have to ensure they get the championship Very surprised that Hamilton accepted. Short sighted given the champo is essentially wrapped up. He is now on the path to Schumacher levels and we all know the standard retort to his greatness regarding being no1 and "gifted" wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 I don't think anyone would say that about Hamilton this season, he has been exceptional for the post part in demolishing Vettel mentally. It will be his most impressive title win since his first one. I think hes a bellend, but for different reasons to why schumacher was a bellend. Most of Hamilton's bellendiness is outside of the car 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brommy Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 3 hours ago, Rodders said: I don't think anyone would say that about Hamilton this season, he has been exceptional for the post part in demolishing Vettel mentally. It will be his most impressive title win since his first one. I think hes a bellend, but for different reasons to why schumacher was a bellend. Most of Hamilton's bellendiness is outside of the car So true. I’d love to be able to like Hamilton as he’s a great driver and British too, but I dislike so much of his persona, I find it impossible. Aside from his cringeworthy social media profile, there’s a photo of him on the side of a Monster energy drink display in a local store. Instead of smiling or at least looking neutral, he appears to be going for a moody/sulking chav look. He’s from fairly privileged background in Stevenage and is now a multimillionaire in his mid thirties, not some teenage wannabe gangster from Newham. Have some pride over how or what your image is used for man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 4, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted October 4, 2018 Mercedes spent £309.7m to win the 2017 world championship. That's an increase of £46m necessitated by the R&D for developing the new car to the new rules. Quote The Mercedes Formula 1 team spent £309.7m in 2017, a rise of £45.9m over the '16 figure reflecting the extra R&D costs of developing a car for the new rules. The numbers, which only reflect the cost of the team and not engine development at HPP in Brixworth, compare to the £263.8m spend of Mercedes' 2016 campaign. Only around £60m of the 2017 total was actually paid by parent company Daimler AG, indicating that Mercedes' F1 campaign continues to fare well for sponsorship and prize money revenue. Overall turnover, which includes F1 prize money payments, sponsorship and marketing revenue from Daimler, rose from £289.4m to £337.2m. A foreign exchange gain also contributed to that rise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 4, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted October 4, 2018 New Ferrari livery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted October 4, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted October 4, 2018 Where's the surreptitious Marlboro ad... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 5, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted October 5, 2018 13 hours ago, Chindie said: Where's the surreptitious Marlboro ad... It's so bloody transparent isn''t it? "Oh this is Phillip Morris' new endevour 'Mission Winnow' for innovation and a smoke free future. The fact it also looks like a Marlboro 'M' mirror imaged is crazy talk altogether" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 5, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted October 5, 2018 Oh and if Free practice is anything to go by, Merc will be lapping the whole field on Sunday. They were considerably fastest while using a slower compound ffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakotaDakota Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 Should be an easy 1-2, Mercedes have won the last 4 japanese GP with Hamilton winning 3 of those. Ferrari haven't been within 20+ seconds of a Merc at the chequered flag in that time and haven't won a race there since Schumacher in 2004. Unless Seb starts playing bumper cars at the start and gets lucky i doubt he will even be on the podium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted October 8, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted October 8, 2018 Par for the course then. Hamilton dominates, Bottas plays second fiddle, Max up to his old tricks of crashing into people and blaming everyone else, Vettel **** it up for himself. 2018 in a nutshell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 8, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted October 8, 2018 2 hours ago, Stevo985 said: Max up to his old tricks of crashing into people and blaming everyone else, Vettel **** it up for himself. That's unfair on Max. He couldn't have rejoined the track in any other way. As they said on C4, full lock on an F1 car is not much. The stewards also didn't even look at it. Ironically it was Seb hitting Max twice from behind that wrecked his own race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 12, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted October 12, 2018 George Russell confirmed at Williams. Excellent news. We've some cracking young drivers in F1 at the moment. The future looks bright from within the cockpit anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted October 15, 2018 Author Moderator Share Posted October 15, 2018 So you obviously heard Mick Schumacher got the job done in race 2 over the weekend. That's the last ever season of both the F3 Euro series and GP3. They're merging together for 2019 to become the FIA Formula 3 Championship. Not great for competition I think. We'll be going from 48 drivers across both series', down to whatever the field will be in F3. Currently confirmed for 2019 F3 ART (GP3) Campos (GP3) Carlin (F3) Charouz (New) Hitech (F3) HWA (New) Jenzer (GP3) MP (GP3) Prema (F3) Trident (GP3) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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