2018 Formula 1 Season Thread

[Apple fanboy]

I think Ferrari is completely lost right now. From leadership to lack of trust between drivers and team. It’s not recoverable. There is a complete meltdown within the team at this point. P2 in the WDC and WCC is by no means a certainty at this point. I expect another DNF for Vettel soon.

One has to give Mercedes credit for pushing. While I’m sick of them they have earned their current dominant position.

I continue to be impressed with Max. Sure would be fun if he were in Bottas’ ride. “Max it’s Toto. We need to let Lewis by. He is getting nervous.”
“No dam it. This is ******* bull****. I don’t care.”

Probably why it will never happen! Unless RBR Honda looks impressive in the next few years I do expect to see him in a Ferrari when Vettel retires.

A bit of on off rain tomorrow might make it fun. Not forecast, but here's hoping.

 

[vrDrew]

I think Ferrari is completely lost right now. From leadership to lack of trust between drivers and team. It’s not recoverable. There is a complete meltdown within the team at this point. P2 in the WDC and WCC is by no means a certainty at this point. I expect another DNF for Vettel soon.

Maybe ten years from now we'll find out what really happened with Ferrari's car this season.

Because in the middle of the European season they were literally running away from Mercedes. With an obvious significant acceleration advantage. And then - poof! It just went away. I've heard and read rumors that the FIA put some additional sensors on the car and somehow closed a power-generating loophole Ferrari was exploiting.

If Hamilton does come through and end up winning the WDC this year, there ought to be an asterisk next to Valtteri Bottas' name. Because he has been the absolute definition of what an ideal F1 team player should be. I hope Toto Wolf and Mercedes find a way to get him an extra special end of year bonus. He's earned it.

My only problem right now is figuring out a way to stay awake to watch the race live. It sure is a drag getting old....

 

[Glideslope]

Maybe ten years from now we'll find out what really happened with Ferrari's car this season.

Because in the middle of the European season they were literally running away from Mercedes. With an obvious significant acceleration advantage. And then - poof! It just went away. I've heard and read rumors that the FIA put some additional sensors on the car and somehow closed a power-generating loophole Ferrari was exploiting.

If Hamilton does come through and end up winning the WDC this year, there ought to be an asterisk next to Valtteri Bottas' name. Because he has been the absolute definition of what an ideal F1 team player should be. I hope Toto Wolf and Mercedes find a way to get him an extra special end of year bonus. He's earned it.

My only problem right now is figuring out a way to stay awake to watch the race live. It sure is a drag getting old....

Pretty sure the fuel changed. Shell was filling the SF71H with fairly complex formulation. There had been quite a bit of speculation prior to the summer break. Prolly will never know for sure unless someone leaks. The FIA could have started different parameters as you stated requiring Shell to change the formulation.

To be fair though, Mercedes and RBR have made far more advances in aero post summer break as well.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Maybe ten years from now we'll find out what really happened with Ferrari's car this season.

Because in the middle of the European season they were literally running away from Mercedes. With an obvious significant acceleration advantage. And then - poof! It just went away. I've heard and read rumors that the FIA put some additional sensors on the car and somehow closed a power-generating loophole Ferrari was exploiting.

If Hamilton does come through and end up winning the WDC this year, there ought to be an asterisk next to Valtteri Bottas' name. Because he has been the absolute definition of what an ideal F1 team player should be. I hope Toto Wolf and Mercedes find a way to get him an extra special end of year bonus. He's earned it.

My only problem right now is figuring out a way to stay awake to watch the race live. It sure is a drag getting old....

I just have to get up early here in the UK. Starts at 6 am. I’m normally awake then anyhow. Another drag of being old!
[doublepost=1538841790][/doublepost]

Don’t underestimate the Honda in an RBR chassis next year. While it still amazes me that I say this, if Max continues to settle down I see him in the RBR Honda as a serious contender for the WDC in 2019.

I think if Honda improves as much from 2018-2019 as is did from 2017-2018, then it will be a contender for sure. Unless it’s significantly better than the rest though, I don’t see Max beating Lewis and Vettel over a season. But a win here and there would be good.

 

[Glideslope]

Probably why it will never happen! Unless RBR Honda looks impressive in the next few years I do expect to see him in a Ferrari when Vettel retires.

A bit of on off rain tomorrow might make it fun. Not forecast, but here's hoping.

Don’t underestimate the Honda in an RBR chassis next year. While it still amazes me that I say this, if Max continues to settle down I see him in the RBR Honda as a serious contender for the WDC in 2019.

 

[CWallace]

Don’t underestimate the Honda in an RBR chassis next year.

Well the Renault has not been very reliable in the RBR compared to the factory and McLaren so I am guessing RBR is going for tight packaging and that was a major contributor to the Honda's failing in the tight McLaren packaging. So unless Honda has significantly improved their cooling, I wonder how reliable they will be...

Race is like 11PM for me on the West Coast, but no reason for me to stay up since it will be Lewis or Bottas. And Lewis is now guaranteed his 5th since he will be 60-70 points up by tomorrow morning.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Well the Renault has not been very reliable in the RBR compared to the factory and McLaren so I am guessing RBR is going for tight packaging and that was a major contributor to the Honda's failing in the tight McLaren packaging. So unless Honda has significantly improved their cooling, I wonder how reliable they will be...

Race is like 11PM for me on the West Coast, but no reason for me to stay up since it will be Lewis or Bottas. And Lewis is now guaranteed his 5th since he will be 60-70 points up by tomorrow morning.

Well deserved to!
Vettel and Ferrari have never been closer, but somehow there is now a huge gap.

Some head scratching over the winter in Italy I’m sure!

 

[Akrapovic]

To be honest, I know we all like the narrative of something secret going on because it's fun, but the gap isn't that huge. Ferrari were ahead for a race or two, and now Mercedes are ahead. That can be put down to the cars suiting tracks.

Traditionally, Ferrari always has this late-season slump. That's been a feature since Schumacher retired (the first time, lol). Apart from the 1 Kimi title, they've always lost momentum as the season went on. It cost Alonso titles back in his day, and it costs Vettel them now (not that he hasn't made enough of his own mistakes). The Ferrari performance drop off is just Ferrari doing what they do best - being unable to follow through with plans. And then they try and get too smart and make weird calls - Suzuka qualifying being a good example.

As for Honda, I'm kinda done giving them second chances and thinking "it'll be better next year". Whilst it was clear the McLaren had more problems than just the engine, it's also clear the Honda engine is still the worst of the four. Yeah it's managed top 10s in qualifying now but there's a long way to go from there.

I completely agree with @CWallace comment regarding cooling. The Renault engine was always more fragile in the tightly packaged Newey designs, and RBR put a lot of pressure on Renault to improve how the engine worked in that packaging, to the point of their relationship breaking down in a very public way. The Honda hasn't really been that reliable in the STR either, so how is it going to be when Newey gets his hands on it? Unless there's a sudden huge leap in performance, cooling and general reliability, it's going to be a tough year. RBR aren't known for being kind to their engine suppliers, so how is Horner going to react when he gets a double retirement through engine failures?

 

[Apple fanboy]

Totally dominant Mercedes team today. Bottas had a brief worry from Max, but kept it together.

But Ferrari throw in the towel. Didn’t even bother swapping Vettel with Kimi.
Vettel’s attempt on Max was that of a desperate man, seeing the WC slip away.
Max complained about his penalty with Kimi, but it did look like he could have given him a bit more room.
Without it he would have been second for sure.
So drivers championship could officially be done in the US next time out if Lewis wins and Vettel fails to get second.
Only a Lewis DNF will keep it alive beyond Mexico realistically.

 

[CWallace]

Yeah I am watching the race now and just saw Vettel do a Verstappen on Verstappen so I figure it was going to be a Lewis win so I deleted it and moved on in my DVR queue.

Honestly, a lot of ugly driving at the start with Magnussen blocking LeClerc to cause a collision (should have been a penalty on Kevin) and then Ericsson ramming him a couple of laps later. I would not call Verstappen on Räikkönen ugly, but the penalty was deserved because Max should have taken the longer way around and not cut back on track.

As for swapping Räikkönen for Vettel, indeed why bother. Lewis is the Champion Elect and Räikkönen has no reason to give Vettel any favors now that he's been shown the door by the team.

Ferrari should be safe in the Constructor's Championship so it will be interesting to see if Vettel now just goes full attack for poles and wins for from this point onward it does not matter if he finishes, so he might as well risk it all to finish first.

 

[apolloa]

I cannot wait for 2021.... yet another season of boredom, I really wanted it to go to the last race.

Torro Rosso showed that the Honda engines are starting to challenge! Great to see, reliability now getting better then Renault.
Max and Kimi meh, he got a deserved penalty, but with Seb that was Sebs stupid own fault, he threw his year away in that utterly pointless move. Sky presenters were saying how when Max did that before he got a penalty, yet Seb does not.. yeah very very unfair and biased marshalling in my eyes.

I need to start watching Fornula E more, racing is so much better there.

 

[AustinIllini]

I cannot wait for 2021.... yet another season of boredom, I really wanted it to go to the last race.

Torro Rosso showed that the Honda engines are starting to challenge! Great to see, reliability now getting better then Renault.
Max and Kimi meh, he got a deserved penalty, but with Seb that was Sebs stupid own fault, he threw his year away in that utterly pointless move. Sky presenters were saying how when Max did that before he got a penalty, yet Seb does not.. yeah very very unfair and biased marshalling in my eyes.

I need to start watching Fornula E more, racing is so much better there.

Formula E is great. It's adding some major brand cache here in the next couple of seasons.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Watched the re-run if the race and Hamilton will have to have some extremely bad luck to lose this championship. Max was unfortunate with Kimi and drove a very good race I thought.

Vettel turned into a rookie and once again crashed into somebody in a silly move. I would have liked to have seen Ferrari get their act together this year and properly challenge Merc but it seems a shambles behind the scenes and Vettel looks frustrated on track, shame.

 

[ivanwi11iams]

Nice racing today. I was happy to see Vettel spin!

So, onto America. I am hoping Lewis can win, and Vettel finishes off the podium. Then, Lewis can let Bottas win races for the remainder of the season.

I was actually hoping Bottas was closer to Lewis today. With that Lewis would let him by. Even more so since Vettel wasn’t near the podium...

 

[AustinIllini]

Nice racing today. I was happy to see Vettel spin!

So, onto America. I am hoping Lewis can win, and Vettel finishes off the podium. Then, Lewis can let Bottas win races for the remainder of the season.

I was actually hoping Bottas was closer to Lewis today. With that Lewis would let him by. Even more so since Vettel wasn’t near the podium...

That would be pretty terrible for the sport.

If Grosjean or Magnussen took the race at COTA, that would be the best thing.

 

[Apple fanboy]

That would be pretty terrible for the sport.

If Grosjean or Magnussen took the race at COTA, that would be the best thing.

Not unless there’s a 10 car pile up!

 

[pachyderm]

At this point it is like 'Bama play in the NCAA...

There is no point.

 

[ivanwi11iams]

To be clear, which part is terrible for the sport?

That would be pretty terrible for the sport.

If Grosjean or Magnussen took the race at COTA, that would be the best thing.

 

[Akrapovic]

To be clear, which part is terrible for the sport?

Actively hoping for no title battle. It removes any sort of good tension in an event. The only people who are happy in that case are fanboys who don't care about the sport and just want their driver to win. Or, in F1s case, the weird anti-fanboys who spend more time hating a driver than following the sport. The various people who have these weird beefs against Lewis and Vettel are just weird. No interest in seeing a good competition, just a walkover for their man.

People say the Schumacher years were boring, but that's not true of every Schumacher year. It was only boring where there was no battle. The years there was a good fight were brilliant, regardless of how your favourite driver does.

I have no favourite driver. I'm more of a team supporter myself, but I'm a sportscar fan at heart.

 

[AustinIllini]

Not unless there’s a 10 car pile up!

Realistically, it only has to be 5 or 6 cars. Haas is the best car of the rest of the field which is pretty incredible since Haas has already stopped development on on this year's car.

 

[an-other]

I'd love to see Honda get it together, however I agree they've used up my faith. Red Bull has a lot of money to toss around, so there's always a chance.

It is peculiar Renault hasn't really made a step this year. I had higher expectations for McLaren/Renault. Bring back Ron.

Ferrari is a conundrum. They may have the fastest driver over a single lap, the best driver in the history of the sport leading races, the best engine, and the best chassis. (Key word is may.) The weaknesses I see are no "racers" in management and a two tier driver line-up where the lead driver makes a lot of mistakes if not P2 or higher. (Germany was P1)

It's tough to measure Mercedes. They're in the top 2 in drivers, engines (perhaps not chassis), but definitely the top team management-wise (with apologies to Mr. Horner. Red Bull has that Adrian chap.) A lot of top talent have come in/out of Mercedes. Mercedes is still chugging along.

Now for the fun mind game: What would Max or Ric do in the Ferrari's one seat? Would Ric beat Lewis regularly head to head in the Merc? What would Lewis do in a RB versus Max? Then, there's the what driver on the grid could you put in the best seat and think he could win? (e.g. Could Stroll in a Mercedes?) You can spend a day going over these permutations. Enjoy.

My opinion is there is a top driver. A group of three that follow, and one person many would rate higher than me. There's a wildcard driver that I cannot classify as his talent/reputation appears massively better than his equipment.

 

[BenTrovato]

I'd love to see Honda get it together, however I agree they've used up my faith. Red Bull has a lot of money to toss around, so there's always a chance.

It is peculiar Renault hasn't really made a step this year. I had higher expectations for McLaren/Renault. Bring back Ron.

Ferrari is a conundrum. They may have the fastest driver over a single lap, the best driver in the history of the sport leading races, the best engine, and the best chassis. (Key word is may.) The weaknesses I see are no "racers" in management and a two tier driver line-up where the lead driver makes a lot of mistakes if not P2 or higher. (Germany was P1)

It's tough to measure Mercedes. They're in the top 2 in drivers, engines (perhaps not chassis), but definitely the top team management-wise (with apologies to Mr. Horner. Red Bull has that Adrian chap.) A lot of top talent have come in/out of Mercedes. Mercedes is still chugging along.

Now for the fun mind game: What would Max or Ric do in the Ferrari's one seat? Would Ric beat Lewis regularly head to head in the Merc? What would Lewis do in a RB versus Max? Then, there's the what driver on the grid could you put in the best seat and think he could win? (e.g. Could Stroll in a Mercedes?) You can spend a day going over these permutations. Enjoy.

My opinion is there is a top driver. A group of three that follow, and one person many would rate higher than me. There's a wildcard driver that I cannot classify as his talent/reputation appears massively better than his equipment.

A lot of people think Honda will pass Renault this off season. Will be interesting if they do!

I still don’t understand how people think Ferrari faltered more than Mercedes held back. Their car is so far ahead of anyone else. Obviously Ferrari is subpar with their race management and Vettel coming unraveled this season but Mercedes has so much performance on tap. This is the worst combo for the sport since Ferrari will make the most money in second place and Mercedes will win its 5 consecutive uncontested championship.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I think Lewis is a better driver than Vettel. In the past Lewis would let his head go down and you’d see results reflect that. But I think he has matured.

Vettel in the other hand is making silly mistakes, not leading the team as he should.

Ferrari had their best chance with the current engine specifications to beat Mercedes, but silly decisions like the wrong tyres in q3 and driver errors have cost them dearly.

That said, they earn the most money and govern the sport by threatening to quit if the rule changes don’t go their way. So for me I’d love to see the WC to continue to be elusive.

However I’d love McLaren or Williams to sort out their issues. They are both so far below where they should be.

 

[CWallace]

I think Lewis is a better driver than Vettel. In the past Lewis would let his head go down and you’d see results reflect that. But I think he has matured.

Vettel in the other hand is making silly mistakes, not leading the team as he should.

I agree in equal equipment Lewis would take Vettel.

As for Vettel's mistakes, a fair number of them have been due to the team's (lack of) strategy putting him behind the eight-ball. I do think he is trying to be a team leader ala Michael Schumacher was, but he does not have the "Brain Trust" behind him that Michael did and rather than working together as a cohesive unit, they are working at odds with each other.

Another big difference is the lack of testing today compared to Michael's time. He'd do a GP distance a day at Fiorano so he knew that car inside and out in any condition.

 

[AustinIllini]

I'd love to see Honda get it together, however I agree they've used up my faith. Red Bull has a lot of money to toss around, so there's always a chance.

It is peculiar Renault hasn't really made a step this year. I had higher expectations for McLaren/Renault. Bring back Ron.

Ferrari is a conundrum. They may have the fastest driver over a single lap, the best driver in the history of the sport leading races, the best engine, and the best chassis. (Key word is may.) The weaknesses I see are no "racers" in management and a two tier driver line-up where the lead driver makes a lot of mistakes if not P2 or higher. (Germany was P1)

It's tough to measure Mercedes. They're in the top 2 in drivers, engines (perhaps not chassis), but definitely the top team management-wise (with apologies to Mr. Horner. Red Bull has that Adrian chap.) A lot of top talent have come in/out of Mercedes. Mercedes is still chugging along.

Now for the fun mind game: What would Max or Ric do in the Ferrari's one seat? Would Ric beat Lewis regularly head to head in the Merc? What would Lewis do in a RB versus Max? Then, there's the what driver on the grid could you put in the best seat and think he could win? (e.g. Could Stroll in a Mercedes?) You can spend a day going over these permutations. Enjoy.

My opinion is there is a top driver. A group of three that follow, and one person many would rate higher than me. There's a wildcard driver that I cannot classify as his talent/reputation appears massively better than his equipment.

I don't know what to think anymore. I think McLaren was responsible for a lot of the suck in McLaren Honda. I think Honda will be just fine