2018 Formula 1 Season Thread

[CWallace]

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

Right now, you have to be a factory team to have a chance of a win and a factory junior team (where you buy most of your components from the factory ala Haas, Sauber and Force India) to be competitive.

McLaren and Williams are the two teams that still do most of their own design in terms of components like gearboxes and suspensions and such and they're dead-last because they can't compete nor compare with the factory parts going into the "factory junior" teams.

I believe Williams is going to source a fair bit more components from Mercedes AMG next year so that will hopefully help. Unless McLaren does the same from Renault Sport, I expect they will continue to flounder.

 

[pachyderm]

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.

Nnnnoooo... you do!?!?

 

[circatee]

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.

Wow. Well, well. Time for me to exit the stage...

 

[Apple fanboy]

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.

I’d forgotten about the testing thing. I believe that does make a big difference.

Also with the poor designs of McLaren and Williams. If you start with a lemon you have much less time (and of course money) to fix it.

The cost cutting is robbing us of good F1. I don’t recall Schumacher being told to lift and coast.

 

[Glideslope]

Right now, you have to be a factory team to have a chance of a win and a factory junior team (where you buy most of your components from the factory ala Haas, Sauber and Force India) to be competitive.

McLaren and Williams are the two teams that still do most of their own design in terms of components like gearboxes and suspensions and such and they're dead-last because they can't compete nor compare with the factory parts going into the "factory junior" teams.

I believe Williams is going to source a fair bit more components from Mercedes AMG next year so that will hopefully help. Unless McLaren does the same from Renault Sport, I expect they will continue to flounder.

Curious what your thought is on RBR ever being sold to Honda? Let’s say there is strong progress, and Adrian and Honda create a contending RBR chassis over the next 2 seasons. A possible repeat of 2006 or simply unworkable? I’m inclined to believe Honda does not have the financial resources. However there is a lot of talk in other forums.

 

[CWallace]

Curious what your thought is on RBR ever being sold to Honda?

RBR is designed to advertise the Red Bull brand so as long as it is successful (as in able to win races in a season) I would expect them to not want to sell it.

 

[AustinIllini]

RBR is designed to advertise the Red Bull brand so as long as it is successful (as in able to win races in a season) I would expect them to not want to sell it.

I think RBR is worth more to Red Bull than it would be to a Honda. Honda is the largest racing engine manufacturer in the world. I assume they would much rather make engines and sponsor teams then get back into the factory team mess.

 

[Apple fanboy]

RBR is designed to advertise the Red Bull brand so as long as it is successful (as in able to win races in a season) I would expect them to not want to sell it.

Funny I’ve been watching F1 since before RBR began and I’ve never tasted a drop.

Mind you I’ve ever owned a Ferrari or Mercedes either, but for different reasons!

 

[Akrapovic]

Wow. Well, well. Time for me to exit the stage...

No, not at all! My opinion is no more valid than yours! You're perfectly entitled to it and if you feel it's right then you should stick to it. If you want Vettel to fail and the title to be over quicker, that's your call and it's a perfectly valid opinion But it's also a valid opinion to think that that idea is bad for the sport in general. Nobody has ever said "Do you know what would make this sport more exciting? Less competition and more one-sided events!"

 

[MOFS]

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

I think there was some tight packaging at McLaren initially, but Honda woefully underestimated the task in hand. They also changed their design concept in year two which meant they introduced more unrealiability. The change to the token system has helped them belatedly. Red Bull may have similar issues with the packaging; Autosport believe part of the reason Max had issues in Singapore was they closed some vents and the Red Bull packaging meant the Renault engine went into a recovery mode.

 

[an-other]

Honda buying Toro Rosso is more of an option, however unlikely from my limited view. Partly because the culture of Toro Rosso is 100% Italian. Honda has historically had two silos in the company: the racing faction and the eco side. It goes in cycles as who's in charge, and you can see this in their commitment to racing and their customer cars.

Ever watch the Honda McLaren documentary on Amazon Prime Video? There's a revealing moment where a bunch of journalists commented on the Honda engine. They basically confirmed Honda underestimated the commitment, and the young engineers/mechanics were a bit over their head. I loved the comment that the engine "sounded like a bucket of spanners." The only way you get experience is to learn and work through things. F1 doesn't allow long timetables. it would not surprise me if Honda would have binned the F1 program had it not been for Red Bull.

The McLaren chassis is an enigma. It's visually different than most on the grid. The team have massive resources and some clever boffins working in aero. I do think the reality is it's under performing. That is, whilst both Honda and Renault haven't helped, McLaren owns a good portion of their performance issues. We've certainly seen with Red Bull that a top chassis can make up for a less stellar engine (on some tracks.)

 

[Apple fanboy]

Lewis has been asking the media to show more respect to Vettel.
I think he has made a few mistakes (as has his team), but I think part of the reason this season is done, is because Lewis and Mercedes haven’t put a foot wrong for a while.

 

[AustinIllini]

Lewis has been asking the media to show more respect to Vettel.
I think he has made a few mistakes (as has his team), but I think part of the reason this season is done, is because Lewis and Mercedes haven’t put a foot wrong for a while.

I think, when it comes down to it, Maurizio might be the one who could take the fall for this season. Their results are pathetic for a team with that car.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I think, when it comes down to it, Maurizio might be the one who could take the fall for this season. Their results are pathetic for a team with that car.

Agreed. They should be winning most weeks. But somehow there is always a reason....

 

[AustinIllini]

Agreed. They should be winning most weeks. But somehow there is always a reason....

And, don't get me wrong, part of it is Lewis and the development of the Mercedes package over the year. But earlier this year, Ferrari was blowing races for no reason (Monza is the most obvious example I can think of). They should have stocked up on podiums to make this a competition; They simply have not.

 

[Apple fanboy]

And, don't get me wrong, part of it is Lewis and the development of the Mercedes package over the year. But earlier this year, Ferrari was blowing races for no reason (Monza is the most obvious example I can think of). They should have stocked up on podiums to make this a competition; They simply have not.

Agree. We all thought this was going to be a tight season going down to the wire. How disappointing that 3-4 mistakes denied us that.

 

[jdechko]

I’ve really enjoyed getting into F1 the past few weeks. There has been enough going on behind the leaders the last couple of races to make things interesting. And I’ve come to realize that the qualifying sessions are just as much a part of the race outcome and just as exciting.

It looks like the WDC is Hamilton’s to lose. I hope he wraps it up in the US because I’d like to see Mercedes turn Bottas loose in the last 3 races.

I think I’m a Bottas / Team Mercedes fan now.

 

[apolloa]

I wish F1 was like this, a full Formula E race on the official Formula E You Tube channel!! Look how close the racing is too..

[doublepost=1539379153][/doublepost]

And, don't get me wrong, part of it is Lewis and the development of the Mercedes package over the year. But earlier this year, Ferrari was blowing races for no reason (Monza is the most obvious example I can think of). They should have stocked up on podiums to make this a competition; They simply have not.

I agree and when Ferrari aren’t running well Red Bull are more then happy to take the positions from them.
But I can’t wait for the aerodynamics to be changed under regulation so they can actually race and overtake. That’s why the front runners don’t like the idea...

 

[BenTrovato]

I wish F1 was like this, a full Formula E race on the official Formula E You Tube channel!! Look how close the racing is too..

Very cool! So much more exciting. Reminds me of Senna vs Prost in 1993. Two of the all time greats less than a car lengths apart every single lap.. and Schumacher watching it all right behind them

 

[pachyderm]

Very cool! So much more exciting. Reminds me of Senna vs Prost in 1993. Two of the all time greats less than a car lengths apart every single lap.. and Schumacher watching it all right behind them

he he he Murray Walker .... love him.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/...grand-prix-winner.6aMWmWcHJYo06AcscAGSOg.html

 

[Akrapovic]

There's lots of series that stream live on YouTube. ELMS, Le Mans Cup, Blancpain all do. IMSA and WEC add races up afterwards. Formula E does, but it also geo-blocks which is annoying.

 

[MOFS]

I think Formula E has certainly influenced F1 a lot in the presentation - even the concept 2021 cars look related to the upcoming 2018-19 FE cars.

Liberty have made great strides in the presentation, and they show short highlights on the same day on the YouTube channel (complete with Sky’s commentary). I would love them to put the TV rights on free TV in the UK. Even a subscription untethered service would be better as I can’t justify getting Sky for the F1 and Game of Thrones alone for £70/month. ☹️

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Very cool! So much more exciting. Reminds me of Senna vs Prost in 1993. Two of the all time greats less than a car lengths apart every single lap.. and Schumacher watching it all right behind them

That was the first Grand Prix I attended

 

[BenTrovato]

That was the first Grand Prix I attended

Wow! That's amazing. What a grand prix to be at especially your first. Have you attended anything close to that ever since?

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Wow! That's amazing. What a grand prix to be at especially your first. Have you attended anything close to that ever since?

I was about to turn 11 years old in 1993 so don’t remember the quality of the racing quite as well as I wish I did from memory. I remember loving the atmosphere and experiencing the noise for the first time. I went up a tyre test that year too and saw Hill and Senna out of their cars fairly close. My dad has photos somewhere?

I have been to a few British GP’s since, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2009. Here I am in 2018 with two kids and I now barely see 4 races a season