2018 Formula 1 Season Thread

[an-other]

It's hard to predict next year, however the regulations have minimal changes (driver weight and fuel.) I would expect Mercedes to continue to be strong. Ferrari? Not sure. There's a history there of sweeping changes for under performance. Excited to see what LeClerc can do head to head with Vettel. Red Bull? I never doubt Adrian Newey. I do doubt Honda. I'd love love love them to repeat the 90's form. That noted, three years racing now and no podium. It's optimistic they can jump the queue. I don't know if Renault has the overall team talent after Ricciardo and Hulkenberg. Haas? A customer Ferrari engine team winning? McLaren is the biggest question mark of all. They are underperforming, and if Renault can win in Red Bull, it's conceivable it could win in a McLaren in 2019. That noted, see Honda comment: it's hard to imagine them making a big step with so little to show for it this year. Williams seems to come right every few years. I'd root for a Kubicza car. I think they will improve by "addition from subtraction." Similarly, I do not have much hopes for Force India. Who knows what a Kimi Sauber can do? I'd view it as well clever if Ferrari put their might in that driver/team.

Like him or don't, you have to give credit to Lewis. 5 Championships is an accomplishment. I can remember when people thought he was nuts for leaving Mclaren for Mercedes. Trivia note: Ron Dennis has the last production McLaren F1 road car. He promised it to Lewis if he won two world championships for Mclaren. That could be anywhere from a $20 - 35M payday depending on current prices.

 

[pachyderm]

5 different winners this season.

9 Hamilton
5 Vettel
2 Ricciardo
2 Verstappen
1 Räikkönen

 

[Apple fanboy]

5 different winners this season.

9 Hamilton
5 Vettel
2 Ricciardo
2 Verstappen
1 Räikkönen

Lewis nearly has as many wins as the rest put together.
I’d add Bottas to the list though, as we all know he should have one.

 

[BenTrovato]

5 different winners this season.

9 Hamilton
5 Vettel
2 Ricciardo
2 Verstappen
1 Räikkönen

Close championship and even though it seemed like Ferrari was a legitimate challenger, the results to me show another dominant Mercedes. Really hoping for change next year but I can't see anyone surpassing Mercedes.

 

[AustinIllini]

Close championship and even though it seemed like Ferrari was a legitimate challenger, the results to me show another dominant Mercedes. Really hoping for change next year but I can't see anyone surpassing Mercedes.

Dominant my Hamilton. Mercedes had the second best car for much of the year.

 

[BenTrovato]

Dominant my Hamilton. Mercedes had the second best car for much of the year.

While that’s what I wanted to believe... you don’t win the WDC and WCC by having the second best car for most of the year. A few tracks maybe but overall it was Mecrcedes dominance. Drivers and teams have all said as much...

 

[Crazy Badger]

I don't think Vettel demonstrated the skills you'd expect from a 4 times WC, but that being said he was still in the second best car for most of the year. Where he wasn't, he didn't take advantage whilst Hamilton and Mercedes almost always did.

The gap is smaller, but it's still a pretty big one. Mexico really highlighted the problem. All but the front 6 cars were lapped, which can't be good for any motor series.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I think in a truly dominate car, the top team always finish 1-2. That rarely happened this year which demonstrates it was much closer than before. The large gap was due to the reliability of the Mercedes and Ferrari making some bad decisions.
Then of course Vettel's various mistakes throughout the season.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

It’s was perhaps Hamilton’s best year due to the fact he handled all aspects of his game brilliantly. Sure he had the best car for much of the year but that’s what F1 is all about. The full package wins a championship not one single element and this year Mercedes were on form completely.

Vettel has a poor year by his standards and made too many errors, especially crashing into opponents. I’ve always felt his weakest part is battling away from the front and I think this is where him and Hamilton are set apart.

Depending on the way the coverage is shown here in the UK next season I think my days of watching may have come to an end. A lot of my friends who used to go to races don’t watch anymore, even the ones who worked in the sport. F1’s popularity is at at all time low in the country where so much of the industry is located and unfortunately exclusive TV rights and the desire for people to simply watch highlights and YouTube snippets is starting to take its toll. Sad but I wanted to say it.

 

[Akrapovic]

Vettel has done poorly, but I think we're far too black and white on the subject. It's hard to argue Mercedes (or Ferrari) have had dominant cars when both Kimi and Bottas have largely not featured during the year. Yes we can say Bottas should've had a win, but even with a points swap it still leaves him 4th in the drivers championship. So it's hard to argue the Mercedes is dominant. But the same goes for Ferrari - hard to claim the car is that good when Kimi is only just ahead of Bottas.

And whilst we all agree Vettel hasn't had a good year, that's purely by his previous standards. By anyone elses standards the years not been too bad. Despite this apparently terrible year, he's second in the drivers championship and 60 points clear of his team mate. If he's having a bad year, then Kimi must be said to be having an atrocious year.

The reality is somewhere in between, and we judge the best at such a high level that whenever they aren't spot on, we say it's been poor. Vettel has had a poor year by his standards, but all things considered, he's the only one even remotely close to Lewis for the majority of the season.

Depending on the way the coverage is shown here in the UK next season I think my days of watching may have come to an end. A lot of my friends who used to go to races don’t watch anymore, even the ones who worked in the sport. F1’s popularity is at at all time low in the country where so much of the industry is located and unfortunately exclusive TV rights and the desire for people to simply watch highlights and YouTube snippets is starting to take its toll. Sad but I wanted to say it.

Have you considered other motorsports? I don't watch F1 live anymore because I can't afford or justify the cost of it. But there are plenty of series that are completely free to watch online now. WEC (ok that isn't free, but it's £40 a year, which is cheap), ELMS, Le Mans Cup, Blancpain Endurance, Blancpain Sprint, IGTC, VLN, IMSA, GT Open, GT4, SuperGT, 24H Series, AsLMS, ADAC GT Masters. Sportscar racing is extremely accessible and almost all free. I archive all the free online races here for easy viewing at any time, and we post the live streams. Disclaimer: This is my site, but we make no money from it.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Have you considered other motorsports? I don't watch F1 live anymore because I can't afford or justify the cost of it. But there are plenty of series that are completely free to watch online now. WEC (ok that isn't free, but it's £40 a year, which is cheap), ELMS, Le Mans Cup, Blancpain Endurance, Blancpain Sprint, IGTC, VLN, IMSA, GT Open, GT4, SuperGT, 24H Series, AsLMS, ADAC GT Masters. Sportscar racing is extremely accessible and almost all free. I archive all the free online races here for easy viewing at any time, and we post the live streams. Disclaimer: This is my site, but we make no money from it.

I will check that out thank you very much.

 

[Apple fanboy]

It’s was perhaps Hamilton’s best year due to the fact he handled all aspects of his game brilliantly. Sure he had the best car for much of the year but that’s what F1 is all about. The full package wins a championship not one single element and this year Mercedes were on form completely.

Vettel has a poor year by his standards and made too many errors, especially crashing into opponents. I’ve always felt his weakest part is battling away from the front and I think this is where him and Hamilton are set apart.

Depending on the way the coverage is shown here in the UK next season I think my days of watching may have come to an end. A lot of my friends who used to go to races don’t watch anymore, even the ones who worked in the sport. F1’s popularity is at at all time low in the country where so much of the industry is located and unfortunately exclusive TV rights and the desire for people to simply watch highlights and YouTube snippets is starting to take its toll. Sad but I wanted to say it.

Channel 4 will have highlights of all the races next year and live British Grand Prix.
Hopefully viewers switching off will cause sponsors to pull out and the races back on free to air channels which is the only way it’s going to be sustainable.

 

[AustinIllini]

While that’s what I wanted to believe... you don’t win the WDC and WCC by having the second best car for most of the year. A few tracks maybe but overall it was Mecrcedes dominance. Drivers and teams have all said as much...

Not Mercedes dominance. Ferrari missteps. Combined with an inspired season from Hamilton.
[doublepost=1541337208][/doublepost]

I will check that out thank you very much.

Try Formula E, too when it comes back. It's sacrilege for some, but so many big manufacturers are getting into the game and there are a ton of raceday factors which determine whether or not someone wins the race. Drive, efficiency, stop strategy...

 

[Apple fanboy]

Not Mercedes dominance. Ferrari missteps. Combined with an inspired season from Hamilton.
[doublepost=1541337208][/doublepost]
Try Formula E, too when it comes back. It's sacrilege for some, but so many big manufacturers are getting into the game and there are a ton of raceday factors which determine whether or not someone wins the race. Drive, efficiency, stop strategy...

Text boost? Think I’ll pass.

 

[AustinIllini]

Text boost? Think I’ll pass.

Not a fan of that, either, but it's a sport with a future and the races are usually more interesting than Formula 1

 

[Apple fanboy]

Not a fan of that, either, but it's a sport with a future and the races are usually more interesting than Formula 1

Swapping cars doesn’t work either. Why not two sorter races?

 

[BenTrovato]

Not Mercedes dominance. Ferrari missteps. Combined with an inspired season from Hamilton.
[doublepost=1541337208][/doublepost]
Try Formula E, too when it comes back. It's sacrilege for some, but so many big manufacturers are getting into the game and there are a ton of raceday factors which determine whether or not someone wins the race. Drive, efficiency, stop strategy...

9 wins and the title wrapped up with two races to go.. and Mercedes didn't dominate? Lol okay

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Try Formula E, too when it comes back. It's sacrilege for some, but so many big manufacturers are getting into the game and there are a ton of raceday factors which determine whether or not someone wins the race. Drive, efficiency, stop strategy...

I did try Formula E but it didn’t really do anything for me. I like a loud powerful engine as for me that’s part of the excitement of motorsports. It was bad enough when F1 dropped the V8’s and it’s never quite felt the same. I agree the battling is more exciting than F1 though and clearly motorsports are going to be dominated by hybrids and battery power in the future but I think i’ll be done when that happens.

My favourite sport is road racing but it’s not consistent throughout the year. The Macau Grand Prix is coming up and I’m looking forward to that. I think the Isle of Man TT is the greatest event on earth but many don’t have the stomach for it due to the danger. It’s how motorsport used to be though. Man and machine and the track. Love it.

 

[MOFS]

Swapping cars doesn’t work either. Why not two sorter races?

The new car won’t need a car swap this season due to improved engine efficiency.

 

[Apple fanboy]

The new car won’t need a car swap this season due to improved engine efficiency.

Well that’s a step in the right direction.

 

[Akrapovic]

I want to like Formula E because I like electric cars (although find electric race cars dull), and I like street circuits...but it takes itself way too seriously for what it is. You can't pretend your all high and might and premium whilst having hashtag fanboosts, sound effects from the wipeout games and being bumped from your TV slot for childrens TV. The racing itself is good - it's just everything that surrounds it that I don't like.

For me (and this is purely my opinion), Formula E missed its chance. Whilst F1 was busy pricing itself out of regular viewers, sportscar racing worked out that YouTube streaming for free was a great way forward. Now I can watch one of 20 different series absolutely for free. Usually, there's too much choice at the weekend for me now. Ok IMSA is on IMSA.tv, but it's still free to UK Viewers, and whilst WEC is £40 a year, they upload all the races for free on YouTube a couple of weeks later.

Formula E should've been there instead of sportscar racing. But it was too busy geoblocking the UK, shoving the races onto Channel 5, where you couldn't watch them live because they were bumped for anything that had more than 4 viewers. They're only just now begining to fix that. But for me personally, I've moved on - I've discovered sportscar racing and I love it. Pouring rain, during the night, mixed class racing, around the full length Nurburgring? Yes please, and can I have some seconds?

 

[AustinIllini]

9 wins and the title wrapped up with two races to go.. and Mercedes didn't dominate? Lol okay

How many races did the other Mercedes win?

Oh right. We'll say 1, but even then that was late in the season.

Maybe you didn't watch the same F1. Until August it was never clear who was going to win week after week.

But yeah, the Constructors isn't decided either. Countering your non-arguments is Mercedes parade level boring.

 

[BenTrovato]

How many races did the other Mercedes win?

Oh right. We'll say 1, but even then that was late in the season.

Maybe you didn't watch the same F1. Until August it was never clear who was going to win week after week.

But yeah, the Constructors isn't decided either. Countering your non-arguments is Mercedes parade level boring.

Wow.. pretty rude comment right there. What's the disrespect toward others for?

 

[Akrapovic]

Maybe a bit harsh but I do agree with the general gist of it. 2018 has not been dominant at all. Ok it's not a battle down to the final race, but we've seen a lot more dominant performances than that not that long ago.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

For me Mercedes haven’t been dominant but more consistent than their rivals this year.