Formula One - 2016

Boy, Hamilton would have no luck if it wasn't bad luck this year. Can't take part in Q1 due to a turbo issue so has to start 10th. Nothing is going right for him this year.

If my memory is working properly, Hamilton sewed up his 3rd F1 championship last year, and hasn't beaten Nico since. Before that he was fairly untouchable. I find that odd.

Yeah, there were three races at the end of last season where Rosberg beat Hamilton. Not that it mattered at all. There have been three race stretches before where Rosberg was dominant.

But this year, man. Some of it has been Rosberg straight up beating his teammate, but most have not.

Such a potty mouth from Vettel....

Then again, I think the discussion between him and Danny boy will be pretty interesting to hear. Hit twice.

BTW, I'm happy for Rosberg for having such a great year- both for his car and his driving. Still, Lewis is 2 time defending champion. It's not as if he sucks.

Well, they're definitely growing fan base. My wife is sitting here reading, and she just grabbed the remote to rewind it and re-watch the first lap shenanigans herself and asked a bunch of questions .
She's looking forward to the post-race discussion too.

When did F1 adopt a 'have at it boys' policy?

I think Dani's account on his impacts with Vettel are pretty accurate. He went into turn 1 too hot and the next one Vettel lifted as he was accelerating. Both racing incidents. The 1st more avoidable than the second. It's not as if Vettel has never done nothing boneheaded and ruined someone else's race. He has2

alfadriver wrote: BTW, I'm happy for Rosberg for having such a great year- both for his car and his driving. Still, Lewis is 2 time defending champion. It's not as if he sucks.

3 times, he won it in 2008 at McLaren.

codrus wrote:

alfadriver wrote: BTW, I'm happy for Rosberg for having such a great year- both for his car and his driving. Still, Lewis is 2 time defending champion. It's not as if he sucks.

3 times, he won it in 2008 at McLaren.

Right, but he's defending the last two championships.

It's pretty nice to see Kimi getting the great finishes. Last year was hit and miss (mostly miss) but this season he looks like a F1 champion. Alonso finishes 6th - that's gotta feel pretty good.

Thought today's race a bit meh following the opening kerfuffle. Loved the radio from Vettel though.

Some notes from the back...

Haas scores again. Very nice to see a new team taking a different approach, and be pretty successful at it right out of the box- they have scored 3 out of 4 times which is really great. This time, Grosjean did a great job defending his position when he was pretty clearly the slower car.

McLaren scored a strong 6th and 10th. Holy cow. I'm sure progress can't come fast enough, though.

Renault finally scored. See McLaren... Although they started in a deeper hole with that car, it seems.

Red Bull should have looked at their testing data- they would have known that the not so soft tires were slower than taking one more stop as opposed to figuring that out when it was too late. Duh.

Not a great race once it settled- as much as Lewis thought he could win late in the race, I kinda doubt that he would have been able to pass even if he got close. That's ok.

Anyone know where one can find results that have the pit and tire information?

I could have sworn that Perez's car was noted during the race of using the same compound on both sets he used. And I thought that they still have to change to a different compound once.

In reply to alfadriver:

He switched tires early so you're right about display. Don't know why they goofed on that. He did 2 tire swaps.

I'm turning 50 next week Wish I had the funds to go to the Spanish GP for my birthday. Oh well, it's either that 1 race or a racong season for me. A harder decision than you might think. I love Spain.

markwemple wrote: In reply to alfadriver: He switched tires early so you're right about display. Don't know why they goofed on that. He did 2 tire swaps.

Just read that- not good coverage on F1's part.

Verstappen to replace Kvyat immediately:

http://www.f1today.net/en/news/f1/211278/exclusive-verstappen-takes-over-seat-of-kvyat-with-immediate-effect

Max Verstappen will replace Daniil Kvyat at Red Bull Racing with immediate effect. In a straight swap, the move will also see Kvyat will return to Toro Rosso from the Spanish Grand Prix, F1Today.net can exclusively reveal. According to various sources, Kvyat has been under fire for his poor performances during the past two Grand Prix's in China and Sochi,owing to contact with Sebastian Vettel, with the German retiring on the opening lap in the most recent race. He was asked to come to the Red Bull Racing headquarters at Milton Keynes this week to discuss the race and his actions. Sources have told F1Today.net that Verstappen - who was speculated to join Red Bull Racing for next year - will drive for Renault-powered squad from the Spanish Grand Prix onwards. The Russian will be at the factory this week to do a seat fitting later this week.

I didn't see that coming, but not surprised.....

-Rob

In reply to rob_lewis:

F1 today is the only place reporting it. Not any of the reputable sources ins F1.com or F1 live right now. So while I'd like to see it. I'll believe it when I see it

"Poor performance" in China? He finished on the podium.

Wow. So f1 planet had it right for a change.

Button agrees with you centimeters. He Tweeted Really? one bad race and Kyvat's dropped, what about the podium in the previous race?

Kieth Collantine's rebuttal to Button's sentiment: "Verstappen taking Kvyat’s seat is about future potential, not past results"

steronz wrote: Kieth Collantine's rebuttal to Button's sentiment: "Verstappen taking Kvyat’s seat is about future potential, not past results"

They can try and paint it how they like, but it happened days after he took Vettle and his own team mate out very publicly in a race. I'm sure it's is about future potential for Verstappen as the sharks (Mercedes and Ferrari) were circling with long term contracts, but I bet it wouldn't have happened this week if he hadn't driven like a prick in the last race.

There be something in the data that I am not privy to which would justify the hype about verstappen. He just hasn't seemed that spectacular at all to me. We will see now that he is up against Ricciardo.

Happy that the McLaren guys got points but it seems like such hard work for them. Haas is making it look easy but I assume they will fade without a MAJOR sponsor signing up soon. I have a love for Sauber F1, but the report seem to lean heavily to their end. Sad days.

Hamilton will have his biggest test this year it seems. He has had terrible luck and a poorer car relative to his teammate's. I hope we have some closer battles between the MB guys.

Ferrari seems to be close but I have a feeling that they are about to implode. So we will have red bull or Williams in second or third of the championship.

Early days.

Each race this year has been fun to watch; lots of midfield battles.

Note that even with the terrible luck that Hamilton has had so far this year, the points different (43) is still smaller than his margin over Rosberg last year (59). There's a long way to go yet.

Yeah, but Rosberg's luck last year was pretty bad for most of the season. And bad the year before as well.