Formula One - 2016

Pink Cow boys getting into the spirit of things in Mexico.

LCH is 26 points behind Hollywood. A win for Nico and Lewis not finishing clinches it for Nico. A win for Lewis and a DNF for Nico puts the gap at one point. They can finish 1-2 at all three races and Nico wins it. As a Brit and a Lewis fan, I'm still rooting for Nico to get this one.

I've never been a Nico fan. As soon as I saw "Rosberg" and "German"- I could not root for a Finn who turns his back on his heritage. Especially when that's a dad who is the first Finn to win a WDC.

I was a HUGE fan of Keke.

And I've been a Hamilton fan since he was on the cover of Autoweek as a kid.

I won't be crushed, but would rather seem Lewis come back from all of the issues he's had this year to win it.

I figured Rosberg lists his nationality so as to only have to stand through one national anthem on the podium.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

That's the fewest teeth I've ever seen Ricciardo showing.

alfadriver wrote: I've never been a Nico fan. As soon as I saw "Rosberg" and "German"- I could not root for a Finn who turns his back on his heritage. Especially when that's a dad who is the first Finn to win a WDC. I was a HUGE fan of Keke. And I've been a Hamilton fan since he was on the cover of Autoweek as a kid. I won't be crushed, but would rather seem Lewis come back from all of the issues he's had this year to win it.

Is it just me, or does Nico have at least three "home" races according to the F1 commentators?

I want to see a Lewis comeback. I think he's the stronger driver and better strategist, so I want the best to win.

Keith Tanner wrote:

alfadriver wrote: I've never been a Nico fan. As soon as I saw "Rosberg" and "German"- I could not root for a Finn who turns his back on his heritage. Especially when that's a dad who is the first Finn to win a WDC. I was a HUGE fan of Keke. And I've been a Hamilton fan since he was on the cover of Autoweek as a kid. I won't be crushed, but would rather seem Lewis come back from all of the issues he's had this year to win it.

Is it just me, or does Nico have at least three "home" races according to the F1 commentators? I want to see a Lewis comeback. I think he's the stronger driver and better strategist, so I want the best to win.

I want Lewis to win only if Nico doesn't have mechanical issues. I know Lewis has been plagued with them all year, but would love to see it come down to the wire where they're fighting until the end. (Well, as much fighting as two driver in F1 being coached by a 1000+ strong team can do).

Yeah, it would be justice if Nico had a DNF in Mexico (with Lewis winning) to bring the points close that quickly, but I hate seeing anyone lose because of stuff out of their control.

-Rob

alfadriver wrote: I've never been a Nico fan. As soon as I saw "Rosberg" and "German"- I could not root for a Finn who turns his back on his heritage. Especially when that's a dad who is the first Finn to win a WDC. I was a HUGE fan of Keke. And I've been a Hamilton fan since he was on the cover of Autoweek as a kid. I won't be crushed, but would rather seem Lewis come back from all of the issues he's had this year to win it.

Pssst. Eric. Keke was born in Sweden although he has Finnish parents. At least Nico was born in Germany, although unlike here place of birth does not always = Citizenship in Europe. His mother is German so the German citizenship. Nico was not just born in Germany, but he grew up split between Germany and Monaco and never lived in Sweden or Norway. Also his parents chose not to teach him Finnish so he can't even speak the language of the Nationality you are accusing him of abandoning. So, do we ridicule people born here to Mexican parents who call themselves American?

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Comon- is dad was the first Finnish WDC. He should be proud of being a Finn racer, and not just another german....

Sad.

(BTW, there are plenty of Americans who call themselves something else. Some are even born speaking a different language, as Americans, and people think they are not. And you know who I'm talking about)

(BTW2- if you were born to Mexican parents in the US- you can choose to be Mexican just as you can choose to be US. Well, the parents can)

edit- did anyone else catch P2 today? Track looks REALLY slick. Cars sliding all over the track- Perez in one of the FI's reminded me of that X1/9 hillclimber who was sliding all over the track- understeer, oversteer, and both at the same time... Going to be interesting. Moreso if it rains.

Ricciardo daid that Hamilton should help been punished for turn 1 cut. He's right. Since Verstappen was punished. Hammy should have been too.

markwemple wrote: Ricciardo daid that Hamilton should help been punished for turn 1 cut. He's right. Since Verstappen was punished. Hammy should have been too.

Hamilton didn't gain an advantage from that because Rosberg and Ricciardo were busy hitting each other and so wouldn't have been able to pass even if he hadn't gone through the grass.

I for one am interested in seeing Max down the road once he stops...well, acting like a teenager.
The talent seems to be there, the maturity, not... yet?

SnowMongoose wrote: I for one am interested in seeing Max down the road once he stops...well, acting like a teenager. The talent seems to be there, the maturity, not... yet?

Yeah, I think the maturity needs to develop. He's like a lot of the kids I see at the kart track who've been pumped up by dad and never think it's his fault. I was OK with what he did until he go to the pre-podium room. Yes, he gained an advantage, but he was right to not move until race control told him to. But, in the pre-podium room, he started telling Nico and Hamilton it wasn't his fault and he was in the right, that's where the maturity needs to come.

Vettel on the other hand..... When he was winning championships, he rarely complained. Now that he's not running up front, he seems to find fault with everyone else on the track. I keep wanting to tell him to stop whining and just drive. I find it amusing that the new driving rules (no moving under braking), one which he argued for, bit him in the race and got him a 10-second penalty, putting him 5th. Then again, I wonder how much of that also had to do with his comments to Charlie on the radio at the end of the race......

Lewis is doing everything he needs to do to seal the championship. He just needs the other teams to get between him and Nico. Looks like this is going to go down to the last race.

-Rob

So the end wasn't what we saw. We all saw Max get an immediate 5 second penalty for not letting Vettel back in front, which lost him 2 instead of just one position.

But then Vettel got a 10 second penalty for erratic driving while defending off Ricciardo.

Ricciardo 3rd, Verstappen 4th, Vettel 5th. hm.

So Ricciardo gets 3rd because Max was being Max AND Sebastian was being Max.

(does F1 have rules like most US sports, where if you massively criticize the refs, you get some kind of penalty- mostly financial? Vettel seemed to happily earn a few Euro deduction from his paycheck at the end of the race...)

edit- and news of the final results/penalties http://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2016/10/ricciardo-inherits-third-after-vettel-penalised-for-erratic-driv.html

rob_lewis wrote: Lewis is doing everything he needs to do to seal the championship. He just needs the other teams to get between him and Nico. Looks like this is going to go down to the last race. -Rob

One has to note the luck that Rosberg is having- he's banged off of more than one car, and it has not cost him anything, yet. I always thought these cars were really fragile- apparently not the Mercedes, so much.

Things are often let slide on the first lap. Rosberg has said he has no issue with Hamilton's corner one incident. Apparently he had issues getting heat into one of the front brakes. When he hit the brake pedal going into T1 one brake worked, the other didn't, then it suddenly came up to temp and locked.

A far bigger issue was the last few laps. Pretty disappointed in how the whole thing went down. I'm no Mad Max fan, but even I'm 50:50 on his penalty. Same with Vettle, just let them race. I think Vettle may have got away with it, or ‘just’ had a 5 second rather than a 10 second penalty if he hadn’t gone off on Charlie over the radio. His rants were quite amusing earlier in the year, but now he just sounds like a cry baby.

Who else is fed up with Kimi being given the shaft by the Ferrari team? Up until two races ago he was ahead of Vettle in the WDC point. Last race they screwed up his tire change and put him out, this time they pull him in for an un-needed tire stop and drop him behind a place again. Ferrari just can’t get their E36 M3 together. They are looking for a new Chief aerodynamicist, but who the hell would go to the team that hires and fires like they do if you could find a job elsewhere? I’d rather be at Pink Cow II, Noforce India, Franks Daughter or Reggie Renault than Ferrari if I was a F1 level Engineer.

Did anyone else notice what an outstanding job Jolyon Palmer did? Started at the back of the grid after a crack was found in his chassis and he missed Quali, then got up to 14th ahead of his team mate and both Toro Pinko’s. He’s really come on strong in the 2nd half of the season and is making a great case for still being on the grid next year.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Maybe the Renault has had a crack for a while- so Jolyon should have been faster for the last few races. It would be interesting to hear his comments if the car was stiffer and more predictable than the last few races.

RedBull played the game right, by radioing telling Max he might have to give up the spot (which I am sure Ferrari gave that information to Vettel). Then by not giving the spot up (which was correct because they were not told to) pressured Vettel enough to make mental mistakes and eventually block Daniel from a pass, resulting in putting Vettel behind both of them. Although Redbull followed the rules, I think this takes away from the sport of racing hard, because Vettel was sitting in limbo, while Daniel was on the attack. Talking about Maturity Max and Vettel are more alike than I ever thought. I think in the next few years Max is going to mirror Vettel’s career.

codrus wrote:

markwemple wrote: Ricciardo daid that Hamilton should help been punished for turn 1 cut. He's right. Since Verstappen was punished. Hammy should have been too.

Hamilton didn't gain an advantage from that because Rosberg and Ricciardo were busy hitting each other and so wouldn't have been able to pass even if he hadn't gone through the grass.

I disagree. He made the same too lare brake as Verstappen and caused the fracas behind him

markwemple wrote:

codrus wrote:

markwemple wrote: Ricciardo daid that Hamilton should help been punished for turn 1 cut. He's right. Since Verstappen was punished. Hammy should have been too.

Hamilton didn't gain an advantage from that because Rosberg and Ricciardo were busy hitting each other and so wouldn't have been able to pass even if he hadn't gone through the grass.

I disagree. He made the same too lare brake as Verstappen and caused the fracas behind him

More reading indicates that he wasn't given a penalty as he lifted off once back on the track to make sure he didn't get an advantage whereas Mad Max kept his foot in. So we can disagree on if it was the same or different infraction to start with, he got away with it as he lifted and dropped back.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Things are often let slide on the first lap. Rosberg has said he has no issue with Hamilton's corner one incident. Apparently he had issues getting heat into one of the front brakes. When he hit the brake pedal going into T1 one brake worked, the other didn't, then it suddenly came up to temp and locked. A far bigger issue was the last few laps. Pretty disappointed in how the whole thing went down. I'm no Mad Max fan, but even I'm 50:50 on his penalty. Same with Vettle, just let them race. I think Vettle may have got away with it, or ‘just’ had a 5 second rather than a 10 second penalty if he hadn’t gone off on Charlie over the radio. His rants were quite amusing earlier in the year, but now he just sounds like a cry baby. Who else is fed up with Kimi being given the shaft by the Ferrari team? Up until two races ago he was ahead of Vettle in the WDC point. Last race they screwed up his tire change and put him out, this time they pull him in for an un-needed tire stop and drop him behind a place again. Ferrari just can’t get their E36 M3 together. They are looking for a new Chief aerodynamicist, but who the hell would go to the team that hires and fires like they do if you could find a job elsewhere? I’d rather be at Pink Cow II, Noforce India, Franks Daughter or Reggie Renault than Ferrari if I was a F1 level Engineer. Did anyone else notice what an outstanding job Jolyon Palmer did? Started at the back of the grid after a crack was found in his chassis and he missed Quali, then got up to 14th ahead of his team mate and both Toro Pinko’s. He’s really come on strong in the 2nd half of the season and is making a great case for still being on the grid next year.

Ferrari is definitely effing Kimi to Sebs benefit. Probably because Sebs is even more of a crybaby behind the scenes. He left Redbull because he was beat by Danny and Kimi is doing the same thing

I wished they had figured out the penalties sooner so that we would have gotten to see JPM do a shoey on the podium.

I agree Vettel seems to be getting pretty vocal about things, although keep in mind that you don't hear all of the radio comments. The "Vettel is a crybaby" story is popular right now, so anything he says that feeds into that is likely to be broadcast, while complaints from other drivers might well be skipped. And while I'm not a Vettel fan, I do think he got screwed at the end of this race.

In reply to codrus:

Vettel's harsh penalty may have partially the end of his rantings about Charlie Whitting. In other sports, Seb would have earned a 5 figure monetary penalty for that little outburst at the end. Not that it's right, but he did go out of his way to blast the officials in a very public way.

BTW, we hear all the time about off line communications- for Ferrari to keep that line open, they knew it could happen. It could have stayed off line, but it wasn't.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to codrus: Vettel's harsh penalty may have partially the end of his rantings about Charlie Whitting. In other sports, Seb would have earned a 5 figure monetary penalty for that little outburst at the end. Not that it's right, but he did go out of his way to blast the officials in a very public way. BTW, we hear all the time about off line communications- for Ferrari to keep that line open, they knew it could happen. It could have stayed off line, but it wasn't.

I was under the impression that all transmissions to and from the car were required to be provided to the world feed director / rights-holder (Bernie) and they then decided what to broadcast. Off-line transmissions were just the ones that didn't get sent across the world feed.

alfadriver wrote: In reply to codrus: Vettel's harsh penalty may have partially the end of his rantings about Charlie Whitting. In other sports, Seb would have earned a 5 figure monetary penalty for that little outburst at the end. Not that it's right, but he did go out of his way to blast the officials in a very public way. BTW, we hear all the time about off line communications- for Ferrari to keep that line open, they knew it could happen. It could have stayed off line, but it wasn't.

AIUI, when the announcers talk about "off line communication", that just means that the director of the world feed chose not to broadcast it. There is no means of private communication between the pit wall and the driver out on track, doing things like encrypting the radios is explicitly disallowed by the rules. If not, every team would be doing it so that they could discuss strategy without the other teams getting to listen in.