I think Merc will be, or more likely, has been spending a lot of time on their approach. Everybody else seems to have gone with the 70's Gabriel HiJacker technique, and on some tracks it seems to work really well, but on others Merc has the speed. There could be some really interesting philosophical arguments going on there.
I can see Ferrari winning a whole lot next year. A wee bit more speed, a wee bit more reliability, a wee bit less red mist from Seb, and it could come together nicely.
In reply to Advan046 : MB squeaked by because it wasn't Nico and Hamilton. Otherwise it would have been a similar year like 2016. Bottas either doesn't have the chops or needs more time to settle in. After the Euro break, Hamilton had the championship in the bag. I would like to see everybody race for the win in the last 2 races and no team orders.
No surprise Massa is retiring, just wondering if Williams wants to bring in another ride buyer, senior F1 driver, or take a risk on one of the young GP2 drivers.
In reply to Advan046 :
I just saw some news that Haas had moved on from the 2017 car early, too. Early enough that they think it has harmed the 2017 season. Maybe they move up, too?
In reply to alfadriver :
Idk. They have as much chance as Sauber in my mind. Just a matter of getting the car right for the new rule tweeks. Including the new Halo aero.
They can't seem to get the brakes or chassis balance to be consistent.
trigun7469 said:In reply to Advan046 : ..........I would like to see everybody race for the win in the last 2 races and no team orders......
Yes!!!
The Williams documentary is now on NETFLIX
Advan046 said:In reply to alfadriver :
Idk. They have as much chance as Sauber in my mind. Just a matter of getting the car right for the new rule tweeks. Including the new Halo aero.
They can't seem to get the brakes or chassis balance to be consistent.
I'd put them considerably ahead of Sauber. They have been doing better than a new team should be doing. And since they think that part of the 2017 problem is the 2018 focus, that seems as if they will do well next season. Maybe Renault takes a big leap ahead, but Toro Rosso seems like they are heading back down the standings.
loosecannon said:The Williams documentary is now on NETFLIX
Watched that this weekend. Let's just say that Frank Williams is an interesting and very driven man. The documentary was not what I was expecting....
-Rob
It was well done. Watched it yesterday. Claire is also a really impressive person and should prove more than able to take hold of the reigns.
Awesome Qualaifying runs by Bottas and Alsonso.
Good drive by the top 4. Lewis finished pretty far ahead of ricciardo after similar starting positions.
I was shocked when Lewis baled the car in qualifying. It is so very unlike him. I can't remember the last time he crashed all by himself. Lots of aggressive stuff that didn't work out, sure.
It was sure fun watching he and Daniel come through the pack.
It's too bad that cars have such a tough time getting close to each other when there's a decent speed advantage. When Botas was in clean air, he gained quite a bit on Vettel, but when behind him- nothing. Same with Kimi on Botas and Lewis on Kimi. And Alonso on Masa, sort of.
Alonso just didn't have the hp. He was much faster than Massa everywhere except the front straight. I also hope the do something about dirty air issues.
With all those spoilers etc. it is not likely.
If you want bumper to bumper racing watch Nascar. Even a little side rubbing.
markwemple said:Alonso just didn't have the hp. He was much faster than Massa everywhere except the front straight. I also hope the do something about dirty air issues.
iceracer said:With all those spoilers etc. it is not likely.
If you want bumper to bumper racing watch Nascar. Even a little side rubbing.
What a great flippant response. Not a good one, since there are easy rules way to reduce the disturbance to the following car. For sure, it's not that hard to frame the rules so that you can follow better.
I'm not that big of a fan of seeing the beginning of the race decide the top 3. Given that none of the cars could sustain any real close following, that's pretty boring racing. Thankfully, for this race, Hamilton provided some great passing entertainment.
Back to your response- why is it that any reasonable complaint about F1 leads to a suggestion to watch NASCAR? Weak sauce.
file:///C:/Users/markw/AppData/Local/Packages/Microsoft.MicrosoftEdge_8wekyb3d8bbwe/TempState/Downloads/2017_19_bra_f1_r0_timing_racespeedtrap_v01.pdf
F1 has had the "dirty air" problem for over 30 years, this is not a new problem AFAIK the only open wheel series that have solved it have done so by using spec aero on the car, which is totally contrary to what F1 is all about IMHO.
Aero is a problem every series where the cars run much over 100mph. Nascar drivers will do pretty dramatic things to get clean air on the splitter.
I would love a solution, but I'm not sure science will let us find one. A 50's style Indy roadster might be the solution, but I don't think that's reasonable.
Here read this quote:
If MotoGP riders didn’t push the limits and each other so hard, “if we don’t go to this level – it would be like Formula 1.” So said Marquez in Australia, after a bruising and frankly scary front battle, with eight riders up close and personal, and any number of collisions.
red_stapler said:markwemple said:Alonso just didn't have the hp. He was much faster than Massa everywhere except the front straight. I also hope the do something about dirty air issues.
I saw several cars go much faster than that in the race. I think that chart is skewed in some way.
I noticed Hamilton's top speed kept showing up well under 300 kph. Not sure why. It was as if he was 30 or 40 kph slower than everybody else according to the graphic.
In other words, I question that chart...
codrus said:F1 has had the "dirty air" problem for over 30 years, this is not a new problem AFAIK the only open wheel series that have solved it have done so by using spec aero on the car, which is totally contrary to what F1 is all about IMHO.
Ever since they went away from ground effects, they found a serious problem that they can not address. To me, that's #1. Next, there are some simple things that can be done- like get rid of the barge boards, and eliminate the tunneling of the air along the side- the vortex generation is one major factor that kills the following aero. All those little do0-dads that are all over the car very much disturb the car behind, and they look silly.
Spec aero isn't required- but a rule set that keeps the following car in mind will go a long way.
MotoGP isn't a good comparison because 1) motorcycles are skinny so you can run them side by side in a corner and 2) aero is far less important to cornering/braking performanceand you benefit a lot more from slipstreaming. So the racing is going to be a lot more close-fought.
F1 is basically two classes: MB/Ferrari/Red Bull and everyone else. Even if Hamilton started at the back, he was really only racing the other five top-flight drivers. He managed to get past Ricciardo and Verstappen but that's it. We've seen that a bunch of times this year, one of the fast drivers starting from the back and carving through the field to make it into the top six.
Ugh F1 vs NASCAR vs MotoGP vs BTCC
Like comparing
Theatre vs Movies vs Comedy show vs stadium concert vs etc etc.
All fine and good for what they are.
I didn't like the NASCAR event I went to as the fans didn't like my kind in their part (said so to our faces) of the stands and proceeded to repeatedly spill beer on themselves and us. So didn't really experience the NASCAR racing as the fans sucked.
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