[UnW]

(09-20-2018 06:47 AM)Saweeep Wrote:  

I think Lewis will have this tied up with 2 races to spare.

Given he needs to just finish 7th or above in Mexico this weekend, you hit it spot on!

[porscheguy]

Lewis earned it, and I’m by no means a fanboi. He made virtually no errors this year. Did he even have a DNF? I’ve no idea what happened to vettel. He threw away enough points this year that he could have forced it down to the final race.

It’s a shame to see someone like Alonso retiring because he can’t get a competitive car. These teams all play it too safe too avoid driver conflicts.

I hope we’ll see some real progress out of that Honda engine next year.

[UnW]

(10-27-2018 09:54 AM)porscheguy Wrote:  

Lewis earned it, and I’m by no means a fanboi. He made virtually no errors this year. Did he even have a DNF?

Yep, he had 1 in Austria, mechanical failure.

[UnW]

So there it is, championship wrapped up now

[Praetor Lupus]

(10-27-2018 09:54 AM)porscheguy Wrote:  

I’ve no idea what happened to vettel. He threw away enough points this year that he could have forced it down to the final race.

He and the team made a number of errors, but there was also a set of upgrades that the team discovered were actually harming the Car's performance. They removed the upgrades and the performance improved again, so Raikkonen won in Texas, but by then it was too late.

Hamilton was just too good, wringing everything from an inferior car and he seems to have removed the impetuousness that hampered him in the past. That was his main weakness; now, he's probably the best out there and a league above even Vettel.

[UnW]

Seasons over. LH ends on 11 wins, Vettel 5, Ricciardo and Verstappen both on 2, Raikkonen 1. Bottas goes the whole season winless. Lots of driver movements in the off-season. Alonso also not on the grid in 2019. Looking forward to the first race next year in March.

[porscheguy]

It’s sad that Alonso left the sport without a whimper. He’s the guy who unthroned Schumacher in a fairly inferior car. Some say the ‘05 Ferrari loss was due to the new tire rules, but theyi had Bridgestone building tires specifically to suit Ferrari in those days.

Brits will always have 100 reasons why Alonso should be gone. And they all seem to know the perfect Brit who should take his place or the place of any non Brit driver. It’s mildly annoying, but at the same I admire that there’s some semblance of national pride.

With that said, it’s disappointing to see Alonso leave this way. OTOH, he made well over $100 million to lap at the back of the pack.

It’s also sad to see what’s become of Mclaren and Williams largely as a result of poor management.

I’m not sure if it was mentioned before, but a good read is Total Competition by Ross Brawn and Adam Parr(who spent a few years running Williams). It’s primary focus is on leadership philosophies, but also provides a lot of background info into the sport.

They need to change the rules so anyone who makes it to the final race within the three engine limit gets to take a fresh engine without penalty. This shit of the final few races being run on ragged the fuck out engines is kind of weak. We all know the current complete power units are about $2million each. The previous 2.4v8s were around $250K each and the 3.0 v10s weren’t much more. No one has been able to explain how this saves money. The other irony is that hybrid cars in general have gone a bit stale in recent years in favor of simpler low displacement engines with turbos and direct injection. I’d venture to guess that if you dialed back some of the arbitrary “green” regulations and allowed more creative freedoms, you’d see a return of F1 setting the pace rather than following trends.

[UnW]

2019 Cars that were released yesterday:




The ones released earlier in the week:

[porscheguy]

F1 race director Charlie Whiting died from a pulmonary embolism today. He had been involved with F1 for 42 years. The season starts this weekend.

[Mocktoberfest]

For anyone interested in watching:

Rolex Australian Grand Prix

Practice 1 - Thursday, March 14, 8:55 PM - ESPN3
Practice 2 - Friday, March 15, 12:55 AM - ESPNEWS
Practice 3 - Friday, March 15, 10:55 PM - ESPNEWS
Qualifying - Saturday, March 16, 1:55 AM - ESPN2
Qualifying (re-air) Saturday, March 16, 7:00 - ESPN2
On The Grid - Sunday, March 17, 12:30 AM - ESPN
Race - Sunday, March 17, 1:00 AM - ESPN
Race (re-air) - Sunday, March 17, 6:30 AM - ESPN2
Race (re-air) - Sunday, March 17, 9:00PM ESPNEWS

From: http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/260826...edule-2019

[UnW]

Pretty disappointing start to the season for Ferrari, I really thought they'd be in with a win or two but unfortunately haven't performed, Bahrain being especially disappointing especially with Leclerc's pace being well clear of the rest of the field but the engine issue basically gifting the win to Mercedes.