Formula 1 - 2016 Season

[Bludd]

That was fast.

Or: Kvyat shouldn't have been promoted last year and it was a move of desperation since Vettel decided to jump ship to Ferrari. Helmut Marko has ruined more careers than he has created so let's see if this is too early for young Max, as it apparently was for Kvyat.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Not surprised. And I wager Max will thrive.

Kvyat at least gets to prove his worth against Sainz. If Sainz tramples all over him the rest of the season then he'll be out, but if he establishes some authority with performance then he'll probably get another kick of the can.

 

[DieH@rd]

And after that... Max won.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Hamilton :')

Great job by Max. Our football team might be failing everytime they get half a chance at winning but fortunately Max appears to be different. Great.

 

[Rurouni]

It could've been Dan though Having said that, great job by Max. Ros-Ham collision, despite who was more at fault, I think if the situation was reversed, Ham would do the same thing to Ros.
The sky commentary is very amateurish though to the point of annoyance. If both drivers can stay on track, they probably would call a good defending on Ros. Also when Ric do the dive bomb on Vet, they applaud Ric move and call it controlled. When you do that dive bomb move and you ran out of the track, it should be called a lousy and dangerous move.

 

[Billy Idol]

Lauda said that Ham directly apologized for making a mistake.

F1 without Merc would actually be interesting...I knew it!

 

[Bludd]

It could've been Dan though Having said that, great job by Max. Ros-Ham collision, despite who was more at fault, I think if the situation was reversed, Ham would do the same thing to Ros.
The sky commentary is very amateurish though to the point of annoyance. If both drivers can stay on track, they probably would call a good defending on Ros. Also when Ric do the dive bomb on Vet, they applaud Ric move and call it controlled. When you do that dive bomb move and you ran out of the track, it should be called a lousy and dangerous move.

If the drivers are both aggressive and don't hit each other, then it is a good move. Ricciardo tried to overtake Vettel and didn't hit anyone and almost made it through. It wasn't like it was an impossible move coming 2 seconds from behind.

It was a great race, congrats Max. Way to grab a chance when it presents itself. All the greats have done that and it bodes well for Red Bull when their engine upgrade comes in a few weeks time.

Now if only Honda can get out their engine upgrade and fix the reliability, we can have even more fighting at the front. Here's to more fireworks between Hamilton and Rosberg in the next races (btw, Hamilton is a Canada specialist so Rosberg has a hill to climb there)

 

[Rurouni]

The problem with Ric move was that it needed Vet to get away. Basically if Vet just simply take the corner, Ric would have crashed into him and Ric will get the blame for that move. Of course in F1, most of the punishment is based on the result of the move, whether it succeed or not, which I don't like.
For that Ric move, no matter how many car length Vet gave to him, Ric wouldn't be able to not crash into him if Vet wasn't actively avoiding him because in the end Ric ran outside of the track. That is why I call that move lousy and dangerous. I like Ric more than Vet, but that dive bomb was simply not there for Ric. Good job on Vet though for seeing him and managed to avoid Ric. Probably too many times Vet had been hit from behind that he was practicing extreme caution

Also is it really Honda that was extremely lacking in power or their aero is just not good enough? RBR with the Renault PU managed to win while Ferrari with supposedly a much better PU only managed to be slightly faster (I think Kimi was faster than Max, but it is just hard to pass on Barcelona). Compare that to McLaren where they probably is slower than TR with 2014 Ferrari PU. Looking at Q times, Honda PU is probably comparable in power to 2014 Ferrari PU. Anyway, the problem with McLaren, at least from my POV, is that the lack of comparison make it difficult to point on what is lacking the most. Is it mostly aero or PU? From the Barcelona result, I'm inclined to believe that their aero is still not up there. If RBR is using Honda PU instead of Renault, where would they ended up? Ron need to stop blocking Honda on supplying another team. Supplying a team like Sauber wouldn't really hurt them, why are they not doing it?

 

[Phil]

Lauda said that Ham directly apologized for making a mistake.

If true, the right thing to do; though I am not so sure I'd agree it was his mistake. Given the fact that Rosberg was in the wrong mode and knew it, I'm not sure he's in the right to defend as he did. There was a mighty speed differential between the two - even if he had every intention to move to the right to block Hamilton, the speed differential meant that a crash was imminent and unavoidable. Full marks to Hamilton to actually try to avoid it.

Also according to the rules; you must leave at least a car's width on track, if a car is alongside you (alongside you is clarified within the rules to mean a front-wing). The "one move block" is not to push competitors off the track; it's a maneuver to force your opponent around the outside and thus put him at a disadvantage. At the point Rosberg started to move right, Hamilton was already committed to the overtake and couldn't go around the outside anymore. Then there is that speed advantage...

What happened between those two corners is akin to pulling out on the highway with a much quicker car coming on the overtaking lane. If I knew I had a problem, was in the wrong mode, then that IMO doesn't give me the right to defend in a dangerous way that due to that circumstance, makes it seem like a desperate attempt to not lose position. The sad thing is; the speed differential was so big, that had Hamilton not already committed to overtaking on the right, he would have pulled it off quite easily around the outside, as that was also the "racing line", less dirty and he was that much quicker.

Critic aside; Rosberg should be applauded for doing it. It was a decisive move that IMO will probably win him this years WDC title. Sometimes, you have to be to blame, but still do it to actually make your competitors (Lewis) accept that you will not simply "make room". Rosberg has done just that. And as it is, the point gap is unchanged, still with 43 points with one less race. We might have only had 5 races, but mathematically, Lewis already has a very steep mountain to climb if he wants to win his 4th title and not rely on circumstance. To put that into perspective; even if Hamilton wins every 2 races out of 3 (66% winning ratio against his team-mate), if the other Mercedes driver finishes in 2nd, Rosberg will clinch the title even after the remaining 16 races. In order for Hamilton to win it, he must be better than 66% winning ratio -> this is assuming that Mercedes will finish most races in a 1-2, which seems rather likely given their performance advantage.

 

[cjo]

If true, the right thing to do; though I am not so sure I'd agree it was his mistake.

I thought the apology was more of a "sorry to the team, we wasted all of your hard work preparing for this race" than "sorry, it was my fault we crashed".

 

[Lightman]

I think this year championship will be much more influenced by chasing pack mixing between Mercedes drivers. If Renaults B-spec engine delivers on the promise then RBR, Ferrari and Mercedes will be fighting for the podium places. Clearly Mercedes will still be favourite for the top spot but climbing back to 2nd place after bad start or starting from further rows will no longer be easy to recover for them. I'm very much looking forward to upcoming races and already this season is way more exciting then the past 2 years bundled together! Nothing against Mercedes winning as they deserve every single one of them, but driving off into distance and finishing 30-90s in front when not even pushing was a bit too much ...

 

[itsmydamnation]

off topic but insane crash....

 

[Arwin]

A ninja couldn't have set a better trap ... Glad everyone lived!

 

[Bludd]

holy crap

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Has anybody every been to Monza? I'm probably going there this year and I was wonder what a good (and affordable!) seat would be.

The cheapest tickets already seem to be sold out (only checked formula1.com) but it seems grand stand tickets with a view of the start line and pit are still available for 270 euros. Not cheap by any means but still within what I might be able to convince my GF to go along with. The seats are covered so that might be a good selling point for her (Japanese don't like being in the sun).

 

[Lightman]

Has anybody every been to Monza? I'm probably going there this year and I was wonder what a good (and affordable!) seat would be.

The cheapest tickets already seem to be sold out (only checked formula1.com) but it seems grand stand tickets with a view of the start line and pit are still available for 270 euros. Not cheap by any means but still within what I might be able to convince my GF to go along with. The seats are covered so that might be a good selling point for her (Japanese don't like being in the sun).

I remember 2 to 3 years ago someone from our forum went to Monza. 270 euro for weekend is not too bad compared to Silverstone where I paid £350 for a seat. Almost makes it worthwile to go abroad instead of local circuit. Especially when there is a family or bunch of friends who go along.
Have fun at Monza!

 

[Bludd]

I went to Monza in 2013 (last year of V10, the noise was immense and physical) and I sat close to the podium on the finish straight so I could see into the pit-lane and had shade from the grandstand cover.

The issue with Monza is if you live in Milan, you will have to take a train from Milan to Monza and then somehow get to the track. Monza grows 2x when F1 is in town so there is a lot of crowding and not enough buses or taxis (and since there's so much crowding/traffic, taxies are slow and the buses are full). Also on race day, there was a special train from Milan to the so-called Monza station which is on the other side of the Royal park and it was quite a trek to get to the track.

It was a great experience all in all but travel to and from the track is a pain, we spent 6 hours each day (thu-sun) traveling.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Okay that is something to keep in mind because I will be coming from Rome by high speed train on Sunday morning (I'll skip Friday and Saturday, my GF can only get a little over a week off from work and she doesn't care about F1 at all so race day is the best I can do). From what I've read online is that getting from Milan to the track is pretty easy and only takes about 30 minutes. I'm sure buses and trains will be packed but I don't care about that too much if it's only 30 minutes.

I guess Sunday might not be too bad if you leave right after the podium ceremony?

Edit: the monza website is real crap btw. The pictures that are supposed to show the seats only show cars.

 

[Bludd]

Okay that is something to keep in mind because I will be coming from Rome by high speed train on Sunday morning (I'll skip Friday and Saturday, my GF can only get a little over a week off from work and she doesn't care about F1 at all so race day is the best I can do). From what I've read online is that getting from Milan to the track is pretty easy and only takes about 30 minutes. I'm sure buses and trains will be packed but I don't care about that too much if it's only 30 minutes.

I guess Sunday might not be too bad if you leave right after the podium ceremony?

Edit: the monza website is real crap btw. The pictures that are supposed to show the seats only show cars.

Yeah, it is 30 minutes in train time, but getting from the train station in Monza town to the track can take a long time. And if you are doing the special train on Sunday from Milan, you will, as I said earlier, stop at a different station at the Royal Park but it is on the other side of the park from where the track is.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

About how long did it take you? If I check the Monza website and their little map it looks like both bus stops are close to the main straight. Its hard to see on google maps but from the edge of the park to the circuit doesn't look that far. When I went to Suzuka we also had to walk about 2km to the circuit and another 1 or 2km to get from the circuit to our seats. A 40 ~ 60 min walk from the station to our seats shouldn't be a problem.