2017 F1 Season

[Preds Partisan]

Summer break isn't it

Yes, but testing yesterday and today. Lots of younger guys getting seat time to meet F1 teams' requirements that junior drivers get "X" amount of testing time during the season.

The official break starts now.

 

[Mount Suribachi]

Kubica completed 142 laps, 4th fastest in the Renault today during testing at Hungry. Wait until 2018, or bye-bye to Palmer this year?

Well, he can't be any worse than Palmer at this point can he?

I do feel a little bit sorry for Palmer, Renault finally get a half decent car going and he has a load of bad luck piled on top of him not being that good.

 

[Preds Partisan]

I don't know if Palmer brings in any money to the team so maybe there's a financial consideration, but why not run Kubica the rest of the season and see if he's a driver for next year? Palmer clearly isn't a driver for 2018 anyway.

 

[Kane One]

When's the last time a tether failed in F1?

Perez's this year in Baku.

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/c...n_the_air_at_baku_an/?st=J63KE0WH&sh=1f313c15

 

[JoVel]

Expect Mercedes to grab the win in Spa once the summer break ends. Mercs have been really in a league of their on in these fast paced tracks while Ferrari is stronger on tracks such as Monaco, Hungary, Singapore etc. The season has really been a back and forth fight between the two and one thing that shows it well is the fact that no driver has been able to win two races in a row this season.

 

[SoupyFIN]

I think it's pretty clear that Ferrari has no say whatsoever on who the other driver is, as long as Vettel is there.

 

[JoVel]

Mercedes and Wolff have been telling everyone how good of a relationship their drivers have but I wonder how much Vettel and Kimi's relationship could affect this decision. It was a well known fact that Vettel and Kimi got along nicely even before neither of them were at Ferrari but I don't know how their relationship is today. Ferrari seems to he going with clear #1 and #2 drivers and Kimi hasn't been much against it. He knows what his role is at this point and doesn't try to fight against it. For example in Hungary he said he had pace to continue but still decided to box as the team told him to. I'd guess if he said "sorry I'm staying out" and took the victory from Vettel he wouldn't be getting this contract.

Guys like Perez and Grosjean who are just some of the names looking for that seat would probably never do that. Usually the team values construction championship more but is that really the case for Ferrari? They definitely don't have trouble in money since they are getting paid simply because they are Ferrari. Also a driver world champion is better promotion to the brand than the construction title would be.

That being said I'm confident the Iceman will take another victory home at some point either this season or the next. Everything's bound to get together some race. He could've easily taken the victory in Monaco and/or Hungary already. Why not next weekend already, he isn't called the King of Spa without a reason. Although Mercedes fits the track better than Ferrari. We'll see.

 

[Preds Partisan]

I always figured Kimi has a seat until Leclerc is ready. If Leclerc is with Sauber in 2018 and is competitive, then that's probably the end of the road for Kimi. So I guess I'm saying the future with Leclerc has more to do with Kimi staying at Ferrari than Vettel's opinion. That's not the majority viewpoint, but that's what I see.

 

[SoupyFIN]

I always figured Kimi has a seat until Leclerc is ready. If Leclerc is with Sauber in 2018 and is competitive, then that's probably the end of the road for Kimi. So I guess I'm saying the future with Leclerc has more to do with Kimi staying at Ferrari than Vettel's opinion. That's not the majority viewpoint, but that's what I see.

I don't know about that; Bianchi was close to the same level as Leclerc, he'd already done two years with Manor and Ferrari was planning (IIRC this was never officially confirmed, but heavily rumoured in the F1 circles) to have him drive for Sauber in 2015. So I don't think one year is going to do it, even if Leclerc shows flashes, unless Kimi falls off a cliff and can't keep Ferrari in the constructors championship race.

One thing Ferrari has shown consistently over a very long period of time, is that they don't hire rookies or drivers with limited experience.

 

[JoVel]

I don't know about that; Bianchi was close to the same level as Leclerc, he'd already done two years with Manor and Ferrari was planning (IIRC this was never officially confirmed, but heavily rumoured in the F1 circles) to have him drive for Sauber in 2015. So I don't think one year is going to do it, even if Leclerc shows flashes, unless Kimi falls off a cliff and can't keep Ferrari in the constructors championship race.

One thing Ferrari has shown consistently over a very long period of time, is that they don't hire rookies or drivers with limited experience.

Leclerc is a special talent and one that Ferrari will not want to give away. Still, he would have to impress everyone for them to take an inexperienced driver after just one season. If he is mediocre next year they most likely won't give him a seat simply based on his potential.

 

[JoVel]

3 more years for Seb.

 

[JoVel]

As expected Mercedes was way ahead of Ferrari. I don't think Lewis' lap was as good as the 0,5 second cap to Valtteri tells. Valtteri has really been all over the place this weekend. On a normal weekend the gap would've been much closer.

 

[SoupyFIN]

3 more years for Seb.

I fully expect that there's some out-clauses in that deal, as in Vettel can opt out if he wins the championship or Vettel can opt out if Ferrari drops behind Red Bull. Probably something on Ferrari's side too.

Mercedes wants Vettel and Hamilton has said that he wants to drive for Ferrari before he retires, those two don't fit on the same team together so their moves will mirror each other. Hamilton's current contract ends after 2018 IIRC.

 

[JoVel]

Matsusita had a pretty big crash in Formula 2 in Radillon, very similar to Magnussen's crash last year. Thankfully he seemed to be ok.

Lol can't spell his name as it is on HF.

 

[JoVel]

I thought for sure Vettel was going to get Hamilton after the SC since having ultasofts versus Hamilton's softs. I guess the difference wasn't just that big.

Ocon & Perez though... How many times will these two guys come together this season? Twice today. The one on the start was really frightening. Thankfully it was just tire on tire and nothing happened.

The second occasion was scary too. Perez's move was just idiotic in my opinion. The way he pushed Ocon towards the wall was very dangerous. If Ocon hits the wall there he would be in the hospital right now.

You can see Ocon is clearly alongside him and Perez has to give him space. I'm just happy nothing happened and it was Perez who suffered more and Ocon was able to come away with two points.

 

[Ceremony]

Perez is a clown. Shuts a guy off into a concrete wall.

 

[SoupyFIN]

This race was a perfect example of how terrible these current gen cars are for racing, even on a track like Spa that has generally promoted overtaking in the past. RB clearly had a slower car than Ferrari & Mercedes, but no way to get past with the dirty air. There's literally zero on track overtakes between the top 3 teams this year that doesn't include 1) the opening lap, 2) pitstop(/s, since most teams go with a 1 stop this year) or 3) the safety car.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Perez seemed to have actually cleaned up his act since his stint at McLaren but this year with Ocon he has been horrendous

 

[Preds Partisan]

The only way to keep these two guys from doing this to each other is to mix the setups so the cars aren't so evenly matched. That way they won't find themselves running together so often. And I'm only half kidding.

What a mess costing the team points like this. Good thing for Perez he brings a ton of money into the team.

 

[Siamese Dream]

The new R&D system in F1 2017 career mode is too complicated for me so I'm just doing one with McLaren and throwing absolutely everything at upgrading the engine and reliability In my mind Alonso had enough and retired/went to Indycar full time so my guy could take his place alongside Vandoorne

 

[JoVel]

The new R&D system in F1 2017 career mode is too complicated for me so I'm just doing one with McLaren and throwing absolutely everything at upgrading the engine and reliability In my mind Alonso had enough and retired/went to Indycar full time so my guy could take his place alongside Vandoorne

I'll probably get my hands on the game later today. I'm deciding between Renault, Haas and Toro Rosso to start career with.

And of course Force India.

 

[JoVel]

The 2004 Ferrari is crazy. Losing the backend at Pouhon and Blanchimont in Spa is not fun.

 

[Paris in Flames]

The new R&D system in F1 2017 career mode is too complicated for me so I'm just doing one with McLaren and throwing absolutely everything at upgrading the engine and reliability In my mind Alonso had enough and retired/went to Indycar full time so my guy could take his place alongside Vandoorne

It's insanely detailed. I just request a recommendation and go with whatever they tell me to do. Hasn't failed me yet.

I wanted a challenge. Started with Sauber. Managed to put up some points but that team is somehow comically bad even in a video game. They called me into the pits to take my intermediates off since the track had dried out but then they just put intermediates right back on. I was blown away. I was actually running in the top 5 too (I can defend but not pass to save my life with that ****box of a car). Needless to say I dropped out of the points real fast.

Force India offered me a contract halfway through the year. Jumped at it. Get to the team and they'd already used ALL the allowed parts so I was picking up grid penalties instantly.

Frustrating.

 

[Siamese Dream]

I got to Monaco and like half of the field had picked up 5 place grid penalties, probably because they all had worn gearboxes they had to change

In the end I gave up with McLaren because it was just too hard, doing a Williams one instead but getting annoyed because after 4 races I'm finishing where I should be in the top 7 and above when faster cars retire, while Stroll is still yet to score a point because his AI is so bad. He qualifies top 10 but then he's nowhere in the race.

In the real world, looks like an easy win for Mercedes at Monza this weekend.

 

[Paris in Flames]

Stroll is really weird in the game.

I constantly see him finishing top 6 in practice and top 10 in qualifying but then ends up 13 laps down somehow come race time.