2016 F1 Season

[SoupyFIN]

Apparently Raikkonen ripped Verstappen (after Vettel & Hamilton had already voiced their opinions) with a 3 minute monologue at the drivers meeting, Max responded with "the judges didn't penalise me, so..".

That kid won't learn until he gets into a serious accident.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Apparently Raikkonen ripped Verstappen (after Vettel & Hamilton had already voiced their opinions) with a 3 minute monologue at the drivers meeting, Max responded with "the judges didn't penalise me, so..".

That kid won't learn until he gets into a serious accident.

A 3 minute monologue from Kimi? I don't believe you

 

[SoupyFIN]

Kinda boring race, Rosberg did what he needed to.

Sainz/Massa/Alonso battle at the end was the highlight of the race.

 

[Ceremony]

Vettel absolutely furious at everyone and everything. The most entertaining stuff I've seen in F1 in a while

 

[Ceremony]

Oh hold on hopefully Vettel and Verstappen pass each other in the pre-podium room

 

[SoupyFIN]

It's a shame the track doesn't seem to produce very good racing, pretty boring race as was the case last year. The atmosphere is great, but I don't know how long that'll keep the race on the F1 calendar with races like these.

Vettel should get fined for his radio comments.

 

[Ceremony]

Vettel should have a pen and paper in his car so he can put up messages to clowns like Verstappen who can't drive.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Vettel should have a pen and paper in his car so he can put up messages to clowns like Verstappen who can't drive.

I don't mind him cursing Verstappen, he can do that all he wants. But the lashing out he gave to Charlie, sheesh. The Finnish commentator said that he's called races for 14 years now and he's never heard someone lash out like that before.

 

[Sanderson]

Well, on the one side you can't really let such a comment slide without punishment, but seeing how Whiting and the race stewarts have failed utterly this year again and again, they really deserve such comments at this point.

Verstappen will never learn, he simply doesn't care. He thinks he can do whatever he wants. By completely failing to do their jobs, the race stewarts have encouraged this behaviour. At this stage, the decisions have become almost as erratic as the way the NHL deals with suepensions .

 

[darko]

Vettel absolutely furious at everyone and everything. The most entertaining stuff I've seen in F1 in a while

Haha couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Haha couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.

still furious

 

[Very Stable Genius]

Canadian Lance Stroll has been given a seat by Williams for next season. Daddy has invested $80M in his career with $35M going to Williams.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Canadian Lance Stroll has been given a seat by Williams for next season. Daddy has invested $80M in his career with $35M going to Williams.

There was a rumour at one point during the summer that his dad had bought like 50% of the team, but I don't know if it's become true since no one seems to mentioning it. I mean, surely the news outlets would mention that "oh btw, his dad owns half the team" if it had actually happened.

When (and I do mean when, it's not an if) Bottas leaves after next year, I think Williams will insert another pay driver that brings a lot of money.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Magnussen taking Gutierrez's spot at Haas, 2+1 contract.

And they're retaining Grosjean as well from the looks of things.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Palmer re-signed by Renault

 

[SoupyFIN]

Palmer re-signed by Renault

Have to say I'm surprised, they must not be very high on Ocon then. The car hasn't been good this season, but Palmer hasn't really impressed either.

Not many spots left after these moves.

Mercedes: Hamilton & Rosberg
Red Bull: Ricciardo & Verstappen
Ferrari: Vettel & Raikkonen
Force India: Perez & ?
Williams: Bottas & Stroll
McLaren: Alonso & Vandoorne
Toro Rosso: Sainz & Kvyat
Haas: Grosjean & Magnussen
Renault: Hulkenberg & Palmer
Manor: ? & ?
Sauber: ? & ?

Current drivers without a seat: Gutierrez, Wehrlein, Ocon, Ericsson, Nasr & Haryanto.

Potential lower class drivers getting promoted: Gasly (part of RB program) and Giovinazzi (did some testing with Ferrari this year). There's others, but I think those two are clearly above the rest, kind of like Vandoorne has been for the past few years.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Have to say I'm surprised, they must not be very high on Ocon then. The car hasn't been good this season, but Palmer hasn't really impressed either.

Not many spots left after these moves.

Mercedes: Hamilton & Rosberg
Red Bull: Ricciardo & Verstappen
Ferrari: Vettel & Raikkonen
Force India: Perez & ?
Williams: Bottas & Stroll
McLaren: Alonso & Vandoorne
Toro Rosso: Sainz & Kvyat
Haas: Grosjean & Magnussen
Renault: Hulkenberg & Palmer
Manor: ? & ?
Sauber: ? & ?

Current drivers without a seat: Gutierrez, Wehrlein, Ocon, Ericsson, Nasr & Haryanto.

Potential lower class drivers getting promoted: Gasly (part of RB program) and Giovinazzi (did some testing with Ferrari this year). There's others, but I think those two are clearly above the rest, kind of like Vandoorne has been for the past few years.

take Ocon off the drivers looking, he fills the 2nd Sahara Force India seat.

and isn't Alonso a driver coach after Brazil because there are reports he might follow Felipe Massa into retirement and might be relegated to a test driver role/ambassador for McLaren if you believe Lewis Hamilton's statements after Belgium regarding Alonso so McLaren may still have a seat open.

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

Brazilian GP PRACTICE 1 & 2 11 am to 12:30 pm; 2pm-3:30 pm (taped and shown from 3-4:30) on NBCSN

 

[SoupyFIN]

take Ocon off the drivers looking, he fills the 2nd Sahara Force India seat.

Really odd move IMO, unless he brought in a lot of money.

and isn't Alonso a driver coach after Brazil because there are reports he might follow Felipe Massa into retirement and might be relegated to a test driver role/ambassador for McLaren if you believe Lewis Hamilton's statements after Belgium regarding Alonso so McLaren may still have a seat open.

Alonso has a contract for next season and is getting paid a lot of money. Maybe if McLaren was as **** as last season, but they've actually got some legit points this year. I also really doubt McLaren would go into next season with two rookies and at this stage there's no veterans left to sign.

Speaking of McLaren, my prediction if their 2017 car looks to have taken a step closer to the top tier, they will get one of the current top drivers for 2018. Ricciardo comes to my mind, or maybe Mercedes takes a step back and Hamilton goes back to his roots (he must have some sort of opt-out clause in his contract, like Vettel had with RB).

 

[CHRDANHUTCH]

GP of Brazil Qualifying:

Lewis Hamilton on pole 60th career;

Race 10 AM EST Tomorrow-NBCSN

 

[SoupyFIN]

Pirelli needs to bring back "monsoon" tyres for next season, the current wet tyres are rubbish for a compound that's supposed to handle heavy rain.

 

[SoupyFIN]

Imagine how good the race could've been if Pirelli actually made proper wet weather tyres.

Rosberg got so lucky with RB risking it on inters, Verstappen would've been at least 2nd if RB had just mirrored Mercs strategy. Verstappen drove well at the end, but realistically he benefited a lot from having much fresher tyres than everyone else (apart from Ricciardo) around him.

 

[WTG]

Imagine how good the race could've been if Pirelli actually made proper wet weather tyres.

Rosberg got so lucky with RB risking it on inters, Verstappen would've been at least 2nd if RB had just mirrored Mercs strategy. Verstappen drove well at the end, but realistically he benefited a lot from having much fresher tyres than everyone else (apart from Ricciardo) around him.

I think it has more to do with verstappen taking different racing lines then fresher tyres

 

[SoupyFIN]

I think it has more to do with verstappen taking different racing lines then fresher tyres

Can't take the different lines if you don't have the grip though. There were many cars in the top10 towards the end that tried to do the outside line into turn 3, but they just simply didn't have the grip and didn't benefit from taking that line at all.

Verstappen did have good wet weather racing lines though, you're meant to take a much wider line in the rain. The problem again is that the current wet tyres are so rubbish that drivers have zero confidence in them through the last and first sector.

Pirelli needs to either A) improve the current wet tyres, or B) bring along a new monsoon compound to races that are known to have a lot of rain (Asia, N./S.-America).

 

[SoupyFIN]

Hamilton tried to play it smart, but ultimately Mercedes has too much straight line speed to give an advantage to RB/Ferrari, when there's really only two serious overtaking spots on the track.

I'm glad we have a new champion, even with all the shenanigans that solved it. Nico becomes 2nd champion as a son of a former champion, Damon Hill was the first to do it in 1996.