2018 F1 Season

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Preds Partisan

Gunga galunga
Aug 17, 2009
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899
Bahrain, since they moved to night racing, has proven to be one of the more interesting races each season.

Thanks to Red Bull, alot of teams moved up and got some valuable points. STR, Haas and Sauber all impressive today. That Williams car must be a total pig.

As far as the tire guy, that's a brutal injury. It's amazing that given how many guys are around the car and they're all running sub 3 second stops there aren't more injuries. Over two race weekends that's two Haas unsafe releases and two on Kimi (one during FP). Haas added an additional spotter this week to make it two people on their team who have control over releases now.

Good news on the ESPN broadcast. They fixed the commercial fiasco from Australia by running commercial free!
 

Siamese Dream

Registered User
Feb 5, 2011
75,215
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United Britain of Great Kingdom
I can't help thinking something is going to have to change with the pit stops, after Haas having the same cock-up twice in Australia and with what happened today. They need a more fool-proof way so they don't release the car when they shouldn't.

I'm struggling to understand how Toro Rosso were so quick here after being at the back in Australia. Williams terrible again, Sauber did surprisingly well.
 

Preds Partisan

Gunga galunga
Aug 17, 2009
3,318
899
I can't help thinking something is going to have to change with the pit stops, after Haas having the same cock-up twice in Australia and with what happened today. They need a more fool-proof way so they don't release the car when they shouldn't.

I'm struggling to understand how Toro Rosso were so quick here after being at the back in Australia. Williams terrible again, Sauber did surprisingly well.

Gasly had a brand new Honda PU this weekend. Both STRs brought a new floor, brake ducts and one other aero upgrade. It was reported that the aero upgrade exceeded their computer modeling. Gasly was faster than his teammate all weekend so we can assume the Honda update was a big improvement.
 

SoupyFIN

#OneTerritory
Nov 7, 2011
41,382
3,380
I can't help thinking something is going to have to change with the pit stops, after Haas having the same cock-up twice in Australia and with what happened today. They need a more fool-proof way so they don't release the car when they shouldn't.
Finnish broadcast has a former F1 engineer (Ossi Oikarinen) as an analyst and he said that there's two systems the teams use. The first one measures the pressure screwed by the wheel gun and doesn't send the signal to the traffic light system until the right amount is reached, so obviously Ferrari wasn't using that. The second system has a button on the wheel gun that the mechanic presses after he's ready and that sends the signal to the traffic light system.

So unless the traffic light guy (I'm guessing there's still someone overseeing it, right? surely it can't be all automatic..) screwed up, the mechanic pressed ready when he wasn't.
 

Preds Partisan

Gunga galunga
Aug 17, 2009
3,318
899
Not usually worth mentioning, but McLaren was fined 5k for loose wheel during FP 2 in China. Looks like this unusual run of pit incidents is continuing.
 

Preds Partisan

Gunga galunga
Aug 17, 2009
3,318
899
This race could be decided by tire strategy, unless everyone does a one stop and uses the medium of which all drivers have one new medium each. If there's a mix of tire strategy, then Pirelli will get what they wanted by gapping the available tires the teams had to choose from. Hopefully a mixed strategy will shuffle the field.
 

SoupyFIN

#OneTerritory
Nov 7, 2011
41,382
3,380
I find it somewhat amusing that some people still think Kimi has a fair chance to win the race. Monaco and Magyar Nagydij (& the countless of other races where they put Kimi on a strategy that makes no sense) already showed last year that Ferrari will do everything and anything to assure that Vettel finished ahead of Raikkonen. It's like the Schumacher/Barichello pairing from many moons ago, except Kimi is obviously way closer to Vettel. Only way Raikkonen wins is that Vettel DNFs or has a mechanical failure which makes him like 10 seconds slower per lap, otherwise the team is going to find a way to flip their positions around.

And let's be honest, if Ferrari wants to win the driver's championship, Vettel needs to get the maximum amount of points when Mercedes is struggling. It's very unlikely that Mercedes continues this current trend for too long.
 

JetsFan815

Registered User
Jan 16, 2012
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They really need to bring refueling back. The last race in Bahrain with different cars being on different strategies was a great reminder to the beauties of the refueling era where even in boring races there was a chance for exciting results by teams being on different fuel strategies. Also these Pirelli tires are way too durable and result in boring 1-2 stop races. Seb being able to do almost 40 laps on the soft tires was a joke. There needs to be a wider range in the performance and durability of tires to allow for strategy to play into things.

Anyways the Bahrain race was pretty good. I have seen Bottas get a lot of criticism for not being aggressive enough with Vettel in the final laps of the race but I don't understand it. He needs to bank in as many points as possible and live to fight another day, no point crashing out and losing it all. If I was him I would have settled for the 2nd place as well.

I am hoping Ferrari lets Kimi race Vettel. His pace this year is looking amazing and it seems close enough and maybe on par with Vettel in this year's Ferrari. I understand optimizing your shot at the WDC but this early in the season they need to let the drivers race.
 

WTG

December 5th
Jan 11, 2015
23,748
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West Coast
Verstappen is getting a lot of heat, which is fair. But honestly this drama is only good for the sport

Do people really want a boring no drama race? Maybe have 21 Mercedes 1-2s.
 

JetsFan815

Registered User
Jan 16, 2012
19,119
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This race completely garbage until the safety car and then fantastic after that.

I know Ferrari favors Vettel and I get it but this is 3rd race of the season. How can you pull that shit that they did on Kimi in the 3rd goddamn race of the season? I honestly don't understand how Kimi can take this blatant disrespect for him by Ferrari. At some people enough has to be enough. He's a former world champion and should be treated with more respect than being forced to slow another driver down.

I am glad that Ferrari's pathetic strategy didn't work out for them. Versteppan doing what he did felt like karma for the shit that Ferrari pulled on Raikkonen. They were a mess on their strategies and did not deserve a win. If they had just pitted both their drivers right away to cover the undercut attempts by Bottas and Hamilton, they would have been 1st and 4th after the first round of pitstop instead of 2nd and 6th and not have had a very upset driver on their hand.

Great drive by Ricciardo though, great strategic calls by the Red Bull garage and great work on track capitalizing on them by Ricciardo.
 

SoupyFIN

#OneTerritory
Nov 7, 2011
41,382
3,380
SC call was weird (probably one of the weakest since the VSC system was put in place), by the time it was decided the debris was already off the racing line. VSC would've been fine.

Verstappen threw away an easy RB 1-2. Rookie mistake trying to overtake in turn 7 and clumsy collision with Vettel, F1 drivers should have the reaction time to avoid that. Mika Salo put it well, Verstappen drives for single races and doesn't care about the championship. Credit to Verstappen on the post-race interviews though, admitted that it was his fault (first time ever?) and looked really disappointed.

Well well well, what did I just say yesterday about Ferrari sacrificing Raikkonen lol. What I don't understand is why didn't they pit Kimi for softs during the SC? He would've only dropped behind Ricciardo, who overtook him soon after the race resumed anyway.

Verstappen is getting a lot of heat, which is fair. But honestly this drama is only good for the sport

Do people really want a boring no drama race? Maybe have 21 Mercedes 1-2s.
I mean, if you want to turn F1 into a reality TV show, sure.

There would've been plenty of drama had both RBs made it through the pack and got a 1-2. Instead we're left wondering why this guy who's already been in F1 for many years, still drives like a rookie.
 

Smoke

~consume enhance replicate~
Aug 2, 2005
5,106
498
PA
There was plenty of drama with the SC and the tire strategies.

The sport doesn't need a knob head running in to everything and everyone. That's not good drama, that's NASCAR.
 

SneakerPimp82

Registered User
Apr 5, 2003
2,072
300
Saint Louis, MO
Ferrari's strategy for Kimi was hilarious. What on earth were they doing?

Trying to preserve Vettel's win, that's the only thing that makes sense.

Either way, it was the most exciting race of the season thus far. Petronas don't seem to have the engine advantage they've had in years past, and if Red Bull can keep pace with Ferrari and Petronas(coupled with Ricciardo raising his level in a contract year), this should be a very fun season.
 

SoupyFIN

#OneTerritory
Nov 7, 2011
41,382
3,380
Ferrari's strategy for Kimi was hilarious. What on earth were they doing?
Was it not obvious? They were hoping that Bottas would catch Raikkonen anywhere except the back straight, thus allowing Vettel to get closer to Bottas. It would've worked had Bottas not gone around the outside into turn 1, Vettel would've been right behind those two heading to the end of the 1st sector.

Had Kimi made his stop the lap after Vettel, he would've rejoined right around where Ricciardo was, possibly behind him. So essentially Ferrari traded 5th for 6th place (at the time before SC came out), for a chance to win the race.
 

Siamese Dream

Registered User
Feb 5, 2011
75,215
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United Britain of Great Kingdom
Was it not obvious? They were hoping that Bottas would catch Raikkonen anywhere except the back straight, thus allowing Vettel to get closer to Bottas. It would've worked had Bottas not gone around the outside into turn 1, Vettel would've been right behind those two heading to the end of the 1st sector.

Had Kimi made his stop the lap after Vettel, he would've rejoined right around where Ricciardo was, possibly behind him. So essentially Ferrari traded 5th for 6th place (at the time before SC came out), for a chance to win the race.

Well that's what I mean, they completely screwed him over again
 

SoupyFIN

#OneTerritory
Nov 7, 2011
41,382
3,380
Well that's what I mean, they completely screwed him over again
That's how Ferrari has done things for like the last 20+ years, 2007-08 was arguably the only time during that span where they didn't "clearly" favour one driver until the the other one fell off the championship race.

It also doesn't make things any easier when the current number 1 wants to be uncontested, in a way Ferrari & Vettel are made for each other. I'm positive Kimi would've retired after 2014 if he wasn't BFFs with Vettel.
 

Paris in Flames

Registered User
Feb 4, 2009
15,903
7,935
That was a Red Bull 1-2 nearly set in stone with it being a coin flip on who would have actually won. They did everything perfectly until the Verstappen incident...which frankly I'm torn about. I understand WHY he went for it and I think the sport needs aggressive drivers and it's a style that will win Verstappen a World Championship eventually but he just needs to harness it...even just a little.

He had Vettel within a lap anyway without that move but meh. What makes him reckless is what makes him the most entertaining driver in F1.
 
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