2018 Formula 1 Season

[Alferd Packer]

We back, baby! And we have a new logo! And everyone except for the UK can get a premium streaming service directly from F1, apparently. I know I'll be looking into it after suffering through ESPN's hideous coverage of the races.

As for the actual cars, it's probably going to be an easy cruise for Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull and Ferrari are going to snatch away at least a few wins, of course, but barring any prolonged catastrophes, the Merc is too good to beat, and Hamilton is consistently faster than Bottas. After all, the only thing that made 2014-2016 even remotely tolerable was that Rosberg could actually fight Hamilton--Bottas cannot do that. So we have to hope for Seb or Max or Daniel to wring out absolutely everything from their machines to challenge Hamilton, but...

Happily, it looks like the midfield is really competitive this year, so hopefully we'll see them sneak onto a few podiums, and some good fights for P4 in the constructor's championship.

With all that said, I am looking forward to Australia. Max looked really fast in FP2, so who knows? Maybe someone other than Lewis can get the pole tomorrow.

[atg]

So Hamilton took pole by .6 but Vettel and Verstappen had mistakes on their best runs which cost them around .2-.3. I think this race is going to be tighter than quali looks with Merc having issues getting the Ultrasofts to last in practice.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

So thanks to the Virtual Safety Car, Vettel passed Hamilton via pit stops. Hamilton seemed to struggle for pace, looks like the Merc is at its strongest when there's no-one in front!

Haas has been doing brilliantly until problems with the wheel guns put both cars out of the race within as many laps of each other, much to the frustration of all involved.

McLaren actually got both cars into the points now they're using Renault engines, something they rarely managed with Honda. I think they got more points in one race than all of last season... the piece of shit they had was the worst since their outing with Peugeot in 1994. Though I'd argue the Honda was worse since at least McLaren had the good sense to ditch the former after just one season!

[Alferd Packer]

I was pleasantly surprised at how low the attrition rate was. Usually there are 7-8 retirements in the first race of the year, and we only had 5--two of which were not mechanical.

I will also allow myself a glimmer of hope that the Merc has a failing--it's not good in traffic. Bottas was on the struggle bus the entire race. Had Hamilton equal tires to Seb, he probably could have challenged for first, but actually overtaking him may not be a sure thing. Overtaking Vettel, after all, is no easy thing.

[Captain Seafort]

I will also allow myself a glimmer of hope that the Merc has a failing--it's not good in traffic.

Correction - it's not good in traffic at Melbourne, which applies to every car on the grid.

[atg]

I will also allow myself a glimmer of hope that the Merc has a failing--it's not good in traffic.

Correction - it's not good in traffic at Melbourne, which applies to every car on the grid.

Yep there was very little overtaking at Melbourne - but I don't think it's down to just the track.I personally think changing the aero rules for the 2017 season was a bad idea. Yes the cars are a few seconds a lap quicker but the whole point of the previous regs were to reduce the 'dirty' air problem to aid in overtaking. Hopefully the group Ross Brawn is heading up can bring about some changes again into the right direction.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I will also allow myself a glimmer of hope that the Merc has a failing--it's not good in traffic.

Correction - it's not good in traffic at Melbourne, which applies to every car on the grid.

Yep there was very little overtaking at Melbourne - but I don't think it's down to just the track.I personally think changing the aero rules for the 2017 season was a bad idea. Yes the cars are a few seconds a lap quicker but the whole point of the previous regs were to reduce the 'dirty' air problem to aid in overtaking. Hopefully the group Ross Brawn is heading up can bring about some changes again into the right direction.

Sadly they're still not as fast as they can be- it's not right that lap records set by Schumacher all the way back in 2004 still stand today. Luckily there's only a handful of tracks on the current calendar that still have the 2004 figures as fastest lap, for all sorts of reasons.

[Alferd Packer]

Sadly they're still not as fast as they can be- it's not right that lap records set by Schumacher all the way back in 2004 still stand today. Luckily there's only a handful of tracks on the current calendar that still have the 2004 figures as fastest lap, for all sorts of reasons.

I was watching a video about the 2018-spec IndyCars, specifically how they moved more the downforce off the wings so that they're less hampered by dirty air, and one of the interviewees had a comment salient to all open-wheel racing. Essentially, he said that we've been able to build cars that human beings are incapable of driving for the better part of 20 years, so we've been simply oscillating around a perceived optimum of performance, driveabilty, and the entertaining racing since then.

Point being that the FIA could release a formula for cars that would be 10 seconds a lap faster than the 2004 cars, but there would be tradeoffs. Maybe they'd be impossible to drive through high-G corners like Pouhon without drivers blacking out. Maybe the chassis could no long pass FIA crash tests, and there exist no materials strong enough to do the job.

I mean, the 2018 cars are possibly the fastest ever--but if they are, they'll be incrementally faster than the lap records set in 2004/2017. And the 2020 cars, the last of this particular formula, might in turn be the fastest cars ever again, but the gains, if any, are going to be diminishing, because we've already hit the limits of what human beings can endure for 2 hours on a racetrack. A drastic overshoot of that hard limit is too dangerous, so the FIA/constructors/track designers have to always err on the side of caution.

[atg]

Man what a race and what a win by Ricciardo and Red Bull. Great call on the tires and pit crew double stacking the cars twice!

[lordroel]

Man what a race and what a win by Ricciardo and Red Bull. Great call on the tires and pit crew double stacking the cars twice!

To bad a certain Dutch driver did two stupid things in the race, he could have won it if he wanted to.

[Alferd Packer]

Watching the first three races of the season, I'm just happy that the other top teams can race for wins. I'm sure Merc is just a race or two away from getting their legs underneath themselves and putting together a winning season, but for now, it's glorious. When I look back at 2014-16, I can't believe how terrible those races were by comparison(also the cars looked awful). For some perspective, this three race stretch is the longest Mercedes has gone without a race win in the hybrid era.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I have to say I'm really liking the new on-screen graphics that have made an appearance, one highlight is how they've actually incorporated the fugly devices by superimposing the throttle and brake telmetry over them during on-board segments.

Great race today, with the intensity that the Red Bulls were racing on the tight confines of the Baku street circuit it was only a matter of time before they had a coming-together which put them out of the race. I'd be surprised if Christian Horner doesn't tell both drivers to rein it in a bit at least on street circuits where the margin for error is zero. Otherwise Monaco (in a month's time) is gonna be a similar clusterfuck.

I feel for Valtteri Bottas though, picking up a puncture just 3 laps before the end, though his loss was Hamilton's gain- I swear if it had been Hamilton going out I'd have had a coronary!

Have to mention Romain Grosjean hitting the wall under the safety car though, that was pretty unusual.

Can I just highlight the fact that from next year, in the UK live F1 coverage retreats behind Sky's paywall, with only the British Grand Prix being shown live on free-to-air TV. Which sucks big time- it's one thing if you're an existing Sky customer but I sure as hell am not going to start handing over hundreds of pounds a year, least of all to Sky!

[SpottedKitty]

I have to say I'm really liking the new on-screen graphics that have made an appearance

I'm not too keen on them — just too small. I have trifocals, and although we have a nice big screen TV in the living room, I can only barely read the names and times if I hold my head exactly right. Just a teensy bit off the sweet spot in my lenses and everything's a blur.

Great race today, with the intensity that the Red Bulls were racing on the tight confines of the Baku street circuit it was only a matter of time before they had a coming-together which put them out of the race.

I think I used up all my vowels at that point. Not sure if I'd call it all Max's fault — this time — but they both should have been more careful.

I feel for Valtteri Bottas though, picking up a puncture just 3 laps before the end, though his loss was Hamilton's gain

No, wait, I had a few vowels left. I think Bottas must have tripped over a black cat while carrying a mirror under a stepladder at some point...

Have to mention Romain Grosjean hitting the wall under the safety car though, that was pretty unusual.

Argleblargle.

Something that I noticed a few people mention in the race review on the BBC News site — for all the time the safety car was out for all the assorted clunks, there was a lot of debris left on the track at the restart. The camera zoomed in on a big chunk of Ocon's car left in the middle of the track just as the safety car came in, and it certainly looked to me that Bottas ran over a couple of chunks seconds before his puncture. And... did anyone else hear a driver's radio report (some time in the first dozen or so laps, I think) that there was a small piece of tree on the track...?

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I made a typo in the first sentence, I meant to say halo devices I find that on my TV, the graphics are only readable if I'm viewing the HD feed, if it's SD it's too fuzzy to make out the details.

And... did anyone else hear a driver's radio report (some time in the first dozen or so laps, I think) that there was a small piece of tree on the track...?

The Channel 4 coverage showed a small tree branch on the track and the commentators noticed it, fortunately it wasn't on the racing line- I think it was in the closing dozen laps though.

The marshals definitely did a poor job clearing up the debris, that said their job wouldn't have been made any easier by the high winds around the circuit. I found myself wondering if they'd have been better off using some leaf blowers/garden vacs instead of brooms to clear the crap off the track.

It was a double-whammy for Bottas hitting the debris where he did in the worst possible spot just after the pitlane- there was no way he was going to make an entire lap on just three wheels.

That said, Alonso did a hell of a job getting his McLaren back to the pits despite losing both the front and rear right tyres, I can't remember any F1 car still being able to limp back to the pits on two good wheels. And then being able to go on and finish the race in the points as well.

[SpottedKitty]

I made a typo in the first sentence, I meant to say halo devices

No, I think you got it right the first time. They might be necessary, but IMHO they make the cars look like they're wearing Elton John specs.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

I made a typo in the first sentence, I meant to say halo devices

No, I think you got it right the first time. They might be necessary, but IMHO they make the cars look like they're wearing Elton John specs.

I meant fugly halo devices- first race in particular they all but ruined onboard footage, it would appear they've repositioned the camera in subsequent races so they're blocking less of the view- Mark Webber's comment on seeing the onboard footage for the first time was that it was a "howler".

For qualifying they were saying the graphic reading "driver in danger" for who's close to failing to make the grade to each session was a bit misleading, perhaps it should be changed to "vulnerable" or similar.

[Captain Seafort]

I'd be surprised if Christian Horner doesn't tell both drivers to rein it in a bit at least on street circuits where the margin for error is zero.

Already done - did you see the post-race interview C4 did with Horner? He was absolutely steaming. Tried to hide it of course, but given how laid back he usually is it stands out all the more when he's clearly trying to keep a lid on his temper.

Have to mention Romain Grosjean hitting the wall under the safety car though, that was pretty unusual.

It looked like the car snapped on him. DC was speculating it was a perfect storm of low speed (and therefore low downforce), energy harvesting, and weaving to get some heat.

Can I just highlight the fact that from next year, in the UK live F1 coverage retreats behind Sky's paywall, with only the British Grand Prix being shown live on free-to-air TV. Which sucks big time- it's one thing if you're an existing Sky customer but I sure as hell am not going to start handing over hundreds of pounds a year, least of all to Sky!

Meh. As far as I know C4 will still be showing highlights, so I'll just be avoiding all news like the plague for 19 Sundays a year instead of ten (or whatever it is currently).

For qualifying they were saying the graphic reading "driver in danger" for who's close to failing to make the grade to each session was a bit misleading, perhaps it should be changed to "vulnerable" or similar.

Speaking of "driver in danger", Hamilton had a good point when he complained that the race wasn't stopped to recover Grojean's car. The corner of that recovery vehicle was a big angle of metal at about a driver's head height.

[Alferd Packer]

Well that was a snoozer after the first three corners. I mean, I know overtaking is difficult in Spain, but my goodness. I will say it was nice to see a Sauber actually able to fight for points, and there were a few good scraps in the midfield.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Unusual to see a car spin and the driver to keep his foot on the throttle- especially when he was still doing it in the middle of the track. Looks like by the time he realised what was happening it was too late - with all the smoke the resulting wheelspin generated it was a wonder it was only the two other cars he took out in addition to his own.

Poor Kimi, though- whenever Ferrari has a problem he's the one that suffers from it. I'd prefer that Vettel did occasionally to give Lewis some more breathing room. Still, it balances the points loss that resulted from Bottas retiring from the last race; Ferrari's loss is Merc's gain.

[Alferd Packer]

Unusual to see a car spin and the driver to keep his foot on the throttle- especially when he was still doing it in the middle of the track. Looks like by the time he realised what was happening it was too late - with all the smoke the resulting wheelspin generated it was a wonder it was only the two other cars he took out in addition to his own.

I haven't read any interviews from Grosjean, but I suspect he thought he could flip the car around if he kept in the throttle. Maybe he thought he was going slower than he actually was. Or, you know, he just made a mistake. It happens--even to one of the twenty best drivers in the world.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Unusual to see a car spin and the driver to keep his foot on the throttle- especially when he was still doing it in the middle of the track. Looks like by the time he realised what was happening it was too late - with all the smoke the resulting wheelspin generated it was a wonder it was only the two other cars he took out in addition to his own.

I haven't read any interviews from Grosjean, but I suspect he thought he could flip the car around if he kept in the throttle. Maybe he thought he was going slower than he actually was. Or, you know, he just made a mistake. It happens--even to one of the twenty best drivers in the world.

He's been handed a 3-place grid penalty for the next race (fitting for the number of cars involved). Normally that wouldn't be such a big deal, except said race is Monaco!

[Sea Skimmer]

Man, I saw some of the last race on a friends let us say download, and I realized it's been a full ten years now since I stopped watching F1 religiously. And I remembered a big part of the reason why, the sound of the cars has always felt very lame since the end of the V10 era. They need to find a way to hookup some kind of piston-siren to the crankshafts to emulate that noise.

Glad see hear they are finally trying to take a scientific approach to the close following problem though; this has been an issue for decades that just got a worse and worse in steps until we've reached the present lol situation. Be way easier to just legalize the fan car though.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Man, I saw some of the last race on a friends let us say download, and I realized it's been a full ten years now since I stopped watching F1 religiously. And I remembered a big part of the reason why, the sound of the cars has always felt very lame since the end of the V10 era. They need to find a way to hookup some kind of piston-siren to the crankshafts to emulate that noise.

Glad see hear they are finally trying to take a scientific approach to the close following problem though; this has been an issue for decades that just got a worse and worse in steps until we've reached the present lol situation. Be way easier to just legalize the fan car though.

The Brabham from 40 years ago you mean? It's a shame that in the name of safety, cool stuff like ground effect went the way of the Dodo and we have ridiculous flat-bottomed cars today.

Strange incident in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix- Romain Grosjean's engine blew in the pit lane before he could so much as set a timed lap. Such failures are rare these days what with the rules specifying ever-decreasing numbers of engines per season.

[SpottedKitty]

Strange incident in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix- Romain Grosjean's engine blew in the pit lane before he could so much as set a timed lap. Such failures are rare these days what with the rules specifying ever-decreasing numbers of engines per season.

Very unusual, I can't remember the last time an engine cut loose so spectacularly, so soon after leaving the garage.

Was that the Wall of Champions Ericsson smacked in Q1? Very lucky to come away from that bang-and-a-flash with an intact suspension.

Now, let's see what Hamilton can do on this circuit tomorrow from the second row, for a change... <fingers crossed>

[Captain Seafort]

Strange incident in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix- Romain Grosjean's engine blew in the pit lane before he could so much as set a timed lap. Such failures are rare these days what with the rules specifying ever-decreasing numbers of engines per season.

Very unusual, I can't remember the last time an engine cut loose so spectacularly, so soon after leaving the garage.

I can't remember the last time an engine let loose like that period - most of the time the only indication is a "loss of power" radio message and the victim coasting to a halt. You don't often see the old-school "lay a smokescreen the length of the straight" routine these days.