The F1 Thread

[The Bear]

It's not as simple as that though. Both he and Hamilton needed to extend their tyres in that stint so couldn't really push to try and overtake or he would have had to pit earlier and handed the race to Hamilton anyway.

I don't think Hamilton did anything wrong though. Tough shit for Rosberg if he's being slowed down slightly. It's really up to the team to tell Lewis what pace to keep to. I understand why he's annoyed though as it put him at a higher risk from Vettel.

Dull race though. Other than Verstappen (who I thought was a bit too reckless in his moves), Ricciardo and Maldonado there was bugger all happening. Did we even see the Williams cars after the first two laps?

 

[Kenny]

I know the tyre issue and letting Vettel come at him but at the same time, he is a racing driving, whether he is racing the guy in front or behind, instead of whinging get your head down and errr race. I don't think I have ever heard someone moaning about the guy they are challenging is going to slow and they should speed up.


He came across like a spoilt brat this weekend. Nothing was his fault. He blaimed his team for only getting P2 and then Lewis for driving to slowly for messing his race up. He never got closer than 2 seconds to Lewis and after the 2nd pit stop, Lewis just out paced him and he can't say Vettel was behind him as he pulled away from him.

The stuff about him slowing down and being selfish was just staggering IMO. I doubt Nico gives or has ever given a shit about Lewis when he was leading him and of course all of his decision making starts off with "if I do this, will it stop Lewis doing anything, if it does I won't bother"

On the race..Nice start from Lewis, despite getting his angle slightly wrong. Wanted to cut across Nico for the 1st corner and lined himself up with the wall. Bet Nico was a bit surprised to see that. Riciardo and Eriksson had a good few laps of battling over the last point position. Shame the safety car had to come out and it stopped a potential final lap battle between Seb and Kimi. The Williams were there for the Sunday drive I think. Shame the Merc was quicker on the harder tyre and that all but took any challenge away from them. Maldonado with a comedy pit stop entry and the Steward bashing the Toro Rosso again and again off the concrete wall was also very funny.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Lewis has completely done Nico mentally. I think he knows he can beat him any time he wants now, while Merc will always say there is no number one driver it's pretty clear now who the better one is.

 

[The Bear]

Nico is definitely losing it. Whether the ban on the team helping him out on the radio has had a bigger effect, I don't know. But he just hasn't got an answer unless conditions suit him perfectly.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Not the most exciting of grand prix's, but sadly I think there will be a lot more like this during the season.

 

[Kenny]

Not the most exciting of grand prix's, but sadly I think there will be a lot more like this during the season.

Really need Red Bull & Williams to pick it back up. Forget about challenging the Mercs but having nothing behind them will make it dull. Last season there was some great stuff going on behind the front 2, not so much this season.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Really need Red Bull & Williams to pick it back up. Forget about challenging the Mercs but having nothing behind them will make it dull. Last season there was some great stuff going on behind the front 2, not so much this season.

Agreed. We know that given optimum conditions, the Ferrari can compete at the front, but there is very little after that. A decent McLaren might help, but that looks some way off.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

A couple of hours after the end of the Chinese Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton delivered the words that threaten to disfigure the reputation of his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg. “Nico didn’t try.” He repeated his shattering assault, as if for emphasis. “Nico didn’t try.”

Hamilton said: “I just said to the [Mercedes] guys, if I was in second and I had the pace that I had today, I would have been pushing to be as close as possible and passing. That’s racing. They said maybe he [Rosberg] was just comfortable with second and I said well that’s the difference between us.

“I want to win, always. And I would have done everything to get past. Or at least pushed for three laps. He wasn’t quick enough.

This is Formula One. I grew up watching the sport. You want to see overtaking. You want to see a battle. And now I’m in the sport you don’t want it to be too controlled. You don’t want to back off to save the tyre.

I want the guy to be up my arse if he’s got the pace, up my arse and putting pressure on me. And if I can’t defend it, you lose it. Like in Bahrain, I wasn’t quick enough and I did everything I could to stay ahead. And that was the greatest race ever. Whether we could have had that today, I don’t think so. I want to race.”

 

[Nando]

Nico's a cock. He needs to be careful else he's going to get shunted out. He's not popular in Germany so Mercedes have no real reason to be keeping him if all he's going to do is kick up a fuss when he doesn't get his own way.

He's only peddling all this bullshit as he clearly knows, but refuses to accept, that Lewis easily has his measure nowadays.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Jules Bianchi is still fighting.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/32285478


I know next to nothing about such things, but doesn't six months in a coma seem to be a long time?

 

[Kenny]

1st Practise has a different look to it with Rosberg and Hamilton finishing in 15th and 16th. However, they didn't for pace in that stint and it was all about long runs and tyres. Ferrari's were doing the same until the final ten mins and then they put their foot down. Alonso grabbed 7th and Button spun on lap 1 and had a sit down for 90 mins.

expecting P2 to be a little different

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You do wonder why they bother holding P1 here in conditions that in no way mirror qualifying or the race.

 

[Kenny]

You do wonder why they bother holding P1 here in conditions that in no way mirror qualifying or the race.

After Malaysia it is perfect for the Mercs though. They got it badly wrong with their tyre strategy and didn't expect to be under any pressure. So P1 they get to see how the tyres behave this season under the conditions and then prepare from there. Fully expect that their plan for Q1 on Saturday is to do 1 flying lap and park up and save a set for the race.

 

[The Bear]

You do wonder why they bother holding P1 here in conditions that in no way mirror qualifying or the race.

Quite. Last year there was 4 seconds difference in pace between FP1 and the race.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Button's McLaren has gone pop on the first lap of qualifying.

 

[darlowolf64]

Hamilton waits patiently in the pits then goes over a second quicker

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Insane lap by Hamilton. Interesting that Rosberg can't get onto the front row just yet.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Hamilton on pole. Rosberg back in third, and it could have been fifth for him.

 

[Freddeno]

Rosberg must be so frustrated

 

[The Bear]

The start should certainly be interesting tomorrow.