The F1 Thread

[Nando]

When do you reckon they will use the quota?

My guess early days in the European races.

If they've not exhausted their four by Spain I'd be surprised.

Supposedly Honda are delivering a comprehenisve upgrade for Monaco.

 

[Kenny]

Haven't the penalties been reduced for this year? Might as well just take the hit and try to get the situation worked out.

Alonso did kind of ok today I suppose, considering where they were in Barcelona.

I know they have binned the "stockpilling". So last season when Lewis basically spent a whole weekend in Spa changing his engine/power unit parts so by the time he finished he had enough engines to complete the season without further penalty and he was only at the back of the grid, despite picking up a 55 place penalty. This season I think if you do that, you get the grid penalty for the parts you changed for that race (outside of the quota of course) and in the next race, if you use any parts that were added but not used, you get the penatly for them (or something like that)

Certainly better than last season and the main team that took advantage of it was Mercedes, who also told the FIA it was a stupid idea that teams would exploit. The previous season you had grid place penalties and then if you couldn't go further back, 5 seconds for each space. Remember Button having a stupid amount of time pens.

 

[Carrotdude]

Vettel very quick in FP3 which potentially makes qualifying interesting.

Wehrlein has pulled out due to lack of fitness - sounds like he doesn't think he'd manage a full race after lack of training due to the injury he had. Giovanazzi comes in for him

 

[Carrotdude]

I think we'll see some big differences between teammates this season - Palmer, Magnussen, Vandoorne, Stroll, Ocon all have far superior drivers in the other car

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Alonso did phenomenally well to drag that mclaren up to 13th. Bottas looks quick.

 

[Tredman]

Good qualifying session that, much more tight than previous seasons

 

[Freddeno]

will be a much more interesting season this i think, hopefully mercedes not in a class on its own, nice with faster cars

 

[Carrotdude]

Enjoyed that quali session, still worried that overtaking will be too difficult but there have been lots of mistakes this weekend which gives me hope that it won't just be a procession.

How good is Grosjean btw? He caused a few crashes in his early days but he's turned into a top quality driver, Ferrari could do worse than get him to replace Kimi when he leaves

 

[Nando]

He's top class on his day for sure.

 

[Kenny]

Vettel wins. Lewis 2nd and Bottas 3rd.

Seb certainly benefited from Lewis getting stuck behind Max after his pit stop but Ferrari have got the pace this season and the Merc yet again can't cope being behind another car.

Start of the race wasn't impressed with Bottas at all. Fell behind the top 2 way to quickly. After his pit he impressed and was hoping to see him go for it for 2nd but traffic ended that. Whenever he get within 1.5 of 2nd they seemed to hit the cars to lap.

Lewis was not happy from the word go with grip and later on a power issue.

So race 1 would indicate a great battle ahead for Seb and the Mercs. Would expect Red Bull to join the party despite a shite weekend for them.

 

[Carrotdude]

Bit of a weird one that Vettel looked like he had the fastest car yet both mercs looked easily faster than raikkonen. Overtaking looks like a bit of a nightmare this season so track position could be vital. They often say Melbourne is a bit of an odd circuit so let's see how they fare in the next couple but it looks like it might be a good battle this season.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

So Hamilton was correct when he warned that Ferrari had a very quick car this season.

 

[Kenny]

So Hamilton was correct when he warned that Ferrari had a very quick car this season.

Based on today...it has a similar pace to the Mercs if you have a Vettel behind the wheel.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Based on today...it has a similar pace to the Mercs if you have a Vettel behind the wheel.

Vettel was certainly the quickest car on the track, though I am surprised that Raikkonen was not a little bit quicker.

 

[Tredman]

IIRC Vettel should have won the Oz GP last season too?

 

[Kenny]

Yep. Ferrari fucked up his strategy.

 

[Freddeno]

Vettel and Hamilton is both top drivers, maybe even the best.. Well Vettel at least

 

[Nando]

I'd say Vettel is below Hamilton and Alonso in the pecking order.

 

[The Bear]

Agreed.

 

[Freddeno]

naah, good all three though agree with that..probably top 3