The F1 Thread

[The Bear]

Fair enough

I think he's the best thing about the F1 coverage personally. McLaren fanboy or not. I have to say I'd never have guessed if you hadn't told me.

 

[Nando]

His coverage is good, there's just something about him that irks me. His real name is Theodore Slotover for a start!

Anything is better than Gary Anderson determining how good a car is by analysing it at its launch!

 

[The Bear]

Slotover!! :icon_lol:

I thougt Kravitz was his family name. I remember when Lenny Kravitz was at a race last year he found out they are loosely related due to their families being from the same place.

 

[Nando]

Good start for Mercedes. Lewis bins it after all the trouble yesterday.

 

[Carrotdude]

Was it his fault? I heard it was a brake problem that caused the crash? Either way it's not exactly the most encouraging start for his new team! I think he's onto a bit of a loser this season anyway as every single time a Mclaren goes faster than him or the Merc breaks down people will be going on about him making the wrong decision.

 

[Nando]

Rear brake failure. McLaren look quick, I think they'll be let down by their drivers though unless they have a decent sized gap. Comfortably the weakest pairing in comparison to Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.

 

[The Bear]

Hmmm. I'd rather have either of Button or Perez than Massa or Webber.

 

[Nando]

Neither are a patch on Alonso, Vettel or Hamilton though. Perez has a lot to prove, he fell off big time at the back end of last season. Button still needs to prove he can wring a car when its not perfectly set up.

 

[The Bear]

No neiher are as good as the main drivers from those teams. I was talking about pairings though. I think if Perez was the second driver at any of them it would be a stronger pairing than they currently have, even taking into account the experience of Webber and Massa.

 

[Carrotdude]

If Mclaren have a REALLY good car then Jenson will do the job but like you say he struggles when it isn't 100% to his liking. Perez is a possible future champion but I wouldn't expect too much from him this season. Very interested to see how the Rosberg/Hamilton battle goes.

 

[Nando]

Rumours of Karthikeyan to Force India! That really would be taking the piss.

 

[Carrotdude]

Kovaleinen, Senna, Kobayashi - there are plenty of decent drivers around, complete farce of Kan'thikeyan gets it!

 

[Nando]

These new tyres seem to be causing havoc.

A lot of questions to still be answered but I'm happy with Ferrari's progress so far. Should definitely be in contention at Melbourne this time round.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Mercedes look well short, I don't think Perez will work at McLaren either so they're in a Massa situation.

When you say "Ferrari" you mean Alonso of course, because the Brazilian fool will not be anywhere near.

 

[Nando]

Massa was fantastic in the final third of last season. Give him a car that is predictable and he'll give anybody a run for their money. He's not one of the top three but he's more than a match for Button and Webber when he's got the equipment.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I wouldn't put him anywhere near their class. Put Heidfeld or Glock in a Ferrari and I'm sure they'd match his mediocre achievements.

 

[Nando]

Losing out on the WDC on the last corner of the last race of the season isn't what I'd call a mediocre achievement. Nor are 11 victories, 15 pole positions and 35 podiums driving alongside three World Champions in his time at Ferrari.

When he's confident and has the equipment he's a top driver. He can't drive around an issue like Alonso or Hamilton but then not many in the history of F1 can.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I think there's many a driver not given the same opportunities who could better that. It's a bit like slagging Martin Brundle off because he had a worse record than Ricardo Patrese.

 

[Nando]

Reel them off.

Felipe has been paired with probably the best driver of all time, somebody regarded as the quickest out and out driver in the world at the time and now Alonso. It doesn't get much tougher than that and then factor in the fact that he was inches away from being killed at the wheel of his car when he was absolutely destroying Kimi.

He was very poor for the first half of 2012, but then Button vanished last year when his team mate was still fighting it out at the front. Webber has the odd weekend of looking like a world beater before fading away again. Jenson is brilliant when the car is perfect, without it he's not a threat. Massa was quicker than Alonso at times towards the end of the season and when you consider how good Fernando was last season, that's quite an achievement.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Eddie Irvine got closer to a title in a worse Ferrari.