Racing 2018

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 2:12 pm

Im definitely into indy this year. The cars look so much nicer this year!

fletcher21 · Post by **fletcher21** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 2:16 pm

On the grid walk, someone on the track jokingly stated something about needing to build a wall, "since the Mexican sergio perez made it over." I am FAR from being politically correct, but that was very odd. Had i been recording it, i would have gone back to listen to it again. Odd stuff to say in 2018.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Apr 08, 2018 3:30 pm

fletcher21 wrote:Im definitely into indy this year. The cars look so much nicer this year!

Absolutely. The best-looking single seaters on Earth.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:29 pm

So Pierre Gasly finished 4th in Sunday’s race and qualified 6th and was promoted to 5th after the Hamilton grid penalty. All this in a Honda engine that was underpowered and unreliable by McLaren’s standards.

And to add insult to injury that Torro Rosso Honda powered engine outqualified and outperformed McLaren throughout the race weekend.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Mon Apr 09, 2018 6:13 pm

False position though it undoubtedly is, Rod, Fernando Alonso is currently 4th in the world championship standings and McLaren are only 8 points away from matching their total score from 2017. On top of that, Honda are already onto their 2nd MGU-H and turbo of their permitted 3 for the season, while McLaren, sans Honda, posted the biggest year-on-year lap time improvement of any team in Bahrain. All of this sounds terrific, and then you look at what Pierre Gasly did...

What's interesting, though, is that Toro Rosso seem to not understand quite what happened. That, or they're terrific poker players. When did you last hear a team say they needed to analyse the data in order to grasp why they were so fast?

There's a wonderful story about how Ligier were the team to beat in the early part of 1979, but lost their way totally from mid-season onwards. The tale goes that the magic bullet, the key setup that unlocked the car's potential, was written down on the back of a cigarette packet that somebody subsequently threw away. Even though it must be untrue and there are a bunch of other perfectly decent explanations, it's just plausible enough - gloriously, stereotypically French enough, I guess - to lure you in. I wonder whether anyone at Toro Rosso knows the story and, if not, whether any of them smoke Gauloises...we shall see this coming weekend.

Meanwhile, at Williams, nobody knows why they're 1.3 seconds slower than last year. Ouch.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Apr 09, 2018 6:24 pm

GB_Simo wrote:Meanwhile, at Williams, nobody knows why they're 1.3 seconds slower than last year. Ouch.

A few reasons, off the top of my head:

1. Sirotkin and Stroll comprise arguably the weakest driver pairing on the grid, rivaled only by LeClerc (who looks a bit lost and overrated after two races) and Ericsson. They're not going to extract the most from any car, especially a middling-at-best one like Williams. Massa had bags of experience with which he could help with technical development.

2. Williams has become a cash-and-carry pay driver team. That must hinder development.

3. Claire Williams is no Frank Williams. Claire isn't landing big sponsors, and the car is slow. She may have the steel of her mother, but she doesn't have the magic touch of her dad or a partnership with a technical wizard like Frank did with Patrick Head.

The new regs and financial structure planned for 2021 -- if ever agreed upon by the teams -- might be Williams' last chance at not becoming the next Tyrrell or Lotus. A similar fate would be one of the true tragedies of F1 history.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Apr 09, 2018 6:27 pm

This just in: MotoGP once again proved why it is the most spellbinding, exciting and competitive major form of motorsport on Earth on Sunday.

What an unbelievable, surreal race in Argentina two weeks after a corker of an opener in Qatar. The Marquez-Rossi rivalry is incendiary and deeply personal, at least from Rossi. It makes Hamilton vs. Vettel sound like a loving rendition of "Kumbaya."

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Mon Apr 09, 2018 7:45 pm

pk500 wrote:
GB_Simo wrote:Meanwhile, at Williams, nobody knows why they're 1.3 seconds slower than last year. Ouch.
A few reasons, off the top of my head:

1. Sirotkin and Stroll comprise arguably the weakest driver pairing on the grid, rivaled only by LeClerc (who looks a bit lost and overrated after two races) and Ericsson. They're not going to extract the most from any car, especially a middling-at-best one like Williams. Massa had bags of experience with which he could help with technical development.

Agree with all points in principle, but I see here an opportunity to give credit where it's due, which I find rarely applies in the case of Marcus Ericsson. Having been shaded by Leclerc all through practice (Leclerc, I'd suggest, is overdriving when it matters - patience is a virtue, for us and for him), I thought Ericsson's race drive was absolutely tremendous. The Sauber does not, on the face of it, seem to be the ideal vehicle for tyre preservation in desert heat, so to one-stop his way to a points finish ahead of a Renault and two Force Indias feels like a very stout effort.

Back at Williams, I don't think I've ever known a car whose drivers say you can't brake normally behind another vehicle without locking the fronts. It looks to just be a thing the Williams does. Bob Kubica, playing the media like his favourite flute, says he knows what the answer is but it would take balls to implement. Whether he means starting the car again or figuring out which pay driver he should replace, he hasn't said yet.

You should all, whether you normally watch or not, find a way of watching BTCC race 2 at Brands Indy. I haven't seen the Moto GP race yet, though I've read about it, but it'll have to go some to beat a race in which the podium finishers came home a combined 60 places higher than their grid slots.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 10, 2018 10:39 am

Thanks for the tip on the tin-tops from Brands. Will find!

EDIT: Found it!

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Apr 10, 2018 10:43 am

Credit where credit is due - huge improvement from ESPN this week, going commercial free for qualifying and the race. Add in a much better race itself and my interest for the F1 season is back to the appropriate level.

IndyCar at Phoenix was better than the last couple years, but there's only so much the series can do to make it a livelier show with the track's configuration. Maybe opening up the engines to road course boost levels would help, it was great to see a much wider delta between straightaway and apex speeds this year.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 10, 2018 1:42 pm

Bummer: My favorite TT rider, Bruce Anstey, is suffering from tumors on his lungs and spine and a blood clot in his lung and probably won't race this year. Anstey has overcome cancer twice, so let's hope he can do it again.

The TT won't be the same for me this year without Anstey. Get well, Brucey!

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Wed Apr 11, 2018 10:49 am

Dave wrote:Credit where credit is due - huge improvement from ESPN this week, going commercial free for qualifying and the race. Add in a much better race itself and my interest for the F1 season is back to the appropriate level.

Fantastic to read that Mother's is going to be the presenting sponsor the rest of the year so ESPN can remain commercial free. I guess there are some end-user benefits when it costs the provider absolutely nothing to put on a broadcast.

Great ratings last weekend too, which is a bit of a surprise.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 1:15 pm

It appears that Ricciardo has signed an option with Ferrari meaning that both sides cannot negotiate with anyone else for a set time. Ricciardo going to Ferrari makes sense. Currently, it appears the Prancing Horse has the fastest and quickest cars on the grid, by a small amount. Ricciardo beat Vettel the first time and has shown to be a Championship caliber driver. He's not as quick as Max or Vettel but he has great car control, great overtaking moves, makes solid race decisions and tends to stay out of trouble. And he has a propensity for pulling a rabbit out of the hat. All 6 of his wins were not easy and he seized the opportunity for the wins.

The Honey Badger or The Magician as he's now being called in a red car for 2019 alongside Vettel who doesn't want to go 0-2 against Ricciardo should be fun to watch. If it works out for both sides i'm definitely on board with the signing, good move for both sides.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 1:19 pm

Rodster wrote:It appears that Ricciardo has signed an option with Ferrari meaning that both sides cannot negotiate with anyone else for a set time. Ricciardo going to Ferrari makes sense. Currently, it appears the Prancing Horse has the fastest and quickest cars on the grid, by a small amount. Ricciardo beat Vettel the first time and has shown to be a Championship caliber driver. He's not as quick as Max or Vettel but he has great car control, great overtaking moves, makes solid race decisions and tends to stay out of trouble. And he has a propensity for pulling a rabbit out of the hat. All 6 of his wins were not easy and he seized the opportunity for the wins.

It makes sense for everyone except Vettel. Much like Schumacher and Hamilton, he wants a subservient No. 2, even if the days of a contractually obligated No. 2 like Rubens to Schuey probably are gone.

Ricciardo was a match for Vettel at Red Bull. I can't believe Vettel is crazy about this unless he thinks Kimi is doing nothing to develop the car. Otherwise, Kimi is the perfect No. 2. Not quick enough to beat Vettel but close enough to push him without any intra-garage drama.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 1:36 pm

pk500 wrote:
Rodster wrote:It appears that Ricciardo has signed an option with Ferrari meaning that both sides cannot negotiate with anyone else for a set time. Ricciardo going to Ferrari makes sense. Currently, it appears the Prancing Horse has the fastest and quickest cars on the grid, by a small amount. Ricciardo beat Vettel the first time and has shown to be a Championship caliber driver. He's not as quick as Max or Vettel but he has great car control, great overtaking moves, makes solid race decisions and tends to stay out of trouble. And he has a propensity for pulling a rabbit out of the hat. All 6 of his wins were not easy and he seized the opportunity for the wins.
It makes sense for everyone except Vettel. Much like Schumacher and Hamilton, he wants a subservient No. 2, even if the days of a contractually obligated No. 2 like Rubens to Schuey probably are gone.

Ricciardo was a match for Vettel at Red Bull. I can't believe Vettel is crazy about this unless he thinks Kimi is doing nothing to develop the car. Otherwise, Kimi is the perfect No. 2. Not quick enough to beat Vettel but close enough to push him without any intra-garage drama.

All true except there are now several extenuating circumstances. Ricciardo has made it known he wants a 2 year deal because he doesn't know what F1 will be like in 2021 with the new Concorde Agreement. He doesn't want to be locked into a deal where F1 has gone from bad to worse. Both he and Vettel would end their contracts in 2020. So far in his fourth season, Vettel hasn't produced the goods at Ferrari and he had a decent chance last year until he cracked. Ricciardo seems to be more even keeled than Vettel but I suspect without facts that Ferrari at this point might cave on giving Ricciardo equal treatment because he has shown himself to be a future F1 Champion with six difficult race wins in an underperforming car and he did beat Vettel at RedBull in his promotion from Torro Rosso.

It looks like Ferrari just wants to end the dry spell with whoever wins the drivers title and it's possible that Ferrari could pack it's bags in 2020, although I doubt it but it might happen.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 1:56 pm

Rodster wrote:All true except there are now several extenuating circumstances. Ricciardo has made it known he wants a 2 year deal because he doesn't know what F1 will be like in 2021 with the new Concorde Agreement. He doesn't want to be locked into a deal where F1 has gone from bad to worse. Both he and Vettel would end their contracts in 2020. So far in his fourth season, Vettel hasn't produced the goods at Ferrari and he had a decent chance last year until he cracked. Ricciardo seems to be more even keeled than Vettel but I suspect without facts that Ferrari at this point might cave on giving Ricciardo equal treatment because he has shown himself to be a future F1 Champion with six difficult race wins in an underperforming car and he did beat Vettel at RedBull in his promotion from Torro Rosso.

It looks like Ferrari just wants to end the dry spell with whoever wins the drivers title and it's possible that Ferrari could pack it's bags in 2020, although I doubt it but it might happen.

The biggest problem at Ferrari isn't the drivers. It's the management. Marchionne is a savage at selling cars but doesn't know a damn thing about racing, and his hot air about Ferrari withdrawing from F1 is a distraction. I'm also unimpressed with Arrivabene's work on the pit wall. He's no Ross Brawn or Jean Todt.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Apr 24, 2018 2:42 pm

pk500 wrote:The biggest problem at Ferrari isn't the drivers. It's the management. Marchionne is a savage at selling cars but doesn't know a damn thing about racing, and his hot air about Ferrari withdrawing from F1 is a distraction. I'm also unimpressed with Arrivabene's work on the pit wall. He's no Ross Brawn or Jean Todt.

Agreed !

I'm even more amazed that the Keystone Cops could put together a winning car like the SF71H and that they GUESSED right in Australia.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Mon Apr 30, 2018 6:19 pm

I want to make sure I've got this right. Red Bull tell us that the collision in Baku was the fault of both drivers. Verstappen's for moving twice to defend position and Ricciardo's for not guessing that Verstappen would move twice?

The Red Balls-Up at the front has taken some of the focus away from Charles Leclerc looking like Charles Leclerc for the first time this season, along with Kevin Magnussen trying to have an aircraft accident with Pierre Gasly, footage of which is here. Magnussen claims to not have seen Gasly, which I'd be more inclined to believe if I couldn't very clearly see him looking left a second before he hits him.

While I'm here, does anyone know when the Cup race at Talladega starts? What do you mean, that was it?

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Mon Apr 30, 2018 11:20 pm

I agree, it is ridiculous to place equal blame on the two drivers. Max needs to get his sh*t together, a lot of desperation in his driving right now.

That's the first I've seen of the Magnussen/Gasly incident. Another banner weekend for the Haas team, figure we'll get a Steiner quote any day about IndyCar racing and drivers not being up to snuff for F1 any day now...

It will be fun to see if Leclerc is starting to put it together, very impressive weekend for him, nice to see the Sauber able to mix it up with the rear of the mid-pack this year.

Gutted for Bottas. Thought it was one of his best Mercedes drives even before the safety car put him in the catbird seat.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue May 01, 2018 9:14 am

GB_Simo wrote:I want to make sure I've got this right. Red Bull tell us that the collision in Baku was the fault of both drivers. Verstappen's for moving twice to defend position and Ricciardo's for not guessing that Verstappen would move twice?

The Red Balls-Up at the front has taken some of the focus away from Charles Leclerc looking like Charles Leclerc for the first time this season, along with Kevin Magnussen trying to have an aircraft accident with Pierre Gasly, footage of which is here. Magnussen claims to not have seen Gasly, which I'd be more inclined to believe if I couldn't very clearly see him looking left a second before he hits him.

While I'm here, does anyone know when the Cup race at Talladega starts? What do you mean, that was it?

Niki Lauda said he puts 70% blame on Mad Max. As for Leclerc lets hope and i'm sure Ferrari is watching that this isn't a Lance Stroll moment where he shined once. There was a lot of carnage in that race, lets see what he does in a semi-normal race environment.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Tue May 01, 2018 9:54 am

Rodster wrote:Niki Lauda said he puts 70% blame on Mad Max. As for Leclerc lets hope and i'm sure Ferrari is watching that this isn't a Lance Stroll moment where he shined once. There was a lot of carnage in that race, lets see what he does in a semi-normal race environment.

Seventy percent? Where does the other 30 percent lie?

Verstappen is a classic example of a kid who was raised by a rich, assh*le father who told him from birth he was special. Max knew he could wreck his kart and drive like an idiot because Daddy would pat him on the head, say, "Good boy," and have a new kart in his workshop within two days.

Max is immensely talented. He also never has had to work or worry for a day in his life, and it shows.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue May 01, 2018 11:14 am

F1 in 2019: FIA confirms changes in bid to boost overtaking

The changes to promote closer racing and make overtaking easier are:

*Simplified front wing, with a larger span, and low outwash potential
*Simplified front brake duct with no winglets
*Wider and deeper rear wing

The FIA added that 'the approved changes are separate to the ongoing work being undertaken in regard to defining Formula 1's regulations for 2021 and beyond'.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Tue May 01, 2018 9:34 pm

Dave wrote:I agree, it is ridiculous to place equal blame on the two drivers. Max needs to get his sh*t together, a lot of desperation in his driving right now.

Agreed.

All on Max.

That was the most fun race to watch in a while. Sad it has to be due to driver failure and misfortune. Max the loose cannon, Vettel's bad driving and poor Bottas puncture.

How bout there is an actual fun race where the thrill comes from a great race and a great duel? When does that happen?

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed May 02, 2018 8:59 am

XXXIV wrote:How bout there is an actual fun race where the thrill comes from a great race and a great duel? When does that happen?

When you tune in and watch a MotoGP race !

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed May 02, 2018 9:42 am

Miami got the green light from F1 and is now waiting for city approval to be added to the F1 calendar starting in 2019-2028.

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