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Formula One

WillPS said:
Not sure I understand why it can't simply be that one driver is better than the other, or at least that is a major part of the equation.

Or did you say the same thing about Bottas when he was in Mercedes and was more often than not nowhere near Hamilton's pace?
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The difference being that Mercedes had a considerably more ethical approach to both drivers and their cars. Bottas was in equal machinery and frankly, whenever he did have the opportunity, often failed under pressure. Could you imagine Verstappen or Red Bull ever even considering doing something like this? Heck, the petulant moron wouldn't even give him the place back after he'd already sealed and won the championship at Brazil last season.
 
Alastair said:
The difference being that Mercedes had a considerably more ethical approach to both drivers and their cars. Bottas was in equal machinery and frankly, whenever he did have the opportunity, often failed under pressure. Could you imagine Verstappen or Red Bull ever even considering doing something like this? Heck, the petulant moron wouldn't even give him the place back after he'd already sealed and won the championship at Brazil last season.
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They picked a driver they knew wouldn't be too much trouble, is my take. They might have expected a slightly more robust driver than they got, but the fact they didn't boot him out despite years of relative underperformance tells me they were alright with that in an era they knew Hamilton would get the results they needed without too much drama given the huge advantage they had earlier on in the hybrid era.

And no, Hamilton is certainly more generous with his teammates than Verstappen in the present tense, but if you wind back to the point Hamilton was the same age and experience of Verstappen do you think Hamilton would have done the same for Button or Rosberg? He was (still is, when in a sulk!) perfectly capable of being petulant too.

I'm not really sure referring to drivers by ad hominems is helpful. I don't think many of them are people I could be mates with buit that's not really relevant in terms enjoyment of the sport (and "sport").
 
WillPS said:
Where to tho? Haas, Alpine and AlphaTauri are the places which theoretically have a vacancy, but they're more likely to end up behind McLaren than in front.

I guess Hamilton could potentially call it a day too, although all the signs are that he wants that 8th championship.
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If RB are keen on 2 people who can truly fight for a championship then pay off Perez and get Norris in, but thats going to be expensive. Maybe there is no real move for Norris otherwise, unless as you said Hamilton decides he is done. But it doesn't appear that way
 
Alastair said:
Corrected that one for you. There's no question about it. I can only assume Perez is only doing this gig for the money, as it's frankly disgraceful how he's been treated the last couple of years and apparently still continuing into this one. Also disgraceful is how Red Bull have clearly gotten clean away with cheating in terms of developing the car over and above the cost cap to the benefit of last year, and obviously this year.
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I am sure Perez is happy with where he is and what he is doing. If RedBull had not signed him, he would not be racing today. So you could argue that it was a win win for both parties. I suspect this will be Perez last year. Lando would be a good fit at RedBull, but I still dont think he would be fast enough to beat Max. I would love to see Lando go to Ferrari, but dont really see Sainz or Leclerc leaving any time soon.

As for Mercedes, If Lewis does retire at the end of the season, I dont see how Mercedes can catch up within a few seasons unless they copy the Red Bull concepts similar to what Aston Martin have done, so would you want to join them, or stick it out with your current team. The next six months could be really painful for Mercedes, because if they focus on plan b, Alpine, Aston, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo are all gone to end up with a better car until plan b comes along.

Its easy to dismiss the race as boring as there was no contest for the lead, but that does a disservice to the rest of the field. The battle in the midfield was really interesting, with Yuki catching Albon towards the end, and Gasly catching Bottas. Alonso pulled off some creative moves which was fun to watch on his recovery. There was always something interesting to keep an eye on.
 
If Merc do what the rest of the grid have done and copy the lead concept, they'll be several months behind in their understanding of how it works.

Aston Martin and Williams didn't immediately get results after changing their sidepods last Spring/Summer, but they're starting to see the benefits of that decision now.

My gut is they won't be in a position to challenge for championships until the next regs change, but I genuinely hope I'm wrong about that.
 
Definitely going to be an interesting race this afternoon. I still think Max can win, but he's certainly going to have to fight for it. Hopefully, Alonso can stay close to Perez and we have a great battle for first.
 
Yep, should be a good one, the midfield is so tight. Should be interesting to see who comes out on top. Safety Car and VRS could also play a part in this as well.

Hardest part for Max is going to be surviving the first few laps.
 
For anyone interested, Silverstone have released more tickets for the race. Unless you have a spare £500 per person down the back of the sofa, it is not worth joining the queue (You have to log in to your account to view the new seats, just going via the main website does not seem to work).

It does look like they have added a couple of new stands, so that will be good for trying them out on Friday and Thursday, but I suspect the price is going to put a lot of people off. It will be interesting to see how quickly it sales out. I am still upset they charged £129 for the Thursday pit walks, the worse thing being that it still sold out.

I am still really excited to be going, and looking forward to it, but its just a shame the prices seem to have sky rocketed this year. It is well worth going to a live F1 event, its different to watching it on TV, but it is still brilliant.
 
Azerbaijan time, predictions?

Also the long awaited McLaren upgrades should be here this weekend, do we think there will be much improvement?
 
Tibble said:
Azerbaijan time, predictions?

Also the long awaited McLaren upgrades should be here this weekend, do we think there will be much improvement?
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Generally organisations don't sack key people if they think they're about to deliver something good...

Season's done championship wise. Hopefully there'll be some interesting races (like Australia) but if not it could be a very dull season. Formula E has been brilliant tho, last Saturday's race was loads of fun.
 
Yeah I've been enjoying FE a lot more than F1 so far this year - lots more action and far less predictable.

The fact that Horner isn't there in no way influences the above sentiment.
 
ThemeParkOwen said:
How cringe was that driver ceremony at Miami 😂😂
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I think one of the many issue was that the crowd noise was missing, which just meant there were gaps were the crowd was cheering but you could not hear anything on the broadcast.

The other issue is there is 20 drivers, and it just takes to long. Its not like a boxing match or wrestling match with just two competitors. F1 is more like football, when the teams get announced while they are doing their warm ups.

A bit like the sprint races, these things are great if your at the track, but end up a bit rubbish on TV.

The race itself was fun, but the TV coverage and commentary had as many good points as it did bad points. Some of the midfield battles felt like they got overlooked, and replays were shown while there was still action going on the track.
 
Yeah I thought it was a good race to be honest with some good over taking.

Problem with most fans these days is unless there's a crash or safety car then the is 'boring' and I feel that the midfield battles often go missed unfortunately.
 
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