Formula 1 2021 - General Discussion Thread (Read 1st post rules)

El_Duderino 09

afatbollix wrote: »

He's still selling everything he can.... First the heritage collection (twice), Then the factory, Nothing will be left at this rate. I really don't know why they need all the cash? Is the road car division doing that bad?

https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/bg21/the-lewis-hamilton-gp-winning-mclaren/lots/r0001-2010-mclaren-mercedes-mp4-25-formula-1/1073750

They're hundreds of millions in the red over the last decade. Before the pandemic they were getting loans of $100m from their Middle eastern owners. This is just the end result of what was happening over the last decade. Zak Brown is overseeing all this sell-off, but it's not his free choice nor is it the consequence of his management. It's been in the post for a while now.

I've no idea how the road car division or the electronics or analytical divisions are doing.

duploelabs

afatbollix wrote: »

He's still selling everything he can.... First the heritage collection (twice), Then the factory, Nothing will be left at this rate. I really don't know why they need all the cash? Is the road car division doing that bad?

https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/bg21/the-lewis-hamilton-gp-winning-mclaren/lots/r0001-2010-mclaren-mercedes-mp4-25-formula-1/1073750

The road car division are a mess. The produce new models nearly every month, and run the assembly lines rather than building them to order like ferrari do, forcing the dealers to buy them and then are left with near obsolete stock a few months afterwards

El_Duderino 09

Joe Saward on missed apex yesterday.
[Missed Apex F1 Podcast] Inside F1 with Joe Saward Ep50 #missedApexF1Podcast
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/123230019 via @PodcastAddict

The most surprising thing he said so far is he think Mazepin has more potential then Mick Schumacher. Reckons his confidence is just shot and he'll need time to recover and crack on.

Hard to imagine Mazepin consistently outshining Schumacher any time this year.

He also reckons Haas isn't going to be sold to Mazepin. Says Haas isn't for sale.

Pen Rua

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Joe Saward on missed apex yesterday.
[Missed Apex F1 Podcast] Inside F1 with Joe Saward Ep50 #missedApexF1Podcast
https://podcastaddict.com/episode/123230019 via @PodcastAddict

The most surprising thing he said so far is he think Mazepin has more potential then Mick Schumacher. Reckons his confidence is just shot and he'll need time to recover and crack on.

Hard to imagine Mazepin consistently outshining Schumacher any time this year.

He also reckons Haas isn't going to be sold to Mazepin. Says Haas isn't for sale.

As an aside, I gave up on Missed Apex and Joe Saward a long time ago. The podcast just lost my interest whereas Saward has more and more often come across as a right jerk in his comments, particularly in Twitter.

El_Duderino 09

Pen Rua wrote: »

As an aside, I gave up on Missed Apex and Joe Saward a long time ago. The podcast just lost my interest whereas Saward has more and more often come across as a right jerk in his comments, particularly in Twitter.

I suspect Joe and I would not get on, but i find his insights interesting (though I wouldn't take them as gospel). I often feel he just picks the contrarian line. He made a lot of excuses for Mazepin today as the host introduced it to the effect of "mazepin is doing very poorly". I think if the host had phrased it the opposite then Joe would have disagreed and said how terrible Mazepin is.

I can't stand the Missed Apex host. He's not funny but insists on making terrible jokes all through the show (he doesn't need to be funny, he just needs to host the chat).

Jordan 199

Beautiful, just beautiful. Can't wait to see it under natural light.

LollipopJimmy

Am I the only one that finds Monaco absolutely pointless now? The cars are far too big for any real racing around the tight streets. Obviously it's all about the Saturday then a procession on Sunday

Captain_Crash

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Am I the only one that finds Monaco absolutely pointless now? The cars are far too big for any real racing around the tight streets. Obviously it's all about the Saturday then a procession on Sunday

If they were dishing out races today there is no way Monaco would even be in the conversation!! It’s the flagship race of F1 tho so ain’t going anywhere!

Oafley Jones

duploelabs wrote: »

The road car division are a mess. The produce new models nearly every month, and run the assembly lines rather than building them to order like ferrari do, forcing the dealers to buy them and then are left with near obsolete stock a few months afterwards

They’re a complete basket case alright. I didn’t know that though; That might go someways to explaining McLaren’s appalling after sales reputation as well. Not that it’ll ever affect me.

El_Duderino 09

Jordan 199 wrote: »

Beautiful, just beautiful. Can't wait to see it under natural light.

I wonder of the blue will show under natural light. I presumed it was white or gray and orange until I was told it's blue.

El_Duderino 09

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Am I the only one that finds Monaco absolutely pointless now? The cars are far too big for any real racing around the tight streets. Obviously it's all about the Saturday then a procession on Sunday

I completely agree. The fact that it's the flagship race shows how the world has changed around f1 and it doesn't always keep up. Given that f1 is mostly a sport for Conservative old blokes, you wouldn't guess that f1 was once a forward looking sport for people who dared to dream about the future and then dared build that dream and make it a reality. Mavericks. Now it's more a sport for people who prefer the idea of the past to the future.

Imagine your friend, who doesn't watch f1, suggesting you watch Monaco together because it's the one race he always hears about. There's no way it would turn him into an f1 fan. But they can't change it because its tradition. F1 is weighed down by tradition rather than being elevated by it.

klose

Lando signed up for another while yet, if mclaren get it right with new regs next year and Danny ric settles in they could challenge (I hope)

Lando is coming along nicely, but can he get to a verstappen/leclerc level?

Lando is probably around the Button level, if not slightly ahead at the same point of career. Another year or two of not challenging for wins though and he can easily be stuck at the level below where he wants to be.

El_Duderino 09

Deleted User wrote: »

Lando is probably around the Button level, if not slightly ahead at the same point of career. Another year or two of not challenging for wins though and he can easily be stuck at the level below where he wants to be.

I don't know exactly where he is in relation to other drivers like Button but I am surprised and very impressed by his attitude this year. I was worried that Ric would go to Mclaren and eat his lunch. He was a little bit too pally-pally with Sainz and i (mistakenly) thought he was a bit soft an lacked the killer edge.

I think the way he has not been dominated by Ric but actually has dominated Ric and even had the team tell Ric to move over and let him through in a race, shows that he has clout at the team. Those elements are making me believe that he has even more to offer as he improves. He might be the real deal, but certainly he's at least in the in the second tier at the moment and he might even be operating on the top tier with Hamilton, Verstappen at the moment

flazio

Lando is proof that Formula 1 can be a place for nice guys to do well. :cool:

duploelabs

flazio wrote: »

Lando is proof that Formula 1 can be a place for nice guys to do well. :cool:

Speaking of which, he's just signed a new deal with Mclaren

https://www.mclaren.com/racing/team/lando-norris/mclaren-racing-announces-multi-year-extension-lando-norris/

recyclebin

klose wrote: »

Lando signed up for another while yet, if mclaren get it right with new regs next year and Danny ric settles in they could challenge (I hope)

Lando is coming along nicely, but can he get to a verstappen/leclerc level?

Probably not Verstappen's level. Verstappen would be at a much higer level than Leclerc though in my opinion. I would put Leclerc and Norris at in around the same level. A level where it's hard to know how good they really are as they don't have cars to compete for wins no matter how well they drive. Leclerc did have a good Ferrari underneath him in 2019 and was driving alongside Vettel on the slide which maybe skews peoples ratings of Leclerc.

Frank Bullitt

TheQ_Man

Spotted in Cork this evening

Hijpo

Frank Bullitt wrote: »

So merc dont like the "look" of a wing that has passed all official testing. Because of this everyone has to flex as little as the merc and if the FIA deem from video evidence that a wing flexes more then the merc you are in trouble with their zero tolerance approach?

MadYaker

Lando's is a three year contract at least id say.

BrentMused

Didn't know where to put this so hopefully it's okay here - a family member has a big birthday coming up next year and as a big F1 fan, I was thinking of treating them to a Grand Prix weekend (I'll get to go myself! ) depending on where we're at with restrictions etc.

I was just wondering if you could advise on what may be the best options in terms of European GP's?

Ideally I'd be looking at somewhere where I wouldn't need to hire a car to get out to the track, so a location close to a city where we could base ourselves for nights out and perhaps get public transport out and back without too much difficulty would be perfect.

Pen Rua

BrentMused wrote: »

Didn't know where to put this so hopefully it's okay here - a family member has a big birthday coming up next year and as a big F1 fan, I was thinking of treating them to a Grand Prix weekend (I'll get to go myself! ) depending on where we're at with restrictions etc.

I was just wondering if you could advise on what may be the best options in terms of European GP's?

Ideally I'd be looking at somewhere where I wouldn't need to hire a car to get out to the track, so a location close to a city where we could base ourselves for nights out and perhaps get public transport out and back without too much difficulty would be perfect.

Monaco? :pac:

El_Duderino 09

BrentMused wrote: »

Didn't know where to put this so hopefully it's okay here - a family member has a big birthday coming up next year and as a big F1 fan, I was thinking of treating them to a Grand Prix weekend (I'll get to go myself! ) depending on where we're at with restrictions etc.

I was just wondering if you could advise on what may be the best options in terms of European GP's?

Ideally I'd be looking at somewhere where I wouldn't need to hire a car to get out to the track, so a location close to a city where we could base ourselves for nights out and perhaps get public transport out and back without too much difficulty would be perfect.

Budapest is always a good one. There's public transport to the track and back, so you can stay in the city and enjoy the best of both worlds as it's a brilliant city break destination.

donspeekinglesh

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Budapest is always a good one. There's public transport to the track and back, so you can stay in the city and enjoy the best of both worlds as it's a brilliant city break destination.

I'll second this one. Very easy to get to from the city, and the city is very easy to get around.

Santan

BrentMused wrote: »

Didn't know where to put this so hopefully it's okay here - a family member has a big birthday coming up next year and as a big F1 fan, I was thinking of treating them to a Grand Prix weekend (I'll get to go myself! ) depending on where we're at with restrictions etc.

I was just wondering if you could advise on what may be the best options in terms of European GP's?

Ideally I'd be looking at somewhere where I wouldn't need to hire a car to get out to the track, so a location close to a city where we could base ourselves for nights out and perhaps get public transport out and back without too much difficulty would be perfect.

I had a great time at Barcelona, was a crap race on tv, but for us it was fantastic, the Spanish fans were so much fun. Stayed in Barcelona so nights out was great and for food also. The hotel was about 10 mins in taxi from the airport and we could get the metro from outside the hotel with one quick charge over to get to the track by train. You can then walk about 30 to 40 mins to the track but everyone is doing it so was a good atmosphere and you pass through a small town so can stop for beers and food if you want. There is quite a bit of things to do and see before the event, and that time there was great support races. The only negative I had was after the race on Sunday and the delay of getting back with queues to get on the train, but I guess you will get that at most events. On the Sunday night in Barcelona there was lots of excitement as some of the teams were out and every place we went we were convinced we would meet Vettel or Alonso and be doing shots with them and become best friends for life. All in all it was a great 4 nights will do again when I can.

Inquitus

I have been to Monaco, Estoril, Silverstone, Melbourne and Monaco.

I would recommend Monaco above all others due to how close you get to the cars and the general ambiance of the place on race weekend. Next Silverstone and Melbourne are a tie, both great events, Melbourne even had General Entry with some stadia you can get into, obviously not the best viewing points on the track but does keep the cost down if you happen to be in Oz! Estoril was ok, a lot of messing getting to and from the track, Silverstone I went to on a motorbike, would struggle to recommend driving!

PukkaStukka

Inquitus wrote: »

I have been to Monaco, Estoril, Silverstone, Melbourne and Monaco.

I would recommend Monaco above all others due to how close you get to the cars and the general ambiance of the place on race weekend. Next Silverstone and Melbourne are a tie, both great events, Melbourne even had General Entry with some stadia you can get into, obviously not the best viewing points on the track but does keep the cost down if you happen to be in Oz! Estoril was ok, a lot of messing getting to and from the track, Silverstone I went to on a motorbike, would struggle to recommend driving!

Of all the tracks I've been to Hochenheim beats all others for ease of access and egress. German efficiency at its finest!

flazio

PukkaStukka wrote: »

Of all the tracks I've been to Hochenheim beats all others for ease of access and egress. German efficiency at its finest!

Was that before or after they tore up the forest section?

PopePalpatine

Inquitus wrote: »

Silverstone I went to on a motorbike, would struggle to recommend driving!

Same here, I went there in 2013 and got mugged for parking. IIRC I paid £20 on Saturday for a spot in a small field about 1km from Luffield, and then £30 on Sunday for a spot in a much bigger field about 1km from Copse.