Formula 1 2018: General Discussion Thread

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

The Lotus guy I was listening to said that Renault actually downsized it's engine department during the period of red bull dominance. During the same period, Mercedes was enlarging it's department to develop the hybrid. So by the time it came to develop the new 2014 hybrid engines Renault had a relatively small team. He said ' I don't mean to imply the French were arrogant but they just presumed that since they had build a good engine in 2010-2013 , they would just build a fast hybrid engine too'.

They turned up to the first test with an engine that had completely underestimated the loads involved. The KERS shaft twisted and broke as soon as it was engaged. The boar hole was set so it needed a substantial redesign to put in a bigger KERS shaft.

Sorry for banging on about that interview but it was one of the most insightful pieces I've heard in the off season.

Don't be, it's far more interesting than the endless Kubica argument or the unsupported speculation that is rife before the season starts.

Makes sense about Renault, how much was down to arrogance or losing focus/interest after they sold up the team is a question. Red Bull's attacks on them was taken as disloyalty after 4 championships but they really were caught napping with the hybrid engines.

McLaren Honda's clown car antics was a bit of a blessing for Renault as they weren't the worst on the grid after 2014 but the time is up for them now. They are already making noise about Red Bull having to choose ASAP if they want to keep Renault engines for 2019 and it looks pretty ominous on the reliability front in comparison to Merc. Renault were already talking about "planning for 4 engines as an option" translation 3 won't make it so the teams may as well pick which race(s) to sacrifice to grid penalty hell before the season starts.

The TR-Honda deal is really starting to look like a great hedge for RB, they were never going to get a Merc or Ferrari engine so stuck with Renault for the forseeable before that opportunity came their way and the Honda already looks like it may finally be on the right track to becoming a realistic proposition for 2019.

I know that RB are keen to offload TR but having a second string team has been a big advantage in driver and now engine procurement, I am surprised that none of the other big teams didn't consider getting a second outfit. For the relatively small amount it would have cost them to acquire Manor they would have had a second team to temporarily shunt the Honda to as well as ownership of a team with a Mercedes engine contract.

mickdw wrote: »

Renault are building so if anyone thinks they will not be a big player in three years, I'd imagine e it is a mistake.
The idea of planning to use another engine or even 2 is sensible for all teams imo. There is much talk of this winters engine development being all about retaining similar bhp while making the engine last longer. Surely it was a valid strategy to push on with power increases and be happy to take an extra engine or 2. Certainly for any team who might be happy with occasional podium, that would certainly be wise.

Mercedes engine division are clearly aiming to do the season within the 3 engine limit and their testing performance shows they already have the reliability. I doubt that all Merc powered cars will do it, too many variables can cause an engine to be killed, but many will. The customer teams will want to do it for cost reasons and Merc themselves will not want to have to start any race down the grid if there is a close championship battle with Ferrari or Red Bull.

It is fine for Renault and McLaren to look at sacrificing a few races to replacement engines but Red Bull aren't going to be satisfied with podiums and a sneaky race win or two, they want the championship and having the added handicap of needing to throw away races before they are even started is not going to be accepted by them without a hailstorm of public Renault-bashing.

It is all very well stating that Renault will get their act together in the next few years but these engine regs are in their 5th year and nobody has come close to matching Merc in power and reliability, Ferrari closed the performance gap but have not matched the reliability and as much gains they make Merc match with gains of their own. The gap has closed from the huge advantage they has in 2014 but the clampdown on oil burning seems to have hit Ferrari more than Merc and they are just too technically advanced and well financed to let their engine advantage slip away.

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I do miss the cars being unreliable to be honest. At least it bought some unpredictability to the sport.

^Thank the gods for Indycar.

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

You're right though Indycar is #1 in the U.S.Has anyone watched the Driven?the 2001 film Stallone made?[/quote]
I saw bits of it and I remember it being bad.

Interesting point that Stalone wanted to make the movie about F1 and had started preparations but Bernie and the old gang didnt see the point of making s movie to promote F1 in the US because he's a dinosaur. They wouldn't eat immise ay of the image rights etc. So Stalone used the money to make and advertise indy instead.

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

It's one of the worst movies ever made. A surprisingly good Indy movie is Turbo - great attention to detail.

I was about to post how the fact the practice sessions are now on my programme guide ready to be recorded has me excited, but after watching that video, I'm worried now.

I'll play. Is there a Boardsie group yet?

AMKC wrote: »

Fecking raging. I know Channel 4 only get 10 races live but with the introduction of the Halo this year, Mclaren using Renault engines now and Toro Rosso now using Honda engines and it looking like its going to be a really exciting year you would think they would have got the first race of the season but no only fecking highlights. Feck you Sky.

Eir Sport have live access to all of Channel 4s session coverage, but only the session coverage, no build up or reviews. Just straight in with 5 minutes to go to formation lap, off air after the podium. Sadly this is also getting canned at the end of the season.
Still though, worth it to not have to endure David Croft.

AMKC wrote: »

Anyway I can just pay for Eir Sport? I don't really care if there is no build up or not. Half the time I only half watch the build up anyways.

Do you know anyone who is an Eir Mobile customer - https://www.eir.ie/sport/