Formula 1 2018: General Discussion Thread

kopite386 · 16-04-2018 09:43AM

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

If Leclerc moves anywhere other than to Ferrari, I'd have thought Haas is the mostly likely option.

I would think that too but I wasn't and still not sure on the contracts that the Haas drivers have

Harika · 16-04-2018 09:53AM

Ferrari won’t want another Number 1, so it is unlikely that Ricciardo will be hired as he was beating Vettel in their season together. Ferrari will want to look at a solid number 2 driver, something that Kimi is doing well so far. If he wants to continue he will be in the Ferrari. Else maybe Perez or Grosjean.
Mercedes is the most likely option for Ricciardo, but all jokes aside Bottas is delivering solid results and do they want to return to the Rosberg/Hamilton clashes?
RedBull might be stirred up when they swap to Honda, but yeah where will Ricciardo and Verstappen go if Mercedes and Ferrari won’t open a spot.
Renault seems to be happy with both their drivers and they are making steady progress.
McLaren might open, when Alonso decides it is time to start winning again.
Force India, has Ocon as jewel and Perez is also performing nicely.
Sauber has the Ferrari junior parked. Ericcson is backed by money and now also some points.
Williams have pay drivers but no results. With Martini leaving, they might grab their wallet even tighter. At the end it is a business decision.
Toro Rosso is developing their drivers and Honda, so all on track there.

muckwarrior · 16-04-2018 10:06AM

Harika wrote: »

atm he [Leclerc] doesn't really put himself forward with his performance.

Maybe Ericsson isn't as bad as people think? Wehrlein was touted as the next big thing at one stage and Ericsson was more or less a match for him.

Joeface · 16-04-2018 10:47AM

muckwarrior wrote: »

Maybe Ericsson isn't as bad as people think? Wehrlein was touted as the next big thing at one stage and Ericsson was more or less a match for him.

Ericsson has said he is the heaviest driver on the grid , 10kg more than everyone last year ,over the winter training he lost 5kg . he says he can feel the difference in the car .

He did drive really well in Bahrain . still feels strange typing that .
If the car is not settled by the 5th race as in what setups they should be using on different tracks , maybe that seat will open up next year . who knows he could have the season of his life.

Frank Bullitt · 16-04-2018 11:32AM

After just three races, Fernando Alonso has already surpassed his points total for the entire 2017 season.

H3llR4iser · 16-04-2018 11:55AM

As far as "silly season" goes, it has to be said - except for the major cockup in Melbourne, Bottas is doing what he can this year; Afterall, he beat Hamilton both in Bahrain and China. Sure enough, there was the penalty (but Valterri was still faster in qualifying) and Hamilton seems to be on one of those "working holidays" mode he enters every now and then...yet I can't see the Finn getting shown the door at AMG if he keeps going as he is.

Frank Bullitt · 16-04-2018 12:35PM

H3llR4iser wrote: »

As far as "silly season" goes, it has to be said - except for the major cockup in Melbourne, Bottas is doing what he can this year; Afterall, he beat Hamilton both in Bahrain and China. Sure enough, there was the penalty (but Valterri was still faster in qualifying) and Hamilton seems to be on one of those "working holidays" mode he enters every now and then...yet I can't see the Finn getting shown the door at AMG if he keeps going as he is.

Probably doesn't do him any harm having Toto as his manager either.

Jordan 199 · 16-04-2018 02:52PM

Harika wrote: »

Ferrari won’t want another Number 1, so it is unlikely that Ricciardo will be hired as he was beating Vettel in their season together. Ferrari will want to look at a solid number 2 driver, something that Kimi is doing well so far. If he wants to continue he will be in the Ferrari. Else maybe Perez or Grosjean.

I can't see Perez driving for a top team again.

AMKC · 16-04-2018 04:49PM

OSI wrote: »

I don't think Vandoorne will be around for long, he's very underwhelming for a driver that should now the team and car inside out. I also wonder will Alonso stick around for much longer, he's 37 this year so realistically his prospects of running at the front again are gone.

I have to disagree. He done a good job last year in that terrible Mclaren-Honda and got into Q2 a few times even matching or beating Alonso,s times sometimes. I think he even got into Q3 a couple of times. He is a very good driver with a lot of potential it's just a matter of getting the car set right and everything in the race right. He has been the teammate to probably the best driver on the grid and has not done to bad. He finished 7th twice last year which was probably the best that car was capable of.
He has been a bit off it so far this year do. He needs to do better seems to be getting worse but hopefully he can get back into the midfield fight.
As for Alonso. I think if Mclaren improve this year he will stay next year if they go backwards he might leave.

eviltimeban · 16-04-2018 04:58PM

Alonso expects to be on the podium this year, but that'll only happen if McLaren make a huge gain or if others crash out.

chicorytip · 16-04-2018 05:05PM

kopite386 wrote:

Ricciardo -> Ferrari Sainz -> Red Bull Leclerc -> possibly on loan to Renault (depending on he performs during the season) Ocon -> Mercedes. He's already performing better in the force India than Williams and depending on what Bottas does this year I wouldn't be surprised if his contract isnt renewed.

Hamilton and Alonso may also be moving. The former to early retirement and the latter to Indycar. Neither will be happy should their current level of competitiveness not improve. A move to Ferrari - which would likely be very appealing to both - is an unlikely prospect.

chicorytip · 16-04-2018 05:13PM

His persona is boring and robotic with no real profile or presence. I'm sure most fans don't even know what he looks like.

skipper_G · 16-04-2018 06:25PM

Harika wrote: »

atm he doesn't really put himself forward with his performance. But Ferrari is loyal so he will be in the Sauber at least next year.

Leclerc has done okay so far, in a way it will benefit him more in the long term to just show steady progress. He's 3 races into his F1 career, in 3 qualy sessions so far he has been beaten by a tenth, beaten by 4 tenths and beat his teammate by 5 tenths. No matter what people think of Ericsson he still has plenty of experience so it's impressive for a rookie to get so close to him. Of course race performance is what counts, and in that regard Leclerc has more to learn at this level, but he pushed the team to make a strategy call in Bahrain which ultimately didn't pay off, but the positive to take is that he had the confidence to make the call in the first place, many young guys might not have.

All that aside, no chance he ends up in a Ferrari for 2019

Jeff2 · 16-04-2018 09:30PM

chicorytip wrote: »

His persona is boring and robotic with no real profile or presence. I'm sure most fans don't even know what he looks like.

Who.?

chicorytip · 16-04-2018 10:12PM

Jeff2 wrote:

Who.?

AMKC wrote:

I have to disagree. He done a good job last year in that terrible Mclaren-Honda and got into Q2 a few times even matching or beating Alonso,s times sometimes. I think he even got into Q3 a couple of times. He is a very good driver with a lot of potential it's just a matter of getting the car set right and everything in the race right. He has been the teammate to probably the best driver on the grid and has not done to bad. He finished 7th twice last year which was probably the best that car was capable of. He has been a bit off it so far this year do. He needs to do better seems to be getting worse but hopefully he can get back into the midfield fight. As for Alonso. I think if Mclaren improve this year he will stay next year if they go backwards he might leave.

Vandoorne, I was referring to.

AMKC · 16-04-2018 11:24PM

chicorytip wrote: »

Hamilton and Alonso may also be moving. The former to early retirement and the latter to Indycar. Neither will be happy should their current level of competitiveness not improve. A move to Ferrari - which would likely be very appealing to both - is an unlikely prospect.

I think Ferrari would be very happy to have Hamilton as one of there drivers but Vettel might not be. As for Alonso well he had his chance and his turn there.

Adamocovic · 17-04-2018 09:28AM

Sorry if covered already but how have Williams fallen so far back?

Crazy to think they're the only team left yet to score a single point.

ayux4rj6zql2ph · 17-04-2018 09:44AM

This post has been deleted.

muckwarrior · 17-04-2018 09:45AM

Adamocovic wrote: »

Sorry if covered already but how have Williams fallen so far back?

New car concept that the supposedly don't fully understand yet
Missing an experienced driver capable of setting up a car properly
Drivers are slow

muckwarrior · 17-04-2018 09:48AM

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Had to laugh at the first line of that article

F1 driver Jolyon Palmer, who left Renault at the end of 2017

Should read

Former F1 driver Jolyon Palmer, who was dumped by Renault at the end of 2017

Adamocovic · 17-04-2018 09:53AM

Prisoner 6753 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

His whole argument seems to revolve around Hamiltons radio messages. Maybe I'm wrong here but has Hamilton not always been like this on the radio?

mickdw · 17-04-2018 10:02AM

To be fair Hamilton needs calling out on his behaviour. As soon as something goes wrong, he is on the radio basically blaming the team. It wouldn't surprise me if he insists that people leave his team after some of these races.
He sounds like an absolute child at times. Of course sky don't make reference to this at all.

meeeeh · 17-04-2018 10:04AM

I don't know, this year Hamilton reminds me a bit of Hamilton two seasons ago. I know Rosberg then and Vettel this season got a few gifts from Mercedes team but Hamilton doesn't seem as sharp as last year. That qualifying lap in Australia was brilliant but he had few other great moments.

ayux4rj6zql2ph · 17-04-2018 10:05AM

This post has been deleted.

flazio · 17-04-2018 10:19AM

I wouldn't blame Palmer for a warped perspective too much to be honest, remember Andrew Benson is his boss.

meeeeh · 17-04-2018 10:34AM

Hamilton is British so there will be some bias on SKY after all they are British but I don't think Brundle is too bad. Croft however is awful. I'm already dreading Baku, he will be almost hysterical.

Charlie-Bravo · 17-04-2018 11:25AM

I'd respect any commentator who stands up and says they are pro anybody. At least that way we accept they'll be like that rather than them pretending to be unbiased!

AMKC · 17-04-2018 12:19PM

meeeeh wrote: »

Hamilton is British so there will be some bias on SKY after all they are British but I don't think Brundle is too bad. Croft however is awful. I'm already dreading Baku, he will be almost hysterical.

Then don't watch Sky. Watch Channel 4 instead and you will not have to here him. I would love to say we should all boycott Sky and only watch the races on C4 but that would mean not watching some races live which some might here want to live. Although sometimes watching the highlights can be better especially when its a dull boring race.

flazio · 17-04-2018 01:31PM

AMKC wrote: »

Then don't watch Sky. Watch Channel 4 instead and you will not have to here him. I would love to say we should all boycott Sky and only watch the races on C4 but that would mean not watching some races live which some might here want to live. Although sometimes watching the highlights can be better especially when its a dull boring race.

Unless you have access to Eir Sport, in which all races are live with Channel 4 commentary, just no punditry either side of the sessions.

meeeeh · 17-04-2018 02:01PM

AMKC wrote: »

Then don't watch Sky. Watch Channel 4 instead and you will not have to here him. I would love to say we should all boycott Sky and only watch the races on C4 but that would mean not watching some races live which some might here want to live. Although sometimes watching the highlights can be better especially when its a dull boring race.

I like Sky, I just don't overly like Croft. Why would I watch C4.

Formula 1 2018: General Discussion Thread

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