Formula 1 2018: General Discussion Thread

skipper_G wrote: »

On the positive side the companies cash balance increased more than 400% from the year before. Not bad for a company with only 3 employees

The markets love companies generating those kind of increases in cash!

Harika wrote: »

https://twitter.com/andrewbensonf1/status/1004326552417562625

Hartley seems to be on the chopping board and it is just a matter of time until he is booted. Wondering how he will do in Canada.

Was just reading it on twitter, glad Mclaren said no. I'm a fan of Norris but he's not ready for F1, best thing for his development right now is staying exactly where he is.

Edit: I didn't forget about Hartley by the way, just I think his goose is well and truly cooked. Red Bull don't have a junior ready for F1 themselves, if they did would be Bye Bye Brendon

skipper_G wrote: »

Was just reading it on twitter, glad Mclaren said no. I'm a fan of Norris but he's not ready for F1, best thing for his development right now is staying exactly where he is.

Edit: I didn't forget about Hartley by the way, just I think his goose is well and truly cooked. Red Bull don't have a junior ready for F1 themselves, if they did would be Bye Bye Brendon

Isn’t it incredible that they got rid of Buemi, Vergne and Algeursuari over a few years and now they’re stuck with Hartley.

Getting rid of those guys made room for verstappen and dan ric though

Couldn't they call back Sainz and let Renault worry about getting a new driver?

mickdw wrote: »

Dr marko being too smart. Those 3 should have had long careers in f1.
I get the impression Hartley himself doesn't quite know how he sat into an f1 race seat.

He was out of a LMP seat and called Marko to say Hi and if he wants to drop over for a BBQ and he offered him a F1. :cool:
If he would like to bite the bullet he might want to call Buemi or Vergne for the cockpit.

carloscorreia wrote: »

Mercedes delay new engine over 'quality issues'

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/44392859

I keep hearing from red bull that the Renault upgrade is worth a tenth of a second. A tenth isn’t to be sneezed at, but it’s not what you’d expect after so many races.

What are the chances that RB is downplaying the upgrade so they can claim any improvement in performance for themselves?

Harika wrote: »

Possible as the relationship with Renault is at breaking point and Renault wants to get rid of them.

The other rumblings from the paddock are that Renault want to get their relationship with McLaren up the ladder more, as Renault can benefit from a team that actually makes road cars etc

Gintonious wrote: »

The other rumblings from the paddock are that Renault want to get their relationship with McLaren up the ladder more, as Renault can benefit from a team that actually makes road cars etc

What puzzles me, that at the time of one engine, one race in the 2000s they made 30 to 35 engines a year and now Renault struggles with 24 if we have one spare?

Harika wrote: »

What puzzles me, that at the time of one engine, one race in the 2000s they made 30 to 35 engines a year and now Renault struggles with 24 if we have one spare?

The engines though are made up of more now, turbos, MGU-K etc etc, and they all need to do massive milage on top of that.

The time is would take to make 5 engines back in the 2000's would be used to just make one now because of the requirements of them.

skipper_G wrote: »

Was watching the missed apex podcast series they did with Matthew Carter who was team manager at Lotus (now Renault). Well worth listening to for plenty of reasons, but one was his comments about Renault engines. *In the aftermath of multiple championship wins with Red Bull, they took the foot off the gas and reduced their workforce while Mercedes for example was massively expanding in preparation for the hybrid engines.

*I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember which episode it was in.

I think this was mostly in the aero department, as they had no team anymore no development was needed there. Mercedes always had a powerful but thirsty engine, what helped Renault in the pre MGUK area.

New "pearl" from Max - "One more crash question and I might headbutt someone"

http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/story/_/id/23723550/max-verstappen-one-more-crash-question-headbutt

How incredibly stereotypical. I'm starting to think this isn't just another young lad believing himself to be God's gift to mankind, this fella might actually be as stupid as he comes across.

g1983d wrote: »

Guess his father taught him a thing or 2

Precisely...

Gintonious wrote: »

He is well on track to be another "what could have been" so.

I said it from day one.
He has zero respect for anyone else on the track,
I am seriously hoping this crash sequence will continue and he gets a Danny Kvyat as a result.
He is an absolute danger to be on track with.
Bring back Maldo :pac::pac:

vectra wrote: »

I said it from day one.
He has zero respect for anyone else on the track,
I am seriously hoping this crash sequence will continue and he gets a Danny Kvyat as a result.
He is an absolute danger to be on track with.
Bring back Maldo :pac::pac:

The catch for RB is that he is hugely marketable for them, there is even talk of a Dutch GP now as well.

He is also only 20, so would be a tad unfair if he were to get the bullet for good at this stage.

Saying that though, he has hit someone or something at every GP so far this year, so RBs patience for him has to be wafer thin right now. If he has a clear GP this weekend and gets some points, he might be able to redeem himself. Its mad to think as well that without the mistakes he has made so far this year, he would be probably 2nd or 3rd in the standings easily. Right now he is 3 points ahead of Alonso (tells you how good Alonso is, and how bad Max is right now).

i just looks like something for jousting