Formula 1

[TheWarrior]

ESPN’s Sky F1 broadcast was pretty good. It will freeze from time to time but it is great being able to ride on board and hear the team communication through the race. It would be awesome if they would let you spilt screen, ride with the driver of your choice and see the main FOM feed and toggle back and forth for audio.

All in all, it is convenient, affordable, and it is on demand.

That sounds awesome! I was really impressed seeing the ability to choose cameras etc.

Now it just needs to be available on AppleTV....

 

[avliner]

Hey guys,

it seems to me that Vettel's worst enemy is the rain and not Hamilton/Mercedes package though...

Great race in Spa and I believe that we gonna have pretty much the same results next week, over at Monza race track!

 

[Johnny2Bad]

In post-race interviews Hamilton seemed worried that the new Ferrari motor has much more power than Mercedes expected to see at the half-season powerplant improvement stage from their main competitor. Obviously the Merc motor has increased power as well, as was obvious from Bottas's run through the field at Spa.

Mercedes seems to have at least partly solved their aero issues in dirty air where the cars are noticeably hampered when forced to follow. It hasn't cost them much this season as at least Hamilton is typically out in front in clean air, which the car seems to love.

It's a nice track with the elevation changes, one race screen on the UK Sky Sports feed showed Force India, Mercedes poweplant seeing 350 kmH (almost 220 MPH) on downhill straights.

Note: full bore Ferrari fan here, win or lose, since I fell in love with the 55/56 Chevy (my dad bought a brand new 55 and drove it until I was about 14) which is a style copy of the post-war Ferrari front end (the '53 Corvette even more so). Just to lay it out plain and clear to everyone.

 

[annunaki]

Hamilton's comments indicate that he is worried going into the rest of the season. The engines on offer at Spa were the Spec 3 power units. Unless there is another failure no other upgrades to the engine are coming. Question is, would Mercedes be willing to take the grid place drop to try an gain performance back through the balance of the season at an upcoming race.

If Kimi can keep a clean race at Monza and he an Seb can nab a 1-2 I think they (Ferrari) start to take that option off the table. In any case it is going to be close for the rest of the year.

 

[Bookmark]

In a move similar to Ricciardo, Kimi heads off to Sauber at the end of the year and Seb gets a new partner with Charles Leclerc. It't apparently a two year option for Kimi and being the oldest on the grid probably reduces the pressure to excel at every moment of a weekend, but still provides a valuable boost to Sauber's prospects.

I don't understand the Ricciardo move unless it's just about the money. He was already in easily the 3rd best team on the grid and if they can sort out the Honda problems, would likely be back at the top fighting for every win.

Unfortunately for us here in the UK, Channel 4 have announced we are now reduced to one live race a year. They of course picked Silverstone, a tedious track. Monaco, Spa, Brasil, Monza, Japan or even Abu Dhabi would all have been better options.

I have watched and followed F1 for over 30 years and this latest move in the UK is appalling and probably means the end for me. Sky is just too expensive and fails the UK F1 fans in every way. I would love the FIA streaming option as an alternative, but the Sky deal prevents this.

Please Seb close this out with a 5th championship

 

[TheWarrior]

This season may go down to the last couple races!

SkyTV has been OK here, namely thanks to lack of commercial interruption, and more well informed ( and well spoken) commentators walking the pits.

I am still very excited about gaining access thru AppleTV. You get to CHOOSE which onboard camera to watch! Hopefully that will be up and running for 2019!

 

[Speedskater]

In the US this season, the 'SkyTV' F1 programs have been shown on the ABC/ESPN network. Although they do skip some of the post race show, it's strange to watch a race without almost continuous commercial interruptions.

 

[3db]

Looks like Mercedes Benz is the car to beat again. I watched the Barain race and LeClerc's Ferarri battery charging capability broke costing him a win down to 3rd place.

 

[Sef_Makaro]

Looks like Mercedes Benz is the car to beat again. I watched the Barain race and LeClerc's Ferarri battery charging capability broke costing him a win down to 3rd place.

I’d still bet on Ferrari on power tracks. Leclercs power issue came from a failed cylinder in the ICE. Vettel got in his own head again while fighting Hamilton. The car itself still seems like the best on track. I’m hoping they’ll make better decisions this year now that they have an experienced engineer at team principle instead of a marketing guy.

 

[majorloser]

This season has promise for better racing action. Let's see if they can live up to the hype for more passing and closer competition between teams.

 

[Sef_Makaro]

This season has promise for better racing action. Let's see if they can live up to the hype for more passing and closer competition between teams.

I sure hope so. I’m really not a Lewis Hamilton fan so the last few years have been pretty hard to watch. I’d much rather see some real competition and have the championship be decided on the last race.

 

[TheWarrior]

I sure hope so. I’m really not a Lewis Hamilton fan so the last few years have been pretty hard to watch. I’d much rather see some real competition and have the championship be decided on the last race.

Which I do think this Fastest Lap single point could really impact the end of the season, on top of the way it brings a little extra excitement to each race!

 

[3db]

I sure hope so. I’m really not a Lewis Hamilton fan so the last few years have been pretty hard to watch. I’d much rather see some real competition and have the championship be decided on the last race.

I'm not a fan of Hamilton either but he is far more disciplined in his driving than Vettle. If Vettle can only discipline himself, he would win far more points than what he's doing. And this guy Leclerc!! Where did he come from?

 

[Sef_Makaro]

I'm not a fan of Hamilton either but he is far more disciplined in his driving than Vettle. If Vettle can only discipline himself, he would win far more points than what he's doing. And this guy Leclerc!! Where did he come from?

I can’t disagree with that. Hamilton is a great driver, his record speaks for itself. I’m just not a fan lol. Vettel is a really good driver too. He wouldn’t have one 4 championships with Red Bull if he wasn’t. But he seems somewhat thin skinned on track.

Right? Leclerc did amazing with the Sauber/Alfa last year and enjoyed seeing that team improving. So when he heard he was going to Ferrari is was really excited to see what he could do, so far he’s living up to the hype. George Russell seems to have a lot of potential too. They put him in the current Mercedes for the tire test and went almost 3s faster on the same track than what he did in his Williams car.

I’m hoping Ricciardo will find whatever he needs to do well with Renault. If I had to pick a favorite it’d be him.

 

[TheWarrior]

Glad to see Leclerc doing so well, we really need some new blood in this sport! Verstappen seems to have really cleaned up his act and will likely take many podiums this year.

I think Ricciardo made a huge mistake going with factory Renault. They just have not figured out the hybrid spec as well as the others, or as quickly as Honda who seems to be. Perhaps his rivalry with Verstappen was a bit more heated than they ever let on....

 

[TheWarrior]

Oh and Mick Schumacher looks to have done very well in testing too!

 

[3db]

Oh and Mick Schumacher looks to have done very well in testing too!

It will be interesting to find out if Mick will follow in his father's shoes as far as winning races. So far, no one has come close to achieving what Michael achieved in his formula 1 career;

1. Most world championships, 7 of them
2. Most Grand Prix wins, 91 wins
3. Most fastest laps, 77 of them
4. Most races won in a single season, 13

 

[Sef_Makaro]

Oh and Mick Schumacher looks to have done very well in testing too!

He did fairly well. The lap times are a little skewed though, everyone else that put similar times ran C3 tires while Mick was on C5. That’s worth at least 1s/lap. Still not half bad for his first time in a F1 car.

 

[TheWarrior]

Will he take on his father's no compromise, win at any cost mentality? It would be nice to have someone like that again - the Iceman is similar but is not as good at the winning portion.

Though, he also didn't purposefully park his car to end Qualifying early...

 

[avliner]

Pretty nice race today in Germany!

What impresses me the most is the fact that Red Bull has won 2 races with their new engine-partner Honda, which means the Japs are back, same as in Indy Series.

On the other hand, it was a pitty that Mercedes couldn't do anything in their own yard, as they're celebrating 125 years in race tracks, though.