F1 2017

[fanny paddery]

One of the worst races I have seen for a long long time

[IainMorton]

1 hour ago, Mark Connolly said:

Vettel wins fairly comfortably.

Wonder who is going to get the blame for Hamilton making a c**t of it and being a whiny bitch today?

Can you point us in the direction of where Hamilton made a c**t of it, please?

[die hard doonhamer]

Very boring race. The cars look great, but the lack of overtaking is pish. Mercedes (after Hamilton was being a whiny bitch about his tyres) made the wrong strategy call.

I still expect that Hamilton will win the world title, he will qualify ahead of Vettel more often than not and there simply isn't that much scope for overtaking. 

A long boring season ahead.

[Mark Connolly]

16 minutes ago, IainMorton said:

Can you point us in the direction of where Hamilton made a c**t of it, please?

Perhaps overly harsh.

I would question how Hamilton had such issues with tyre degradation when Bottas didn't seem to have the same issues. The point was raised last year that Hamilton's problems were due to his style being harder on the car than Rosberg - perhaps that was the issue today?

[Leicesterlichtie]

2 hours ago, doulikefish said:

We got ourselves a championship finally

Early days but hopefully you are right. Need Mercedes, Ferrari & Red Bull to slug it out at the front all season long.

[fanny paddery]

Perhaps overly harsh.
I would question how Hamilton had such issues with tyre degradation when Bottas didn't seem to have the same issues. The point was raised last year that Hamilton's problems were due to his style being harder on the car than Rosberg - perhaps that was the issue today?

I don't think that you can say bottas didn't have the same issues. Surely if he didn't have tyre degradation he would have easily passed Hamilton, instead Hamilton managed he gap and actually pulled away again over the last 5 laps

[Mark Connolly]

18 minutes ago, fanny paddery said:

I don't think that you can say bottas didn't have the same issues. Surely if he didn't have tyre degradation he would have easily passed Hamilton, instead Hamilton managed he gap and actually pulled away again over the last 5 laps

Hamilton was complaining of tyre degradation before the stops though - after the stops, it seemed to be an unexplained "power issue".

[fanny paddery]

Hamilton was complaining of tyre degradation before the stops though - after the stops, it seemed to be an unexplained "power issue".

Yet he still comfortably held off bottas. I think people are reading too much in to today's race and I think Mercedes still have the upper had. Ferrari would have won last years Australian gp if not for the red flag, yet they still got absolutely pasted by Mercedes at some tracks.

[Mark Connolly]

Just now, fanny paddery said:

Yet he still comfortably held off bottas. I think people are reading too much in to today's race and I think Mercedes still have the upper had. Ferrari would have won last years Australian gp if not for the red flag, yet they still got absolutely pasted by Mercedes at some tracks.

I don't disagree that he held off Bottas. I just think it's strange that he had all these issues that only affected his battle with Vettel.

Agree Merc asre still ahead, but it's nice to see someone else at the top, even if it is only for one race.

[Mr. Brightside]

Bottas was clearly told not to pass Hamilton or even get close.

[doulikefish]

Only 6 overtakes last year,so as usual ill wait until Bahrain as thats when the season really kicks in
I just wonder if people/journos would be saying boring race if boy wonder romped away and won?

[Dindeleux]

Watched the race highlights on C4 and I'm not too worried by the lack of action.  Expected it to be like that and, as the season progresses, drivers will learn more about both their own cars and those around them and we'll get some good battles I'm sure.

Thought Hamilton's statement  "This year we have the best drivers at the front," was a bit of a stupid comment/dig at Nico that wasn't needed.  Shows that he still holds some bitterness.

Looking forward to a good, if not great, season.

[Stu]

In the qualifying show it looked, from the graphics, that Hamilton set his fastest Q2 time on used tyres rather than new ones, meaning that's what he had to start the race on. Could explain why he struggled so much early on and had to pit earlier. Was a bit weird he didn't try to set a faster time on better tyres to avoid that problem. Not sure if that's what Vettel did because he went out for a second Q2 run when he had no need to.

I didn't think it was that dull a race although that might just be because it wasn't a Mercedes winning - and for once it was on merit that someone else won, rather than because the Mercs hit problems.

[die hard doonhamer]

In the qualifying show it looked, from the graphics, that Hamilton set his fastest Q2 time on used tyres rather than new ones, meaning that's what he had to start the race on. Could explain why he struggled so much early on and had to pit earlier. Was a bit weird he didn't try to set a faster time on better tyres to avoid that problem. Not sure if that's what Vettel did because he went out for a second Q2 run when he had no need to.
I didn't think it was that dull a race although that might just be because it wasn't a Mercedes winning - and for once it was on merit that someone else won, rather than because the Mercs hit problems.

In Q2 Vettel was on course to go faster on his second run but backed off at the end so he didn't start the race on those tyres.

I had thought about bringing that up with Hamilton's tyres, but it wasn't mentioned at all during the race, which I thought was odd.

[jimmy boo]

In the qualifying show it looked, from the graphics, that Hamilton set his fastest Q2 time on used tyres rather than new ones, meaning that's what he had to start the race on. Could explain why he struggled so much early on and had to pit earlier. Was a bit weird he didn't try to set a faster time on better tyres to avoid that problem. Not sure if that's what Vettel did because he went out for a second Q2 run when he had no need to.
I didn't think it was that dull a race although that might just be because it wasn't a Mercedes winning - and for once it was on merit that someone else won, rather than because the Mercs hit problems.

I'm sure the commentators mentioned eventual it was a glitch on the tyres barcode and he was actually running a fresh set.

[Stu]

10 hours ago, die hard doonhamer said:

In Q2 Vettel was on course to go faster on his second run but backed off at the end so he didn't start the race on those tyres.

I had thought about bringing that up with Hamilton's tyres, but it wasn't mentioned at all during the race, which I thought was odd.

Forgot he backed off. Was all very odd him going out again for no reason.

9 hours ago, jimmy boo said:

I'm sure the commentators mentioned eventual it was a glitch on the tyres barcode and he was actually running a fresh set.

If it's a barcode error does he get them for free?

[vikingTON]

I thought it was quite a good race with a fascinating period around the pit stops. We'll see how difficult overtaking really is when they have 14 miles of straight to work with in China. Funny how Hamilton's claim that you can't really follow a car now within two seconds has been accepted at face value; while Vettel doing so throughout the first stint behind Hamilton has been ignored. The Mercedes car has always performed far worse when not able to run in clean air as well. 

A more significant issue is that the midfield pack is full of utter dross teams and ringer drivers. Struggling to identity much interest at all in a Haas-Toro Rosso-Force India shitfest, even though that's where the most action will probably occur in a race. Can't see any of the diddy teams even threatening a podium finish unless there is an absolutely chaotic event. 

 

 

 

[Leicesterlichtie]

McLaren to be sponsored by Cadbury.

[Spain]

Is it because they've got a "chocolate" engine?

[garybs]

Thats almost as bad as the one about them dropping Honda that was out out