2012 was a very interesting year and could probably have gone to any one of the top drivers. Alonso narrowly missed out, but Hamilton's luck that year was horrendous. Well, that and McLaren were seemingly incapable of putting a car together. One of my lasting memories of that season is Hamilton walking away from his car in Singapore after the gearbox had broke while he was comfortably leading. It was also the last season McLaren had a race winning car.
2013 could have been close. Red Bull had an advantage, but it wasn't massive - right up until Pirelli changed the tyres after the silverstone fiasco. After that Vettel won all but one of the races.
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
I dunno. Seems like everyone is picking up the slack now that Maldanado isn't racing anymore. Basically every race this season has had some boneheaded first lap shenanigans.
So, I hope people don't mind, but I'm going to ask a lot of these. TL:DR on Maldanado? He cause a lot of accidents?
You could say that.
His full name is Pastor Maldonado. He is commonly referred to as Crashtor.
Out of the 95 Formula 1 races he participated in he crashed out 15 times. Not to mention the numerous times he crashed in Practice or Quali and the times he crashed in races but didn't retire.
It wasn't just that he crashed, but that the majority of them were his own fault and really were pre-F1 rookie level stuff. He was kept around for ages because he brought loads of money to teams that needed it.
No qualifying talk from me yet - watching C4's highlights show now - but the "halo" head protection system has been agreed for 2017. It was easier to work it into the aerodynamic design of the cars in the time the team's have left. The "aeroscreen" that Red Bull proposed - definitely my preference of the two - is still going to be worked on with a view to potential introduction in 2018.
Thoughts: Impressive laps from Ricciardo and Hülkenberg. Ferrari don't look quite as terrible as I expected after FP1/2, but there is a pretty clear gap between them and the Mercs and RBs. Should be a pretty easy win for Ricciardo tomorrow unless RB royally screw up his strategy.
I don't expect RB to be able to keep up these kinds of performances at most other tracks, the Renault engine will probably keep them from competing with the Mercs almost everywhere else. They'll probably beat Ferrari over the rest of the season, though.
In non-F1 news the 24h at the Nürburgring is going on right now, with a little over 19 hours left. There was an early red flag that lasted for about 3 hours earlier as a result of strong rain and hail that left parts of the track looking like they were covered with snow. Now other parts of the track are in thick fog. Just over 140 cars still running (out of 155), but that number will probably go down quite a bit during the night.
Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
Quick question:
If they have to start the race with the tires of their best time in Q2, and they were on softs, but it's raining tomorrow, do they still have to start on softs? That sounds dangerous.
If they have to start the race with the tires of their best time in Q2, and they were on softs, but it's raining tomorrow, do they still have to start on softs? That sounds dangerous.
All tire rules go out the window if it's declared a wet race. No more requirement to start on q2 tires. No requirement to run two different compounds.
edit: And yes it's basically because of safety. In wet conditions there's often only one tire it's really safe to be on so they can't force the use of anything else.
So Alexander Rossi leaves F1 and wins the 100th Indy 500 on his first try by going 2 laps further on fuel than anyone else thought was possible. What a way to finish that race.
Indy could teach a thing or two about close racing and high aerogrip to F1. I will concede that Indy Cars are not true open wheel race cars anymore, but if they are hell bent on upping the aerogrip that's probably where it goes.
Gutted for danny. Still good points though in the long run. At least it only cost him 1 position unlike Spa last year when all the the electronics shut off and cost him possibly a second place finish.
Danny was robbed. By his own team. I get what happened in Spain, covering the opposition's strategy, but this was rank incompetence. Shocking.
Not to take anything away from Lewis' drive, though. That was a triple champion's drive. When Danny was hounding him, before he dropped off at the end (tyres probably shot), I was thinking Senna and Mansell in '92. Epic battle.
Just finished the DVR, and wow, that pit stop. I mean, I don't even know what to think. I hate to say robbed, because it was his team, but the driver has to be ferrous.
And from the stream I watched, they were talking about how they were setting up for all possibilities in the pit, but they weren't ready.
Amateur hour in the Red Bull box? Man, what a missed opportunity to have Danny at the top again.
As far as Monaco goes, this was a very interesting race. Sauber's "fun" little incident, Kimi surfing on his wing...
Also: what a bad time the Ferrari teams are having lately. Of all the guys ready to take the fight to Merc, I thought it was going to be them to make them sweat, but it seems they can't even quite beat Red Bull all of a sudden.
EDIT: Hadn't seen this talked about here, but it seems next year's tires were unveiled at Monaco. Wider and with a slightly bigger diameter, it seems they would be the perfect way to start bringing aero down. Except it seems they're going to up aero too... errrr.
Safety car is back, VSC is being introduced. Career mode returns in a ten-season format. There's a points-based car upgrade system, track acclimatisation tests, customisable avatars and "hospitality areas that act as your game hub and allow you to progress both on and off the track", which makes me wonder if they're going to re-try the "live the life" idea they did in 2010-11.
Of course, it looks very pretty:
Release date TBA, but probably summer. Coming to PC, Xbox One and PS4.
Let's hope it turns out better than the last couple of years' editions.
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2013 could have been close. Red Bull had an advantage, but it wasn't massive - right up until Pirelli changed the tyres after the silverstone fiasco. After that Vettel won all but one of the races.
You said it right there!!!!
So glad he isn't in F1 anymore.
You could say that.
His full name is Pastor Maldonado. He is commonly referred to as Crashtor.
Out of the 95 Formula 1 races he participated in he crashed out 15 times. Not to mention the numerous times he crashed in Practice or Quali and the times he crashed in races but didn't retire.
It wasn't just that he crashed, but that the majority of them were his own fault and really were pre-F1 rookie level stuff. He was kept around for ages because he brought loads of money to teams that needed it.
Goddamn
http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/36404898
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Thoughts: Impressive laps from Ricciardo and Hülkenberg. Ferrari don't look quite as terrible as I expected after FP1/2, but there is a pretty clear gap between them and the Mercs and RBs. Should be a pretty easy win for Ricciardo tomorrow unless RB royally screw up his strategy.
I don't expect RB to be able to keep up these kinds of performances at most other tracks, the Renault engine will probably keep them from competing with the Mercs almost everywhere else. They'll probably beat Ferrari over the rest of the season, though.
In non-F1 news the 24h at the Nürburgring is going on right now, with a little over 19 hours left. There was an early red flag that lasted for about 3 hours earlier as a result of strong rain and hail that left parts of the track looking like they were covered with snow. Now other parts of the track are in thick fog. Just over 140 cars still running (out of 155), but that number will probably go down quite a bit during the night.
Live stream of the greatest motorsports event of the year here:
If they have to start the race with the tires of their best time in Q2, and they were on softs, but it's raining tomorrow, do they still have to start on softs? That sounds dangerous.
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All tire rules go out the window if it's declared a wet race. No more requirement to start on q2 tires. No requirement to run two different compounds.
edit: And yes it's basically because of safety. In wet conditions there's often only one tire it's really safe to be on so they can't force the use of anything else.
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edit: Times 2
edit number 2: Times 3
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If you haven't seen it yet, go watch it. Now.
Not to take anything away from Lewis' drive, though. That was a triple champion's drive. When Danny was hounding him, before he dropped off at the end (tyres probably shot), I was thinking Senna and Mansell in '92. Epic battle.
Good day for Force India, too. They deserved it.
Six for six in great races this year.
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And from the stream I watched, they were talking about how they were setting up for all possibilities in the pit, but they weren't ready.
Amateur hour in the Red Bull box? Man, what a missed opportunity to have Danny at the top again.
As far as Monaco goes, this was a very interesting race. Sauber's "fun" little incident, Kimi surfing on his wing...
Also: what a bad time the Ferrari teams are having lately. Of all the guys ready to take the fight to Merc, I thought it was going to be them to make them sweat, but it seems they can't even quite beat Red Bull all of a sudden.
EDIT: Hadn't seen this talked about here, but it seems next year's tires were unveiled at Monaco. Wider and with a slightly bigger diameter, it seems they would be the perfect way to start bringing aero down. Except it seems they're going to up aero too... errrr.
Safety car is back, VSC is being introduced. Career mode returns in a ten-season format. There's a points-based car upgrade system, track acclimatisation tests, customisable avatars and "hospitality areas that act as your game hub and allow you to progress both on and off the track", which makes me wonder if they're going to re-try the "live the life" idea they did in 2010-11.
Of course, it looks very pretty:
Release date TBA, but probably summer. Coming to PC, Xbox One and PS4.
Let's hope it turns out better than the last couple of years' editions.
Steam | XBL
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)