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[Formula One & motorsport] Round 16, Russia: In Soviet Russia, V12 drives you!
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As for the race itself, well, what can be said? Hamilton basically dominated this race with a literally perfect weekend. He was fastest in all practice sessions, all qualifying sessions, led every lap in the race and nailed fastest lap while he was at it. The championship is looking close to wrapped up. That said, I'll give Rosberg a pass for this race. Old engine and having to avoid Kimi at the start pretty much screwed him over.
Was pretty gutted to see Kimi stall off the line. Would be nice to see him get just one problem free race.
Williams managed to get passed at the pit stops again. Seems to be a familiar story for them.
Some stuff developing outside of the race:
Red Bull have terminated their agreement with Renault, so will be getting a new engine supplier next season. Hope they like Honda :biggrin: . Seriously though, it isn't like there's a load of choice out there so it'll either be Ferrari or Mercedes and I still doubt either really wants to supply Red Bull other than perhaps to say they beat them with the same engine anyway (although Red Bull would doubtless find an excuse somewhere).
Seems things are cracking apart at McLaren. I've heard rumours that more sponsors are preparing to abandon ship and the drivers sound genuinely downbeat and almost looking to get out of there. It seems as though communications with Honda aren't the best at the minute either. Realistically the season for McLaren was over before the first race. Can only hope they improve significantly for next season.
And for teams in trouble, we turn to Lotus. They struggled to get to Monza and they're desperate to sort out the Renault deal before going under from the way the press spins it. It would be a pity to lose the Enstone outfit.
Finally, on the driver discussion earlier, Kimi and Massa's seats are definitely the big targets in the upcoming shuffle. Thing is, I still can't see either seat being a WDC contender. Williams seem unable to make that final breakthrough (low budget, so fair enough) and would Ferrari really let anyone challenge Vettel when it came down to it?
"We didn't bother to specify when the tires had to be at a certain pressure or how you would keep them there until we measured the pressure, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯"
edit: wrong thread
so uh... why is it raining so much at my house but not enough in the races?
And I'm sort of guessing that Singapore won't be raining either! Probably will be ridiculously hot again.
EDIT: You know, I just checked the 14-day forecast and it actually might be raining in Singapore.
I'd really like to see rain at Singapore. At least, so long as everyone comes away from the race weekend uninjured...
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After Japan last year they aren't ever going to fuck around with that ever again, although those conditions were exceptionally bad with a typhoon coming in. But, of course, it is in the nature of open-wheeled cars that they kick up a lot of spray in wet weather.
The only F1 game I think that ever nailed that was Geoff Crammond's original F1GP from 1992. In the rain everything practically shifted to subtle greyscales outside of the cockpit. It was genuinely frightening to drive in. The newer F1 games give you far too much visibility in the wet, weirdly.
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What would be interesting, is what they'd do if they couldn't start the race. I can't think of any occasion where the conditions have been so poor they just can't race at all. I imagine it would just be 0 points for everyone? That and a massive embarrassment of course.
I can't find a record of a race that couldn't be started, but Wikipedia has a handy list of red-flagged races.
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It's quite possible Bernie gets sued if he doesn't deliver a race; so they'd probably send the cars out for a couple of laps behind the safety car, throw a red flag and award half-points. Alternatively if the forecast is for conditions to improve they might just delay the start.
Nintendo Network ID - Jammers007
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Look at all those different colours near the top!
Reddit brought up that Mercedes will usually lap cars that are 1.5 seconds down on them in Quali's.
And that Mercs are 1.4 seconds down from Vettel
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It was not. Decently entertaining for a race with so little action at the front though.
What's confusing is why the Mercs were so much slower than normal. I'm biased, but I hope it isn't due to a rules change forcing higher tyre pressures.
Verstappen had a good race right up until the team orders debacle.
Another terrible weekend for McLaren. Button had some cracking radio comms though.
In other news, my poor, poor McLaren team.
EDIT: And the rookie! I can't remember his name, but they restarted with him stuffed in between Ricciardo and Raikonnen! What the effing hell?
Rossi was the guy stuck in the middle. I think they just got fed up waiting for him to pass and go around
Seeing rumours that Button is going to announce his retirement at Suzuka. Would be a pity to see him go, but the car this season and last has just been terrible.
I will just be happy to see Grosjean get away from the stink of having to share a team with Maldonado.
If Lotus is going under it makes sense for Grosjean to get out but Haas is more than likely to be circling around at the back next season.
Unfortunately, there's 30 to 40 million reasons they resigned Maldonado. Even with Renault's funds that's not exactly insignificant. And I really hope Grosjean doesn't shoot himself in the foot with Haas. If Renault do buy out Lotus I'd think that's a better option, at least short to medium term. Haas knows how to win, yes, but, then, so did Honda, once...
- - -
I'll be sad to see Button go. A sad end to a distinguished career. But between his radio comms during the race, and the interview he did with Sky, it's really starting to look like he just doesn't give a shit any more. Can't say I blame him. And now McLaren are doing the same umming and aahing with his contract they did last year... sheesh.
And once again, Mateschitz, Horner and (probably) Marko are making yet more noises equivalent to throwing all their toys out of the pram, and taking their ball and going home, if they can't more or less win on demand. I never thought I'd say this but I'm starting to feel sorry for Renault in that dissolving relationship. I'd almost want to see Ferrari go "hmm... on second thought, nope" to Red Bull's management just to see the resultant fireworks; but I really like all four of their race drivers, especially Ricciardo and Kvyat, and I'd hate for them to get buggered. Ferrari will probably just go for it, though.
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Past seasons most of the crashes were his fault, but this season non finishes mostly haven't been his fault, he either gets hit by others or the car is just failing.
as for Renault i'd say the blame for all the animosity between them and Red Bull is 50/50, they started the season with an engine that was somehow down on power from last year.
I'm sure Ferrari would love for every car on the grid to be using their engines, just for the marketing.
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Nice. Kinda want to see him in a more competitive car though, but so far Force India seem to be developing at a nice pace. Who knows what the next year will bring though.
Yeah, they've definitely consolidated themselves midfield, and often in the upper reaches of it. Perez and Hulkenberg are a good fit there (although I'd like to see both in faster cars), and I have a feeling consistency will serve them well for next year. That B-spec car seems to have been a step in the right direction. Plus it looks awesome with that nose.
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It's always my favorite weekend in Austin every year. I can't wait!
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Kvyat had a massive crash while everyone was on their final quail laps, so it went with how it was before the crash.
In other news:
Kvyat will start from pit lane, as he basically is replacing the whole car
Verstappen has a 3-place grid penalty, in Q1 he had a failure and ended up leaving the car on the racing line
Hulk obviously has 3-place grid penalty from Singapore's crash.
I'm still trying to decide if I want to go or not. GA tickets are much cheaper than last year, but it can be a damn expensive day.
http://motorsports.nbcsports.com/2015/09/25/horner-red-bull-volkswagen-deal-up-in-smoke/
Hopefully they can work out something with Ferrari.
It's starting to seem like on Q3, you gotta get out fast and get a good lap first try because something is going to mess up any second kicks at the can.
Kvyat was a very lucky lad to walk away from that crash. Really glad he's okay.
Race:
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