1230 replies to this topic

[Muzzyf1]

I fell asleep...

Me to such a boring track

[HeadFirst]

My thoughts:

Bottas - brilliant start, as he himself predicted Saturday. Drove with the expected control throughout, and handled the pressure from Vettel exceptionally well.

Hamilton - an off weekend, happens to the best. Anyone who predicts his imminent demise based on this race, should give it a re-think.

Vettel - another fine drive, and podium result. Finishing 2nd is not so bad, when your main challenge is in 4th.

Raikkonnen - a bounce back weekend and a solid podium. Those wishing to slag Kimi for finishing behind Vettel might consider, that Seb is a 4x WDC, and arguably the fastest over race distance in F1 at the moment.

The Race - Hope those who lobbied for wider cars, fatter tires, and more downforce are happy.

[superden]

Despite the hopes of the OP, it was a stunning borefest.

[ferkan]

Absolute boredom. I don't know if they shown anyone bar top 4. RBR almost lapped at 5th so you know how bad it was...

[D28]

About 8 laps from end when Brundle began to hype a showdown between Bottas and Vettel it dawned on me that Vettel would not pass for the win, that the two would finish in their current positions. And it had nothing to do with Massa, overtaking is such a dominant task on a track like this as to be almost insurmountable. Not good for F1 when the start, pit stops and maybe a safety car totally dictate the race outcome. I didn't see anyone pass another all day. maybe I missed one?

[Fastcake]

About 8 laps from end when Brundle began to hype a showdown between Bottas and Vettel it dawned on me that Vettel would not pass for the win, that the two would finish in their current positions. And it had nothing to do with Massa, overtaking is such a dominant task on a track like this as to be almost insurmountable. Not good for F1 when the start, pit stops and maybe a safety car totally dictate the race outcome. I didn't see anyone pass another all day. maybe I missed one?

 

It's like the 2000s all over again. You could watch cars getting closer and closer to each other, but no matter how much excitement you tried to build, you knew deep down that the driver just could not overtake.

[w1Y]

How many overtakes, excluding off the line, was there? I don't think I saw one overtake for position. What a duck up it was going down this route

[v@sh]

Before they reached Massa I told my dad (with whom I was watching) that Felipe would aid his former teammate.

It really wasn't decisive at all. But a fun little side story.

For me this was a race that was thrilling untill the end. Battle for 1st all through with Vettel hunting down Bottas. I really don't know what F1 fans want if this isn't it.

Btw Valtteri's start was old school Häkkinen style.

 

Fans want this but not exactly this.

 

The problem is that even if it is a battle for first, you know with how the current aerodynamic regulations are that there is like a 10% chance an overtake is actually going to happen or even less given that absolutely nothing happened during the whole race.

 

You get within 2 seconds and you are in the turbulent wake so even if you are the faster, you can't do as much about it.

 

I think if the FIA banned all the ridiculous front wings that cost a fortune that no one gives a toss about, simplified them and the cars even more, make lap time more mechanically dependent then it will get fans closer to what they want. Riders from MotoGP complained straight away how the small winglets affected following another bike, now increase that ten-fold on an F1 car and that's what we get with even less room to overtake.

 

Barcelona will be the same. Whoever leads in Barcelona at the first corner will win the race except for pit strategy. It was bad enough when Verstappen won it last year with Kimi being able to do nothing, it will be even worse this year.

[EthanM]

Yeah some tracks produce processional races, Sochi, Barcelona, Monaco, Hungary tc etc ... you can't invent regulations to fix bad tracks

[Montie]

I do not understand why they chose to design turn two the way they did. It is instant bottlenecking of 20 cars, like they want the kind of mayhem it has created the last few years.

[brunberg]

These new regs are killing racing even more from us who are  watching.

[chunder27]

Yet there are 25 pages of comments

 

Get a grip guys and watch other things maybe, the only way you encourage change is to turn off

[Nonesuch]

For me this was a race that was thrilling untill the end. Battle for 1st all through with Vettel hunting down Bottas. I really don't know what F1 fans want if this isn't it.
 

 

As Ferrari's race engineer said, it was all about putting pressure on Bottas hoping he would make a mistake.

 

The track made it very difficult for two competitive cars - all throughout the field - to even get within DRS range, never mind set up an overtake.

 

Vettel was always going to get stuck at 1.5-2.0 seconds behind Bottas, no matter how quickly he closed that gap.

 

While there was some tension, the chance of anything happening was very small indeed and - perhaps crucially for the excitement - that small chance depended entirely on the defending Bottas making a mistake, rather than the attacking Vettel doing something heroic.

[RECKLESS]

As Ferrari's race engineer said, it was all about putting pressure on Bottas hoping he would make a mistake.

The track made it very difficult for two competitive cars - all throughout the field - to even get within DRS range, never mind set up an overtake.

Vettel was always going to get stuck at 1.5-2.0 seconds behind Bottas, no matter how quickly he closed that gap.

While there was some tension, the chance of anything happening was very small indeed and - perhaps crucially for the excitement - that small chance depended entirely on the defending Bottas making a mistake, rather than the attacking Vettel doing something heroic.

And indeed Bottas did make a mistake. That put me on the edge of my seat untill the end, knowing
1) his tyres had to have a flat spot
2) he could well make another similar mistake with the pressure building until the end
3) backmarkers mixing things up

It really was exciting.
I've always thought a great race doesn't need millions of overtakes and this was a prime example. Vettel putting in a fastest lap while chasing and Bottas answering with a fastest lap right after was awesome as well.

[Jon83]

The race didn't have any overtakes though.

Each to their own but this most certainly wasn't a great race!

[HermannH]

- A race so boring as a race can be.

- What a disgrace it is for F1 that a driver of Alonso's calibre is stuck in that Honda garbage.  

- Fine drive by Bottas, the Ferrari was again the quicker car, but a great start and first stint helped him.

- Mercedes strategy with Bottas  . They could see he was running out of tyres, he had traffic, yet they let him continue and allowed Seb to close down 3 seconds. What on earth happened there?

- Kimi was a bit better than in earlier races. I think the same will happen as last year that Kimi will end up matching vettel's pace.

- Hamilton  ? Obviously must have had some problem, because on some laps he was mega quick and after that he was losing a second per lap again.

-

 

 

 

Raikkonnen - a bounce back weekend and a solid podium. Those wishing to slag Kimi for finishing behind Vettel might consider, that Seb is a 4x WDC, and arguably the fastest over race distance in F1 at the moment.

 

There is literally zero proof for that, in fact, most facts point to the contrary

[Marklar]

The race got a bit better when Putin arrived. Maybe they werent allowed to show a great race as long as he wasnt there.

[George Costanza]

Congratulations to Bottas...

[BlackGold]

There is literally zero proof for that, in fact, most facts point to the contrary

Are we talking about the whole package or the individual driver ability? If first, than its likely that Vettel in the Ferrari has the best race pace atm.

[HermannH]

Are we talking about the whole package or the individual driver ability? If first, than its likely that Vettel in the Ferrari has the best race pace atm.

Because the Ferrari is the fastest car atm. There are plenty of guys like Ricciardo (just think back to 2014), Max etc who would be as fast or faster

[BlackGold]

Because the Ferrari is the fastest car atm. There are plenty of guys like Ricciardo (just think back to 2014), Max etc who would be as fast or faster

Thats why I asked if we are talking about the whole package or the individual driver ability. And about 2014, I made my point very clear in another thread about it^^

 

Which driver is fastest, is always a question nobody can answer for sure. Even if Seb lost against Ric back in 2014, that proves nothing if it would be the same "today".

Edited by BlackGold, 01 May 2017 - 13:36.

[Tenmantaylor]

I saw the start and Vettel closing in on Valteri in the final laps. Was Vettels whine about Massa the peak drama of the race or shall I rewatch?

[Maustinsj]

Don't bother.

[rockdude101]

Yeah some tracks produce processional races, Sochi, Barcelona, Monaco, Hungary tc etc ... you can't invent regulations to fix bad tracks

 

Agree, Agree, Agree, WTF? Hungary has massively improved as an entertaining track in recent years. I'd rate it as one of my top 5 tracks to watch now. 

[Jordan44]

Agree, Agree, Agree, WTF? Hungary has massively improved as an entertaining track in recent years. I'd rate it as one of my top 5 tracks to watch now. 

 

Just a coincidence imo.

 

We had rain in 2014 which is very rare, 2015 an aborted start which lead to Ferrari's flying off the line, 2016 wasn't that interesting all in all.

[EthanM]

Agree, Agree, Agree, WTF? Hungary has massively improved as an entertaining track in recent years. I'd rate it as one of my top 5 tracks to watch now. 

 

Nah. I mean if you threw a SC out in Sochi somewhere around lap 30-35 it be an exiting race too. Or if you got torrential rain. But under normal circumstances Hungary is a procession, I mean I remember I think it was 2015? When Hamilton had a bad start and ended up behind Massa ... he had a car that was 1.5 seconds a lap quicker than Massa and couldn't overtake him for 10 laps. 

[f1paul]

I've noticed something.

 

The China race thread I did, I put in the title "Vettel vs Hamilton part 2". We kinda got his at the next race in Bahrain

The Bahrain race thread I did, I put in the title (Bottas's 1st win). The next race in Russia, Bottas got his first win

The Russia race thread I did, I put (hopefully not a borefest). That means the next race in Spain won't be boring

 

So whoever does the race threads should always put something that will mean that we have a good race (just include the word amazing or exciting in it). 

[Maustinsj]

Barcelona - McLaren will not score points.


It's worth a shot!

Edited by Maustinsj, 01 May 2017 - 19:52.

[Laster]

I've noticed something.

The China race thread I did, I put in the title "Vettel vs Hamilton part 2". We kinda got his at the next race in Bahrain
The Bahrain race thread I did, I put in the title (Bottas's 1st win). The next race in Russia, Bottas got his first win
The Russia race thread I did, I put (hopefully not a borefest). That means the next race in Spain won't be boring

So whoever does the race threads should always put something that will mean that we have a good race (just include the word amazing or exciting in it).

Spain wet race thread, Monaco wet race thread, Canada wet race thread.

[Exb]

I've noticed something.
 
The China race thread I did, I put in the title "Vettel vs Hamilton part 2". We kinda got his at the next race in Bahrain
The Bahrain race thread I did, I put in the title (Bottas's 1st win). The next race in Russia, Bottas got his first win
The Russia race thread I did, I put (hopefully not a borefest). That means the next race in Spain won't be boring
 
So whoever does the race threads should always put something that will mean that we have a good race (just include the word amazing or exciting in it). 

Or maybe the thread title is just a jinx & ensures it won't happen   

[MikeV1987]

Seems fair enough. You get called a "fanboy" by internet weirdos if you so much as speak well of a driver. Absolutely bizarre.

 

You also get called a "hater" for saying anything perceived as negative about a driver.

Edited by MikeV1987, 01 May 2017 - 20:34.