2018 Formula One Season Thread

hence ferrari having a feasible chance this year.  It's the fact that it's the fifth on the trot that's killing the sport for me.
 
Ferrari won 5 in a row, but that was with a completely open engine formula - v12s and v10s competing for the same trophy.
 
The technical arms race I fell in love with - mass dampers, double diffusers, f-ducts, active suspensions, custom tire compounds and fuels - it's all gone the way of the dodo.

Yeah, I just keep wondering why more teams don't try to have their drivers do like Alonso did at Ferrari and just go out and run hard lap after lap and actually USE the tyres then pit and do it again...  

I wish they could make the tyre deg so bad after say 1/3 race distance that they could stay out, but they would be 3 or 4 seconds off the pace...  This would force more pit stops.

I wish they could make the tyre deg so bad after say 1/3 race distance that they could stay out, but they would be 3 or 4 seconds off the pace...  This would force more pit stops.

Because than the tire manuf gets a bad rep bc drivers complain about how the tires don't last.  Bad for their marketing...

I'm with Jimmy...the races aren't really sprint races anymore.  It's more a balancing act between engine and car now and watching them mantain a balance rather than going flat out is not as fun...along with the lack of competition as well. 

Honestly, I didn't like the arm races so much.  It was interesting, but the arm races also meant no competition because the team w/ the top dollar would win a'la Ferrari.  Sure the others could do whatever to catch up within the rules but without a budget, how could they?  Catch-22 meant that whoever had the tech advantage or the dollar would basically win the season.  

Honestly, I didn't like the arm races so much.  It was interesting, but the arm races also meant no competition because the team w/ the top dollar would win a'la Ferrari.  Sure the others could do whatever to catch up within the rules but without a budget, how could they?  Catch-22 meant that whoever had the tech advantage or the dollar would basically win the season.  

But you'd occasionally have those lightning-in-a-bottle braun and renault teams.

Merc has had held that tech advantage for 5 years - that is profoundly un-compelling for the sport.  Just going standard engine would make the competition better.

But you'd occasionally have those lightning-in-a-bottle braun and renault teams.

 

Merc has had held that tech advantage for 5 years - that is profoundly un-compelling for the sport.  Just going standard engine would make the competition better.

Brawn's car came from a new aero rules change and Honda's immense budget.  Brawn almost lost the chip towards the end there because of a lack of development...I'm not sure enough about Renault's budget to comment on them tho.  I'm assuming you're talking about when FA won his chips with Renault?  I'd still guess that they were top 5 spenders after McLaren and Ferrari during that time frame along w/ Toyota, Honda and BMW.  

I mean, I agree that the engine is part of the problem but the larger issues overall is still the difference in budgets.  Which leads to everything else such as aero, engine and staffing.
 

Can someone explain to my the Kubica thing? it's been like 10 years since he's been in F1... you'd think new talent and other "out of seat" drivers would be a better fit...
Why is Kubica still in the paddock for an actual drive instead of maybe support, analysis or development roles?

Same. Maybe he just showed that much promise back in the day that they still want him in a seat today? 

05/06 - Renault had the mass damper
07 - McLaren shouldve won, but Lewis and Alonso kept tripping each other up, Kimi ftw
08 - McLaren got their act together
09 - Brawn had the double diffuser
10-13 - Red Bull had the aero
14+ - Mercedes has the engine

Basically whoever can interpret the rules the best and find the exploit wins until the rules change...

I missed what happened to Alonso other then ignoring blue flags?

Rumors at the end on the Sky Feed was that Red Bull is not losing all that much dF while the rest of the teams have lost a bit for next year's change...interesting...

Hulk won the F1.5 chip... 

I missed what happened to Alonso other then ignoring blue flags?

Kubica in for 2019... WTF.  How much did he impress when he had a seat all those years ago?

I dont get it.
Oh yeah thats right.... money

Is it? I don't see any indication that he's a pay driver...

the closest I see is this: "Privately, Kubica was telling people he just hadn’t performed in the test, that the complex tyres and how they behave around that track had caught him out. But now Sirotkin’s funding is less certain – and Kubica has, meanwhile, got more testing miles under his belt. On Friday at Barcelona, he’d lapped 0.8sec quicker than Stroll when the latter ended his session with an off, which allowed Kubica to take advantage of the improving track to eventually go 1.2sec faster."

"Kubica has also attracted further sponsorship from his native Poland that he can bring to Williams."

https://www.motorspo...l-2019/4301134/

Glad the season is over, sucked that Kimi didn't get to finish his last race with Ferrari, was really hoping for one last podium, and it would have been pretty sweet to see him out doing donuts with Seb, Hammy and Alonso... 

The cool-down lap followed by the donuts will by far go down in F1 history as one of the best ways to finish a season...almost a mark to the end of the era and fitting that Max was 3rd...because it was almost like the passing of a torch.  Very touching..

Yonson...I am not quite sure Kimi would do donuts to be honest lol.  But sad he didn't get to finish.  He has put in such a stellar drive this year.

Grosjean asking to do donuts, getting a no, then doing it anyways was 

Best YouTube comment I've seen so far from all of the C-Ya Alonso videos...

"this video lasts longer than Riccardo's engine"   
 

Somehow I missed this. Nice trailer.

https://youtu.be/R8QuZRB2Q18

Seb's towel, hah!