Formula 1 2018

[Huertecilla]

By Jove what a cracker of a lap by Ricciardo!
Thereby proving that the Renault engine motors in the right chassis.
Which, at the moment, is not a McLaren. To be fair, RedBull have had the Renault power source from the start of this tech and McLaren still need mould the new marriage. They did set themselves up a bit for higher expectations than with Honda but imo they should not be expected to have a flying start at top speed. Fingers crossed. The engine seems to have the legs, Alonso has the skills and now they must make it work.

[CardShark]

Thanks for the video. On the side pods of the new car, either side of the cockpit are what looks, to me, like a Duracell AA battery standing on end. Can anyone tell me what they are, please? Sorry if it's something obvious.

Good spot. First thoughts were either a sensor or transmitter aerial, the former making more sense seeing as there's one either side of the cockpit. The yellow part also looks like it may be translucent, could be wrong though. I've asked the question elsewhere, you've got me wondering now!

By Jove what a cracker of a lap by Ricciardo!
Thereby proving that the Renault engine motors in the right chassis.
Which, at the moment, is not a McLaren. To be fair, RedBull have had the Renault power source from the start of this tech and McLaren still need mould the new marriage. They did set themselves up a bit for higher expectations than with Honda but imo they should not be expected to have a flying start at top speed. Fingers crossed. The engine seems to have the legs, Alonso has the skills and now they must make it work.

Careful Petrus, you're getting awfully excitable. You might even find this enthusiasm spilling over into Melbourne and beyond

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Max vs Daniel is probably what I'm looking forward to the most this season. Imagine how competitive it would get between the two if they can take the fight to Ferrari and Mercedes...

[ViperStripes]

Love that line near the end "last years car would be utterly hopeless against this years car"....is that aimed squarely at their competitors.

[Lukea]

Verstappen 2019 wdc in a Red Bull Honda.
You heard it here first!

[Pretzel]

Good to see Ross Brawn turning up to support the new Silverstone Experience Project today

[Huertecilla]

Careful Petrus, you're getting awfully excitable. You might even find this enthusiasm spilling over into Melbourne and beyond :

No chance of that.
I réally dig F1 as the forefront of tech and as such have defended the change to hybrids from the start. My issue is with the way it is managed with other priorities than racing. Hence I lóve the testing/qualifying and can´t be bothered about race day.

[Tokyo Tokei]

No chance of that.
I réally dig F1 as the forefront of tech and as such have defended the change to hybrids from the start. My issue is with the way it is managed with other priorities than racing. Hence I lóve the testing/qualifying and can´t be bothered about race day.

Perhaps you need to add something to enliven race day... think of it like preparing for a rally. Certain choices and limitations. But this is always part of any worthwhile endeavour.

[Huertecilla]

Perhaps you need to add something to enliven race day... think of it like preparing for a rally. Certain choices and limitations. But this is always part of any worthwhile endeavour.

Needing something to aliven it proves the point!!!
I´d rather do someting that does not need additional effort to provide ´external´ stimuli to spice it up sufficiently.
I have quite enough fun choices which I would miss out on in favour of the enlived boring thing; that makes the later a to mé not worthwhile endeavor.

Rally driving is a thrill itself, an mtb race is a thrill itself, flirting and the rest with charming company is a thrill itself to name but three random things from my activity list.
I find most F1 races a bore and additionally an anti.climax of the imo véry interesting run up. I can do without the bore and anti-climax, never mind the effort to enliven it.

[Tokyo Tokei]

One wonders why you contribute at all to this thread then, or indeed any other discussion on this forum, when it simply proves the thing under discussion is boring and takes time away from your more exciting activities :-)

Hope you enjoy the season, or something else!

[Huertecilla]

One wonders why you contribute at all to this thread then, or indeed any other discussion on this forum,

You must be reading impaired then.

Hope you enjoy the season, or something else!

Hope you enjoy it too. I will be enjoying the season, as the tech is just as cool without the Sunday anti-climax, ánd a LÓT else.

p.s. taken the first steps to plan the Spa Francorchamps weekend. It coincides with the start of La Vuelta which will be in the region for 5 etapes.
Together with my son I will be cycling some 75 kms to my love living close to the start.
Stay at her place meaning she will make a WOW weekend of it ánd we get to see two stages.
His mom, mountain love, will then pick us up, meaning next day we will be close enough to cycle to the first proper mountain section on day 4.

Thus I will have enjoyed the run up to the F1 race ánd the weekend meaning that the F1 season is a case of both having and eating the cake of life :-)
Thinking about that... good thing the races are an anti-climax!!

[reecie]

Seb has cracked out a mega time on the hyper softs this am. As Hamilton is out in the Merc this pm it will be interesting to see if he has a go at it. K Mag also seems to have an impressive time on the super softs out of somewhere

[Chris_in_the_UK]

F1 rarely accepts a change without engineering an advantage.

We don’t really know if this is the case or not yet. We will only really know once the season gets underway.
Carlos Sainz has already said that it’s very different driving in fine rain because the halo is stopping the rain from going on the visor. He said he only knew there was fine rain coming down because the car started behaving differently.

[jaytip]

F1 rarely accepts a change without engineering an advantage.

It wasn’t up to F1 though was it. It was the FIA that decreed the Halo a necessity.

[Huertecilla]

A 1,17 for Honda power.

[reecie]

McLaren come good with plenty of laps. Seb’s time looks very good and even TR sneaked a good one in at the end

[James_]

A 1,17 for Honda power.

STR Honda's fastest time today was 1:18.363.
Maybe tomorrow a 17.

[James_]

For those interested, here is an insight into some of the aerodynamic tweaks on this year's cars:

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/t...4/?ti=23&tii=1

I’ve really been enjoying the technical articles on Motorsport.com. It is well worth the subscription fee.

Motorsport.com has the worst journalism of all the main F1 sites. You're better off watching youtube videos for technical information as they are uploaded days before motorsports.com get around to it. Mark Priestley's videos are pretty good. Even some video gamer's info is good.

[CardShark]

Thanks for the video. On the side pods of the new car, either side of the cockpit are what looks, to me, like a Duracell AA battery standing on end. Can anyone tell me what they are, please? Sorry if it's something obvious.

Good spot. First thoughts were either a sensor or transmitter aerial, the former making more sense seeing as there's one either side of the cockpit. The yellow part also looks like it may be translucent, could be wrong though. I've asked the question elsewhere, you've got me wondering now!

I've found out what they are!

They're the buttons you push down to lock the doors. Obvious, really.

[Huertecilla]

STR Honda's fastest time today was 1:18.363.

His time was scratched for exceeding track boundary.

The number of laps and the increasing performance level must have given the TR and Honda lóads of info.

[reecie]

Final day and the McLaren immediately conks out with another oil leak. Can’t say this has been a great set of tests for them. The fact that TR have had so few problems has now started people wondering just where the issues of previous seasons lay.

[Backward point]

Apart from McLaren, there have been few reliability problems over the two four-day tests. Ted Kravitz interviewed James Key of Toro Rosso and asked how many engines (power units) they had used during testing. Apparently, they used three last week, purely because they wanted to send the used units back to Japan for inspection, and re-used one of them for all four days this week. Other teams have been less forthcoming, but some are believed to have just used one unit for both tests, purely to assess wear and performance drop-off.

There has also been a rumour that Renault are planning to run the season on four power units, the logic being that this will give them more options to introduce upgrades later in the season. Just after the mid-season break the calendar has Spa, Monza and not long after comes Suzuka, all of which are notoriously hard on engines, so it makes sense to preserve as many units as possible to ensure that fresh engines are available for these races. In theory, by planning to use extra units, in the knowledge that they will incur grid penalties, at least the team can plan when they take the penalties, and take them at circuits where they can minimise the pain.

[CardShark]

Total number of test laps completed - 2018/2017/2016

Mercedes – 1040/1096/1294
Ferrari – 865/956/854
Toro Rosso – 822/584/1049
Williams – 819/800/856
Renault – 815/597/776
Sauber – 786/788/838
Red Bull – 783/684/817
Haas – 694/715/474
Force India – 671/785/779
McLaren – 599/425/710

Totals – 7,894/7.430/8,447

Random observations -

McLaren were bottom of the list last year and this, though they did manage a proportionally large jump from ’17 to ’18. Torro Rosso have run over 33% more laps this year than McLaren have managed, almost entirely due to powerplant reliability.

Honda and Renault powerplants have completed more laps this year than last, both Ferrari and Mercedes less. This could bode well for a closer pack this season though it’s a long way from being conclusive.

Red Bull appear to be getting the most value out of their test sessions. Given how many laps they’ve completed vs where they have finished in the championship standings their total lap numbers are relatively low. Force India haven’t done too bad, either.

Mercedes, as a team, have dominated the total lap count stats – they’ve topped the table for 3 years straight. They were top dogs in 2015 as well.

Total number of laps dropped from ’16 to ’17 mostly, I’d guess, due to the extreme change in regulations between one year and the next. This year we witnessed a jump from ’17 however the weather played its part in keeping lap totals down in the first week of testing this season.

[Tokyo Tokei]

I know what you are thinking. "13 days before entries close for the Fantasy F1. Loads of time! I'll do it next weekend"

Noooooooo..... that's just what they're expecting you to do



Everyone will try next weekend. The server will be slower than Chase Carey eating candy floss. In the wind. With an helmet on.

New for 2018: Bonus Murray Walker quote on the League status page before each weekend!

It's all too much, I know. Info below. Join, or not. Whatever.

I dropped off the forum for a while but in case anyone is interested again this year, I have set up a new Fantasy Racing League!

Same hosting provider as last time (http://pfrl.net) so if you have previously registered there at any time, all you need to know is:

League name: Chariots of Ire (find it in the "individual private leagues")
League pword: herewegoagain

The only change I made this year was to permit up to three teams per user (last year it was only two).

For those that have never played before:

- go to http://pfrl.net, select the REGISTER tab and fill in all the usual stuff
- login at http://pfrl.net with your new account
- Create a new team or teams (as many as you like, but only three can be entered into the Chariots of Ire League
- Join your team(s) to Chariots of Ire (find it in the "individual private leagues") using the password herewegoagain

Unlimited changes are available to your team selections prior to the first race. Full rules are here.

In the words of dear Murray Walker who might have been referring to this thread, "Only a few more laps to go and then the action will begin. Unless this is the action, which it is."

[Backward point]

A detailed analysis of last week's test lap times from Mark Hughes:

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/o...l&utm_content=

[CardShark]

I know what you are thinking. "13 days before entries close for the Fantasy F1. Loads of time! I'll do it next weekend"

Noooooooo..... that's just what they're expecting you to do

I'll be signing up, TT. I finished 2nd last year behind Keke who, once again, did pretty well internationally!

Love that film, BTW.

[Backward point]

We're now just over a week away from Melbourne. There was an interesting edition of The F1 Report last evening on Sky, with Ted Kravitz, Craig Scarborough and Mike Gascoigne giving their views following the two pre-season tests, and an analysis of where they think the teams stack up against each other.

The consensus was that Mercedes are still the team to beat, as they are in a position of being able to evolve their car without the need for any radical changes or upgrades, with Red Bull and Ferrari close behind, and in that order. The real interest is in what used to be the midfield, but is now in reality "everybody else", although Williams and Sauber were cited as being less able to trouble the front runners. Renault, due to the strength of the team (infrastructure and funding) and their driver pairing were probably "best of the rest", and Haas looked promising in testing.

I do hope that they're right. Three teams competing for race wins, and an evenly matched field close behind would make for a spectacular season.

Things may become clearer after a few races. Melbourne is rather like Montreal in that it isn't a "proper" circuit, has some public roads incorporated within the circuit, and some parts of the track are overhung by trees, so aren't as grippy. Once it rubbers in, (usually Sunday unless it rains on Saturday) then it resembles a race track, but it's one of those places which can throw up an unusual result.

We can but wait and see. Ricciardo for the win? His contract's up at the end of the year, so he'll be anxious to put on a good show.

[chicaneuk]

I'm really hoping for some shake-up this season, though it sounds as though Mercedes will reign once again. Maybe it's just the Brit in me, but I don't like to see anyone dominate. I like to see the underdogs succeed.. however it seems as though, simply, F1 isn't the place for that. It's all about money.

Also hoping that McLaren come good but - I can't help but think they jumped ship from Honda at the wrong time. And perhaps their problems are more than just down to the engine manufacturer.. and more with packaging. It'll certainly be interesting to see what happens to them running a Renault power unit. It's long been said that their chassis is as good as anything else on the grid so, with a competitive power unit, maybe... just maybe.. they might see the podium this season.

[andrewcregan]

There is no coincidence that I have just upgraded to a new 4K TV, and get Sky Q tomorrow in mid March!
Roll on the start of the season.

As usual, I look forward to all the interesting information posted on this thread

[Geoff W]

Definitely most interested to see the 'midfield' - I think the Top 3 teams are obvious but Renault, FI, Haas, Williams, possibly STR it could be fascinating. I suspect Sauber will be off and I worry that Williams has gone the wrong way.

The real joker in all this is McLaren who look like they may, may, be able to challenge those teams on outright pace.

[CardShark]

Neither Force India or Williams have generated any positive headlines during the two week test session, and Sauber hasn't appeared to make much progress even with up-to-date Ferrari power behind them. I would hope that given the FIA's recent ruling on ECU programming (engine suppliers must ensure that customer teams have the same programming options as the works teams) along with relative regulation stability that this would help facilitate a closer pack, this may well still be the case all be it with a shuffled mid-field. As much as I'd like to see Renault, Haas, McLaren and Torro Rosso take a step up towards the front it would be a shame to see Williams and FI take a step back, however you can't have one without the other.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, a keen interest for me for this season is Daniel vs Max and how much they can push Ferrari and Mercedes. Let's hope Melbourne is a cracker and that it will be a sign of things to come.

[Grandiloquence]

I would love to see Danny Ric take the championship. Seems a thoroughly decent bloke and a good driver to boot.

[CardShark]

I would love to see Danny Ric take the championship. Seems a thoroughly decent bloke and a good driver to boot.

Best left foot on the grid IMO, and a fantastic racer.

RB have the best line-up and a very evenly matched one at that, if they're not fighting over podium positions it won't be down to lack of driver talent.

[CardShark]

I dropped off the forum for a while but in case anyone is interested again this year, I have set up a new Fantasy Racing League!

Same hosting provider as last time (http://pfrl.net) so if you have previously registered there at any time, all you need to know is:

League name: Chariots of Ire (find it in the "individual private leagues")
League pword: herewegoagain

The only change I made this year was to permit up to three teams per user (last year it was only two).

For those that have never played before:

- go to http://pfrl.net, select the REGISTER tab and fill in all the usual stuff
- login at http://pfrl.net with your new account
- Create a new team or teams (as many as you like, but only three can be entered into the Chariots of Ire League
- Join your team(s) to Chariots of Ire (find it in the "individual private leagues") using the password herewegoagain

Unlimited changes are available to your team selections prior to the first race. Full rules are here.

In the words of dear Murray Walker who might have been referring to this thread, "Only a few more laps to go and then the action will begin. Unless this is the action, which it is."

A bump for this, I've just signed up

[Tokyo Tokei]

Remember the time when Piquet left it too late to sign up to Fantasy F1 and Salazar broke him the news?



Don't be that man.

[Backward point]

Things go from bad to worse for Force India part-owner Vijay Mallya:

https://www.theguardian.com/business...d-wage-dispute

The team is currently up for sale, the other co-owner Roy Sahara is in jail in India, and Mallya is awaiting extradition from the UK to India in order to answer some potentially embarrassing questions about his finances.

[CardShark]

He's been in and out of the news for a few years as a result of his financial issues, with his co-owner partner locked up it does look like Vijay's time is running out. This can't have anything other than a negative effect on the race team and it doesn't look like they had the best of times in Barcelona, it wouldn't be fair on any of the team members should they suffer from his mis-dealings.

He's been in the sport for quite some time now. His first season was, IIRC, 2008 after Spyker made a complete pig's ear of the previous season, and Canadian/Russian Midland F1 not doing any better than that the year before. This suggests that he was in it for the long haul unlike the two previous owners (massively underestimating the costs involved!), it was Eddie Jordan's team prior to that.

On a lighter note, this has to be one of the better sponsorship deals in recent history.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...r-mclaren-halo

[chicaneuk]

He's been in and out of the news for a few years as a result of his financial issues, with his co-owner partner locked up it does look like Vijay's time is running out. This can't have anything other than a negative effect on the race team and it doesn't look like they had the best of times in Barcelona, it wouldn't be fair on any of the team members should they suffer from his mis-dealings.

He's been in the sport for quite some time now. His first season was, IIRC, 2008 after Spyker made a complete pig's ear of the previous season, and Canadian/Russian Midland F1 not doing any better than that the year before. This suggests that he was in it for the long haul unlike the two previous owners (massively underestimating the costs involved!), it was Eddie Jordan's team prior to that.

On a lighter note, this has to be one of the better sponsorship deals in recent history.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/13...r-mclaren-halo

The press photo of Vandoorne and Alonso on Twitter last night was worth the sponsorship deal alone!

https://twitter.com/svandoorne/statu...645643264?s=21

[PickleB]

The press photo of Vandoorne and Alonso on Twitter last night was worth the sponsorship deal alone!

https://twitter.com/svandoorne/statu...645643264?s=21

The things people will do to earn a crust!

[Tokyo Tokei]

A bump for this, I've just signed up

11 teams entered so far. A few days left! Don't leave it too late to build your legacy...

[subseastu]

11 teams entered so far. A few days left! Don't leave it too late to build your legacy...

Signed up, no idea what I'm doing though. Never done any of this fantasy league stuff before so have to see how it all pans out.

[Tokyo Tokei]

Good response so far, with 16 teams on the grid. Remember you can add up to three teams per manager, so you can try a few strategies.



A couple more additions to fill out the grid would be welcome. Just 5 days left. There are no entries allowed once the season kicks off. Please feel free to share the invite with anyone you think might be interested. Joining details earlier in this thread.

[Backward point]

Tyre choices for Melbourne:



Ferrari seem to have erred on the side of caution, which might indicate concerns about overheating.

All will be revealed at the weekend.

[PickleB]

From Pirelli, see five extra things we’ve found out about the season ahead for:

What the performance gaps are between the compounds

There’s obviously no such thing as ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to the performance gaps between the compounds: it always depends on the circuit and the circumstances. But we’ve got an idea now about the differences between the 2018 compounds in Barcelona. The Pink hypersoft is around 0.7 to 0.8 seconds per lap quicker than the ultrasoft, which in turn is around 0.6 seconds faster than the supersoft. There’s a difference in the region of 0.4 seconds between supersoft and soft, while 0.8 seconds separate the soft from the medium. The medium is in fact the only tyre that’s unchanged since last year, as it’s essentially the 2017 soft. The gap to the hard tyre is trickier to work out, as there wasn’t a lot of running on it in Barcelona.

...and more.

[MakeColdplayHistory]

Signed up, no idea what I'm doing though. Never done any of this fantasy league stuff before so have to see how it all pans out.

You can't know less about it than me. This will be my first fantasy league of any kind and, while I'm interested in F1, I don't have a huge depth of knowledge.
If I don't come last I'll count it as success.

[PickleB]

There is also this:

[Geoff W]

Same but signed up with teams so lets see how it goes!

[CardShark]

I've just submitted a 3rd team, we now have 26 signed up Still no sign of Keke though, perhaps he's still sorting through all the data and info with a fine-tooth comb

[Bravo73]

I’m pretty sure that there is a dedicated Fantasy F1 thread around here somewhere...

[Seiko7A38]

You can't know less about it than me. This will be my first fantasy league of any kind and, while I'm interested in F1, I don't have a huge depth of knowledge.
If I don't come last I'll count it as success.

You're looking at someone who 'gave away' five grand a few years ago. I used to follow F1 pretty closely in those days. The Sun was doing a Fantasy F1 League thing. I think it was the 2003 season, IIRC. I couldn't be arsed, but a work colleague (inveterate gambler - on the horses, or anything for that matter) asked my advice. Two or three times I gave it - and he won the Sun's prize !!

[subseastu]

You can't know less about it than me. This will be my first fantasy league of any kind and, while I'm interested in F1, I don't have a huge depth of knowledge.
If I don't come last I'll count it as success.

Exactly the same as me. I fully expect to be in a race for stone dead last