Dull, dull dull
I’m out!
Got to be one of the dullest races yet. I switched off at mid point. They seriously need to consider the worth of people subscribing
Lewis just demonstrated his class. 20 secs in front of his team mate (same car). Lapped everyone up to 7, set fastest lap after fastest lap. In fact set the fastest lap on his last lap despite knackered hard tires only to have it beaten by Vettel, by 0.02 of second, on brand new softs.
Total quality.
I did feel for Norris after a good race.
Some might have found it boring, but it was a masterclass in driving.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
As was pointed out by the commentators:
- Fastest lap S Vettel 1.32.740 on fresh soft tyres
- Last lap for L Hamilton 1.32.764 on hard tyres with 29 laps on them
Which is the more impressive...?
The post race interviews with Brundle were quite telling. VB looked, and sounded, very dejected. LH just destroyed him, and the rest of the field, today.
Williams - 2 laps down - with the 'same' engine. Shocking tbh. But nice to see McLaren up there battling again.
Last edited by Mouse; 23rd June 2019 at 17:59.
When the pundits and team managers call it a boring/unexciting race, it’s not great.
Even saying let’s get the sprinklers turned on.
On a much brighter note Graham Davidson and Jonny Adam won British GT this afternoon, absolutely brilliant.
Last edited by adrianw; 23rd June 2019 at 18:28.
Two 5s penalties for DP puts him back to p11 and promotes Pierre Gasly into the points...pdf link.
Ignoring the fan boys, reading the other comments, I am glad I made a different choice; with a totally unexpected girl fun experience on the parking lot of the gas station.
You´ve been down here recently Adrian.
Imagine you swerving onto the above with the Spider and two of the omnipresent scantilly summer girls cheering for you. You hot up the swerve in a drift and hopping with excitement they ask you if they can take a selfie with the car. Well ofcourse jump in but only sexy shots of this sexy car! You can see where that was going :-)
It ís different under the southern sun.
Harmless but great fun beating a bore on the box by a galaxy!
Ayway, back to the bore. Since we now know how the rest of the season will be going, there is not even a question anymore about trying to ´watch´ F1 non-racing.
It was so boring I turned over to watch the cricket.
I'm upbeat and optimistic by nature - I get entertainment from the most mediocre of films, shows and books - but I've just watched the Channel 4 highlights of the French GP and it was one of the dullest hours of my life. If this was the highlights then I can't imagine how dull the entirety of the race was. There is something seriously broken with F1 at the moment.
With Bottas over 12 seconds behind and being caught by Leclerc it just goes to show how good Hamilton really is, I think after Bottas good shoing in teh first few races, Hamilton wants to make a point and just beat his confidence right out of him with a drive like that.
I think Hamilton's superiority has got to Vettel too.
Fell asleep halfway through highlights. Great spectator event .....
I can't help but wonder if Hamilton has now got the hang of this car, realises that Ferrari can't put up a fight and so has decided to just pull the pin. Have they moved Bottas's crew back to Hamilton now, or decided that they are not sharing data across the garage? It seems strange that Bottas was able to bring a fight to Hamilton and is now consistently way behind on pace.
After being soundly beaten by both Mercedes and his teammate it was no wonder that Vettel was down-in-the-mouth, Bottas wasn't looking too chipper either - both Leclerc and Hamilton, on the other hand, had an air of invincibility about them post race. It was if they felt that they'd managed to crack their respective mental codes, that they knew that they had their respective situations under control, especially Leclerc who appeared to have the measure of Bottas during the last few laps. I may be wrong however I predict the Monegasque's stock to rise and Hamilton to dominate the foreseeable, and if Bottas can't take the fight to the Brit let's hope Leclerc can to Vettel.
I didn't, and still don't, think too badly of yesterday's race. It was still just that, a race, with minimal time gaps between many drivers and mini battles throughout, a few positions not decided until the very last lap, and some of those decided even after that. Ricciardo's penalties were both fair and just, his 2*5sec sanctions were predictable, less so was his actual manoeuvres on the circuit itself - surely he knew he was off the circuit when passing Kimi? Perez isn't happy about his own wrist-slap, though I'm not sure about his reasoning. Did he leave the circuit and then rejoin after driving the prescribed route past the bollard? Yes. Did he rejoin safely? He did. Was an advantage gained? Absolutely: he gained a position. Even if Perez himself didn't notice at the time then his team would have, and they should have made the call for him to give the place back.
Haas had a nightmare, and they're now 9th out of 10 in the Constructors Championship. Grosjean was retired towards the end, and Magnussen drove appeared to have forgotten to take his handbrake off. The American owned team showed promise in Barcelona pre-season yet, with just about every race since, they've dropped back. Pierre Gasly scored a single point and that was only due to Ricciardo's misdemeanours, the Frenchman's 6th position in the DC is probably to be expected given the cars and drivers ahead of him however his points tally is not, as it stands he has been outscored pretty much 3-1 by his teammate. If Gasly is to put a stop to the rot then Red Bull's home race in Austria this coming weekend will be the ideal place to do it - no pressure there, then... Lance Stroll had a better Sunday than Saturday finishing just the one place behind his teammate, Kimi added a few points to his name and continues to be Alfa Romeo's only contributor, Kubica finished ahead of Russell for the first time this season and Kvyat eventually got the better of Albon after one or two on-track tussles.
Didn't the McLarens do well? Both qualified and finished in the top 10 and that with Norris' hydraulic issues on Sunday as well, the maturity that Lando showed when his race engineer informed him of the symptoms that may arise with the differential and power steering was a highlight for me. No hissy fit, no temper tantrum, no moaning or groaning, just a simple acknowledgement of his predicament in a tone of voice that said more than the words themselves. Hopefully the feel-good story will continue for the Woking outfit.
The worst part of the race, for me at least, wasn't actually part of the race! I know that it was some form of "modern art" however what the heck were those trophies all about?
There may be some that bemoan Mercedes' total and utter dominance so far this season however we're witnessing history in the making and I'm finding their performance compelling, so much in fact that I may even feel a little deflated should either driver not take the top step. They've achieved everything on merit and have amassed 8 straight wins out of 8 this season with six 1-2s, if you include the tail end of last season Mercedes are on 10 from 10. A top step finish in Austria will have them equalling McLaren's 11 consecutive wins set in 1988, and that period is often described as the "glory years", yes?
Last edited by CardShark; 24th June 2019 at 16:49.
You mean Hamilton himself who after the race has stated that he feels for the fans?! That F1 is seriously broken?!
Historic dominance my xxx. If any of this non-racing is going to be historic, then it will be for riders to get involved in reinventing F1. I sincerely hope that Hamilton will leave a legacy in thát. I´d say this would be more impressive than just being fastest; it would be proof of him caring about the spórt. More power to him!
One of the few races I have watched(well the tv was on) and it was so so crap, commentary team cracking jokes, wanting to turn on sprinklers says it all, WTCC on Saturday was so much better. This weekend BSB at Knockhill woohoo.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Lewis has gone on record as saying that he feels for the fans, he's also on the record as saying that Mercedes is "making history". When talking in terms of pure statistics, for example the number of championships (both DC and CC), race wins, points won and so on, then there really is no argument against it. Williams, Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren have all had periods of dominance, now it's Mercedes' turn. They are dominating the sport and they are creating history, or are you going to argue that history doesn't show Williams and Co. dominating F1? Mercedes are doing what other successful teams have done before them - they've played/are playing to the same rules as others and beating them.
2021 brings in, or at least should bring in, a whole raft of changes for the sport. New financial regulations, commercial terms, technical regulations and so on are all currently under discussion, and Lewis was one of three driver representatives recently present at a meeting to discuss these new arrangements. The representatives (Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Wurz were the other two) were there to voice their opinions on how to move along with the technical regulations and the direction that teams should take to increase the spectacle on circuit, in particular how the cars perform when in close proximity to each-other. He's on record as stating that the overhaul is nowhere near where it needs to be though is grateful for the opportunity to be present and that drivers are now part of the decision making process. I'll agree with you Petrus that if Lewis and other drivers can leave their mark for the good of the sport here then yes, that will (also) be history in the making and a legacy they could be proud of.
His comment about feeling for the fans is fair enough, there are many that feel that the sport simply isn't good enough by the measure that each fan applies. What exactly is that measure, though? Number of overtakes in a race? Number of race winners in a season? A string of different champions over the course of many years? All three and more? If all the above apply then how does the sport make that happen without artificially steering the outcomes? Many people are calling for change from both outside and inside F1 yet, as this video below explains, it really isn't that easy. That isn't to say that just because it isn't easy one shouldn't try, though.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/w...rhaul/4477435/
Now I wouldn't vote against any change that could potentially close the gaps between each team however I've no issue with any one particular driver or team trouncing another either. Why should I? They all abide by the same rules. I've said this before; I think that if F1's fan base was to shrink part of that would be down to the fact that the sport keeps talking itself down and that this rubs off on those around it. Maybe it should take stock of what it already has and celebrate the good whilst balancing the rhetoric of change. As a starting point, if F1 really is that bad why does every up and coming young gun aspire to compete as an F1 driver?
I'm a fan of F1 for many reasons, for me there's interest in every race even if there isn't that much action. The short game, long game, ups and downs of each team and driver, inter-team battles, engine wars, technical updates and upgrades, statistical analysis, keeping an eye on the time gaps between each driver in the mid-field even if there isn't anything going on at the sharp end and so on. I don't think that I'm biased to the point of being blinkered or easily pleased, I'm just an F1 fan, that's all.
Last edited by CardShark; 24th June 2019 at 22:12.
Never mind whether it is any good?
Phew.
I am in awe of the current technology. Was one of the very, véry few supporters from the start. It is jaw dropping áwesome.
The racing however... sorry, that has become a farce. There is nothing to be a supporter of.
Oh and ´historic´??? Just statistics, hardly a milestone in F1 other than a sad flag of boring dominance.
"Good" is so subjective. Just because you don't think it's "good" is pretty meaningless to be honest.
Also which bit of "fan"are you struggling with. Something does not have to be "good" to gain its fan base. There are some people here who are fans of DAF cars and they certainly were never any "good", but it doesn't prevent people from being fans of them anyway.
As for the "statistics" - it's how success is measured. Number of wins, number of championships, number of poles, number of fastest laps, etc are all just statistics however this is how we know that DAF (for example) failed to win anything of significance ever!
On the topic of dominance, again you make it sound like a bad thing. It isn't. Porsche's dominance at Le Mans for example was never sad or boring, plus it drove other teams to get better. But if F1 isn't "good" in your opinion, and you don't care about the statistics, then why don't you simply disengage and focus on MotoGP. Which oddly seems to have similar issues to F1 when it comes to "dominance". I mean Rossi has won his world championship 7 times compared with LH 5 times, and Marques is currently leading his championship by 37 points, which is exactly one point more than Hamilton is leading his.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
I don’t really care who wins the races, or titles, I want to see close racing( not quite BTCC push to pass) but the ability of cars to race close to each other does not exist, let’s strip away lots of the downforce, speeds may lower but they’ll still be bloody quick, this should do away with the need for artificial (flappy flaps) aids to get passes completed. Yes I know Indy cars only turn one direction but do go faster and have much simpler aero, so technology is there?, can we achieve a compromise between downforce/cornering speed and allow cars to get closer, we might even see two or three cars in the same camera angle without needing a helicopter.
Paddy Lowe gone...…………………………………………………….good riddance
Part of the problem with F1 is the coverage.
Watching Drive to Survive was an absolute eye-opener in regards how things work further down the field. I want to know more about their stories.
For example, after the race. Martin Brundle interviews the chap who's led every lap with no fuss, no battles and only overtaking back markers; "that was a hard-fought victory" etc.
No. I want to see an interview with the poor sod who was pushing for their team's first points finish, but got pipped on the last corner. I want to know about the guy whose tenure in the team is hanging on by a thread, and now he's crashed into his teammate. Give me interesting stories. The winner's story is not interesting by default.
So boring apart from the start and finish. F1 is at one of its worst periods ever in the 30 years I've been watching. They know it needs to change but are faffing about with it. Liberty and the FIA are spinless cowards buckling under the pressure of Mercedes and Ferrari.
Will David Coulthard be back after throwing his mic and legging it? :)
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Without Ferrari, Mercedes and Honda there would be no F1. You don't bite the hand that feeds.
However Ross Brawn has gone on record saying he is looking forward to working with LH, NH and Wurz to help shape the regs for 2021. It will be interesting to see what changes are made - from a driver's perspective.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
I think I can answer that one, everyone wants it to be good and watches it in the vein hope that it improves, lots of us have watched F! since childhood, we are not looking back though Rose coloured glasses the racing was closer, more aggressive, not so technology dependent, not so over regulated with rules that stifle all of the close racing, no rich children driving the cars, it was just better!
I am supposed to be watching the British GP from the Mclaren pit, it will be a good day out but after the start I'm not sure I will be bothered to watch the race.
Last edited by adrianw; 26th June 2019 at 08:38.
Honest question.Were the boring comments being made by the media when Mr Shoemaker was winning race after race in his little red car?
I sincerely believe the issue is not about having the same winner, its about lack of on track action across the board. Having watched live races through that era, and many replays on Sky, there was plenty of action to keep interest even though Schumacher won many of the races.
That ánd Schumacher having also a role as the villain of the play.
Despite those twó added value factors over today, there was very much the same commentary about the bore of him winning and many fans stopped watching. Me too, also because the technology lost my interest. The change to hybrid technology was vital and drew mé back and my son was sparked up by it too. But... despite very early warnings about the direction the ´racing´ was taking, it was to deaf ears. For my son F1 is a running gag now; a persiflage of racing.
For the largest part of car racing was a rich man´s game and F1 especially was almost exclusively the domain of the gentleman racer with the odd exceptional talent floating to the top.
Thís era, that of the getleman racer, ended in 1964 with the death of Carel Godin de Beaufort. That by no means meant that drivers did not need money backing them, even that a family fortune did not buy one a seat. This has not changed so I can see no issue there. It adds a definite aspirational aspect; what top level car racing has had since the very first races.
The issue with Schumacher was his team mate could not race him under any circumstances
Agreed. You need money to play most sports, whether it's Tennis, Golf, Rugby, Football, etc, but money does not buy talent.
Button's family owned a small haulage business in Somerset.
Mansell's sold his family home to go racing
Hamilton was certainly not born into wealth.
Schumacher dad was a bricky
Where as
Damon Hill, Rosberg and Max V all had a much easier ride, but all have talent.
Lance Stroll less so.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche