I've said it before and I'll say it again, I wish Ford Racing would do the Mercedes, Ferrari, Renault thing and become another team and engine manufacturer. They have the resources. They have the most global presence among the big 3 US automakers so the advertising and notoriety of being associated with F1 would help. Lastly they obviously know or already employ some of the best racing people if they can just decide to win Le Mans whenever they enter it.
Also cool to see McLaren doing so well. Hope they can keep it up. The Mercedes/Lewis team is just unstoppable man. Talent all the way around. Finally I am officially jumping on the George Russell bandwagon. Getting on before he ever gets in a car that's even half way decent. Hopefully that's sooner rather than later. I think he's going to be a star.
I am a low-key fan of Williams and Russell. I know they aren't going to be winning any world championships, but always enjoy the "little guy" doing well.
Haas needed to clean house top to bottom last winter. From the technical director to drivers. They also have a big issue with Ferrari being hit with the penalty of limited engine changes since they ugh... walked the fine line on the engine last season. whatever edge Ferrari had last year is now gone and being able to test and replace power plants without penalty is not happening. Ferrari keeps mentioning lack of downforce but the biggest issue is they are 8-9 mph slower on the straights this year. That crazy horsepower they had last season is gone.
I mean Mercedes is miles ahead of every other car. All that has changed is Ferrari shitting itself so leaving more variety at 4, 5, 6
Hard to believe that the went consecutive years as clearly best of class B and they add Paddy Lowe and everything went wrong. Russell is a great talent and hope his career progression goes right. Mercedes hasn't found a next step from the backmarker teams for their development drivers yet.
I'm excited to see how Ocon stacks up against Alonso next year. If he can hold his own in qualifying that will go a long way of showing he deserves a top drive.
midfield is basically everyone but Mercedes lol. But the racing the last two weeks has been prime viewing.
Charles still making stupid mistakes. No reason he’s going 4 deep in the hair pin like that. I can’t remember a worse weekend for Ferrari in some time.
What amazes me about merc is their sheer consistency. When was the last time they had a DNF? Red Bull’s double dnf last week was brutal. Merc’s already up about 50 points on the grid
I'm pretty indifferent on Ferrari's team and I hope they get back to being competitive soon but it is pretty fun watching their shit storm. Man, if the top of the field was as competitive as the midfield, F1 would really be something.
F1 has these runs of dominance. Ferrari, Redbull and now Mercedes. Mercedes nailed the regulations and kept its foot on the gas. They seem to be a full season ahead tech wise compared to the field.
Also... Lando Fucking Norris. I'm becoming a huge fan. I've also had my issue with Max in the past, but that kid might be the best driver in the field he just happens to be in the third best car.
I feel like it's a pretty commonly held opinion that when it comes to driver talent over the last several years it's Lewis & Max then everyone else. Also Red Bull has to have the 2nd best car now, right? Unless you mean literal 3rd best car behind both Merc's.
Max is capable of the most spectacular drives, but a big part of Lewis' dominance is bringing the car home every race and Max doesn't do that. It's not a fair comparison in either direction because Lewis has the benefit of being out front most of the time and Max isn't really in the competition for the championship most years. So Max might as well go for the spectacular and it makes sense for Lewis to exercise patience and caution.
Pretty good article on the troubles with Ferrari https://the-race.com/formula-1/ferrari-racing-to-change-engine-for-21-around-fia-directives/
Their podcast this week made a really good point that Seb and Charles are going to have difficulty starting races because their race pace is better than qualifying pace. So they are going to be stuck behind slower cars all year.
They have basically become the third best team on the grid. Lewis, Bottas and Max should always finish ahead all things being clean on the track. Apparently major updates are coming but it seems like this season is a total loss. And maybe it’s better they take the multiple grid spot penalties so they can punt 2020 and make it a year long testing session.
It stinks for Haas and Alfa Romeo though. Basically Ferrari has caused 2 teams to go to the bottom, and themselves fully entrenched into the midfield. Anyone know how long Haas are tried into used the Ferrari engine?
Unless Renault gets their way.... https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/29486476/renault-likely-protest-racing-point-again-hungary
Had no idea this first round of qualifying with the elimination zone even happened from the Netflix special. Really cool twist.
Spun out on the out lap and wrecked his front end. Last we saw they were furiously trying to fix his car while it was parked on the grid.
absolutely amazing by them. Also the difference for both those cars between qualifying and race pace was pretty weird
I’m pretty surprised Bottas got away with jumping the start. Seb did that last year and got punished.
Guessing the stewards looked at it and realized he ultimately hurt himself rather than gain an advantage from it. Only logical thing I can come up with.