Formula 1 2016 Thread

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

1 Rosberg
2 Raikonnen
3 Hamilton

Hamilton will be fairly happy with that I suspect, considering he was t-boned in the first corner. He'll be more annoyed with another poor getaway which brought him back into the pack.

[Chicken Run Supreme]

I am sure Hamilton will take that one as damage limitation after being hit by Bottas (who rightly was penalised) but if he hadn't had yet another poor start, he would not have been in a position to get pranged in the first place. Two poles in a row and neither have seen Hamilton make it to the first corner in the lead - something he needs to work on.

[bristolhammerfc]

Back to 2015 qualifying now thank god.

Be interesting to see if Alonso's performance matches his understudy.

His stock is dropping fast.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

Five place grid penalty for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton will be given a five-place grid penalty at Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix for a gearbox change.

The world champion has had a difficult start to the season and trails Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg by 17 points in the championship after two races.

Mercedes said the gearbox had sustained damage during the last race in Bahrain.

more...

[westham,eggyandchips]

Back to 2015 qualifying now thank god.

Be interesting to see if Alonso's performance matches his understudy.

His stock is dropping fast.

Probably racing against doctors orders this weekend. No one gets over a punctured lung that quick.

[Chicken Run Supreme]

Not going to plan this season for Lewis is it. Another race where damage limitation is the order of the day - only 21 laps done and just made his 4th pit stop, currently in 13th place. Deja vu with season 2014???

[bristolhammerfc]

Good to see Jenson competitive in this one.

Vettel will have some apologising to do to his team mate. Kvyat driver of the day so far

[wolf359]

Good to see Jenson competitive in this one.

Vettel will have some apologising to do to his team mate. Kvyat driver of the day so far

I se the German was quick to blame Kvyat, was his fault no one else's.

Well that was interesting, Hamilton is getting worse luck than us, that voodoo doll Rosberg acquired in the off season is working well.

[White Goodman]

I se the German was quick to blame Kvyat, was his fault no one else's.

Well that was interesting, Hamilton is getting worse luck than us, that voodoo doll Rosberg acquired in the off season is working well.

Not having that, Rosberg has been outperforming him , pure and simple. Yes he got the gearbox penalty but he was on pole for the other two races and got away from the line like an arthritic tortoise.

Personally, I think he felt that he had Rosberg's number permanently and whilst he's been off doing whatever (rapping badly, playing the piano, wearing silly hats etc )Rosberg's been working away.

Needs to re focus and sharpish , massive gap to bridge already

[bristolhammerfc]

Agree with you White,

I think Rosberg has focused on Racing whilst Lewis has been distracted this year and it has shown in the way he has approached the races.

Vettel was out of order for the way he went at Kvyat. He knew the cameras were there and it was all about trying to shift the blame so team bosses wouldn't sanction him.

Kvyat was perfectly entitled to make the move whilst Vettel was tring to close of Kimmi.

What is going wrong at Williams this year? So much potential following a strong year last year. Maybe a change of Driver? Not convinced by Bottas.

Strange decision by HASS not to retire Romain as well and get a free change if the car was screwed.

[Chicken Run Supreme]

As big a fan of Hamilton as I am, I agree that he needs to regain some focus before he is too far away. He has proven that he can reel Rosberg in when he's been behind, but at the moment Rosberg seems to have his number. At least it might things a bit more interesting this season.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

While Hamilton is in the tattoo parlour or arranging a photoshoot for his dog, Rosberg is preparing for the next race.

[mumbles87]

Glad to see Roseberg doing well this season.. IMO he is far a better driver than Lewis. Lewis throughout his entire career has either had the best car or he just crashes into people (including his own team mates)

[Chicken Run Supreme]

I would argue that Hamilton is a much better racer than Rosberg. Hamilton is a natural and loves the cut and thrust of racing, going toe to toe with his competitors and going for the sort of gaps that others, including Rosberg, will look at and back out of. Rosberg however is more dedicated and works a lot harder at his craft. I see obvious similarities between Lauda & Hunt in the 1970's - one was a studious driver who would know where every nut and bolt was in his engine and would know every inch of tarmac on the next race pending, while the other, loved the life of a racer and loved taking risks - on and off the track.

Rosberg is very much in the zone and whatever bravado Hamilton gives off about how he is in a great place right now and completely relaxed with life - this will be hurting him. Without reliability issues, I cannot see Rosberg finishing any lower than second in a single race this season. To make up the point difference that has built up after just three races, Hamilton is going to have to win an awful lot of races and at the moment, he just does not look like he has it in him.

[Denbighammer]

Another good race. Not sure there is as much wrong with F1 as many seem to suggest.

Does any sport have such rose-tinted-spectaclism as F1? There was more close wheel to wheel racing yesterday than you'd see in half a season many years ago.

[Chicken Run Supreme]

After double shunting Vettel at the Sochi F1 in Russia at the weekend Daniel Kvyat has sensationally been dropped by Red Bull and replaced by Max Verstappen. It would seem that in F1 you are only "The Next Big Thing" for a limited time - hailed as the Real Deal by Christian Horner when he replaced (ironically) Vettel at Red Bull for the 2015 season, he has been dumped rather ignominiously back to their junior feeder team,Torro Rosso.

From the BBC
Head of driver development programme Dr Helmut Marko said the move was not a "demotion" for Kvyat.
"We wanted to take him out of the firing line and help his career instead of harming it,"

Not sure Kvyat will see it quite like that, rather suspect he feels like he's had his trousers taken down and had a very public spanking by Red Bull.

[Denbighammer]

Dr Helmet is Vettel's agent isn't he? He is Vettel's biggest fan.

Fwiw, I thought the first hit of Vettel was just a standard racing mistake that you could see at any race at any level all over the world. The second was Vettel's fault for suddenly lifting mid-corner.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

Denbigh, surely you must realise that nothing is ever Vettel's fault.

[RyanWHUFC]

Dr Helmet is Vettel's agent isn't he? He is Vettel's biggest fan.

Fwiw, I thought the first hit of Vettel was just a standard racing mistake that you could see at any race at any level all over the world. The second was Vettel's fault for suddenly lifting mid-corner.

Vettels fault for lifting because he saw Hamilton rejoining the track at pace in his eyeline and having picked up damage from the reckless idiot Kyvat having a swipe at him the turn before?

Things you learn!

[Denbighammer]

Vettels fault for lifting because he saw Hamilton rejoining the track at pace in his eyeline and having picked up damage from the reckless idiot Kyvat having a swipe at him the turn before?

Things you learn!

Hamilton was miles away from Vettel in racing terms. When Kvyat hit him, Vettel was doing c.40mph slower than Kvyat could have reasonably expected him to be travelling at that point. Cars swarm all round Vettel because he was going so slow. If he thought he had damage, then Vettel should have pulled over.

Anyone who knows anything about motor sport knows that Kvyat's 'swipe' at the 1st corner was a simple racing accident. There was absolutely nothing reckless about it, it was merely a simple misjudgement as 20-odd cars all aimed for one piece of tarmac.

This move is 100% political. Red Bull need to up Verstappen from Toro Rosso as he is out of contract soon. Vettel is still the golden child in the eyes of Helmet Marko and always will be, even though he has moved on.