Formula One - 2016

Don't know what happened with McLaren today. They looked good all weekend.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Also a Lewis fan but have to admit Nico has his stuff together this yr....other than the occasional spearing or running another car of that track when in desperation mode that is.

Other than the late dart in the brake zone did Max do something I missed today?.

Yhe issue is he regularly moves in the braking zone. Hazzardous

In reply to markwemple:

Well aware of his usual antics,didn't have anyone but Lewis trying to overtake today that I remember so that's why I asked Adrian.

In reply to kevlarcorolla:

Today was less egregious than the past, but he still made his move in the braking zone rather than prior. No matter how good a driver he is and how many championships he'll win (pretty much guaranteed to be more than one) he's already in the total tool category along with other great tools who's actions over shadow their greatness such as Senna and Schumacher.

I don't agree Senna was a tool. Schumi was a world class tool

Damn NASCAR. I was going to watch the replay this afternoon, but they are showing the stupid cup race that was delayed, and it's further delayed.

Sucks for Hamilton, but (not seeing the replay) he needs to get his starts a LOT better. I doubt he will win a 3rd WC in a row, at this point. Nico has such a great lead, and he just needs to finish, for the most part, to win.

I didn't think Max was too far out of line on that move. Anything Lewis could have done there would have been a pretty banzaii move. He probably should have faked outside, then headed in. Maxes entry to the main straight was what kept him in second place. Lewis had nothing for him coming out of the chicane.

Without an engine failure or two, I think Nico is going to have a hard time losing the championship. I like his attitude, too. The Sky TV guys were asking him whether the championship math ever goes through his mind, and then pointed out he can win by finishing second for the rest of the year. He said, "No, and I'm going to start putting it out of my mind right now." Easiest way to win a championship is to win all the races.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Maxes entry to the main straight was what kept him in second place. Lewis had nothing for him coming out of the chicane.

In a way it was a lot like a repeat of his win in Spain this year.

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Agree 100%,to be fair though if he'd held his line the chances of Lewis doing anything other than running him off the outside on the right hander or losing the place again in the left hander is pretty slim.

Sad that you have to race certain drivers a certain way because of their "style" or lack thereof.

Hulk to Renualt I am thinking Occon is getting the second seat he has been very impressive.

rob_lewis wrote:

wae wrote:

Autolex wrote: anyone going to COTA for F1 in a few weeks?

I talked my boss in to sending me to Dell World which is in Austin the preceding week so that I could stay over the weekend and go to the race. I still need to buy my tickets for COTA and figure out parking, but we've got the travel plans all squared away.

Keep an eye on Craigslist and the scalper sites for tickets. However, be prepared to pay a premium to watch Taylor Swift and/or The Weekend. Last year at this time, GA tickets for Saturday were around $20. This year, the Saturday tickets are going slightly higher than Sunday at around $100. You can get a Friday GA ticket for $5 and main grandstand for $15, though. If you can do all three days and are on a budget, I'd get grandstand seats for Friday (you can still go to any of the GA places) just to get that experience and then GA for the other two days. I'm still trying to decide whether or not to go. -Rob

I considered just waiting until I got down to Austin and then hunting craigslist to find tickets, but decided that it'd be worth a little extra coin to have it all squared away before I left. The 3-day GA wristbands were about $180 each after the ticketmaster fees and they weren't that much cheaper on eBay or Stub Hub and then parking was something like $125 or $150 for the weekend. I found a seller on eBay with two turn 4 grandstand 3-day tickets plus the three-day parking pass in lot N (right behind those grandstands) for $500 and they arrived in the mail today.

The whole Taylor Swift thing certainly seems to be driving up the prices in the secondary market. I'm sure that's by design, but honestly the more tickets they sell for whatever reason, the happier I am. More F1 races in the US would be better, but if we can manage to keep the one we've got I'll take it!

Wierd. Taylor Swift is enough of a reason not to go.

Found out about this on my LinkedIn of all places Mark Webber retiring from racing

06HHR wrote: Found out about this on my LinkedIn of all places Mark Webber retiring from racing

Shame. I never liked him in F1, but massive respect in Sports cars.

Streetwiseguy wrote: Easiest way to win a championship is to win all the races.

I'm not sure I agree. Easiest way is to always be on the podium. Getting into the "win everything!" mindset can lead to unnecessary risks. A championship is a strategic thing, knowing when second will be good enough. If Nico tangles with another car in his run (cough - Max) at a win, it could cost him big.

As for Austin parking prices, there are farms all over the place offering parking for $10/day. We parked across the street from one of the official lots. Meant an extra half mile of walking, but you got to walk past all the helicopters :) I won't be at COTA this year, I'll be off-grid in Utah.

In reply to Keith Tanner: Glad to hear about parking, will be there this weekend and bout fainted at the prices for "official" parking passes. Rolex at Daytona has me spoiled..

We've been parking at Taylor Rotorsports. It's a very GRM sort of place.

Google maps link

In reply to Keith Tanner:

I'll keep that place in mind, thanks!

I think that for many forms of racing the move in the braking zone is usually ok. The issue as I have read, is that the braking power of F1 cars is such that it is very difficult to change your mind if plan to out brake someone. I guess Perez must be rather confused about his being blamed and punished with grid spot penalties for drifting over by a foot or two in the braking zone when Massa ran him over at the end of the Canadian GP a few years ago. Now Max Verstappen is moving many car widths and even weaving back and forth and getting applause. Must be nice to be Max. Suck it for everyone else.

I don't wish him harm but it may be that he has to take out 4-5 cars with another bonehead move before they will even start to say something bad about his behavior.

As an aside, did anyone ever notice how Hamilton would brake into corners earlier in his career. He used a rather cool trick to spook those around him. I caught it when he first started in GP2. As he brakes he is somehow able to slightly kick the rear of his car towards his rival whether passing them or being passed. I thought it was just him setting up the car for entry but then he did it again another lap when his rival was on his right side going into a right hander. So as a competitor you can imagine seeing his rear tires all of a sudden jumping a little closer to you. I then noticed that he did the same in F1 for the first couple of seasons.

Wish we could be in Austin this year. Life is busy but when they announced the GP there, my family surprised me by saying they wanted to go with me if we could. But since then we just haven't had planets align. Maybe next year!

Hamilton may just have lost the championship this year. Rosberg could increase reliability and turn down his motors. Just finish 2nd but that risks getting caught out by a tussle with a Redbull.

I wonder why the MB clutches are so hard to use. Without mechanical failures, Hamilton would still have had a hard year due to bad starts. Rosberg is beating him there plain and simple.

Ricciardo seems doomed. I think the media and team are so MAX focused that he will simply begin to fade away as the team continues to screw him over with bad setups and bad strategy. F1 must not like Aussies.

Hulk to Renault is cool. Opens up some seat moves. I think Renault are the big question mark for next year. They could either hit the track in 2017 like Brawn or hit it like Toyota.

I think the other seats up for contract will be interesting to watch.

Advan046 wrote: I think that for many forms of racing the move in the braking zone is usually ok. The issue as I have read, is that the braking power of F1 cars is such that it is very difficult to change your mind if plan to out brake someone.

Yes, the cars can decelerate at 5gs and the penchant for getting airborn at the slightest touch going into to big braking zones warrants a bit more strictness.

The FIA haven't punished Max, but I don't see him getting universal praise anywhere for driving like an A$$.

Keith Tanner wrote:

Streetwiseguy wrote: Easiest way to win a championship is to win all the races.

I'm not sure I agree. Easiest way is to always be on the podium. Getting into the "win everything!" mindset can lead to unnecessary risks. A championship is a strategic thing, knowing when second will be good enough. If Nico tangles with another car in his run (cough - Max) at a win, it could cost him big.

Let me rephrase- The easiest way to win a championship is to prepare as if you are intending to win every race, and attempt to win every race, and take what you can get, while being unhappy that you didn't win.

See: Kevin Harvick.

In reply to z31maniac:

• The Brazilian called the young Dutchman "a phenomenon," and dismissed those who think Verstappen is too aggressive. "No, it's just his way of fighting," Fittipaldi told Italy's Corriere della Sera. "And it's spectacular. He will be a champion, for sure."

• Lauda said he would even have driven in a similar way to Verstappen. "If I was him, I wouldn't have let Lewis past on the penultimate lap either.

Since Charlie Whitting hasn't taken action. Offical warning or something, F1 is following the, let someone get hurt first before acting plan again.

Lauda? Really? The same guy who can't keep the same opinion of something through one race weekend.

I rest my case.