Formula One - 2018

Ferrari likes to have a clear number 1 and a clear number 2. Danny Ric will not be invited as long as Vettel is there. Face it, Danny Ric will drive a red bull next year or else he could maybe go to one of the mid field teams. 

Ferrari should sign Leclerc when Kimi is done. 

Hamilton seems like he has about had it with the sport and he's just continuing to do it because he doesn't know what else he would do. He seems like he's mostly checked out and just going through the motions at this point. 

Re: Lewis, it's almost like Seb was in 2014.  No longer had a completely dominant car, struggled to perform at peak.  

I don't see Daniel going to Ferrari either, because he soundly beat Seb the last time they were teammates.  Kimi is a perfect #2 (not E36 M3...) driver for them, he's still consistently in the top 5, which is what they need to mount a real constructor's championship fight.  One of the FB experts on the Motorsport.com page suggested he goes to Renault, and Carlos comes back to RedBull.  I don't see that happening either.  

Lewis is one point behind the lead in the championship and he's "struggling to perform"? Tough crowd.

Vettel just couldn't get to grips with the RB in 2014, the hybrids are very different to drive and he couldn't get adjusted. That's quite different than 2018, where Ferrari has managed to bolt together a competitive car so their top driver can take on the Mercedes top driver. It's a proper race for the championship which is what everyone has been complaining about missing, so sit back and enjoy and stop trying to imagine that one of the multiple world champions in the fight has given up! Lewis has always taken the long view of championships over races, which can make him seem a bit blase about the results of a specific race.

Just noticed there's also a good race for third in the championship, with only two points between Bottas and Ricciardo.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Competitive car? Ferrari is the best of the field. Vettel can't win in a 2nd rate car. Lewis can, Danny can, Max can, Fernando  can.........

Vettel needs a car built around him and him only. Poor Kimi, having to drive Vettel's car. It'd be nice to see him in a car that fits his needs too. But Ferrari, as has been said, can't have equal drivers, even if it comes down to the car.

OK, I'll admit that the TR win was 2nd rate, but that's it. The RB wins were in the best car and the Ferrari wins were in an on par car (Equal to the Merc)

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I didn't mean to say Lewis is not performing well or having good results, just that I feel that his heart is not really in it this year. That's just my take from listening to his team radio calls and watching him in interviews. Certainly he is one of the best drivers in the sport.

markwemple said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Competitive car? Ferrari is the best of the field. Vettel can't win in a 2nd rate car. Lewis can, Danny can, Max can, Fernando  can.........

Vettel needs a car built around him and him only. Poor Kimi, having to drive Vettel's car. It'd be nice to see him in a car that fits his needs too. But Ferrari, as has been said, can't have equal drivers, even if it comes down to the car.

Competitive, best of the field. Whatever

The fact that Vettel has never won when starting lower than third is an interesting one. Does this mean he's always in the top three on the grid, or that he simply can't work through a field? Lewis took a win from 5th last year and of course Ricciardo took a win from something like 17th last year.

The drivers must hate having their radio transmissions broadcast. If they're relaying information about the car, they're whining. If they're breathing hard, they're out of shape. If they're asking about the positions of other cars, they're worried. If they're asking for blue flags and swearing at other drivers, they're Vettel But a lot is read into those transmissions.

Keith Tanner said:

Lewis is one point behind the lead in the championship and he's "struggling to perform"? Tough crowd.

Well, if you look specifically at Canada (a lot of people have trouble remembering further back than the last race), 5th is his worst-ever actual finish there.   6 wins, 1 3rd, 3 DNFs and now a 5th.

I simply meant he doesn't seem to have the tenacity he's had in years prior.  I suspect it's because, as you said, he's playing the long game.  A fifth in a close race is better than Max'ing and no points at all.  He just isn't able to fight through traffic like he's been in years past. 

I have also grown tired of them complaining about how hard it is to follow.  This isn't new news, but it's like...if you aren't 1sec/lap faster than the mid-pack guy in front of you, they just wait to overtake in pit rotation.  Seems like they're too quick to give up.  I wish there was more pushing, less concern for fuel/tire management.  I'm hopeful that happens in 2019.  As it stands now, as Keith said, we have an excellent battle all across the board.  Couldn't ask for better results for the season-to-date (well, I take that back.....Australia was very bad for Haas, i'd want that one back.  5th and 6th at that race would have them 3 points from McLaren in 6th).

I've said this before, so feel free to ignore - but it's when you have one of the top three teams at the back that you really see the speed differential between the top makes and the others. Carving your way up from 17th to 6th seems to be child's play, then it gets dramatically more difficult because you have to pass Ferraris, Red Bulls and Mercedeseses to get anywhere. Sitting in fifth place means you're probably not going anywhere without doing something clever. Sitting in 12th means you have a bunch of easy passes before you get stuck at 6th, or maybe 5th if you have a compliant teammate.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Nailed it.

In reply to T.J. :

I agree, I just don't see Ric Leaving RB. I would be concerned with the pace of the Honda though. Mercedes is sticking with Bottas and Ferrari will probably will go another year with Kimi. I think Leclerc is still to young for ferrari, maybe he can move to Haas. I read a article about Lewis and Vettel switching teams (not realistic), which would be interesting. Can Vettel drive the Merc style race car and get along with Bottas. Seems as though it would be a better trade for Hamilton.

Ric is in tough spot. It will be interesting to see what he does. I think RB made a good (and logical) call with Honda, but it will likely take them at least a year or two to reap the full benefits. Ric has already stated that he believes his time is now and that he can't afford to wait. Seems Mercedes is not an option for him, so may choose Ferrari as the only viable path...

-chris r.

McLaren have offered Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo $20m (£15m) a year, which would more than triple his salary and make the Australian one of the best paid drivers in F1. (Sport Bild via Guardian)

I can't imagine he will take the deal, but it is interesting and sends Alonso to indycar for sure.

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-ready-to-replace-raikkonen-with-leclerc-1047195/

Just read this. It hints that Le Clerc may get Kimi's seat next year after all. As much as I get a kick out Kimi's press conferences and radio chatter, I like the move to get some young blood in there and hopefully challenge Vettel a bit.

trigun7469 said:

I can't imagine he will take the deal, but it is interesting and sends Alonso to indycar for sure.

Well with RB now going for Honda engines it may be more enticing than it was last week.  I'd still rather see him replace Kimi.

Side note.  I here that Lauda and Toto Wolff have been teasing Christian Horner and Co over how much they signed Max for.  The rumors are that RB threw Max whatever he wanted in terms of salary to stop Merc poaching him.  Lauda and Wolff claim they were never interested in Crashstappen.  

Not a bad race- funny season, though.  Everyone expected lots of passing in Canada, and none at France, and we had a ton of passing in France, and almost none in Canada.  Paul Ricard turned out to be a pretty competitive race, with lots and lots of passes on the track, including some in corners that didn't have DRS ranges.  

I was expecting a snoozer, but other than Hamilton, it was interesting.

Relative to qualifying, Haas has to be the big disappointment- they should have had 2 cars in the top 10, and they got just the one.  Grojean is not doing himself any favors.

Relative to the pace- McLaren and WIlliams... they were racing against each other... for last.  Ugh.

Great weekend for Hamilton.  Just controlled the whole thing.

When will Vettel get the penalty he deserves, a race ban. He screwed almost half the field. Alonso would have had at least a point and many up front, like Ocon, could have had a competitive race. He needs a firm slap. No more Bob Costas footing.

Isn't this pretty much mirroring last season?  Seb started making dimwit moves in the summer, and was never able to recover.  

Nice run for the Red Bulls, good run for Kimi, although leaving him out there so long on his first set of tires was looking a bit wrong.  He probably got as good a finish as he could have, I guess.

Vettel might have been better off running two sets of ultras, but he also got everything that was available to him today.

Rest assured we are a Hamilton house but I'm not that hard on Vettal for the opening lap move, I think Bottas genuinely surprised Vettal who being pretty much committed and  left with few options got it just wrong enough to have it all unravel.........not really a dimwitted move like say hip checking a car on a pace lap. 

Vettal tends to be glory or gory type so not unexpected at all.

In reply to markwemple :

Eh, can't say that was worthy of a race ban from what I saw watching live. I don't think he was driving recklessly, he simply overcooked the corner vying for position. Can't say either that I was upset to see him pick up the penalty and fall to the back, though.

Max really benefitted from that incident more than anyone, picked up a ton of position cutting the corner and held it the rest of the way. Not that I think he should have been penalized, he really didn't have anywhere else to go, but he sure did benefit tremendously. Sometimes you just get lucky, I guess. Bottas, on the other hand...

Vettel v Bottas at least made the rest of the race more interesting with Vettel dicing his way back towards the front and Bottas being Bottas and only sort of working back to the front. (Commentators did say he had some floor damage though)

 I don't think it was 100% a boneheaded move, more like one that just didn't work out. 

If Max had been punished for the cut he made, that would have been a horrible injustice.  He was fourth, second and third crashed, he cut the corner to avoid, and he didn't press Lewis at all coming back on track.  All told, a very good race for Max, I'd say.  No bonehead moves at all!

In reply to Furious_E :

I'm looking at it from a cumulative point of view. He needs serious repercussions. He's worse than Grojean used to be. He impacted about half the Cars with this stunt.

In reply to markwemple :

I'm no Vettle fan myself, but I think you have to judge every individual incident on its own merit, can't do 'make-up calls'. The officiating gets too subjective otherwise. In this particular case, I think the punishment fit the crime. Surely the incident had a large impact on the outcome, but that's part of racing.