2016 F 1 starting today..

Unfortunately, for me , it seems Mercedes qualified 1-2 with Hamilton clearly faster. Then Sebastian and Kimi, 3-4. I have nothing against Mercedes or Ferrari, was just hoping for a bit more competition. Obviously it is too early to tell but I get this feeling.........................................! In Spain last moth Mercedes did it's practice runs on medium compounds, everyone else on softs ans super softs. That is confidence.. I am betting a whole quid on Lewis to win. But australia brings surprises.


Gaines

 

A small but true anecdote - the phone rang a couple of Saturdays ago & a guy said that my subscription to 'F1 Magazine' had expired ( actually nearly a year ago....) and would I like to renew at a special price...?

I told him that I had absolutely no problem with the magazine, but sadly just couldn't raise a huge amount of interest in F1 itself these days. He actually sighed and told me that he was hearing that from a lot of people.

 

"He actually sighed and told me that he was hearing that from a lot of people"
Folks have complained about the non competitiveness of F1 for some time. The tech is interesting, but the races...not so much.

 

There's a story today about Sydney wanting to take the F1 off Melbourne...saying that F1s screaming across Sydney harbour bridge and around the Opera House would look awesome...probably would...

 

What an absolute cluster-F that qualifying was.

F1 cars now more interesting on things like Guy Martin's little programme than during the actual events. (F1 Slalom - damned fine.)

Let the teams build cars and the drivers race them.
Can it be that complicated...

 

It's a shame that the competitive Hass F1-Team joins the scene when the series is boring and the cars aren't fascinating any more.
I would have loved to see the F1 in the 80ies and 90ies on a lot of more tracks in the USA with more american drivers and teams. There are some really challenging circuits over there.

Most of the new tracks may attract a lot of media interest in Asia, where they have no comparison with the golden days of Formula 1. But for real F1-Fans the races are boring and it seems, that everbody can drive a F1-car today, even teenagers. And most races are in countries with little possibilities for wet conditions.

 

Kimi is doing pretty well this season. Nico might have a chance now to win Championship, but we´ll see.

Kimi says what he wants anyway. After driving some ten practice laps in China with tyres that did not suit the asphalt, he simply said "Have you had enough! This is absolute c***!" into the radio....

 

Nice to see Ferrari so close to Mercedes, finally some competition. And Red Bull, I recall they got Ferrari´s engines from last year?

 

if I may ask a question..what country do you think is tops in racing? racing most popular in what country? thanks any replies

 

According to top gear, racing is very popular in Finnland. And unlike Germany or Great Britain, a lot of amateurs are racing just for fun.

Since the 80ies, there are always great finnish drivers in the WRC and the Formula 1, i think Keke Rosberg and Stig Blomquist were the first of the crazy finns who actually won a world championship.

 

At least compared to the number of people in the country I think we are very close if not No 1.

Ari Vatanen has won the Dakar rally four times and I bet they know him better in France than in Finland...

 

It's quite amazing to see the 'humble' Blancpain GT championship causing some heart-searching ( although not that humble - after years of slow progress, this year has semi-works teams from Audi, Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and BMW ) but last weekend's Monza race has caused much internet discussion.....

It was a three hour race with 33 cars taking the start, and the last 40 minutes of the race saw the leading two cars never more than 0.4secs apart and in the final lap the gap was 0.15 secs . The tension was almost unbearable to watch and was made more interesting by the difference between the winning mid-engine McLaren and 2nd place front-engine Mercedes. The grim expressions in the Mercedes pit made it clear that they're taking things very seriously indeed......

Have to say though - great TV !

 

Am I to take it from varied sources that F1 might actually be worth watching again this year?
My cynicism and the last several years causes some hesitation.

 

I've given up but mrs is happy as she's a Rosberg fan.
I half watched the last race, seemed quite a bit of action but wasn't that fussed .

 

Ecclestone and Andretti speak :
http://www.foxsports.com/motor/story/f1-women-race-drivers-bernie-ecclestone-mario-andretti-042016
F1 would be very interesting with women drivers.
Who is prettier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LXDEPrIr9I

 

Here is Nikki Lauda on modern F1 -by Chuck Tannert @ The Drive
http://www.thedrive.com/accelerator/3244/niki-lauda-on-modern-f1-drivers-need-more-ego-less-moaning

 

Mercedes in panic excet for Nico?

 

Sorry guys, in my opinion F1 = watching paint dry.

WRC is exciting driving.

 

Finally a truly great F 1 race ! Hate to see Rosberg and Hamilton crash out but it made the race. Red Bull has vastly improved, Ferrari while good has slipped a bit and Renault has a new engione coming. But the outstanding thing to me was Max Versetten's race. An 18 year old Dutchman in his first time in a Red Bull goes out and drives a perfect race to win. . kimi almost won and would have been fine with that but was excited to watch Max 's victory. After the Mercedes went out I though surely Vettel would win but seed a bit off all weekend but showed moments in the face then slowed, relatively speaking. Now how to keep Mercedes off the tract!!!! seriously they are still the best. I just hope the others become more competitive.

 

Although it was good to see Max on the top step of the podium but being the cynic I am , I think Red Bull changed Ricciardo's strategy as it would make better headlines to see Max win , being youngest ever F1 winner in his debut for Red Bull.