The Official 2017 Australian Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**
Discussion
I am starting to have the same feeling towards F1 as I do towards motoring shows they have all become far to sanitized and far too safe and I am not talking about driver safety here.
F1 is virtually over by the first corner or after the first pit stop these days and I was hoping for more given the car changes but it has something missing . It seems clear if Bottas had been on the front row Hamilton would have scampered off into the distance and I still expect that to happen more often than not this season.
F1 is virtually over by the first corner or after the first pit stop these days and I was hoping for more given the car changes but it has something missing . It seems clear if Bottas had been on the front row Hamilton would have scampered off into the distance and I still expect that to happen more often than not this season.
Let's be honest Oz is never great for overtaking but I think that was worse than many feared.
As I said earlier, the combination of better tyres and the new aero and looking at the race calendar I think you're probably down to <5 or so races where you have the chance of a decent race (excluding weather).
China
Canada
USA
If you get some weather thrown in then the following should be decent
UK
Spa
Brazil
Might be missing some so anyone feel free to input thoughts.
As I said earlier, the combination of better tyres and the new aero and looking at the race calendar I think you're probably down to <5 or so races where you have the chance of a decent race (excluding weather).
China
Canada
USA
If you get some weather thrown in then the following should be decent
UK
Spa
Brazil
Might be missing some so anyone feel free to input thoughts.
Edited by London424 on Monday 27th March 09:30
funkyrobot said:
Andy S15 said:
Processional, but ever so slightly refreshing. That feeling will wear off in a couple of races.
Something that annoyed me mildly was lack of commentary relating to Max's brakes. The director was focusing on Max for quite a while and even showing a number of close ups of the brake dust, yet nether of the commentary team mentioned it at all? Were they even watching the feed they are commenting on?
The Channel 4 team picked up on the brakes.Something that annoyed me mildly was lack of commentary relating to Max's brakes. The director was focusing on Max for quite a while and even showing a number of close ups of the brake dust, yet nether of the commentary team mentioned it at all? Were they even watching the feed they are commenting on?
Oh yes, in terms of commentary teams. I caught a bit of the Sky feed for qualifying. Crofty (if that's his name) is annoying. Constantly trying to make jokes that he thinks are funny.
On the C4 side of things, Ben Edwards really grates me now. I put up with his shouty style for a while. However, last year and now this year it's really noticeable and really annoying.
Edited by funkyrobot on Monday 27th March 09:05
Poor soul`s at a bit of a loose end,he`s spent the last few seasons with his nose fimly planted against Rosbergs bum hole,now he`s experiencing a period of mourning with the evident commentary void.
I`m at a loss why on earth has Pat Symonds popped up on the Sky team ? No doubt a nice chap but for the duration of Australia he looked at a loss.. as though he'd just surfaced from a period of cryogenic suspension and was baffled by the bright lights.
Driller said:
bobbo89 said:
Driller said:
I think you misunderstood (or was it me?). I took took Leggy's question to mean "why does the technical specification agreed with the FIA mean the cars run better in clean air".
My assumption is that this feeds a whole lucrative industry evolved to develop aerodynamics including all the financial offshoots or something similar in principle.
(Actually, after rereading your answer it doesn't make sense as surely you'd need to overtake to get to the front and because of the aero you can't overtake?)
My point was that if you create a car that runs well in dirty air, it'll be sMy assumption is that this feeds a whole lucrative industry evolved to develop aerodynamics including all the financial offshoots or something similar in principle.
(Actually, after rereading your answer it doesn't make sense as surely you'd need to overtake to get to the front and because of the aero you can't overtake?)
te in clean air so even once you've managed an overtake, your just going to get overtaken again.bobbo89 said:
jsf said:
You cant make a car that works better in dirty air than it does in clean air, its a physical impossibility.
What you can do is allow active aero, that negates the effect of dirty air, only allowing that to be enabled when the car is running in dirty air.
That's what DRS does on the straights, but its of no use in the corners.
Basically this ^^^What you can do is allow active aero, that negates the effect of dirty air, only allowing that to be enabled when the car is running in dirty air.
That's what DRS does on the straights, but its of no use in the corners.
Why would a team design a car to run well but only when its running behind another car?
It just needs the necessary spec from the FIA enforcing surely? They seem very good at enforcing all sorts of other specification, some of which seems either pointless or downright mad.
Again it could be technical ignorance on my part but I still don't see a good explanation as to why this can't be done.
Driller said:
Why would you not want this? Brilliant, that's what we want to see, positions changing all the time, they should enforce this kind of aero immediately.
They tried that in Indycar, it was utterly tedious cars passing then re-passing lap after lap after lap after lap after lap............ an overtake meant absolutely nothing. They scrapped that idea when they realised how crap it was.dr_gn said:
Evilex said:
Just trying to watch it on catch-up. I get 4 secs of the c4 logo, 8 seconds of the titles, a quick flash of the beginning of the kayak advertising, and it resets to the menu.
Rinse, repeat on each successive attempt. Laughably poor.
It's fine - youre watching the highlights show there - in full. Basically it was so bad there was nothing to show.Rinse, repeat on each successive attempt. Laughably poor.
It's probably because I'm using an unusual platform no-one's ever heard of with a tiny user base. Playstation. [/]sarcasm
jsf said:
Driller said:
Why would you not want this? Brilliant, that's what we want to see, positions changing all the time, they should enforce this kind of aero immediately.
They tried that in Indycar, it was utterly tedious cars passing then re-passing lap after lap after lap after lap after lap............ an overtake meant absolutely nothing. They scrapped that idea when they realised how crap it was.This formula looks like it will be a return to the days of winning via pitstop.
Tedious, boring, repetitive, not as good as last year's version... and I'm just talking about this thread 
The actual F1 race I watched was pretty good as far as I'm concerned. Having expected Hamilton to stroll off into the distance, it was great to see Vettel keeping tabs on him.
I also had the excitement/tension of wondering when Alonso's car would blow up, and was mightily surprised to see him hold 10th place until near the end.
The actual F1 race I watched was pretty good as far as I'm concerned. Having expected Hamilton to stroll off into the distance, it was great to see Vettel keeping tabs on him.
I also had the excitement/tension of wondering when Alonso's car would blow up, and was mightily surprised to see him hold 10th place until near the end.
Driller said:
Why would you not want this? Brilliant, that's what we want to see, positions changing all the time, they should enforce this kind of aero immediately.
As jsf says, this would just be manufactured racing and a false spectacle. Driller said:
Seriously, they don't have to make it work better in dirty air when it's behind a car, they just have to make it so that it's no worse. Then when it gets close behind and in the slipstream, it can overtake.
It just needs the necessary spec from the FIA enforcing surely? They seem very good at enforcing all sorts of other specification, some of which seems either pointless or downright mad.
Again it could be technical ignorance on my part but I still don't see a good explanation as to why this can't be done.
A car will always be worse in dirty air than clean air, we cant alter physics! It just needs the necessary spec from the FIA enforcing surely? They seem very good at enforcing all sorts of other specification, some of which seems either pointless or downright mad.
Again it could be technical ignorance on my part but I still don't see a good explanation as to why this can't be done.
As others have said, you can alter the amount of dirty air a car creates but that is effectively just playing around with aero rules which has been done for years.
Only real option to me is push to pass buttons which turn the engines up to 11 for a short burst at the potential cost of reliability (think we already have this though).
Edited by bobbo89 on Monday 27th March 10:28
I must have been watching a different race. I can't remember the last time we had such a frantic first stint in the last six years. I found the fight at the front enthralling. After Vettel got ahead, it settled down a bit, but Bottas was on a charge and Max too was on a charge.
I felt that TV direction missed a lot of the action in the midfield, so when they actually showed some wheel-to-wheel racing the viewer had little or no context. It would be great if the TV director/commentary team would establish the racing that goes on through the midfield in the first stint, so when they show some overtakes later on in the race when the order at the front has settled, the viewer has some context to appreciate the racing.
Overall, it felt like drivers could really make a difference. Vettel and Hamilton looked on another level to their team mates pulling away at over half a second per lap in the first stint. There's no way Vettel would have won the race if he wasn't able to push that much in the first stint. And there's no way Vettel would have been able to track Hamilton so well, if the dirty air effect is as exaggerated as it is claimed. I'm sorry, only the Merc seems to suffer from it and that's not the fault of the regulations. Hamilton complaining about not being able to get past was a deja vu to last year when the same thing happened, the only difference was Max was on a Toro Rosso last year.
I felt that TV direction missed a lot of the action in the midfield, so when they actually showed some wheel-to-wheel racing the viewer had little or no context. It would be great if the TV director/commentary team would establish the racing that goes on through the midfield in the first stint, so when they show some overtakes later on in the race when the order at the front has settled, the viewer has some context to appreciate the racing.
Overall, it felt like drivers could really make a difference. Vettel and Hamilton looked on another level to their team mates pulling away at over half a second per lap in the first stint. There's no way Vettel would have won the race if he wasn't able to push that much in the first stint. And there's no way Vettel would have been able to track Hamilton so well, if the dirty air effect is as exaggerated as it is claimed. I'm sorry, only the Merc seems to suffer from it and that's not the fault of the regulations. Hamilton complaining about not being able to get past was a deja vu to last year when the same thing happened, the only difference was Max was on a Toro Rosso last year.
V41LEY said:
Hats off to Bernie for making it what it has become but good races these days are few and far between.
For pity's sake, they always were few and far between! This rose tinted view that so many people have about the good old days is complete rubbish - they never existed. Ever since I was a child (I'm now mid-40s) F1 was known as a way of catching some sleep after Sunday lunch (which shows how long ago that was because most of the races used to be in Europe...). You'd watch the start, doze off for an hour or so and wake up for the end. I well remember the days of around 6-8 finishers, of which only three would be on the same lap if you were lucky. If you remember loads of thrilling races with cars scrapping for the lead and the winner in doubt until the last lap you weren't watching F1. Formula Ford 1600, yes, but never F1.
I didn't watch this race. I decided to stop working in F1 at the end of last year and I was delighted to spent the weekend working in the garden instead. I will watch my recording of the MotoGP tonight though.
London424 said:
Let's be honest Oz is never great for overtaking but I think that was worse than many feared.
If it's no good for 'overtaking', then like many other circuits, by default - it's no good for 'racing' either. If anybody thought Monaco was a poor 'racing' spectacle, just wait until these wider cars show up.
Ironing board sales are gonna go through the roof.
FourWheelDrift said:
Silverbullet767 said:
Can anyone tell me when the last time the national anthems didn't include the German one?
Twice last year.Malaysian GP, Ricciardo & Red Bull
Spanish GP, Verstappen & Red Bull
Before those:
Belgian GP 2014, Ricciardo & Red Bull.
Evilex said:
dr_gn said:
Evilex said:
Just trying to watch it on catch-up. I get 4 secs of the c4 logo, 8 seconds of the titles, a quick flash of the beginning of the kayak advertising, and it resets to the menu.
Rinse, repeat on each successive attempt. Laughably poor.
It's fine - youre watching the highlights show there - in full. Basically it was so bad there was nothing to show.Rinse, repeat on each successive attempt. Laughably poor.
It's probably because I'm using an unusual platform no-one's ever heard of with a tiny user base. Playstation. [/]sarcasm
The first few episodes went fine. It then started messing around if the episode was around 2 hours long. It would stop randomly, say the video was unavailable, and when I loaded it back up, it would continue.
It then developed an issue where it would stop, I would load it back up, it would play until the ads, then when it came back from the ads it would be where it stopped previously.
The final nail in the coffin was when it stopped after ten or so minutes, I would load it back up, find where I was previously, it would run for a minute then stop again.
I gave up, went to the iPad version and it runs fine on there.
Interestingly, I thought I would load up the Australia quali prog on the Roku and see if they had fixed it this year. It got as far as Claire Williams at the start, stopped, then played again as far as Claire Williams, stopped then went back again.
It's odd really as I've watched other things on All4 just fine. The F1 is seriously buggered on there if you aren't using a mainstream device. Looks like it won't be fixed either.
Has anybody heard or read anything about Hamilton's question to his his engineer about damage to the floor of his car? I can't see any mention of it and Hamilton doesn't appear to have mentioned it any post-race interviews.
There was a point in the race shortly before he pitted where the gap to Vettel halved from around 1.6 to 0.8 seconds very quickly and I wondered if he may have run wide somewhere and that's why he was asking?
May just have been his tyres going off and/or Vettel upping his pace, or a back marker, but the gap dropped very quickly.
There was a point in the race shortly before he pitted where the gap to Vettel halved from around 1.6 to 0.8 seconds very quickly and I wondered if he may have run wide somewhere and that's why he was asking?
May just have been his tyres going off and/or Vettel upping his pace, or a back marker, but the gap dropped very quickly.
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