*** The official Formula One 2015-16 off season thread ***
Discussion
The trouble with stories as presented with the tabloids is that the gist of the story gets lost in the headlines.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122813
He is only making the obvious point that F1 has become a layer cake of drivers racing their teammates rather than for a championship. Without a wheel having turned this season, we already have a pretty good idea who will win both of them.
That has to be a huge turn off. Potential new fans get their kicks playing Grand Theft Auto, how is F1 ever going to attract them?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122813
He is only making the obvious point that F1 has become a layer cake of drivers racing their teammates rather than for a championship. Without a wheel having turned this season, we already have a pretty good idea who will win both of them.
That has to be a huge turn off. Potential new fans get their kicks playing Grand Theft Auto, how is F1 ever going to attract them?
Speed Badger said:
Mercedes want a German driver to win with them and they know they are not going to be top dog for much longer, probably. They know Rosberg is not good enough to beat Hamilton, so that leaves two choices; get rid of Hamilton, or get rid of Rosberg and replace with a German who can beat him.
Rosberg is only really German by choice anyway. He grew up in Monaco (still lives there), his dad's Finnish and he's got both German and Finnish passports. He's raced with both flags on his cars at various times.I for one would love to see Wehrlein and Hamilton in the same team.
Scuffers said:
Speed Badger said:
Mercedes want a German driver to win with them and they know they are not going to be top dog for much longer, probably. They know Rosberg is not good enough to beat Hamilton, so that leaves two choices; get rid of Hamilton, or get rid of Rosberg and replace with a German who can beat him.
and that's one tough call....Mercedes are not daft better to win with a British driver in their car than risk losing to a British driver in an Italian car.
patmahe said:
The problem is, Hamilton is unlikely to end up in a bad team if you let him go, maybe Ferrari or similar, Ferrari were only very slightly behind Mercedes at the end of last season so its not inconceivable that you would end up losing the championship to the driver you let go so you look like a complete mug.
Mercedes are not daft better to win with a British driver in their car than risk losing to a British driver in an Italian car.
Quite.Mercedes are not daft better to win with a British driver in their car than risk losing to a British driver in an Italian car.
Personally I think Lewis will quit at the end of his current contract and either go and be "Lewis the brand" - a bit like Beckham, or go for Indy & Le Mans to get a triple - which I would have a lot of respect for.
Vaud said:
Personally I think Lewis will quit at the end of his current contract and either go and be "Lewis the brand" - a bit like Beckham, or go for Indy & Le Mans to get a triple - which I would have a lot of respect for.
Interesting. I'd never consider Hamilton for an endurance racer.He does like motorbikes... interesting to think of him doing some races in those after his F1 days are up.
RichB said:
Megaflow said:
pincher said:
From the Sun today. Oops 
Red Bull's... 
Nothing like as much of a turn off as watching Fingers win everything for four years with the help of team orders.
RichB said:
Megaflow said:
pincher said:
From the Sun today. Oops
Red Bull's... Nothing like as much of a turn off as watching Fingers win everything for four years with the help of team orders.I'd have preferred Fred to have taken one or two and Mark to have had at least one. The opportunities were there.
deadslow said:
to be fair the Red Bull WDCs were nothing like as dominant as the Merc era. Fair enough if you don't support Vettel and don't want him to win, but the seasons were not as boring as the last couple of years. I think at least two were decided on the last day between 2 or 3 drivers from two different teams.
I'd have preferred Fred to have taken one or two and Mark to have had at least one. The opportunities were there.
Can't agree with that, Vettel wrapped the championship up pretty early on at least one occasion definitely earlier than Hamilton did last year and the year before it went down to the last race with genuine racing between team mates. Of course it is better if more than one constructor is involved until the end, but that is rare.I'd have preferred Fred to have taken one or two and Mark to have had at least one. The opportunities were there.
deadslow said:
to be fair the Red Bull WDCs were nothing like as dominant as the Merc era.
Am I allowed to respectfully say I disagree with you or will you tell me I'm wrong? I can well remember Vettel pulling out a second a lap for the first 10 laps and then pitching his mark and staying there. I can remember Hamilton, who in fairness had a pretty good view of the back of Vettel's Red Bull, saying there was absolutely nothing he could do about it and watching that Red Bull simply drag away from the corners because it had so much more grip than anything else... IMO Red Bull and Vettel were dominant for 4 years probably totally dominant for at least 2 of those. RichB said:
Am I allowed to respectfully say I disagree with you or will you tell me I'm wrong? I can well remember Vettel pulling out a second a lap for the first 10 laps and then pitching his mark and staying there. I can remember Hamilton, who in fairness had a pretty good view of the back of Vettel's Red Bull, saying there was absolutely nothing he could do about it and watching that Red Bull simply drag away from the corners because it had so much more grip than anything else... IMO Red Bull and Vettel were dominant for 4 years probably totally dominant for at least 2 of those.
2010 went down to the last race with 4 drivers able to secure the title - so not dominant.2012 was also close - I'd forgotten how close ALO was at the end.
Vaud said:
RichB said:
Am I allowed to respectfully say I disagree with you or will you tell me I'm wrong? I can well remember Vettel pulling out a second a lap for the first 10 laps and then pitching his mark and staying there. I can remember Hamilton, who in fairness had a pretty good view of the back of Vettel's Red Bull, saying there was absolutely nothing he could do about it and watching that Red Bull simply drag away from the corners because it had so much more grip than anything else... IMO Red Bull and Vettel were dominant for 4 years probably totally dominant for at least 2 of those.
2010 went down to the last race with 4 drivers able to secure the title - so not dominant.2012 was also close - I'd forgotten how close ALO was at the end.
deadslow said:
Yep, had things gone just a little bit differently Alonso could/would have nicked a couple of titles. As I think has been said many times, he is only 8 championship points off having become a 5 times WDC.
Must wrankle with him when he thinks about it. Shame for him he wasn't in a Red Bull 
RichB said:
deadslow said:
Yep, had things gone just a little bit differently Alonso could/would have nicked a couple of titles. As I think has been said many times, he is only 8 championship points off having become a 5 times WDC.
Must wrankle with him when he thinks about it. Shame for him he wasn't in a Red Bull Vaud said:
RichB said:
Am I allowed to respectfully say I disagree with you or will you tell me I'm wrong? I can well remember Vettel pulling out a second a lap for the first 10 laps and then pitching his mark and staying there. I can remember Hamilton, who in fairness had a pretty good view of the back of Vettel's Red Bull, saying there was absolutely nothing he could do about it and watching that Red Bull simply drag away from the corners because it had so much more grip than anything else... IMO Red Bull and Vettel were dominant for 4 years probably totally dominant for at least 2 of those.
2010 went down to the last race with 4 drivers able to secure the title - so not dominant.2012 was also close - I'd forgotten how close ALO was at the end.
bullies180 said:
or 2010 reliability might have been a problem, but they did score 15 poles that season between the red bull drivers, which could be why people think of the 2010 red bull as a pretty dominant car in terms of performance even though the seasons results could suggest otherwise.
Fair point - interesting. My overriding memory was the final race, I had forgotten their pole success.Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff