Official 2019 Chinese Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***
Discussion
rscott said:
Deesee said:
There is serious consideration under way that not only are Merc the best run/managed team in f1 (and possibly all time F1), but they may well be the best run sports team of all time.
They seem to have set a bar so high, let’s hope the others can follow the discipline and continual improvement shown, step up & give these guys a run for their money.
An example of their confidence in their own abilities - the double stack pit stop yesterday.They seem to have set a bar so high, let’s hope the others can follow the discipline and continual improvement shown, step up & give these guys a run for their money.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1117357178791321601?...
Edit. Sometimes you miss things 1st 2nd time round, Merc have two guys cleaning the front wing in the box (I can only assume for discarded rubber), attention to detail eh!
Edited by Deesee on Monday 15th April 18:54
t?rscott said:
An example of their confidence in their own abilities - the double stack pit stop yesterday.
https://twitter.com/F1/status/1117357178791321601?...
That was pretty much the highlight of the race for me - brilliantly and calmly executed.https://twitter.com/F1/status/1117357178791321601?...
Deesee said:
Indeed, risking a 1/2... timed to perfection
Edit. Sometimes you miss things 1st 2nd time round, Merc have two guys cleaning the front wing in the box (I can only assume for discarded rubber), attention to detail eh!
Watching that pit stop was a highlight of the race for me. (That’s not meant to be damming with faint praise.) The drivers are spinning up the rear wheels as the jack is being pulled out of the way. Edit. Sometimes you miss things 1st 2nd time round, Merc have two guys cleaning the front wing in the box (I can only assume for discarded rubber), attention to detail eh!
Edited by Deesee on Monday 15th April 18:54
Mr Dendrite said:
JonChalk said:
Yes, and FE, and IndyCar, and MotoGP, all in the same weekend. Excellent.
Slacker, you didn’t watch World SuperBike from Assen? I don’t know some people make no effort 
...so yes, lightweight ;-)
JonChalk said:
Dr Slotter said:
The real fans were watching all of that on a mobile device whilst at Croft for the BARC meeting...
You win!! Can't top that.
(Thank god I’m divorced, I’d never fit this all in
)Although we sat down together to watch the F1 over breakfast, before we went partying. I watch F1 because we watched it together when I was a lad. It was a great day.
Edited by Mr Dendrite on Monday 15th April 19:59
Dr Slotter said:
Mr Dendrite said:
Slacker, you didn’t watch World SuperBike from Assen? I don’t know some people make no effort
The real fans were watching all of that on a mobile device whilst at Croft for the BARC meeting...37chevy said:
Pah! Amateurs. Saturday, F1 qually off to Oulton for BRSCC, FE, Blancpain GT4, Sportsclub on phone, Indycar qually and IMSA in the evening Sunday, F1, WSBK, Blancpain GT4, Sportsclub, Blancpain GT3, ELMS, American GT4 then Indycar. Oh and Formula Renault/ Euronascar on catchup.
You’re not married either, are you? Or you have the best wife in the world, ever!Gad-Westy said:
thegreenhell said:
I wonder how the future will view the current hybrid era with those rose-tinted glasses?
I've loved some of the racing over the last few years. I think there have been far duller eras in F1 than the present. And despite the Merc dominance we have had some close title fights too. Lots of boring races of course but interspersed with some absolute crackers. It has always been so in my own experience (93ish onward) or actually you might say on track action has probably been far better in recent years at least in terms of cars being able to pass each other on track. Yes, a bit contrived with DRS but still overtaking. There are certain things I'd like to see change but I think my rose tinted specs tend to blend all the best bits from recent years into one package that never truly existed at the same time. I don't remember ever being on the edge of my seat for race after race. It just doesn't happen. It's a highly technological sport that has as much unpredictability ironed out of it as possible by very clever engineers and technology.
I do worry a bit about the general following of F1 though, in the UK at least. It's a bit concerning just how niche it is becoming. It's really quite rare that I speak to anyone in real life now who is a F1 fan. Even among petrolheads, it's quite unusual. I'm working in an office at present that does a lot of R&D for the automotive industry, some of it feeding into motorsport inc. F1. The place is full of very geeky petrolheads and yet probably 10% if that watch F1. I would have had them down as prime audience.
I've seen that shift happen really quickly over the last 10 years or so. Not sure it's even just the whole Sky thing but it has put a bit of a barrier in place to restoring that interest.
Anyway, these doom and gloom posts come about every single time we have a poor race. Soon forgotten when we have a classic. And like most sports you have to have a bit of tedium to make the exciting stuff special.
Edited by Gad-Westy on Monday 15th April 18:06
Deesee said:
There is serious consideration under way that not only are Merc the best run/managed team in f1 (and possibly all time F1), but they may well be the best run sports team of all time.
They seem to have set a bar so high, let’s hope the others can follow the discipline and continual improvement shown, step up & give these guys a run for their money.
Audi/Joest/Ullrich in Sports Cars was a fairly decent combination ;-)They seem to have set a bar so high, let’s hope the others can follow the discipline and continual improvement shown, step up & give these guys a run for their money.
schmalex said:
Gad-Westy said:
thegreenhell said:
I wonder how the future will view the current hybrid era with those rose-tinted glasses?
I've loved some of the racing over the last few years. I think there have been far duller eras in F1 than the present. And despite the Merc dominance we have had some close title fights too. Lots of boring races of course but interspersed with some absolute crackers. It has always been so in my own experience (93ish onward) or actually you might say on track action has probably been far better in recent years at least in terms of cars being able to pass each other on track. Yes, a bit contrived with DRS but still overtaking. There are certain things I'd like to see change but I think my rose tinted specs tend to blend all the best bits from recent years into one package that never truly existed at the same time. I don't remember ever being on the edge of my seat for race after race. It just doesn't happen. It's a highly technological sport that has as much unpredictability ironed out of it as possible by very clever engineers and technology.
I do worry a bit about the general following of F1 though, in the UK at least. It's a bit concerning just how niche it is becoming. It's really quite rare that I speak to anyone in real life now who is a F1 fan. Even among petrolheads, it's quite unusual. I'm working in an office at present that does a lot of R&D for the automotive industry, some of it feeding into motorsport inc. F1. The place is full of very geeky petrolheads and yet probably 10% if that watch F1. I would have had them down as prime audience.
I've seen that shift happen really quickly over the last 10 years or so. Not sure it's even just the whole Sky thing but it has put a bit of a barrier in place to restoring that interest.
Anyway, these doom and gloom posts come about every single time we have a poor race. Soon forgotten when we have a classic. And like most sports you have to have a bit of tedium to make the exciting stuff special.
Edited by Gad-Westy on Monday 15th April 18:06
But I'd only have to go back two weeks to nominate a race that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish.
37chevy said:
Pah! Amateurs. Saturday, F1 qually off to Oulton for BRSCC, FE, Blancpain GT4, Sportsclub on phone, Indycar qually and IMSA in the evening Sunday, F1, WSBK, Blancpain GT4, Sportsclub, Blancpain GT3, ELMS, American GT4 then Indycar. Oh and Formula Renault/ Euronascar/ le Mans Cup on catchup.
No V8 Supercars? Amateur schmalex said:
Interesting. When was the last time we had a classic F1 race with genuine edge of the seat action from start to finish?
The 'classic' F1 races are not edge of the seat stuff. The classic race has three major phases: the start, the middle, the end. The start is the settling of positions when there're a lot of cars mixing in in the same space. Then there was the middle, where the tactics are revealed, or, better still, not quite revealed. The final bit is the denouement. Bahrain was a classic F1 race, and there were bits of edge of the seat moments, spread fairly evenly across the race. The start was exciting, the middle bit gave us lots of excitement with the middle of the grid battles, but they were mainly spaced apart. The end was a rollercoaster. Leclerk's loss was pathos personified. Then the two Renaults. Then the pace car. Vertappen's inability to challenge for a podium. It was a classic.
We are in an exciting era for F1. There have been many poor races in the 'old days'. There have been many dull seasons.
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