F1 Official Thread - Grand Prix of Britain

[Sinner]

Bobby K. just isn't cutting it. Read something about him going to DTM, so that Williams seat might be up for grabs.
Latifi has the funds, but having two kids at Williams seems too risky.

 

[pmtotheam]

Wow, I didn’t expect this.
Now the only realistic options for Hülkenberg are Sauber and Williams. But I think Gio will stay at Sauber. And Latifi will simply buy the second seat at Williams...

Williams can't afford him, and unless Kimi retires, I don't see a spot opening up at Alfa. It's a long shot but the second seat at RBR is pretty much all that's left for him, depending on Albon's performance throughout the rest of the season. I think Alex is going to do fine though so it seems like the end of the line for Hulk in F1.

 

[Sinner]

Kimi's got a 3-year deal, so that's probably not gonna happen. I don't see RBR as an option too cuz they tend to pick from their academy. Pointless to put that much money into their youngsters if they're gonna end up signing outsiders.

 

[D Double]

Shame abou Kubica's comeback not happening but happy he got a try.
I wonder who will get his seat.

Hulkenberg not being in F1 is weird.

Lewis looking like busta rhymes
Only God knows how he decides these styles.

A positive is it helps me know what year it is when i look at older clips.

2020 gonna be full on dreads

 

[D Double]

Remember last year when the pundits said Leclerc couldn't put it all together in qualifying.
Well now he's got the most poles this season. 3 for 3 for Leclerc now and most likely a win as well.

Have to give credit to Ferrari to their aero and spec 3 engine updates.
They were like half a second up in the first sector but not losing as much in the corners anymore.

If Mercedes can't do anything about the straight line speed then it could be Leclerc 2020 WDC at this rate.
Poor Vettel, I think he's done. Leclerc is the real deal.

Mighty lap by Hamilton, very fast sector 3 but not enough to respond to the damage done in sector 1.
Another Hamilton vs Leclerc battle will be entertaining if Mercedes have better race pace but no way to overtake so I'm just expecting second place.
Just collect points till the end.

Bottas

 

[salacious crumb]

Win for Charles? Let’s see what happens after turn 1. Lol.

Anyways, good driving from him. Unexpected for sure. I’d bet my money on Seb and Lewis before he did in getting the pole.

I’m sure Lewis wants to win, but a couple more wins and or second places and he can probably clinch by USA or Mexico?

 

[D Double]

We've seen how aggressive Leclerc is so I can't see him loosing against Lewis into turn 1. Lewis will probably take it easy for the championship and try to get him in the pits or on tyre strategy.

Also don't know why Mercedes wasted a set of mediums in Q1 which gives them less options for the race.It's going to be interesting tomorrow especially since Mercedes seems to all be about race pace now instead of qualifying.

As for the rest of the season, seeing how good Ferrari is here, I can't see how they'll be bad at other tracks.

Should still be comfortable for Hamilton but he'll have to fight for wins.

I hope he gets the title in America. I hate him getting 17th or 9th in Mexico all the time

 

[Sinner]

Charles doing to Seb what Lewis did to Fernando. Changing of the guard. Max vs Charles (and hopefully some others) will be fun to watch.

Good P7 for Carlos... but shame about Lando with the brainfreeze! Kid's pretty hard on himself!

 

[Sinner]

 

[salacious crumb]

We've seen how aggressive Leclerc is so I can't see him loosing against Lewis into turn 1. Lewis will probably take it easy for the championship and try to get him in the pits or on tyre strategy.

Also don't know why Mercedes wasted a set of mediums in Q1 which gives them less options for the race.It's going to be interesting tomorrow especially since Mercedes seems to all be about race pace now instead of qualifying.

As for the rest of the season, seeing how good Ferrari is here, I can't see how they'll be bad at other tracks.

Should still be comfortable for Hamilton but he'll have to fight for wins.

I hope he gets the title in America. I hate him getting 17th or 9th in Mexico all the time

Was it last year or two when Lewis has to get 9th or better to clinch and he did. I think Max won that race. I think it was then 2017 then.

Mercedes is lucky that Charles didn’t get hot at the start or the season or even the middle part.

Lewis can just coast to get more points. Since Bottas is driving like ****. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets passed up and ends up in 3rd or 4th this year.

 

[Sinner]

Looool.

 

[salacious crumb]

I’m sure Lewis will play it safe, unless Charles makes a mistake. He knows (even tho he wants to win) he can just get some good points and it’s his.

Will be a good battle next year if Ferrari gives the same engine/upgrades from the start of the year. It’ll be a good one.

Mercedes (Lewis) has a good chance from race
1 to race 6 to build up that lead.

 

[D Double]

Apparently, Mercedes stopped developing this car in July and is focusing on 2020 car.
Sounds strange since I expect next year's car to be an evolution of this year without any formula changes.

If Mercedes don't have a better engine for next year then Ferrari will probably be favourites.

Suzuka is going to be an important test to see where both cars stand.

 

[Bantz Lord T]

Happy for Vettel, he needed that win. Definitely was not expecting a 1-2 finish for Ferrari coming into the weekend.

3 straight wins for Ferrari since the break

 

[Sinner]

Unhappy bunny, that Charles! Can't blame him, but Ferrari did engineer a 1-2 from a 1-3.
Can't blame Seb for doing everything right.
This really is Lewis/Fernando 2.0.

 

[Sinner]

Formula 1 >>> Manchester United football. ‍

 

[salacious crumb]

Didn’t expect Seb to win but at the same time I think was tied with Lewis as the most wins there.

4-5 for Mercedes sucks but they know the bigger picture is they want Lewis to win the drivers title and they’ve already won the constructors title.

They are probably a little scared after seeing Ferrari win 3 in a row. But I’m sure they are focused in the 2020 car and beyond.

 

[salacious crumb]

 

[Bantz Lord T]

Expect a spicy in-team rivalry between these two. Especially if Ferrari continues improving and carries this kind of momentum into 2020.

 

[salacious crumb]

Really cool helmet that Seb is wearing.

I agree, it looks like Ferrari is looking forward and getting momentum towards 2020. Mercedes and other teams are in trouble if they build a better car in 2020. It’ll be a good season.

It’s pretty much Mercedes year again in the drivers and constructors championship.

If Ferrari had this car and good strategy at the beginning of the year, it definitely would be a toss up. But now, Lewis knows he doesn’t have to win to “win it all”. He just needs points and points.

Even tho at times he was definitely trying to pass and win today. I think he eventually accepted not being in the podium but still getting some good points.

 

[Sinner]

Even Ferrari underestimated how powerful Seb's undercut was. And it was really weird to see a team undercut their own car... but Seb did nothing wrong (he did a great job, in fact), so forcing him to swap would have been unfair to him as well. Damned if you do and damned if you don't. Perhaps it really was 'punishment' for Charles cuz of Monza's Q.

 

[D Double]

Sigh

I had my palm on my face again when I saw Mercedes strategy fail yet again. I get trying to snatch the win by going long and waiting for a safety car and it was funny how all the safety cars all came like London buses towards the end but the risk was still to high for a track where track position is key. Every body knows you need a big delta to overtake on this track.

Feels like a long time since I saw Lewis or a Mercedes win
I really do think they've stopped developing the car and just in cruise and collect mode so the rest of the season may be boring for Merc fans.
Still though, even Red Bull struggled so it could be a case of Singapore tyre struggles especially since Pirelli made big changes to the pressures this race.
They still probably have the best race pace or equal with Ferrari but will struggle in qualifying I think.

I usually don't care but I'm happy for Vettel after all his self inflicted wounds. He needed this a lot but you still have to feel for Leclerc but he shouldn't be too worried. I think he knows he's going to have the advantage for the foreseeable future. I expect him to finish the season in 2nd place.

Only few races ago we were all talking about Max but it seems so quiet now and his third place looks to be going soon and I think he has another penalty. I wonder what him and his dad thinks about their current situation and if it will continue to improve or stay stagnant.

Onto Russia, where I expect Ferrari to win again but should be more straight forward with tyres. Even if Mercedes gets pole, the long start straight will leave them vulnerable.

Lets see if Bottas can work his Russia magic. His race pace hasn't been bad in the last 2 races.

 

[salacious crumb]

I read that if Lewis wins in Russia and at Suzuka, the season is over (50 points) and he will win the title.

I don’t expect that to happen. VB has been good at Russia, he’s won there last year or so. But that was the first few races of the season. Not the tail end.

Ferrari is for sure in attack mode and Mercedes is just on cruise control. Won’t be surprised if a Ferrari front lock out in Russia. Singapore is one my favorites tracks. Maybe because it’s a night race and looks cool.

I remember in 2017, a couple of friends of mine wanted to either go there or Malaysia to watch an F1 race, we decided on Malaysia since it was cheaper (compared to Singapore, which still is relatively expensive) and was the last time they held a race there. Lewis won that one.

I want to check out a race at CoTA tracks but it’s expensive. $500 plus for the weekend tickets? I remember we sat in the grass at Sepang for $12.

I don’t know they if they’ll have another USA street track. I think they wanted to do one in Miami or something. But I don’t have enough money to go there. Might as well save up and go to Monaco. Lol.

 

[pmtotheam]

I want to check out a race at CoTA tracks but it’s expensive. $500 plus for the weekend tickets? I remember we sat in the grass at Sepang for $12.

I don’t know they if they’ll have another USA street track. I think they wanted to do one in Miami or something. But I don’t have enough money to go there. Might as well save up and go to Monaco. Lol.

GA at CoTA is about $200 for the weekend, and actual seats can be had for under $300 for the weekend. I got spoiled by Montreal this year with some great seats, that was way more reasonably priced all around.

 

[Sinner]

I know Charles and Ferrari were going slow and controlling the pace... but didn't realize they were going +3-4s off of their normal pace, which is crazy.

I think it's unfair to criticize the teams for their strategy... cuz hindsight is always 20-20 and Monday morning QB and all that, but Merc and Ferrari were both caught off guard by how effective the undercut was. It's easy to say they should have done the undercut, but at the same time, there's always the risk of coming out behind traffic and getting compromised. IIRC, Ferrari only called Seb in early to cover Max... so in a way, they sorta lucked out with that situation. Of course they could have swapped spots, but I guess that's a different story for a different day.