The 2018 Season

[Penfold]

Monaco 2017 showing compromised by not having Alonso and because Van Door, who had been seventh in Q2, decided to hit the wall before Q3 even began.  If you take qualifying performance in Hungary & Singapore, the other obviously low-power circuits, I'd say McLaren had the fourth best aero/chassis package last year.  The Honda engine really was shite in 2017, it ran out of hybrid power before the end of long straights and it had a life expectancy of about eight hours; this year, Honda's offering has improved markedly and McLaren has gone the other way.

Talking of McLaren's 2018 woes, they have aero issues which don't show up in the wind tunnel: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-cant-see-key-aero-problem-in-testing-1047361/

Basically, this year's aero effort is crap.  The car seems to produce good downforce at high speed but you can see from the mph numbers that the car is incredibly draggy, it's also not working that well right now in slow- or mid-speed corners.  Apart from that, everything's fine.

[Penfold]

Imagine that. Germany kicked out in the group stage. I think we can. We have a real solid defense, haven't let a goal past us for 3-4 games. If we secure the defense, we just need to be lucky up front once. Or, you know, 0-0/1-1 is still pretty neat for us.

Should've been 1-1.  Last ten minutes made for unpleasant (but somewhat familiar) viewing: Despite being a man up your boys were sat (stuck) deep in their own half with an overwhelming urge to give the ball back to the Germans as quickly as possible, and to cede needless free kicks just outside the penalty box... it was like watching England play.


F1: I feel like I've said this before, but apparently Renault is now finally ready to introduce its new MGU-K: http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/137020?_ga=2.229396892.1050451900.1529923272-462676180.1476909048

[Chrill]

Well, yes, the final free kick was very unnecessary to give them. Oh well, we only need to win 1-0 to Mexico and we're through anyway. 3 points today, that's all we need.

[Penfold]

Congrats!  And as a massive bonus we see Germany dumped out of the World Cup... what a great pair of results. 

[Chrill]

It was lovely indeed. I've rarely seen Sweden so totally dismantle a proper nation. That Mexico game was obviously not supposed to finish 3-0 (and a more fair result was perhaps 2-0) but the truth is Mexico only ever had one proper chance to score while we had several.

Switzerland up next, half their defense is having to miss the game due to yellow cards. Poor guys. We can take them down. On paper, they're easier to beat than Mexico. Then, we may just face the English. Oh boy, that's a battle.

[Penfold]

Seems that quarter final match is on.  Can't believe Belgium fell for it....

[Chrill]

I'd love to have a chance at the English at their own game! Well, first we must play sixth-ranked team Switzerland who tied with Brazil. We're definitely on the lucky side of the last 16, but then again it's the last 16 so there's no easy draw.

[Penfold]

Play like you did against Mexico and the Swiss shouldn't be an issue; I reckon Colombia for us will be a tougher contest - although we are generally playing better these days under Southgate's stewardship.

Oh yeah, F1... umm, grid drop for Vettel after he impeded Sainz in Q3.  Seb now starting from sixth place.

[Chrill]

Bummer for Ferrari fans, including Chrill, but it's definitely a fair penalty. Here's hoping Raikkonen (just kidding!) can have a go at the Mercedes. Perhaps nudge Hamilton in the "right" direction at the start.

Leclerc drops 5 places with a gearbox penalty, yet still lines up in front of Ericsson on the grid. Why is that? Because Ericsson was even crappier than normal in quali.

[Penfold]

I'm not a Ferrari fan but I am tired of Mercedes winning.  Sadly not even a chance of rain to spice things up for us so we're down to your fantasy scenario of Kimi having a pop at the Mercs, unless Mad Max or Grosjean do something a little bit crazy... but what are the odds of that?

[Matt]

Spot-on prediction.

[Chrill]

adhdfdhusfhdusfhdusfhdaus Bottas was my weekly.

[Penfold]

At least Denmark lost, that should cheer you up a smidgeon.

Spot-on prediction.

... and I so nearly went for "unless Mercedes make a rookie error under VSC and then suffer their first ever double mechanical DNF".

[Chrill]

Mercedes making rookie errors during VSC was likely, however. The double DNF was not.

The double points for Sauber also wasn't expected.

Denmark losing kind of hurt. Their goalkeeper is pretty neat, he deserved to go through after saving a penalty in the 115h minute!

[Penfold]

What?  I thought there was some massive footballing rivalry between you guys!  I do agree about Kasper Schmeichel though, he's a real chip off the old block.

No Italy or Netherlands at the contest and now we've lost Germany, Spain, and Portugal... not exactly a classic showing by Europe's 'big guns'.