The 2018 Season

[Chrill]

Wickens was on course for F1 way back when, wasn't he? I recall him being a massive talent, winning F3 and F2 and whatnot around 2008-2011 or somesuch.

[Chrill]

Ferrari's party mode is clearly quite partyish. That's another front row lockout. Good for them. Vettel on course for 75 points in 3 races? Can't ever have been a driver win 3 races at the start of the championship and then ending up not world champion?

[Penfold]

Hard to imagine there has been.  I'm sure whoever interviewed Seb on the Bahrain podium mumbled something about how long it's been since a driver won the first 2 races of a season but failed to win the title - or he might've even said that it's never happened.  I wasn't really paying attention.

This is fantastic for Ferrari and for F1.  Everything crossed for a good race, especially for Kimi.

[Chrill]

I recall reading it, and Prost did win the first two races of the 1982 season but then practically disappeared for the rest of the season.

[Matt]

If I were Ferrari or Mercedes, I wouldn?t be very happy that race control waited to throw the safety car until after I could pit for a situation that had already existed for a while. That gave RBR the strategic advantage and led to all of the mayhem that happened after that. When there is a crash with a car on the track, that requires an immediate safety car. But that safety car wasn?t immediate and the timing gave an advantage to a specific team.

[Chrill]

The delay was due to debris being just off the racing line, but drivers complained. That's why a SC finally came out. Since no cars were at a standstill, the track was at first deemed clear.

I still don't see why Red Bull could pit if Ferrari and Mercedes could not. They had the same opportunity, right?

[Penfold]

Vettel said he'd just gone past the pit entrance bollard when the safety car was deployed otherwise he would've dived in; Hamilton (well, Mercedes) evidently didn't believe pitting was the right move.

Still, good of the junior Red Bull boys to create some havoc from which the senior Red Bull boys could try and prosper.

[Chrill]

Vettel said he'd just gone past the pit entrance bollard when the safety car was deployed otherwise he would've dived in; Hamilton (well, Mercedes) evidently didn't believe pitting was the right move.

Still, good of the junior Red Bull boys to create some havoc from which the senior Red Bull boys could try and prosper.

Indeed. This tactic is proven to work since Melbourne, by Ferrari/Haas. However, it dates back to the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with Renault!

[Matt]

I think Hamilton could have pitted, but Bottas and Vettel could not have because they had just passed the entrance or were close enough that they could not react in time to pit.

IndyCar sometimes has issues with closing the pits when a full course caution comes out because it affects strategy, but this is why they do it. It affects strategy either way.

[Chrill]

You like the halo? No?

Well, let's see what we can do with it:



Actually isn't a bad idea. I mean, the thing is there, we might as well use it.

[Penfold]

I do enjoy having the speed/revs/gear info during the onboard shots, that's a clever way of displaying it/disguising the halo.

Yesterday - Max V says he will learn from mistakes of China: "It doesn't mean drive slow. It means drive fast but maybe a little more in control."
Today - Max V crashes into barrier.

[Chrill]

Maximus Verstappi (as is his Latin name) is certainly not impressing so far this season. We rate him dead last, we do.

[Penfold]

Which will surely motivate him into producing a fast, but considered performance on Sunday.

[M4A1Carbine]

I've added your ratings (including the change on Raikkonen) to the tables, here. Interesting to see your take on Ricciardo-Verstappen since our ratings differ. Let's take that to the "2018 Season" topic!

My take is this, it is not a drivers responsibility to move over and let another driver by, even if it is their teammate. Any driver who does that doesn't deserve to be racing. It is the team's responsibility to manage how the drivers race. RBR gambled and ended up with a crash.

Max & Ricciardo were racing hard. I did not appreciate Max's move inside Ricciardo earlier in the race when they touched, but he got away with it and they were clean. Daniel ended up with the lead and pitted first, Max out drove him on old tires and regained the spot. When Ricciardo was going to pass, there was no way Max was going to let him pass on the inside. Near the end of the straight, Max moves slightly back to the racing line for the corner, but comes back to cover the aggressive move. The inside move was never there, Ricciardo went for it anyway and braked late, locked up the front and hit Max.

I don't fault Max for blocking. I think Ricciardo's move was too aggressive for a teammate, but don't completely fault him either. This was a racing incident. When you give young men really fast cars and tell them to go battle each other, this will happen from time to time.

[M4A1Carbine]