What did folk reckon to the F1 this morning?

Only the Lotus team seem to have made a complete balls up of their car, hardly anyone else seemed to have any technical problems relating to the new rules but saying that I don't think F1 can survive many more years of most races being a precession so really you need teams to be on the limit of the technology so that reliability can never be guaranteed.

I don't really have a favoured driver, I like the Brits to do well but really I just want to see good racing at the front. Hamilton seemed to be in control from start to finish but I'm not too keen on that being the case all season.

The Red Bulls seem to be making progress so hopefully Ferrari and McLaren can also get their acts together and give us eight cars as viable winners.

I've got mixed views on the noise, never actually been to a race but even on television the new noise (or lack of) takes something away, but then again, being a bit of a geek, I like the fact that the engine/power-unit is so much more complex than it ever has been.

 

It was good. Always good to see Lewis Hamilton win.

Such a good driver and that cars the real deal. The German Rosberg doesn't have a chance with Lewis in the same car. From what they said Lewis left a lot in the car.

Rosberg kept the gap between him and 3rd at acertain distance of around 11 seconds.

Be good to see Lewis Qualify in the dry in that car. He loves the pressure laps and even in the rain put it on the front row.

 

I'm a huge Lewis fan, and I don't believe he's ever had the best car in any of his seasons so far. Unlike Vettel (Red Bull), Button (Brawn) and Alonso (Renault). He only won his title on the last lap of the last race. Along with his own mistakes, he's had some **** luck (carried on into this season at Melbourne where he'd have won I think) over the years. But it looks (early days) as though he's finally got the best car. So I'm hopefully going to see him win another title.

I like a few other drivers (Alonso, JB, Rosberg, Hulk) and I hope every year for proper close races every time. But after four years of Vettel strolling it, I'm quite happy to see Nico and Lewis fight it out for the title, ala Prost/Senna. I don't doubt Vettel's talent, but I think he got lucky at Red Bull. I reckon a backmarker (Chilton?) would have put that car on the podium regularly the last few years, such was it's invincibility.


As for the new sound of F1, I love the new turbo sounds, and the reliability issues have returned which always adds to the drama (see Ricciardo today). But the sheer 'F1' sound we all know and love has gone and I think it's a big miss. The cars are faster at top speed now, but they sound like expensive road cars. I miss the noise.

I think Leigh McKenzie on BBC is fit though.

 

I liked that she's a bit curvey etc. She's a twinkle in her eye. Prefer her to Suzi.

 

Thought it was dull. F1 used to be fun, full of overtaking and incident with drivers who had character. Seems to be a procession piloted by drones most of the time nowadays. I just can't enjoy watching it anymore, lucky if I watch five races a season where I used to make sure I watched pretty much all of them.

 

If thats the case then Webber should have finished second or won a fair share of the races... but he didn't.

 

Two races in

...and already I'm over it. Mercedes are in a different class so there goes the competition for another year. What the chuff must the McLaren and Williams engineers feel about themselves? They have the undisputed best engine in their cars. They have pretty much the same car as Mercedes, thanks to the tight regulations. Yet somehow, they've managed to lose upwards of a second a lap (a second!) just in the permissible tweaking of the design and aero. Surely it takes a special type of incompetance to manage that despite their collective experience and budgets.

 

Re: Two races in

Was under the impression that the rule changes were supposed to level the playing field a little. Not much evidence in the first two races. As long as Vettel doesn't win I ain't bothered to be honest.

 

He won a fair amount in that time, plenty of podiums too. Not to forget the races he had to move over and let Vettel win, or Malaysia last season where Vettel overtook him when told not to. Or the time Vettel took him off. And let's not get silly and make out they had the same car. They didn't. Vettel had all the updates long before Mark, and his height made it difficult to get the aero working as well as Vettel's car.

Each team puts two cars on the grid, but they're never exactly the same car.

My point anyway was that Vettel isn't as good as his four titles suggest. I mean, by virtue of those victories you'd perhaps mention him in the same breath as Clark, Fangio or Senna? Not on your nelly.

 

Re: Two races in

When you get such radical rule changes you often get one car well ahead of the pack in the first half of the season. One team gets their head around it and has the car working to close to the optimum, the others haven't quite worked it out yet. But now they're racing, they all get a good look at the opposition, see what the others are doing, see where they can make improvements. Mercedes will make improvements too, but as they are close to the optimum, their improvements will only be small. The cars not doing so well will make big strides. By mid-season they will have bunched together.

The last time there were such radical changes was in 2009 when Jenson Button won the driver's championship in a Brawn. He was pretty much untouchable at first, winning 6 of the first 7 races. But then the other teams caught up and he didn't win another race in the final 10. He only made the podium twice, and it wasn't due to retirements, he only retired once. The other teams had overtaken Brawn. That might not happen this season with Mercedes, but the others will certainly catch up.

 

Re: Two races in

Spot on with your assessment, Jay. It's well known that Mercedes have been working towards this new era of F1 for some years. They've certainly got the upper hand at this stage and have in my opinion the best driver partnership on the grid. But by the time Monaco comes around I'd expect the racing to be a lot more competitive. It may happen quicker than that, I doubt it though. You'd be a brave man to bet against the Mercs in Bahrain next weekend. Even in China and Barcelona. All tracks that should be perfectly suited to them.