[oqvist]

Renault dont need ricchiardo when they have hulkenberg though. I understand ricchiardos decision more then renaults need to screw redbull. But maybe renault do have unlimited fundings again like when they won their wc:s.

Qualifying dont make it look like there will be a lot of fights going on over the constructors
Gap bigger then ever.

But will be interesting to see if ricchiardo can match hulkenberg. Not to far off so far at least.

 

[Phronesis]

Renault dont need ricchiardo when they have hulkenberg though. I understand ricchiardos decision more then renaults need to screw redbull. But maybe renault do have unlimited fundings again like when they won their wc:s.

Qualifying dont make it look like there will be a lot of fights going on over the constructors
Gap bigger then ever.

But will be interesting to see if ricchiardo can match hulkenberg. Not to far off so far at least.

Yep, Danny is looking like just another good driver, and now overpaid. Renault is looking like chumps for overpaying him and still not able to put together a competitive car.

Mercedes seems to be continuing to out-engineer the competition.

I'm a little sad to not see Maurizo there, I enjoyed trying to pronounce his name with a good Italian accent.

Poor Williams, just can't get it together ...

 

[oqvist]

If he can match hulkenberg he is good and wc material in the right car I would say. But you can say that about the majority of drivers in F1

 

[oqvist]

Surprisingly little drama in the season opener. I just can´t believe how HAAS could repeat last years debacle.
Honda keep delivering. McLaren chassi is to tough for the renault power unit as well?

 

[Phronesis]

Happy for Bottas. Hamilton took losing to him in stride. Good for Max. Ferrari has work to do. Ricc clearly earned his high salary ...

 

[Hutnicks]

Happy for Bottas. Hamilton took losing to him in stride. Good for Max. Ferrari has work to do. Ricc clearly earned his high salary ...

To be fair nobody seems to have known about that drainage ditch that ate his wing. Odd that. The first time I have ever seen it was in the direct overhead helicopter shot. Must have scared the bejeebus out of him and I am surprised he did not eat the wall on that one.

In the same vein I guess we will have to wait for Mark Hughes report to find out what ate a chunk out of Lewis' left rear floor.

Haass must be having whippings over that wheel nut issue.

Bottas drove a textbook race and pretty much layed the drivers attitude about the fastest lap point for driver and constructor's out for all to see. No way is any driver in the podium spots or points going to leave that on the table. It's damn near a whole race worth of points on the table over the year and most of these guys know how valuable that can be. Also most of them get bonus money for each point scored so motivation is going to be high. Bottas showed just what advantage being out front is when going for it. No bad air to cut through makes a world of difference when you are on old tyres.

What I found interesting is none of the top runners thought that the new aero rules helped at all. Yet the midpack gang seems to be of the opposite opinion. Perhaps it only is beneficial on lower downforce cars.

Merc is lucky this year. They have Max already wound up to make Ferrari's life miserable this year.And he will do his utmost to try to climb over them at every race to get to the Merc's up front. That will make for some interesting racing I am sure when we get to more raceable tracks. As it stands everyone leaves Australia scratching their heads wondering whats going on.

 

[oqvist]

Tbh its always a bad idea putting grass under tires of a f1 car

 

[Phronesis]

Seems to me that, out of desperation to prove himself and work through the crowd, Ricc went for a gap that was too small and quickly closing, and paid dearly for it. At his home race.

 

[oqvist]

I fell asleep during Q1. Surprised to see Hulk go. Will be interesting to see if Ferrari can use their secret sauce in entire races and if LeClerk is actually allowed to fight Vettel. Seeing how happy the pit crew was hopefully.

Haas should perhaps become 4th team this year but I bet Grosjean will keep doing misstakes.

 

[435279]

LeClerk is actually allowed to fight Vettel

Ha, ha, ha, its April 1st in some places in the world I suppose.

 

[oqvist]

Time for Ferrari to declare Leclerk first driver. Not surprised the car didn´t hold up this will be an easy year for mercedes unless Red Bull can cook something up with some mega upgrades.
Grosjean can´t be blamed for this one or can he

 

[oqvist]

Oh god. Skysports is spewing out pointless statistics now

 

[Herueyes]

Oh god. Skysports is spewing out pointless statistics now

Hmmm...Ted Kravitz is back...

 

[oqvist]

Yes that is the guy. They showed him in some studio and he went totally in spin with his statistics. They are good otherwise but sometimes it´s like they want me to jump from a bridge. Who cares if verstappen was 4th 4 years ago and has the world record of 4th places 4years ago for a second year rookie! That said it must be tough being a f1 commentator when nothing ever happens. We are back to traditional F1 now. One exciting overtake manoveur was all the camera was able to catch. We lost an semi interesting interim battle with Fubarri totally screwing LeClair over just to keep the Seb happy. They could been fair and still give LeClair the undercut when Vettel had to show his bluff about being faster.

Hope Honda, Red bull can come with some major update.

 

[Phronesis]

That was boring. Hamilton showed, once again, that he's capable of digging to find something more during races.