The 2017 Formula 1 Thread

I think Honda's failure to get it right after 3 years just shows how stupid this formula is. It is an incredibly complex piece of machinery, and the teams are so restricted on testing that due to "cost cutting" that it is impossible to get it sorted out in a short period of time. When they had unlimited testing, the teams had a completely separate crew and drivers who would pound on the cars lap after lap. That often sorted out any bugs, among other things, very quickly. Formula 1 talks about cutting costs, but them they introduce a stupidly complex power unit regulation that takes the engine suppliers years to figure out and get right, due to lack of testing time (and that stupid token system for the last 3 years). Mostly because testing on a dyno doesn't show everything, as has been shown with McLaren's troubles this year. Honda decided to completely redesign their engine, so they are basically starting from scratch again. They need much more testing to get it working right, and now it looks like the race weekend will be the said "test" this year. McLaren are in for a rough year.

If F1 wants to reduce costs, then they need to go to simpler engine technology. They thought this would attract more manufacturers, but I bet now all the other potential suppliers are looking at Honda's struggles and opting to stay out of F1 now.
 
I think the thing that really screwed McLaren is the fact that Honda were starting to show some life towards the end of last season. Between that and the end of the token system, they thought Honda might produce a competitive engine over the break. Unfortunately, Honda stepped on their collective dick again.
 
It is a bit sad to see McLaren and Honda go through this, especially when one considers their successful past. I was hoping, as a McLaren fan, that they would be able to regain that success, to a certain degree.

Now it seems obvious that Honda is in way over their heads and have no clue how to fix it.

OGG: Your comment about Honda digging the hole deeper each year is spot-on in my judgement.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OGG
20170322_113333.jpg
20170322_113238.jpg
20170322_113228.jpg
20170322_113218.jpg
20170322_113208.jpg
20170322_113154.jpg
I know this is not 2017 F1 but I just received these photos from my uncle, who took them at Long Beach (the wing cars) and Montreal (the turbos). Forgive the quality as they were in frames and under glass and I used my phone to take pics of the pics.

20170322_113333.jpg 20170322_113238.jpg
 
Flatspotter said:
3 days until Melbourne qualy!
Click to expand...

My wife told me this today. We have been so crazy busy with work travel and moving issues that we both forgot. She got an email from COTA reminding her the season was starting. I can't believe we almost missed it.
 
I watched a bit of FP1 to get my fix. The cars were only doing installation laps on the part I saw, but they looked amazing going around the track. Let's hope there's some good racing this year.
 
So Ferrari topped FP3. Interesting. It might be a good season after all if Mercedes weren't sandbagging.

Lance Stroll sucks and shouldn't be in F1. He is the new Crashtor.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OGG
TomcatMF said:
Mercedes is still on top, but Ferrari are right there. This looks to be a good racing season up ahead.
Click to expand...
Yeah, looks like we'll be seeing Ferrari on the podium regularly this season. With a good start, Vettel could jump Hamilton into turn one. The jury's still out on how hard overtaking will be.
 
Should be a very interesting start. Vettel is the king of great launches, and with the front two rows having a merc behind a merc and a Ferrari behind a Ferrari, the mercs could get pushed out of the way at turn one. Kimi is no slouch on launches either despite the occasional choke job.

I would love to see the Scuderia cars take it to the mercs and jump out ahead. Hamilton might lose his shit like he's known to do though and crash somebody out... hopefully his teammate. :)

It'll be a good race for sure.
 
With the additional clutch changes this year, it should make the starts even more unpredictable (hopefully). Hamilton didn't seem to adapt as well as other drivers last year.
 
Well, Hamilton and Bottas both got good starts, and Vettel and Raikonnen both got mediocre starts. Mercedes' strategy blunder bringing Hamilton in well before Vettel handed Vettel the lead, and Hamilton got stuck behind Verstappen and lost a lot of time. But even after Verstappen pitted, Hamilton couldn't make up much time.

It was great to see Vettel on the top step of the podium. Mercedes still look to be the class of the field, judging from qualifying, but hopefully Ferrari can continue to keep up.
 
From the opening laps of the race you could see that Ferrari had some real pace in race trim., since Vettel was running Hamilton down before he pitted. For once Ferrari get their strategy right. They are going to keep Mercedes honest this year for sure. Even in Qualifying Mercedes was only 0.4 faster, and Vettel admitted he didn't get all he could have out of his lap.

Not much passing, but this track has always been difficult to pass on, but that didn't bother me too much. These cars are downright fast, and you can even see it on TV, something that I think has been missing over the last couple of years. It will be interesting to see how things work at a dedicated race track in 2 weeks when they get to China.

Hopefully Renault get's their engine up to speed soon, it would be great to see a 3 way fight between Red Bull, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Of course I'd like to see McLaren in there too, but I know that won't happen this year.
 
The Scuderia came to play!

Sure, Mercedes strategy bit them, but Vettel was just plain faster than Hamilton. You go back to the past few seasons where the Mercs would pull away from the field and finish upwards of a full minute before the 3rd place car...

Hamilton not only couldn't catch Vettel, but he lost ground trying several times. Traffic or not, he wasn't going to catch up unless Vettel screwed the pooch.

Red Bull could definitely make things more interesting if they can coax some more grunt out of that motor.

Much more "racey" race than we've seen in a long while.
 
Just watched the replay. Nice to see someone else on the podium and given that Kimo was running well maybe there will be a fight this year. I am still concerned about the lack of passing even among the backmarkers where most of the action tends to be. The commentators were talking about the increased downforce and how that makes the cars faster but overtaking more difficult because of the air turbulence behind the car. I'll withhold any judgement just yet since it is only one race but hopefully there will be more "racing" than I saw
 
The bad news is that the drivers are saying that following another car closely is worse than last year, to the surprise of absolutely no one except the people who decided more downforce was a good idea. A few drivers said they can't follow any closer than 2 seconds behind another car.
 
Flatspotter said:
The bad news is that the drivers are saying that following another car closely is worse than last year, to the surprise of absolutely no one except the people who decided more downforce was a good idea. A few drivers said they can't follow any closer than 2 seconds behind another car.
Click to expand...
Well that will render the one second rule for the open rear wing useless.
 
Michael Schumacher's lap record from 2004 was smashed today. The Ferrari and Mercedes are only separated by 0.2 seconds. Vettel and Hamilton are on the front row again so it should be a good race between them tomorrow.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OGG
Someone in this thread predicted that track records would fall this year... there's one. Looks like more are inevitable.

These cars are scary fast. I know everyone hates the V6 Turbo power plants, but damn if these things aren't legit.

That poor kid driving for Sauber crashing out on the final turn after securing a spot to advance. Oh man. He must be mortified. He destroyed that car.

I expect Vettel to take Hamilton to the woodshed. We know how poorly Hamilton takes adversity and actual competition. Vettel will rattle his cage until he makes a costly mistake.

Sent from Crab Nebulae via reverse engineered alien technology
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top