My ideal scenario - Ricciardo wins this year's WDC and/or moves to Ferrari next year and wins one/another there... just to rub Vettel's face in it.
Max seems a bit too aggressive at the moment. Ricciardo aced the overtakes in this. Well deserved win. Lewis seems to be missing his mojo a wee bit at the moment, but he's done that before, and he tends to bounce back super strong.
Brilliant race for Ricciardo, showed how to overtake properly. Kimi and Bottas looked utterly miserable on the podium too. Hamilton was a bit vague just doesn't seem to be bonding with this seasons car for what ever reason. Personally I would love Ricciardo to make a good stab at the championship not only does he deserve it but hes generally a nice guy from everything I've seen an heard from people working with him.
No point in him moving to Ferrari because all they seem to want is a Barrichello, not someone who dares to put pressure on Vettel.
I still think he will be driving a silver car next year. Unless he gets a real stab at the championship this year in which case he will stay at Red Bull, but they seem to favour Max for reasons unexplained.
VETTEL HAVING A MOAN at how the safety cars deployment timing messed up his race. Urm didn't he win the first race due to the safety cars timing (albeit virtual safety car)? Can't have it both ways bud
Hamilton doesn't know if he should trust the team or not when it comes to calls. Look at the times he's asked for very specific detailed information about everything around him. Every pit he's asking what happened... Every instruction he's asking "just tell me what I need to do". Ferrari haven't made a good call this season IMO. They won the last race cause they had to risk staying out due to their failure to react or consider Mercedes strategy. Merc made the right call in Australia and Ferrari got lucky that Merc screwed up the numbers not pushing Hamilton to close the gap. In China Bottas and Vettel couldn't react but Merc screwed up and should of known better to pit Hamilton. The safety car was a free stop and splitting the strategy would of been possible especially as they knew tires would be marginal on the one stop. I do wonder how much the last race played into Mercs calls
I tend to agree with this. Merc's calls on strategy seem to have been Ferrari's biggest advantage so far.
http://www.planetf1.com/news/williams-warns-f1-we-could-close-down/ That dripping sound you can hear in the background is Force India, Haas and Sauber slavering over your share of the prize money Claire. More seriously, if F1 doesn't get the fabled budget cap I can see Haas packing up and leaving too. This is year 3 of their 5 budgeted seasons already.
HAAS aren't really in the same group as Williams, Sauber and Force India - Like Red Bull (and I guess McLaren), they are in F1 to sell a product and raise brand awareness, which they are doing a damn good job of with recent performances (and 2 drivers that get a lot of air time for arguing with each other about being in the way). As long as they have that "special relationship" with Ferrari, they are probably doing better financially than anyone that isn't a manufacture team! But yeah, just like how Williams were happy to veto Force India getting early payments, no other team is going to go out of their way to miss a potential bump up the prize money board. Also, Ricciardo to Mercedes in 2019, calling it!
New McLaren due in Spain Don't follow Williams logic. Just spend within your means, after all Williams controls their own budget no one else. It's not as if they could go any further backwards or be in a worse position than they are now by limiting their spending. Haas struggled in Williams position last season only with better drivers. They are arguably the 4th Best team out there give this season or take, all without a budget cap. Maybe Williams should build a better car or stick Kubica in the current one
I think Haas was clever to follow the business model they are following. It's clearly working for them. Considering the current distribution of funds, and the cost of F1, I would suggest that without more standardised parts, as well as some cost control measures put in place, I would say that the Haas model is the only way to remain even remotely competitive without having manufacturer backing.
Also sticking Kubica in the car would likely meant they could have retained the Martini sponsorship having a driver whos above the legal drinking age in all target countries.
Personally I would like teams to be able to source parts from other teams. Start those business and manufacturing partnerships between teams helping them survive together. Personally I reckon thats an area Williams would strive in. Merc explains their strategy call in China http://www.skysports.com/amp/f1/new...s-explain-lewis-hamiltons-chinese-gp-strategy TLDR - Didn't expect the delta in difference between tyres - Hadn't seen much overtaking at that point in the race despite different compounds etc - Valued track position over new tyres - Knew tyres where good to the end Meh plausible but I would of still pitted Hamilton. Seen enough races to know overtaking is possible at China and they would of lost 1 maybe 2 places pitting. Another case of teams lacking gut instinct Eddie Jordan always went on about and relying too much on computers
Merc's not doing amazing on the strategy front this year. It' snot McLaren a few years ago bad, but it's not great.
Saw a picture of the Ferrari Steering wheel and there appears to be an extra paddle on the top right in addition to the paddle shifter that is being operated with a single finger. Some speculation what this is for as it looks like it variable which rules out several possible uses. EDIT: Peter Windsor has a video up about it
Yeh I saw that vid. I can only think it's for kers, so he has some additional control of the torque coming out of corners to help with tyre wear.
New graphics to adorn the Halo this race. Not sure on the specifics of the design and colourisation, but a nifty little tweak all the same.
