Thoughts on race?

"Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner" (gavinharter30)
03/25/2018 at 13:12 • Filed to: None

I found this race quite interesting. The first time Mclaren has come close to a podium in god knows how long, both the Haas out of the race, typical Honda engine problems, and no force India in the top 10. Surprising. What are your thoughts

DISCUSSION (24)

For Sweden > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner
03/25/2018 at 13:23

When you’re a mod and someone writes a post titled “Thoughts on race?”

Kinja'd!!!

boredalways > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner
03/25/2018 at 13:38

1) I have no problem with the exploitation of rules that handed the win to Vettel. I’m more surprised that it hadn’t happen before. Having said that, I think Race Director Charlie Whiting waited too long to switch from VSC to SC.

2) ESPN’s transmission of Sky Sports F1 broadcast is not going to be good. Commercials are understandable, but they came at the worst possible moments during the weekend and there is no one stateside to explain/recap what happened during the break. So it creates a huge information gap that had me scrambling for my phone to find out what was going on. Someone from ESPN.com that does live updates should be onhand to throw up a textbox onscreen with a tweet-like update during the broadcast, at the very least.

3) ESPN being ESPN, I can’t wait for them to poorly handle the broadcast of a race delayed by weather/track repairs and it exceeds its allotted time slot (race starts on ESPN2 then switched to ESPNews due to a scheduled SEC Baseball game or you have to switch to the WatchESPN app to watch the remaining coverage, for example). Glad I have a VPN and know how to use it.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner
03/25/2018 at 13:51

I loved it but I want to see what happened with HAAS. It looked a lot like the air compressor lines had issues either at a connector or a blockage or pinch or something. Clearly there was enough to put the wheel on, but not enough to tighten it down all the way. This sucks too because they clearly have pace.

Overall thought is that we are in for lots of moment-to-moment races and battles. At the end of the race, we had a ferrari holding off a merc, a ferrari holding off a red bull, a mclaren holding off a red bull holding off a renault holding off a merc, a mclaren holding off a renault which then held off a force india......Yeah they’re not all fighting for the outright win but as the race ebbs and flows there’s always something to watch and there’s fights happening everywhere. Great sign for the season.

Final thought - of the top 10 finishers, 2 were mercedes powered. If HAAS had finished in the top 10, then the top 12 would only have two merc powered cars. Put it another way - mercedes had more cars in the bottom 10 than the top 10. I don’t know the last time this happened.....

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > boredalways
03/25/2018 at 13:54

I’m not sure which rule Vettel exploited. It’s well known that you lose less time stopping under a VSC than you do under green. Every team will stop under a VSC if their strategy allows for it, Mercedes just happened to have already stopped before the VSC came out.

BeaterGT > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner
03/25/2018 at 14:06

Gutted for Haas.

smobgirl > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/25/2018 at 14:16

It looks like they just coincidentally cross-threaded two wheel nuts. Crazy. The videos of Grosjean comforting his crew nearly made me cry.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > smobgirl
03/25/2018 at 14:20

Tey seemed to be looking at their guns after the race and both were on the left side of the car, the far side. So it could go both ways. In any case, it sounds like they really need a lollipop man though. Or a more disciplined one

smobgirl > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/25/2018 at 14:22

Sorry - by “it looks like” I should’ve said “Haas stated”.

I initially thought it was a faulty wheel gun too, based on the broadcast, but they issued a statement at some point after the race. Now I want to see if Williams can verify that Sirotkin’s brakes failed due to a melted plastic bag because that’s awful.

boredalways > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
03/25/2018 at 14:34

True, but allowing an overtake under VSC makes the FIA* look like amateurs.

*[insert “Ferrari International Assistance” joke here]

promoted by the color red > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner
03/25/2018 at 14:34

That was a Gastly situation for Honda, but it’s Hartley surprising given their problems over the last several seasons. I’m curious to see what the issues are this time.

With that said, I think the HAAS situations serve as a metaphor for engineering in general: All our modern machines and designs, blessed with safety factors and triple redundancies, can be still be felled through minor human or mechanical errors.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > boredalways
03/25/2018 at 14:56

It wasn’t an overtake though. It was Ferrari not loosing enough time to fall back behind Hamilton.

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > smobgirl
03/25/2018 at 15:14

I felt so gutted for them

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > boredalways
03/25/2018 at 15:16

ESPN had commercials at the most crucial parts of crofts sentences, race restarts, peaks of battles. Everything. Get better espn

smobgirl > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner
03/25/2018 at 15:22

Me too. The crew just looked devastated.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > For Sweden
03/25/2018 at 15:29

Yeah, exactly what I went to.

Rainbow > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner
03/25/2018 at 16:15

Well, I believe race is purely a social construct in the sense that—

Oh.

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner
03/25/2018 at 18:41

Disappointing that the first engine failure of the season is a Honda again.

Was interesting to see Mercedes “party mode” in action for verified real. Just after Ham went into the grass and lost a couple of seconds there was communication on the team radio telling him that PU Mode 14 (or something like that) was available, and reminding him it’s “not a sustainable mode”. After which he caught up 1/2 sec per lap for 3 laps, then had to back off due to PU and tires overheating.

Also really nice to see that there’s at least 3 teams in the hunt this year. Mercedes are going to get more than their share of Poles, which gives them a headstart, but the Mercs and Ferraris are pretty well matched (on this power circuit at least) and the Red Bulls not as far behind as they were telling everyone they would be. Hass could be in there too if they can get their shit together offtrack.

boredalways > Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner
03/25/2018 at 18:59

They won’t.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > smobgirl
03/25/2018 at 19:27

Ugh. Yeah I saw the updates later in the day. So rough for the team. I heard on the broadcast HAAS has one of the smaller crews and the pit team has other jobs at the team too so they didn’t take the time to do pit stops under pressure. Maybe they had a small issue but they had no safety net or backup and it bit them hard.

smobgirl > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
03/25/2018 at 20:10

On a positive note, at least their brakes work now?

Mini Guy- Now has a 4Runner > Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen
03/25/2018 at 22:31

Haas is gonna be the Loyola of f1

Dusty Ventures > For Sweden
03/26/2018 at 01:57

Me when I saw the headline

Kinja'd!!!

Thomas Donohue > boredalways
03/26/2018 at 09:11

Anyone know if they plan on having their own commentators for any of the races that air on ESPN, i.e. Monaco, Canadian, Mexican?

I imagine the ABC races will have some kind of ESPN/ABC announcers.

boredalways > Thomas Donohue
03/26/2018 at 10:09

No. AFAIK, this will be the way all season.