Formula 1 2018

[EddieB]

C4 Keeps F1        

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/45494135

Bit NO ammouncement on C4?  

I thought that had already been announced* - only the British GP live on C4 next year and some silliness as to whether Silverstone will even be on the calendar after 2019.

 

*Pitpass link in post #1470.

 

The price of everything and the value of nothing.

[Hobby]

Only the British live, though... I suppose we should be grateful that they've been allowed to keep the highlights...

[Andrew P]

Only the British live, though... I suppose we should be grateful that they've been allowed to keep the highlights...

 

Yes, better than I expected, but not as good as I would have liked.

 

Yes there was a bit on the BBC site some time ago, but Steve Jones said they would not be here next year in his last broadcast, so maybe it will be done by Sky presenters, instead of Whisper Films.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Rationally, I suspect that any team orders will follow results. If it emerges that Leclerc has the greater capability to deliver a championship...

....Vettel wouldn't let him anywhere near a red car seat!

But Leclerc has the seat and nothing Vettel can do about that, and really nothing is known of their relative performance under race conditions when seated in equivalent equipment.

 

The three things we do know beyond doubt:

Scuderia Ferrari really wants needs a title - or two.

Vettel is not the happy chappy when a fully competitive team mate is sitting in the other car.

Leclerc took little time to adjust to a back of grid car, and by grafting away has already won more points than might have been expected with it.

 

If Leclerc can also squeeze a little more than most out of a front of grid car, there could be fun. As in:

"[Raikkonen] failed to win the [italian GP] despite starting from pole position, and by defending against Vettel on the opening lap arguably contributed to the chain of events that led to Vettel spinning to the back after colliding with Lewis Hamilton"

I would rewrite that as 

"[Raikkonen] by daring to outqualify* Vettel arguably contributed to the chain of events that led to Vettel spinning to the back after colliding with Lewis Hamilton"

 

*That's what it was all about in my opinion. Vettel was ticked off after qualifying second, and made it known.

Vettel was for getting ahead of Raikkonen immediately above all else, in order to have Hamilton safely behind Raikkonen, and I suspect that was also the Ferrari team script.

Vettel was forgetting that Hamilton hadn't approved that script, and didn't quite get his car moving fast enough initially to  successfully execute that script. (I'd suspect tyres a little dirtier than Raiko's and Hamilton's, couldn't quite get the power down as effectively.)

All Raikkonen's fault for being in the wrong position at the start, and then driving his car as effectively as he could...

[steve1]

Very gracious of Sky to let us watch the one live GP. Given the moneygrabbing habits of Sky it's a wonder we even got that.

Highlights are all very well but very much second best.

 

We're going back to the days when the only F1 that was ever seen on the telly was the British GP; Raymond Baxter on the Beeb if I remember correctly.

 

steve

[Oldddudders]

Very gracious of Sky to let us watch the one live GP. Given the moneygrabbing habits of Sky it's a wonder we even got that.Highlights are all very well but very much second best.We're going back to the days when the only F1 that was ever seen on the telly was the British GP; Raymond Baxter on the Beeb if I remember correctly.steve

And John Bolster with radio mike in the pits. “What seems to be the problem, Graham [Hill]?” “It won’t go!”

[dvdlcs]

Very gracious of Sky to let us watch the one live GP. Given the moneygrabbing habits of Sky it's a wonder we even got that.

Highlights are all very well but very much second best.

 

steve

 

Same situation that has been in Australia for a while - the local race is shown live on free-to-air, everything else is highlights only. Foxtel (Sky) has the live coverage.

 

But then most of the races aren't shown at particularly convenient times here, obviously the local race is OK and some of the Asian races happen to fall during the day time at the weekend, but most are record overnight and watch during the week.

 

Mind you, unless Ricciardo wins (or crashes spectacularly) there isn't much chance of the result being given away on the news broadcasts.

 

 

Once it was considered the most watched global sport - only the soccer world cup and Olympics having larger figures, but they were only once every four years. Rapidly becoming a minority sport, but then again (for this viewer) the racing isn't what it used to be. Even managed to make the last couple of events at Spa relatively uninteresting (aside from the first lap/corner of course).

[Jonboy]

I have noticed elsewhere a tendency to blame Liberty for Sky getting exclusive coverage, even though Bernie signed it long before they were on the scene...

[ejstubbs]

We're going back to the days when the only F1 that was ever seen on the telly was the British GP; Raymond Baxter on the Beeb if I remember correctly.

 

For us terrestrial-only viewers It's going to be much like it was in the 1970s/1980s when the BBC showed highlights of the overseas races on Grand Prix with Murray Walker.  I'm not even sure that the British GP was regularly shown live at the start of that era, though I'm more than willing to be proven wrong.

 

I have a feeling that it was that programme that first used The Chain as theme music for F1 on TV.  It can't have been much earlier than that because the song was only recorded in 1976!

 

My recollection is that, before Grand Prix we were lucky to get a few minutes' coverage of the occasional grand prix during Wheelbase.

 

TBH I quite like a concise highlights programme.  The Channel Four highlights programmes seem to go on for ever in comparison to Grand Prix.  But we still got to see some great action, such as Arnoux vs Villeneuve at Dijon in 1979 and Villeneuve winning in Spain in 1981* with four much better handling cars queued up nose to tail behind him for the last half the race but unable to get past (apparently Gilles turned off his rev limiter for the last few laps of the race!)

 

* Odd that that clip has a Sky Sports F1 DOG: presumably Sky have acquired the rights from the BBC as part of their ongoing dominance of F1 TV coverage.

Edited September 15, 2018 by ejstubbs

[Re6/6]

Well, I shan't be watching F1 next year. In fact for me it's all become a corporate stitch up.

 

As has been said, very gracious of Sky to allow us to see Silverstone live. this is all getting towards the thick end of the wedge now....Football, Club Rugby etc. How long before more goes to 'exclusive' Sky?.Wimbledon, cycling, major athletic events...the list goes on.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Nothing to do with F1, but it all adds up to a good thing, making the underlying BBC + licence fee stitch up yet more untenable. Release us to buy the package(s) we want from any supplier we choose. If the BBC are even a tenth as good as they like to imagine they are, then they will be the easy winners in getting voluntary subscriptions for their product.

[EddieB]

Meanwhile, there’s a race this weekend - live coverage on free to air.

 

From my reading of the situation, I think the result will be down to who works out the best tyre strategy. I’ll stick my neck out for a Red Bull win.

[StuAllen]

What a lap! Body language showed in post qualifying interviews - Seb really wasn’t expecting that result

[iak]

You mean that "The German" had a face like a well skelped backside - again!

Edited September 15, 2018 by iak

[Oldddudders]

I know some resent the fact that this thread, year upon year, can feel like a Lewis love-in, but when, as I read, he puts 0.6 sec over his title rival, despite Ferrari having been on the pace all weekend, I just feel he has, on the right day, a special something. And a Red Bull in between them just adds to the mix of a race I shall not see, through absence riding the narrow gauge in deepest Saxony.

 

The title is far from won, but Lewis is putting in the work.

[Zomboid]

He deserves it, no doubt. Undoubtedly one of the best drivers there's been.

 

I wish someone would be able to make it a competition though. It's no more interesting than when SV was winning every year, or when it was Schumacher walking away with it.

[cal.n]

Indeed, stunning lap by Lewis. Once again showing his skill and why he fully deserves this championship.

[Jol Wilkinson]

He deserves it, no doubt. Undoubtedly one of the best drivers there's been.

 

I wish someone would be able to make it a competition though. It's no more interesting than when SV was winning every year, or when it was Schumacher walking away with it.

Totally disagree. I recall the MS and SB "only show in town" years as boring and depressing, whereas this year it has been unpredictable and exciting.  Mercedes have not been the pick of the field this year, although LH has coped with that at several GPs. It is generally accepted that Ferrari have the better car, but have nor capitalised on it.

[Zomboid]

The difference IMO is that the main competition are shooting themselves in the feet, rather than being outclassed by a much better car. And that LH is that much better than SV.

 

The end result is still that you know that LH will prevail at the end of the season. It just feels pre-ordained.

 

Which is not to take away from LH's brilliance.

[Hobby]

I have to agree with Jol, it's nothing like the SV and MS years, in both of those it was a procession from the beginning to the end of the year, same as when Mansell won his championship. I'm puzzelled by how you can even compare them. Even last year held more interest than those years you compare this year to and the year before that when he didn't win!

[Mike Storey]

The difference IMO is that the main competition are shooting themselves in the feet, rather than being outclassed by a much better car. And that LH is that much better than SV.

 

The end result is still that you know that LH will prevail at the end of the season. It just feels pre-ordained.

 

Which is not to take away from LH's brilliance.

 

Might not be - Verstappen is on the front row. I will hold my breath until turn 2, I think.......

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Vettel's rep is solely based on four years in a team with the overall class car of the field. Both Hamilton and Schumacher succeeded in different cars, and Hamilton's first title was very much against the odds. Vettel doesn't quite make the top bracket of race drivers on that basis.

 

What we don't know about the Merc. is how much 'sandbagging' they are doing both to protect engine life during the season and to conceal just what further power potential it has. I sense very canny management of this aspect based on Hamilton's ability, giving him just enough advantage to obtain the title without revealing their hand fully.

[EddieB]

Lewis always had bags of natural talent, but this year he has combined that talent with a more mature outlook.  Compared with his previous self, he comes across as more relaxed and unflappable.  To go out and nail the pole lap as he did yesterday is about mental strength as much as driving talent.

 

To me, this is the edge that he's built over his rivals.  Seb has talent, but often gets a rush of blood that seeks short-term advantage at the cost of long-term disadvantage.  He's in the place Lewis was a few seasons ago - and where he has himself been throughout his career.  Unless he can mature in the way he drives, he'll never become the all-time great that he's wanted to be.

 

The same goes for Max.  Still impetuous, but full of talent.  In previous seasons his youth/inexperience were excusable - but is he growing up into an all-round driver?  

 

Not to say that the talents of Seb and Max won't win them races - but unless they can develop the right mindset (à la Lewis), they will lose quite a few more on the journey.

[ejstubbs]

Seb has talent, but often gets a rush of blood that seeks short-term advantage at the cost of long-term disadvantage.

 

"Seeks" being the apposite word: all too often he doesn't garner any short-term advantage either.  Monza being a case in point.

Edited September 16, 2018 by ejstubbs

[Gareth Collier]

Just when you thought it couldn't get any duller! At least Perez tried to liven things up