2018 Formula One Australian Grand Prix (Discussion Thread)

[dud]

That just sucked. I am so disappointed. The practice sessions were great to watch. Race? Nah.

We US people get screwed over just as I feared. "F1 TV" is not available. ESPN3 has an app that is a crashy mess. Unusable garbage. ESPN for the race uses the British comment audio. But they just jerk in advertising without audio notice and, needless to say, the two only exciting moments were lost to ESPN "customers".

Never mind it costs > $100 to have a cable package with ESPN. How much does Sky cost in the UK?

 

[stbreaker]

Hamilton was massively unlucky with the VSC. We’ve seen this kind of thing time and time again so we know it’s not just some freak anamoly. They probably should disallow pitting under the VSC except for damage repair.

Agree with the comments regarding F1 on ESPN. I was already really annoyed by the practice non-coverage, but the totally disjointed world feed use really took me to the edge. Absolutely no post race analysis shown - just cut off mid sentence straight after the podium interviews. At least when FS1 hosted MotoGP world feeds, they had Varsha transition in and out of commercial breaks. They also made some effort to fade up and down during natural breaks in speech. That being said, FS1 LOVED cutting to commercials right when a definitive pass for the lead was about to happen. Hopefully ESPN will get the hang of it or perhaps find a way to sell/show ads without breaking away from the race. (I know I’m dreaming on that one...)

 

[Nick Hill]

My non-expert takeaways:

(1) I think you can make a good case that the Haas debacle was the story of this race. We will never know how they might have finished, but to be running so strong and to blow it in such a boneheaded fashion... spectacular failure!

(2) The field is small, but the overall quality is superb. Granted, probably still only 2-3 teams are serious race winning threats, but the competitive spread looks closer to what we have seen in IndyCar than what we've seen recently in F1. Just look at how little headway Bottas was able to make up the field. Some of that could be down to an overtake-unfriendly track, but I think in years past, Bottas is able to climb higher/faster.

(3) Still looks to me like Hamilton's championship to lose. Brilliant opportunism on Ferrari's part, but without that VSC appearing when it did, I feel like Hamilton cruises home in relative comfort.

 

[pjcforpres2020]

Coverage by ESPN was annoyingly bad. I was half tempted to pay for the online streaming that's supposed to be commercial free...

Vettel was very fortunate to pickup 2 places with the timing of that VSC. Hamilton and Raikkonen were .5 seconds a lap faster.

Vettel converted that luck into a win - though - and that's a lot easy said than done.

 

[Qazdar Karim]

Vettel converted that luck into a win - though - and that's a lot easy said than done.

Do not delude yourself: that was easy

 

[SiddarthaKumarF1]

Formula 1 is so unpredictable
The sport being about long hair drivers, risking their lives, bosses risking their money, and babies cheering around the paddock has long gone,
And it has turned into engineers firing up their brain, and drivers killing each other with strategy.
But we fans laud the sport for its authenticity and officiality

F1 2018!!
Let's get ripping!!

 

[SiddarthaKumarF1]

Truly lucky, Vettel though

 

[BoogerMac]

So Haas F1 just posted a job offer for a mechanic on Magnussen's car...ironic? A tire tightening specialist maybe?

https://haasf1team.applytojob.com/apply/jobs/details/x6YDWW6bhp?

 

[MoerasGrizzly]

As a Verstappen fan, this race was slightly dissapointing as it seemed like Verstappen, in his famous impetousness, was simply overdriving the car. Ricciardo did a much better job there.

In general though, the grid does seem a bit tighter then it was last year, which makes me happy.

 

[Andrew Harper]

I see the pitchforks are out and the babies are throwing their dummies!

Force India, McLaren and some of the other teams want Haas formally investigated as they feel their working relationship with Ferrari is "too close" and they are sharing more than they should both technically and parts wise.

Oh for crying out loud, grow up. Haas have done a great job, they use some Ferrari parts to save money and save development costs, in my view other new teams should be given the opportunity to do this as well. It will be swings and roundabouts anyway because as the year progresses, the Haas will more or less stay the same and the others will develop and get quicker.

....that's it, rant over. I'm going back to work now

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Yep, a great job

 

[rubaru]

Yep, a great job

I don't see that many similarities, honestly. Especially when you look closely at the front winglets, shape around the cockpit, size of rear wing, etc.

 

[Fat-Alfie]

Really??

There's none so blind as those that won't see...

 

[Andrew Harper]

Yep, a great job

It's an interesting picture, and I'm not disagreeing with what you are saying but with the way that picture is arranged and with the way the regulations are, you could compare most cars like that from '17 and '18 and they would look very similar.

Torro Rosso had the same issues with Red Bull so the argument is not a new one, it just annoys me that F1 teams behave like little babies, just get on with it! lol

 

[paracletus]

Good picture of two halves there.
As expected with all the regulations going on - similar appearance. But different.

Can someone chop a picture of mercedes / ferrari? I guess they would be a lot more different.