F1 season 2016

[jojo]

So anyone want to make any predictions for next years F1 season?

Will the Mercs dominate again?

Will Nico carry his 3-in-a-row win form over, or will Lewis drink a bit less tequila and whip his *** as usual?

Will Ferrari have a title challenging car?

How will Redbull fare with their Tag Heuer branded Renault Engine?

Will Renault actually have a competitive engine next season, now they have a Works team?

Will Honda have an engine at all next season?

Will Alonso start next season?

So many things to look forward already!

 

[SoulGlo]

Lewis vs Nico vs Vettel.

With Vettel coming out on top due to the Merc boys tripping over each other.

 

[CarbonMike]

I think the new Ultra Soft compound rubber could spice things up a bit.

HAAS F1 are jumping in all guns blazing with a Dallara chassis and mostly Ferrari built car so they'll probably give Sauber and Force India a good run. Manor are allegedly getting Merc engines also so they may gain something at least!

 

[Scottyg]

10 different tyre compounds next year and the teams have the choice not the tyre manufacturer. Strategist will be having lovely warm dreams.
Hamilton will make it three in a row, Vettel second and Nico 'choker' Rosberg third. That will then see Rosberg's contract not being renewed and young Max taking the second Merc seat. Kimi will leave Ferrari and Rosberg will head over there to fight it out with Seb. 21 races next year as well, so a much longer season.
The big changes come in 2017. So I think you'll find a lot of teams not developing the 2015 car, instead concentrating on the 2017 car.
Interesting times ahead.

 

[jojo]

I'm totally gutted about the 2016 season already, and it's not even started yet!

They have axed my second favorite driver Maldonado! In comes Magnussen as a replacement though.

 

[Ozmosis]

Could be interesting with HAAS and Manor having half-decent engines and Manor have recruited some big names for designing the car etc. If Honda have not sorted their engine, they could be back of the field...

I think Mercs will still be ahead, sadly. Hopefully Ferrari can give them a headache anyway.

Redbull boss is already shooting his mouth off, demanding Renault give them priority over their own team!! Could end in tears...

Hopefully with Ferrari engines (albeit not current ones) Torro Rosso can move up the field a bit...

 

[desertstorm]

Hopefully it will be closer up the front, still think the Mercedes are going to be the car to beat and I am sure Lewis will hit the ground running and won't be letting Nico get ahead at any point.
Be good if Ferrari and Williams can make a good step as that will give Mercedes something to think about.
Nice to see the back marker teams hopefully closing the gap a bit.
The tyre thing is I am sure going to throw a few curved balls as some cars/drivers that can look after tyres may be able to use more of the softer tyres. Other drivers will be making multiple stops.
I can't imagine Honda will be as slow as they were last year, It was a PR disaster for Honda racing.
Magnussen isn't there yet but it looks like he will be replacing Maldando, which is great for both Kevin and Renault as I am sure he will get more out of the car and Renaults repair bills should be a lot less.
Be interesting to see where Hasse fit into the order, probably be giving Force India, Sauber, Renault a run for the money.

 

[Scottyg]

Maldanado's sponsorship money will be sorely missed. He brought a fortune with him to the team.

 

[jojo]

Maldanado's sponsorship money will be sorely missed. He brought a fortune with him to the team.

I think it's the sponsors pulling the plug that's cost him his seat!

 

[SteveMcB]

I'm totally gutted about the 2016 season already, and it's not even started yet!

They have axed my second favorite driver Maldonado! In comes Magnussen as a replacement though.

Seriously - Maldonado couldn't drive a nail into a bit of wood

 

[Ozmosis]

Seriously - Maldonado couldn't drive a nail into a bit of wood

Yet he still managed to win in a Williams when they were not as good as they are now. Maybe everyone else had an off day...! I am not saying he is the best, and is prone to mistakes, but he CAN drive...

 

[desertstorm]

Maldanado will always have that win on his CV and on that day it all came together. The problem with him was he was quite inconsistent and very susceptible to crashing. Has any other driver had a website that exists just to document his latest crash
http://hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com/
And he didn't get the name Crashtor Maldanado for no reason.
Yes he can drive, you can't take that win away from him, but he was a liabilty and I am sure the other drivers are happy he has gone.

 

[xpoweruk]

I'm just hoping Mclaren Honda their act together this season

 

[Ozmosis]

Maldanado will always have that win on his CV and on that day it all came together. The problem with him was he was quite inconsistent and very susceptible to crashing. Has any other driver had a website that exists just to document his latest crash
http://hasmaldonadocrashedtoday.com/
And he didn't get the name Crashtor Maldanado for no reason.
Yes he can drive, you can't take that win away from him, but he was a liabilty and I am sure the other drivers are happy he has gone.

He seemed to lose his head AFTER that win to be honest. Ego??

 

[jojo]

Seriously - Maldonado couldn't drive a nail into a bit of wood

He doesn't need to be a good driver for me to like him! Lol. It's the potential entertainment factor!

 

[SteveMcB]

He doesn't need to be a good driver for me to like him! Lol. It's the potential entertainment factor!

Good point, I don't think F1 is anywhere near as involving as it used to be, can't beat a bit of niggle between drivers to spice it up a bit but Maldonado, IMO, is just too unpredictable and dangerous for this version of motorsport. The likes of De Resta must feel a bit peeved at being dropped because they don't have the same level of financial backing.

I bet he'd be well worth watching in a stock car or BTCC though.

 

[Ghost]

Anyone else thinking the F1 car launches have been a little low key this year?

 

[jojo]

Anyone else thinking the F1 car launches have been a little low key this year?

All the money's gone towards engine development, that's why!

 

[Ozmosis]

Anyone else thinking the F1 car launches have been a little low key this year?

I know what you mean. Used to be a big part of the build up to see what the cars looked like BEFORE the first test...

Now most of them are being launched at the track.

The ones that have been launched so far are using the 'free world' of social media!

 

[jojo]

Just a month away from the first race!

 

[Ozmosis]

Only 2 days til testing starts!

McLaren launch tomorrow...

 

[Steve!]

3 weeks until I leave for Aus then!

 

[slepy]

And no live coverage of testing on sky

 

[Ghost]

Used to be a big part of the build up to see what the cars looked like BEFORE the first test...
Now most of them are being launched at the track

Very disappointing

And no live coverage of testing on sky

This is what I didn’t understand from the first year Sky had the F1 channel.

 

[Ozmosis]

There has never been live coverage of testing though, to be fair. It is nice to read about it but I do not think it would be that exciting to watch for the majority. It is not like a practise session.

 

[45bvtc]

But they're just testing! Even Ron Dennis says 'the Merc's are impressive' with all the laps they're doing but he hasn't the faintest idea what it is they're testing other than it's 'impressive'; that said, Sebastian has been faster on both days...

And Alonso will after all take £25,000,000 for a 2016 F1 tour and drive Ron's cars on a Sunday...

I'm gonna try and find something better to do on a Sunday...

NALF

 

[Ghost]

There has never been live coverage of testing though, to be fair. It is nice to read about it but I do not think it would be that exciting to watch for the majority. It is not like a practise session.

I could understand them not showing live testing on the BBC, but if you had a channel solely on F1, (and paying for it) I was disappointed not for then to show it.

I’d agree it not be that exciting, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[Ozmosis]

I could understand them not showing live testing on the BBC, but if you had a channel solely on F1, (and paying for it) I was disappointed not for then to show it.

I’d agree it not be that exciting, but interesting nonetheless.

Yes I understand where you are coming from, I would appreciate the opportunity to watch it. Some of the sensors and stuff they have hanging off the cars would be fascinating to see live. But are there any actual TV cameras there?

 

[Ozmosis]

But they're just testing! Even Ron Dennis says 'the Merc's are impressive' with all the laps they're doing but he hasn't the faintest idea what it is they're testing other than it's 'impressive'; that said, Sebastian has been faster on both days...

And Alonso will after all take £25,000,000 for a 2016 F1 tour and drive Ron's cars on a Sunday...

I'm gonna try and find something better to do on a Sunday...

NALF

If I remember correctly, and not to put a dampner on it as I want to see someone challenge the silver and funny-green cars, but Ferrari were fastest at this point last year too...

 

[Ozmosis]

And what the freck are they doing with qualifying???

Of all the things currently 'wrong' with F1, qualifying is last on the list...

 

[jojo]

And what the freck are they doing with qualifying???

Of all the things currently 'wrong' with F1, qualifying is last on the list...

I was thinking that too!...

 

[SoulGlo]

Anyone else thinking the F1 car launches have been a little low key this year?

Gone are the days of the pop star launches. Wasn't Mclaren who hired the Spice Girls when they were still huge?

 

[desertstorm]

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/335951/formula-1-set-for-knockout-qualifying/
I can't see how that qualifying is going to work, especially if a session has to be stopped for some reason.
It's going to be a nightmare to coordinate for the teams and if the weather is intermittent will be a real lottery.
Will be fairly hard to work out whats going on for the people watching it as well.
I think it's Bernies way of mixing up the grid especially with the tyre choices the teams are able to make this year.
I am sure it won't be long before it gets changed again.

 

[Ozmosis]

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/335951/formula-1-set-for-knockout-qualifying/
I can't see how that qualifying is going to work, especially if a session has to be stopped for some reason.
It's going to be a nightmare to coordinate for the teams and if the weather is intermittent will be a real lottery.
Will be fairly hard to work out whats going on for the people watching it as well.
I think it's Bernies way of mixing up the grid especially with the tyre choices the teams are able to make this year.
I am sure it won't be long before it gets changed again.

It's also going to be funny to hear the whinging when Driver X was eliminated and slowed down Driver Y as he was returning to the pits... Could be some chaos!

 

[slepy]

Yeah. It will be interesting to see how they deal with this qualy. There will be no sitting in the garage for half of the session and I think that was the point. On another side, mercs will still probably do one or two laps with a knockout time and sit back and chill.

 

[Ghost]

But are there any actual TV cameras there?

If they were allowed to broadcast, I don’t think it would cost that much to drop a crew around the circuit.

 

[Ghost]

And what the freck are they doing with qualifying???

Of all the things currently 'wrong' with F1, qualifying is last on the list...

Just cannot get me head around this one?

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/335951/formula-1-set-for-knockout-qualifying/
I can't see how that qualifying is going to work, especially if a session has to be stopped for some reason..

I think that’s what they want to see, (Bernie) the front runners being tripped up, and end up at the back of the grid.

Its wacky races!!

 

[45bvtc]

If they were allowed to broadcast, I don’t think it would cost that much to drop a crew around the circuit.

Was on SKY Sports F1, guys. Unfortunately, it was the usual bumbling drivel from Ted Kravitz; the explainer of ALL things 'technical' with his 'notebook' who again couldn't understand his own ****** questions let alone the answers. What an embarrassment!

Kravitz to any F1 followers interested in the technical aspects of the sport is a disaster. Kravitz again pushing his own poorly informed opinion on who'll be the 2016 'driver of the ****** day' prize; and was eloquently put down by Rosberg for not understanding his own pathetic point/question...

Sheer drivel guys; best you missed it; no one really knew what anyone else was doing other that here-they-are or there-they-were...

And why should the Teams tell these Kravitz people anyway cos all they'll then do is 'blab', and not necessarily with the right answers and/or information

Wait till the first race and then get excited, maybe....

 

[jojo]

Its wacky races!!

If this was true, all is forgiven! Bring back Maldonado!

 

[Ghost]

If this was true, all is forgiven! Bring back Maldonado!

I was just reading this...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/35486601

We will miss him.. But he wasn’t safe!!