2016 Formula 1 Season Thread

[dmunz]

That's interesting... is this the same Steve Matchett who was a member of that ill-fated pit crew at Hockenheim in 1994 where race winner Max Verstappen's father Jos was flambéed?

Indeed. He was either on the rear jack or holding the starter (I can't remember which.) Wrote a great book called "The Mechanics Tale" and is generally a really good add to the US commentating team.

As I recall, he got a three or four race fill-in deal when Speedvision (or was it ESPN) was the US network for F1 in the 90's. He brought so much to the team in contacts and understanding that they added him on full time. Remember that was back when we were lucky to get the world feed in the US and never saw driver interviews (aside from the podiums) or any technical content. (Come to think of it, they also use to stack a replay of qualifying in front of the actual race on Sundays. That worked out OK in the days before push news on the internet.)

If you are really interested (and you're probably not...) dredge through the archives of RASF1 on usenet. There was massive chatter around "who is this new guy and he really knows his stuff" when they added him.

FWIW
DLM

PS, Not really a case of "ill-fated" as no one was actually hurt badly in that fire. I think the fuel hose guy had some lung/airway issues because he had jimmied his mask and defeated some of the safety features. There are lots of spectacular pictures but he whole thing lasted less than a few seconds. It is on youtube.

 

[CWallace]

As I recall, he got a three or four race fill-in deal when Speedvision (or was it ESPN) was the US network for F1 in the 90's.

Must have been Speedvision because ESPN and ESPN2 were just Varsha and Hobbs (on-site with ESPN / in-studio with ESPN2). When they lost / gave up the contract to FOX Sports Net, Mike Joy and either John Watson or Derek Bell did the races from a studio with Peter Windsor on site.

 

[pachyderm]

i'm so glad varsha is gone! only slightly more tolerable than the few times eddie cheever did color comm.

i thought matchett was much more than a tyre jack guy. engineer or some such?

 

[pachyderm]

FP3

 

[BenTrovato]

Out goes Max from qualy! Tough break for the kid

 

[pachyderm]

boo

 

[Apple fanboy]

Mac went from hero to zero. I'm sure after Ricardo was robbed of victory due to tyre strategy last time out, today's pole was all the more sweeter.
The fact that he will be starting on a better tyre than those around him should give him a real chance of victory (considering the lack of overtaking opertunites).
That said I bet Max has a go on a few overtakes.
As for Hamilton, car troubles again! What is going on? I'd be requesting a change of mechanic.

 

[Don't panic]

nice race.
very entertaining.

ricciardo got robbed of a well deserved victory.
by the mess up with the tyres first, and by Lewis illegal manouvre then.

 

[Apple fanboy]

nice race.
very entertaining.

ricciardo got robbed of a well deserved victory.
by the mess up with the tyres first, and by Lewis illegal manouvre then.

???
Really. Looked like RBR chose the wrong tyres and they went off to me.
Great race from Hamilton. Staying out on those wets when everyone else was changing is how he won.
The fact that Roseberg was 7th, has blown the championship wide open.
Great couple of results from Forcd India.
And a 5th from Alonso was a great reward for a good race. Hopefully McLaren can push on for a podium before the end of the year.

 

[Don't panic]

???
Really. Looked like RBR chose the wrong tyres and they went off to me.
Great race from Hamilton. Staying out on those wets when everyone else was changing is how he won.
The fact that Roseberg was 7th, has blown the championship wide open.
Great couple of results from Forcd India.
And a 5th from Alonso was a great reward for a good race. Hopefully McLaren can push on for a podium before the end of the year.

he did have a good race, but he was able to stay in front only because of RBR's incredible error at the pit, which cost him several seconds, and even that barely.

and then, with ricciardo being faster and set to pass him, he clearly cut the chicane to stay in front and then had a very dubious 'defensive move' right after, they should have made him cede the position.
today ricciardo was clearly the better driver and deserved the win, and he didn't get it because of his team's mistake in the pit AND hamilton illegally cutting the chicane

 

[Apple fanboy]

he did have a good race, but he was able to stay in front only because of RBR's incredible error at the pit, which cost him several seconds, and even that barely.

and then, with ricciardo being faster and set to pass him, he clearly cut the chicane to stay in front and then had a very dubious 'defensive move' right after, they should have made him cede the position.
today ricciardo was clearly the better driver and deserved the win, and he didn't get it because of his team's mistake in the pit AND hamilton illegally cutting the chicane

I think most drivers cut that chicane at some point.
The tyres not being ready was a travesty. Especially since the team called him in.
Did it cost him the race? Possibly. But his tyres has gone of with a number of laps left.

 

[BenTrovato]

I didn't really care for the race. It highlights how stupid Monaco is. You have a better car who can't get by for 50 laps. The scenery is fantastic though. They had a number of quality shots. Looking forward to reading about why Rosberg couldn't come to grips with his car in the opening laps, he looked incredibly slow compared to Lewis.

Funny how it all worked out. If Nico let Hamilton by right away, there was probably no contest in this race and likewise for Red Bull, if they hadn't screwed up so badly in the pit lane, there would have been no issues collecting the win.

 

[randian]

Even though Ricciardo lost 9 seconds in the pit to Hamilton he still came out right behind Hamilton after that pit stop. Something bad must happened to Hamilton on his out lap for him to lose 9 seconds in one lap.

 

[pachyderm]

That pit stop killed Riccardo. There are no if, and, or buts about it. And how did that happen? They were ready just one lap before! My wife jokingly said someone's getting fired on Monday. I bet she isn't far from wrong.

INDY 500 - Congrats to Rossi. Boring compared to last years race. By not messing up he inherited a win.

COCA COLA 600 - Best race of the day! Martin Truex dominated but it was still entertaining.

 

[Don't panic]

I think most drivers cut that chicane at some point.
The tyres not being ready was a travesty. Especially since the team called him in.
Did it cost him the race? Possibly. But his tyres has gone of with a number of laps left.

it is very simple, really.
if a driver cuts a chicane to pass another driver, they have to give the position back.
it is no different when a driver cuts a chicane to prevent the other driver to pass him

they are getting a clear advantage by driving outside the circuit.
there should be an appropriate penalty for that. in this case, he should have been made to give up the position.

the fact that many do (if they do) does not mean it is acceptable. And be sure that as soon as they know they will be properly penalized, they will stop doing it.

plus, the move right after he cut the chicane was also very questionable, since he closed him to the wall late (where ricciardo waved his hand)

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

I'm glad we had a race that wasn't full of penalties and steward interference personally.

 

[Apple fanboy]

it is very simple, really.
if a driver cuts a chicane to pass another driver, they have to give the position back.
it is no different when a driver cuts a chicane to prevent the other driver to pass him

they are getting a clear advantage by driving outside the circuit.
there should be an appropriate penalty for that. in this case, he should have been made to give up the position.

the fact that many do (if they do) does not mean it is acceptable. And be sure that as soon as they know they will be properly penalized, they will stop doing it.

plus, the move right after he cut the chicane was also very questionable, since he closed him to the wall late (where ricciardo waved his hand)

The rules state that if a driver cuts part of the track but maintaines his current position, generally there is no action the first time, a warning the second time and a penalty the third.
Lewis did it once.
Personally I think F1 needs less penalties. If Lewis wasn't going to make the chicane but instead locked up and took Ricardo out, would that have been a better outcome? I think not.
The more penalties we have the worse the racing becomes.
Why should a driver have a 5 place grid penalty for changing a gear box? That's bonkers. What next? A point deducted for every front wing you use?
I think it was one of the best Monaco Grand Prix's in years.
Yes it was a shame for Ricardo (who is a genuinely nice guy, and my favourite non British driver) to not pick up the win, but the blame for that is with his pit crew, not Lewis.

 

[0388631]

The young Verstappen seems overwrought with misery this weekend. Can't say I blame the kid; all eyes has been on him since his big win two weeks ago. Doesn't help that less than desirable media channels spouting one liners such as "Hero to zero in a day." Hopefully we don't see any accidents on the 12th.

 

[Apple fanboy]

The young Verstappen seems overwrought with misery this weekend. Can't say I blame the kid; all eyes has been on him since his big win two weeks ago. Doesn't help that less than desirable media channels spouting one liners such as "Hero to zero in a day." Hopefully we don't see any accidents on the 12th.

In the UK at least, we love to build people up in the press, then attack them. Not sure why.
Max wasn't the only driver to make mistakes. In some ways his maiden win hasn't helped him with the expectations so high. He's certinly a talent, but a wet Monaco is a challenge for any driver.

 

[0388631]

In the UK at least, we love to build people up in the press, then attack them. Not sure why.
Max wasn't the only driver to make mistakes. In some ways his maiden win hasn't helped him with the expectations so high. He's certinly a talent, but a wet Monaco is a challenge for any driver.

Don't think it's UK specific, mate. I'm willing to say Monaco in general is a hard circuit for a "new" F1 driver more-so with wetness, and the pressure on him didn't help. There's little room for error on the track. According to the team manager's remarks post-race, the poor lad isn't making it easier on himself, but will learn from the mistakes made and move on.

 

[an-other]

I didn't really care for the race. It highlights how stupid Monaco is. You have a better car who can't get by for 50 laps. The scenery is fantastic though.

Ask Mansell what it was like to follow Senna.

Ask Alesi what it was like to follow Senna.

Ask Coulthard what it was like to follow Bernoldi

I agree. Gorgeous scenery.

 

[zhenya]

I didn't really care for the race. It highlights how stupid Monaco is. You have a better car who can't get by for 50 laps.

There are plenty of other modern circuits on the calendar with 100m of runoff at every corner where a better car can still struggle to pass for the entire race. Monaco has to be looked at as a whole. Qualifying is of prime importance here. If not for the bungled pit stop, Riccardo would have almost certainly won as a direct result of his fantastic qualifying lap. But given the rain during the race, he still would have had to drive extremely well for the entire 2 hours without making a mistake. Passing isn't the only thing that makes racing interesting. Just because it's difficult to pass doesn't mean there aren't other ways to win at Monaco. Even if you have the faster car, if the driver in front of you is able to withstand the constant pressure you are putting on him, especially in the wet, variable conditions, for most of the race, that's a deserved win IMO. If Monaco were to ever be removed from the calendar, I'd probably be done with F1, especially as we'd probably get another snoozer like Sochi in its place.

 

[BenTrovato]

There are plenty of other modern circuits on the calendar with 100m of runoff at every corner where a better car can still struggle to pass for the entire race. Monaco has to be looked at as a whole. Qualifying is of prime importance here. If not for the bungled pit stop, Riccardo would have almost certainly won as a direct result of his fantastic qualifying lap. But given the rain during the race, he still would have had to drive extremely well for the entire 2 hours without making a mistake. Passing isn't the only thing that makes racing interesting. Just because it's difficult to pass doesn't mean there aren't other ways to win at Monaco. Even if you have the faster car, if the driver in front of you is able to withstand the constant pressure you are putting on him, especially in the wet, variable conditions, for most of the race, that's a deserved win IMO. If Monaco were to ever be removed from the calendar, I'd probably be done with F1, especially as we'd probably get another snoozer like Sochi in its place.

I agree there are plenty of other snoozers. I actually like Monaco for the scenery. F1 does great TV work of highlighting the locations throughout the race. I'm just saying the only action we get in Monaco is strategy error or safety car. Even if Monaco is a difficult place to pass but Ricciardo could come close maybe ONCE in 30 laps, that might be okay - and the one time he did come close Hamilton cut the chicane. I don't know, to me Monaco is about precision driving in tight quarters but that doesn't apply to the lead car who can shut the door every time. Look at Hamilton & Rosberg at the start. Hamilton was significantly faster but without the team order, Hamilton probably wouldn't have gotten by. I don't enjoy that type of "racing".
[doublepost=1464787653][/doublepost]

Ask Mansell what it was like to follow Senna.

Ask Alesi what it was like to follow Senna.

Ask Coulthard what it was like to follow Bernoldi

I agree. Gorgeous scenery.

lol sure we can ask them but that's Monaco. Maybe the wider spec tyres for 2017 will make passing better in tighter circuits

 

[Apple fanboy]

I enjoy Monaco as it has a different feel to every other race weekend.
There is always a few none finishers and a couple of crashes!

 

[Apple fanboy]

Lewis faster than Roseberg in practice despite slower tyres.

Looking forward to a good race.