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Yeah. Only a matter of time before they become a junior factory team (ala Haas, Alfa, Racing Point and Toro Rosso) or are forced out of the sport. Either would be an ignominious outcome to a great team, but they just can't survive as an "independent" constructor in the current environment.

I believe McLaren will be following them down that path soon, as well.
 
McLaren may not disappear as they have Zak Brown and United Autosport money behind them. It isn't quite factory money, but it's a more solid business base than what Williams have, unfortunately.

Perhaps a strategic alliance between McLaren and Williams would be beneficial.
 
Random qualifying thoughts:

Shame about Kubica's results, but it's only the first race.

Lando Norris was very impressive.

What happened, Pierre?

Kimi's performance was good.

The Haas guys did very well too.
 
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The Sky guys are already writing off Ferrari. Sounds like a fun season coming
[doublepost=1552800444][/doublepost]Parade.
[doublepost=1552801800][/doublepost]Honda leading a Grand Prix for the first time since Canada 2008. Better engine than the Renault.
[doublepost=1552802050][/doublepost]The Haas car is great
 
Race results hidden in the "spoiler" button.

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Congratulations to Valtteri. A well deserved win after all his blocking last year for the golden child.

RBR has a strong Honda in that chassis. On par with Mercedes and ahead of Ferrari IMO. Looks reliable as well. An engine overheats in a McLaren chassis. Some things never change. Great job to Kimi keeping the Alfa in the top 8.

Hopefully things will tighten up over the next few races. Formula E is more intertaining than todays race. :apple:
 
I got to watch the race today as Sky deciced to show it on Sky One, which is part of my Virgin package.

Hope they don't show many more and stick with their F1 channel so I don't have the chance to watch a full race again.

The changes to allow cars to follow more closely and improve overtaking don't appear to have worked, and whilst things might me a little tigher in the middle of the pack, doesn't look like much has changed in terms of the gap between the front and the middle.

Unless they can do something about the 'racing' soon, it doesn't matter how many fastest lap point gimics they introduce. There will be nobody left watching the procession :(
 
Ferrari picked up right where they left off by botching their strategy again. They pulled Vettel off the soft tires too early, then when he was clearly too slow (probably due to a problem), they wouldn't let Leclerc pass him. That meant they couldn't have Leclerc go for the fastest lap and at least possibly get an extra point out of an otherwise disappointing day.

Not sure what happened to Kubica, but it looked like Russell drove over his front wing. They showed it very briefly, so I would have to see it again.

Another patented McLaren engine disaster.

Speaking of which, Honda must be pleased with the RBR and Toro Rosso cars. RBR is probably not pleased with Gasly's underwhelming performance. I bet Kvyat replaces him by midseason if this continues because he had a great race.

Giovinazzi wins the rolling chicane award.
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I got to watch the race today as Sky deciced to show it on Sky One, which is part of my Virgin package.

Hope they don't show many more and stick with their F1 channel so I don't have the chance to watch a full race again.

The changes to allow cars to follow more closely and improve overtaking don't appear to have worked, and whilst things might me a little tigher in the middle of the pack, doesn't look like much has changed in terms of the gap between the front and the middle.

Unless they can do something about the 'racing' soon, it doesn't matter how many fastest lap point gimics they introduce. There will be nobody left watching the procession :(

Melbourne isn't the best track for overtaking. I'm withholding judgement until we see the new package on a few more circuits.
 
haas pit crew - not so good

They clearly got the wheel on since RoGro was driving hard for a fair bit afterwards, but I am guessing they cross-threaded the wheel which caused it to become unbalanced on the stud and either start to work itself off or set up a vibration that broke the suspension.

Valteri was clearly the class of the field.
 
Well, just finished watching it...

Overall a bit of a dull race, even if it is a difficult track more overtaking was promised..

But LeClerk as I thought is very hungry for it.
As I knew Max with his Honda engine now has the pace, but I certainly didn’t expect Red Bull to take the overall second place in the performance standings! Max just blew Ferrari away... I was given some inside knowledge that the new Honda engine is very powerful and the team are really really happy with its reliability. And in this race one Renault retired and another Renault engine caught fire..

So so so happy Botas won, he obliterated that field! Well done!

And predictably Ricardo had some disasters at his home race, a McLaren blew up, and Lewis and Vettel were blaming everything but their own driving for being so so far behind Botas.

I have a sneaky feeling Red Bull and LeClerk are going to give Mercedes an incredibly hard time this year.

But if Mercedes win every race by 25 seconds I won’t bother watching it next year. And be questioning of what Mercedes have done to have such pace is entirely within the rules..
[doublepost=1552852126][/doublepost]Oh and one note I had, watched it on Sky, the cameras on the track had the usual excellent quality picture, the in car camera quality was rubbish!!
[doublepost=1552852486][/doublepost]And another note, I would LOVE Botas to beat Lewis every race, because A he deserves it and B Lewis will throw a RIGHT wobbly.

Interesting how they are all so keen to get the fastest lap.. and that 1 point.
 
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Well, seems to be "Groundhog Day". The usual teams and suspects with the same result...no real racing. So what was the time between 1st and 2nd? Vettel looks sad and dejected already and Lewis is probably pouting and saying why didn't I get the same gear as Valterri. BTW, was Lewis having a bad hair day on the podium? I'll have to watch another race or two to decide if I'm going to stay or go. These "changes" don't seem to have tightened things up one bit. Cheers
 
It's one race.

The big takeaway is Ferrari is not committed to LeClerc. They hurt themselves by not letting him run at speed at the end of the race. Serious data gathering lost. Ferrari could've done what Mercedes did last year when they allowed Lewis to pass, and later give back the position on the last lap. The explanation of Vettel's car needed special care was at best curious.

Fingers crossed Honda can keep it up. I've been fooled before, but I'll keep hoping. It is weird to see Aston Martin Red Bull Honda.
 
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It's one race.

The big takeaway is Ferrari is not committed to LeClerc. They hurt themselves by not letting him run at speed at the end of the race. Serious data gathering lost. Ferrari could've done what Mercedes did last year when they allowed Lewis to pass, and later give back the position on the last lap. The explanation of Vettel's car needed special care was at best curious.

Fingers crossed Honda can keep it up. I've been fooled before, but I'll keep hoping. It is weird to see Aston Martin Red Bull Honda.

I agree! I honestly thought that with the 30 second lead Leclerc had over Magnussen it was a good idea to pit him and go for the fastest lap and also gather some data. I have no clue why Ferrari didn't go for fastest lap. After last years strategy blunders, I really thought they would be on it this year but race one and Vettel is already questioning them on the radio.
 
I watched a sped up highlights show of the race and I hope it’s just the fact Albert Park is a boring track because that was one very dull race. F1 has been struggling for a while and it’s got to the stage where they are trying to manufacture it into being interesting rather than letting the teams push the limits of technology. Everything is so contrived and forced these days. I feel quite sad that I feel like the sport I’ve grown up with has lost a lot of its spark.
 
It's one race.

The big takeaway is Ferrari is not committed to LeClerc. They hurt themselves by not letting him run at speed at the end of the race. Serious data gathering lost. Ferrari could've done what Mercedes did last year when they allowed Lewis to pass, and later give back the position on the last lap. The explanation of Vettel's car needed special care was at best curious.

Fingers crossed Honda can keep it up. I've been fooled before, but I'll keep hoping. It is weird to see Aston Martin Red Bull Honda.

Glass half full ...

I'd bet most of the races will be like this.

We'll see.

I think LeClerc will win one race this season but it will be a race that Vettel has no hope of winning.
 
I watched the race again. Yes, I do that.

Vettel squeezes LeClerc on start (Turn 2?).

Vettel does not squeeze Verstappen when he passes along the outside. (He did get better traction out of the corner and had the benefit of DRS.) We've all seen situations where drivers were more aggressive in that kind of scenario in thelast few years.

Pretty sure reputation had something to do with the latter.

I also wonder if there's been any Red Bull/Toro Rosso conversations about unlucky Pierre.
 
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