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Post by Wß on Mar 11, 2017 15:25:50 GMT
In AUSTRALIA, to be held (March 24 – 26) on the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne: P Zero Yellow Soft P Zero Red Supersoft P Zero Purple UltrasoftTake away a Button, a Rosberg, a Magnussen and a Gutierrez. Now add a Stroll and a Vandorne, shake up the regulations and the ownership, then pass it all through a strainer, removing all traces of Ecclestones. Now put it on a slow simmer and stir in one cup of Brawn while adding a liberal dose of mechanical grip from a massive set of rubber and a heaping spoonful of aerodynamic downforce from some bad ass wings and you get the recipe for 2017. Welcome back old friend.
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Post by Hammer on Mar 11, 2017 16:12:28 GMT
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Post by RyRy on Mar 12, 2017 17:52:20 GMT
Damnnn you're eager!
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Post by Hammer on Mar 12, 2017 22:53:45 GMT
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Post by Wß on Mar 17, 2017 17:25:14 GMT
So far so good. I want nothing but clear skies so we can see some serious pushing and shoving. Not the easiest circuit to overtake in so Saturday we'll get to see where the PU development for the year stands.
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Post by racechick on Mar 18, 2017 13:14:24 GMT
PREVIEW TO AUSTRALIA 2017
The circus is back in town! The wait is over and the engines will soon be fired up in anger. Where else to start the season than Australia? For us non Aussie's it means set the alarm early, try to sleep, get up with that growing bubble of excitement, coffee pot on, pastries warmed, then sit down and let the racing commence. That IS the start to an F1 season.
F1 is back, but it's back with some changes. The cars are fatter and faster. The wheels wider and the tyres more durable. No more cliffs? How will that affect strategy? And will we see overtaking become more difficult? It's all questions at this stage.
No more Bernie. Hallelujah! One cannot deny how he has dragged F1 into the modern market driven world we live in, but F1 has paid some prices. My view is that Bernie is well past his sell by date and has made some glaring public errors of late, which haven't been good for the sport. Double points for the last race and the unnecessary change to qualifying come immediately to mind. Couple that with the unfair way teams are paid.......time for fresh blood. And so we have Liberty, they seem to be making all the right noises. Ross Brawn, a man of integrity, managing the technical side, ( and rumoured to be looking at the artificial overtaking created by DRS) inspires hope. A fairer distribution of prize money and a safeguarding of traditional F1 tracks are both on the cards. Let's hope Liberty deliver!
Some more of those questions...... Who has made most progress with the new regs? Ferrari are looking good, but they tend to in testing. Are Mercedes sandbagging? Or are Ferrari now on a par with Mercedes? Hamilton and Lauda have said Ferrari are up there. Gamesmanship?
And what of Red Bull? They seem to have slipped under the radar. Are they deliberately keeping a low profile? One to watch? Max Verstappen has said he thinks they are slightly off the Merc pace but hope to catch up.
McLaren. Oh dear. It's not looking good. Honda don't seem to have sorted their engine at all, and now there are rumours that McLaren are approaching Mercedes for engines. Bit of a mess really.
Other things of note that we'll all be looking out for as the season starts. How will Bottas cope with Hamilton? He seems a cool customer, it's his trademark. Lauda has said he's about .2 off Hamilton at this point in time. Which is pretty good going. How will Williams cope without Bottas? They have the undoubtably fast but somewhat inconsistent Massa returning and the inexperienced Lance Stroll. They have a rumoured tidy sum of money from Mercedes for Bottas. But will the driver line up damage their chances?
Has Hulkenberg made the right decision to switch to Renault? Or has Perez made the better decision to stay with Force India? Only time will tell. But those pink cars!!! I think Force India have played a blinder with that! First thing I'm doing when I get to Silverstone is heading to their merchandise stall.
You can maybe take a stab at answering some of these questions. In about a weeks time we'll have more definitive answers. Australia, the world of F1 awaits. What can you bring us? Sit back and enjoy.........
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Post by LRW on Mar 18, 2017 15:06:33 GMT
Pastries?
How many F1 fans do you really think get up at 5am on a Sunday and heat up pastries ?
Apart from that - excellent preview.
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Post by Wß on Mar 18, 2017 15:29:37 GMT
Some of us have our wives do it. Where did you go wrong?
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Post by racechick on Mar 18, 2017 16:39:36 GMT
You don't heat up pastries on those early F1 mornings? You need to sack the houseboy!
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Post by Hammer on Mar 18, 2017 16:52:22 GMT
You don't heat up pastries on those early F1 mornings? You need to sack the houseboy! You want him to sack himself?
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Post by racechick on Mar 18, 2017 17:04:30 GMT
You don't heat up pastries on those early F1 mornings? You need to sack the houseboy! You want him to sack himself? Wellll, you can't just blame the wife in these situations.
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Post by Wß on Mar 19, 2017 2:51:02 GMT
Ro-row. What if Mercedes is not tipping their PU hand simply because they don't have to. If these regulations don't dramitically change the running order, the entire regulatory changes would have been a massive waste of money. I mean, the cars (sans shark fins) are more beautiful, but seriously, how much money was plunked by the teams o completely redesign their chassis, aero and new suspensions all because they wanted to unseat the Mercedes juggernaut. I may all have been for naught. We will get a good sense of where things stand by Saturday.
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Post by racechick on Mar 19, 2017 7:53:39 GMT
Well, well well. If that's true, what will the whingers and moaners, the 'it's not fair', 'Mercedes cheat' wahhh, wahhh, blahhh, blah, brigade do now? They've got exactly what they wished for , no more tokens and the opportunity to catch up throughout the season, yet Merc are rumoured to have 70bhp more. That's bad news for a Merc/Hammy hater! At the moment I guess they can stick their fingers in their ears and quote testing times. But if things unfold as suggested above, what then? Well there's always the good old Hamilton bashing they can bring into play....... 'Hamilton only wins because he's in the best car' 'Hamilton wrecks engines' 'Hamilton is arrogant' ( substitute arrogant for any insulting word of your choice) ' Bottas works so much harder than Hamilton' ( that's a new one, watch out for it) ' Hamilton doesn't focus' 'He's too aggressive' ' He always wants to win' ( I REALLY don't get that one) 'Parties, rage, fashion shows, gnash, tattoos, snarl, dogs, weep, music, fume, famous friends, screech, jewellery, head bang private jet, bluster And finally. 'But Rosberg beat him', smug and 'Button beat him in that 3yr championship' , more smug F1 is back, bring it on!
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Post by Wß on Mar 19, 2017 12:47:47 GMT
Isn't it telling that the only two guys that have ever "beat" Hamilton are retired?
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Post by RyRy on Mar 20, 2017 2:00:10 GMT
Isn't it telling that the only two guys that have ever "beat" Hamilton are retired? People are pretty harsh on Rosberg and Button, they're both pretty good drivers imo. Rosberg more so than Button but still I agree that Hamilton is a step above them. I don't see Bottas being a challenge for Hamilton this year but I certainly hope I am wrong Also, checkout: That's a pretty sweet deal and perfect for the sport, try and reach the youngsters!
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Post by racechick on Mar 20, 2017 7:37:02 GMT
That's a cool deal. It used to be similar at Silverstone. Not free for under 14's, but very much cheaper even in grandstands. I used to get Max in on it up to when he was about 17. They don't ask for proof if age when you buy the tickets and there's no way they check when everyone's piling through the gate.
On Bottas, I'm really keen to see how this pans out. I never was mad on him as some were, but he clearly has speed and consistency. I think I thought him a bit of a boring driver.......but that is actually the perfect foil for Hamilton. Button was too sneaky and Rosberg too hysterical ( though his qualifying was excellent)
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Post by RyRy on Mar 20, 2017 11:07:02 GMT
That's a cool deal. It used to be similar at Silverstone. Not free for under 14's, but very much cheaper even in grandstands. I used to get Max in on it up to when he was about 17. They don't ask for proof if age when you buy the tickets and there's no way they check when everyone's piling through the gate. On Bottas, I'm really keen to see how this pans out. I never was mad on him as some were, but he clearly has speed and consistency. I think I thought him a bit of a boring driver.......but that is actually the perfect foil for Hamilton. Button was too sneaky and Rosberg too hysterical ( though his qualifying was excellent) Hehe, I could get away with being 14 if I wanted to! We really don't know how good bottas or massa are in recent years, for all we know Bottas could be amazing and Massa could be very decent too (post Alonso days)
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Post by dogued on Mar 20, 2017 11:41:51 GMT
It was free under 12 for the past 2 years. RyRy Massa hasn't been the same since the knock on the head.... and only being WDC for 25s!
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Post by LRW on Mar 20, 2017 13:06:02 GMT
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Post by Hammer on Mar 20, 2017 13:18:43 GMT
Oh man...I can't believe how many times I've watched that clip. And to think I wasn't even supporting Hamilton that year. Single greatest moment of F1 hands down.
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