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Post by Wß on Sept 12, 2017 13:54:34 GMT
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Post by racechick on Sept 12, 2017 19:49:01 GMT
Am I being dumb here? How can Ricciardo have the lap record at 1.47.187 ? Last year's pole lap was way faster than that. What have I missed?🤗 Like those Singapore need to know stats! Merci Monsieur!
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Post by Wß on Sept 12, 2017 21:39:49 GMT
Race lap not fastest ever lap.
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Post by dogued on Sept 12, 2017 22:46:20 GMT
They are great title sponsors.... really put a lot into supporting F1
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Post by dogued on Sept 12, 2017 22:54:15 GMT
Oh and JUST in case you're all happy with your race picks.... I see grey clouds and thunderstorms hitting Sunday morning, clearing up towards mid afternoon, but the threat of torrential storm around 11pm (race starts at 10pm) is about 45%.
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Post by Wß on Sept 13, 2017 0:09:50 GMT
Oh and JUST in case you're all happy with your race picks.... I see grey clouds and thunderstorms hitting Sunday morning, clearing up towards mid afternoon, but the threat of torrential storm around 11pm (race starts at 10pm) is about 45%. The last time there was rain there I head was FP1 back in 2010. A wet race would be interesting.
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Post by dogued on Sept 13, 2017 0:18:14 GMT
Given the estimated rainfall of around 5-10mm from 10pm-12am, and the fact that in the DRY it's 1hr 50+ min race... I'd say it's also likely to become a timed race! Qualifying will be VERY important, as will being able to manage the tyres if they do start on dry because you will want to stay out as long as possible till the rain comes. Qualifying looks like it might be wet too, but only 1-2mm forecast for Sat night.
Interestingly, this far out it looks like Malaysia and Mexico might be wet races too, with Mexico to be wet and cool all weekend.
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Post by Wß on Sept 13, 2017 21:13:04 GMT
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Post by Wß on Sept 14, 2017 12:41:39 GMT
They are great title sponsors.... really put a lot into supporting F1 it took me forever to realize.
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Post by Wß on Sept 14, 2017 12:49:19 GMT
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Post by RyRy on Sept 14, 2017 14:35:04 GMT
So... I've not been following much recently however I've caught up...
- Kubica likely to replace Massa or Stroll at Williams for 2018+
- McLaren & Honda have split and McLaren will be powered by Renault for 2018+ but will have to pay full price and lose their Honda backing money.
- Toro Rosso have taken the Honda engine for 2018+ on a 3 year deal and will have the backing and sponsorship from Honda bringing them lots of money. (Smart move by Toro Rosso)
- Sainz is to switch from Toro Rosso to Renault as part of the engine deal possibly for Singapore, but because Palmer is still in contract the team will have to pay out a multi-million £ settlement to get end the contract early, however, Palmer is refusing to end his contract with the team early and says he will be racing for the rest of the year. (I personally am on Palmers side on this, he deserves to see the rest of the season out. He really hasn't been as bad as people think, he's suffered from tons of reliability problems.)
- Alonso is likely to stay in F1 for 2018+ if he feels the car can win.
- Renault are going to stop supplying engines to Red Bull after 2018 and Red Bull will also switch to Honda engines in 2019. (I personally think this is a great move by Red Bull, if Honda still fail to bring an engine to the table they'll only have to put up with them till 2021 when a new engine formula will come around, however, I think Honda will be on top of the issues by next season as they have Illien working on them.)
- Mercedes have renewed Bottas's contract for 2018 (I personally think this is a good and bad thing, I would have liked to see Mercedes take Kubica as both Hamilton and Kubica are good friends and respect eachother immensely).
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Post by racechick on Sept 14, 2017 18:23:48 GMT
Kindov agree with much of that RyRy, specifically regarding the potential of the Honda engine to reach fruition with Mario Illien on board. The only ones I differ on are Palmer. I do agree he's had an unfair amount of 'issues' but when he hasn't he's been off Hulk by quite some most of the time. And I don't actually rate Hukk as a top notch. Very good, but not top notch. The other one is Kubica going to Merc. He's a gamble Merc don't need to take. He was a massive talent but he's not a young buck anymore and he may never reach the potential he once could have. A mid field team could gamble on that but not Merc. Merc need to be looking for a star of the future. Kubica is a star that could have shone in this era. Bottas has been solid and works well with Hamilton, why disrupt that?
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Post by RyRy on Sept 14, 2017 23:50:15 GMT
The only ones I differ on are Palmer. I do agree he's had an unfair amount of 'issues' but when he hasn't he's been off Hulk by quite some most of the time. And I don't actually rate Hulk as a top notch. Very good, but not top notch. Palmer has on the timings been just as fast as Hulkenberg on the two weekends when neither driver has had issues so... yeah and Hulkenberg is a very good driver. I'd put him in the top 10 of current drivers for sure. The other one is Kubica going to Merc. He's a gamble Merc don't need to take. He was a massive talent but he's not a young buck anymore and he may never reach the potential he once could have. A mid field team could gamble on that but not Merc. Merc need to be looking for a star of the future. Kubica is a star that could have shone in this era. Bottas has been solid and works well with Hamilton, why disrupt that? Hamilton is likely to stay with Mercedes for the rest of his career as he will not likely get a chance to switch to Ferrari as Vettel has claimed that team probably until the end of their F1 careers. Kubica is a worthwhile gamble, they have nothing to lose. Hamilton is far better than Bottas and if they want to take more points away from Ferrari in future years they'll need a better driver. It's not going to disrupt the team as Hamilton and Kubica respect each other a lot and both rate each other highly. Sure Mercedes are looking for a star for the future but Hamilton & Kubica are likely to stay in F1 for at least 5+ more years so Mercedes have more than enough time to get a future star, by that time Ocon or Wherlein might be "ready" for a top seat. Mercedes are obviously not that impressed by Bottas otherwise they would have given him a multi-year contract.
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Post by dogued on Sept 15, 2017 0:50:45 GMT
Hamilton, Vettel, and Alonso are without a doubt the top 3 drivers in F1 right now. If you put one of the next tier drivers (such as Ocon, Verstappen, Ricciardo) into the sister car then you will see some great in team battles but could end up in tears as a team with a clear #1 & #2 pinch the titles. Would Hamilton walk away at that point to try a new adventure with Williams or Renault, or even back to McLaren after Alonso moves on? This gives Mercedes a dilemma; who would be competent enough to win races if something goes wrong with Hamilton's car, but on a typical day be sensible enough to hold position behind for a 1-2. I think Kubica has too much he wants to prove to be that #2 driver, and despite previous history, we might end up with another 2016 season. Bottas would have been given a 1yr contract because Lewis hasn't signed beyond 2018. IF, and that's a big IF, Lewis decided that he wanted to move elsewhere for a bit of fun then Mercedes need to fill the spot with a top driver and that driver might have "requests" that mean Bottas isn't suitable in the second seat. Much like Ferrari had to sign Kimi for 2018 before Vettel would sign an extension, Mercedes will be waiting on Hamitlon before doing anything with the second seat. Palmer... I don't like people with weird first names, so haven't been a fan of his! Palmer has had his share of issues certainly, but from 13 races against Hulkenberg he has only finished in front once. Nico has scored 32 points to Plamer's 0. From 21 races against Magnussen it was close to 50:50 on who finished in front, but Kevin scored 7 points to Jolyon's 1. He has failed to impress in any race. Even drivers at Manor and Sauber have had races where we look back and say "that was a good drive!" despite being outside the points. 10 years ago he would have started at Arrows or Minardi and run around quietly for a couple of seasons before stepping up to a Jordon or Toyota and possibly ended up being a 60 race midfield driver. Today, there are less opportunities and a better structured feeder series means a driver can't afford to have 2 bad seasons unless they are paying a Maldonado-level amount of money to the team.
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Post by dogued on Sept 15, 2017 1:08:59 GMT
Just further from the Interforum post....
Weather for Singapore F1 Friday: Torrential rain overnight and through to mid morning (11mm+ rainfall!) Easing to light showers from 11am - 7pm (FP1 is 4:30pm-6pm). Medium showers from 7pm-Midnight (FP2 is 8:30pm-10pm)
Saturday: Dry, perfect conditions from 10am-Midnight.
Sunday: Medium showers (1.3mm) from 4pm-7pm. Growing to Heavy rain (5.4mm) between 7pm-10pm. Easing to dry from 10pm-Midnight
So, possible SC start with heavy rain for the 8pm start, easing into the second half of the race, with a drying track by the 2hr mark. Personally, I'd rather see them delay the start to 8:30pm at the earliest, so that by 9:45 we are looking at Inters and by 10:10 we are moving to dry tyres for a 10 lap shootout before the time limit is up!
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Post by RyRy on Sept 15, 2017 1:37:22 GMT
Palmer has had issues in so many practice sessions and had so many retirements due to reliability, even his team boss admitted that his performance has been more considering everything and that everyone was looking at him, his driving and situation without any of the data.
Spanish GP = He matched Hulkenberg and set the 6th fastest race laptime. Austria = He had issues in Practice 2, the lack of practice hurt his qualifying but he matched and exceeded his teammate in the race. Hungary = He had issues in Practice 2, narrowly missed out on Q3, his team mate started behind him due to a penalty and Hulkenberg had a much faster 1st stint but in the last stint Palmer matched and exceeded his teammate. Hulkenberg was just about to be overtaken on track by Palmer but Hulkenberg had to retire... Monza = Hulkenberg was faster in the first stint because of being on the faster tyre strategy but after Palmer pitted for his new tyres he was much faster than Hulkenberg but had to retire due to yet another car issue. Chinese GP = Palmer was slower in the first 2 stints but in the final stint he matched Hulkenberg even though Hulkenberg should have been easily beating him due to being on better tyres.
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Post by Hammer on Sept 15, 2017 4:40:13 GMT
Just further from the Interforum post.... Weather for Singapore F1 Friday: Torrential rain overnight and through to mid morning (11mm+ rainfall!) Easing to light showers from 11am - 7pm (FP1 is 4:30pm-6pm). Medium showers from 7pm-Midnight (FP2 is 8:30pm-10pm) Saturday: Dry, perfect conditions from 10am-Midnight. Sunday: Medium showers (1.3mm) from 4pm-7pm. Growing to Heavy rain (5.4mm) between 7pm-10pm. Easing to dry from 10pm-Midnight So, possible SC start with heavy rain for the 8pm start, easing into the second half of the race, with a drying track by the 2hr mark. Personally, I'd rather see them delay the start to 8:30pm at the earliest, so that by 9:45 we are looking at Inters and by 10:10 we are moving to dry tyres for a 10 lap shootout before the time limit is up! I'd like rain on Saturday to mix shit up for Sunday.....and Singapore always gives that last minute dash to the pits for 'free pitstops' in order to take advantage of late SCs, it would cause enough mayhem even if it were a dry race.
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Post by RyRy on Sept 15, 2017 13:11:18 GMT
The track is improving lap by lap, Red Bull are able to comfortably do a fast lap, cool down and then another fast lap.
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Post by Frontrunner on Sept 15, 2017 14:46:22 GMT
Good start to the weekend for Red Bull, my interest in this weekend is now a bit more higher than usual. Hopefully they can keep this up when it counts.
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Post by Wß on Sept 15, 2017 15:37:23 GMT
Good start to the weekend for Red Bull, my interest in this weekend is now a bit more higher than usual. Hopefully they can keep this up when it counts. I'm thinking unlike other weekends when they've been on top and then Merc and Ferrari turn the wick up for qualifying. This is a legitimate pace, their long runs were far away better than the competition and the car looks pretty planted. I'm surprised the Mercs have managed to hang in the way they have, they've clearly made progress. Whether or not it's enough progress remains to be seen. I think Ferrari is sandbagging a little apparently they were using old engines for practice but the car just didn't look nearly as planted as the Red Bulls or Hamilton's Mercedes for that matter. It's going to be an interesting race tomorrow, if it rains it's all to play, between SC, attrition and nature of the circuit, McLaren might even break into the top five!
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