Official 2016 Formula 1 Thread!

[Jb325is]

I feel the same way, Lewis is certainly a diva and pretty annoying as a human-being, but he is clearly the more talented/instinctual driver here. He is very good at pushing Nico into making mistakes that look like they are his fault. I also think that Lewis has the extra little bit... the ability to go to 11/10th's when needed (à la Senna/Shumacher/Alonso/Vettel), that Nico just doesn't have. I still can't remember ever seeing Nico catch and pass Lewis on track, like, ever.

[Reichart12]

This one?

Ha! No but that one is pretty good.

Thoughts on this last race? I thought the racing was pretty good with large groups of cars together for a good bit. I want to say positions 8-12 were grouped up for what seemed like the majority of the race. Turn one once people switched to slicks made for some good entertainment. Id guess close to half the field went off track right there.

And it seems like Pirelli really states their tire life on the super conservative end of the spectrum. A couple races now they advertise safe distance might be 25 laps but people are pushing them to 40.

[agent]

it seems like Pirelli really states their tire life on the super conservative end of the spectrum. A couple races now they advertise safe distance might be 25 laps but people are pushing them to 40.

Which apparently is the inverse of how they rate their street tires.

[lukeADE335i]

I feel the same way, Lewis is certainly a diva and pretty annoying as a human-being, but he is clearly the more talented/instinctual driver here. He is very good at pushing Nico into making mistakes that look like they are his fault.

Although I've never been a huge Hamilton fan, I feel he has turned into a real douche lately. He was completely disrespectful to Webber during the podium interviews at the end of the race - thinks he's bigger than the sport.

Max obviously drove a good race, but interesting that Ricciardo's race pace has mysteriously disappeared the last two races, while Max seems to be able to make his tyres last forever...

I don't want to get the tin foil hat out, but seems like Ricciardo is already copping the Webber status at RB with an "equal" car. Max is the new Vettel. Webber just missed out on a world championship himself - if he had gone to Renault in '05 rather than Williams he may well have been world champion over Alonso - he was a better driver than Fisichella & then at RedBull he and DC helped the team become champions just in time for Vettel to arrive. His career could have been quite different, but now Ricciardo may get stuck as Webber did.

[ELVA164]

Just watched the race and really enjoyed it! I love something like a wet track to mix things up. Turn 1 was pretty spooky for almost the whole race, cars sliding all over the place, squirrelly out of turns....all great stuff. The radio message thing is kind of 50/50 for me. On one hand, it may have given Rosberg a chance to stay ahead of Verstappen. On the other hand, Mercedes was just trying to save the car.

[Reichart12]

The radio rule is a tough one. A 10 second penalty for the messages given. Its one of those situation with a grey area, how much information is too much and would cause a penalty??

A start of a conspiracy could be that Mercedes wants to give the championship edge to Hamilton so theyll be more loose with their words to Rosberg so he gets a position penalty or two.

[ELVA164]

I think it was more of a "test the waters" situation. If they didn't say anything, Rosberg may not have finished which is obviously worse than most any penalty. They wanted to see if Charlie would step up.

[aaronwelch2016]

Regarding liveries, I think this year's grid has a lot more variety than we've seen the past few seasons. We're finally down to just a couple silver cars and there are a lot of bright liveries. The Ferrari throwback livery looks really neat, too.

F1 Racing Grand Prix 2016

i'm puzzled as to why they think this is the best pairing of drivers. pretty sure if they put button and alonso in those cars they could win a few races also. pretty easy for the 2 of them to be great when they have the luxury of having the best car on the grid. it is not to say they are not great drivers, but where was nico before the car became great? just another grid filler as usual. same with lewis when he was struggling at mclaren.

[estoguy]

Rosberg retires.

http://driving.ca/mercedes-benz/auto-news/news/nico-rosberg-retires-from-formula-one-racing

[LateFan]

Amazing. That surprised most everyone I bet.



Sir Jackie Stewart says L Ham is "a little ballerina." HAH!

http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/jackie-stewart-calls-lewis-hamilton-little-ballerina-over-latest-f1-controversy

[ELVA164]

Man, this thread was kinda stillborn this year. Haha.

I think Rosberg will be grilled for leaving because he knows he won't win again etc. etc., but I think he made a great point about all his wife sacrificed for him this year, and that now it's his turn to dedicate himself to her and his family. That's probably a really hard thing for someone at his level to do.

Also, Jackie knows what's up. Hamilton has always kind of rubbed me the wrong way, although I think Vettel still holds the crown for Whiniest Driver.

[squidrope]

Guessing Rosbergs decision had something to do with the teams "punishment" or lack of to Hamilton. IMO Hamilton is the better driver, and who would want to continue against someone with more skills. Quit while you're on top. My homey JS is spot on that Hamilton's a "little ballerina". Been following F1 since my first GP's at the Glen. Kind of sad what F1 has become.

[Fsnow]

Hamilton is an amazing driver, but he is also a giant douche. Good for rosberg, he finally did it and he can do whatever he wants to now. WHAT a surprise though
Hopefully next season will be better with the rule changes and some new faces on the grid.

[agent]

Verstappen '17 - Make F1 Great Again!

[Northern]

Hamilton is an amazing driver, but he is also a giant douche.

Sums it up pretty good.

Verstappen '17 - Make F1 Great Again!

I'm on the bandwagon.