solentlife

I think its fairly universal the thinking about F1 and its present style .... but Brawn is one of the guys who set it on its course ! He just changed horses when he saw the light.

Hamilton actually had a damaged car in lap 4 and its credit to him that he managed to finish AND keep 2nd place.

Turbojoe

I watched the F1 website info this morning. (Practice unfortunately NOT televised in USA). Nice to see the better mix up with "lower rated" teams moving up from last year. As an American of course I'm a Haas fan and it looks like they will maybe score a podium at some track if all the chips fall in their favor. The Hulk looks really strong too. What the hell happened to Kimi and Ricciardo?

To the chagrin of Hamilton fans I still maintain that ANY of the current drivers are potential winners given the right car. Case in point, Charles Le Clerc. He finished the season 13th last year with Sauber. Now with Ferrari he's already fighting for fast laps with Vettel! Bottas is a match if not then some for the Hamster at Mercedes. If Bottas beats Hamster this year Hamster should be on suicide watch as I doubt his massive ego can handle defeat a second time after 2016......(I'm a HUGE Rosberg fan)

This could actually finally become a F1 season worth watching. The only problem is that the Mercedes engine power dial is likely at only 7 of 10. They'll turn it up a click only as needed...

FIA/F1 should dyno test EVERY single engine from EVERY mfg submitted for competition regardless of team. The best performing engines should go to the last years lowest performing teams. It doesn't need to become a "spec" series. It just needs to provide more of a chance to make it worth the expenditures necessary to compete in F1 for all that want to compete. If not then I 100% support the constant B.S. we hear about a mfg. splinter series with the 3 mfg. making up that series. I say GO! Do it NOW! Let's see just how many people watch a series with a grand total of 6 cars on the track. Not me. I'll gladly watch the "best of the rest" if that's what it takes to make F1 interesting again.

Thanks to the internet there are now so many racing series available to watch. From what I read online I'm not the only one ready to abandon F1 if this season becomes yet another Mercedes/Hamilton romp. If Mercedes turn the power knob up to 10 this year then I (as well as many others) won't be watching/supporting F1 next year. Indycar is a MUCH more wheel to wheel competitive/entertaining open wheel series.

Joe

Rabbitcreekok

I gave up on F1 years ago. Last weekend Indycar was at COTA and there were 189 passes including 144 for position. That pretty much is the number of total passes in F1 for a season. I am just tired of prissy drivers that don't care a lick about the fans, just the big bucks and the pretty chicks that frequent the track. Has a F1 driver even signed an autograph for free in the last 10 years or even spoken to a fan at a race track?

Enough of my rant.

Panther

Love the Aussie Supercars but things are changing rather dramatically now with the Holdens not being built here and Falcons gone. I am a fan of the Mustangs myself and there were 6 in the last supercars with 2 tangling early on and 4 finishing 1st and 4th. They have real potential. Camaros just too expensive here requiring a $20,000 change over to RH drive whereas Ford do the changeover keeping costs down.
I will have a Mustang in the next couple of years when my Honda wears out.
Not sure if I will go V8 as the 2.3 dual Turbo ecoboost seems to perform extremely well, is lighter, softer ride for this old bloke, and better economy. It will be my weekend car, not my shopper. Also NOT ruling out the V8 though but it is significantly more expensive. Also haven't ruled out the Camaro entirely, but......

I gave up Colin McCrae rally driving on my PC because I suffered severe motion sickness. Haven't tried any others.

Rabbitcreekok

I have the V8 GT Mustang and love it. But I am an old V8 believer and fan. I have driven the four when the Mustang was in for service and it performs well but nothing like the V8. And of course the sound in not within a million miles. I am a noise junkie and the V8 rumble is the best sound known to man, short of a Radial Aircraft engine.

solentlife

Much as I like Hamilton and want him to win ... LeClerc today drove fantastic and should have won ... what a devastating blow to a great drive.

I have to say that todays race was edge of the seat stuff .... lets hope it continues ..

solentlife

Today ... Bahrain was exciting .... touch of the old getting back in ....

Sympathy for LeClerc.

Turbojoe

Definitely a good race today. Except for the usual ending... Leclerc was robbed. He earned the win today. Technology killed it for him though. He still made the podium and that's a big positive so soon. This kid is going far.

Joe

solentlife

OK ... I'm a LH supporter ... but to be honest - its not the ending I'm after ... its the racing.

This race was one of the best I have seen for years.

It reminded me of Damon Hill in the Arrows .. a car that no-one ever expected to win a race ... but DH was on his way to a win when the throttle broke and he coasted along the track ...

Thinking about DH ... LeClerc and Damon have something in common .... quiet and good demeanour given defeat. Schumacher played on DH's quietness before races ...

Turbojoe

Bahrain definitely was one of the best F1 races in many years. Since Rosberg retired I really don't have a favorite driver now. There are many that I like but none I'm a rabid fan of yet. I tend to root for the underdog so that leaves out Mercedes.

Joe

Rabbitcreekok

I want to root for HAAS if they would just hire a driver that I could get behind. Maybe someone like Alex Rossi, although I would hate to see him leave Indy Car.

Turbojoe

Yep. New drivers and front tire changers.

Joe

solentlife

Well I thought 2019 got of to an interesting start ... then Baku !! What a boring waste of time.

Whatever are Ferrari thinking about ... it was so obvious to anyone with a brain cell that LeClerc should have finished higher even though he was driving a repaired car ... but Ferrari kept him out far too long and he lost all the time he'd built up earlier....

Vettel ... well a sore loser I reckon.

Bottas and Hamilton ... I thnk Hamilton conceding on the corner at start avoided a possible collision as Bottas I don't think would give way .. but overall - they just had to have a smooth game to see it through. Let Ferrari make the mistakes.

BORING !!

Rabbitcreekok

Just a typical F1 race, boring.

I used to never miss a F1 race years ago when they were broadcast the next day. There was great racing, passing and the drivers had personalities and actually spoke to the public. Now they are cosseted primadonnas (a very temperamental person with an inflated view of their own talent or importance.) who cannot be bothered with the fans. They should be required to spend a week with a NASCAR driver to gain some perspective on how to relate to fans.

ChrisBrown

From this name, I remembered I used to play one game named Mario in the big screen of a computer. It was really a fun.
Has anybody remembered it?

solentlife

Even the drivers are now saying F1 is boring for spectators ...

Rabbitcreekok

I certainly agree with them. Apparently Hamilton had a real struggle with tires the last race but apparently he was the only person on or around the track that knew that, since he still won the race.

solentlife

Actually Hamilton attended F1 meeting and spoke up about F1 mngmt killing the spectator side

solentlife

With Hamilton penalty putting him at 4th place for the start ... we MAY have an interesting race ... I cannot see he staying back there for long .... of course Botas will be his biggest hurdle before gets to battle LeClerc ...

solentlife

Well interesting race ...

Verstappen certainly drove race of his life !! But wheel banging LeClerc I think was a bit 'off'.

I'm all for 'hard racing' - but that was blatant ....

Rabbitcreekok

Perhaps they should just let them race and not nit pick the results after it is over. It reeks to much of manipulation of the winner to favor the teams with the most money.

solentlife

I don't think that can be said ... Ferrari has the biggest share from F1 and Vettel was penalised ...

I do agree though that its becoming a joke with so many rules ....

Rabbitcreekok

Stewards should not determine the race winner. That said, NASCAR just took a win away from Christopher Bell in the Xfinity series due to failing an after race inspection. The violation was the height of the car above the ground in front and rear. Here, the infraction gives them more downforce which is a distinct advantage. The crew chiefs try to take every advantage and sometimes they go beyond the rule limits. Of course that is different from a subjective interpretation of something that happened on the track which is being viewed on video, not from the drivers perspective.

Turbojoe

I agree with the first sentence but have to disagree on the "off" and "blatant". Max braked late and got the advantage. He was ahead of Leclerc and had the position. Cockpit video showed Max at full right lock up to and including the touch. Leclerc had lost the position so it was his duty to not push the issue that far into the corner and avoid contact and the resulting off. Who was at fault? Neither. Both put on one hell of a show like we haven't seen in F1 in a lot of years. Nothing but pure hard racing! I applaud them both. While I'm at it how about Norris? Very impressive in that McLaren. He even gave Hamilton fits for a short while!

I was such a pleasure not seeing yet another Mercedes domination.

Joe

solentlife

I think Max's action was decided by the previous attempt where the Ferrari's better acceleration allowed LeClerc to pull forward and clear into the straight. That next opportunity Max was going to close that gap to stop it ... which he did in any way he could.

I accept that Max had right wheel on - but I'm not sure that was full lock ... and given that the two cars banged front wheels ... not a front of one and rear of other indicates they were neck and neck.

Max's own statement after saying hard racing ... indicated a ruthless attitude ... something we haven't seen since days of Schumacher. Stewards not docking him for it - I think may have been partly due to public reaction that would ensue. Letting it go - was the less controversial choice.

Its also interesting that the rules that are now being questioned about online and FIA - are actually as a result of drivers like Senna and Schumacher who at times endangered others.

I agree that sanitising F1 is not what we want, we want to see action and ability ... not the processional farce it has become.

Norris ... totally agree ...

Mercedes suffered due to miscalculated temperature handling ... making them Lift and Coast to corners to avoid overheating the engines.