I watched the quali on iplayer, much pre quali skipping required. Why did they have an hour before on the bbc? Surely extra time after would give actual current events to talk about.
Kimi Raikonnens highest grid position since Shanghai 2013 when he put it on the front row for Lotus. Could he threaten this weekend?
I really hope so, he needs a good result and F1 needs him to challenge. I just hope that the Merc don't hold station after the first lap and ruin the race.
I'm not sure whether I'd rather Rosberg jump Hamilton, or Raikkonen get Rosberg at the start. Hamilton leading by the end of lap 1 will be the race sewn up without technical problems, but I'd like to see Kimi in the mix.
I'd like the Mercs to both retire if I'm honest Raikonnen needs a good start because if he falls back, catching and passing the other Merc powered cars might be a long afternoon on those straights. Interested to see what Vettel does with tyres today- would like to see the split strategy with him starting on the harder prime and then having some right fun on the softer compound late on.
Kimi getting between the two Mercedes would probably be the most 'entertaining'. Get to watch Mercedes capitulate when they try and come up with a strategy to get a 1-2.
Button has decided that 2011 was to easy so this year he's trying with a crap car, starting from the pit lane, a 15 place grid drop (for new TC and MGU-H) that he can't take and so will have to do a drive-through, and settled weather If he wins the race then by default he also gets the WDC please log in to view this image Grand Prix Diary @GrandPrixDiary 5m5 minutes ago "Hi Jenson, Stewards office here, we can't find a way to move you even further back, so just pop this on would you?" please log in to view this image
The reliability of the Mercedes ICE is crazy, how is Perez still on his first? Feel bad for Verstappen and Button, they're pretty much guaranteed 3 or 4 grid drops now you'd think.
Be thankful Bernie isn't proposing to give cars head starts based on their pace. McLarens would start a lap and a half ahead of the Mercs!
I don't get how you people can fail to understand why BBC and Sky tend to focus more on Hamilton. They're being broadcast in Britain, watched by Brits, and the most successful (and popular) British driver at the moment is Hamilton. It's hardly rocket surgery.
I know- I find Sky cringeworthy to be totally honest. All the resources, they should be brilliant in covering F1. The commentary is where they are really poor though, usually it's 90 mins of Crofty and Brundle simply having a conversation these days. Desperately, desperately need Crofty to move over into a host rather than commentator. Totally get the Hamilton focus- British driver in the best car going for another World DC, but a feeling of balanced coverage would be nice.
I't not the bias that upsets me so much, it's the fake impartiality of it all. DC used to be the worst, still on the red bull payroll and taking anything red bull said as gospel, all whilst pretending to be impartial. I think it's why Eddie is often so appreciated, he is as he is, not pretending to be totally impartial. There's also the excessive bias, shoehorning Hamilton into a story for no reason, making him out as a hero for scraping wins and then saying he's lost it and imploded if he has a bad free practice. There's limited sensible middle ground. Reporters trying to cause friction, trying to set it all off, reporting on what they want to report on and not whats actually happening. Although now we're onto a far wider issue than just F1 in the UK.
The SKY team will never change, the coverage will never change. It gives poor analysis on F1 and they try so hard to be funny. You can understand the bias towards Hamilton but I think they take it too far. The coverage on BBC is just ridiculous, they have good content from time to time but the air time seems to be too short.
I still think Brundle is by far the best commentator, as he has been for over 10 years now. (Well, ever since Murray stopped he's been the best) I think they need to get Chandhok in with him to get the best, Brundle for the main role while Chandhok can be the encyclopedia and somewhat recent driver. But they keep bringing back the two worst drivers possible. Senna and Dire Resta.
When I was reading about this yesterday I assumed Merhi was crawling for Vettel to pass him. Turns out it was just a weird thing to do, massive brain fade? Illegal pass earns Vettel penalty at Canadian Grand Prix [Video]
Love Brundle, but the issue he has is that Crofty knows nothing, is a really bad lead commentator and almost has too much respect for Brundle, so you get this flimsy, conversation type commentary where he refers to Brundle almost for reassurance. Brundle needs a new partner- it's a damn tough one to choose. Sky need no-nonsense and some characters. I've always said, Eddie Irvine from time to time would be good fun as he will tell things straight, it wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to have someone like James Allen replace the 'paint-dry' monotone of Lazenby to lead the show, and then have a good think about a new lead commentator.
