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The Belgian GP chat & Predictions thread

Discussion in 'Formula 1' started by Big Ern, Aug 20, 2018.

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Who will have a chequered flag waved in their honour

Poll closed Aug 25, 2018.
  1. Lewis Hamilton

    44.4%
  2. Seb Vettel

    38.9%
  3. Max Verstappen

    5.6%
  4. Danny Ricciardo

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  5. Valtieri Bottas

    5.6%
  6. Kimi Rakikonen

    5.6%
  7. If you like Sci Fi

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  8. Watch The Expanse

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  9. It's really good

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  10. A N Other

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. El_Bando

    El_Bando Can't remember, where was I?
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    Punditry can have a biased opinion but commentary should just report on what is happening including what we can't see but we just get the Lewis Hamilton show. Channel 4 is a bit better but not by a a lot.

    I don't blame them though. They have to appeal to a shrinking audience which is caused by lack of racing, no true competition locked out by the big 2 and poor promotion. There is no selling point to a new fan other than patriotism
     
    #101
    Number 1 Jasper and Big Ern like this.
  2. BrightLampShade

    BrightLampShade Well-Known Member
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    The most cringeworthy part of it all for me is the ones at Sky who obviously dislike Hamilton. They're forced to peddle the sky line of him being the demi god.

    It's just so unneeded, he's a top driver in a top team. He doesn't need pampering to. I'd prefer the sky lot to be honest as in reality they all have very different views, they just can't say them.
     
    #102
  3. SgtBhaji

    SgtBhaji Well-Known Member

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    Since we now get the Sky commentary, I mostly block it out. Croft's yelling makes my blood boil....

    Besides that though... I want some effing racing at the front. I'm honestly not sure how much longer I can put up with this bollocks.
     
    #103
    dhel, ched999uk and TopClass like this.
  4. moreinjuredthanowen

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    It seems to me that nobody can quite decide where ferrari are better just that they are now the fastest cars.

    a) out of slow corners?
    b) have less downforce needed from wings as perhaps getting it elsewhere?
    c) less tyre wear?
    d) pure straight line power advantage?

    For me it looks as though Monza could tell a lot on these issues....

    Nobody is going to be running much down force at monza, tyre wear and brake fade will be issues in the big braking zones. The straight line speed form car to car will be more apparent.


    Really the past 3-4 races the ferrari has been clearly the better car yet through rain and taking his opportunities hamilton established a big points lead. Vettel messed up hugely in germany, then hungary was decided purely on qualifying, again rain affected. And now we have seen belgium where it should have been a ferrari 1/2 but for the rain and hamilton takes 2nd to minimise the damage.

    If monza goes to ferrari then the question then becomes about singapore where its tight and lots of areas where point a becomes prevalent.

    However there comes a time when vettel needs raikkonen to start taking some points off hamilton too.

    Lewis has a 17 point lead and if he finished 2nd twice he would still be one point ahead of Vettel... unless kimi steps up and takes a 2nd place.

    Both men now have 5 wins. with 8 races to go there is a lot of time for Vettel to claw back those 17 points If vettel cannot make the most of this car and continues to make errors then inevitably mercedes will come with some upgrades that will negate this gap.

    Lewis has the edge in quali if he has a car thats close. That IMO is the only way he can win this title with the current state of play. Get on pole and get to first corner in lead. vettel has made enough mistakes that the results could come his way until this ferrari is caught up with.

    Vettel on the other hand needs to be perfect, no errors, no drama and exploit the car. He should be on pole in non rain affected races all the way from here. He should have a clear tail gunner as well. He's lost the lead in this championship 3 times now. he has to play catch up and then gap hamilton.
     
    #104
    ched999uk likes this.
  5. happyal

    happyal Active Member

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    Have you seen the BBC write up, I know Benson is normally a Lewis fanboy but it's getting worse. I honestly can't believe that no one in the BBC has read what he writes and had a word with him. It's seriously silly now.

    There was an interesting fact in the comments (sad really that you have to read the comments for facts) that during FP1,2 and 3 the Merc in Bottas and Lewis, on average, was 0.05(ish) faster per lap that Seb and Kimi.

    I'm not so sure how clear cut the Ferrari is the faster car is?

    Regarding the rain, some times you just get a car that works in the rain. Lewis is obviously a good driver in the rain, but normally Bottas is right with him in the rain this season. This to me suggests that the Merc is just epic in the wet. Not taking anything away from Lewis, he's a god wet weather driver but I do remember Seb being decent in the wet too and the gaps too big not to be the car this season.
     
    #105
  6. Big Ern

    Big Ern Lord, Master, Guru & Emperor

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    It's very tight, but I think the Ferrari is the better all-round car now as it has a wider performance window, especially when it comes to tyres, which seem to have always a problem for the Merc.
    However, that being said I think that if both cars were in their optimum set-up with the optimum conditions/tyresi the Merc would be the better car.
     
    #106
  7. El_Bando

    El_Bando Can't remember, where was I?
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    Mercedes powered cars were topping the speed traps in spa so I guess the Ferrari strength is not from the engine?
     
    #107
  8. Smithers

    Smithers Well-Known Member
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    Or they can run a preferred setup due to the strength of the engine - which was always Merc’s advantage in seasons gone by.

    I’ve never been one for speed trap analysis as a reference to speed, RB demonstrated that how you got out of a corner and how quickly you got up to speed was more relevant to the lap time. It’s the old argument of BHP versus Torque.
     
    #108

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