Its quite amazing to see what red bull have pulled out this year. ferrari look beaten now... are their heads gone? I deffo think that mercede and red bull will run softs in Q2, i'm not sure the way ferrari are acting they can afford to do it. I would all being equal rather focus on the start and the inevitable safety car rather than super softs v softs at start... I get the point above I think... if super softs are not lasting then losing track position early changing is bad. It will be interesting but i think the red bulls and mercedes on the early evidence will run softs in Q2. So far mclaren are not really showing much ability to break into top 10 here which is THE race for them to do so. Ferrari, toro rosso and williams... force india... who will round out the top 10. the toro's look quite good here...
I went for Ricci, I can see him on pole, but have reservations on how long the upgraded Renault will last before it goes pop. better engine and I excpect his blood is up at his, imo, imagined sleight. If RBR have made the jump and become a chllenge, what are Mercedes going to do?
RedBull on the ball here, we knew it would suit them Ricciardos engine improvement seems to have cracked it. May be too early to say... it is just free practice but it depends how they hook it up under pressure on Saturday. Ferrari have lost it, another season down the ****ter. So much action today, saw all of FP1 and part of FP2. Massa, Palmer, Magnussen, Grosjean and Haryanto all finding the barriers. Bottas, Vettel, Nasr and Mercedes drivers also had their fair share of moments, as well as a flying drain cover hitting the Mclaren. Mclaren themselves not looking as promising as I thought, Toro Rosso and Force India comfortable here in Monaco. ...and the weekend has only just started. I also saw noticed the very funny Mercedes garage calamity where they dropped the car and the jack hit the chassis, comical but an innocent mistake.
I've gone for Hamilton. He is due a win, but moreover Mercedes should make amends for last years strategy cock up. I think they may have a bit under their sleeve come Saturday.
I find it interesting to read the engine estimate was 0.2 here at monaco and 0.5 on other tracks but riccardo beat max by 0.9 seconds. Is the red bull chassis just that good? or was riccardo running different fuel?
Answers on Saturday haha. We won't know till then. I am just happy somebody has stepped up to the plate to seemingly stop Mercedes recently. Don't care who it is or how it is done.
yes. it makes it interesting. Last one ferrari were shockingly poor and stepped way off the pace so having red bull step up has been great.
I'd forgotten they use Q2 tyres for the start.. You and moreinjuredthanowen are right though, Ferrari might not have the luxury of running softs in Q2, giving them the dilemma of starting outside the top 10, or getting 4th-7th-ish and having to pit very, very early. Interesting to see how they'll play that one, I can't see either being great strategies.
it'll be the same for everyone who uses the super soft in Q2, might be a case of using the soft and then waiting to see what everyone else does.
True, but Ferrari are the only team really expecting to challenge Mercedes and Red Bull, if they can't make Q3 on softs then we'll have a very distinct top 4 until someone crashes. With the high probability of a safety car around here, it'll be curious how those who can afford to start on the softs (RB, Merc) decide to play it. Everyone else will have run two tyre compounds by about lap 5, so a safety car doesn't compromise their strategy hugely. If Merc/RB have to pit twice in quick succession when the field has been artificially closed up, then they'll be in real trouble.
I saw this earlier on the BBC, but couldn't post at the time - nearly wet my pants laughing!!! I can definitely imagine telling the grandchildren in 50 years, that they may think Carlos Sainz Junior Junior Junior is great, but they never saw Hamilton's awesome first practice at Monaco in 2016. Let's face it though with Hamilton's towering talent we'll soon have forgotten about this virtuoso performance and will be aching to relive the glory days of Singapore 2017, when he demonstrated his superiority over the rest of the field just by how he lowered himself into the car ahead of first practice.
Was thinking of going for Riccardo, but voting Hamilton repeatedly has kept him off the first step so far. Agonising decision...
Your right... One more bonus spell Absolution - you'll lose four points due to a penalty, for a manoeuvre that will subsequently be enshrined as against the rules due to it's unsporting nature. Fortunately people will use it in the future to magnify the scale of your outstanding achievement in overcoming these unbelievable odds
Well it would at least have rendered all the Glock's Toyota issue irrelevant. Did anyone suggest he had to overcome unbelievable odds in 2008?
I cringed when glancing at BBC/Benson's idolatry article. On the one hand, I wish I'd not visited the site; but at the same time I think it's important that I keep up to date with how the British establishment now views all things F1. That kind of ignorant garbage is something F1 can well do without. It might be argued that Benson is just doing what he's told, since the underlying problem is really the BBC – which seems only too happy to encourage or endorse something which it (the corporation) thinks will be of interest whilst misjudging the knowledge of its readership. This is patronisation in the extreme. If the BBC have lost interest in F1 to such an extent that it (presumably) couldn't care less and considers any such articles on the matter to be either trivial or under-written by some out-dated, patronising sense of nationalism (my grasping attempt to understand Benson's disproportionate, sensationalistic praise of Hamilton's performance in Practice 1), I suggest they stick to cricket and tennis – which they seem to hold high as banners for sport whilst still clinging to an out-moded, 'Boy's Own' romantic idea of British Commonwealth. Pathetic. BBC: if you feel it's still worthy of comment, do it properly; and if you don't, just admit you've lost interest and know less than the public you still think you should be educating.
Not sure if you are serious. If you are, I'd suggest reading the thread through again and if that doesn't clarify the context, maybe get a friend to help. The limitations of forum interaction and my own English, I think, leave the task of clarifying for you beyond me.
