The Aussie GP chat and prediction thread

All the obvious already stated on this forum. Vettel looked downbeat after the race, his eyes looked worried. Lewis looked worried too, he thought he had the psychological edge over Bottas but got put in his place. Perfect start to the season in that there are some surprises which has everyone looking at Bahrain already to see if it was a one off/fluke.
Watched it with a mate of mine, he reckons Claire is largely to blame for the Williams debacle. Maybe all her memories of growing up in a happy environment and talk of wanting to replicate that for the next generation of the Williams family was the wrong focus when she should have been focused on the car.
Anyway, nice day, clear crisp sea view after the wind yesterday, going to get out and enjoy, just as I am looking forward to seeing the cars on a different circuit.

 

Marc Priestly said Paddy Lowe was not the reason for Williams woes .

I think Claire and the mind set is a lot to do with it .

How to resolve it all ?

Answers on a post card .

Yes it’s a lovely day . Mrs J and me are off to Swanage .

Enjoy your day

 

Is this the first race ever where nobody at all voted for he winner?

Not the best race. Ferrari very disappointing. Leclerc a bit wobbly to start with but getting better. Hamilton out of sorts after the pit stop. Verstappen going off when it looked like he might challenge Lewis.

Fair play to Bottas though. He was very very focussed.

 

Yeah. My first race watching on Sky too. What was all the bollox about Grosjean being a smiling white shark or something. What a wazzock.

 

Well done Bottas, didn't see that coming, don't understand why Hammy is still having slow starts, Oh well.

 

Not promising having the Renault go bang for Sainz was it.

Do we think engine performance is closer though?

 

I see Lance Stroll got into the points.

That means he will now think he justifies a place in F1 again I suppose

 

Great result by Bottas, really happy for him.
Happy for Honda even though it sticks in my throat with Red Bull.
Car performance may be track specific but Bottas was beyond dominant compared to Ferrari.

The old debate will no doubt start:
Ferrari/Vettel win = fastest car. Merc/Lewis’s win = fastest driver in the most difficult season yet.
Leclere/Vettel team orders = favouritism
Bottas/Lewis team orders = strategy
Bottas beats Lewis = car damage
Leclere beats Vettel = Vettel overrated

I’m taking the piss before anyone gets offended, it’s all in good humour.

 

Supposedly some floor damage explains Hamiltons poor pace. Otherwise we could have seen both Mercs 30 seconds up the road. The gap appears to be at 2014-16 levels, disappointingly. I do hope Ferrari had some fundamental setup issue, otherwise, their season is over already.

Great to see Bottas get some confidence back. If it's going to be him vs Lewis we need him at 100% to prevent a 2013 style dud of a season.

 

If you stand in Swanage bay, look straight out towards the Solent, I could wave to you other than the horizon would get in the way. I have been staying right on the Solent for the last 3 months, with a balcony view of the whole of the Solent looking straight out towards the Needles. P.S. sorry to everyone, an irrelevant F1 post

 

Yes, unfortunately!

 

I don't like him , but I think there is a decent driver in there .

 

I don't mind Stroll, he's not done or said anything, his dad's rich, but that's hardly on him. He scored points and kept it clean in an spectacular midfield car. I don't see him getting a WDC anytime soon, but he's by nowhere near the worst 'pay' driver we've had on the grid in a recent years, and he can hold his own. Does need to do better in qulaifying though.

 

I was tempted to go for him in the prediction, he looked solid in qualifying, and there's a good driver in there, hopefully RBR can mount a challenge with Verstappen, the honda looks the most improved engine by a mile, and RBR are good at developing through the season. I liek Vettel, but the battle at the front would be more interesting with Max

 

Well I think at this early stage it looks like the cars can follow a bit closer. Ferrari just looked like they didn't have grip, hopefully they can resolve that and maybe it's just an Aus track issue, maybe the table will turn on Merc on some tracks.
Nice to see Charles keeping up with Vettel, maybe he could have been faster as his tyres seem to have been better towards the end.
Great to see a Honda powered car getting towards the front, hopefully they will have reliability as well.
I think the rookies did well, no big accidents and really the only accident was Riccy moving onto the 'grass' to try and avoid Perez.

I think for the first race they all did well reliability well other than Sainz PU letting go and Haas having another wheel issue.

 

Before about mid way last season I would have agreed with you , except there is something I don't like about him and honestly can't put my finger on it .

Since mid season last year I am sure I read a couple of comments where he was saying that he could not wait to go somewhere with a better car .

He was right , but IMHO those things should be kept for behind the scenes times .

I have always said though , I think there is an ok driver in there .

 

Does it still count ?

 

OK, Question for all. Assume Stroll is not the son of a wealthy F1 team owner, and you do have to take this out of the equation. As a vote of who you prefer as a person (ignoring driver talent), Stroll or Verstappen? I suspect removing the father of each of them from the equation would give a mixed response.
I do struggle to take the fathers out of the equation.

 

As a person Stroll.
While F1 drivers do have to have 'killer' instinct they also need to have control. I don't think Max has learned the control bit yet.
That said Stroll hasn't been in front of the camera that much, hopefully he will be able to show his skills against Perez in the same car.