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I think Williams looks good for #4. Massa was well clear of Perez all race. Toro Rosso looks like the next faster car, even though Checo managed to pass them both very opportunistically (great moves!), however Force India has upgrades in the pipeline that should propel them. Haas should be in that mix too, by the way, Grosjean qualified 6th and was racing P7 comfortably when he retired.
Here's the pecking order from what I saw in Australia (blank rows to illustrate distances)
Mercedes / Ferrari
Red Bull
Williams
Toro Rosso / Haas / Force India
Renault
Sauber / McLaren
Renault above McLaren and McLaren in the same tier as Sauber
I think Renault could be, if they had a better driver than Palmer.
I feel Sauber will finish last.
Renault above McLaren and McLaren in the same tier as Sauber
I think Renault could be, if they had a better driver than Palmer.
I feel Sauber will finish last.
From what we say in Australia, yes. Renault definitely above McLaren car-wise. Alonso is an absolute beast, but their package is just terrible. Could be even the worst car in China, with that long straight.
My favorite F1 time was back in the olden days, the original turbo era, 1200 horsepower with severe turbo lag, lighter cars, less downforce and grip, much more car control required.....
And they actually had to take their hand off the wheel to change gears.
I recently read an interview with Gerhard Berger about those days. The turbo lag on those cars was brutal. He mentioned that the one of the trickiest thing is getting the timing right when getting on the throttle coming out of the corner. Some cars, notably the BMW turbo 4, had worse lag than the v6's. If you got on it too early you'd loop it when the boost came in. Too late and you'd get overtaken on the straight.
Nelson Piquet reported getting wheelspin in 5th gear in the Williams Honda...
Personally I'd like to see the hybrid idea go away and a return to building engines of any configuration/redline the builders choose.
I'm happy to say I talked my parents into going to the 1966 USGP at Watkins Glen as I had no drivers license of my own but had the chance to witness the only win of the following in the hands of Jimmy Clark.
Hmm, another event where the weather is not cooperating (FP1 partly rained out, FP2 canceled) and Sunday's forecast is much worse than Saturday's, prompting some discussion of moving race day (nixed by F1).
Have to say I enjoyed this race. Definitely less passes, but most were very good moves instead of DRS assisted garbage. DRS did what it was supposed to do: allow them to get closer to pull a move, but not be an auto-win button.
Verstappen definitely driver of the race. Alonso ones again performs miraculously in the McCrap, until the car broke down. And we have a title fight between Ferrari and Mercedes! Season shaping up to be a pretty good one if Ferrari can keep up the development, and even legendary if Red Bull manages to join the fight.
Alonso ones again performs miraculously in the McCrap, until the car broke down.
How come the McLaren's car sucks so much?
I know they changed the engine from Mercedes to Honda 3 years ago but that's no excuse, McLaren won 4 titles in a row with a Honda engine from 1988 to 1991 with Senna, Prost and Berger (I know, great drivers but so is Alonso).
I think Mercedes should've signed him instead of Bottas, he deserves better in his last couple seasons of his career or even go back to Renault, join Hulkenberg and make Palmer 3rd driver (worst driver in F1 right now?), then Kobayashi, di Resta or Nasr could've joined McLaren.
How come the McLaren's car sucks so much?
I know they changed the engine from Mercedes to Honda 3 years ago but that's no excuse, McLaren won 4 titles in a row with a Honda engine from 1988 to 1991 with Senna, Prost and Berger (I know, great drivers but so is Alonso). …...
The engines/ power units have become so specialized the auto manufacturers no longer have the engineers and facilities to design and produce them.
That's why Mercedes engines aren't designed and built in Germany, they are designed and built in Motorsport Valley in England. They bought Ilmor Engineering and renamed it so it sounds "Mercedes".
People have been saying that Honda should do something similar and I think I read somewhere that they have opened a facility in Motorsport Valley.
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