F1 2011/ Motor Racing Thread

[patiirc]

From what I saw of the GP it was really impressive I had to go out just after the realisation that Hamilton was on the wrong strategy

 

Button only wins exciting GP's it would appear and iirc Hungary was home to his first win as well iirc

 

Shame he has been blighted by problems in the last two races. He is doing well this season, but sometimes he does remind me of Rubens with his odd choices for strategies. Some times it works, some times he is miles off the pace which is a shame

[SK8_WAR]

Not exactly 2011 F1, but I just watched this documentary on youtube about Eddie Jordan and his team in 1998:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L119QisM3c

 

Quite enjoyable.

Any other F1 documentaries out there that anyone else would recommend?

[cogitoergozoomo]

Not exactly 2011 F1, but I just watched this documentary on youtube about Eddie Jordan and his team in 1998:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L119QisM3c

 

Quite enjoyable.

Any other F1 documentaries out there that anyone else would recommend?

 

The recent Senna film (Senna: The Man. The Legend) is great from a footage point of view. Can't help but think they left too much out though to concentrate on the Prost rivalry Still well worth a watch.

 

Other ones worth seeing include; Eddie Irvine: Living the Fast Life, Murray Walker: Life in the fast lane and an old one called Champions Forever.

[lava_boy]

Not exactly 2011 F1, but I just watched this documentary on youtube about Eddie Jordan and his team in 1998:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L119QisM3c

 

Quite enjoyable.

Any other F1 documentaries out there that anyone else would recommend?

 

That was a great watch, thanks a lot for posting it. Very interesting to see Eddie's relationships with certain people in the sport.

[LariatTom]

Not exactly 2011 F1, but I just watched this documentary on youtube about Eddie Jordan and his team in 1998:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L119QisM3c

 

Quite enjoyable.

Any other F1 documentaries out there that anyone else would recommend?

 

There's a channel on Justin TV that streams F1 stuff pretty much 24/7. If it's a race weekend, they'll be showing reruns of each session throughout the weekend, but during the week, they show old seasons and documentaries. The documentaries are pretty awesome, they've had stuff about the origins of motor racing, the sport in the 1920s and 30s all the way through to documentaries following teams and some driver stuff too. Cracking channel, but I wish I could actually remember some of the titles of documentaries.

 

That Murray Walker documentary mentioned above and Champions Forever are both cracking. I remember an Ayrton Senna VHS I had when I was a child. It had a race around Estoril against a family saloon, a sports car and him in his Mclaren from 1991. I think it was "Inside Track: Senna and Mclaren". There's a couple of other great ones about him like "A Star Named Ayrton Senna" Part 1 and "The Right to Win" Part 1.

[Loki]

Absolutely - right now, there's little argument that Button is a better driver than Hamilton.

 

Bollocks. Button is an average driver, always has been always will be. The Canada race, as amazing as it was, was clearly an aberration

 

 

This thread's gone a little quiet, but I've been enjoying the last few races immensely. Button's established himself as the 2nd best driver at the moment, and certainly the number 1 driver at McLaren. Hamilton's certainly in the middle of some sort of crisis; I hope he changes management, perhaps goes back to his dad?

 

Even though Vettel's won this season easily, it masks the fact that we've had closer races this year generally than I can ever remember before. Often there's not more than 10-20 seconds covering the top 6, and 3 teams whose pace is incredibly close at this stage of the season. It's a testament to how dominant Vettel is that he lays the smack down race after race even though his teammate is back in the pack with the McLaren and Ferraris.

 

Best season I can remember, 4 former world champs battling it out round ever corner, bring on the last few races!

[tiger_rick]

This thread's gone a little quiet, but I've been enjoying the last few races immensely. Button's established himself as the 2nd best driver at the moment, and certainly the number 1 driver at McLaren. Hamilton's certainly in the middle of some sort of crisis; I hope he changes management, perhaps goes back to his dad?

Agree with all of this. Some excellent races lately, typically once the season has already been ruined. Jenson is immense. Lord knows what is up with Hamilton. When he's not causing himself problems, he has no luck whatsoever.

 

Best season I can remember, 4 former world champs battling it out round ever corner, bring on the last few races!

Disagree with this though. Vettell has been ridiculously dominant. It hasn't been a battle. He's polled in every race but one, that's just ridiculous. The rest only get involved if he makes a mistake and they are few and far between. Vettell is exceptional so the others have to get their fingers out of their arses next year because a Champion crowned with 4 races to go isn't great for anyone.

 

What do you make of the tyres? I'm not sure I'm keen on the idea of them making tyres to scupper the cars. That seems to be the entire objective. they are manufacturing pit stops because they know at the front, there's no race without them. People scoff at idea's like watering the track but this is just the same, only dressed up differently. They still need to sort out overtaking, that's the problem. The DRS has been decent but it doesn't help enough.

[Loki]

I think the tyre degradation has been a little ridiculous this year - in this weekend's race the options were done in 10 laps, which is absurd. However I don't think it's being done to scupper the cars exactly, as much as they are manufacturing tyres with incredible grip but they're just not lasting as long as they should do. Also, the hard tyres haven't had the longevity to make the distinction obvious - sometimes you only get an extra 5 laps or so out of them!

 

I like pitstops myself, I like the element of strategy that comes with them. Now there's no longer any refueling, they are short enough that if a fresh set of tyres wins you a second a lap, it's worth doing. I think one set of tyres for the whole race, frankly would be a little dull.

 

I wasn't a fan of some of the changes for this year like DRS but I'll admit I was wrong - DRS has made the races more exciting, and indeed I'd like to see two DRS zones per race where it's appropriate. KERS I'm still ambivalent about, as I tend to feel it cancels itself out over the course of a race.

[tiger_rick]

I like pitstops myself, I like the element of strategy that comes with them. Now there's no longer any refueling, they are short enough that if a fresh set of tyres wins you a second a lap, it's worth doing. I think one set of tyres for the whole race, frankly would be a little dull.

I love pit stops. You might remember me moaning about them taking away the refueling. I just think they're manufacturing something in it's place. A race with no stops would be dull but that's because it seems like about 90% of all key passes happen at pit stops. It's just not possible to get passed otherwise. The other thing with the tyres is that they are so manufactured that people are skipping top 10 qualifying to save them! That needs stopping.

 

I wasn't a fan of some of the changes for this year like DRS but I'll admit I was wrong - DRS has made the races more exciting, and indeed I'd like to see two DRS zones per race where it's appropriate. KERS I'm still ambivalent about, as I tend to feel it cancels itself out over the course of a race.

 

Agree again, definitely requires more DRS slots. KERS seems pointless. Everyone seems to use it at the same time anyway.

 

Tell you what's bugged me all season, the cars have been too reliable. It's been ridiculous. It shouldn't be allowed. Apart from a crash, there's nothing so spectacular as an engine blow out at a crucial time.

[patiirc]

The race itself was pretty good on Sunday I thought

 

Leads me to a what if? though

 

What if Button had been driving the Redbull this season, would Vettel have had a chance?

 

Though Vettel has won the championship, Button has been utterly immense in a car that clearly isnt as good as the Redbull through out much of the seasons and wins in Canada, which is among the best GP's of all time imo and consistent podiums plus, barring two retirements that he could do nothing about he has been in the top three in 8 out of the last 11 races.. The glaring discrepancy is a 6th at Valencia.

 

So with that in mind would he have done a Webber and been in the pack or would he have given Vettel a run for his dosh?

[tiger_rick]

Button might have given Vettell a run for his money if he hadn't started so many second laps way down the grid. He's qualified poorly too often and then the number of times he loses 2 or 3 places on the start is ridiculous. He's a class act though, still always improving. I think he could tighten up further.

[Loki]

I think he'd have faired better than Webber, but I still don't think he would have been much more of a challenge to Vettel than he was in the McLaren to be honest. Vettel's just not made many mistakes this season, and they've generally been pounced on.

 

What interests me is - what happens at McLaren now? In Button they have the sort of driver they like - skilled, driven, but also media-friendly, amiable and well-respected. Hamilton on the other hand is moody and rebellious, and clearly a handful at the moment, and I don't think Whitmarsh particularly likes being his apologist every 2 weeks.

 

Button and Hamilton have such different driving styles they must struggle to build a car that works for both. I'm just wondering if they might think that for a quarter of the money they pay Hamilton they could put a Kobayashi or a Di Resta into one of their cars and get good results.

[patiirc]

I think he'd have faired better than Webber, but I still don't think he would have been much more of a challenge to Vettel than he was in the McLaren to be honest. Vettel's just not made many mistakes this season, and they've generally been pounced on.

 

What interests me is - what happens at McLaren now? In Button they have the sort of driver they like - skilled, driven, but also media-friendly, amiable and well-respected. Hamilton on the other hand is moody and rebellious, and clearly a handful at the moment, and I don't think Whitmarsh particularly likes being his apologist every 2 weeks.

 

Button and Hamilton have such different driving styles they must struggle to build a car that works for both. I'm just wondering if they might think that for a quarter of the money they pay Hamilton they could put a Kobayashi or a Di Resta into one of their cars and get good results.

 

Kobayashi in a decent car would be a sight to behold. He seems to do well in an underperforming, underpowered car though has been a bit flat since Europe with Perez doing well in the last few races. Generally though he has a good rep and I wouldnt be surprised to see him make the step up to a better team

 

Hamilton is a bit of a enigma at the moment and I wouldnt be too surprised if he does a Kimi or Montoya and walks away to try something else, unless things settle down, which Im not sure that they will. Something is certainly up with him, and since the arrest in Australia or the double ear piercing ( which I think flouts FIA rules, though Im not 100 percent on that) and the sacking of his Dad as manager and so on. I think that his head isnt really in the right place.

 

After a period of calming down somewhat after all the Iam the best and petulant spats with pretty much all and sundry in previous seasons, at the start of last season where he seemed much more humble, he has gone completely the other way.

 

Rumours consistently abound regarding his personal life, despite the engagement to Scherzinger and I wonder if off track matters are causing on track performances to be affected

[BigJag]

Not exactly 2011 F1, but I just watched this documentary on youtube about Eddie Jordan and his team in 1998:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L119QisM3c

 

Quite enjoyable.

Any other F1 documentaries out there that anyone else would recommend?

 

The recent Senna film (Senna: The Man. The Legend) is great from a footage point of view. Can't help but think they left too much out though to concentrate on the Prost rivalry Still well worth a watch.

 

Other ones worth seeing include; Eddie Irvine: Living the Fast Life, Murray Walker: Life in the fast lane and an old one called Champions Forever.

 

There's Grand prix the Killing years. Which was recently on BBC4. Colin Chapman comes across as the Angel of Death in that. Very good documentary.

[The Curious Orange]

The problem for Hamilton is there doesn't seem to be any options for him in or outside F1 at the moment - Red Bull and Ferrari are built around Vettel and Alonso so he'd arguably be in a worse position than he is now at McLaren. Taking a sabbatical or switching sport doesn't seem to fit in with 19 Management side of Hamilton either and wanting to keep his profile up.

 

If Mercedes sort themselves out next season that might end up being the best place for him as I think his contract with McLaren is up at the end of that season too and he could have the team focused around him there the following year.