F1 Thread

[Daniel 7]

Some good insight that

Its endemic and depressing at the same time then. You're right its always been there, but it's never been more apparent in F1 than it is now. A lot of that is to do with the greed and the insistence from the big teams to stick with it as it is - they're getting their massive slice of the financial pie by being able to outspend, so why change it?

The other teams are taking anyone's money just to stay afloat. Its rubbish.

[Camble]

F1 Thread

Glad he's still going to be there, he's far too good a driver not to be on the grid. The whole pay driver or who you know situation in F1 has completely killed the sport as a meritocracy. To see rubbish like Ericsson and to a lesser degree Massa getting a drive when a world champion's future was in doubt was sickening.

Unfortunately it's the same throughout motorsport mate. Even in karting there are some lads who have huge backing from a rich family or get lucky with somebody they know who'll sponsor them for a fortune. Some lads (and girls) turn up with a brand new chassis, engine, racewear etc every race which costs over £10,000 and they rock up in a top of the range Motorhome (£100,000+) with their own mechanics who they pay £300 a day to. Having the very best equipment brand new often puts them at the front of the grid and then they progress into single seater racers etc, whereas there are better drivers out there who can't afford all of the above so they might not quite beat the others, yet if they were on the exact same equipment etc they'd batter them.

Just to compound my point there was one family at my track who turned up with 3 teenage kids, each of which they'd just spent over £10,000 on for brand new karts. They signed up for the race season and in the first race the lad didn't brake into the first corner and caused a huge crash. He wrote off another lad's kart and his own, but he didn't give a **** because his Dad just bought him another new chassis (over £5000) while the other lad had to sit out for a while until his family could afford to buy him a replacement second hand chassis. It's an absolute joke.

[CJ]

Glad he won and hoping he gets title no 3 next season

[ChesterDave]

Won SPotY 2014

*Edit - Hamilton did

[G]

I presume they'll become Santander McLaren Honda before long.

[Daniel 7]

Glad he's still going to be there, he's far too good a driver not to be on the grid. The whole pay driver or who you know situation in F1 has completely killed the sport as a meritocracy. To see rubbish like Ericsson and to a lesser degree Massa getting a drive when a world champion's future was in doubt was sickening.

[G]

The sensible choice. Hopefully they can take the fight to Mercedes-Benz sooner rather than later.

[Camble]

Confirmed Button will partner Alonso. I had a feeling that may be the case and that he'll do this year and retire, with Mag coming back in next year.

[Chazza]

[ame]https://twitter.com/suziperry/status/542797611120754688[/ame]

[BobTheCharmer]

So it looks as though poor Bianchi did not slow sufficiently before his crash according to a report on the BBC. Though reading that it sounds like the car itself had an issue.

[G]

Totally agree on Alonso and Schumacher.I hope Alonso manages a third title, he's king among men for me and he deserves a car to take the fight to the Merc's. Don't know if he'll get one though and time isn't on his side.

[Daniel 7]

I do, I think Alonso is ahead of him as a race driver. Alonso has everything and has been unfortunate (and a bit impetuous) to end up on two titles. That's kind of his fault and is why Schumacher has the benefit of stats to back up his career - he made all the right choices whereas Alonso fell out with McLaren and then lost years of his career at a **** Ferrari team.

Schumacher benefited from Ross Brawn at his peak and a team coming together at the right time, having designated support drivers who had to move out of the way for him, Ferrari basically running F1 in the early part of the century, a talent for leading from the front, his peak years coinciding with aero development making passing impossible, and Bridgestone developing a tyre to fit his driving style. Alonso still beat him even when he was up against that in 05 and 06. That was a proper head to head as well.

[CJ]

Do you put Alonso above him?

Do you think a bit like vettel that he was good at driving particular types of car and dominated while they were used?

[Daniel 7]

What about him?

[CJ]

There are longer careers now as well though. Hamiton's title win is the longest between two championships in F1 history. Crazy. If Alonso wins one, that will be even longer between them.

Alonso for me is the best since Senna. Hamilton is the best british driver I have ever seen and has the potential to be better than Alonso as well.

What about Schumacher?