Who's your favorite F1 driver of this season? Who's going to win the championship?

Who's your favorite F1 driver of this season? Who's going to win the championship?

When you realise Danny Ricc and Max Verstappen are just the same person stretched different ways

Hamilton won't lose it now.

Best driver of the lot has got to be Alonso, the man's just stuck with a shitty car but he regularly punches far above his weight

Ricciardo.
Hamilton.

When you realise they'll have Honda engines soon

this

also checked

Hamilton, as he's been since he started in F1.

Hopefully Ham, after Vettel took care of things in Singapore.

I sincerely hope that deal falls through - Honda just cannot make the engines work any more

Favourite - Fernando
Who will win - Lewis

I feel for Alonso. Man's made a bunch of bad calls with choosing teams over the years. Left Ferrari just as they got good, now demanded Mclaren drop Honda, just as they're getting it together.

I bet you Honda overhauls Renault next year. The latter has been stagnant since the new rules came about, unlike Ferrari.

Fuck that whiney, brown faggot

finally someone else has said it. idiots i work with all butt fuck hamilton because he wins alot. they dont understand you could put any driver in that car and they would win.

the best drivers make their car perform way above what it should be capable of

If iti's going to fall through then it needs to fall through soon, Renault are dropping them after 2018 season.

Best driver in best car. Fact.

Yeah, he walked away from McLaren and Ferrari just as they developed cars that could win races and (with Fernando driving) probably championships too.

I think Hoda are too set in their ways to take outside advice on engine development. It's a matter of Japanese pride that they have to do everything in house so even when Ilmor offer help, Honda don't take it.

>just as they're getting it together
Hahahahahahaha
Honda are no where near getting a reliable powerplant and, if they have to go Honda in 2019, Red Bull will be FUBAR and Dietrich Mateschitz will threaten to pull the plug (again)

Well, he was up against Rosberg for years and the only time Rosberg won (and then chickened out) was when Ham's engine blew last year. And Bottas is nowhere near him now.

He's probably the best driver atm, that's why McLaren were so pissed when he left.

I'd like Vettel to win it because my dad works for Ferrari.

ok, I'll start by saying I am OLD and I can remember drivers like James Hunt, Lauda, Piquet Sr, Giles Villeneuve but I honestly think Alonso is the best I've ever seen

Apparently it was as much Mclaren's fault - they demanded an impossibly small engine, and then refused to allow Honda make it slightly bigger to better cope. But yeah, Honda had so many chances now.

Not right now, but at least they're improving the power, which Renault are not. And Renault has slid in terms of reliability.

>>Who's going to win the championship?

Not this guy.

Doesn't explain the utterly embarrassing Honda failure rate though

That may be, but he's still an annoying little cunt

Rumours abound that RB are developing their own engine, also rumours that VAG are developing. As said, Honda too set in their ways for F1 now

I just want to see Max and Alonso do a phenomenal job for once. Seeing them only battle themselves for most DNFs make me wonder why I wait another 2 weeks for a race.

But yeah, Lewis will most likely take it. I guess it's better than the raging Vettel, but Lewis is pretty whiny as well. I like Bottas though, he's pretty calm and consistent.

He fucked up big time on Sunday. Like let's all point at this guy and laugh badly fucked up.

>The latter has been stagnant since the new rules came about
Hardly. Red Bull were bitching and complaining for years, but now they are getting podiums. The whole "Tag Heuer" engine was just a face-saving move to allow the two to carry on working together after Red Bull publicly dragged Renault's name and reputation through the mud. Now they are getting more competitive (but admittedly not up with Merc or Ferrari) Renault have taken their revenge - always a dish best served cold.

Renault now have a works team with works engines - they will now put everything they can to prove they can be in the top 3.

No one's going to develop a new engine before the new spec in 2021, if RB take Honda engines then they're stuck with a shitty engine until the new spec engines arrive. And no one even knows what the new spec will be yet. Although it will be cheaper to produce so it's tempting Aston Martin, Porsche and others to look at joining F1.

Unless you ask Ferrari's twitter, in which case not only did Max cause the accident but they're so gonna fight to the end!

Yeah. I was shocked to read that they're moving away from "single cylinder testing" and are starting to test full-sized engines now. Yes, they were testing single cylinder designs up until now.

I remember his last years at McLaren. He really was annoying then, but I think he's grown very mature since. The way he gave the place back to Bottas a couple races back was admirable. And you don't see him complaining unlike a certain Spanish driver or a German when things aren't going their way.

Seb shouldn't have dove under Max like that, but it was just as much Max's fault for not realizing Raikkonnen was on the other side.

Ferraris have been dominating starts all season. When you're surrounded by them on the grid, you fucking know they're coming.

That was because the token system got dropped so Renault had a chance to catch up. But, like you said, they're still not up there with the best. I admire Ferrari on that side, not only have they almost matched Merc, despite being shit in the first year, they also have reliability sorted.

none

ham

Bullshit, Verstappen was caught in a Ferrari sandwich and had absolutely no way to avoid a crash

>so it's tempting Aston Martin,
Who need Mercedes to supply their new V8. I hardly think Andy Palmer was being serious, unless his investors plan to buy someone like Cosworth - you don't just conjure an F1 engine to whatever spec with no corporate experience. Look how difficult one of the best Japanese engine companies are finding it, with all of their resources and F1 experience.

>The way he gave the place back to Bottas a couple races back was admirable

I'll give you that, I was genuinely surprised and delighted to see him make that move.

But when you throw your hands in the air and demand Charlie be notified of your frustration every time a safety car is released, the shit gets old.

Even though Max had a bad start compared to Raikkonen, he pretty much couldn't do jack shit against the Ferrari sandwich. Especially with Vettel slamming into him and his teammate.

This.

It was a dumb move by Vettel to cut like that, but then he had no way of knowing Kimi was on the other side. Still, unnecessary risk.

hamilton ggez

Better than calling Charlie an idiot and having to send an apology letter to the FIA. Any other driver would have been penalised if they'd done that...

>had absolutely no way to avoid a crash

All he had to do was glance left. Kimi was already beside him before Max had to make any evasive maneuver

...

Verstappen is a worthless driver... just like his dad.

New spec wont come in straight off the bat - it'll be phased like NGTC was in BTCC.
AM won't come in as Jaguar is a big player in Formula E - they've picked their horse. Porsche is part of VAG group which are rumoured to be in development anyway. RB taking hondas will be a step backwards, anyone taking hondas will be a step backwards. They've had three seasons to get it right with a well established team and still can't make it work

Raikkonnen
Hamilton highly likely to win now

So what, is he supposed to slow down the moment Kimi came into view? By the time Vettel swerved it was already too late to stop it.

Before the start of the 2016 season, BBC pundit Alan McNish tipped McLaren to win a race that year. Seriously. A guy who gets paid to talk about F1 predicted a McLaren race victory.

Hah, I actually started watching F1 when Kimi was with McLaren. Kind of stopped liking him since though - after his deliberate crash at Spa, before his "retirement" when he crashed because he just couldn't be bothered to race any more.

I remember the incident but can't remember who did it?

>So what, is he supposed to slow down the moment Kimi came into view?

That would have been the smart thing to do, yeah. You save your car, continue the race and let the stewards/Charlie decide how to punish Vettle for the move

Jos was a shitty worthless pay driver. Best thing he ever did was burst into flames in the pit lane.

It wouldn't seem so strange, maybe in Monaco? That's assuming Honda would get their shit together.

>assuming Honda would get their shit together

and there's that problem again

Vettel.

And, really? As I said, by the time Vettel drove into him, Kimi was already too far ahead. These cars are much wider at the rear, so at that point it was inevitable unless Kimi suddenly went left.

Favourite : Kimi
But Hamilton will probably win. Hope Vettel will win tho

This was made back in 2015. Wonder how the stats are now.

He was well aware that Raikkonen was to his left, but Vettel was to his right and closing in fast, nowhere to go. Raikkonen was also up against the wall with very little room to go and together they pushed towards Max.
Vettel even steered in so agressively that he would have basically hit Raikonnen if Max wasn't inbetween.

Verstappen is a great driver, but unlucky this season and he has stuff to learn. His dad wasn't great.

My favorite has been Gimi and Hamilton since 2007.

I think Lewis has 2017 in the bag.

Kimi will Suzuka though. Screencap this.

OKay, that's what I thought. I'm certainly no advocate for Vettel > Hamilton in the "who's the least whiney bitch" comparison. Vet has gotten better since joining Ferrari IMO.

And come on man, get real. These guys are literally the best drivers on the planet. They're paid millions of dollars to respond to situations in an instant. Max's sole focus in that moment was not letting Seb get the jump on him. The situation could have been avoided

checked

You realize these cars have brakes, right?

Look at this and tell me that you'd have been able to do anything differently if you were Max.

You do realise it's a race right?

Also that's what he did, but Raikkonen had already wedged himself inbetween and Vettel was to his right so slowing down is what partially caused Raikkonen to hit his front wheel, but there was no way out either way.

Great quote from Brundle as well:

>Verstappen couldn't get out of the throttle or the way quickly enough, and he's in a race down to the first corner he wants to win. If you jump on the brakes every time a car pulls alongside away from the start, just in case something might happen, then you are not a racing driver.

Continued:

>I stand by what I said immediately in live commentary. If the stewards decided it was a typical startline/first corner racing incident then fine, if not you could only blame Vettel for so aggressively cutting across. After his bumper cars in Baku, this was his second poor judgement which could well have cost him the world championship.

>Seb shouldn't have dove under Max like that, but it was just as much Max's fault for not realizing Raikkonnen was on the other side.

Wat?

What race were you watching?

100% on Seb.
Max saw Kimi on the inside but could not move to the right as Seb was coming over to block him into T1
Max backed out as best he could. It was Kimi that hit Seb, not Max. Kimi then hit Max ans Fred.

grid places lost through engine penalties 2017

I couldn't have done shit about it, because I'm not a professional race car driver who's been behind the wheel since I was 2 years old. But, that image clearly shows SEb coming in aggressively, Max seeing him, and doing nothing to avoid it. There aren't even any cars in immediate striking distance behind Max, all he had to do was lift.

>Also that's what he did
Again, lifting the throttle in one of these cars and losing a place or two is a much better option than taking yourself out of the race completely.

Just look at it
You can see Verstappen slow down, but that causes Raikkonen to run into his front left tire as there wasn't enough room, although argueably Raikkonen could have stayed closer to the wall and appears to be turning left.

There was no reason to break earlier as you don't expect Vettel to keep up his angle and straighten out, only when it became obvious that he didn't did Verstappen try to brake, which is why Raikkonen ended up hitting Vettel and not him.

They're ALL darting towards the optimal racing line for entrance into T1. As a driver, you have to know that's where everyone wants to be. So, either be the fastest one there, or swallow your pride and save yourself yet another DNF

what did he had to do then? brake early to avoid a crash with either one of the ferrari's knowing that someone behind will hit him right in the engine?

or your option, just give p1 and p2 to ferrari knowing a red bull has the phase on this track?

i think its just a race inccident and if you HAVE to blame someone its vettel.
raikkonen had no where to go except for left especial if you have such a torpedo start. max his start was ok but had no way to go even if vettel didnt came to the left on the straight
and vettel just closed the door a little too hard maybe not seeiing raikonen next to verstappen because of riding superspeed and splitsecond decicions

OK, we're not gonna agree that it was Seb's fault (even though it mostly was) but I think we can agree on one thing:

Poor Alonso.

And Vettel clearly misjudged the situation and knocked 3 other people out of the race because he didn't know.

I don't really care who's fault it was. I'm just glad it happened.

>just give p1 and p2 to ferrari knowing a red bull has the phase on this track?
Exactly...it's a long race and if anyone has the ability to come from behind to gain positions, it's Max. He is truly incredible when it comes to climbing through the field.

Lawl seriously

I'm going to agree it was Vettel's fault.

then explain why he is outqualifiyng his teammate

his dad was indeed not the best driver there was. actualy bad..

and this is comming from a dutch f1 fan

It was rightfully determined a racing incident. Shit happens, no ones fault more than the other (except for Kimi who truly had no option)

Just because it was a racing incident doesn't mean no one is responsible for it.
Vettel wasn't paying attention and didn't acknowledge that Raikkonen was there, and he paid the price for it, as did his teammate.

Yes, it was a racing incident. But it was Vettel's fault.

Ricciardo was just unlucky

Max is crap and has his dad's loser-genes

Holy shit you sound like women... If that were the case, Vettel would be fined/penalized. Not the case here

If pointing blame helps you sleep at night, by all means, have at it.

>I want to suck Vettel's hairy penis

>Ricciardo is unlucky
>Max has a 50% DNF rate
Pick one

>projecting

during qualifying

Plenty of people have got away with dangerous behaviour without fines / penalties. The case here is that he utterly fucked his own championship.

And I'm fine with that. Guy has become an arsehole this year. Used to like him before!

I sleep fine at night either way, knowing it was Vettel his fault doesn't change anything.

>Guy has become an arsehole this year. Used to like him before!

You enjoyed him when he was winning every race by 30 seconds? Weird, for a second I thought I was conversing with a bunch of bandwagon jumping faggots

Lewis Hamilton is the answer to both (hopefully).

Only 3 current drivers will be remembered as potential greats - Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso.

For me, Alonso is amazing but a little overhyped and his achievements aren't all that. Vettel is below Alonso - very good, high achievements but nothing sensational.

Lewis is the one we will remember with the likes of Schumacher, Senna, Prost, Lauda, Hill, Stewart, Moss, Fangio.

Meh at least he wasn't driving into people on purpose. I even had some sympathy for him during Multi-21-gate. Can't blame the guy for making the most of a dominant car.

But this year he's been too on edge - clearly has some kind of manic need to win with two teams to make himself into a legend, and has blown up a couple of times because of it.

Hamilton brake checked him in a corner, and Seb got his attention by bumping wheels. That whole thing got so blown out of proportion it was ridiculous. This sport, just like many others, has been so pussified it's ridiculous.

I do agree with your latter comments tho, much more hot headed these days.

At any rate, it's been fun killing the last hour of my work day. Let's do this again after Malaysia!

Pretty sure they checked the data and it showed no such thing as Hamilton brake checking him.

I like the one that turns real good.

Really i dont follow it enough to like one driver over another, but its a cool event to watch

correct , win once ( hill ) and they get respect for the consistant top 3 places to net the big one but multi means greatness

maybe ricciardo is unlucky he is driving an rb13 ''unlucky for some'' and im not saying max is better than ricciardo

the point is why are u saying max is bad? he didnt had to pay for a seat. he was asked from F3 to drive a F1 car for torro rosso, and in a year he has a seat in the nr.3 team in the field replacing kvyat. and that while he is still 19. what do you expect? he is a F1 veteran?
he is young had lots to learn but to say he is bad makes you kinda dumb
go and check hammiltons record and you will see what i mean

absolutly agree on that even when i'm a verstappen fan ( im dutch cant help it )

>>Hamilton brake checked him in a corner
Data showed that's not what happened. I guess facts don;t matter you you.

>>Seb got his attention by bumping wheels.
A very stupid move on Seb's part showing a severe lack of maturity