I'm glad to see the Hass performance, but hope it wasn't a fluke

Clearly Honda still has a large gap to make up to be competitive

I'm glad they chucked the stupid qualifying. If they want to make it more interesting, they could shorten the sessions, and close the garages. Allow tire changes only

Lastly, I really think Seb/Ferrari had the field covered but the 3 stop strategy lost the race. The availability of 3 tire compounds is probably the change that will prove the most interesting. I think the Ferrari showing is a preview of a competitive year

 

Agree with all of this.

I'm curious though what would happen if you threw the Honda lump in a STR. I think McLaren are hiding something just as much as Honda.

The tires will be interesting through half of the season. Once it becomes obvious what the optimal strategy is, everybody will do it. Only a few will take a flyer if they have little prospect to finish higher than 11th.

 

I too hope that Haas wasn't just a fluke, but being able to change RoGro's tires under the red flag was an opportunity that presented itself nicely. That gave them roughly 24 seconds on anyone that had to pit while the race was underway.

I think Honda McLaren have decent pace and will be very interested to see how Alonso performs throughout a full race. Here's to hoping to see both Button and Alonso in the points soon.

As far as qualifying went, it is quite obvious something is wrong when the pole sitter is out of their car and with the media while the clock is still counting down. Let alone Seb walking around in jeans. I think closing the garages would be an interesting move too, but if they had to/can, I hope they just completely revert back. We'll see what happens I suppose.

If it weren't for the red flag, I think Seb/Ferarri would've had a different outcome, but we'll never know. I do think they will be battling a lot toward the front this year, especially if the Mercs are dogs off the line like in Australia.

Either way, despite all the drama, I'm glad the season is underway and can't wait to see how it all unfolds.

 

Didn't know this was here until Nick let me know.

Haas wouldn't have scored a point without lucking into that red flag, I'd say they gained much more than 24 seconds in terms of track position.

McHonda looks to have made big strides over the winter.

Renault has made massive strides in drivability.

Merc is still 100% class of the field & IMO had the red flag not come out, the race is a battle between Lewis & Nico at the end, though much closer than it actually wound up being.

Hoping for points from Wehrlein, Haryanto or Palmer in the coming weeks.

 

"Fernando Alonso has revealed he broke a rib in his Australian Grand Prix accident and admits he is not 100 percent sure he will be able to race in China either." Source

 

The good news is Vandoorne will get his debut.

 

So I got caught up on the two races I missed while I was gone, and saw Austria. (well, the DVR didn't record Canada correctly, I saw quali, and heard the winner.)

Nico was 100% at fault in Austria IMO. And he should have gotten a MUCH stiffer penalty than he did. I'd have DQ'ed him if I were race director, and I would FLAMBE him if I were principle of Merc. Brake problems my arse. Poor sportsmanship, for SURE.

I hate seeing Ferrari lose, but I do love seeing Seb DNF. Weird.

 

Looks like we agree on Austria. Nico is a jackass.


I've actually started to like Seb (a little) since he joined Ferrari.

I thought Austria was pretty good to watch, I thought Merc had lost their minds when they pitted Lewis again, but it seemed to work out. My guess it the stewards don't penalize to the same standard when it is team mates, just a guess though.

 

I haven't seen Austria yet, but I understand there was a bit of a kerfuffle (fracas? a la clarkson) between the arrows. I read that Merc told them that they'd fine them hundreds of thousands of euros or suspend them if they hit again. They're not taking it lightly.

 

Well, we kinda spoiled the race for you Charlie. You might as well go youtube the incident.

Basically, Nico was leading on the last lap, but LewLew was coming strong. With DRS (he claimed Nico made a mistake on the previous turn) LewLew was coming into a turn WAY faster than Nico. Nico drove into the turn, and DID. NOT. TURN. IN. LewLew went WAY wide and turned when he got to the edge of the track, and Nico was there. It broke Nico's front wing. LewLew went off track, and then came back on (behind Nico) and then drove RIGHT around him as Nico's tire also went flat. LewLew won, Nico dropped to 4th.

They penalized Nico 10s, but it left him in 4th place. They also put a point on his licence and wagged their finger at him.

He would have been passed, and they could have EASILY finished 1/2 (LewLew/Nico, instead of Nico/LewLew) and everthing would have been cool, but nooooOOOoooo. Nico was a d1ck, and paid the price.

He should have been DQ'd (for continuing in a broken car.) And then fired from Merc.