Formula One 2018 Season Chat

The Formula One 2018 season is nearly upon us with it looking like Ferrari and Red Bull might be back to form alongside the all powerful Mercedes.    Renault engines will power both the McLaren and the gorgeous looking Renault RS18.



This season takes place across 21 tracks, finishing on 25th November

Australian Grand Prix	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne	25 March
Bahrain Grand Prix	Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir	8 April
Chinese Grand Prix	Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai	15 April
Azerbaijan Grand Prix	Baku City Circuit, Baku	29 April
Spanish Grand Prix	Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona	13 May
Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	27 May
Canadian Grand Prix	Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal	10 June
French Grand Prix	Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet	24 June
Austrian Grand Prix	Red Bull Ring, Spielberg	1 July
British Grand Prix	Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone	8 July
German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring, Hockenheim	22 July
Hungarian Grand Prix	Hungaroring, Budapest	29 July
Belgian Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot	26 August
Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza	2 September
Singapore Grand Prix	Marina Bay Street Circuit, Singapore	16 September
Russian Grand Prix	Sochi Autodrom, Sochi	30 September
Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka	7 October
United States Grand Prix	Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas[N 2]	21 October
Mexican Grand Prix	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City	28 October
Brazilian Grand Prix	Autódromo José Carlos Pace, São Paulo	11 November
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi	25 November

Which driver do you think will succeed?   Will there be a surprising performance from a traditionally lower placed team?   Will Alonso continue to provide comedy moments?   Would love to hear your thoughts.

Lewis will of course be a very strong contender along with (can I spit my dummy out of the pram) Vettle. 
Look out for Riccardo and Verstappen who will be hot contenders in my mind. 
F1 isnt just about the drivers its also about consistency and reliabilty and drivers and teams keeping mistakes to a minimum. 
I love F1 and yes I’m sure the likes of Alonso will provide us with many amusing moments, quips and insights into what its like to be an F1 driver. 
Personally I’d like to see HASS do well, and the sport freed up from some of the political in fighting that we’ve all had to witness over the years. 
Pirelli will have to provide good tyres because like us tyres are the only thing that prevents us flying off the road, regardless of engine or driver. 
I’m sure the coming season will provide us with many controversies and questions and dare I even say thrills. 
I cant wait for the first race Enjoy 

Any views on the halo? Personally I think it looks awful and that they might as well just put a roof on and be done with it.

I’m off to the Historic Monaco Grand Prix in May when the GP cars of the 50s, 60s, 70s etc race around the circuit and you can actually see the drivers sawing away at the wheel.

It is what it is - I get what they're trying to achieve, but as ever in F1,  a half-cocked implementation.  The camera views which are now basically staring at some sponsored scaffolding.  They've missed a trick to put a camera in the T-Bar giving almost a true drivers-eye view.   It looks better now they've colour coded them, with the dark ones disappearing more than the lighter coloured ones.
I'm surprised they didn't go for the fighter jet style canopy but I think they said that it messed with the aerodynamics.

We're getting further away from open cockpits, and I'm not convinced Halo would have protected the drivers from any of the recent accidents which have caused death or serious injury, but I guess the FIA have to be shown to be doing something.

This topic contains results spoilers!!


























Top 10 Results

[th]1[/th][th]2[/th][th]3[/th][th]4[/th][th]5[/th][th]6[/th][th]7[/th][th]8[/th][th]9[/th][th]10[/th]

5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	58	1:29:33.283	3	25
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	58	+5.036	1	18
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	58	+6.309	2	15
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	58	+7.069	8	12
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Renault	58	+27.886	10	10
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer	58	+28.945	4	8
27	Nico Hülkenberg	Renault	58	+32.671	7	6
77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	58	+34.339	15	4
2	Stoffel Vandoorne	McLaren-Renault	58	+34.921	11	2
55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Renault	58	+45.722	9	1

I hope that this race isn't a precursor for the rest of the season.   Not much excitement beyond pit-lane errors and results forced by virtual safety car.   What is most worrying is that it seems harder than ever to overtake - you only have to look at Bottas's performance, only getting into 8th through retirements and strategy, rather than the outright speed the car is capable of.

Congratulations to McLaren and Renault, particularly Alonso getting his RS powered McLaren into 5th, a fantastic performance.  Great to see the Diamond taking 40% of the top 10 (or 60% if you include the Tag-Heuer branded Renault engines in the RBRs).  

Bahrain next, under the lights for the first time this season.