Formula1

Malaysia, FP1
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Malaysia, FP2
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Back after some time, could only see the races in Melbourne and Shanghai, my impression so far is that Ferrari is way better than last year, but the Mercedes are still in their own league and will decide the title(s) among themselves. Absolute disasters for Red Bull and Force India so far, I could include McLaren in here, but I expected this to happen with a completely new engine supplier.
 
McLaren will be using new livery starting with this weeks Spanish GP (pics are from official twitter)
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It really reminds me of a car that in 2010. was in similar positions on the grid:
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Manor are slowly but steadily getting on their feet. In Canada they got their first sponsorship for current car (airbnb) and now in Silverstone they have presented new sponsorship deal - Flex-Box
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Also in Silverstone, they brought first upgrades on their current car in 1 and 1/2 year. Until this weekend they were driving it as they started last season in Melbourne with small modification to nose so that the car will be legal with 2015 rules.


Also, from Belgian GP this season driver coaching (instructions from pits via radio) will be banned, as well as electronic help at start.
 
FIA has approved race calendar for 2016 season which will consist of 21 races. On organizers request Malaysian GP has been moved later in the season and it will now be 16th race instead of 2nd race. Russian GP has been mowed earlier into the season and will be 4th race. In 2016. we will see return of German GP which was canceled for 2015, though it still isn't known whether it will be at Hockenheim or Nurburgring. Also returning, after 3 years of absence, is European GP which will be held at street circuit at Baku

April 3 - Australia
April 10 - China
April 24 - Bahrain
May 1 - Russia
May 15 - Spain
May 29 - Monaco
June 12 - Canada
June 26 - Britain
July 3 - Austria
July 17 - Europe (Baku)
July 31 - Germany
August 7 - Hungary
August 28 - Belgium
September 4 - Italy
September 18 - Singapore
September 25 - Malaysia
October 9 - Japan
October 23 - USA (Austin)
October 30 - Mexico
November 13 - Brazil
November 27 - Abu Dhabi

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119935
 
they got too confident with safety of current cars, which somehow reminds me of NASA and Challenger accident. There were things that happened before that were considered dangerous when space shuttle was designed. But as time went on and missions completed successfully event with those problems appearing they thought they can risk it - it worked few times so it should work the next time too. And they were wrong. Same happened with Columbia accident.


In F1 we had no fatal accidents for 20 years, we had few horrific accidents from which drivers walked away just a bit shaken and bruised and then teams, drivers and organizers started to push it more. And they got away with some of things before, like recovering crashed car without safety car or marshals on track without safety car (and some even falling in front of speeding F1 car) and it was just a matter of time when their luck will run out. And the worst thing is that Bianchi paid with his life for overconfidence that almost perfect 20-year safety record gave them.
 
Vettel has just grabbed his 1st Ferrari pole for tomorrow's Singapore GP. This is also 1st Ferrari pole after Alonso's at 2012 German GP and 1st Ferrari pole in dry weather after Alonso's at 2010 Singapore GP.

Oh, and 1st non-Mercedes powered pole position after Vettel in Brazil 2013


Top 10 for tomorrow:
1. Vettel - Ferrari - 1’43.885
2. Ricciardo - Red Bull - 1’44.428
3. Raikkonen - Ferrari - 1’44.667
4. Kvyat - Red Bull - 1’44.745
5. Hamilton - Mercedes - 1’45.300
6. Rosberg - Mercedes - 1’45.415
7. Bottas - Williams - 1’45.676
8. Verstappen - Toro Rosso - 1’45.798
9. Massa - Williams - 1’46.077
10. Grosjean - Lotus - 1’46.413
 
the vettel finger is back:APPLAUD: what a legend.

1.5 ahead of mercedes is a crazy margain, vettel is boss at singapore.
 
seems that Mercedes got their setup wrong in preparation for this GP weekend which caused them to overuse rear tires on Friday. They tried to preserve the tires a bit by changing the setup so that car understeers a bit and with that they lost some of their pace. Add to that their now more than a year long problem with brakes cooling (as they are making cooling ducts as small as possible to aid aerodynamics and performance) and they found themselves far behind.
 
and nice controled win for Vettel and Ferrari. I am a bit disappointed with Raikkonen as in what was the fastest car in Singapore he didn't even try to attack Ricciardo and maybe take 2nd place. But anyways, it is nice to see both Ferraris on the podium after such a long time.


This weekend is Japanese GP
 
Yesterday Mercedes secured constructor title for this season. They needed to outscore Ferrari by 3 points and at first they didn't manage it. But Raikkonen received penalty after the race for his collision with Bottas in last lap and so lost points that would prevent Mercedes from securing the title.

Also Vettel has taken 2nd place in drivers championship from Rosberg, but Hamilton can secure the title at next GP if he wins and Vettel finishes 3rd or worse
 
Normally a fan of Raikkonen, but his performance in the last years was average at the best. And that he this time insisted on having made no fault is not a proper behaviour imo. My bet is that Hamilton secures it in Austin and I wouldn't say it's undeserved. He ruled this season so far.
 
Dazzlà said:
the fuck?:LMAO:

https://twitter.com/adamcooperF1/status/653237170002640896

rosberg retirement ruined the race tbh, he was faster all weekend and it could of been a decent battle between himself and lewis, also raikkonen should of already been replaced, the 2nd ferrari seat is wasted with him in it. vettel has almost more than twice the amount of points than him ffs.
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i reckon ham would have overtaken Ros but agreed it ruined the race
 
in my opinion the best race of the season has finished in the least interesting way...with Hamilton securing his title.

Vettel recovered great from 15th on the grid (he had 10 place penalty for new engine) to finish 3rd while Rosberg has once again shown why he will never win a championship.
 
USA was a pretty good race for once but doesn't make up for another incredibly poor season.

F1 has become so incredibly boring and artificial over the past few years that it has pretty much lost all enjoyment for me.

I used to get up for all the 5AM starts and qualifying, but now I find it a massive chore to even switch it on. The problem has been the new Turbo Hybrid engines and the fact that Mercedes have managed to make a car so dominant they should be easily winning every race.
The tyres are a strange choice as well with the tyres degrading all the time so drivers drive 70% all time - F1 just doesn't feel like racing anymore and has become a very incredibly boring and predictable sport.

Unfortunetly I don't see anything changing next season either Renault don't know how to make an engine, Honda are 2 years behind in terms of development and McLaren are wasting two of the best drivers in the sport by having them battle for 10th - 15th.
Also there doesn't seem to be a decent No.2 driver Raikonnen has passed it, Rosberg is a decent driver but not in the top tier of drivers.. But then apart from McLaren in 88/89 when was there a top 1/2 in a top team.

There is a quite simple fix to F1 bring back a tyre war, and allow in season testing - This would get rid of the massive performance difference in the cars and allow Honda and Renault to catch up with Engine Development. This would also allow the teams with the biggest budgets to actually play catch up as at the moment it seems whoever is No.1 in Melbourne stays there the rest of the season..
 
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I don't agree that Turbo Hybrid engines are problem. The problem is that no one except Mercedes took the task of actually designing them serious enough. Renault was the main supporter of this current engine formula and they were so confident then when Mercedes was already running their engines on dynamo Renault didn't even had a finalized design. Ferrari was late as well and Honda was even worse off then Renault.

Ferrari is now almost equal to Mercedes in engine performance, but they are still lacking with their chassis.

Though that all may change in 2017 as there are some rumors that manufacturers had agreed to change in engine forumla and opted to change from 1.6L V6 turbo to 2.2L V6 twin turbo, similar to those run by IndyCar. They will still use hybrid engines as they want to encourage efficiency. Also, in 2017 we are getting new aerodynamic rules which will se return of larger and wider rear wings, larger diffusers and wider tires all in an attempt to make cars faster.


As for tyre war and in-season testing...we won't see them in the near future...both were abandoned due to skyrocketing costs associated with them as grid was getting ever so small (with only 20 cars in 2003-2005 period and few teams strugling to even finish the season).

But at least they won't ban engine development in season next year as was planned.
 
some things got confirmed in last few days:
- Toro Rosso will switch from Renault to 2015-spec Ferrari PU for next season. Also, they confirmed that both Verstappen and Sainz Jr. will remain with the team

- Red Bull will still use Renault PU, but they will have to pay full price on them. Also, because they helped Renault with developement they will continue to develop it differently together with Ilmor and those PUs will be re-branded as TAG Heuer which came as new sponsor after 30 years with McLaren. Also, Renault will cancel their sponsorship through Infiniti brand

- Manor has some new sponsors and they also have confirmed their deal with Mercedes for PUs next year

- Race calendar was also confirmed with 21 races
Code: 
20 March Melbourne
3 April Bahrain
17 April Shanghai
1 May Sochi
15 May Barcelona
29 May Monte Carlo
12 June Montreal
19 June Baku
3 July Red Bull Ring
10 July Silverstone
24 July Hungaroring
31 July Hockenheim
28 August Spa-Francorchamps
4 September Monza
18 September Singapore
2 October Sepang
9 October Suzuka
23 October Austin
30 October Mexico City
13 November Interlagos
27 November Abu Dhabi

- Rules regarding tyres have changed too. Pirelli will introduce 5th dry weather compound in the shape of Ultra-Soft which will be recognized by purple markings on the sides. Drivers will also have 3 different compounds available for the GP instead of 2 like in previous years. Each driver will also be required to choose for themselves which 3 compounds will they want to have for each GP and number of sets totaling in 10 dry tire sets. Extra 3 sets will be choosen by Pirelli. Drivers will still need to use at least 2 different compounds in dry races.


EDIT: Seems that Red Bull and Renault had actually reached an agreement where they will work on fixing that PU together. Different name for the one in Red Bull's car will be due to Renault wishing to have attention on their own team. And there is a funny bit of confusion around them for next season. Deadline to register for next year's championship has already passed and team has already registered under the name Lotus Mercedes. It is not possible to change the name of the team for next season (unless FIA allows them some special dispensation) so it is certain that we will have Lotus Mercedes powered by Renault engine :D Last time something like that happened was in 2010. After 2009. season has ended BMW decided to pull out and Sauber decided to once again go on its own again with Ferrari engines. But due to the same reason that I stated above team was oficially known as BMW Sauber Ferrari
 
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As of now Lotus F1 Team will be know as Renault Sport Formula 1 Team. Team was just unveiled in online live stream. Team will enter 2016 season with completely new drivers lineup with Jolyon Palmer and Kevin Magnussen coming in instead of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado.

They have also presented the car which will have its debut on first test session in Barcelona in less than 20 days. Car is known as RS16
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It was also stated that livery might change before 1st race in Melbourne.
 
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Mercedes' development driver and last season's DTM champion Pascal Wehrlein was confirmed today as one of drivers for Manor Racing. There is only one place left on the grid for 2016 and that is also in Manor. Drivers who are in talks include last years' Manor drivers Rossi and Stevens, though best chances for that seat are rumored to be for Rio Haryanto, 23-year old Indonesian
 
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