Nowanker

Awesome, entertaining race, and pretty darned good coverage. Now just stuff some cotton in Croft's mouth...
Brilliant effort just to get DR out in time to qualify, excellent driving (although, if he had crashed out on one of those passes, he would have looked guilty...), beautiful pitwork and strategy, and not to overlook plain luck with the SC.
Anyone else catch the Indy cars at Long Beach?
Other than the cars being all the same, it was a pretty good show. Lots of great overtaking maneuvers!
Struck by the difference in aero packages between F1 and Indycar. Could it be? less aero makes for better racing?

VetteDrmr

I saw that, and yeah, technically they could have pitted. One thing I didn't know was if the teams knew before the SC sign was displayed that it was coming. If so, then yeah, they blew it.

However, if they didn't know, then it looked to me that they had maybe 1 second (the replay had it slowed down by some amount) to react. Hence the front 4 cars didn't, but RB had the opportunity.

BTW, I thought Bottas ran a great race. I think last week's race performance either motivated him directly, or motivated someone else that then motivated him. Either way, he fought hard to get to the front, and stayed there just about as long as he could. Second place was a good finish for him, given the circumstances.

It looks like a really good fight between Mercedes and Ferrari; we'll see a lot more when the first major set of updates arrive on stage.

Have a good one,
Mike

VetteDrmr

Yes, LB was a good race. Really good racecraft, tough luck for some with yellows, some amazing passes, some REALLY STUPID attempts, all in all quite entertaining.

And Rossi was just in killer mode. Best drive I think I've ever seen out of him, both in the race and qualifying.

Remember this though about the aero packages: they're just about standardized (I think they can do some minor work along the side pods). F1 would never stand for that.

Have a good one,
Mike

Nowanker

Yeah, hard to stomach the 'spec-car' (NASCAR...) nature of the series. At least the cars don't look so stupid this year!
Bordais' pass was simply amazing, I thought he was into the wall for sure. Sorry to see him penalized for it.

VetteDrmr

I actually enjoy Indycar and NASCAR, and F1 (ok, if it's got an internal combustion engine and a checkered flag I'm probably interested ), but for different reasons. I don't get all nostalgic about any of the series "back in the day"ness (although CART in the late 80s-mid 90s was epic), time & technology changes stuff.

Comparing different series has never worked well, IMO.

Have a good one,
Mike

sunsalem

Although the SC light came on right before MB and Ferrari drove past, it's hard to say for certain when the pit wall became aware of it.
Assuming they knew when we knew, and given the possibility of a SC, they should have already made a decision on what to do if it actually did happen.

Given the last 4 years, I'm too cynical to accept it just yet.

FWIW, I'm only interested in F1 and Sportscars...and women's mudwrestling.

IansInGarage

Last year I just couldn't stay into F1. So far though i'm happy with the new lineup. I think we are up for a great year of F1 fights. Just some excellent driving and amazing passes. Mix in that cars are looking closer in competition. Also maybe i'll finally be a legal watching F1 enthusiast when they open up that $8/per race cost to stream watch. I'm so down to watch the angles i want occasionally. Sometimes I watch a whole race and can't really tell what track we are on from this jumping from corner to corner nonsense. Can't we have a race with atleast 1 full lap incar view to catch the flow of things.

And bring back the thermal tire view!!!!!!!!!!!!!

D K

Its gonna be funny to see when MB actually gets their **** together and start smoking everyone.
My guess is by the start of the european season

bcmarly

I hope not. They've had a good run but it will end, it always does. They're probably working as hard, just not as effectively. There is no way they can be as hungry as they have been in the past.

sunsalem

That is how much Liberty is going to charge?
I hadn't seen a fee amount before.

And WELCOME to the thread!

That's what I'm afraid of.

Thunder22

IMSA at Long Beach was better. And Corvette Racing won

Oh, and the rumor is that Oliver Gain will beat out Louise for a seat with Sauber next year, which could leave Louise seat-less.....

Z06PSI

Nowanker

Didn't catch the IMSA race. Spaced that it was on...
Really unhappy with the whole BoP concept anyway. It's ludicrous.
Still enjoy watching the tough looking cars go around, but can't EVEN pretend it means anything.

sunsalem

As usual at LB, there wasn't much to see.

IansInGarage

VetteDrmr

Oh, the thing you just said. DUCK!!!

Seriously, welcome to the F1 thread!

Have a good one,
Mike

sunsalem

Shanghai race analysis:
https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2018/...ed-the-f1-win/


Marko warns MB not to touch Ricciardo:
http://gptoday.com/full_story/view/6...icciardo_move/
DR is certainly in the cat bird's seat right now.
If there is any way MB or Ferrari can sign him they should IMO.


Brundle stirs the pot regarding the Silly Season:
http://gptoday.com/full_story/view/6...lace_Hamilton/

sunsalem

And therein lies the Great Debate: should it really BE a tech race?
Is it more enjoyable for the fans?
Is it an economically sound format?

Nowanker

Other than the prototype class, IMSA is supposedly production based?
If they returned more closely to that format, with limited modifications allowed, and (larger?) minimum production numbers required, they would also contain competitors costs.
Instead of some silly and arbitrary BoP to try to equalize cars that are clearly not in the same category, they could classify cars by a purchase price/production volume strategy.
Numbers here are arbitrary...
<$75K might catch Camaros and Mustangs
<$150K might fit Corvettes, Porsches, BMW, etc.
>$150 for Ferrari, Lambo, Ford GT...
And since it's a US based production car series, only models certified for US highway use would be allowed.
Of course, the manufacturers would always be tempted to throw out some limited production loss-leader IMSA homologation specials. By insisting on minimum production numbers, that would insure an available supply for us enthusiasts to own.
Think back to the late '60s, early '70s TransAm series...
Contains cost
REAL marketing value
Relevant racing, again
And might be some awesome 'trickle down'!
But then, this is supposed to be an F1 thread.

VetteDrmr

GTLM, I don't think so. GTD is probably a lot closer. I think GTLM is more of a silhouette class, where some of the body lines have to match the production car, but other than that...

Have a good one,
Mike