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Once more on C4: F1 and motorsport 2018

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    Sat in a pub in Exmouth watching Sky interview Christian Horner. They're trying very hard indeed not to show the mascot of the Circuit de Spa Francorchamps who is loitering in the background.

    Yeah that was a scary crash, rather reminiscent of the incident at the same corner in 2012 that ultimately cost Alonso the title.

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        Other than that, a good race, though. Ferrari taking the fight to Mercedes and coming out on top - the championship isn't over yet - and Bottas with a strong drive up through the field. Plus some great performances from the Force Indias and Ericsson.

        There's been some online talk after Massa poked the hornets' nest of safety in IndyCar versus F1. There seemed to be some consensus that IndyCar safety on circuits has improved a lot but there is still work to be done on ovals. Nascar's vehicles don't tend to get lifted up in the way that an open wheeler can, so the fairly low wall and high fence probably works ok for them, but as the Wickens crashed showed it's bloody scary for IndyCar.

        And also the Indy tracks are generally privately-owned and of course all in the same country. In F1 you have countries competing against each other for races, so there tends to be some public money thrown at the tracks to make them as safe as possible.

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          I guess that ends the debate over the halo.

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            Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
            I guess that ends the debate over the halo.
            Yes, a truly ironic name.

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              Vettel and Ferrari are handing this title to Hamilton on a plate. A catalogue of driving and strategy errors all season long.

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                Kimi tried his best to be fair, after Vettel messed up, but Lewis was excellent.

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                  Agreed on all counts. It's mostly Vettel's mistakes I think, but I just get the feeling Mercedes are a bit sharper on strategy most of the time. For example, it was odd to hear that Ferrari had only enough of the soft tyres for the race itself, meaning they had no chance to assess how they performed during the practice sessions.

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                    Our boy Lando Norris gets the 2019 McLaren drive. Vandoorne out.

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                      Pleased for him - sorry for Vandoorne though, hope he picks up a ride somewhere else cos this season hasn't been representative of what he can do.

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                        Think it's pretty shabby of McLaren to ditch Vandoorne given they've provided him with a dog of a car for two years and he's been up against Alonso who has a tendency to blow his team-mates away. Hope he does get a drive somewhere, Sauber is probably his best bet.

                        On the other side I can see the team's thinking. Vandoorne is a perfectly acceptable midfield competitor but realistically he's about the same standard as Sainz and having a pair of competent if uninspiring drivers tends to lead teams to become bogged down. Norris might end up being better than that, his potential has been apparent for a long time, he's a possible long term solution on their road back towards the front of the grid. He could be a future world champion in the right car and Vandoorne won't if we're being honest.

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                          I'd say that's a fair assessment on both fronts.

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                            Yes, agree with that. Hope Vandoorne finds somewhere he wants to go.

                            Looking at the provisional calendar, the F1 2019 season (the same 21 races with US and Mexico swapping over) has been stretched out a bit. Melbourne comes forward a week and Abu Dhabi goes back a week, meaning it runs from 17 March to 1 December, which is 37 weeks of the year.

                            They've left a gap for Le Mans but once again have scheduled Monaco to clash with the Indy 500.

                            Meanwhile IndyCar has changed from an 11 : 6 split of road : ovals to a ratio of 12 : 5 because race 2, which was the ISM Raceway this year, will be at the COTA, pleasingly. And the final race will be at Laguna Seca. It's like they've been reading my OTF posts, or something. However this means that Sonoma has also gone from the calendar and I don't know why Watkins Glen isn't on there either - would far rather see the series expanded by a few weeks into October to fit these two in and get up to 19 races.

                            Last edited by Kevin S; 04-09-2018, 14:51.

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                              And the 30 minutes' video of the Portland race, if you like, is here.

                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiP4Pk8mTEA

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                                And for your bonus - the Clio Cup of Central Europe from Autodrom Most in Czechia:



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                                  Laguna Seca has been upgrading its facilities since last winter so that’s probably helped their cause - great to see it back on the calendar.

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                                    A wet one at Okayama. Sekiguchi battling with Kobayashi at the front.
                                    Last edited by Kevin S; 10-09-2018, 09:05.

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                                      WRC back in Turkey this weekend for the first time in 8 years - completely new route around Marmaris.

                                      Theoretically this should level the playing field, as everyone is new to the stages and has to make their notes from scratch. Add to this the road-sweeping effect that will hamper the championship leaders as they're running first on the road and we could see the established order shaken up a bit - I'd certainly expect Mikkelsen, Paddon, Evans and the Citroens to be quick on day one - maybe Lappi too, if the early season fragility of the Yaris has been overcome.

                                      Tanak has won the last two rounds to put himself back into title contention, and he should be quick here - but I'd favour the experience of Ogier to know when to push and when to back off on what's likely to be quite a rough event. Obviously can't count out the blinding pace of Neuville and even the luckless JM-L may find that this event suits him, if he can concentrate on his event and not talk himself into a bad place by watching his rivals' times.

                                      Meanwhile I've just been booking my tickets and accommodation for Wales Rally GB next month, can't wait!

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                                        That was absolutely outrageous from Sergio Perez in Singapore just now; he was battling with Sirotkin and just drove straight into him. He should get a race ban for that, it was a disgraceful piece of driving.

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                                          He'd already put his teammate out of the race on Lap 1

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                                            Yep, that was an awful race from him, a ban would be fitting.

                                            Good race between Lewis, Max and Vettel though. Had backed Hamilton when I saw he was 5/1 on Friday, too. Quite why he was ever so long is a mystery but, hey, my 20p returned a full pound profit.

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                                              Guess the long odds would be because the characteristics of the Ferrari are more suited to the circuit, Vettel's strong performances around the place and the general difficulty of overtaking. As it is Ferrari dropped the ball again and Hamilton's championship lead is out to forty points. Vettel can still win the title by taking every race but realistically he's going to need Hamilton to have a DNF somewhere given that we've now got a run of tracks that historically suit Mercedes - Sochi, Suzuka, COTA and Mexico City.

                                              Ant Davidson showed a clip on Sky that made him wonder if Perez driving into Ocon was also deliberate given the way that he worked the wheel through the corner.

                                              First time I've watched a full Grand Prix for a while, since Baku I think. Found all the swooshes on the graphics rather disconcerting and was quite surprised when the red lights on the grid now had beeps to accompany them. As usual for Singapore it looked quite a spectacle but was turgid to watch as a motor race. Good luck with that billion quid you've spent on the exclusive rights for the next six years Sky given that Liberty want more street circuits.

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                                                VW Motorsport returning to the WRC, putting a Polo in for the Rally RACC Catalunya - Rally de Espaņa near the end of October. It will be a WRC2 entry, and one of the cars will be driven by none other than Petter Solberg.

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                                                  Did you catch the Rally Turkey highlights, Kev? Unpredictable and entertaining, for the first two days at least. A good addition to the calendar.

                                                  In driver employment news, it looks more and more likely that Citroen will tempt Ogier back from M-Sport with the promise of more manufacturer backing. EP seems to be headed the same way, which frees up a Yaris that the jobless Kris Meeke is being linked with. Quite where this leaves M-Sport I'm not sure, with Evans underperforming for much of the year and Suninen not experienced enough to lead a team yet - possibly a glimmer of an opportunity for Ostberg there? And would Citroen run a third car all season, or does Breen find himself looking for a drive?

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                                                    Funnily enough, just watched it this evening on My5. Incredible - how did Breen's car end up on fire?!

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