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Post by René on Oct 7, 2018 9:23:34 GMT
It is so great to be a Ferrari fan...
The Ferrari melt-down is unbelievable. I really thought this was the year, certainly with their strong performance at Spa after the summer break. Of course the Marchionne tragedy didn't help to keep the focus but can that be the only reason? It really shouldn't on such a professional level.
There was quite a bit of entertainment in the race. Max drove very well although I do think it was his fault in the Kimi collision but he did at least his best to take the chicane. Unfortunately Kimi had nowhere to go. But a penalty? I don't know. For me they may skip these penalties completely and only apply them with deliberate wrongdoings.
The Vettel/Max run in was probably over ambitious by Seb. There was an opportunity but it was very risky, he could have waited for the straight where he surely would have passed the Red Bull. A second place would still have been possible.
Strong drive for Daniel and it was about time! Good for the Aussie to have a strong race again, well deserved.
The Toro Rosso Hondas were a bit disappointing in the race and showed there is still some way to go for Honda which will worry Horner and co. Max would not have finished on the podium with a Honda engine in the back.
The championship is over and done now and there is no arguing that Lewis deserves it. He has driven beautifully and won most races so a worthy champion. Ferrari and Vettel simply made too many mistakes.
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Post by robmarsh on Oct 7, 2018 10:07:35 GMT
Good summation René. I agree.
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Post by charleselan on Oct 7, 2018 11:46:50 GMT
I have only read about qualifying on the news sites, modern F1 is not compelling enough these days for me to rise early to view, sad but true. Not impressed by this sudden return of dominance by MB, I am almost beginning to wear a "Tin Hat" about the whole affair. However I can rest easy as it isn't my doing that this annihilation of the opposition that we have witnessed for the past four, or more, years is damaging F1 beyond immediate help. The question(s) we have to ask ourselves are or were MB sand bagging earlier in the year; or were the team that gave them a supposed run for it, bending the rules or not? A big up for Toro Rosso-Honda, that is some achievement and brilliant for Brendan Hartley, hopefully that malignant management at RB will see sense and give the lad a real go next year. Can't imagine what McLaren and Teflonso will be thinking about that one; as Niki used to say "what goes around, comes around" . 1) Finally a race that is in my time zone! The season is so biased towards you guys in the eastern hemisphere ;-) 2) Carl, you, Charles and Rob definitely seem to be going straight to 'conspiracy' because of the swing in competitiveness back towards Mercedes. Mercedes current advantage isn't any bigger or more sudden than Ferrari's mid season advantage. With the swing to Ferrari we were delighted that they'd achieved that and weren't looking for conspiracy as the cause. There is always ebb and flow in a development race. I'm hopeful that Ferrari will continue pushing to get back ahead this season, even if it seems this season is lost. 3) 100% with you on this. I hope that Honda really have created a competitive p.u now, and that Hartley does enough the rest of this season to retain the Toro Rosso seat. With regard to your point (1), shame you do not have the Tasman Series anymore, but such is progress . Point (2): I for one do not think that the word "conspiracy" applies in this context, I have a leaning towards orchestration. In some years we did have a "to and fro", but more often than not it was a case of someone finding something (usually Chapman) and producing a very quick car but it lacked reliability during the first half of the season, thus the well proven cars prevailed until the new "super racer" became reliable, hence a swing from one to t'other. However I just cannot fathom what has happened this year, or how a team with the resources of Marlboro Ferrari going from pace setter (up until pre Monza) and then all of that supposed speed and performance disappears, according to Mark Hughes the extra sensor was fitted at Monaco, and only in recent days has it been made public knowledge. So are we to believe that isn't the reason for this dramatic drop in performance since Monza? Yes we can all accept a team screwing up its settings for one race meeting, but come on, a team as big and resourceful as Marlboro Ferrari getting it so wrong for many races on the bounce! If we are to take the relative performance differences solely on MB v's Ferrari then we could apply the "to & fro" scenario with some merit. However Marlboro Ferrari have dropped off in comparison to other teams as well, and the MB powered cars (well Stroll Force, as Williams are also rans now) seem to be back on track with the Ferrari powered Haas and Sauber cars. Everyone knew what Marlboro Ferrari were doing with their mighty power units earlier in the year, but it was stressed that they were kosher. Something has happened since Spa, and it leads me to believe it was all for the show. As I have mentioned previously, five years of MB dominance isn't good for F1, but it is good for MB so lets see if we can find some middle ground to keep everyone happy. Looking at the word conspiracy I think it should be more directed at the very conception of this current F1 regulation; look no further than certain major manufacturers and the FIA (namely Napoleon). This is another story all together.
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Post by mikael on Oct 7, 2018 13:13:11 GMT
Greetings from Suzuka / Nagoya :-) René summed up the race nicely.
In whatever way, it was a joy to watch.
Here are a few (roughly sorted) photos (out of very many).
(They are taken with a simple compact camera, so far from prof quality!)
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Post by René on Oct 7, 2018 13:41:36 GMT
Fantastic pictures Mikael! Thanks so much for sharing. It must be such a joy to watch the cars at this track. I need to go there once if time and money allows. Love the pictures of Surtees's Honda!
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Post by mikael on Oct 7, 2018 14:39:16 GMT
Thank you, René.
I will post more photos once I'm back home. Action photos are not easy from one of the "affordable" seats. Photos that convey the general atmosphere are easier. Also, I have many more photos from the Honda exhibition.
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Post by charleselan on Oct 7, 2018 14:56:42 GMT
Excellent photographs Mikael, looking forward to seeing more. The one of Max in the white "E" Type Jaguar is stunning, just for the occasion alone.
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Post by Carl on Oct 7, 2018 19:58:35 GMT
All in all it was an excellent race. Even the announcers, who began immediately to focus on pit and tyre strategy, were surprised by the amount of actual racing, with by far more passes than normal.
Whenever David Croft shifts into hyperbolic excitement, I either mute the sound or turn his wounded barnyard animal hysterics way down. He also either is unaware or unconcerned that he has a worldwide audience. Expressing sympathy three times that viewers had to wake up so early (I was watching live at 22:00 Saturday) was fairly provincial.
Lewis Hamilton drove a perfect race in a near-perfect car. The race could have been even better. Had Verstappen not been penalized five seconds, the imperfect Max might have challenged for the win. Sad to see the disarray in Ferrari as Sebastien Vettel overreached both in qualifying and the race.
As usual, the Suzuka circuit deserves top billing, its brilliant design possibly enabling all the passing.
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Post by Carl on Oct 7, 2018 20:15:46 GMT
Fantastic pictures Mikael! Thanks so much for sharing. It must be such a joy to watch the cars at this track. I need to go there once if time and money allows. Love the pictures of Surtees's Honda! Mikael, I agree with Rene and John Charles. Your photographs are wonderful. I was especially drawn both to the XK-E and the equally beautiful Surtees F1 Honda.
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Post by robmarsh on Oct 8, 2018 6:59:32 GMT
Great photos Mikael thanks for sharing. The Japanese GP is probably my favourite because there always seems to be so much drama there and it is early in the morning here so getting up early is part of the excitement.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2018 7:32:04 GMT
Giorgio Terruzzi in his op-ed on today’s Corriere della Sera, criticizes Arrivabene’s attitude over the weekend, his open criticism of the team, in future perspective. It appears with the big boss gone, it’s “while the cat’s away, the mice will play”. Elkann never looked worth a penny (he never had to earn it), and Camilleri I would be amazed if he is.
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Post by chrisb on Oct 8, 2018 8:09:16 GMT
sometimes the comments are far more interesting than the racing,
there is something evocative looking at an F1 car on a majestic circuit, well, that was my initial thought until I saw Mikael's photos of Senna's and Surtees's cars, that put that into perspective.
The first corner resolved the race win as far as I was concerned, Max's move on Kimi - sorry chaps- totally disagree - felt that return to the circuit reeked of Senna/ Schumacher desperation, which in a way endorses that Max is a bit special. Personally, I think it deserved him having to move over for Kimi and a stop/go penalty, not just as I considered it poor driving but also as a warning to others. Seb, I'm sorry but I cannot help but feel Teflonso would have been WDC last year and this year, and with Sebs deflation how much longer will he continue? as for Ferrari's slide, it does make you wonder.
which begs the question, Lewis is the main man at the moment, Max is getting there, who else is in this bracket?
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Post by chrisb on Oct 8, 2018 8:10:05 GMT
p.s. Mikael, brilliant photo's - looking forward to many more!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2018 8:48:20 GMT
All in all it was an excellent race. Even the announcers, who began immediately to focus on pit and tyre strategy, were surprised by the amount of actual racing, with by far more passes than normal. Whenever David Croft shifts into hyperbolic excitement, I either mute the sound or turn his wounded barnyard animal hysterics way down. He also either is unaware or unconcerned that he has a worldwide audience. Expressing sympathy three times that viewers had to wake up so early (I was watching live at 22:00 Saturday) was fairly provincial. Lewis Hamilton drove a perfect race in a near-perfect car. The race could have been even better. Had Verstappen not been penalized five seconds, the imperfect Max might have challenged for the win. Sad to see the disarray in Ferrari as Sebastien Vettel overreached both in qualifying and the race. As usual, the Suzuka circuit deserves top billing, its brilliant design possibly enabling all the passing. It was an excellent race, for most of the field - a bit of a cruise for the Mercedes guys, but behind that excellent. I'm glad I'm not the only one frustrated by the UK-centric outlook of the SKY team. They seem oblivious of the fact they're broadcast world wide, and that the people, companies and fans of F1 are from all corners of the world. As you know, I see Verstappen as reckless, so my view is that is penalty for hitting Raikonnen should have been much harsher. Not only did he rejoin the track dangerously, he gained an advantage by doing so. I also attribute at least 50% of the blame for the contact with Vettel to his closing down the corner when Vettel was already more than 50% alongside. As you say, Suzuka is a treat. Brilliant circuit, allowing some spectacular driving, and brave passing (and attempted passes) All enhanced by completely over the top enthusiastic fans
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Post by Deleted on Oct 8, 2018 9:27:27 GMT
1) Finally a race that is in my time zone! The season is so biased towards you guys in the eastern hemisphere ;-) 2) Carl, you, Charles and Rob definitely seem to be going straight to 'conspiracy' because of the swing in competitiveness back towards Mercedes. Mercedes current advantage isn't any bigger or more sudden than Ferrari's mid season advantage. With the swing to Ferrari we were delighted that they'd achieved that and weren't looking for conspiracy as the cause. There is always ebb and flow in a development race. I'm hopeful that Ferrari will continue pushing to get back ahead this season, even if it seems this season is lost. 3) 100% with you on this. I hope that Honda really have created a competitive p.u now, and that Hartley does enough the rest of this season to retain the Toro Rosso seat. With regard to your point (1), shame you do not have the Tasman Series anymore, but such is progress . Point (2): I for one do not think that the word "conspiracy" applies in this context, I have a leaning towards orchestration. In some years we did have a "to and fro", but more often than not it was a case of someone finding something (usually Chapman) and producing a very quick car but it lacked reliability during the first half of the season, thus the well proven cars prevailed until the new "super racer" became reliable, hence a swing from one to t'other. However I just cannot fathom what has happened this year, or how a team with the resources of Marlboro Ferrari going from pace setter (up until pre Monza) and then all of that supposed speed and performance disappears, according to Mark Hughes the extra sensor was fitted at Monaco, and only in recent days has it been made public knowledge. So are we to believe that isn't the reason for this dramatic drop in performance since Monza? Yes we can all accept a team screwing up its settings for one race meeting, but come on, a team as big and resourceful as Marlboro Ferrari getting it so wrong for many races on the bounce! If we are to take the relative performance differences solely on MB v's Ferrari then we could apply the "to & fro" scenario with some merit. However Marlboro Ferrari have dropped off in comparison to other teams as well, and the MB powered cars (well Stroll Force, as Williams are also rans now) seem to be back on track with the Ferrari powered Haas and Sauber cars. Everyone knew what Marlboro Ferrari were doing with their mighty power units earlier in the year, but it was stressed that they were kosher. Something has happened since Spa, and it leads me to believe it was all for the show. As I have mentioned previously, five years of MB dominance isn't good for F1, but it is good for MB so lets see if we can find some middle ground to keep everyone happy. Looking at the word conspiracy I think it should be more directed at the very conception of this current F1 regulation; look no further than certain major manufacturers and the FIA (namely Napoleon). This is another story all together. There is still some legacy of the Tasman series here. A number of the original cars still appear in the historic racing events. And of course we have the Toyota Racing Series, that brings many of the young drivers on their way to F1 (and other series for the less well funded) to NZ for a five race series -including Lance Stroll, Lando Norris, Mitch Evans. Great racing. I hope you're wrong about the orchestration of the championships, firstly if found to be true it would be the end of F1. And if it was being orchestrated, wouldn't they do a better job? Having the same team and driver win time after time isn't good for 'the show'. I also find it hard to fathom how Ferrari repeatedly fail to get their act together, with the resources they have, but in the absence of evidence, I don't think its some orchestrated plan. Toro Rosso Honda's dawn proved to be another false one. That must have been a huge embarrassment for Honda (again) in their home GP :-(
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