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Post by René on Dec 5, 2020 11:47:23 GMT
Good for George Russell and for racing! I'm tired of wanting Valtteri Bottas to raise his game and wouldn't mind if Russell outqualified him by a greater margin than Hamilton ever has. Without Martin Brundle's insightful commentary, there was almost no insight. Ted Kravitz outshone everyone else in obnoxious stupidity when he ridiculed ad infinitum the Scuderia's use of "half-shaft" to describe what had broken on Charles Leclerc's Ferrari. A half-shaft is a driveshaft leading from one side of the differential to the wheel on the same side. Apparently, Sky Television is comfortable with half-wits but not half-shafts. Brilliant Carl. As mentioned by the others, your sharp pen is a golden asset to this forum! I think Valtteri actually has raised his game over the last few years but probably has reached his sealing. A good driver but simply not in the Lewis/Max/Charles and maybe George league. As for Kravitz, I am glad I don't have to endure that nonsense! Sounds like he is also missing half of something!  |
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Post by René on Dec 5, 2020 12:01:23 GMT
Then, Germany's RTL channel, with Florian König as anchor and ex-driver Christian Danner as in-studio commentator and analyst, is on a completely different level: always informative, always moderated (never overly exited). The sad thing is that RTL's contract with F1 ends by the end of this year. From next year, F1 will be broadcast by Sky Germany. So the level might be adjusted (down), to follow the "new global standard" ...  Yes Mikael, I will miss the German RTL team a lot. It's a shame the others here can't view RTL but the way Florian König presents the F1 program is exactly how it should be done. As you said, very informative and intelligent with a touch of humor. Danner is also very good as analyst and that also goes for Heiko Wasser as leading commentator during the race. The team was at their absolute best when Niki was still with us. Florian and Niki had a really strong match.
Christian Danner, Florian König and Niki Lauda
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Post by René on Dec 5, 2020 12:05:17 GMT
Here's a nice short interview with Charles Leclerc for Dutch television where he answers questions of Dutch fans. Some interesting answers... |
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Post by charleselan on Dec 5, 2020 12:15:51 GMT
Probably more like three quarters René and that is being generous . I have mentioned this before but I have never liked Kravitz but he is among many who seem to populate the airwaves of the English speaking motor sport media. Watching S*YF1 yesterday I became increasingly angry with several of the idiots commentating, a few who one would have thought better of like Ant Davidson who at the end said that Bottas was the real bench mark in practice time and about two tenths quicker than George Russell's time, however it was deleted because he exceeded track limits. Looking at it, what a moronic thing to say as exceeding track limits is exactly that, in days of yore he would have been in the boonies exceeding track limits. I feel that Bottas was all over the shop and should have been stamping his authority on the "new boy" but could not. Apparently he was having set up issues but it looked to me that he was trying way too hard and overdriving. George Russell on the other hand did not fit the car and was uncomfortable in the seat and had to wear smaller shoes which were tight due to space being limited for him as he is a tall lad, yet he just got on with it as DSJ would have said. Paul De Resta was another, I really do not find that guy appealing in anyway shape or form, always a little barb directed in his so called analysis, scant praise at best. This coming from a guy who at best was average himself, and was reported as being a bit of a Prima Donna. I have not watched any of the German coverage as mentioned above by Mikael & René but very often these days tune into the German speaking Swiss coverage which is still "Free To View" and that appears to be of a similar format with Marc Surer doing the expert analysis, wish I spoke more German than I do. |
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Post by charleselan on Dec 5, 2020 12:22:21 GMT
There was a lovely interview with Kevin Magnussen on YouTube last night talking about Romain's accident and the sport in general. He said that as it was Romain in the accident it affected him more as "I care about Romain, we have worked together for four years now", it was sincere as well.
I personally will miss Kevin from F1 as he has a great personality and is a much underrated driver. I think his career took a downward turn when McLaren foolishly signed Teflonso, someone who was totally wrong for the team at that time. Kevin & Jensen were a very good combination and probably could have achieved more for the team as unit. Kevin will however be driving for Chip Ganassi next year in sports cars and probably end up with him in Indycar for 2022; good move.
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Post by René on Dec 5, 2020 12:37:53 GMT
There was a lovely interview with Kevin Magnussen on YouTube last night talking about Romain's accident and the sport in general. He said that as it was Romain in the accident it affected him more as "I care about Romain, we have worked together for four years now", it was sincere as well. I personally will miss Kevin from F1 as he has a great personality and is a much underrated driver. I think his career took a downward turn when McLaren foolishly signed Teflonso, someone who was totally wrong for the team at that time. Kevin & Jensen were a very good combination and probably could have achieved more for the team as unit. Kevin will however be driving for Chip Ganassi next year in sports cars and probably end up with him in Indycar for 2022; good move. I think Kevin will do very well in the States and driving for Ganassi is fantastic of course. The fact that Chip wants to put Kevin behind the wheel of one of his cars says a lot about how Kevin is rated as a top driver. I really hope he does well and eventually goes to Indycar. Here is the interview you mentioned. It is very good and Kevin comes across as very mature I must say. Yes, very good.
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Post by robmarsh on Dec 5, 2020 18:40:45 GMT
Well I must say the George Russell was very impressive indeed. To finish that close off Valteri in a car that he has hardly driven before and doesn't fit him so to speak was magnificent, similar to Mika Hakkinen out qualifying Senna in Portugal in 1993. Maybe not the result LH was expecting but maybe Toto was. I agree with you Chris, LH could well retire from F1.
A superb GV type lap from Charles Leclerc, really made me sit up.
Max may have to raise his game now that George Russell has shown his talent in a decent car. I can see Albon being benched for next year and Perez getting a one year contract.
Interesting times could be ahead.
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Post by René on Dec 5, 2020 19:44:11 GMT
George was very impressive and could have beaten Bottas already. That was soooo close!
And the other star was Charles Leclerc. A magic lap indeed and he knew it when he came on the radio. It will not be easy to hold on to that position but we'll see.
The race will be interesting to watch no matter what. Can Russell win the race, of course he can!
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Post by Carl on Dec 6, 2020 5:12:54 GMT
Probably more like three quarters René and that is being generous . I have mentioned this before but I have never liked Kravitz but he is among many who seem to populate the airwaves of the English speaking motor sport media. Watching S*YF1 yesterday I became increasingly angry with several of the idiots commentating, a few who one would have thought better of like Ant Davidson who at the end said that Bottas was the real bench mark in practice time and about two tenths quicker than George Russell's time, however it was deleted because he exceeded track limits. Looking at it, what a moronic thing to say as exceeding track limits is exactly that, in days of yore he would have been in the boonies exceeding track limits. I feel that Bottas was all over the shop and should have been stamping his authority on the "new boy" but could not. Apparently he was having set up issues but it looked to me that he was trying way too hard and overdriving. George Russell on the other hand did not fit the car and was uncomfortable in the seat and had to wear smaller shoes which were tight due to space being limited for him as he is a tall lad, yet he just got on with it as DSJ would have said. Paul De Resta was another, I really do not find that guy appealing in anyway shape or form, always a little barb directed in his so called analysis, scant praise at best. This coming from a guy who at best was average himself, and was reported as being a bit of a Prima Donna. I have not watched any of the German coverage as mentioned above by Mikael & René but very often these days tune into the German speaking Swiss coverage which is still "Free To View" and that appears to be of a similar format with Marc Surer doing the expert analysis, wish I spoke more German than I do. John, I learned by reading your earlier criticism about the aggressive condemnation of Nico Rosberg by ted kravitz following the contact at Spa in 2014. To be blamed by Lewis fanboys and, even worse, by his own team for what was clearly a racing incident must have convinced Rosberg he had no loyalties there and should get out. Paul di Resta is exactly as you describe, remarkably clueless. During qualifying, reigning champion of nonsense David Croft compared the elapsed time of Niki Lauda's pole position lap at Dijon in 1974 to the times being set this weekend, declaring that the faster elapsed times were not surprising as many advances have been made over the years, unaware that his comparison had no meaning. Martin Brundle has the patience of a saint. -Carl |
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Post by robmarsh on Dec 6, 2020 10:00:34 GMT
I like Martin Brundle, Karoun Chandock, who is the most humble and knowledgeable, and Anthony Davison when he is doing the Sky pad. The rest I just let wash over me, hopefully picking out any possible nuggets of info, rather like a prospectors pan does. I do like all Damon, Johhny and Nico when they appear.
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Post by charleselan on Dec 6, 2020 11:42:08 GMT
Probably more like three quarters René and that is being generous . I have mentioned this before but I have never liked Kravitz but he is among many who seem to populate the airwaves of the English speaking motor sport media. Watching S*YF1 yesterday I became increasingly angry with several of the idiots commentating, a few who one would have thought better of like Ant Davidson who at the end said that Bottas was the real bench mark in practice time and about two tenths quicker than George Russell's time, however it was deleted because he exceeded track limits. Looking at it, what a moronic thing to say as exceeding track limits is exactly that, in days of yore he would have been in the boonies exceeding track limits. I feel that Bottas was all over the shop and should have been stamping his authority on the "new boy" but could not. Apparently he was having set up issues but it looked to me that he was trying way too hard and overdriving. George Russell on the other hand did not fit the car and was uncomfortable in the seat and had to wear smaller shoes which were tight due to space being limited for him as he is a tall lad, yet he just got on with it as DSJ would have said. Paul De Resta was another, I really do not find that guy appealing in anyway shape or form, always a little barb directed in his so called analysis, scant praise at best. This coming from a guy who at best was average himself, and was reported as being a bit of a Prima Donna. I have not watched any of the German coverage as mentioned above by Mikael & René but very often these days tune into the German speaking Swiss coverage which is still "Free To View" and that appears to be of a similar format with Marc Surer doing the expert analysis, wish I spoke more German than I do. John, I learned by reading your earlier criticism about the aggressive condemnation of Nico Rosberg by ted kravitz following the contact at Spa in 2014. To be blamed by Lewis fanboys and, even worse, by his own team for what was clearly a racing incident must have convinced Rosberg he had no loyalties there and should get out. Paul di Resta is exactly as you describe, remarkably clueless. During qualifying, reigning champion of nonsense David Croft compared the elapsed time of Niki Lauda's pole position lap at Dijon in 1974 to the times being set this weekend, declaring that the faster elapsed times were not surprising as many advances have been made over the years, unaware that his comparison had no meaning. Martin Brundle has the patience of a saint. -Carl Carl, Yet another example of "Croft Crassness" which I also picked up on at the time, how on earth can someone come out with such stupidity. O.K. saying that it was comparable in that it was one of the shortest ever F1 lap times, but then to come out with the rubbish that followed beggared description. He went one better in my opinion when he said that there had been five Fittipaldi's that competed in F1, enforcing this with the fact that one was Max Papis who was married to Christian's sister!!! No mention of a far more interesting and profound fact that Pietro was a third generation family driver and as we have discussed here earlier probably the first to hold that honour. JC |
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Post by charleselan on Dec 6, 2020 12:44:34 GMT
Fabulous performance by George Russell and rightly gaining the accolades for it. Did detect some back covering going on with the S*YF1 commentary at times especially Brundle who rather demeaned himself in my eyes by saying that although Russell did not fit into the car physically which was a problem, he just had to get on with it as nothing is perfect. Martin, the car was designed to accommodate a driver who is 5 feet 8 inches (sorry for the imperial measurement guys but I still have difficulty with human sizes in metric, although every other measurement is fine  ) and George is 6ft 2in that is one big difference which results in the guy being higher in the cockpit and uncomfortably seated, as well as having to wear smaller sized shoes. The latter should pinch a bit, back in the day they used to cut the ends off the shoes al la James Hunt. As a matter of interest I doubt Martin would have had a similar issue when he took over Nigel Mansell's Williams at Spa in 1988 as he was considerably smaller, mind you judging by his waistline today I doubt that would be the case now . George also said after qualifying that the Merc was completely different to the Williams and that he had to drive it very differently; it would be interesting for him to explain how and why, but I bet that is top secret. Yet another outstanding performance from Charles Leclerc once more, we are seeing something very special there, so, so very Gilles. I thought that Sebastian performed superbly all through being only thousands off Charles every time, but in the end let down by a mechanical, also after the engine change after FP3 he was using a rather tired old unit, so even more impressive. I can't wait to see what he does in the Aston Martin, he won't be slow! S*YF1 might get a bit of a hammering from me but they had a great interview with Trevor Carlin yesterday, a guy who has run many F1 stars in F3 in the past. Conducted by the great enthusiast that is Karun Chandhock, it was most insightful unfortunately not available currently to post here. |
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Post by Carl on Dec 6, 2020 18:01:19 GMT
I missed the amazing comment about an infinity of Fittipaldis, probably because I often mute the sound when David Croft starts to ramble. How was he ever chosen as primary announcer? Is he a sexual animal and sleeping with Rupert Murdoch's wife? His mindless meanderings are focused on the listener who chuckles loudest in appreciation... himself.
Like Rob, I also enjoy the knowledgeable analysis of Karun Chandhock. He and Martin Brundle are by far the best and sometimes I wonder by what criterion the others were chosen. Could Brundle and Chandhock be onboard by accident?
I remember hearing of Trevor Carlin's accomplishments in Europe and after great success in Indylights, he now has a top tier Indycar team, as well as a competitive presence in many other series and a remarkable ability to multitask.
IndyCar Series / FIA Formula 2 Championship / FIA Formula 3 Championship / BRDC British Formula 3
Euroformula Open Championship / F4 British Championship / European Le Mans Series / Asian Le Mans Series
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Post by mikael on Dec 6, 2020 19:55:59 GMT
Heartbreak for Russell, after an outstanding performance; but heartwarming to see Perez victorious, finally. Russell's time will come.
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Post by René on Dec 6, 2020 20:50:42 GMT
What a race... and what a podium!
Congratulations to Sergio Pérez! So well deserved and he drove a fantastic race. The pass on Albon for instance was great. Very happy for Checo. Marko should offer him the seat next to Max.
Also great to see Esteban Ocon on the podium, just wonderful.
But the man of the race was of course George Russell. He was outstanding. He did not just replace Hamilton, he replaced him as the lead driver at Mercedes. Painfull for Bottas but I can't see it any other way. Very very impressive, a future champion.
The Mercedes pit stop mess up was unbelievable though...
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) and George is 6ft 2in that is one big difference which results in the guy being higher in the cockpit and uncomfortably seated, as well as having to wear smaller sized shoes. The latter should pinch a bit, back in the day they used to cut the ends off the shoes al la James Hunt.