[kfzmeister]

Whats up fellas? Been a day.....

Lets get this thing crackin'

Early practice has Mercedes flexin' some muscle! Was anyone really surprised? I bet in the race things will look a bit closer, especially Ferrari. Can Kimi take the fight to VET? Will The Rosberg continue with his form?

Too bad my man ALO has to sit out this race (and next?), but it could seriously show the stuff of Vandoorne.

I got a hold of a modded Amazon Firestick, so have access to everything F1 live!

Really glad to be back here. Hopefully some of the old guys will come back out for some good ole bickering.....

 

[kfzmeister]

Amazing race by Vondoorne and Wehrlein. Also another great showing by Haas! Verstappen with another solid finish. The kid is amazing.
Way to go Rosberg, although i don't think HAM is gonna be down too long. Nice recovery drive from him.....

Too bad for Button and VET......

 

[vdubjb]

what happened to this forum? Great race. Lewis needs to practice starts, not make sh&tty self serving albums. What a day for Haas and Vandoerne(sp) !

 

[kfzmeister]

Yeah, can't believe that Haas is off to such a good start! Vandoorne also a great showing for such a short notice. He does know the track well and i believe he won there twice (?) in his GP2 days. I guess that means he's familiar with the Honda engine as well??

Seriously though, what's going on at Ferrari?

And, did you see what Herbert said about ALO and what ALO did to him while on the air?? :laugh:

 

[kfzmeister]

Meant to also make a mention of the outstanding drive from Wehrlein. Actually made that Manor look fast!

 

[Urlik]

Manor has been MUCH better this year. Great races so far.

To top it off, bought my USGP tickets today. Many Austin hotels have normal pricing this year too.

 

[kfzmeister]

Looks to me like Wehrlein is showing his skills. Poor Magnusson. Did i see that incorrectly, or did the manor just pull away from him on the straights?

 

[Urlik]

The way things have started Magnuson and Kvyat will both be looking for rides next year. I want to add Button but his Japan ties may save him at McLaren.

 

[atoson]

I was reading an article this morning from Stefan Johansson, here is what he said.

One team that has undoubtedly shaken things up in the first two Grands Prix of the year is Haas F1 Team, who have banked sixth and fifth place finishes in the opening two races as Romain Grosjean is off to the best start of his six-year career.

While the Frenchman has delivered the results, he and the team have also acutely utilized the rules to their benefit. Between using as much Ferrari content as they are for the VF-16 chassis, then Grosjean being happy to qualify ninth to ensure he had the best tire strategy for Bahrain, Haas has gone about things much smarter than you’d expect for a first-year entrant.

“They’re very impressive. They’ve shown everyone that Australia wasn’t a fluke. As in Australia, they had real speed in Bahrain and executed their strategy and pit stops pretty well,” Johansson writes.

“It begs the question, why aren’t more people in F1 doing the same thing? Instead of spending ridiculous amounts of money to build every single part on a car, why not do a deal for a good portion of the package or as much as the rules will allow you with one of the major teams that have all the resources for R&D? Instead, focus on doing the best job you can with the race team and then have the potential to finish in the top 10 consistently.

“If you look at Sauber, Force India, Manor and the rest who sit at the back of grid and rise or fall a little bit every year and wind up being similar at the end of day, you have to ask why? What Haas F1 has done seems to me to be the obvious way to go.”

The way Haas has gone about its business is also something that stands out.

“Everyone in the paddock is well aware that the model is unsustainable, yet everyone seems shocked at what Haas has done.

“Haas has been very smart and done their homework well – shame on everyone else for not adopting the same idea.”

 

[wiredvw]

I have been incredibly impressed with Haas so far this season. However, I think the most overlooked part is the unrestricted use of Ferrari's wind tunnel all last season! Aero rules F1, we all know that. I'm curiously watching to see how Haas maintains their form towards the tail end of the season...especially next year when the slate is wiped clean.

 

[kfzmeister]

This weeks power ranking has them listed as 4th in F1 according to Auto, Motor and Sport. Pretty impressive, if you ask me. This thing seems to be for real and i hope that it will do something more for F1 in this country, especially the home GP.

 

[kfzmeister]

I want to add Button but his Japan ties may save him at McLaren.

I dunno. Remember when all Jap F1 sources pulled out after the economic collapse (ie. Honda, Toyota...)? Now that Jessica is divorcing him, perhaps Honda will follow suit??

 

[demonmk2]

I was reading an article this morning from Stefan Johansson, here is what he said.

One team that has undoubtedly shaken things up in the first two Grands Prix of the year is Haas F1 Team, who have banked sixth and fifth place finishes in the opening two races as Romain Grosjean is off to the best start of his six-year career.

While the Frenchman has delivered the results, he and the team have also acutely utilized the rules to their benefit. Between using as much Ferrari content as they are for the VF-16 chassis, then Grosjean being happy to qualify ninth to ensure he had the best tire strategy for Bahrain, Haas has gone about things much smarter than you’d expect for a first-year entrant.

“They’re very impressive. They’ve shown everyone that Australia wasn’t a fluke. As in Australia, they had real speed in Bahrain and executed their strategy and pit stops pretty well,” Johansson writes.

“It begs the question, why aren’t more people in F1 doing the same thing? Instead of spending ridiculous amounts of money to build every single part on a car, why not do a deal for a good portion of the package or as much as the rules will allow you with one of the major teams that have all the resources for R&D? Instead, focus on doing the best job you can with the race team and then have the potential to finish in the top 10 consistently.

“If you look at Sauber, Force India, Manor and the rest who sit at the back of grid and rise or fall a little bit every year and wind up being similar at the end of day, you have to ask why? What Haas F1 has done seems to me to be the obvious way to go.”

The way Haas has gone about its business is also something that stands out.

“Everyone in the paddock is well aware that the model is unsustainable, yet everyone seems shocked at what Haas has done.

“Haas has been very smart and done their homework well – shame on everyone else for not adopting the same idea.”

I either read it or heard it, but Haas ( the guy ) let's his people do there jobs whether its f1 or NASCAR and invites input from everyone and DOES NOT MICROMANAGE. that seems to be the way most if not all teams in F1 operate. F1 is a bussiness and we all know businesses that micro manage are hard to succeed. Ferrari and merc have tones of money to feed the fire but I do think the Haas team will be nipping at there heels by end season and next year putting up a fight for the championship.

some other teams are already complaining about there success too.

 

[demonmk2]

sorry for being late to the party lol

I'll be around for china though.

 

[kfzmeister]

I either read it or heard it, but Haas ( the guy ) let's his people do there jobs whether its f1 or NASCAR and invites input from everyone and DOES NOT MICROMANAGE. that seems to be the way most if not all teams in F1 operate. F1 is a bussiness and we all know businesses that micro manage are hard to succeed. Ferrari and merc have tones of money to feed the fire but I do think the Haas team will be nipping at there heels by end season and next year putting up a fight for the championship.

some other teams are already complaining about there success too.

Although i think the challenging for championships in the near future, if ever at all, is a bit far fetched, i do like the waves they're making already. The next GP will show whether they consistently have what it takes.

Of course it was only a matter of time before the others would cause a stink. I don't know the details, but not only did Haas benefit from Ferrari resources, but Ferrari did as well. They exchanged data and some of The Reds upturn in performance, yet again, is credited to the joint effort. Iirc, McLaren complained, cause they had planned to work with Manor as a B team??