F1 - 2018 Spanish Grand Prix

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F1 - 2018 Spanish Grand Prix

US TV Times:
Practice 1 – Friday, May 11 5:00 AM – ESPNU
Practice 2 – Friday, May 11 9:00 AM – ESPNU
Practice 3 – Saturday, May 12 6:00 AM – ESPNEWS
Qualifying – Saturday, May 12 9:00 AM – ESPN2
Qualifying Encore – Sunday, May 13 7.00am-8.30am – ESPN2
On The Grid – Sunday, May 13 – 8.30am-9.05am – ESPN2
Race – Sunday, May 13 – 9.05am-11am – ESPN2
Encore – Sunday, May 13 – 7.30pm-10pm – ESPN2

Current Standings:
Drivers
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG Petronas, 70
2. Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Ferrari, 66
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Scuderia Ferrari, 48
4. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes AMG Petronas, 40
5. Daniel Ricciardo, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, 37
6. Fernando Alonso, McLaren Renault, 28
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault Sport F1, 22
8. Max Verstappen, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, 18
9. Sergio Perez, Force India, 15
10. Carlos Sainz Jr, Renault Sport F1, 13
Constructors
1. Scuderia Ferrari, 114
2. Mercedes AMG Petronas, 111
3. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, 55
4. McLaren Renault, 36
5. Renault Sport F1, 35
6. Force India, 16
7. Toro Rosso, 13
8. Haas, 11
9. Alfa Romeo Sauber, 10
10. Williams Martini Racing, 4

For more, including track data, analysis, and video please check out my full post on TOV Motorsports.

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Maybe Max can get on the wrong airplane and wind up on the wrong continent.
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Or, better yet, he can simply try to do his job without ruining everyone else's race, including his own, this time around. I'm sure his team would rather have his car drive back to the pits at the end of each session this weekend, rather than being brought back partly on a flatbed and partly in a dustpan.
 
Autosport has begun to pay a little more attention to Ferrari, not treating them as somehow third or lower on the grid. Does Paul di Resta get paid for the cheerleading this weekend for Red Bull, or what? He's a little long in the tooth to attract Dr. Marko's attention for a seat.
 
After another unforced error from Hartley, there could be a seat opening for him sooner rather than later.

McLaren has already shown what they've got, a mid-field car mixing it up with the American-branded Ferrari B-team, its current engine supplier, and whomever over/underachieves from the rest of the field, depending on the week. Which, ironically, is still an improvement over what it had the past three years. The Big Three/Big Dog days are long past.
 
Keeping this comment to the 2017 season: in the second half of the year all we heard from McLaren is how their chassis was God's gift to racing and it was being held back by the Honda engine. Since, in the real world, that chassis isn't all that good and the Honda engine (in the second half) wasn't bad at all, I'm sort of reveling in McLaren faltering. I don't want to see them struggle for the whole season, just long enough for some lessons to be learned and it looks like that's happening with some significant staff changes in Woking.

For this race, even with new bits on the car, ALO needed to use the supersoft to qualify where he did.
 
Anyone using the OTT service? I read that they're using Sky's race commentary. Between that and ESPN (also using Sky) being commercial-free, I don't see a compelling case at the moment.
 
I'm not sure I would go so far as saying driving the fastest car in mostly clean air was masterful but it was good. While I can appreciate the excellence of Mercedes and its drivers, I was really hoping Ferrari would be closer. It would be nice to see Ferrari finally battle back and take the constructor's title this year.

GRO sure has an issue keeping his own car pointed straight ahead (and I'm not just talking about this year). Today it was particularly dangerous for others. He'll be serving a 3 place grid penalty in Monaco. If he bins it there and MAG continues to do all the work, I think we'll be seeing him in Formula E next year.
 
Originally Posted By: Indydriver
Nice Mother’s Day parade. Yawn.


Exactly. The only thing more boring was the coverage. The best cure for insomnia is listening to Brits announce a race.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: Indydriver
Nice Mother’s Day parade. Yawn.


Exactly. The only thing more boring was the coverage. The best cure for insomnia is listening to Brits announce a race.


Well, the MotoGP guys are really good.
 
With the end of the N24 just overlapping the start of the GP, it just reinforced for me why F1 has been a casual thing for me, for a while.

Watching processions, even on a well-established track like Catalunya, and not one of those sterile Tilke-dromes, has little appeal. It's an odd combination of self-affirmation and self-flagellation, in convincing oneself that F1 is the "pinnacle" of motorsport, without being able to answer the question as to why? Most money? Highest tech? For the least competition?

Granted, that does float a lot of peoples' boats, but after watching a race that had so many more compelling elements (venue, weather, endurance, drama, and a variety of neat, yet relatable-machinery), the GP was a buzz kill. The commentary could be a little too folksy/inside-jokey sometimes, but the coverage was free, reliable, and otherwise excellent.

If motorsport does continue to have a place in the future, the challenge of making future vehicles and technologies endure marquee events like Le Mans, Nurburging, Bathurst, and the like, will still be far greater than the two-hour lab experiments known as Grands Prix, and likely to be more entertaining as well, despite the efforts of drivers like GROan-jean.
 
Originally Posted By: Carmudgeon
After another unforced error from Hartley, there could be a seat opening for him sooner rather than later.

Maybe that's why di Resta is cheerleading.
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In any event, I'm not sure what they got out of getting Hartley in and Kvyat out.

As for coverage and commentary, face it, Murray Walker is retired and he's not coming back, and Ben Edwards works elsewhere.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Carmudgeon
After another unforced error from Hartley, there could be a seat opening for him sooner rather than later.

Maybe that's why di Resta is cheerleading.
wink.gif
In any event, I'm not sure what they got out of getting Hartley in and Kvyat out.

As for coverage and commentary, face it, Murray Walker is retired and he's not coming back, and Ben Edwards works elsewhere.


I'm not up with their junior ranks, but with all the drivers that RB supports, couldn't they find an alternative to Hartley and Kvyat within their reach?

A replacement for someone who has more than one run-in with his teammate and crashes out of qualifying could hardly do any worse, and they could just find the next Verstappen!
grin.gif


Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing against Hartley, but he just doesn't seem comfortable in an open-wheel car, in a sole-driver class where there is no one else to take up any slack. It would have been a good story if his shot at redemption from RB had worked out, but it hasn't gone well.
 
Agreed, his redemption certainly hasn't worked out. I'm not sure what they have coming up their pipe, but you'd think, as you already mentioned, that they could find someone. Then again, with such reduced testing, accruing the mileage to get a Super License is much more challenging.
 
Originally Posted By: Carmudgeon
I've got nothing against Hartley, but he just doesn't seem comfortable in an open-wheel car, in a sole-driver class where there is no one else to take up any slack.


I think it was becoming apparent that Kvyat wasn't going to do much for them, so they gave Brendan a shot. I reckon they'll give him the season and if he hasn't come up to speed they'll replace him. I don't recall them ever giving a driver the heave-ho without at least letting them get a season under their belt to see if they improve.

F1 is one of those peculiar beasts where even top notch drivers in the under-classes seem to struggle to adapt. Look at di Resta. If memory serves he bested Vettel when they were team mates, but he struggled to adapt to the F1 machine whereas Vettel slotted right in.

I'm not sure Brendan is going to do much for them, but I'd be surprised if they pushed him out the door before the end of the season.
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
As for coverage and commentary, face it, Murray Walker is retired and he's not coming back, and Ben Edwards works elsewhere.


Both Hobbs and Matchett are available.
 
Originally Posted By: billt460
Both Hobbs and Matchett are available.

Crofty's been there far too long and I'm sure he's well entrenched. Getting rid of Martin Brundle would probably be a PR disaster.

As for the race, I noticed that Verstappen still made sure he found a way to contact someone. When all else fails, plough into the back of Stroll, I guess. RBR should pull a joke on him. Gather up all the carbon fibre bits from his crashes all year, break into his apartment, and scatter them all over.
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