That ad has broken me, 'first time in F1?' is stuck in my head as is the Jackie Stewart one, When I go to the city and everything is Heineken I have bad flashbacks. At least the beer is nice though.
Right so what did we think about China? I really enjoyed that race, lots of overtaking and hard racing. Hamilton too good, Sainz driver of the day for me. Bottas needs to get his act together, maybe Nico was a lot better than what Sky Sports tabloids lead us to believe!
Interesting race for sure, I enjoyed it, fair bit of overtaking which was a nice change to Australia. Hamilton was dominant all weekend, and its one of his stomping grounds, i didn't expect any difference to seeing Hamilton getting a clean sweep. Sainz DOTD for sure, took a gamble starting on slicks and it seemed to pay off in the end. Shame to see Giovanazi go the way he did, not sure he looked at all comfortable in the car this weekend which is a real shame because I think he is a real talent. From a strategy stand point, i was a little disappointed, When I saw it was a wet start I thought it would be great for strategy, instead it just turned out to when was the earliest you could jump to slicks, followed by how long could you last on that set. Defiantly wasn't as interesting strategy wise as Australia was. As for Bottas, what a shocker it was for him. He hasn't seemed to adapt to the car as well as i thought we would after testing. On the one hand, its great to see a variety of cars at the front, rather than a consistent Mercedes 1-2, but on the other hand, i have been a big fan of Bottas throughout his f1 years and its a shame to see him doing so poorly thus far. There is still 18 races to go, and i expect to see a major improvement from him. TL,DR: China 8/10
Driver of the day to me goes to K-Mag. Good to see him back on form and punching above a cars weight. Lets hope this isn't another Strong Start to the season for him that just goes downhill. As for Bottas, give him a break. He made an error (Which many have done, lets be real) and that put him well down the order of where he should have been. He was nearly Second into Turn One, but then things started to fall away from him. One bad result here certainly does not undo my expectations of what he can do this year. As for Jono's comment that maybe Rosberg did better then we all thought, no. Valterri doesn't have a car with as large of an advantage as Nico had in 2014 all the way through to 2016. I think we all know Lewis was overall gifted the win today thanks to Vettels Pit Stop blunder, but thats not to say he wouldn't of gone on to win either, but he wouldn't of done so as straight forward, that much is certain.
I fully expect Bottas to bounce back, he's a class driver but at the moment Hamilton is well and truly dominating him. It's way too early to write him off but he must improve fast. Lets see how it is at the mid way point of the season. I just feel Rosberg deserves a lot more credit than what he receives, sure Lewis was clearly a better racer, but seeings he's World Champ he certainly couldn't give a toss. As I said in the SB he can do it, but at this rate he's falling dangerously into the absolute #2 driver catagory, which Kimi will soon as well.
IMO thats exactly what they want....someone who will push for solid points in the top 4 but wont challenge too often who they see as their No1 driver.... Ham will always be mercs number 1, Bottas wont challenge him on outright pace most of the time, is certainly in a car fast enough to challenge the Ferraris or Bulls.... Same with Vettel.....is clearly the No1, and Kimi will challenge bottas and the bulls..... I didnt get to watch the race, what happened to Danny Ric to finish behind verstappen ?
I generally don't watch much Formula 1 as the races I've seemed to watch have just been rather dull pole sitter runs away with it kind of races. I found the Australian GP the other week a bit crap because it basically was decided who would win by mid race. But last night, I actually enjoyed the race. Probably the best F1 race I've ever seen (granted I haven't seen a great deal). Was pretty exciting up untill about 2 laps to go when the gap between 1st and 2nd was decided to be just too big.
Are any of you guys interested in going to the Singapore GP in September? Admittedly my interest in F1 has waned considerably, but I have been offered a very nice birthday present, and I may even have a spare room for someone to stay during the event...
If I didn't have a cruise for the family booked for October, and a possible trip to the US for Monster Jam next year, it might be pushing my luck! That is one I would have liked to attended as well. Singapore is awesome to go to. At least I can say I have been on the track!
In all seriousness, early bird tickets are available until May 8, so it would be a good idea to pull the trigger sooner rather than later.
When your Formula One team just won't die quick enough: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/honda-confirms-sauber-f1-engine-deal-for-2018-900064/
Wow 90% of that race sucked, no one overtake. The last bit was great, I love barnstorming chases to the end. Huge props to Bottas, he's fired back with a vengance after an embarrassing China, he made Lewis look really ordinary all weekend, something Nico only managed a handful of timed during their dominant years from memory!
First time I was actually rooting for a Merc driver! LOL! Happy Bottas took the win. Can't believe Hamilton affected Dan's start AGAIN, he got a great one to pull alongside Ham only to have to dive out of the way of Ham/Rai which left the big door open for Verstappen. Then when Ric had to retire, I retired from watching the rest until about 8 laps from the end. Was definately a good finish though.
