============================================================================ Welcome to the Formula 1 discussion thread! I've been getting heavily into Formula 1 this season, so I thought it was about time we had a thread to discuss it! Any other fans out there? As with all things on EMC, please remember to be respectful in these discussions! Personally, I tend to be a fan of drivers far more than teams (though as a rule, I am extremely anti-Red Bull, especially after the false championship that Verstappen was handed at Abu Dhabi last year). As I love both Leclerc and Sainz, I am pulling hard for Ferrari this year and am deeply disappointed in the countless points Leclerc has lost in the championship due to engine troubles and poor strategy. Leclerc has been a fantastic driver this season, but I struggle to see him beating Max in the WDC given Ferrari's inconsistency. In other news for my fellow Americans, Haas has been looking spicy these last couple races. Guenther must be pleased. Also happy to see Hamilton finally performing as he should be these last few races. Thoughts? Who are we all pulling for? Any controversies or developments this season you've found particularly interesting? Please share! ============================================================================ For anyone playing FantasyGP this year, feel free to share your line-ups! Right now, mine is: It's been working well for me since Imola, but I'm always looking to tweak, so feel free to inspire me!
I have nothing to add to this conversation except that I have a love affair with red bull specifically this one. Image in spoiler because I lack the motivation to resize it to a normal size.. Anyways! Its great to learn a bit more what others are interested in, sorry I can't add much to the conversation!
I like Sainz and Botas. Dont really follow any teams, just watch the races on e in a awhile always exciting to see
I'm a ferrari fan - used to be a fan of redbull up until Verstappen became a whiner whenever he's not in first place. It's been nice to see Jenson Button returning for post race interviews this year! Was a huge fan of him while he was a driver. Excited to see George become a future world champ now that he's consistently outperforming hamilton.
I'm a big lando fan and like McLaren but they just haven't quite had the same car this year. Not a big red bull fan either but I like Gasly on alpha tauri. Hoping to see Colton Herta in Ricciardo's seat too if the rumors are true.
I went to my first Grand Prix earlier this year and I would absolutely recommend going if you're a fan. The TV coverage can't convey the true speed or sound of the cars. I do have to question this. I don't think it's fair to call it a false championship, or to be anti-Red Bull over this. I agree the race direction was wrong, but red bull had to execute the perfect strategy to capitalise on it, which they did with checos defence allowing them to make that final pit stop. Red Bull played no part in poor race direction. I'd also argue that Max was the better driver all season long; he had more pole positions than Lewis, he won as many races as Lewis before Abu Dhabi, and he was more consistent (he was P1 or P2 in every race he finished except Hungary). Both drivers were deserving of that championship and it feels unfair to choose to take it out on Max and Red Bull.
To clarify my stance on Red Bull and my views on the end of the championship (putting in a spoiler since it's lengthy) -- On Abu Dhabi specifically I 100% agree that both drivers were deserving of the championship in terms of their performance. As a rule, I have immense respect for Max's skill (which both last year and this year has been top tier) and Red Bull's strategy (again, impeccable). However, the championship should be decided fairly by whoever gets the most points, and that result was inherently reversed. Regardless of Max's skill during the season, Mercedes had managed to keep Hamilton neck and neck with him in the points. The decision at the end of the race was a major blow to the integrity of the sport, and that's very frustrating to see. While my blame does lie with Masi more than Red Bull, it's difficult not to apply a sort of karma to it--if Red Bull wasn't meant to win in 2021, is it really satisfying to see them win yet again in 2022? If they had lost in 2021, a 2022 victory would feel like a redemptive comeback--instead, it feels like salt on the wound. Also, Red Bull's Sporting Director (Jonathan Wheatley) did get on the radio and urge Masi to make the decision he made. "Those lapped cars; you don't need to let them go right the way around and catch up with the back of the pack. You only need to let them go, and then we've got a motor race on our hands." (Masi would later use the same "motor race" term in his infamous reply to Toto.) Of course Red Bull wanted to win--any team would--and they did participate in putting pressure on Masi to make his decision.* However, Abu Dhabi aside: My rooting against Red Bull is really mostly rooting against Max--it's hard not to smile at a happy Checo--and began earlier in the year. While, as said, I respect his skill, I'm not a fan of his historically reckless and aggressive driving style (improved somewhat over the years, but still evident in 2021) and his poor attitude when not winning. I view him a bit as a villain--great for the sport of F1 in the sense of creating good competition (love the recent clips of him and Charles commiserating as "emotional support rivals"), but never going to root for a guy like that. My dislike for Max is on top of Christian Horner's personal cold, calculating nature (brilliant leader, hard to love--unless you're Ginger Spice) and some issues with chunks of Verstappen's fan base (not going to get into that on this thread, but recent articles from the 2022 Austrian GP are easy to find). All that said. I do like Mercedes a lot, but I'm very glad to finally see a shake-up in the sport after their long period of dominance. I'm no fan of Red Bull, but they are good for the sport and it's exciting to see some new, high-level competition taking place. *I do want to acknowledge that all teams push for what they want, even if it might be considered "unfair." 2021 was a particularly egregious result, but case in point: Mercedes and their porpoising this year. While I understand the concern for driver safety, Mercedes could have solved that themselves by reducing performance on the car, and I don't have much pity for them as they begged for the technical directive to help them out. Not sure what other people thought about the whole porpoising debate this year. Porpoising in general is so tricky to solve pre-season (as I understand it) because of the way cars are tested via wind tunnels and modeling. I wonder whether a logistical fix by the FIA would be helpful in the future, though I don't agree with just correcting things mid-season per Mercedes' requests. The debate at least seems to have died out for now, as Mercedes seems to have largely fixed their issue.
I've seen Formula 1 twice, once very recently. It looks crazy! The cars go at completely ridiculous speeds, and sometimes drivers are trying to overtaken each other too. In the race I saw bits of recently, someone tried to overtake Max Verstappen at the end, if I recall correctly, and in defending his position, the cars seemed to make contact. Scary! I can understand that people find it exciting to follow, for sure. I find it interesting that in Formula 1 brands are competing, rather than regional or national clubs.
Heartbreak for Ferrari at the French GP, this time Leclerc's fault. I know the season is barely halfway done, but it sure feels like Ferrari is finished. After those rough first races, Red Bull has managed to nail it in terms of consistency. Mercedes, on the other hand, managed to get two drivers on the podium despite initial frustrations with the car this weekend. Also a decent drive for the two Frenchmen (Ocon and Gasly), with Ocon managing to stay in the points. Next we head to the Hungaroring!
Crazy to see F1 taking off in popularity as much as it has at least here in the States. I don't follow it too much but I know the Cards went crazy for a while but the prices are dipping really badly at the moment! Maybe I'll finally be able to carry some of it in my shop now that the prices aren't ungodly expensive
My mother said that a Formula 1 driver had quit because of the negative impact on the environment, but I misheard here and thought she said that Formula 1 had been shut down completely. I wonder if that would happen any time soon... although discussion of that would probably be for a Controversial thread. I read up a little on porpoising after learning about it here; quite an interesting issue.
