Formula 1 2016: General Discussion Thread

Ghost Train

Canada is one circuit that usually throws up a good race, usually a bit of overtaking with the long straights and hairpin, wall of champions and being a semi street circuit it's not too forgiving so there's normally some drama

El_Duderino 09

Gintonious wrote:

I would go against the grain in that I see them getting some good points and results this year. The chassis and aero are up there, and the PU can only get better I am sure.

The chassis and aero must be up there. They were often ahead of the Manors and battling with Saubers last tear, both of which had vastly superior power units.

Here's to hoping that they can have their reliability sorted so they can at least turn the power unit up to full race trim this year. Looking like a decent step forward this year.

El_Duderino 09

Jordan 191 wrote:

The fondest memory of Monza for me is when H-H Frentzen won the 1999 race driving for Jordan.

Mike Litoris wrote:

Yeah, same here. I actually think my fondness for the track comes from simulators. I'm struggling to remember a recent cracking race.

I remember that race and it was class to support a winning Jordan. But do you ever think it was the atmosphere in Ireland that made it better to watch F1 back then? We had Jordan GP and Eddie Irvine in a Ferrari and all the eaces were free to watch on RTE and ITV. F1 was on the back page of the paper. We had a genuine interest in the midfield battles because, unfortunately, that's were Jordan were most of their time in F1. Everyone was a casual supporter and you could talk f1 with the lads and most people at least had an opinion. I used to get together with the lads to watch quali and the races.

Now I don't know anyone (not one single person) who watches all the races. I haven't had a decent f1 chat with anyone, let alone watched a race with a fan in years.

I have no idea if HHF's win in Monza was a good race, but I do remember having a great time watching it happen.

I reckon it's more to do with the atmosphere we were experiencing back in those days, than anything else. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that guff.

Frank Bullitt

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

The chassis and aero must be up there. They were often ahead of the Manors and battling with Saubers last tear, both of which had vastly superior power units.

Here's to hoping that they can have their reliability sorted so they can at least turn the power unit up to full race trim this year. Looking like a decent step forward this year.

Its hard to judge from the first race, its was manic in every shape.

They have the opportunity to surprise this year, and I think the ERS of their PU is the bit that will make the most difference to them. They had horrid deployment last year from it, and with the milage in testing that they did, I would be cautiously optimistic of them getting a podium.

Cookie_Monster

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

What do ye think? Best tracks?

old track good, new track bad

Gintonious

Gintonious wrote: »

Its hard to judge from the first race, its was manic in every shape.

They have the opportunity to surprise this year, and I think the ERS of their PU is the bit that will make the most difference to them. They had horrid deployment last year from it, and with the milage in testing that they did, I would be cautiously optimistic of them getting a podium.

Only chance of a podium is a wet race where everyone else makes 2 pitstops followed by a red flag or if there's less than 8 finishers.

christy c

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I remember that race and it was class to support a winning Jordan. But do you ever think it was the atmosphere in Ireland that made it better to watch F1 back then? We had Jordan GP and Eddie Irvine in a Ferrari and all the eaces were free to watch on RTE and ITV. F1 was on the back page of the paper. We had a genuine interest in the midfield battles because, unfortunately, that's were Jordan were most of their time in F1. Everyone was a casual supporter and you could talk f1 with the lads and most people at least had an opinion. I used to get together with the lads to watch quali and the races.

Now I don't know anyone (not one single person) who watches all the races. I haven't had a decent f1 chat with anyone, let alone watched a race with a fan in years.

I have no idea if HHF's win in Monza was a good race, but I do remember having a great time watching it happen.

I reckon it's more to do with the atmosphere we were experiencing back in those days, than anything else. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that guff.

I agree, was still in school at the time and remember coming in the next morning and there was a bit of a buzz around, similar to what you might have now if the Irish soccer team wins something (though not to the same extent). Like you said, most were casual fans so when the Irish involvement ended so did their support.

Still if an Irish driver was to make it some of that atmosphere might return

lolie

christy c wrote: »

Still if an Irish driver was to make it some of that atmosphere might return

You'd imagine it would alright, just look at other sports that became more popular when Irish people done well in them like boxing, golf and ufc to name a few.
I remember back then seeing plenty of fellas wearing f1 shirts but the first one i seen in a good while was a young fella wearing the new Williams shirt a few months ago.

In other news James Allison has been given extended leave by ferrari after his wife passed away reportedly from meningitis, sad news.

Joeseph Balls

christy c wrote: »

I agree, was still in school at the time and remember coming in the next morning and there was a bit of a buzz around, similar to what you might have now if the Irish soccer team wins something (though not to the same extent). Like you said, most were casual fans so when the Irish involvement ended so did their support.

Still if an Irish driver was to make it some of that atmosphere might return

What ever happened the chap in A1 gp (I think). Got a couple of wins. Vaguely remember him getting a few wins.

lolie

Adam Carroll?
Won the series in 08/09, currently racing in endurance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Carroll

mickdw

lolie wrote: »

In other news James Allison has been given extended leave by ferrari after his wife passed away reportedly from meningitis, sad news.

Jesus that's shocking.

El_Duderino 09

What's the story with the tyre choice indicator during the race? There was the red, yellow and white tyre which is indicated beside the drivers name during the race. Sometimes the symbol is yellow with black 's' and other times is inverted so black with yellow 's'. Same with the soft and medium tyre.

Does anyone know what I'm on about? Does it mean the tyre was used previously in qualifying or something?

skipper_G

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

What's the story with the tyre choice indicator during the race? There was the red, yellow and white tyre which is indicated beside the drivers name during the race. Sometimes the symbol is yellow with black 's' and other times is inverted so black with yellow 's'. Same with the soft and medium tyre.

Does anyone know what I'm on about? Does it mean the tyre was used previously in qualifying or something?

The Bold symbol is for new tyres and the other indicates a scrubbed set

El_Duderino 09

OSI wrote:

A solid circle with a black letter means new tyre, hollow circle with letter in tyre colour means used tyre.

skipper_G wrote:

The Bold symbol is for new tyres and the other indicates a scrubbed set

Cheers. Interesting to know what to expect from the tyre I suppose.

lolie

Pretty strong statement from the GPDA about the current state of f1.

Myrddin

I wonder what Ferrari think of Seb's name on this. They're part of the problem (the others being Mercedes, Bernie, & the way decisions are made)...so now they've a driver speaking out against the status quo.

El_Duderino 09

Myrddin wrote:

I wonder what Ferrari think of Seb's name on this. They're part of the problem (the others being Mercedes, Bernie, & the way decisions are made)...so now they've a driver speaking out against the status quo.

Fascinating. Seb was Bernie's boy in his red bull days. I wonder if that relationship has gone sour.

Note the letter doesn't mention financial arangements so Ferrari might not be that annoyed.

Going Strong

lolie wrote: »

I remember back then seeing plenty of fellas wearing f1 shirts but the first one i seen in a good while was a young fella wearing the new Williams shirt a few months ago.

I saw someone wearing a Vettel/Ferrari hat a few weeks ago. Like you, it was the first time I'd seen F1 merchandise in a long time.

TheDoctor

Sky Sports new deal to show every F1 race to 2024

HighLine

TheDoctor wrote: »

Sky Sports new deal to show every F1 race to 2024

Adam Cooper saying they will have exclusive rights from 2019 :eek:

No more free-view. Just what F1 needs.

https://twitter.com/adamcooperF1/status/712697502278004736

Going Strong

Sky's official announcement.

http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12430/10215419/sky-sports-to-show-every-f1-race-live-from-2019-until-2024

No mention of whether those of us on the 'Legacy' package will still get SkyF1 as a standalone channel but I'd say they'll find some way of incorporating it into the Sky Sports bundle.

lolie

HighLine wrote: »

Adam Cooper saying they will have exclusive rights from 2019 :eek:

No more free-view. Just what F1 needs.

https://twitter.com/adamcooperF1/status/712697502278004736

Affs:mad:
This pretty much sums up f1 now.
https://twitter.com/wtf1couk/status/712700068940365824

Myrddin

HighLine wrote: »

Adam Cooper saying they will have exclusive rights from 2019 :eek:

Tis worse things are getting so. Not a hope I'd fork out on a Sky package just for F1. I wonder if by then, UPC might offer the Sky F1 channel...would that still count towards Sky being exclusive?

Ghost Train

The sky article at least says highlight will still be free to air but look like any free to air live coverage will be British gp only

ftakeith

great move by Sky

Golf, Cricket and F1 all live on sky during non live football times

Sky Sport day pass from Now TV is the cheap way to see every live F1 race on sky F1

dublinman1990

Ahh ffs. After one bloody race being shown on Channel 4 last Sunday. Sky are taking the lot in three years time.

Even though it was inevitable. Thanks a lot Sky. Greedy gits. :mad:

Myrddin

ftakeith wrote: »

Sky Sport day pass from Now TV is the cheap way to see every live F1 race on sky F1

£7 sterling for 24 hours, so doesn't include Quali or any of the practice sessions. So about £150 for all 21 races (and only the races, nothing else)...certainly not cheap. It's less paywalls F1 needs, not more. If it was nail biting white knuckle material every race there'd be some argument, but for what we get these days, it's rarely even worth watching for free!

donspeekinglesh

I'm guessing Setanta are losing their coverage too

ftakeith

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

I'm guessing Setanta are losing their coverage too

yes

aphex™

The owners of F1 would make a fortune if they just put the whole season on Youtube for $99. They ran their own show before with F1 Digital+. Plus nowadays they have a lot of video news content on formula1.com

Now you have to buy basic sky at say €40 plus say €25 for sports per month to get access to all sessions. Rip off.

RIP F1.

IrishBlaine

aphex™ wrote: »

The owners of F1 would make a fortune if they just put the whole season on Youtube for $99. They ran their own show before with F1 Digital+. Plus nowadays they have a lot of video news content on formula1.com

Now you have to buy basic sky at say €40 plus say €25 for sports per month to get access to all sessions. Rip off.

RIP F1.

Don't need the Sports pack for F1, Its comes with HD.

aphex™

IrishBlaine wrote: »

Don't need the Sports pack for F1, Its comes with HD.

That's not available to new customers, only customers on a legacy package.

IrishBlaine

aphex™ wrote: »

That's not available to new customers, only customers on a legacy package.

Only in the UK that applies.

Mike Litoris

Wow that's bad news. Wonder where the world feed will come from. Can't stand the Sky commentators and pundits so that might be it for me and F1.

RayM

It won't make any difference to me. I watched pretty much every Grand Prix between 1991 and 2011, but when it moved to Sky I gradually got out of the habit and lost interest. I haven't watched a race since 2014. Didn't even realise that this year's season had started until Sunday. Sky's coverage is very impressive, etc (if you like that sort of over-the-top nonsense), but it's not even worth the effort of seeking out a reliable illegal stream any more. Far from charging people money for a product that isn't worth it, they should be going out of their way to make it piss-easy for casual viewers to stumble across F1 for free on terrestrial television and online.

Ghost Train

Wonder could F1 group still offer it online bypassing sky, could be a strategy to encourage people to sign up to online broadcasts... But then they've never shown much love for offering much online so probably unlikely

afatbollix

Not with SKY having Sky Go. Im sure SKY will have it that they can only supply online coverage.

Sky are launching a free to air channel which will have highlights & 3 free races a year.

I watched the F1 highlights on the F1 website before watching the C4 highlights last weekend. Sounds like that is the future

skipper_G

Quite frankly I'd rather take 20 quid a month and wipe my backside with it than give it to sky. I've been watching since I was a kid, for more than 20 years and have used the setanta coverage for the last few. Once it goes exclusively to sky then I will be done with it. It's a shame really that casual viewers will no longer have a chance to come across it by chance and fall in love with it as many of us have.

Frank Bullitt

Kind of ironic that the day that the GPDA highlight pay-per-view as an issue, they go and announce this crap.

****ing idiots whoever made that decision. How can't they see that the money upfront ain't always the best thing. Look at races up til about 2005. Feel the atmosphere in Hungary with packed grandstands and all the airhorns. Now look since, half-empty grandstands all over. I know some put it down to the noise but on classic F1 broadcasts it looks like it was getting thinner 10 years ago.

What draws the biggest crowds to F1 over other racing is the spectacle and the "cultural" significance. Once it's not easily available that fades even more quickly and then good luck to selling tickets at 200 quid a pop for the luxury of sitting down for a couple of hours.

hotwhiskey

90 cm dish with lnb pointed at 19e to pick up RTL the German one. 5 live on wireless radio with headphones. It was a dream last Sunday morning so more exciting on radio and no there was no lag between the two. RTL Austria there is picture lag to commentary. IF RTL loose rights in 2019. I will only have to get a bigger dish. ; )

AMKC

afatbollix wrote: »

Not with SKY having Sky Go. Im sure SKY will have it that they can only supply online coverage.

Sky are launching a free to air channel which will have highlights & 3 free races a year.

I watched the F1 highlights on the F1 website before watching the C4 highlights last weekend. Sounds like that is the future

Which was better the highlights on on the F1 website or the C4 highlights?

afatbollix

AMKC wrote: »

Which was better the highlights on on the F1 website or the C4 highlights?

I got everything you need to know in the 5 minute video on the F1 website.

Tells a story that.

lolie

hotwhiskey wrote: »

90 cm dish with lnb pointed at 19e to pick up RTL the German one. 5 life on wireless radio with headphones. It was a dream last Sunday morning so more exciting on radio and no there was no lag between the two. RTL Austria there is picture lag to commentary. IF RTL loose rights in 2019. I will only have to get a bigger dish. ; )

I use rtl on an old lidl dish for the non live races and sync it with bbc5 live on a spare freeview box.
Even better now that James Allen is gone from the commentary but the long ad breaks are annoying.

Rtl have a contract till the end of 2017 and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it went exclusive on sky over there too from 2018.

hotwhiskey

lolie wrote: »

I use rtl on an old lidl dish for the non live races and sync it with bbc5 live on a spare freeview box.
Even better now that James Allen is gone from the commentary but the long ad breaks are annoying.

Rtl have a contract till the end of 2017 and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it went exclusive on sky over there too from 2018.

True. But as far as I'm aware there is a clause with the German government of showing sports FTA and F1 falls into that category. I'm remember reading a few years back something to do with German service men and women serving overseas.

But RTL is not the only station showing it FTA.

lolie

hotwhiskey wrote: »

But RTL is not the only station showing it FTA.

Fta in Germany or as in receivable from Ireland on at sat fish?

hotwhiskey

lolie wrote: »

Fta in Germany or as in receivable from Ireland on at sat fish?

Sorry satellite. M1 HD channel in Hungary free also but its on 9e so bigger dish needed to pick up Eutelsat.

vectra

One word for this.
"Android"

I will say no more :P

lolie

hotwhiskey wrote: »

Sorry satellite. M1 HD channel in Hungary free also but its on 9e so bigger dish needed to pick up Eutelsat.

Cheers, must look it up.
With France and Spain and now the UK loosing fta rights it's a worrying trend.

Cookie_Monster

lolie wrote: »

With France and Spain and now the UK loosing fta rights it's a worrying trend.

sure is and it's not like its that acceptable to be watching it in the pub, will always be football instead.

I caved and got SS back but we watch the rugby and cycling a lot too so it's not to bad, still the implosion of pay to watch sports can't be too far off IMO