Formula One ( F1 )

I would be really happy if Andrew Benson was no longer writing F1 articles. The BBC F1 page is absolutely hilarious.

yes well i never thought much of BBC coverage/reporting when they actually employed Hamilton to write a blog for them and give exclusive interviews - how can they then remain impartial - plus the BBC crew and main presenters (who are now C4) are openly bias towards any Brit.

They dont seem to give british team Williams any thought these days since they employed non brit drivers.

Like this graphic.

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I think Coulthard, Chandok & Wolff are great from the C4 team. Ben Edwards is pretty good but his voice can be pretty annoying at times.

One of the main things I enjoy about motorsport in general is that people tend to want to see a great race above all else. As opposed to many other sports where the priority is their chosen person/team winning. Even if I was a die hard Hamilton fan, I'd much prefer impartial coverage of the sport.

Though I did enjoy going through the Pistonheads F1 thread looking at all of the conspiracy posts where Mercedes have obviously sabotaged Hamilton's car throughout the season...

The lack of Williams coverage is a bit disappointing, they tend to do a great job considering their budget. Though Force India have definitely stolen that crown.

Agreed, I've been increasingly impressed with the insight Chandok brings from around the pits on the C4 coverage, and Coulthard is always revved up by entertaining racing more than anything. As for the BBC team clearly there are biases, but I think Jack Nichols is generally even handed and seems unafraid to speak his mind, as he was regarding the "instructions" from Mercedes during Abu Dhabi...

I'm a Lewis fan, but it's been nice to see how much it meant to Nico to win the title, I thought his rare outpouring of emotion made him seem much more likeable for once.

Anyway here's hoping the new cars etc in 2017 narrows the gaps in performance between teams and we see closer races and fewer processions next season.

the least inspiring world champ since, fuck, I don't even know.

name one worse. at least button was likeable and raikkonen had funny moments.

[edit - I meant driver, not series]

Last year. Just as boring but Hamilton won

edited

like Hamilton or not, when he is on fire, he is brilliant. rosberg is a bedwetter in a quick car.

Jacques Villeneuve, Damon Hill and Jenson Button.

Jenson did have it on a platter, he even managed to hold onto it while completely fluffing the whole second half of the season.

You mean when he's on fire and figures out how to properly release a clutch ;)

He can go on about how the car's reliability cost him the championship, but if we're being honest the only issue that really had an impact was in Malaysia. There's no reason that a Mercedes starting at the back of the grid can't get on the podium.

Don't get me wrong, he is incredibly quick. But he wasn't as consistent as Nico was this year. And that's why he lost.

not sure about jv - he was a sensation

Jenson had some unlucky races in the latter half of the season -- the "fluffing" was IIRC the FIA coming under massive pressure to outlaw the new s-duct systems of Brawn, plus like most Teams that year , struggled with getting new tyres up to temperature in cool races - button had his fare share of bad luck too getting hit a few times by some other drivers - and also Brawn IMHO should have backed 1 driver for the title about 1/2 way through the season - and the biggest factor of all , Brawn was running on basically next to no money in the latter half of the season with hardly any development on the car.
dont get me wrong, i too think Button is not an out an out top 5 driver - but a lot of factors are involved in his last half of his title winning season "fluffing" - give him his due, he also had some fantastic races and overtaking in that season also!

Fair point. 100% agree that they didn't have the money to develop at the same rate as the other teams. However if it wasn't for the double diffuser being the silver bullet then they wouldn't have been competitive at all that season.

Personally I think Rosberg's championship deserves more recognition than Jenson's, mostly down to the fact that their teammates were of completely different calibre. And also, Rosberg having to pass Verstappen on a track that seems to have been designed to make overtaking as difficult as possible with the title on the line. I think he deserves a bit of recognition for that.

At a slight tangent, C4's Steve Jones seems to have grown into his position and seems to be doing alright now.

Can't disagree there. Went up a lot in my estimation at Baku (I think), where he blatantly took the piss out of himself referring to the general public's reaction to his presenting.

Also seems to have pretty good chemistry with the rest of the team.

Rosberg has the charisma of a lettuce, he's won, it was fair, but I wish Vettel had grown a pair and tried to get into second place.

You didn't have to like "Schumacher the racing driver" to admire him - I really objected to some of his tactics, but he was dynamite to watch (when it wasn't a procession). Was he a great driver? Yes, I'd say he was, but he was more than that - he made a race a spectacle.

Rosberg doesn't have that, will never have it I suspect.

I'm sure if Vettel thought he could've passed he would've, as it would've been likely he could've taken both Mercs.

I'm fairly sure Rosberg & Vettel were hitting similar speeds on the second straight (the main overtaking spot) as they both had DRS and naturally the Mercedes engine has a bit more grunt. Coupled with Vettel's soft tyres which were running out of life, I think he only really had one chance and Rosberg covered him off well (and also did a pretty good job of covering off Verstappen at the same corner earlier in the race).

I'd imagine Mercedes on the whole are quite happy with Rosberg winning. They're a team with two world champions, and their current champion I would wager would be a better fit for the Mercedes brand and their sponsors.

I'm looking forward to seeing how he changes next year. I'm hoping for a more confident & daring drive as he's got his first championship out of the way. Then again with the shake up in regulations Mercedes may not even be in the running (I doubt that given the engines are remaining unchanged as far as I'm aware, but it's a possibility).

Only 109 days to go!

No one is denying that he won. He's just gash.

Apologies, natural reaction to the topic given the huge numbers of "Did he really deserve it?" conversations.

Not that there was any of that when Lewis won his first WDC with the help of Massa's engine going kaput 3 laps from the end of the race he was leading in Hungary.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that Red Bull and Ferrari are at the front next year. Tempted to put a bet on Max for WDC.

Apologies if I have missed it, but is there any discussion of why ROS did not pass LH, but asked him to speed up? Looks like team orders to me, but we know that's not allowed. Just ODD.

and their current champion I would wager would be a better fit for the Mercedes brand and their sponsors.

You've just summed up why I'll never buy a Mercedes.

I hear you. It is normally me banging the 'more points=win' drum.

No! you mean that he could have gone passed him if he was going too slow?

...and you KNOW that I am just sitting tight until the mighty prancing horse is back in charge