I've been watching a lot of Blancpain, WEC and IMSA in the last 3-4 years and quite frankly, after being a staunch opponent of BOP, I've swung 180 degrees.  The racing is amazing and I really enjoy watching good racing.

I only watch F1 any more to watch the best driver on the planet, pilot the chosen-by-God McLaren around at the front of the parade.

Seriously....  I think the only hope for F1 is a format that employs some form of BOP.

BTW....  I'm a huge Kimi fan and I really appreciate the passion that Max brings to the mix.  I'm going to enjoy watching him mature and piss off everybody else on the grid in the meantime.

It's similar to the Ferrari/Schumacher era.

Of the (4) Red Bull/Vettel championships, two went down to the final race with possible winners from multiple teams (in the first, Vettel only lead the Championship during the final race).

I honestly thing F1's biggest failing is that it has become so aero dependent.  Sure the cars are fast as all get out,  but if you get within 2 seconds of the car in front of you, you lose all front end grip, and beat the hell out of your tires.

It almost makes me wonder how competitive the cars would be if F1 went back to single element wings, and you allowed teams to adjust settings on the car after the second practice session.

Ross Brawn is trying to fix that, I think the cars will end up with larger floors and fewer fancy wings in 2021 as a result.

I don't care what it takes....   I just want racing from flag to flag.

This happened back in March '17, I heard him say in an interview a few months back that part of the solution was larger floors.

Formula 1 seeks to create a passing committee  Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/formula-1-seeks-create-passing-committee#ixzz53VpKbIMc

Whos ass did he have to kiss to get this?
Daniil Kvyat back in Formula 1 as he joins Ferrari as development driver

Kissing?  That must have required full on cock gargling.

And since i hadn't posted yet,

The halo sucks.

I wonder if Vettel wanted this to keep Kvyat off the track during races.  He cannot repeatedly rear end Vettel if he doesn't start.  I imagine that they may not be overly friendly in the paddock though.

No, but he can destroy his car during FP1, when development drivers usually drive the cars.

A more accurate description of his position would probably be "Russian Brand Ambassador" rather than someone who will ever drive on a GP weekend.

Haas believes there aren't any American drivers ready for #F1 at the moment. Is the team right? \uD83C\uDDFA\uD83C\uDDF8https://t.co/laQi84BoYB

Autosport  (@autosport) January 12, 2018

Complete BS. @HaasF1Team if you really believe that, why don’t you call some of us, give it a shot?  https://t.co/cSpGrb1h62

Graham Rahal  (@GrahamRahal) January 12, 2018

Word.

Alexander Rossi  (@AlexanderRossi) January 12, 2018

Since I have never been impressed by Grosjean, I am not sure I would rely on HaasF1 for driver picks.

If they really want to be America's F1 team I think at least 1 American driver would be in order.

Call Rossi

2018 car differences

Hunter-Reay
Newgarden
Rossi
Rahal

Four Americans who could drive in F1 right now. So could Scott Dixon and he’d probably be quite good.

10 Saturdays until quali in Melborne

There's no way I can enjoy looking at a car with this shit on

They really are trying to make it as difficult as possible to remain fans...

I will miss shark fins and t-wings.

Any word on Indycar adopting the halo?  
After we lost Justin Wilson, there was a lot of concern.  Understandably so.

Stolen from another thread

How you gonna do Ferrari like that at Monza!

RIP Mr. Gurney.

https://twitter.com/bobpockrass/status/952684107510595585

Late on Friday we received some news out of the blue from a very unexpected source (3M, the maker of Scotch tape and Post-It Notes) which could change F1's plans for 2018. This fascinating story is coming soon...

Formula Money  (@FormulaMoney) January 14, 2018

Very ironic! I heard Liberty paid $1m for the new logo but who knows what 3M will want? They are in the driving seat as they registered basically the same logo 5 months before Liberty applied for it. If I was an #F1 team I'd tell Liberty to get the money back from the designers

Formula Money  (@FormulaMoney) January 14, 2018

That could be a problem.

Get the money back from the designers and then find new designers who can come up with a logo that doesn't look like a piece of crap.

And get rid of the halos, electric motors and turbos while you are at it.

Make F1 Great Again!

I'm not a fan of the halo, but the FIA did say the halo isn't necessarily a permanent answer. They backed themselves into a corner with time tables that they put out and had to pick something. However I think the reality is we're going to be stuck with some sort of protective covering now that it's here. If they took it off for 2019 and someone gets hit with a tire or something and is injured or even killed, that could unfortunately open Liberty Media/FIA to liability.

The current formula is a little boring. The cars are faster than ever but the racing is boring and it’s a total Mercedes fest. I’m hoping Ferrari fixes themselves (which is something since I can’t stand them) and can actually challenge down the stretch.

The halo and no shark fin is a step backwards.

Meanwhile, indycar is making all the right moves, hopefully: new aero kit that reduces downforce, gorgeous new styling, etc. The videos coming out of pre-season testing look amazing with the cars sliding all over the place. Hopefully that will actually give us some great racing. I’m not holding out hope for a similar result in formula 1.

I know fully electric engines are even lamer than V6s, but Formula E just started a couple weeks ago. Tight road courses and comparably competitive cars...it's actually decent racing once you get used to the (lack of) sound.

Looks like he will be the reserve and development driver.

Williams officialy announce Sergey Sirotkin as 2nd driver

Williams also officialy announce Kubica as reserve and development driver

While bummed Kubica was bumped by a Russian, did anyone ever imagine he'd make it this far back into F1 after his rallying accident? I hope to see him in some practice sessions and hopefully completing a race in 2018.

Merc teasing the W09.

Attached File

It would be faster if it had hypersofts on it.

Ok wait.

I don't pay that much attention to F1 any more, and I saw this picture and went momentarily insane.

I quickly recovered, certain that this was some kind of testing mule.

This absurdity is real?

Is this real life?

Yes, this is the 2018 season.

Ferrari will be unveiling their car on February 22nd.

History assembles. #MCL33 launch 23.02.18. #BeBrave pic.twitter.com/ZzxvXgBRZS

McLaren  (@McLarenF1) January 18, 2018

My ass.

Simply Have all drivers willing to race sign a paper...

The lack of sound is a total turn off.

The fact that they mostly go on city tracks is another.

It's formula S like shit not formula E

Il Team @ToroRossoSpy presenterà la sua vettura 2018 (STR13) motorizzata Honda domenica 25 febbraio direttamente al Montmelo dove il giorno successivo inizierà la prima quattro giorni di test #FUnoAT #F1 pic.twitter.com/ftxnwNPEN1

— \uD835\uDE4B\uD835\uDE42 \uD835\uDE4F\uD835\uDE5A\uD835\uDE58\uD835\uDE5D (@SmilexTech) January 18, 2018

How they have to use the V8/V10 sound track dubbed over in that video is so sad. Mercedes does the same stuff in their AMG commercials .

Depends on the conditions and track. There were a few races last season where the lap times deincreased (derp) with the softer compounds, so some teams switched back on to the harder compounds.

Counter intuitive, but the times came down on the softs compared to the super and ultra softs

Do you mean increased?

I've yet to watch the Morocco FE race that's been sitting on my DVR. I should do that. It still irritates the hell out of me when I see these cars flying by without combustion happening. I can't tell whether it sucks more or less than V6s.

Nah... FE sound makes V6s sound slightly less than utterly farty/shitty. They both suck (to listen to).

Yup. Racing used to be a man's (GLADIATOR'S) sport, reserved for men with 'YUGE balls of brass. You can still find that kind of racing, but it's not on tracks with wide, sandy run-out areas and padded barriers. It's on the Isle of Man.

I'm not saying that it doesn't take balls and skill to race Formula One (or any other form of high speed racing). But the level of commitment and willingness to pay the ultimate price for one's passion isn't even in the same universe. When guys race and it's the expectation that they'll climb out of their cars and walk away (Alonso's crash being a prime example of that safety factor), that by definition takes less balls then the expectation that you'll be seriously maimed or killed if you make a mistake. Guys like Kvyat, Maldonado, and even Max are proof of that difference. They're young, so fear doesn't play the same role as it generally does with older guys. But they were raised in the world of Karting and sim racing, where mistakes aren't likely to result in your death. While guys like Jon McGuinness and Guy Martin are letting it ALL hang out there. Valentino Rossi and Sebastian Vettel are my two main racing heros. But the amount of risk they're taking and the commitment aren't anywhere close to the TT racers. Also, besides TT racing happening on "virgin" roads, with no shoulders, going rightt through towns... it's truly all for racing glory. The money sure can't be that great. That makes it a far more "pure" form of racing in my opinion. It's only an opinion, but nevertheless... as a racing fan that's my prerogative. No guts, no glory!!!

Btw... McGuinness is my favorite "pure" racer. The guy is friggin OLD (by athletic standards) and I can't believe the kind of balls it would take to race at his level at ANY age, much less his age. It's ridiculous.

Also... I don't root for ANY racer to be injured or die (though I wouldn't mind seeing Ham fall down and break a wrist during a drunken Hollywood party). But then again... racing (and football, and every other sport) is becoming so sanitized that it borders on completely boring. As opposed to on-bike footage on the Isle of Man... where it looks like everything has been sped up... as the bikes are flying within inches of stone fences, walls, people, animals, trees, etc, etc, etc. The excitement factor as a fan is immensely more for me than watching cars/bikes go around tracks with very few things flying buy in close proximity to give the perspective of speed. Sure, there are places like Monaco and Singapore on the F1 calendar. But it's still just not the same. I still watch. But I don't get near as excited to watch as I do for the TT.

To some extent, you can thank Mark Donahue's wife.  Despite signing stacks of releases, going on record as saying that if *ANYTHING* ever went wrong, it was his fault because he pushed the car so far, after his death she was awarded $9.6M, laying the groundwork for future litigation every time someone is hurt or killed in a racing incident.