Having started watching F1 in 2014, the NBCSN group was about all I knew of F1 commentary/coverage. So the poor 1st effort of ESPN wasn't all sunshine & rainbows.
Maybe it'll be improved for Bahrain.

IMHO, I didn't have much of a problem with the Diffey/Matchett/Hobbs/Buxton show. Was also surprised to see Buxton get a moment of airtime with ESPN.

When Hobbs and Matchett moved to NBCSN, they changed. It was obvious the network wanted to emphasize the drama and the Diffey led the way in that. NBC Sports has historically bordered on the hysterical IMO.

Diffey has always been a drama queen, way too loud and putting idle speculation out there for drama's sake. As a result, they would regularly miss developments on the track because they got caught up in blathering. Matchett tried to keep things on an even keel but Hobbs played the game.

In the process Hobbs turned downright mean at times, snide, mocking and biased. The others would laugh to cut the nastiness. Hobbs passed his sell-by date some time ago.

I miss Matchett, sad to hear him covering a Formula E race the other day.

On a lighter note, anyone catch the pre-race coverage where Kimi was shown exhaling smoke/vapor? I'm guessing it was on a big screen because Kimi reacted, he looked like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar.

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Originally posted by P250UA5:

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Originally posted by Georgeair:

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Anybody else wonder how a 11.8 second lead, with a 21 second pit Delta, and you can pit and stay in the lead?

I believe that's due to the pit times being expressed as total e.t. from pit in to pit exit, not the actual delta. However that's still tough, hard to believe the front straight is more than 10 seconds at speed.

But, under VSC, are you 'at speed'? Wonder what that 11 sec lead is under VSC conditions, with a pit stop?

The way it was explained is that the VSC doesn't apply in the pit lane, so Vettel was allowed to speed up at the entrance (slow for the pit lane itself) and the exit, while Hamilton had to maintain VSC speed. I don't know what VSC speed is, but by implication it's slower than a driver can travel through the pits.

I was nearly run over in the pits by Peter Revson during a Can Am race at Road America back in the early 1970's. He was probably going nearly 80mph at the time, and missed me by about 2-1/2 feet. I still think pit lane speed limits are BS!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: newtoSig765,

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Originally posted by newtoSig765:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

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Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

Anybody else wonder how a 11.8 second lead, with a 21 second pit Delta, and you can pit and stay in the lead?

I believe that's due to the pit times being expressed as total e.t. from pit in to pit exit, not the actual delta. However that's still tough, hard to believe the front straight is more than 10 seconds at speed.

But, under VSC, are you 'at speed'? Wonder what that 11 sec lead is under VSC conditions, with a pit stop?

The way it was explained is that the VSC doesn't apply in the pit lane, so Vettel was allowed to speed up at the entrance (slow for the pit lane itself) and the exit, while Hamilton had to maintain VSC speed. I don't know what VSC speed is, but by implication it's slower than a driver can travel through the pits.

I was nearly run over in the pits by Peter Revson during a Can Am race at Road America back in the early 1970's. He was probably going nearly 80mph at the time, and missed me by about 2-1/2 feet. I still think pit lane speed limits are BS!

You’ve clearly never worked in a pit lane.

So ESPN coverage dumpster fire aside, does anyone feel like this season might be a bigger snoozefest than usual. Towards the end end Hamiltons's crew gave him the OK to go to "Strat 14" (which I assume is Merc code speak for Ludicrous Speed) to catch up to Vettel, which he proceeded to do until he over cooked one of the corners and lost a little over a second. After that they showed him punching buttons on the steering wheel as Vettel drove away. Seems like a safe bet that he shifted into prius mode to save the engine. Anybody else feel like this giving up in favor or overworking the engine is going to be the norm with the new rules?

I cut the cord a few weeks ago, but signed up for Sling largely for ESPN and F1. If this is gonna be the norm I dont see any point in losing sleep and an extra $20 a month on this haloed crapfest.

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Originally posted by 220-9er:

You’ve clearly never worked in a pit lane.

You're kidding, right?

Let's not have a pissing match. I was a pit marshal for several years in CenDiv before getting my competition licenses. At that time, there were no speed limits in Pit Lane, and we were expected to watch out for ourselves. I did, Revson missed me, nothing came of it.

I'm talking about a pit lane in professional pits where time is important.
I too have been in pit lanes for decades starting with SCCA Club Racing. Even years ago the speeds were always reasonable at Club type events.
Go back and watch the contact between (I think) Michael Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi and think of the potential that was averted due only to pure luck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_gipeLPtAA
Sure you watch out for yourself, everywhere at a race track, but when cars go by within inches at over 100 MPH and have contact or lose control that's a completely unnecessary risk.
Do you wear eye protection at a range or intentionally stand in front of the firing line?

I'm sensing a new, separate thread; Folks who've worked in pit lanes and want to argue about it".

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So ESPN coverage dumpster fire aside, does anyone feel like this season might be a bigger snoozefest than usual.

It certainly looks to be possible, but I'm hopeful that the track at Albert Park had something to do with this. If indeed a much faster car can't overtake, even worse than last year(s), that won't bode well.

I also agree that the 3-engine and trans rule is rubbish. I get the reasoning behind not going back to days of three engines per weekend, but this is too far I fear. This will likely have a material impact on the ending of the season that has little to do with racing. I'm not a fan of the contrived system in NASCAR now of playoff or whatever they call it, but at least they got it right to keep the action intense throughout the year, not design some dumbass rules that make it harder and harder to watch the competitors run on their merits as year draws to a close.

Adding even more aero downforce has made things even worse. The only quick fix i can see is to have a slow corner right before the straight. Some tracks will be better than others.
The 3 engine rule will make a mess this year. They should penalize the manufacturers championship if anything but not the drivers so much.
Most fans don't really care about the manufacturer championship but care about the actual drivers championship and races themselves.

quote:

Originally posted by ToddGator:
So ESPN coverage dumpster fire aside, does anyone feel like this season might be a bigger snoozefest than usual. Towards the end end Hamiltons's crew gave him the OK to go to "Strat 14" (which I assume is Merc code speak for Ludicrous Speed) to catch up to Vettel, which he proceeded to do until he over cooked one of the corners and lost a little over a second. After that they showed him punching buttons on the steering wheel as Vettel drove away. Seems like a safe bet that he shifted into prius mode to save the engine. Anybody else feel like this giving up in favor or overworking the engine is going to be the norm with the new rules?

I cut the cord a few weeks ago, but signed up for Sling largely for ESPN and F1. If this is gonna be the norm I dont see any point in losing sleep and an extra $20 a month on this haloed crapfest.

My Mercedes Club of America magazine had a lengthy feature on all the functions/buttons on the Mercedes F1 steering wheel.

It's amazing that they can make complex adjustments at speed.

This doesn't seem to be the current generation/customized wheel that Hamilton has in his car(s) but it's close.

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This doesn't seem to be the current generation/customized wheel that Hamilton has in his car(s) but it's close.

Heck, that one's even got a STRAT 15 and 16! What's that; cloaking and light speed?

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Originally posted by Georgeair:

...I also agree that the 3-engine and trans rule is rubbish...

I heard this mentioned, but I thought I didn't hear it right. Three engines for the whole season??? That's ridiculous. And penalizing Bottas several grid spots for replacing a transmission damaged in an accident? Also ridiculous.

I went into semi-retirement from F-1 some years back, but I think it's time for me to surrender my Super-Fan license to the FIA. I won't need it for one race a year.

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Originally posted by Georgeair:

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This doesn't seem to be the current generation/customized wheel that Hamilton has in his car(s) but it's close.

Heck, that one's even got a STRAT 15 and 16! What's that; cloaking and light speed?

I, for one, am disappointed that you can’t just “dime” your Strat.

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Originally posted by 220-9er:
Adding even more aero downforce has made things even worse. The only quick fix i can see is to have a slow corner right before the straight. Some tracks will be better than others.
The 3 engine rule will make a mess this year. They should penalize the manufacturers championship if anything but not the drivers so much.
Most fans don't really care about the manufacturer championship but care about the actual drivers championship and races themselves.

Aero is so important though (sigh). Rip that shit off the car, make it simpler. Hell, it is not like you have teams looking to join F1. Of the last four that have joined, three have left. No passing is going to suck this year. I'm not suggesting making the cars the width of credit cards, but the cars have gotten to become effing elephants. Fat, heavy, wide, and they don't work two wide. Shit, this is what F1 used to be completely against. The amount of bad air kicked off these cars makes pulling up and passing a thing of the past. Now passing in the pit lane is going to become a thing. They are only going faster because they have a bigger tire patch, and super duper supped up engines where they go plaid on Strat 15 (Space Balls reference). They need to get rid of flappy wing in the back too. I like the push to pass in indy, which is essentially the KERS system.

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Originally posted by 280nosler:
I like the push to pass in indy, which is essentially the KERS system.

There you go, watch Indy Car. I think it's the most entertaining of the "major" auto sports series these days. It may take a while to get to know the players but once you do, you're invested.

Late 80's, early 90's -- before the split -- CART drew better than NASCAR. They earned it with great racing and talent. F1 is "The Circus" for sure, spectacular cars, huge money, world wide, I have to watch. But yeah, it's just not much fun, is it?

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Originally posted by Ripley:

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Originally posted by 280nosler:
I like the push to pass in indy, which is essentially the KERS system.

There you go, watch Indy Car. I think it's the most entertaining of the "major" auto sports series these days. It may take a while to get to know the players but once you do, you're invested.


Late 80's, early 90's -- before the split -- CART drew better than NASCAR. They earned it with great racing and talent. F1 is "The Circus" for sure, spectacular cars, huge money, world wide, I have to watch. But yeah, it's just not much fun, is it?

Yeah, that is the problem, I'm invested in F1. I've watched every race since Kimi started. I've seen Jenson Button go from a mid-field runner to winning the Championship. I have been seeing or reading about F1 since my first race - the April 1995 Argentine. Seeing Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Jos Verstapen (Max would have been born some 2 year later), Jean Alesi, Mika Hakkinen, and Gehard Berger was something. Those cars demanded to be man handled.

Watching the twin turbo Indy cars this year will be fun.

Indy cars have taken downforce off and so far it made for more passing.
A few more races will need to be run on different tracks before we can say for sure but so far it looks good.

A good little video.. https://youtu.be/kKdJ5XyC3iw

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Originally posted by valkyrie1:
A good little video.. https://youtu.be/kKdJ5XyC3iw

That was great, thanks!

I wish F1 TV would finally launch, I am extremely unhappy with ESPN not allowing recording on Sling tv. There is no way in hell I am staying up till the wee hours to watch. Even if I want to I can't. I fell asleep about 20 laps into the OZ race. Woke up to see Vettel celebrating. And I am sure as hell not waking up on my days off at the butt crack of dawn to watch, besides, I like to imbibe when I watch my F1, and I can't do that in the morning.