[Official] British Grand Prix 2018: Grand Prix Weekend Thread

[F1Guy]

I think if Raikkonen had bumped Bottas out instead, he may have only got a 5 second penalty. Bottas is not in the championship so it doesn't deserve a harsher penalty.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

I think if Raikkonen had bumped Bottas out instead, he may have only got a 5 second penalty. Bottas is not in the championship so it doesn't deserve a harsher penalty.

What has that got to do with it? Drivers should be treated equally, irregardless of where they are in the championship.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

What has that got to do with it? Drivers should be treated equally, irregardless of where they are in the championship.

He knows that. He's just stirring.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

He knows that. He's just stirring.

I think he genuinely believes it......

[crmalcolm]

Originally Posted by Skam85

I think he genuinely believes it......

Which bit does he believe though?

That if you take out someone not in the championship, then your penalty can be lower? Or that Bottas is not in the championship contest?

[chillibowl]

This is a difficult one for me.

Consistency and transparency are pretty big in my book but at the same time I recognize that every race of the season is not necessarily equal.

Certainly I am reminded of schumi's disqualification from the championship for his attempt to take out his rival at Jerez in 97...surley a valid penalty but not one I would have liked to have seen if he had attempted to take out his rival during the first race of the season.

Other sports, thinking of hockey and basketball (which mind you have a clear separation between regular season and playoffs) hold that fouls/penalties will be judged differently at different points in the season...often resulting in something that was a foul in the regular season not be treated as a foul during the playoffs.

Fans want a different standard to be applied for the championship rounds and when more is on the line. Fans want the game to be more physical..this I don't think is an uncommon thing.

I guess if I have an issue with KR's penalty here it is that it is still too early in the season for the powers that be to decide who gets to be in the title hunt.

Knock on effect of it happening this early is that it now becomes a bigger problem as the season escalates. Rather where do the officials go from here?

Are LH and SV to be judged differently for the remainder, are they off limits to other drivers?

It is a difficult one to be sure.

[Skam85]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Which bit does he believe though?

That if you take out someone not in the championship, then your penalty can be lower? Or that Bottas is not in the championship contest?

Whichever answer is the most anti-Vettel/Ferrari

[F1Guy]

Originally Posted by F1Guy

The track seems to be much more bumpier than last year. Apparently, the track surface was re-laid to a tolerance of 3mm.


Silverstone MD Stuart Pringle: "The asphalt mix is state-of-the-art. It's been laid to extremely fine tolerances, much finer than on the public highway, that are not easily achieved by most people in that business."


Umm.. yeah. Ok.

Has the Silverstone track been in the news of late?

Seems as if a bunch of motorbikes are not having a great time with Silverstone's newly laid surface??

It came to light during this years F1 round that the surface was not ideal for F1 - let alone MotoGP. Mr Pringle needs a swift state-of-the-art kick in the nuts. 'Extremely fine tolerances' indeed Mr Pringle.

[Mike Bell]

The new tarmac was criticised immediately after the first cars tested on it before the start of the season, and some sections were resurfaced again..... Bit strange it came as a surprise to F1, WEC and Moto GP, as most club competitors who have raced on it have been commenting on the bumps all season!

[Akrapovic]

We shouldn't get rid of bumps. Bumps make character. If anyone suggested kicking the owner of Sebring in the nuts due to the bumps they'd get laughed at for being a classless muppet.

MotoGPs problem isn't bumps - it's extreme levels of rain and the drainage issues that come with that. Bikes are more sensitive to that than cars are.

[S griffin]

F1 cars should be able to cope with bumps, not the other way round

[F1Guy]

There's a difference between bumps and vibration. The current surface at Silverstone is extremely bumpy. Does not suit F1 and hardly suits any other categories either. MotoGP complained a little about the bumps, but it was the lack of drainage that resulted in the MotoGP being cancelled. It still boils down to the new surface not being adequate for it's purpose.

Silverstone holds many different category's of racing, but it's biggest, most popular event is the F1 round each year. So any resurfacing being done surely would have F1 as the primary event to build the track to?? Every other category would come second. And in a F1 car, the current surface just has too much vibration. A couple of F1 drivers said during the F1 round there that it could even be unsafe as the excessive vibrations causes blurriness. Even Hamilton spoke out about the newly laid surface of one of his favourite tracks.

Hamilton: "The bad is that, one, I always think countries seem to waste money when they resurface the tracks. They wasted money which they could have gone to better use. And, two, the people they hired did the worst job ever.

"I mean, it's the bumpiest track I've ever experienced, it's bumpier than the Nordschleiffe, which is 100 years old. It's rattling your freakin' eyeballs from your brain -- you can't see where you're going.

"In the straights and some of the corners ... it's so insane how bumpy it is. It's so quick, it's like, duh-duh-duh-duh. ... Apart from that it's fantastic, but jeez, they need to hire someone better, because I don't know how you could make such a bad job in layering the track."

Bottas has said that he ended up with a headache after every session at Silverstone this year. Vettel said something about making an appointment to see his dentist.

Surely they have to resurface it again before the next F1 round in 2019?? Have heard that some sections of the track has lost the top layer of asphalt already, and what's left are 'bold' spots of smooth tarmac that has zero grip!


Maybe Mr Pringle could use some of THIS to resurface the track?

[Skam85]

Hamilton should have blamed the tarmac for snubbing Brundle after the race.