Maesknoll Red

9 hours ago, frenchred said:

My own personal opinion is that they are now playing too much

It's near on impossible to keep up there level every seven days and don't forget they also have tournaments in between!

Quite likely, but in the round an hour before, Littler had been exceptional.

Whatever happened to MvG and Littler last night, that was pub darts at best.  Probably the worst PL night final ever.

On 09/04/2024 at 22:16, Slippin cider said:

Flew to Edinburgh a couple of days ago with EasyJet….started ok and got worse …40 minute delay taking off from Bristol and then sat on the tarmac at Edinburgh Airport for 45 minutes after only a 50 minute flight waiting for ground staff to attend (involved one person doing a lot of pointing) . Not the airlines fault in all fairness but kind of ruined it a bit . 
Add all the time together and cost and you can do it by train . 
No ID was asked for , only had hand luggage as they want over a million pounds for a normal sized case and then you have to wait about 6 months to get it back from the baggage reclaim . 
All a big faff …not the fault of EJ though.

A few weeks back I flew to Edinburgh for a meeting, had the meeting, had a few beers in Edinburgh and got the last flight back, planes on time, cheaper and so much quicker than the train, I really wouldn’t have fancied the return trip on a train in the same day.

11 hours ago, nebristolred said:

I think I've said it before, but I think the lack of competition at the front is the biggest issue here. Though not perfect by any means, at least in the Hamilton years you had his battle with Rosberg. During the Vettel years the rivalry with Webber was great. There were actually some title deciders at the end of the year.

At the moment there is just... nothing. And it's partially because Max is so good, partially because we have new rules that completely play into the hands of Newey (who is already the best designer in F1), and partially because Red Bull are and always have been pretty much a one-car team. That means the fastest team is miles ahead, and within that team there is little chance of any title battle.

Throw in the new budget cap meaning it's very hard for teams to catch up within a rules period and it's basically a recipe for having near enough the same sequence of cars in order from 2021 to 2025. Which is absolute crap.

While the budget cap is well intentioned, it's causing damage here and I'm not sure it's possible to rectify it before 2026. Liberty adding more and more races also makes year-end title deciders mathematically less likely. It's just all a bit stale nowadays.

Lots to agree with here, but 8 straight years of Mercedes winning the constructors, with 7 individual championships (only 1 year really competitive, Bottas never was) was dominance on almost the same scale, the extra race winners were usually down to mechanical failure, or driver error like Spain 2017 when Rosberg and Hamilton collided and gave Verstappen his first win.

The change in rules in 2022 created the perfect storm, it put the technical rules of the car aerodynamics straight into the lap of the best F1 car aerodynamic engineer there has ever been, Red Bull and Honda had improved performance and reliability to an outstanding level and like him or not, Verstappen is one of the greatest drivers and he sits in that car.   
 

Verstappen and his father probably have a lot of sway within the team, probably too much and between them and the RB senior management, they don’t want two No1 drivers, not ideal for racing, but that is their prerogative, at least you rarely see team orders in RB, whilst it happens still in all the other teams.

The budget cap - does it really help the bottom 5 teams, they are still the bottom 5, but as you say, it’s hampering development in the top 5 teams.  
 

I suspect for real change we’ll be waiting until 2026, it will be interesting to see if Hamilton still has what it takes when he sits in an improving Ferrari next year.  The other moves will be interesting, where does Sainz end up, I think RB unlikely, he had run ins with Verstappen as a team mate before, Alonso wants to stay and there are half a dozen good youngsters in the driver programmes/F2.

This last race could have been closer, if Sainz hadn’t been held up for so long behind Norris at the start, if others had kept 2 mediums and 1 hard (as Verstappen did) rather than 2 hards and 1 medium, what if Leclerc had a two stopper, the new tyre difference at the circuit was huge, hence why there was so much overtaking.

There’s plenty going on behind Verstappen, plenty of interest there, Aston Martin had the biggest improvement in last years qualifying time of all the teams, Alonso is showing his class in a car that looked competitive a couple of years back, but has stumbled in development, what are Mercedes struggling so much, they say they have the aerodynamics right now, but still lose track time and feel they can’t load up the rear tyres.  All fascinating stuff in the technical, strategic, political and driver capability world of F1.

Since 1980, there have only been 9 constructors having a world champion.

Most consecutive titles in that period - Mercedes 7 - 2014 - 2020 - Total domination

Second in the consecutive titles during that time, Ferrari - 5 - 2000 - 2004

Number of individual world champions by constructor since 1980:

McLaren - 11

Mercedes - 7

Red Bull - 7

Williams - 7

Ferrari - 6

Renault - 2

Brabham - 2

Benetton - 2

Brawn - 1

Constructor titles in that timespan.

Most consecutive Mercedes - 8 - 2014 2021

Ferrari - 11

Williams - 10

Mercedes - 8

McLaren - 7

Red Bull - 6

Renault - 2

Benetton - 1

Brawn - 1

F1 has always been dominated by certain teams / drivers.

14 minutes ago, phantom said:

Out of interest do you know the number of races in each season?

Yes below.

It's worth adding in that time (since 2010) only two teams have supplied the world champion, Mercedes and Red Bull

2010 - 19

2011 - 19

2012 - 20

2013 - 19

2014 - 19

2015 - 19

 2016 - 21 

2017 - 20

2018 - 21 

2019 - 21

2020 - 21 

2021 - 17

2022 - 22

2023 - 22

2024 - 24 planned.

Deducted 2 more points for breaching the rules again.

Its not changed much in the last 15 years, a couple of seasons where the figures make it look more interesting, but some of that was just down to circumstance (crashes / reliability, rather than driver ability or car improvements).

Simple stats:

Year / Different drivers winning / Different teams winning

2010 / 5 / 3

2011 / 5 / 3

2012 / 8 / 5

2013 / 5 / 4

2014 / 3 / 2

2015 / 3 / 2

2016 / 4 / 2

2017 / 5 / 3

2018 / 6 / 3

2019 / 5 / 3

2020 / 5 / 4

2021 / 6 / 4

2022 / 6 / 3

2023 / 3 / 2

20204 / 2 / 2 - So far.

Which just goes to show, the last couple of seasons are producing - stats wise - the same results as 2014 /15 and not hugely dissimilar to many other years.

12 hours ago, Dollymarie said:

We can but hope! It’s just too sanitised these days. I don’t know how much longer people like Brundle will keep on hanging in there. Even he seems bored commentating these days!

We obviously watch in a different way.  I’m pleased that reliability has massively improved for all teams, I want to see 20 cars finishing.  Likewise with accidents, don’t want to see any driver injured (or worse), in this cost cap era, car damage several times a season will hit the development budgets.

Yes, at the moment RB are dominant, for some of us it was just the same when Hamilton and Mercedes had the hybrid sussed from the start and dominated for several years.  Only one real spell of fight then and that was Hamilton -Rosberg, Bottas was much more Hamilton’s Perez.

There are plenty of other classes of racing if you want to see the drivers in the same car, F1 always has been about teams developing the best car, finding ways to develop improvements and real innovation, match that with the best driver and you have your world champion.  No matter your opinion of Verstappen, he really is a top driver, rarely makes mistakes and in totally in the zone.  His dominance is a combination of his car and this probably being his time as the best driver in the world, that will change, other greats have lean spells, that’s if he stays around long enough, he has intimated he’ll finish with F1 in 2028.

Strategy, I spend a lot of time analysing data at work , what these guys (and gals) do in real time to predict outcomes and change strategy is outstanding, this aspect of F1 is fascinating (to me and many others).

As for the future, a change will come, 2026 when RB change engine supplier, when the car design changes, we might see another spell of dominance from another team, or if Adrian Newey is still with RB then, maybe it could be them - he is the F1 aerodynamic master and really understands these ground effect cars.

2 hours ago, Rob said:

Futile. Well I see the point, but if they did not exist, our lives would be filled with less funny moments. 

It's a dilemma 

It’s not a dilemma for me, I’ll happily find  another target for ridicule, best thing that could happen to Bristol football is for them to disappear. 

5 minutes ago, Robbored said:

Apparently Price is popular amongst the other PL players. They all get along pretty well which is essential given that see each other every week.

Not popular with all the professionals though.

14 minutes ago, frenchred said:

9 darter tonight for price - class

The last thing I would say Price has, is any class………..

On 19/03/2024 at 22:44, Calculus said:

Yup, think your right. No coconuts though. Watney's Red Barrell on tap as well. 

And Ben Truman, foul tasting muck…..

Saw Dr Feelgood and Eddie and the Hotrods there, the plastic palm trees were a bit odd, but the Tuesday night rock night was decent.

2 hours ago, northsomersetred said:

 

You can guarantee since this story broke Red Hull HR or their HR company have been all over her work records like a rash.

May have made an incorrect entry on their timesheet, incorrect entry onto an expenses claim. It'll be the something like that and it's the easiest way to get rid of someone.

No idea, until we see some corroborated evidence I’ll keep an open mind.  I would have expected one of the mainstream news agencies to have validated the leaked messages by now, if they are genuine.

If Horner is the one in the messages, I have no idea why RB would be defending him and not at least sanctioning some disciplinary procedure.  Which probably at his level would be dismissal.  He would deserve whatever came his way.

If the accusation is misguided or completely unfounded, then he should continue in his role.

If the accusation was malicious, then the accuser should be dealt with, obviously with Horner continuing.

Any of the outcomes are fine by me, if the truth is exposed and proven.

I think this has a way too run and there will be much more than we know currently, to come out.

54 minutes ago, Maltshoveller said:

Cheaper to sack her than it is him

Maybe he is innocent and being subjected to a targeted campaign - I have no idea.  And if he was sacked for gross misconduct then there would be no cost.

This is turning into a soap opera now, RB have suspended the woman who made the accusation against Horner.

On 05/03/2024 at 19:09, Dollymarie said:

Read today that the reason Verstappens dad is so keen to get Horner out, is because the woman that Horner was exchanging messages with, was in some sort of relationship with Verstappen senior. 

Red Bull could be taking the longer term view, Horner has been there 20 years and has had success more than once, Verstappen is a short term success and will move on at some point, he has said he will leave F1 by 2028, he is unhappy at the number of races - is it better to take the hit of losing a Driver, or a successful Team Principal.

Bollocks, this is pathetic

It’s not as if we are surprised…..

2 hours ago, DolmanGaz said:

IF Horner is removed, Newey has a clause that means he can leave, I think, but what idiot what want to break up RB from inside?

 

Oh yeah, that wife-beating nut job Jos V

It’s beyond my comprehension, you build something so dominant- designer and driver, then one of those benefiting decides to absolutely destroy it.

There must be a strategy behind this, but I just see what it is yet.

36 minutes ago, nebristolred said:

Exactly. I've made this point before - it's one thing to have an utterly dominant team. It's way worse when the teammate is too poor to even compete, but even worse than that again is when said dominant team is known for strongly favouring one car. Just sucks any slight possibility of entertainment out of it all.

Which makes the current speculation that Max will be at Mercedes for 2025 a bit mad, unless Newey goes there as well.

6 hours ago, East Londoner said:

Five years ago whilst Lewis was winning a lot he at least had competition either from his teammate or from Vettel at Ferrari who was relatively strong at the time until their car was found to be illegal.

Most of last season and on Saturday the race was effectively over by the first corner 

Currently the most interesting thing is the behind the scenes drama at Red Bull and who is trying to get Horner out, currently rumoured to be Verstappen senior 

Pretty irrelevant if Vettel was strong with an illegal car.

 F1 has always had periods of dominance by a team/driver, probably the financial cap has made this more exaggerated, as teams can’t put the resource they would have in the past into closing the gap.

On 02/03/2024 at 06:39, phantom said:

Was sadly all down to the set ups at the time 

Same predictable teams dropping out at the usual points of qualifying 

No good being quick in just the practice sessions though I really hope it's not the same old procession this year 

I don’t understand why it’s sadly down to set ups, that’s part of the formula, there are other races where all the cars are the same, but that’s not the point of F1.

5 years ago, very similar result in domination and times, different manufacturer and Drivers.  I didn’t hear too many moaning back then.

3 hours ago, Loco Rojo said:

New season, normal service resumed. Yawn fest here we go.

I miss F1 of old.

What, when Hamilton dominated for a spell, it’s been cyclical for quite a while now.

23 minutes ago, phantom said:

Two things spring to mind, blimey that was a quick investigation and also a shame it went public as his name is now tarnished

TAKEN FROM: Christian Horner allegations: Red Bull team principal cleared of inappropriate behaviour - BBC Sport

Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner has been cleared following an internal investigation into his behaviour towards a female colleague.

Allegations of inappropriate and controlling behaviour had been made against the 50-year-old.

"Red Bull is confident that the investigation has been fair, rigorous and impartial," a spokesperson for the company said.

Horner, who has led Red Bull since 2005, denied the allegations.

The statement, which was issued by Red Bull's head office in Austria, added: "The complainant has a right of appeal."

Red Bull provided no details of the allegations or the investigation.

The statement said: "The investigation report is confidential and contains the private information of the parties and third parties who assisted in the investigation, and therefore we will not be commenting further out of respect for all concerned.

"Red Bull will continue striving to meet the highest workplace standards."

Red Bull started an investigation after details of the allegations emerged on 5 February.

The decision by Red Bull, which follows a meeting of the company's board of directors, comes after an eight-week investigation which became public early this month.

Earlier on Wednesday, at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton said the investigation was a "really important moment to make sure we stand true to our values".

The seven-time world champion added: "We always have to do more to try to make the sport and the environment people work in feel safe and inclusive, and any allegations have to be taken very seriously.

"It will be really interesting to see how it is dealt with and the effect it may well have on the sport."

If it was a one off accusation (one incident) then why would it take long to investigate?