Motosport General discussion tread --- Formula1, MotoGP, WTCC, ETCC, DTM.....

[tokeweed]

Does anybody have a schedule of when the teams are showing their new cars?  And what are the spec changes for 2018 besides the Halo (ugh!)?

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[thejaytiesto]

Does anybody have a schedule of when the teams are showing their new cars?  And what are the spec changes for 2018 besides the Halo (ugh!)?

I have no idea, usually it's a couple of months before the first race.

About the halo, im actually very interested to see how it looks like and how it impacts aerodynamics. As much as I miss the good ol times of early 1990's Formula 1, something I always worried about a bit is seeing some gruesome shit live on TV due a fatal accident crushing a guy's head. The helmet and low placement and lateral bars have saved a lot of lives, but I remember seeing how I think it was in a GP2 race, a guy almost loses his head as the car rotated against a wall almost touching the edge of the concrete.

Another scary as hell moment was when Alonso almost gets crushed by a car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8Y5Co1kZjQ&t=40s

And another brutal moment was when a piece of a car was loose and hit Massa right on the head:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzKc76-isOk

He crashed at full speed and miraculously saved his life.

A halo would have been very handy there. I just wonder if the material will not break creating even more danger, hopefully they have tested it a million times.

[cicciobtc]

Speculations indicated Marquez in Ducati or KTM in 2019!
But Marc Marquez has stated that he will almost certainly remain throughout his career at Honda.
He will only go away if Honda in the future will no longer be competitive for the victory of the world championship.

[cicciobtc]

in 2019 (or 2020) there will be a new GP in Motogp!
 there will be the new route of Palemang on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.
So another GP in Asia in addition to the new GP who will be this year in Thailand.

[tokeweed]

Finally...  Ferrari has confirmed that they will be unveiling their new car on February 22 and it can be streamed online from their website.  I'm pretty excited with the new season.  I think this could be the year for a real Ferrari breakthrough.

[cicciobtc]

Finally...  Ferrari has confirmed that they will be unveiling their new car on February 22 and it can be streamed online from their website.  I'm pretty excited with the new season.  I think this could be the year for a real Ferrari breakthrough.

yes, it's always exciting, the presentation of a new car!
this year I hope that there will be even more competition with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull fighting for the championship victory.
I also expect a good season from Force India and Alonso

[LTU_btc]

Yesterday it was announced officially that Sergey Sirotkin will be new driver of Williams in upcoming season alongside with Lance Stroll, while Robert Kubica will be reserve driver. As we discussed previously, I think Williams made very bad decision. It's sad to see that money was main aspect to choose drivers. I hardly can expect good results from Williams in upcoming season. And I wouldn't be surprised if Kubica will replace one of these drivers in the middle of the season.

[BitcoinSupremo]

Yesterday it was announced officially that Sergey Sirotkin will be new driver of Williams in upcoming season alongside with Lance Stroll, while Robert Kubica will be reserve driver. As we discussed previously, I think Williams made very bad decision. It's sad to see that money was main aspect to choose drivers. I hardly can expect good results from Williams in upcoming season. And I wouldn't be surprised if Kubica will replace one of these drivers in the middle of the season.

The Williams double is the youngest in Formula 1 ever. Their age combined is only 41, just 3 years more than the grand daddy of F1 right now, Raikkonen. I must congratulate Williams for giving faith to such youngsters and I hope they get something in return during this year. Curious about Mclaren though, they will start with Renault engine this year which I think it will be a handicap for them.

[cicciobtc]

Yesterday it was announced officially that Sergey Sirotkin will be new driver of Williams in upcoming season alongside with Lance Stroll, while Robert Kubica will be reserve driver. As we discussed previously, I think Williams made very bad decision. It's sad to see that money was main aspect to choose drivers. I hardly can expect good results from Williams in upcoming season. And I wouldn't be surprised if Kubica will replace one of these drivers in the middle of the season.

Yes, I also hoped that Kubica would become the official driver but it will be even more rewarding for him to prove he is better than Stroll and Sirotkin and take their place during the season!

[bbc.reporter]

A Robert Kubica comeback would have been good for the sport and would have also made a nice Formula 1 fairy tale story, but if his skills are not good as they were years ago, then what for?

I reckon Williams did their best for both the driver and the team.

[LTU_btc]

Some teams released dates when they will show their new cars - Mercedes on 22th February, McLaren on 23th and Toro Rosso on 25th of February.

Yesterday it was announced officially that Sergey Sirotkin will be new driver of Williams in upcoming season alongside with Lance Stroll, while Robert Kubica will be reserve driver. As we discussed previously, I think Williams made very bad decision. It's sad to see that money was main aspect to choose drivers. I hardly can expect good results from Williams in upcoming season. And I wouldn't be surprised if Kubica will replace one of these drivers in the middle of the season.

The Williams double is the youngest in Formula 1 ever. Their age combined is only 41, just 3 years more than the grand daddy of F1 right now, Raikkonen. I must congratulate Williams for giving faith to such youngsters and I hope they get something in return during this year. Curious about Mclaren though, they will start with Renault engine this year which I think it will be a handicap for them.

A Robert Kubica comeback would have been good for the sport and would have also made a nice Formula 1 fairy tale story, but if his skills are not good as they were years ago, then what for?

I reckon Williams did their best for both the driver and the team.

I wish that my predictions wont come true. Except one podium, debiut season wasn't very good for him. Maybe now he got more experience to reach better results, but I'm not sure. And I'm very sceptical about Sirotkin. On the other hand, Kubica was slow on tests and maybe he isn't better than these young drivers.

[bbc.reporter]

@LTU_btc. On Robert Kubica, I reckon the sport has left him behind. Formula 1 cars are very much different 10 years ago compared to what we have now. Not only that, tire compounds are also different. It was something Robert has not adapted to yet during his tests in Williams.

[cicciobtc]

Yesterday there was the official presentation of the Yamaha 2018 in Motogp.
This year Yamaha absolutely wants to try to win the world championship with V. Rossi and Vinales.
Vinales has just renewed its contract until 2020, instead V.Rossi will renew until 2020, after the first tests or perhaps after the first races of 2018 when it will understand to be still competitive

[Claudyah]

12 teams, 24 racers from six factories will adorn the running of the MotoGP race 2018 season.

Already in the past, there are usually drivers who will use the latest motor from each manufacturer.

While others will use the previous year's model.

[tokeweed]

Pretty excited about this.  I hope this season will be really close between RBR, Merc and Ferrari til the end.  I'm also pretty interested in how Torro Rosso's switch to Honda engines will turn out...  And McClaren's switch to Renault. 

Alonso did a good job in making Honda look bad last year, let's see what he's gonna do this year if things turn out bad again. 

2018 F1 Launch Dates (so far)
Williams:  February 15
Renault:  February 20
Sauber:  February 20
Mercedes:  February 22
Ferrari:  February 22
McLaren:  February 23
Toro Rosso:  February 25

[LTU_btc]

F. Alonso announced that he wil participate in World Endurance Championship (WEC) racing series. He will race in almost all GP's, including Le Mans 24 hours race. He will only skip Fuji 6 hours race, because there will be F1 US Gp on the same weekend. Guys, what do you think about it? Alonso recently participated in Daytona 24 hours race, but he and his team didn't achieved good results.

Alonso did a good job in making Honda look bad last year, let's see what he's gonna do this year if things turn out bad again. 

That's the words of Dr. Helmut Marko, he recently said same thing

[cicciobtc]

the Sepang test for the motogp showed a very fast Ducati with Lorenzo (track record) that finally seems to have found the right confidence with his Ducati.
The Yamaha still seems to have problems and therefore, this year there will be also the fight for the title between Ducati and Honda.

[cicciobtc]

this year between F1 and Motogp there will be 40 gp (21 gp in F1 and 19 in Motogp) never so many gp in previous years.
unfortunately there will be 6 GP at the same time (last year even 8 ).

I think it would have been better to give maximum attention to only one of these 2 competitions.

There are some free weekends that could be occupied such as April 1st, August 19th and October 14th.

[tokeweed]

Williams just unveiled their car today, and I must day...  It looks good overall even tho I still hate the halo.  In this angle it doesn't look as bad.  But a direct front side view would show how slightly awkward it is to look at.

In general, I think this is one of the best looking F1 cars imo.

[cicciobtc]

in these days for Motogp there are tests on the new Buriram track in Thailand.
In day 1 there was a great balance with 20 riders in less than 1 second!
If this balance were confirmed we would have a truly spectacular season.
Meanwhile, the legend of the Motogp Valentino Rossi celebrated 39 years today!