2017 British Grand Prix Free Practice & Qualifying Thread

[UnlikeUday]

The shield that Vettel tried in FP1 made him feel a little dizzy. A very crucial feedback. He said through the shield, the vision looked distorted due to the curvature.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/355826/

[Black_Flag_11]

Long runs look fairly similar between Ferrari and Mercedes, slight advantage to Mercedes if anything, Red Bull lagging behind. Ferrari look significantly behind on outright pace though, hope they can pull something out of the bag tomorrow.

[Lt. Drebin]

The shield that Vettel tried in FP1 made him feel a little dizzy. A very crucial feedback. He said through the shield, the vision looked distorted due to the curvature.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/355826/

I am upset that they did not set up the curvature of the shield properly. As if it is some toy. They should eliminate the distortion.

[veffy]

The shield that Vettel tried in FP1 made him feel a little dizzy. A very crucial feedback. He said through the shield, the vision looked distorted due to the curvature.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/355826/

I am upset that they did not set up the curvature of the shield properly. As if it is some toy. They should eliminate the distortion.

/deleted

[kerneys]

What would be good to know is how other broadcasters receive drivers of their own nationality. e.g. How do German broadcasters react to Vettel, Australian to Riccardo etc.

I've always put the perceived Hamilton bias down to the fact that Sky/C4 are British broadcasters promoting their product by presenting the best British driver to a predominantly British market in order to get the best viewing figures - Sky will take it to the extreme as they are a paid service.

I digress slightly here but Sky/BBC have broadcasting rights to the Guinness Pro 12. For non rugby fans this is a league in which 4 Welsh, 4 Irish, 2 Scottish and 2 Italian sides compete.

The Sky narrative is that this is one of the most competitive and skillful leagues in Europe. I can honestly tell you it is far from that, in fact it is quite the opposite. Yet the commentators try to endorse the league, it's teams and players at every opportunity. Why? To promote the product.

Whereas games shown on the BBC tend to lead to a more honest and critical view of the league.

The casual British viewer is far more likely to subscribe to/watch F1 with some form of attachment to a successful British driver, whereas the hardcore F1 fan will subscribe/watch regardless of who is on the grid.

[veffy]

What would be good to know is how other broadcasters receive drivers of their own nationality. e.g. How do German broadcasters react to Vettel, Australian to Riccardo etc.

I've always put the perceived Hamilton bias down to the fact that Sky/C4 are British broadcasters promoting their product by presenting the best British driver to a predominantly British market in order to get the best viewing figures - Sky will take it to the extreme as they are a paid service.

I digress slightly here but Sky/BBC have broadcasting rights to the Guinness Pro 12. For non rugby fans this is a league in which 4 Welsh, 4 Irish, 2 Scottish and 2 Italian sides compete.

The Sky narrative is that this is one of the most competitive and skillful leagues in Europe. I can honestly tell you it is far from that, in fact it is quite the opposite. Yet the commentators try to endorse the league, it's teams and players at every opportunity. Why? To promote the product.

Whereas games shown on the BBC tend to lead to a more honest and critical view of the league.

The casual British viewer is far more likely to subscribe to/watch F1 with some form of attachment to a successful British driver, whereas the hardcore F1 fan will subscribe/watch regardless of who is on the grid.

Australian coverage definitely focuses more on Ricciardo than I've seen on the British Sky commentary, the coverage of him is also much more sympathetic and positive, ie he's less likely to be shown as in the wrong in any given situation, or excuses are made for him if he is in the wrong. (not that Dan is often in that situation)

[TheGiantHogweed]

The shield that Vettel tried in FP1 made him feel a little dizzy. A very crucial feedback. He said through the shield, the vision looked distorted due to the curvature.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/355826/

I am upset that they did not set up the curvature of the shield properly. As if it is some toy. They should eliminate the distortion.

If they can manage to make the curved helmet visor not to distort your view, then surely it would be very simple to do this on what if effectively a windscreen. Virtually all cars have a curved windscreen and these days, the glass doesn't mes up your image at all. Where as on some classic cars using older glass, you can see that sometimes it does affect your sight a little. But I don't know how it can be so hard to make this right for F1 cars. It will need looking into much more if it is possibly going to go ahead.

[Warheart01]

Hamilton now has 1 more contender for the WDC to deal with in the form of Bottas.

I wonder if Nico is helping him. He's started talking a lot like Nico did last season - taking it one race at a time, and staying in the moment.

Valtteri can win this for Mercedes.

Bottas is alot better than Rosberg to begin with so not surprised.

[Warheart01]

Kimi once again faster than Vettel.

[ALESI]

I know we are at the British grand prix and I know the Ben Edwards on Channel 4 is British. But what he says shows he clearly respects Hamilton more than Bottas. The tone of voice of Ben Edwards when Bottas first set the fastest lap towards the beginning. He didn't sound that excited. Then when Hamilton had closed up on 2 sectors, He said "and look, he's up by a quarter of a second immediately over his team mate Bottas" Then when Bottas improves, Ben Edwards says in a sort of having to admit so voice "Bottas is improving" and then "Bottas is quicker". But it was 0.566 quicker than Hamilton's time that he seemed to sound like he thought Hamilton's time was incredible. He didn't mention the time gap. Then Bottas remained the faster of the 2 but Edwards kept bringing up that Hamilton was very close (which was true in the end) but Buttas did look to have the edge on Hamilton this session. It seems like Sky and Channel 4 don't like admitting that. I can't remember who it is on this forum who has a line from Ben Edwards comparing Hamilton and Rosberg in a very similar way at the bottom of their page. This was quite a similar thing to that. I much prefer him to Crofty, but the bias towards British drivers is too much sometimes!

I think that was my old sig... so true isn't it.

It was something like, 'Hamilton goes .2 faster, Edwards goes nuclear in his praise, next lap Rosberg goes 0.5 faster - silence'.

I changed it because it made me look anti-Hamilton, but it wasn't, it was anti-Edwards!

From my memory, your sig was more like
"Hamilton goes faster, it was a thumping lap by him, and thrashed whole field, and moments later Rosberg goes faster, then its oh the track evolution is faster

Yes, the track was improving - that was it. The inference being that Rosberg couldn't possibly be going faster on merit!

[ALESI]

Interesting as it is, I don't see the fact that other broadcasters 'sympathise' with 'their' drivers being an excuse. Coulthard seems less likely to jump on this bandwagon, but I think he does it just enough to pacify the Channel (who are paying his wages after all, as they are Ben... and maybe DC has slightly more sway, being an ex-driver rather than just another commentator).

I don't mind so much the bigging Lewis up, I accept that to an extent. You know 'storming lap by Lewis' and that kind of thing, but it's the sort of underhand or failure to acknowledge SOME drivers for their part. It seems like it's okay for them to big up Max and Alonso, but definitely not Rosberg/Bottas.

I look forward to Bottas giving Hamilton a hard time and how they will cope with that!

[shoot999]

Interesting as it is, I don't see the fact that other broadcasters 'sympathise' with 'their' drivers being an excuse. Coulthard seems less likely to jump on this bandwagon, but I think he does it just enough to pacify the Channel (who are paying his wages after all, as they are Ben... and maybe DC has slightly more sway, being an ex-driver rather than just another commentator).

I don't mind so much the bigging Lewis up, I accept that to an extent. You know 'storming lap by Lewis' and that kind of thing, but it's the sort of underhand or failure to acknowledge SOME drivers for their part. It seems like it's okay for them to big up Max and Alonso, but definitely not Rosberg/Bottas.

I look forward to Bottas giving Hamilton a hard time and how they will cope with that!

I think you will find Coultard pays everyones wages. Its his and Jake Humphreys company. They sell the finished product to C4. So Edwards (and the others) work for Coultard.

[UnlikeUday]

Alonso gets 30 place grid penalty:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/40613733

[RaggedMan]

Alonso gets 30 place grid penalty:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/40613733

The new parts are Honda's attempt to put an extra engine into their pool on a weekend when they were already going to get a penalty, thus limiting the damage to their competitive hopes.

[GingerFurball]

Alonso gets 30 place grid penalty:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/40613733

They should actually paint out the requisite number of grid places and start him from 38th or wherever.

[RaggedMan]

Alonso gets 30 place grid penalty:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/40613733

They should actually paint out the requisite number of grid places and start him from 38th or wherever.

Isn't Sliverstone one of the tracks that has an alternate pit for support series with grid boxes in front of it? If so he could start from there.

[Flash2k11]

Bottas gearbox penalty apparently ._.

[kleefton]

Long runs look fairly similar between Ferrari and Mercedes, slight advantage to Mercedes if anything, Red Bull lagging behind. Ferrari look significantly behind on outright pace though, hope they can pull something out of the bag tomorrow.

According to our dear commentators lewis was in a class of his own on long runs.

[kleefton]

Alonso gets 30 place grid penalty:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/40613733

The new parts are Honda's attempt to put an extra engine into their pool on a weekend when they were already going to get a penalty, thus limiting the damage to their competitive hopes.

Thought this wasnt allowed anymore?

[TheGiantHogweed]

Bottas gearbox penalty apparently ._.

I've seen that too here:
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/bott ... es-930630/

[F1_Ernie]

Bottas gearbox penalty apparently ._.

Need both Merc drivers to take points of Vettel, seems to be going his way at the moment.

[Lt. Drebin]

Alonso gets 30 place grid penalty:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/40613733

They should actually paint out the requisite number of grid places and start him from 38th or wherever.

Maybe he should start from Austria.

[flyboy10]

I think the shield looks great

The little i saw of it i realised you couldn't see the driver at all due to reflections. I'm used to seeing which direction they're looking and what they're hands are doing

Given the choice i would say no to it. But it's not my life i'm risking

To be honest they're so enclosed as it is I haven't noticed that stuff in years. I get that detail from in-car shots and replays

I was thinking this too. I haven't seen very much of driver movement from an exterior shot in ages. Maybe they should make the sides of the car out of the same stuff as the shield and let us see the drivers' arms and feet.

[Black_Flag_11]

Long runs look fairly similar between Ferrari and Mercedes, slight advantage to Mercedes if anything, Red Bull lagging behind. Ferrari look significantly behind on outright pace though, hope they can pull something out of the bag tomorrow.

According to our dear commentators lewis was in a class of his own on long runs.

Actually they're kinda right, I only had a quick look earlier but going into more detail gives a more worrying picture if you're a Ferrari fan.

Hamilton
Stint 1 average: 1:33.046 (10 representative laps)
Stint 2 average: 1:31.838 (4 representative laps)
Fastest lap: 1:31.658 (stint 2)


Vettel
Stint 1 average: 1:33.280 (6 representative laps)
Stint 2 average: 1:32.769 (9 representative laps)
Fastest lap: 1:32.277 (stint 2)


Bottas/Kimi were both slower so I won't bother with their times.

So yes Hamilton was the only driver to break into the 1:31s. Although it's worth noting that his second stint was very short with only 4 representative laps so it's possible he was lightly fuelled or pushing his tyres very hard.

[Black_Flag_11]

Bottas gearbox penalty apparently ._.

Need both Merc drivers to take points of Vettel, seems to be going his way at the moment.

Part of me thinks they may have found this at the same time as Hamilton's and decided to change in alternate weekends to give them a shot at stopping Vettel from winning.

Remember they said it wasn't urgent on Hamilton's gearbox, just that it wouldn't go the distance and so they would change it at Austria to minimise the risk.

[lamo]

It seems that Mercedes knew of Bottas' and Hamiltons gearbox issues post Baku and have decided to change them at alternate races so the other car still has a good chance to win. Bottas has the same issue that Hamilton had, the gearbox could have lasted this GP too but not Hungary and they feel its better to serve it here than Hungary.

[Lotus49]

Alonso gets 30 place grid penalty:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/40613733

The new parts are Honda's attempt to put an extra engine into their pool on a weekend when they were already going to get a penalty, thus limiting the damage to their competitive hopes.

Thought this wasnt allowed anymore?

I think you can take one of everything and they did the same in Baku so MGU-H apart he should theoretically have at least 2 complete new/almost new sets stacked but not from the same GP which isn't allowed.

[kleefton]

Alonso gets 30 place grid penalty:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/40613733

The new parts are Honda's attempt to put an extra engine into their pool on a weekend when they were already going to get a penalty, thus limiting the damage to their competitive hopes.

Thought this wasnt allowed anymore?

I think you can take one of everything and they did the same in Baku so MGU-H apart he should theoretically have at least 2 complete new/almost new sets stacked but not from the same GP which isn't allowed.

gotcha.

[Covalent]

Hamilton now has 1 more contender for the WDC to deal with in the form of Bottas.

I wonder if Nico is helping him. He's started talking a lot like Nico did last season - taking it one race at a time, and staying in the moment.

Valtteri can win this for Mercedes.

He was asked that very question very recently (you can probably find the interview by googling it) and he said he had a chat with Nico in Monaco but hasn't had as much as a text from him since.

[pokerman]

It seems that Mercedes knew of Bottas' and Hamiltons gearbox issues post Baku and have decided to change them at alternate races so the other car still has a good chance to win. Bottas has the same issue that Hamilton had, the gearbox could have lasted this GP too but not Hungary and they feel its better to serve it here than Hungary.

Good thinking by Mercedes.

[KingVoid]

Hamilton now has 1 more contender for the WDC to deal with in the form of Bottas.

I wonder if Nico is helping him. He's started talking a lot like Nico did last season - taking it one race at a time, and staying in the moment.

Valtteri can win this for Mercedes.

Bottas is alot better than Rosberg to begin with so not surprised.

Still bitter about 2016

[jasonthebadger]

Regarding the commentary thing, Ricciardo is painted in a good light here...
However, not to sound bias or anything, but he never has really done anything to be painted in a bad light.

I might also point out that with the exception of the Aus GP, we don't really get much ' Aussie ' commentary.
Channel 10 ( free to air ) gets ( from memory ) 8 races shown in full, the others are all ' highlights ' only.
Foxtel ( Pay TV ) doesn't have ' Aussie ' commentary, just the Sky feed direct from Brundle and co hahaha.

[tootsie323]

I know we are at the British grand prix and I know the Ben Edwards on Channel 4 is British. But what he says shows he clearly respects Hamilton more than Bottas. The tone of voice of Ben Edwards when Bottas first set the fastest lap towards the beginning. He didn't sound that excited. Then when Hamilton had closed up on 2 sectors, He said "and look, he's up by a quarter of a second immediately over his team mate Bottas" Then when Bottas improves, Ben Edwards says in a sort of having to admit so voice "Bottas is improving" and then "Bottas is quicker". But it was 0.566 quicker than Hamilton's time that he seemed to sound like he thought Hamilton's time was incredible. He didn't mention the time gap. Then Bottas remained the faster of the 2 but Edwards kept bringing up that Hamilton was very close (which was true in the end) but Buttas did look to have the edge on Hamilton this session. It seems like Sky and Channel 4 don't like admitting that. I can't remember who it is on this forum who has a line from Ben Edwards comparing Hamilton and Rosberg in a very similar way at the bottom of their page. This was quite a similar thing to that. I much prefer him to Crofty, but the bias towards British drivers is too much sometimes!

I think that was my old sig... so true isn't it.

It was something like, 'Hamilton goes .2 faster, Edwards goes nuclear in his praise, next lap Rosberg goes 0.5 faster - silence'.

I changed it because it made me look anti-Hamilton, but it wasn't, it was anti-Edwards!

From my memory, your sig was more like
"Hamilton goes faster, it was a thumping lap by him, and thrashed whole field, and moments later Rosberg goes faster, then its oh the track evolution is faster

Yes, the track was improving - that was it. The inference being that Rosberg couldn't possibly be going faster on merit!

OK, I'm a day behind here but I had to point out that I recall the use of the word Supernova (I believe it was '... Ben Edwards goes all Supernova [over Hamilton]...').

[UnlikeUday]

Bottas getting a gearbox penalty (with Hamilton getting last week) proves that Mercedes aren't immune to reliability issues which were once assumed that Ferrari would be plagued more with them.

Reliability could be the deciding factor for either of these 3 & may even get Ricciardo breathing under their necks if he's luckier with reliability.

[Warheart01]

Hamilton now has 1 more contender for the WDC to deal with in the form of Bottas.

I wonder if Nico is helping him. He's started talking a lot like Nico did last season - taking it one race at a time, and staying in the moment.

Valtteri can win this for Mercedes.

Bottas is alot better than Rosberg to begin with so not surprised.

Still bitter about 2016

How is me saying that I think Bottas is better making me bitter about 2016?

[Clarky]

Ricciardo gearbox penalty

[UnlikeUday]

Ricciardo's gearbox penalty hopefully doesn't end his podium run:
http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/355858/

[Warheart01]

Hamilton, let's go!!!

[Black_Flag_11]

Ferrari turning up at last, thank f**k for that. Less than a tenth of a second in it too

[Zoue]

Interesting quote on driver lines:

11:33 Kimi is the only driver I can see hugging the inside kerb in the wrong place at Brooklands. He's taking a much earlier apex than Vettel and it's costing him time. Vettel through here will therefore be chasing the more secure rear end but Kimi the stronger front end. It's not ideal when you have two drivers chasing different characteristics.

http://www.autosport.com/live/commentar ... alifying-2