2018 Italian Grand Prix Thread

[Miguel98]

So, Daniel Ricciardo's poor luck continues:

Poor man.

[UncreativeUsername37]

From an entertainment perspective, Ricciardo getting a grid penalty at Monza isn't a bad thing.

[RonDenisDeletraz]

Looks like McLaren need to raid the old spare parts bin before Monza

[Rob Dylan]

Pérez fastest in first practice? This new Racing Point team has got some speed, hasn't it!

[good_Ralf]

My goodness, what a horrific crash for Ericsson! Good thing he's alright after rolling like that.

[Paul Hayes]

Quite funny that one moment Brundle was saying in commentary that he didn't think Ferrari would be too fussed about which way round the cars were, then the next moment Vettel demonstrated on the radio that he, at least, certainly was fussed!

I also enjoyed Alonso's I-don't-care-any-more laughter in his radio message about the Magnussen incident.

Well done to Raikkonen for getting the pole, but I can't see him winning the race tomorrow.

[Nuppiz]

Nice.

Now watch Ferrari finding a new way to ruin Kimi's race anyway.

[good_Ralf]

Now watch Ferrari finding a new way to ruin Kimi's race anyway.

You savage! But I fear you're right.

[Rob Dylan]

I agree that Alonso's care-free attitude in qualifying was just brilliant. "Oh well, it happens. I mean he ruined my qualifying, but also his own, so oh well". He honestly sounds contented and happy for once, and after all the misery of the last few seasons, it's refreshing to know he can still laugh.

I also agree that, in spite of everything, I can't see Kimi winning tomorrow. But I'll happily be proven wrong.

[mario]

Now watch Ferrari finding a new way to ruin Kimi's race anyway.

You savage! But I fear you're right.

Assuming that Kimi doesn't find a way of ruining it himself - at least in qualifying this season, he's been in a position where he was on a fast enough lap to potentially take pole, but then ruined it with a mistake during the lap.

I do agree that it is unlikely that Kimi will be allowed to win given that Vettel is the one spearheading their tilt at the WDC, except in the unlikely scenario where something has gone badly wrong for Vettel and put him out of contention for the win. As Paul notes, Vettel sounded quite annoyed both over the radio and in the post qualifying interviews (where he bluntly refused to explain what he meant by his comments over the radio), and gave the impression that he expects Ferrari to move Kimi out of the way.

[Enforcer]

And Lewis will now leapfrog Raikkonen.

[Barbazza]

Barely watching it now, another depressing Mercedes win coming so I don't need to see the screen - I can just hear Crofty wanking himself off to work out what's happening with Lewis and / or Max.

Questions: 1) Are the stewards having a day off? OK, it would probably have been concluded as a racing incident but no investigation of Ericsson puncturing Hartley's tyre (yet again zero luck for Brendon)? And Perez / Magnussen surely should have been investigated?

2) How many times are Mercedes going to get away with the pit stop bluffs? AFAIK it's against the rules. I know their friends at Sky think they're genuinely making late decisions but it happens so often that I really don't think so.

[Barbazza]

Oh, Max pushing people off and Crofty defending him. Whatever next?

[Pacific Edge]

Barely watching it now, another depressing Mercedes win coming so I don't need to see the screen - I can just hear Crofty wanking himself off to work out what's happening with Lewis and / or Max.

Ugh, yeah, you are right on all counts there

[good_Ralf]

Barely watching it now, another depressing Mercedes win coming so I don't need to see the screen - I can just hear Crofty wanking himself off to work out what's happening with Lewis and / or Max.

Hey, keep it family-friendly Barbazza!!

[Barbazza]

Damn, was hoping for Valtteri to perform a Christian Fittipaldi tribute act there by driving over Max's car, just for the hell of it. That would've cheered me up. Now I'm going to watch the cricket, where Sky regularly prove that they actually CAN provide an insightful and unbiased commentary on some sports at least.

[mario]

Barely watching it now, another depressing Mercedes win coming so I don't need to see the screen - I can just hear Crofty wanking himself off to work out what's happening with Lewis and / or Max.

Hey, keep it family-friendly Barbazza!!

Whilst you have not disguised your dislike of him, I do nevertheless have to agree with others that it would be preferable if you could keep your language a bit cleaner and more "family friendly", as has been the prevailing attitude in the past.

[Nuppiz]

And yet another first-lap collision where Lewis escapes without major damage.

To be fair he's leading the championship for a reason, but he's also had devilishly good luck this season as well.

[dinizintheoven]

This is for all the Germans who were watching on RTL. I had the sound off at the time (with cricket commentary on the radio instead), plus my German's nowhere near good enough to understand what was going on anyway. What was the presentation to Kai Ebel all about, that Martin Brundle and Maurizio Arrivabene were involved in? Is it a long-service award?

Meanwhile, further to what Barb just said, I am looking forward to Sky's extortionately-priced commentary next year about as much as I'm looking forward to attending a political conference (and you can insert any party at all into that comment with the exception of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, who might at least provide a game of "spot the joke policy that will one day be written into law"). The worst bit is, I'll have to watch every single second of free practice, qualifying, the race, and (as my gran used to say) "all that endless rabbiting" if I want to be anywhere near assured that I'm getting my money's worth. If all that "endless rabbiting" is just Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert and co. banging a drum and shouting "LEWIS! LEWIS! LEWIS!" while trying to find some way of blaming all the ills of the world on Sebastian Vettel then, for the first time ever, watching F1 is going to be absolute purgatory.

And yet, I can't stop. It'd be like breaking a 29-year marriage. How long it'll be before it turns into Stockholm Syndrome is yet to be determined.

[Barbazza]

Whilst you have not disguised your dislike of him, I do nevertheless have to agree with others that it would be preferable if you could keep your language a bit cleaner and more "family friendly", as has been the prevailing attitude in the past.

Apologies. If I'm honest, I thought the swear word blocking algorithm would probably tackle that word, but evidently not.

[Barbazza]

Meanwhile, further to what Barb just said, I am looking forward to Sky's extortionately-priced commentary next year about as much as I'm looking forward to attending a political conference (and you can insert any party at all into that comment with the exception of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party, who might at least provide a game of "spot the joke policy that will one day be written into law"). The worst bit is, I'll have to watch every single second of free practice, qualifying, the race, and (as my gran used to say) "all that endless rabbiting" if I want to be anywhere near assured that I'm getting my money's worth. If all that "endless rabbiting" is just Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert and co. banging a drum and shouting "LEWIS! LEWIS! LEWIS!" while trying to find some way of blaming all the ills of the world on Sebastian Vettel then, for the first time ever, watching F1 is going to be absolute purgatory.

And yet, I can't stop. It'd be like breaking a 29-year marriage. How long it'll be before it turns into Stockholm Syndrome is yet to be determined.

Glad it's not just me. I'm hoping that the delay in F1 TV announcing anything at all about next year's prices / lineup of commentators etc. is either because a) They're not allowed to until the season's over or b) They're still in negotiation with the only decent people working on F1 or C4's coverage, which for me would basically be: Martin Brundle (he'd be fine removed from Crofty I think, doubt he'd shift though), Ben Edwards (not great, but better than Crofty), Lee McKenzie, Karun Chandhok and at a push Anthony Davidson (he's been all over the place this year, but he used to be good)

[mario]

Whilst you have not disguised your dislike of him, I do nevertheless have to agree with others that it would be preferable if you could keep your language a bit cleaner and more "family friendly", as has been the prevailing attitude in the past.

Apologies. If I'm honest, I thought the swear word blocking algorithm would probably tackle that word, but evidently not.

That's OK - although the algorithm does catch some things, it's not quite that intelligent and quite a few bits do slip through.

[Paul Hayes]

A shame Kimi couldn't hang on for the win - I would have liked to have seen him do it.

[mario]

OK, it sounds as if we've suddenly got a bit of late drama - it's been announced that Renault have unexpectedly lodged a protest against Grosjean "for clarification on the legality of the HaasF1 Team VF-18". https://www.racefans.net/2018/09/02/ren ... -grosjean/

[Samster]

Annnnd that's me done for this season. Congrats 2018 and Lewis you managed to break me even sooner than 2017 did. And because there is no way I'm ever subscribing for Sky Sports, me watching F1 live is likely a thing of the past now.

[Londoner]

Aaaaand RoGro's been disqualified.

This means Sergey Sirotkin gets a point for 10th.

[good_Ralf]

So everyone on the grid has scored , but then again, Haas lose 4th in the constructors (for now?)
And Racing Point are now in 7th if my math is correct.

[mario]

So everyone on the grid has scored , but then again, Haas lose 4th in the constructors (for now?)
And Racing Point are now in 7th if my math is correct.

Yes, if Grosjean is disqualified from the race, that would put Force India on 32 points and move them into 7th place. Haas, meanwhile, would drop back to 76 points, putting them 10 points behind Renault (who'd gain 2 points due to Sainz Jr being moved up a place).

It's a pretty detailed point that he's been picked up on - the front corners of the floor had the wrong radius of curvature - which makes me suspect it might well have been a fabrication issue rather than deliberate cheating. Still, it sounds like it's a fairly straightforward breach and one I suspect Haas probably won't really have much of an answer to.

[Spectoremg]

I won't miss Ben Edwards next season (hopefully he'll fade into obscurity), his over excited strangulation commentary is getting on my nerves.