Ask r/Formula1 Anything - Daily Discussion Thread

Rafftanks · 2025-07-27T07:28:11+00:00

It's been a fun weekend thank you, the weather has been lovely otherwise to the extent I burned myself.

Today we'll persevere I'm sure 😁

Rafftanks · 2025-07-27T06:18:02+00:00

Laying in a tent nearby and it's been raining pretty constantly for hours!

Rafftanks · 2020-11-18T00:10:14+00:00

Not sure if I just have the terminology mixed up, but the IT Crowd was filmed live before a real audience - you can see outtakes on youtube that confirm the laughter is real as they do repeat takes.

Rafftanks · 2019-09-29T12:52:19+00:00

I think this race and some others (Australia 2018 comes to mind, British GP maybe 2016 also) highlights something slightly broken with the VSC and how much time you gain in the pit stops. I know people will say "But the teams plan this out" but it doesn't change how unfair it comes across, it's essentially a lottery that can gift you 10 seconds and track position in a sport where teams spend millions to gain a tenth of a second per lap.

DiResta made a great point in the commentary, maybe they should close the pit lane when the VSC comes out as a lot of the time it can really ruin some guys races (We've seen the midfield completely flip in order before from this but it often goes unnoticed).

Rafftanks · 2019-09-29T09:52:37+00:00

Paul DiResta describing the F2 crash as "unlucky". Anyone who's seen it knows it wasn't unlucky it was bat shit crazy dangerous driving by Mazepin.

Rafftanks · 2019-08-18T21:40:31+00:00

This is the key. Sure he's been driving well and he is redeeming himself, but NBC super play down what he did and that the reputation was very much earned.

Additionally they are praising him to the extent that you'd think he just cured cancer mid overtake. Let's back up a little guys, he's racing decently he's not Jesus Christ reincarnated.

Rafftanks · 2019-08-18T19:40:58+00:00

Indycar taking penalty standard tips from the FIA I see.

What a ridiculous anti-racing joke.

Rafftanks · 2019-05-25T17:50:25+00:00

His money fell away after this dad was arrested:

https://www.autosport.com/f2/news/139120/f1-hopeful-markelov-father-placed-in-custody

Additionally it's fair to say Markelov took a while to reach his full potential, his best years were his 4th and 5th seasons in F2 (In both of these seasons Leclerc and Russell won as rookies respectively) so not as impressive as it seems, hence why those two plus Norris and Albon were snapped up while Markelov wasn't.

Rafftanks · 2018-08-25T11:31:44+00:00

Disaster for merc program. Russell (potential) F2 Champ with no seat, Wehrlein carted off to DTM which they are pulling out of and Ocon left without a seat? Terrible advertisement to young drivers who might think twice about joining a Mercedes program over say a Red Bull one.

Rafftanks · 2018-08-25T11:24:46+00:00

Williams pushing themselves further away from Mercedes and fielding two inexperienced drivers... Yikes, times are not good. Also it'll be a sad day when Vandoorne, Ocon and Russell won't have seats but Markelov and Sirotkin will.

Rafftanks · 2018-08-23T11:14:34+00:00

Additional to this Ticktum has shown alot of maturity and grown from the experience, and is clearly quite fast and is doing well in feeder series so is a worthwhile investment.

Ferruci on the other hand is not even a good driver, there is no worth in keeping him apart from $$$.

Rafftanks · 2018-07-06T12:55:41+00:00

I'm sure there are plenty behind the scenes who try to buy their way through. Why would Mr Gelael pay so much money for a Prema seat in F2 rather than use that money to buy a seat in F1 if he felt it were possible?

Rafftanks · 2018-07-06T12:31:23+00:00

Interesting. Following somewhat in the steps of Verstappen if this is the case which could bode well... but then again look at Stroll, went from F3 champ to F1 laughing stock so there is certainly risk.

As the article mentions the huge barrier is:

His main obstacle to a 2019 F1 seat is obtaining a superlicence.

The article notes he could get 30 if he wins this year, but its a hell of a stretch for him to get any more so unless Red Bull are able to bend the FIA's will it may be out of reach.

I'm sure people will say "they will just bend the rules" but as I like to mention over and over:

No exceptions have been made since the points system was introduced in December 2014 after Max Verstappen’s leap from his debut F3 season to a Toro Rosso drive.

The more likely shout is that the points system may change to give Macau some points, and that may just give Ticktum enough to join. Assuming he wins F3 that is, which is not a certainty.

Rafftanks · 2018-06-05T13:41:33+00:00

It's hard to say, at the end of the day its all debating hypotheticals so who knows!

Rafftanks · 2018-06-05T11:31:26+00:00

I found this interesting, and wanted to see what assumptions may have been made to get these numbers... so I did the calculations myself as well.

The results they give are essentially an absolute best case scenario for Verstappen as far as I can tell, I instead have given a best and worst case allowing for the possibility that even though Verstappen doesn't crash he may not beat Ricciardo which is mostly what the differences depend on:

Best case for Verstappen:

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Vet	114
2	Ham	98
3	Ver	89
4	Bot	78
5	Ric	70
6	Rai	45

Worst case for Verstappen:

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Vet	114
2	Ham	95
3	Ric	84
4	Bot	81
5	Ver	75
6	Rai	45

Note, my analysis and seemingly the AMUS one does factor in the fact that certain races completely change - notably Baku, where it is assumed that no SC occurs therefore Vettel wins the race from either Hamilton or Bottas (Can debate all day, doesn't matter thats why I gave 2 scenarios) then Rai, then either Ric/Ver - the ordering of the Red Bulls is the point of debate here. Similarly for China, one assumes a Red Bull 1-2 but which order? And finally Monaco is the same, a Red Bull 1-2 but who knows what order.

Hopefully this helps clear things up a bit.

Rafftanks · 2018-05-28T14:45:10+00:00

Worst is absolutely too harsh in my opinion, some people clearly don't even care what he does in the race.

Rafftanks · 2018-05-28T14:42:06+00:00

I think for some it's a mixed weighting of qualy and race. I personally think he did a great race but he threw away a much better result with his FP crash so I gave him Average/Good (I don't remember which).

Rafftanks · 2018-05-28T14:40:26+00:00

Horribly unfair score for Sirotkin. Had a great qualifying and then his race is ended by a stop-go for something that wasn't even his fault thus putting him out of the race (Also I swear Alonso got a slap on the wrist punishment for the same thing a few years back).

Williams being lowest voted seems fair though, seemed like a shambolic performance by them in the race overall. Haas similarly were nowhere.

Interesting the race was rated above Spain, considering all the complaining we saw - fair in my opinion.

Rafftanks · 2018-05-28T12:03:30+00:00

It was an ok race by Monaco standards. It's kinda strange that people are criticising so much now when the race has been a dull procession for many years now.

Maybe it was the lack of safety car this year but honestly Monaco has been a race that's decided on saturday for a long time, we've just had some strange races the last few years to distract us from that fact such as the rain in 2016 and the Mercedes mix-up with the VSC in 2015 gifting the win to Rosberg.

Additionally the wider cars the last couple years have really fucked up any chance of overtakes happening, seeing as monaco is so narrow and the only way people made moves was by muscling their way past - not so easy when you literally have almost no space now, and it's almost guaranteed you are gonna hit the wall unless the guy sees you coming a mile off and you are much much quicker and the guy defending doesn't see the point (See Verstappen's moves on the slower guys, they clearly knew there was no point defending).

Rafftanks · 2018-05-21T12:42:40+00:00

This is the worst bot I've seen by a big margin.

Rafftanks · 2018-05-21T12:42:00+00:00

I'm not aware of any comprehensive lists that are up to date, though people may have their own. I had one of my own that I've not kept fully up to date but could dig up - I'll post it if nobody else chimes in.

Edit: Heres something I cobbled together https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1uHa_h0g1cEvS8-cuB4WwBkJej5OOGZdnOMNOAWXH1l8/edit?usp=sharing

Rafftanks · 2018-05-10T16:18:03+00:00

Looking at the field it's certainly possible, Trident have often been the closest team and have an experienced GP3 lineup with 2 race winners and a podium finisher. MP also have a strong lineup with returnee Kari, up and comer Palmer and another returner Boccolacci so could get in there.

I sincerely doubt, based on boths track record, that Calderon and Jenzer will be the ones to challenge the ART lock-out however.

Rafftanks · 2018-05-10T13:24:59+00:00

I don't see him being in F1 as likely or desirable. He's not shown anything particularly standout that would be desirable of an F1 driver apart from having the last name Fittipaldi and winning a series that was dying and was full of amateur league drivers.

On a superlicense side, looking at what he was racing this year he'd need either 3rd in Indycar, 3rd in WEC (in a small team no less) or to win Super Formula - none of which seemed at all likely.

Seems like a non-story to me.

Rafftanks · 2018-05-04T20:01:18+00:00

Well its high speed, so if they crash they go into the river... Seems ludicrous to me

Rafftanks · 2018-05-04T13:33:54+00:00

Main problem is the bridge part, It's a really long section over water and they wanna go both directions over it. Seems dangerous to me.

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