nudge

Haha, Toto Wolff wanting to cut the bloody thing off with a chainsaw is class I think at some point in the future we're just going to have completely closed cockpits in F1.

Another one to leave way too early, only 51 year old too... Ride in Peace, Waldi... In more positive news though.... Less than a week to go before the red lights go out for the new season of MotoGP!

Recently re-discovered Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom, one of the best - if not THE best - city builder games from the legendary Sierra series. It got me absolutely hooked again. I used to love both Pharaoh and Caesar, but this is great on a completely different level for me. If anyone could recommend any similar games, I'd appreciate it.

McLaren... https://streamable.com/8aqgx

Vietnamese league starts today, all matches are available on youtube. Quảng Nam vs Sài Gòn Hoàng Anh Gia Lai vs B. Bình Dương

Absolutely, and the drivers' vision will be particularly affected in certain situations, such as parts of circuits with elevation changes, so mainly Spa and COTA. Magnussen already said that it could be very problematic in Eau Rouge; that corner is already very dangerous (RIP Stefan Bellof ), and now with halo blocking the view, it could lead to serious accidents.

The original was class and hilariously ridiculous at the same time. A walking carrot? give me a break...This remake looks good too, I'm definitely going to give it a go. I was pissed off when the series ended abruptly without a proper ending, so I'm hoping this is going to resolve that, hehe.

I think Ferrari is definitely closing the gap, but I still expect Mercedes to be upfront. Also, Red Bull look to be extremely close to the top two, I definitely see them in the same ballpark with Ferrari, or veeeeery close to them at the very least. I'm actually quite excited that we might just have a three horse race this season, and the competition in midfield might turn out to be the tightest in recent years. I probably underestimated Haas in my previous post too, they seem to have made huge improvements, and might be just in a position to lead the midfield, although I kinda suspect they might be struggling with developments as the season progresses. At any case, all of this is surely just speculation, as it's impossible to know all variables, and as always, the general picture from the pre-season testing can be very misleading. I think the only thing that's clear is that Sauber will be the last car on the grid, sadly, even with the improved car Here's the final conclusion of the two weeks of testing:

So that's the second engine change in just three days for them. Looks very reliable On a positive note, it looks like the midfield will be extremely close this season. Renault seem to have hugely improved too, I see them as a kind of a dark horse. Also, I've been surprised with Toro Rosso so far, they look to have a pretty fast, reliable car, even if it is said to struggle a bit in low speed corners but makes up for it on the exits. Force India are not impressing, but it's not surprising considering they went testing with a simpler version of the car and will introduce a big update package for the first race of the season. McLaren is definitely fast, so if they can sort themselves out, they'll surely be there leading the upper midfield too. The way I see it at the moment (based purely on testing): Mercedes Red Bull Ferrari Renault McLaren* (if they sort themselves out) Toro Rosso Force India Williams Haas Sauber

Sandbaggers...

They're just so fucking hopeless. Overheating, oil leak, now they're changing the engine. Cooling is a big problem, it's a clear pattern with chassis/engine integration issues even with a new supplier now. Will have to make changes to the bodywork for sure, at the very least to the engine cover; they have by far the smallest inlets from all the cars on the grid and it's obviously not working, even with added cooling holes during Week 1.

Maybe he's planning to join Alonso in endurance racing in the future

Well apparently their latest issues have been caused by a bad batch of batteries supplied by Renault who took full responsibility (Red Bull also had some issues with that). However, McLaren also had a hydraulic leak that led to loss of hydraulic pressure yesterday too, it's unclear what's the reason for that, could be bad design/manufacturing. They appeared to have some cooling issues during the first test week, and even had to cut engine cover for more air (and that's although it was damn cold and snowing!) and well, they also lost a wheel due to failed wheel bolt or nut

That sounds like fun. I used to love bus trips, still do, but it can be so exhausting if it's more than a couple of hours... no fun getting old haha.

Yeah, Mclaren have been experiencing problems since the start of the testing last week; first wheel nut failure and broken exhaust, then overheating resulting in burn marks on the engine cover, now battery fail/electric shutdown and lost data. Can't blame Honda this time though

Have fun, haha... I worked until late last night to finish all my urgent projects, so just got up a while ago. Ordered a pizza, will lay in bed and watch football/movies and drink beer the whole day.

You know you're having a great Friday when you're casually approached by a Jehovah's Witness sitting next to your table at a restaurant while you are waiting for your food, and have to learn about the imminent Armageddon, the Second Coming of Christ and the cleansing of the Earth. Just wanted to give you the all a heads up too

I actually don't have anything against Sirotkin, he's not the first and surely not the last pay-driver, he wanted to get into F1 and did all he had to - but he should be prepared to deal with the consequences of what he correctly described as "every man for himself" if things don't go his way from the very start.

It's funny how I heard completely opposite about Williams testing; from what I've heard, apparently Sirotkin had better single lap times while Kubica was stronger on long runs I actually believe that both performed at a very similar level, so in the end, Williams chose the one with more sponsorship money - once again, definitely a speculation since we're in no position to know any of the actual details, but most of the sources I read have mentioned 8-12 million Euro as Kubica's sponsorship budget, while Sirotkin's team offered almost twice as much. Whether it's true or not, the team was always going to waffle about choosing the best driver based on ability and what not either way, so I guess we'll only see how he does when the time comes.

Not to mention that they basically screwed Kubica over by choosing Sirotkin over him because money, despite having allegedly agreed on contract terms already. Williams has become a huge joke, a billionaires playground for their kids. Oh and Martini is leaving them too. Anyway, not feeling sorry for Sirotkin either, just a while ago he gave an interview where he said something along the lines that "it's every man for himself in F1, and Kubica knows this", so he should surely be alright with this.

To be honest, I wouldn't want to go back to being a student and have to do assignments, submit papers, etc.

Yes yes, the hard life of a student...

Bring beer and Brötchen, thanks

+32 during the day, +24 at night, light breeze, about 70-80% humidity Best weather of the year at the moment, but the rainy season is slowly approaching...

GP Predictor is cool.