Round 03: China

[Guest Cannabis]

[MUFC]

Another good track like Bahrain, lovemaking opportunities with DRS on the long straight, reminds me of the long straight in Bahrain. Last year Merc struggled with tire temperature, will be very interesting.

Oh Claire Williams.

[Stan]

Lovemaking opportunities

[MUFC]

22 minutes ago, Stan said:

Lovemaking opportunities

Did someone edit? Am certain I put overtaking.

[Tommy]

7 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Guess who's back in China 

[MUFC]

The extra speed that Ferrari have on straights seems to be coming at a price, lets hope its legal. 

[Eco]

Do they usually take 2 weeks off between races? I'm showing this as being a week and a half away so I was curious if that was common in F1 ?

[nudge+]

4 minutes ago, Eco said:

Do they usually take 2 weeks off between races? I'm showing this as being a week and a half away so I was curious if that was common in F1 ?

Yes; pretty much.

[Eco]

And typically speaking, which race is the biggest? Monaco? 

[nudge+]

4 minutes ago, Eco said:

And typically speaking, which race is the biggest? Monaco? 

The one that decides the championship... 

Monaco is the most "prestigious" one due to its history and reputation but it's a highly technical narrow track with pretty much no space for overtaking so bar potential accidents, the race often turns into a procession and is often decided in Saturday's qualification. Some people find it boring, I personally love it.

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Eco said:

And typically speaking, which race is the biggest? Monaco? 

For standard of race-track, Belgium usually has a good reputation, partly in thanks to the well-renowned Eau Rouge corner of the track. Monza, Suzuka and Nurburgring are also fairly traditional and decent tracks to watch races unfold.

For attendance, Silverstone is the most attended - around 300,000+ last season. 

For high profile races, historically Monaco because of the glitz and glamour it brings (the casino, big fancy yachts, the scenery etc) and nowadays Abu Dhabi, again because of the money which comes along with it and behind it. 

Brazil GP is quite good, too - it's had quite a big say in recent years in deciding championships - the one I remember the most was in 2008 (?) when Massa and Hamilton were battling it out. Would have been such a great day for the sport and for romantic reasons if Massa won the Championship on home soil but Hamilton got the win in the end. (those bloody Toyota's and that bloody weather!!).

 

[Eco]

And the one in the US? Is it good? 

[nudge+]

8 minutes ago, Stan said:

For standard of race-track, Belgium usually has a good reputation, partly in thanks to the well-renowned Eau Rouge corner of the track. Monza, Suzuka and Nurburgring are also fairly traditional and decent tracks to watch races unfold.

For attendance, Silverstone is the most attended - around 300,000+ last season. 

For high profile races, historically Monaco because of the glitz and glamour it brings (the casino, big fancy yachts, the scenery etc) and nowadays Abu Dhabi, again because of the money which comes along with it and behind it. 

Brazil GP is quite good, too - it's had quite a big say in recent years in deciding championships - the one I remember the most was in 2008 (?) when Massa and Hamilton were battling it out. Would have been such a great day for the sport and for romantic reasons if Massa won the Championship on home soil but Hamilton got the win in the end. (those bloody Toyota's and that bloody weather!!).

Spa  My absolutely most favourite racing circuit ever. Nürburgring is my close second (although it's because of the Nordschleife; not the GP track), but it's not on F1 calendar anymore anyway although there were talks of it being reinstated in the future. 

[Stan]

5 minutes ago, nudge said:

Spa  My absolutely most favourite racing circuit ever. Nürburgring is my close second (although it's because of the Nordschleife; not the GP track), but it's not on F1 calendar anymore anyway although there were talks of it being reinstated in the future. 

Yeah, Spa is on the bucket list along with Monaco just to say I have attended a race there. 

When I had the F1 2000 game Nurburgring and Hockenheim were my favourite tracks to race (yes, I know it's a game!). 

Barcelona's track is cool because it looks like a gaming controller  

 

[MUFC]

17 minutes ago, Eco said:

And the one in the US? Is it good? 

Yep, its a power track with plenty of overtaking. 

[MUFC]

2 hours ago, Eco said:

Do they usually take 2 weeks off between races? I'm showing this as being a week and a half away so I was curious if that was common in F1 ?

Majority is 2 weeks, now and then a week gap. From last season they introduced the 3 races in 3 weeks to the schedule. Also there is a summer break after the Hungarian GP.

Oh Nigel.

[nudge+]

17 minutes ago, Stan said:

Yeah, Spa is on the bucket list along with Monaco just to say I have attended a race there. 

When I had the F1 2000 game Nurburgring and Hockenheim were my favourite tracks to race (yes, I know it's a game!). 

Barcelona's track is cool because it looks like a gaming controller  

I've been to Spa a few times (for GT races). I'm hoping to go to Hanoi for F1 next year if they don't change anything. But my ultimate racing-related bucket list is attending 24 Hours of Le Mans... 

[Eco]

After watching an episode of the Netflix Documentary..I'm ready for this to happen, so having to wait a week in a half so that I can get up at 3am to watch this is f*cking awful. 

[MUFC]

8 minutes ago, Eco said:

After watching an episode of the Netflix Documentary..I'm ready for this to happen, so having to wait a week in a half so that I can get up at 3am to watch this is f*cking awful. 

Can't you record then watch it when you get up?

[nudge+]

1 minute ago, MUFC said:

Can't you record then watch it when you get up?

I know it's probably strange but I personally just can't watch recorded races or football matches knowing that it already happened and it's not live; it's silly but for me it's just not the same  

[MUFC]

1 minute ago, nudge said:

I know it's probably strange but I personally just can't watch recorded races or football matches knowing that it already happened and it's not live; it's silly but for me it's just not the same  

Same here, but since 1995 have only missed around 4 races and when I missed them I felt like shit for a few days. Use to watch recorded games but I couldn't control myself and had to check the result.

 

[Eco]

1 hour ago, MUFC said:

Can't you record then watch it when you get up?

I could, but I don't enjoy that at all. I don't do it for the Australian Open, Tour de France, or the Olympics/World Cup. I like to watch it live. 

[Eco]

5 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Watch Austin my friend, F1 does go to the US of A.

I will. I also know it comes to this side of the world so the time change won't be a massive thing, but China will be tough, but it'll be my first time, so here goes my F1 Virginity. 

[RandoEFC+]

Guys, this is the 1000th Formula One Grand Prix and nobody has mentioned that yet.

 

100th Grand Prix

The 1961 German Grand Prix at the world famous Nurburgring Nordschleiffe circuit. Unheard of nowadays, this Grand Prix was run on the 22.8km circuit, 15 laps long in the wet weather. Phil Hill's Ferrari took pole position with a time of 8 minutes and 55.2 seconds, but it was Stirling Moss who won the race in his Lotus-Climax. Moss was considered one of the best racing drivers never to win the world championship (finishing runner-up on four occasions, and third in the standings three times, including this year) and this was the last of his 16 career victories.

 

200th Grand Prix

The 1971 Monaco Grand Prix was won from pole position by Jackie Stewart in his Tyrrell-Ford. Stewart's pole position time was 1 minute 23.2 seconds, which seems incredibly low before you consider that back in 1971, the Monte Carlo track had a slightly different layout. Most notably, the chicane at the exit to Monaco's famous tunnel was much more of a kink and less of a chicane than it is in the modern format. Jackie Stewart went on to win the 1971 Drivers' Championship, the second of his three world titles.

 

300th Grand Prix

The 1978 South African Grand Prix. The third century of Formula One Grands Prix took just seven years to complete this time around. Although a Grand Prix in South Africa doesn't really exist in recent memory, this was a round on the calendar for most years between 1960 and 1993. In 1978, Tyrrell-Ford almost backed up their win at GP200 with another one here, but their French driver Patrick Depailler was passed on the last lap by Swede Ronnie Peterson in his Lotus-Ford, victor despite only leading the final lap of the race. 300 races into the Formula One world championship, this one's pole-sitter Niki Lauda was already a world champion, while future champion Keke Rosberg made his first appearance here.

 

400th Grand Prix

Once upon a time the Red Bull Ring in Austria was called the Osterreichring, and at the 1984 Austrian Grand Prix, Niki Lauda took the win at his home Grand Prix in his McLaren-TAG, ahead of pole-sitter Nelson Piquet in his Brabham-BMW. Lauda went on to win his third and final world championship in 1984, while Tyrrell, a superpower in Formula One as evidenced by their contributions to races 200 and 300, failed to qualify for this one, lapping 10 and 11 seconds slower than pole position in qualifying. Remind you of Williams at all?

 

500th Grand Prix

We're halfway through Formula One world championship history now, and it's already the 1990 season finale at Adelaide. The Drivers' Championship has already been decided in favour of Ayrton Senna, his second of three titles, and he took his 52nd pole position at this Grand Prix. It's worth pointing out just how good Senna was in qualifying, having taken more than 10% of all Formula One pole positions ever despite sitting comfortably in what should have been the middle of his career. The race didn't go Senna's way, as he spun off with gearbox issues, allowing compatriot Nelson Piquet who went one better than his 2nd place in race number 400 to stand on the top of the podium here.

 

600th Grand Prix

The 1997 Argentine Grand Prix, and the penultimate Argentine Grand Prix to date. This was the third race of a 1997 season which was dominated by the championship battle between Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher. Villeneuve, in his second year in a dominant Williams car, won the race from pole position on his way to his one and only world championship title. Schumacher, already a double world champion with Benetton, was in the title hunt until the final race in the inferior but improving Ferrari, and infamously turned in on Jacques Villeneuve when the Canadian tried to overtake him at the season-ending race at Jerez. Michael Schumacher was later adjudged to have attempted to deliberately crash into his rival in order to deny him the championship, and was disqualified altogether from the 1997 drivers' standings. 

 

700th Grand Prix

The 700th Formula One Grand Prix is probably the most dramatic and controversial race on this list. The 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix was run under torrential conditions, with several phases of the race run behind the safety car. A dramatic collision between Ralph Firman and Olivier Panis set the tone for the rest of the Grand Prix, as the standing water on Turn 3 later saw to the chances of a star-studded selection of drivers including Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jenson Button. Schumacher's accident allowed team-mate Rubens Barrichello the opportunity to fulfil his dream of winning his home race, but his Ferrari's failing fuel system eliminated him from the lead of the Grand Prix. Always the gamblers, Jordan had fuelled their young Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella to the brim amidst the chaos, and Fisi passed the McLaren-Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen on the 54th lap of the Grand Prix.

Now it gets really complicated, as a huge incident involving Mark Webber and then Fernando Alonso on lap 55 caused the race to be red-flagged and concluded as over 70% of the race had been completed. In these circumstances, the race victory is awarded to the leader of the race 2 laps before the red flag, in this case, Kimi Raikkonen led at the end of the 53rd lap, and so was awarded the victory and took his place on the top step of the podium. On further inspection, it was later discovered that race leader Giancarlo Fisichella had started the 56th lap of the race before the red flag was waved, meaning that the result had to be adjusted to award victory to the race leader on lap 54, which was Giancarlo Fisichella. In surreal circumstances, a special ceremony took place at the next Grand Prix weekend at Imola, where Kimi Raikkonen awarded the race-winner's trophy to the real winner, Fisichella.

 

800th Grand Prix

We are getting stuck into modern Formula One history now, with the first Singapore Grand Prix in 2008 playing host to the 800th Formula One Grand Prix. Felipe Massa led the race from pole position before a crash by Nelson Piquet Jr brought out a safety car early in the race, playing into the hands of his Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso who had just pitted on his three-stop strategy. The safety car period prompted a rush for the pit-lane, and the ensuing panic led to one of the iconic images of the 2008 title battle between Massa and Lewis Hamilton, as Ferrari famously released their driver without properly detaching the fuel rig from the car, causing the previous race leader to drive the length of the pits with Ferrari mechanics sprinting to catch up and remove the pipe from the car. Following the safety car period, Fernando Alonso went on to win his first Grand Prix of the year, while Massa went on to lose the championship to Lewis Hamilton by a single point.

The story of Singapore 2008 didn't finish there. A year later, when Renault team principal eventually pulled the plug on Nelson Piquet Jr's unsuccessful spell in Formula One, it emerged that Piquet's crash, which so conveniently benefited his team-mate Alonso, was actually a premeditated and deliberate ploy to manipulate the conditions of the race to allow the Renault team a chance at victory. Unsurprisingly, Piquet was slapped with a lifetime ban from Formula One, along with the always controversial Renault team principal, Flavio Briatore.

 

900th Grand Prix

The 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix was dominated by Mercedes, highlighting just how much of a spell they have enjoyed at the pinnacle of Formula One in the turbo-hybrid era. Nico Rosberg got the better of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, but was beaten off the line by the British driver. The two silver arrows duelled throughout the Grand Prix, but it was Hamilton who came out on top and held off his team-mate for the win. The two Mercedes drivers fought throughout the season for supremacy in the drivers' standings, until Hamilton won five consecutive races between Italy and the United States to secure his second World Championship title, his first of four so far for Mercedes. The team went on to win the constructors' championship by almost 300 points ahead of Red Bull, and was the first of five consecutive double championship wins for them.

 

1000th Grand Prix

...

[Tommy]

3 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Guys, this is the 1000th Formula One Grand Prix and nobody has mentioned that yet.

 

100th Grand Prix

The 1961 German Grand Prix at the world famous Nurburgring Nordschleiffe circuit. Unheard of nowadays, this Grand Prix was run on the 22.8km circuit, 15 laps long in the wet weather. Phil Hill's Ferrari took pole position with a time of 8 minutes and 55.2 seconds, but it was Stirling Moss who won the race in his Lotus-Climax. Moss was considered one of the best racing drivers never to win the world championship (finishing runner-up on four occasions, and third in the standings three times, including this year) and this was the last of his 16 career victories.

 

200th Grand Prix

The 1971 Monaco Grand Prix was won from pole position by Jackie Stewart in his Tyrrell-Ford. Stewart's pole position time was 1 minute 23.2 seconds, which seems incredibly low before you consider that back in 1971, the Monte Carlo track had a slightly different layout. Most notably, the chicane at the exit to Monaco's famous tunnel was much more of a kink and less of a chicane than it is in the modern format. Jackie Stewart went on to win the 1971 Drivers' Championship, the second of his three world titles.

 

300th Grand Prix

The 1978 South African Grand Prix. The third century of Formula One Grands Prix took just seven years to complete this time around. Although a Grand Prix in South Africa doesn't really exist in recent memory, this was a round on the calendar for most years between 1960 and 1993. In 1978, Tyrrell-Ford almost backed up their win at GP200 with another one here, but their French driver Patrick Depailler was passed on the last lap by Swede Ronnie Peterson in his Lotus-Ford, victor despite only leading the final lap of the race. 300 races into the Formula One world championship, this one's pole-sitter Niki Lauda was already a world champion, while future champion Keke Rosberg made his first appearance here.

 

400th Grand Prix

Once upon a time the Red Bull Ring in Austria was called the Osterreichring, and at the 1984 Austrian Grand Prix, Niki Lauda took the win at his home Grand Prix in his McLaren-TAG, ahead of pole-sitter Nelson Piquet in his Brabham-BMW. Lauda went on to win his third and final world championship in 1984, while Tyrrell, a superpower in Formula One as evidenced by their contributions to races 200 and 300, failed to qualify for this one, lapping 10 and 11 seconds slower than pole position in qualifying. Remind you of Williams at all?

 

500th Grand Prix

We're halfway through Formula One world championship history now, and it's already the 1990 season finale at Adelaide. The Drivers' Championship has already been decided in favour of Ayrton Senna, his second of three titles, and he took his 52nd pole position at this Grand Prix. It's worth pointing out just how good Senna was in qualifying, having taken more than 10% of all Formula One pole positions ever despite sitting comfortably in what should have been the middle of his career. The race didn't go Senna's way, as he spun off with gearbox issues, allowing compatriot Nelson Piquet who went one better than his 2nd place in race number 400 to stand on the top of the podium here.

 

600th Grand Prix

The 1997 Argentine Grand Prix, and the penultimate Argentine Grand Prix to date. This was the third race of a 1997 season which was dominated by the championship battle between Jacques Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher. Villeneuve, in his second year in a dominant Williams car, won the race from pole position on his way to his one and only world championship title. Schumacher, already a double world champion with Benetton, was in the title hunt until the final race in the inferior but improving Ferrari, and infamously turned in on Jacques Villeneuve when the Canadian tried to overtake him at the season-ending race at Jerez. Michael Schumacher was later adjudged to have attempted to deliberately crash into his rival in order to deny him the championship, and was disqualified altogether from the 1997 drivers' standings. 

 

700th Grand Prix

The 700th Formula One Grand Prix is probably the most dramatic and controversial race on this list. The 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix was run under torrential conditions, with several phases of the race run behind the safety car. A dramatic collision between Ralph Firman and Olivier Panis set the tone for the rest of the Grand Prix, as the standing water on Turn 3 later saw to the chances of a star-studded selection of drivers including Michael Schumacher, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jenson Button. Schumacher's accident allowed team-mate Rubens Barrichello the opportunity to fulfil his dream of winning his home race, but his Ferrari's failing fuel system eliminated him from the lead of the Grand Prix. Always the gamblers, Jordan had fuelled their young Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella to the brim amidst the chaos, and Fisi passed the McLaren-Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen on the 54th lap of the Grand Prix.

Now it gets really complicated, as a huge incident involving Mark Webber and then Fernando Alonso on lap 55 caused the race to be red-flagged and concluded as over 70% of the race had been completed. In these circumstances, the race victory is awarded to the leader of the race 2 laps before the red flag, in this case, Kimi Raikkonen led at the end of the 53rd lap, and so was awarded the victory and took his place on the top step of the podium. On further inspection, it was later discovered that race leader Giancarlo Fisichella had started the 56th lap of the race before the red flag was waved, meaning that the result had to be adjusted to award victory to the race leader on lap 54, which was Giancarlo Fisichella. In surreal circumstances, a special ceremony took place at the next Grand Prix weekend at Imola, where Kimi Raikkonen awarded the race-winner's trophy to the real winner, Fisichella.

 

800th Grand Prix

We are getting stuck into modern Formula One history now, with the first Singapore Grand Prix in 2008 playing host to the 800th Formula One Grand Prix. Felipe Massa led the race from pole position before a crash by Nelson Piquet Jr brought out a safety car early in the race, playing into the hands of his Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso who had just pitted on his three-stop strategy. The safety car period prompted a rush for the pit-lane, and the ensuing panic led to one of the iconic images of the 2008 title battle between Massa and Lewis Hamilton, as Ferrari famously released their driver without properly detaching the fuel rig from the car, causing the previous race leader to drive the length of the pits with Ferrari mechanics sprinting to catch up and remove the pipe from the car. Following the safety car period, Fernando Alonso went on to win his first Grand Prix of the year, while Massa went on to lose the championship to Lewis Hamilton by a single point.

The story of Singapore 2008 didn't finish there. A year later, when Renault team principal eventually pulled the plug on Nelson Piquet Jr's unsuccessful spell in Formula One, it emerged that Piquet's crash, which so conveniently benefited his team-mate Alonso, was actually a premeditated and deliberate ploy to manipulate the conditions of the race to allow the Renault team a chance at victory. Unsurprisingly, Piquet was slapped with a lifetime ban from Formula One, along with the always controversial Renault team principal, Flavio Briatore.

 

900th Grand Prix

The 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix was dominated by Mercedes, highlighting just how much of a spell they have enjoyed at the pinnacle of Formula One in the turbo-hybrid era. Nico Rosberg got the better of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, but was beaten off the line by the British driver. The two silver arrows duelled throughout the Grand Prix, but it was Hamilton who came out on top and held off his team-mate for the win. The two Mercedes drivers fought throughout the season for supremacy in the drivers' standings, until Hamilton won five consecutive races between Italy and the United States to secure his second World Championship title, his first of four so far for Mercedes. The team went on to win the constructors' championship by almost 300 points ahead of Red Bull, and was the first of five consecutive double championship wins for them.

 

1000th Grand Prix

...

I love how between the 800th and 900th Grand Prix we jumped over Vettel's dominant era where he won four consecutive world titles