Formula One 2018

    Rumors from Spain are alleging that a frustrated Fernando Alonso will likely depart McLaren at the end of the current season.


    According to Spanish publication Diario Gol, there's a strong chance the two-time world champion - disappointed and tired of F1 - will call it a day at the end of 2018 and vacate his McLaren seat in favour of promising F2 junior Lando Norris.


    McLaren boss Zak Brown recently said the Woking-based outfit had yet to contract its drivers for 2019, although it is believed the team has options on both Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne for next year.


    Alonso fed up of being asked about Ferrari and Honda

    Should Alonso indeed decide to jump ship at the end of the season, it's highly unlikely he would join either Mercedes or Ferrari where coveted drives could become available.


    Pairing the Spaniard with either Lewis Hamilton at the Silver Arrows team or Sebastian Vettel at the Scuderia would likely be e recipe for inner-team disruption.


    In the event that he should turn away from Grand Prix racing, Alonso would probably focus his efforts on the World Endurance Championship or the Indy 500 as part of his Triple Crown motorsport ambitions.


    The 36-year-old F1 veteran is racing with Toyota in this year's WEC, with the Le Mans 24 Hours the centerpiece of Alonso's involvement with the Japanese manufacturer.

    Just looking at the drivers line up apart from those that have won World Titles, there are only 3 other drivers on the grid that have won a grand prix.. Ricciardo - 6, Verstappen -3 and Bottas -3. Though there is quite a few new drivers on the grid this year and last year.

    Vettel on Pole :(.... Hamilton 2nd and Bottas 3rd in

    Azerbaijan Grand Prix

    Daniel in 4th has beaten his team mate :)




    Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Qualifying


    Pos Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3

    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:42.762s 1:43.015s 1:41.498s

    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42.693s 1:42.676s 1:41.677s

    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:43.355s 1:42.679s 1:41.837s

    4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:42.857s 1:43.482s 1:41.911s

    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:42.642s 1:42.901s 1:41.994s

    6 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:42.538s 1:42.510s 1:42.490s

    7 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:43.021s 1:42.967s 1:42.523s

    8 Sergio Pérez Force India 1:43.992s 1:43.366s 1:42.547s

    9 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:43.746s 1:43.232s 1:43.066s

    10 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:43.426s 1:43.464s 1:43.351s

    11 Lance Stroll Williams 1:44.359s 1:43.585s

    12 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:44.261s 1:43.886s

    13 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:44.010s 1:44.019s

    14 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:43.752s 1:44.074s

    15 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:43.674s 1:44.759s

    16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:44.489s

    17 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:44.496s

    18 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:45.541s

    19 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:57.354s

    20 Romain Grosjean Haas


    Hamilton on Pole for the Spanish Grand Prix


    1) Hamilton 1:16.173


    2) Bottas +0.040


    3) Vettel +0.132


    4) Raikkonen +0.439


    5) Verstappen +0.643


    6) Ricciardo


    7) Magnussen


    8) Alonso 8)


    9) Sainz


    10) Grosjean

    Great win by Hamilton in Spain. 1 & 2 finish for Mercedes as Verstappen came home 3rd despite another incident which damaged his car, 5 out of 5 involving the Dutchman. Vettel trails Hamilton by 17 points in the standings as he finishes 4th.... McLaren and Alonso also score some points... :)


    Hamilton looked comfortable this weekend, hoping now he's back in form..

    Sebastian Vettel takes Pole for the Canadian Grand Prix



    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari.......Pole

    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes

    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull


    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes

    5 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari

    6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull

    7 Nico Hülkenberg Renault

    8 Esteban Ocon Force India

    9 Carlos Sainz Renault

    10 Sergio Pérez Force India


    11 Kevin Magnussen Haas

    12 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso

    13 Charles Leclerc Sauber

    14 Fernando Alonso McLaren

    15 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren

    16 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso

    17 Lance Stroll Williams

    18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams

    19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber

    20 Romain Grosjean Haas

    Final times

    1) VET


    2) BOT +6.496


    3) VER +7.702


    4) RIC +19.625


    5) HAM +21.408


    6) RAI +27.308





    Left groundhog: "Not sure I can even be bothered to watch to the end of this."


    Middle groundhog: "It hasn't been a classic, has it? Not like that time Jenson Button drove through the field and the whole race lasted about three days."


    Right groundhog: "Good episode of Morse, this. It's got a young Rachel Weisz in it."


    Race over



    Left groundhog: "Big weekend for Vettel, that. I wonder if he holds the balance of power in the title race now."


    Middle groundhog: "Nah - once Mercedes get their engine sorted out, they'll be right back in it."


    Right groundhog: "Anyone fancy the pub?"

    Edited 2 times, last by Noni ().

    French Grand Prix this weekend..... Daniel Ricciardo has been offered a 20 million contract by McLaren, not sure if he will take it though. Red Bull will switch their engine supplier from Renault to Honda for 2019.


    Lewis Hamilton is expected to announce his new contract for Mercedes, which will decide Daniels future.

    Bottas on Pole for the Austrian Grand Prix :)



    1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:04.175s 1:03.756s 1:03.130s

    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:04.080s 1:03.577s 1:03.149s

    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:04.347s 1:03.544s 1:03.464s.....Drops 3 places for blocking, starts 6th ^^

    4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:04.234s 1:03.975s 1:03.660s

    5 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:04.273s 1:04.001s 1:03.840s

    6 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:04.242s 1:04.059s 1:03.892s

    7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:04.723s 1:04.403s 1:03.996s

    8 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:04.460s 1:04.291s 1:04.051s

    9 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:04.948s 1:04.561s 1:04.725s

    10 Nico Hülkenberg Renault 1:04.864s 1:04.676s 1:05.019s

    11 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:05.148s 1:04.845s

    12 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:05.011s 1:04.874s

    13 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:04.967s 1:04.979s

    14 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:04.965s 1:05.058s

    15 Lance Stroll Williams 1:05.264s 1:05.286s

    16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:05.271s

    17 Sergio Pérez Force India 1:05.279s

    18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:05.322s

    19 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:05.366s

    20 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:05.479s

    Wow!!!!! 8|


    Daniel Ricciardo to leave Red Bull and move to Renault... Also there's rumours, several months ago that Adrian Newey(Team Designer) was going to leave Red Bull also and move to Renault........ So far it's Ricciardo and Hulkenburg.


    Will Alonso decide to leave F1 and move to the Indy car series? .... or possibly consider Red Bull.............. Personally I think his days are numbered in F1..........I don't see Honda & Red Bull will be effective next season, the Honda engine does suffer from DNF's quite a lot. I expect more retirements from Max Verstappen next season. ........So who will join him? Carlos Sainz, Alonso maybe?


    I predict another Ferrari and Mercedes battle next season with now Renault being the next top team. Red Bull will be struggling with their new Honda engines. Leaving Max with more swearing over the team radio!...:D


    What now with Force India, it's all getting exciting behind the scenes!....^^


    Also 3 times world champion Nikki Lauda has a lung transplant. Hopefully he will not receive any penalties... Wishing him all the best.


    It is now the summer break in F1 and Lewis Hamilton this time last year was 40 odd points behind Vettel who Hamilton ended up winning the WC.... This year Hamilton leads Vettel by 24 points. So far Vettel has made 2 vital errors against Hamilton with reliability issues..... With Hamilton now 80 odd points ahead of team mate Bottas, they will have to use him as a support driver for Hamilton. Mercedes are pretty good at strategy calls, so this may cost Ferrari and a Vettel win for a WC.


    My gut feeling is that Hamilton will win the WC again. Vettel will throw away points again through errors given Hamilton the margin to gain more points. :)

    Edited 4 times, last by Noni ().

    Have not posted on here for a while.


    So far Formula 1 had one of it's craziest drivers swaps in a long time. With Daniel Ricciardo who started the ball rolling in what was quite a surprise move to Renault for next year... Possibly leaving a top 3 team and moving to a mid drift team. Red Bull next year will now have Honda engines, moving away from Renault engine. Looking at those engines that have had Honda have had a certain uncertainty about them, specially when reliability is concerned.


    Alonso has finally decided to move away from Formula 1, whether he decides to come back is another factor indeed. Personally I hope he does not. Regarded as one of the best drivers on the grid and driving quite a miserable McLaren for several years has quite tarnished his reputation. Alonso has not been tactful in his career moves and upsetting the cart where ever he goes. :(


    Landos Norris from UK will now replace him along with Carlos Sainz from Spain driving McLaren. McLaren have lost their form for several years, which is a shame.:(


    Kimi Räikkönen has now been booted from Ferrari and moves to Sauber, which is a mid drift team. I was hoping he would retire completely. I like him a lot, but his career has ended and not proved himself at Ferrari. IMO he should of won a few races by now.

    Charles Leclerc, the new kid from Monaco will replace him next year Kimi is stopping new talent from coming in after what is a 17 year career so far. He's now signed a 2 year deal with Sauber.


    One of the best new drivers could possibly lose a seat is Esteban Ocon from France. I really like this guy. What was possibly a move to Renault next year has now been stopped by Daniel Ricciardo's move :(.. His only chance is if Mercedes allow him to drive for Williams next year who share their engines. He is possibly the next Mercedes driver in the making. He is certainly one of the best new drivers out there.


    Could be quite an interesting season next year. :)

    Season so far


    This weekend in Singapore


    Ferrari so far has been the fastest car in Formula 1 this year. Mercedes had lost a bit of form lately. However, with Vettel making quite a lot of mistakes so far has allowed Hamilton to gain a 30 point advantage in this title battle.


    Hamilton's team mate Bottas has done a superb job so far. Through no fault of his own, has had several unfortunate DNF's sitting nearly a 100 points away from Hamilton in the standings. He has now accepted a support role for Mercedes and Hamilton's title chances.


    Sadly this again is a two team battle for the title :(.. Ferrari and Mercedes


    Red Bull have won 3 races so far. :)


    Hamilton has taken a quite remarkable pole in Singapore, which does not suite the Mercedes at all. This track suites the Red Bulls a lot. This is a high downforce track.


    1. Hamilton

    2. Verstappen

    3. Vettel


    I'm hoping Vettel and Max Verstappen collide in the first corner. ^^...

    As you know from my previous comments I am not a fan of motor racing. My biggest problem is that it is so different to most other sports.


    With most sports winning is down to the skill of the individual or team. My view of Formula One is that the most important factor is the cars. Ferrari and Mercedes dictate 90% of the races and so it is very unusual to have a upset result. Lewis Hamilton is without doubt a great driver but is he really a lot better than all those drivers who are in the less productive cars. What I would really like is for Lewis Hamilton to leave Mercedes (he does not need the money) and join Haas, Sauber or Force India for example. Then we would see how good a driver he really is.


    I just wish Formula One had a more level playing field.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake”

    Quote from genesis1964

    As you know from my previous comments I am not a fan of motor racing. My biggest problem is that it is so different to most other sports.


    With most sports winning is down to the skill of the individual or team. My view of Formula One is that the most important factor is the cars. Ferrari and Mercedes dictate 90% of the races and so it is very unusual to have a upset result. Lewis Hamilton is without doubt a great driver but is he really a lot better than all those drivers who are in the less productive cars. What I would really like is for Lewis Hamilton to leave Mercedes (he does not need the money) and join Haas, Sauber or Force India for example. Then we would see how good a driver he really is.


    I just wish Formula One had a more level playing field.

    I can quite agree that 1 or 2 teams only have a shot of the world title. So far we've had 3 teams winning races over the past few years with Red Bull in that chase.


    The problem with F1 is the prize is varied but very huge indeed!. This allows the top teams winning a lot more prize money compared to the others, which helps development . The difference to the smaller teams won't allow them to catch up. 2021 is supposed to be huge in terms of team regulations which might make a slight impact on certain teams who might even catch up.


    When Hamilton joined Mercedes, they were not even a world championship team, every thought he was crazy to switch from McLaren...... Red Bull dominated that season along with Ferrari and McLaren winning races as well. When McLaren switched their engine supplier to Honda, they moved straight to the back of the grid. Jenson Button was the last to win a race for McLaren. Mercedes bought the Brawn team which allowed them to develope the car. Rumours have it that Hamilton might retire in 2021. So there might even be another Vettel domination later? :/


    I started watching F1 in the mid 70s after James Hunt won. Though at the time Stirling Moss was regarded as the best in F1. I missed the era of racing with Graham Hill and Jim Clark, despite being born in the early 60s. ^^.....


    I would love more teams to compete, having at least 12 teams instead of 10.


    Suppose each has their favourite sport to watch and follow.;) I hate Cricket and Golf.

    Both Hamilton and Mercedes win both drivers and constructers WC...


    Hamilton now with 5 World titles and the most Pole positions by any driver in F1, I'm sure with another 2 year contract signed and dusted, he will match Schumacher's record of 7 titles ... He's very much up there in wins, so who knows?


    Vettel lost out through his own faults this year and Max Verstappen, though still young will someday be WC for sure.


    He had a clash with Ocon who wanted to un-lap himself, Verstappen turned in on Ocon and then after the race pushed Ocon in the paddock :D... This meant Lewis Hamilton took the lead and won the Brazilian GP, which is now his 10th victory of 2018.


    1 race remaining