[jfxavier]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

Jenson Button not to drive for McLaren Honda in 2017

Apart from Massa's announcement to retire, the other big announcement to come out this weekend is from Jenson Button. McLaren seem to be keeping him as a reserve/driver development driver, and also are keeping their driver options open in case Alonso throws in the towel at the end of the 2017 season.



Source: http://www.formula1.com/en/latest/he...aren-2017.html



Source: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2016/09/0...nt-end-season/

Sabbaticals normally end up as retirements.
Jenson is expecting to become a father I thought and maybe this has got something to do with that as well.
He had said before that he thinks it will be difficult for him to race when he becomes a father as he thought that would be irresponsible to take that risk.

Originally Posted by narayans80

Expecting a yawn fest, unless someone wants to pull off over smart moves like in Spa. Otherwise we would see the Mercs lap all except the Ferraris, RBRs and possibly Bottas. Both Mercs also have the strategic advantage of starting on softs, when the 4 rows behind them all start on super softs.

Mercs have the advantage of starting on soft tyres as well. They should disappear into the fist turn all going well, unless Nico has other plans
Ferrari drivers might be secretly hoping for that.
The good news for Ferrari is that they didn’t look entirely hopeless.




Welcome to the "UnStoffable" Vandoorne

[deetjohn]

Half a second up on your teammate at a circuit like Monza during qualifying is truly incredible! Bravo!



Here is that incredible lap > Onboard pole position lap - Italy 2016

[ecenandu]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Half a second up on your teammate at a circuit like Monza during qualifying is truly incredible! Bravo!

He is quite good at circuits which demand heavy braking, I hope Nico overtakes him at the start, so that we can have an interesting race.

[dmplog]

Originally Posted by ecenandu

He is quite good at circuits which demand heavy braking, I hope Nico overtakes him at the start, so that we can have an interesting race.

While I support Lewis, I would like Nico or Seb (or even Iceman) overtakes him and adds some drama. Otherwise, it's going to be really boring race with Silver Arrows dominating in ridiculous fashion.

[RWD]

Race is only available on Star Sports Select HD2. Star sports India thinks recorded cricket shows are more important than an F1 Race.

[Shashidl]

Originally Posted by RWD

Race is only available on Star Sports Select HD2. Star sports India thinks recorded cricket shows are more important than an F1 Race.

I am watching it on http://www.vipbox.nu/motorsports/955...am-online.html

[jfxavier]

So, Nicola wins the Italian GP.
This makes the Driver's championship closer than ever in 2016.



However, the Mercedes starts are beginning to get predictive.
After all the drama, it was a comfortable 1-2 for Mercs on Tiffosi land.



Nobody celebrates like the Italians. Got to give it to them. Best podium to watch.

Results :



One of the best moments of the race.
Ricciardo's pass on Bottas



Who would have thought Fernando will be driving the fastest lap of this race
The first for McLaren in over three years. You would have made some serious money if you had bet on him.

[asr245]

I didn't watch Spa & forgot about the race today. Turned on at 6:30 to find it missing. Have these moved to HD only now?

Doesn't look like I missed much of anything. This Merc domination is destroying F1. I haven't missed any race on purpose since I got hooked back in 2005 but the past 2 races I have had little interest in watching. This season can't end fast enough & i hope there's much more than this in 2017. Else I have better things to do.

[arun_josie]

A very boring race except Ricciardo's pass on Bottas. Everyone doing their own race. It looked like a practice session.

Originally Posted by jfxavier

Attachment 1550830

Who would have thought Fernando will be driving the fastest lap of this race
The first for McLaren in over three years. You would have made some serious money if you had bet on him.
Attachment 1550833

I think the late pit-stop for Super-Soft was to target the fastest lap, and the achieved it.

[sgiitk]

It was a pretty boring race. Not much action. The only 'high point' since in the absence of anything else was that Alonso did the fastest lap. So maybe the Honda mill is coming back. One thing for sure Honda have the skills and history of blowing everything else to smithereens.

[avdhesh15]

Boring race which was forced to stream and watch. Star sports schedulers have gone crazy.

The pass by Daniel was awesome. Force India also did well and the gap for 4th is only 3 points. Would be an incredible achievement if they can finish P4.

[jfxavier]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

A very boring race except Ricciardo's pass on Bottas. Everyone doing their own race. It looked like a practice session.



I think the late pit-stop for Super-Soft was to target the fastest lap, and the achieved it.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by sgiitk

It was a pretty boring race. Not much action. The only 'high point' since in the absence of anything else was that Alonso did the fastest lap. So maybe the Honda mill is coming back. One thing for use Honda have the skills and history of blowing everything else to smithereens.

This fastest lap was 1.4 Sec faster than last years fastest lap by Lewis.
Just shows how much all the teams are improving in F1 year to year. Of course the tyre compounds have become softer. But still not bad for the worst 2016 PU on the grid (Honda).
Honda took their time to bring their engine upto speed when they started in the late 80s. But once they got there, it was something to behold. Hopefully there will be a repeat this time too.

Originally Posted by asr245

I didn't watch Spa & forgot about the race today. Turned on at 6:30 to find it missing. Have these moved to HD only now?

Doesn't look like I missed much of anything. This Merc domination is destroying F1. I haven't missed any race on purpose since I got hooked back in 2005 but the past 2 races I have had little interest in watching. This season can't end fast enough & i hope there's much more than this in 2017. Else I have better things to do.

Domination by a single team is nothing new in F1.
The periodic regulations changes (Like the upcoming one for 2017) are meant for shaking up the order.
Williams, McLaren, Ferrari, RedBull and Now Mercedes have all dominated F1 in the recent times.
The restrictions on developments by way of PU tokens & Wind tunnel time, CFD computation etc, are something unique to these times and that is helping the more dominant teams to sustain their advantage even more.
In my opinion, that's what is not good about these times in F1.
Hopefully there will be wholesale changes after the pending FOM ownership changes.

[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by asr245

I didn't watch Spa & forgot about the race today. Turned on at 6:30 to find it missing. Have these moved to HD only now?

Its only available with Star Sports Select HD - the main race. Quali was available on SD. If this is the way its going to continue, its high time to move over to something else. What with all their many many restrictions et al, its becoming really irrelevant.

[jfxavier]

I will be at Singapore next week.
Hope to see some F1 cars up close.
Looks like I might not get time to start the next race thread on time.
Please do the needful.