2019 Canadian Grand Prix - Montreal June 7-9

[Unc1eM0nty]

Because it's so blatantly incorrect that it smacks of disrespecting the intelligence of the fans.

Whats the alternative, they tell everyone - we're going to walk it, they don't have a chance,we should win by at least 30 seconds.

They'd look pretty stupid if they didn't win, not to mention arrogant and disrespectful.

[saviour stivala]

I thought the idea was for Ferrari to revert back to the spec 1 engine for Monaco.

Wouldn’t make sense to run the second spec ICE in Monaco. Put extra wear on the engine without it having a big effect on lap time around Monaco.

Hopefully today we can confirm if Ferrari are running spec 2 of the other PU components not just ICE.

Both FERRARI number 5 and 16 raced ICE 1 in Monaco.

[Phil]

wolf blatantly lied back in bahrain when he said australia was the outlier and bahrain would be the "real picture" of how the season would progress, performance wise. He new full well they have a massive advantage in slow speed corners (all corner really) and what kind of tracks were coming up, or do you really think the entire mercedes team is a bunch of fools who can't predict those things?

Yes, of course Toto would know all that, because after all, he has a crystal ball that knows exactly what Ferrari have done, what they are doing and how much potential there will be. How dare he make claims to the best of his ability, having all that secret insider knowledge!


Edit:
The F1 Paddock Pass; Pre-Race is up!

[Just_a_fan]

Yes, of course Toto would know all that, because after all, he has a crystal ball

It's true! Toto isn't paid a salary by the team - all of his earnings come from knowing which horses will win at the races. He bets and wins every time!

[Schuttelberg]

Oh yes! Mercedes have been underdogs since the last 6 years. They just keep creating miracles apart from the odd weekend here and there where the almighty listens to other F1 teams.

Every team in pretty much the entire history of the sport has downplayed their own potential (except probably McLaren). Because it sounds better, creates less pressure and no one really likes to listen to arrogant winners. Why is it that Mercedes/Toto is being singled out as an anomaly? Not that what they are actually saying doesnt have merit - they could well end up NOT winning. It could be a repeat of Bahrain, a race they clearly werent as dominant or fastest. Who knows? Toto doesnt. Neither does Ferrari. Neither do we, yet. Sit back and enjoy the ride. And for the likely event Mercedes might win again, there are still 18-19 other positions to watch out for this race.

And, I wonder what your mood was like in 2013? Would you tune in looking to find out who came second?

Sorry if it bothers you, but I am fed up of the sport. And, I am not your casual watcher. I've watched everything from 1994.

And if you find the fact that I find Mercedes and Wolff trolling us fans weekend in and out unbearable and hypocritical, I really can't solve your problem because that's how I feel. For all I know, you might be enjoying my misery weekend in and out as well?

[SiLo]

Oh yes! Mercedes have been underdogs since the last 6 years. They just keep creating miracles apart from the odd weekend here and there where the almighty listens to other F1 teams.

Every team in pretty much the entire history of the sport has downplayed their own potential (except probably McLaren). Because it sounds better, creates less pressure and no one really likes to listen to arrogant winners. Why is it that Mercedes/Toto is being singled out as an anomaly? Not that what they are actually saying doesnt have merit - they could well end up NOT winning. It could be a repeat of Bahrain, a race they clearly werent as dominant or fastest. Who knows? Toto doesnt. Neither does Ferrari. Neither do we, yet. Sit back and enjoy the ride. And for the likely event Mercedes might win again, there are still 18-19 other positions to watch out for this race.

And, I wonder what your mood was like in 2013? Would you tune in looking to find out who came second?

Sorry if it bothers you, but I am fed up of the sport. And, I am not your casual watcher. I've watched everything from 1994.

And if you find the fact that I find Mercedes and Wolff trolling us fans weekend in and out unbearable and hypocritical, I really can't solve your problem because that's how I feel. For all I know, you might be enjoying my misery weekend in and out as well?

Stop watching the sport then. The sport cannot cater to everyone, and there have been plenty of rule changes for Mercedes to screw up but they haven't. Either accept you are witnessing the best team in the history of the sport, or go watch something else. No need to come here and whinge about it.

[djones]

The only people who seem to moan about Mercedes are Ferrari and Redbull fans (mainly Ferrari).

Yet I can guarantee when the team they support was dominating they were happy with the situation of having a car way ahead of the rest.

[Phil]

And, I wonder what your mood was like in 2013? Would you tune in looking to find out who came second?

I don't remember to be honest, except that it was rather close with Mercedes that aced qualifying until the tires got changed midseason and from then on, it was pure and utter RedBull domination. Despite the 4 years of Vettel winning and being a Hamilton supporter, I always found a liking to RedBull as a team and Christian Horner as a team-principal. Even now, he is one of my favorite TPs in the paddock. When he says something, I usually pay attention because there's a lot of good stuff in there.

So I don't know what you want to know really. Sometimes, some teams just do better than the rest. It's sports. RedBull was that team in 2010 to 2013, after that it was Mercedes and in 2017 & 2018, I'd argue it was Ferrari that had all the right cards (but played them wrong). In Tennis, take your pick. I still watch it, even if the guy I don't support keeps winning. I don't watch to see him fail, I simply watch it because I like the sport.

And as I said in the Monaco thread - there's a whole lot more to what happens in a race than just the front. When Hamilton wasn't winning (and there were many races between 2007 and 2013), I was focusing on how he was performing relative to his team-mate. Beyond Hamilton at Canada, I am very interested to see how Leclerc will drive, I am curious to see if Hulkenberg can beat Ricciardo and there are some other interesting battles too (Magnussen vs Grosjean and Sainz vs Norris).

For the record, I'm rooting for Hulkenberg, for Magnussen and Sainz in those battles. I'm excited!

In truth, I'll also be rooting for Vettel vs Leclerc. I started out as being the Leclerc supporter, but with the amount of hate Vettel is receiving, I slowly turning into a Vettel supporter in that battle, even if he shaved off the legendary mustache.

[ChrisF1]

Because it's so blatantly incorrect that it smacks of disrespecting the intelligence of the fans.

Whats the alternative, they tell everyone - we're going to walk it, they don't have a chance,we should win by at least 30 seconds.

They'd look pretty stupid if they didn't win, not to mention arrogant and disrespectful.

No, they should be finding the middle ground. You need to respect your opponents, and I don't believe that the comments about Williams being challengers back in January was respectful. There is too much noise in the paddock to have not known that Williams were a long way off, and it's not like Toto/George Russell are completely non-contact.

Just be a bit more honest - what if Toto had been saying this sort of thing instead>

After Testing - we're confident in our pace, Ferrari have looked strong, on this evidence we've got some catching up to do but come Melbourne it's a different challenge.

After Melbourne it's "We knew the car would be strong in the right conditions, this weekend has been favourable to the cars characteristics and we've been in this business long enough to know that things can change quickly - just look at the gaps in testing for the evidence.

After Bahrain - we've found that the car doesn't work so well in these conditions but evidence from the other races show that overall we've got a title challenging car - it's up to us to fix these characteristics before they cost us"

Now "Nobody could have predicted the way that the season has played out after testing, and we're certainly working hard to keep this winning run going. There's a little gap at the moment but Bahrain showed that anything can happen if we go outside of the operating window. It's a bit of an outlier at the moment so we're confident that we can continue this run.

Honest, simple, to the point. I don't think any of the above responses would piss off the Merc/Toto haters.

[Jester Maroc]

For the record, I'm rooting for Hulkenberg, for Magnussen...

I bet Hulkenberg is happy with your choice!

[santos]

The only people who seem to moan about Mercedes are Ferrari and Redbull fans (mainly Ferrari).

Yet I can guarantee when the team they support was dominating they were happy with the situation of having a car way ahead of the rest.

I think you're not seeing the all picture. It's not about Mercedes. It's about the sport. Yes, i enjoyed the days when Micheal was winning every weekend. I also enjoyed the season when Alonso was winning for Renault even if than means that the team that i support was losing. The fight between Alonso and Schumacher at Imola was epic. The years that Red Bull were winning, i still enjoyed to watch the races. I don't know if it is because of the engine or tyres… but since 2014 the thrill is gone. And i don't blame Mercedes for that.

[Schuttelberg]

Every team in pretty much the entire history of the sport has downplayed their own potential (except probably McLaren). Because it sounds better, creates less pressure and no one really likes to listen to arrogant winners. Why is it that Mercedes/Toto is being singled out as an anomaly? Not that what they are actually saying doesnt have merit - they could well end up NOT winning. It could be a repeat of Bahrain, a race they clearly werent as dominant or fastest. Who knows? Toto doesnt. Neither does Ferrari. Neither do we, yet. Sit back and enjoy the ride. And for the likely event Mercedes might win again, there are still 18-19 other positions to watch out for this race.

And, I wonder what your mood was like in 2013? Would you tune in looking to find out who came second?

Sorry if it bothers you, but I am fed up of the sport. And, I am not your casual watcher. I've watched everything from 1994.

And if you find the fact that I find Mercedes and Wolff trolling us fans weekend in and out unbearable and hypocritical, I really can't solve your problem because that's how I feel. For all I know, you might be enjoying my misery weekend in and out as well?

Stop watching the sport then. The sport cannot cater to everyone, and there have been plenty of rule changes for Mercedes to screw up but they haven't. Either accept you are witnessing the best team in the history of the sport, or go watch something else. No need to come here and whinge about it.

I will. Use the ignore button or live with it.

[djones]

The only people who seem to moan about Mercedes are Ferrari and Redbull fans (mainly Ferrari).

Yet I can guarantee when the team they support was dominating they were happy with the situation of having a car way ahead of the rest.

I think you're not seeing the all picture. It's not about Mercedes. It's about the sport. Yes, i enjoyed the days when Micheal was winning every weekend. I also enjoyed the season when Alonso was winning for Renault even if than means that the team that i support was losing. The fight between Alonso and Schumacher at Imola was epic. The years that Red Bull were winning, i still enjoyed to watch the races. I don't know if it is because of the engine or tyres… but since 2014 the thrill is gone. And i don't blame Mercedes for that.

Personally I find the thrill high still. Not so much as the Schumacher days as I worshipped him and had goosebumps pretty much every race and every lap.

If he was racing now it would be the same. It was not the cars, races or tyres etc.

What do I support now to enjoy it? Well, in a strange way I support Hamilton beating all of the records becasue that is something special and worth witnessing.

If you find the sport boring, I think its becasue you are not supporting something maybe.

[PlatinumZealot]

The only people who seem to moan about Mercedes are Ferrari and Redbull fans (mainly Ferrari).

Yet I can guarantee when the team they support was dominating they were happy with the situation of having a car way ahead of the rest.

I think you're not seeing the all picture. It's not about Mercedes. It's about the sport. Yes, i enjoyed the days when Micheal was winning every weekend. I also enjoyed the season when Alonso was winning for Renault even if than means that the team that i support was losing. The fight between Alonso and Schumacher at Imola was epic. The years that Red Bull were winning, i still enjoyed to watch the races. I don't know if it is because of the engine or tyres… but since 2014 the thrill is gone. And i don't blame Mercedes for that.

Maybe you don't like that your driver is not the one winning?

My driver is winning and I'm loving it!! But I admit the races are not exciting, but since I have been watching F1 it is not below the average that is for sure.

[bosyber]

To each his own, I tend to relatively quickly switch off (sound) when Horner is with Sky F1 on the pitwall, he's full of a lot, but a lot of it is politics - sure Toto Wolff has his own spiel, and constantly playing it down only to end up with 5 1-2's did seem a bit rich; but maybe it's the Austrian, or maybe it's that he's honestly describing what we can actually see from the working atmosphere within the team, which is interesting, and after all, it wasn't all overpowering pace, until Spain really.

Anyway, I found the 2014 season quite nice, started off liking Rosberg, being impressed by Hamilton up till then, so interested in a real fight with equal equipment; by 2015 that wore a little thing (and liking of Rosberg diminished), but 2016 at least was a fight, and then Ferrari appeared to make it a fight, for a while.

Before, Red Bull had been winning most races for four and a half seasons, all the while moaning about the tyres, KERS-buttons, DD's, sometimes even about other's budgets, and always engine power others had, plus at times aero rules that were changed to hobble them, but on evidence hadn't until that time.

Excuse me while I find Mercedes's more quiet focus on their improving their own performance where they can more palatable, even while they come out on top with two aero changes that were hoped to also hinder them, while others (Red Bull, every start of the season when those happened; Ferrari mostly operationally, since Todt/Brawn/Schumacher, but with some groanable diversity) faltered (not to mention Renaut, McLaren, Williams, of course). So, turns out they have been good at it for longer than most, in the end they won on overall team effort, like Red Bull did, and Brawn a year, and Ferrari before that.

Much as I didn't follow the Schumacher period religiously (not just Ferrari's doing; partly Real Live,study, and bad coverage in NL) until Alonso/Renault showed up, that made me miss most of an interesting 2003, and since then I have learned to look at the good things in a race, season, and appreciate excellence where we find it (like in more individual sports, where we all celebrate records).

To make this a bit on topic: Let's talk about the midfield. I have to say I am very interested how McLaren, who still apparently have a bit draggy a car, do in comparison to Renault; also, will Haas get their tyres going - I think they might with S1 having some good corners, to get them up to temperature, though they might cool on the straights, maybe good breaking can help even if there aren't many harsh corners. What do you think?