Formula One 2017

[Rich]

Karun Chandock is the worst tv presenter

[Chris2K]

Stop me if you've heard this before, but in the space of five minutes a McLaren has retired before the race starts, Palmer has crashed and Stroll has spun.

[hugobomb]

Alonso 's car doesn't even make around the formation lap before giving up the ghost. He's got to sick of the sight of that thing already this season

[Chris2K]

The first 46 laps of this were absolutely dire, but its really hotting up now. I hope Bottas can hold on to win.

 

YAY FELIPE! Just so happens to block out Vettel driving for his old team to let his former team-mate win! 

 

And now let's take away the happiness with a Putin cameo.

[Gazz]

FP1 begins. Alonso's engine blows up.

Such is life.

[Adam]

I didn't watch qualifying so how did Fernando Alonso put that wheelbarrow 7th on the grid?

[Katsuya]

Miracle.

[Chris2K]

It's getting hard to look past Alonso as the best driver in F1 given what he's doing in that car.

It's also getting hard to look past Lance Stroll being the worst.

[hugobomb]

By this point Williams could stick current day Nigel Mansel in Strolls car and not be any worse off

[MJB]

18 hours ago, Chris2K said:

It's getting hard to look past Alonso as the best driver in F1 given what he's doing in that car.

It's also getting hard to look past Lance Stroll being the worst.

Palmer has to be close. He's had an extra year aswell.

Tremendous race today between Hamilton and Vettel. Super battle. 

[JasonM]

I feel Marcus Ericsson deserves a nod too, because he's been in F1 since the 2014 season, and he's never scored a spot higher than 8th place, and only had 5 points finishes all in 2015.

Sure, he deserves some slack because Sauber is fielding a perpetually shit car, but after three plus years you'd think he would've put himself on hte map a little bit, but he generally is just the ultimate 'ho-hum' driver in Formula One. Adds nothing of note, consistently average. At least Felipe Nasr had the occassional stormer in his two seasons, and Wehrlein is always looking confident when he drives. Ericsson is just 'there', this decade's equivalent of Pedro de la Rosa.

Compared to Ericsson, Palmer is Damon Hill. And I feel with the poor car's Williams themselves are fielding, it's too early to call Lance Stroll a bust. He just needs to learn to calm down, and stop making errors, he's still only 18 years old.

[Chris2K]

Both Stroll and Palmer have potential to improve but we're judging the field on what they are now, and the best comparisons we have are inter-team battles in (essentially) the same car. Both Massa and Hulkenberg are regularly qualifying in the top 10 whilst Stroll and Palmer are either fighting to get out or not getting out of Q1.

And if we take today into account, Massa had a puncture on the first lap and a very long pit-stop including a front wing change and still managed to catch and pass Stroll by the end of the race.

I'm sure that there's an element of a 1st driver/2nd driver dynamic in both Williams and Renault but so far the differences between their drivers are staggering.

[Lineker]

Classic cars will return to the official Formula 1 game for the first time since 2013 when F1 2017 is released in August.

Game developer Codemasters revealed the first official details of the latest title in the series on Wednesday, also confirming a worldwide release scheduled for August 25.

The game will feature 12 classic F1 cars, including the Williams FW14B and Ferrari F2002, while the McLaren MP4/4 from 1988 will be available in a 'special edition' version of the game or as a separate downloadable purchase.

The classic cars will be included as part of what is described as an "even deeper career mode" with players given the chance to compete in additional invitational races in the famous machinery.

"We are delighted to be re-introducing classic F1 cars back to the series" said Paul Jeal, game director at Codemasters.

"Classics were incredibly well received when we included them in F1 2013, and in F1 2017 they are back and better than ever.

"With so many great cars to choose from, it was hard to decide on the final 12, but we are delighted with our selection of some of the most successful and iconic fan favourites from the past 30 years."

The game will also feature "four alternative circuit layouts", which creative director Lee Mather said was part of a push to increase the variety in the new 2017 version.

Codemasters has also promised "numerous multiplayer enhancements, and a brand new 'championships' game mode", although details have not been revealed yet.

[JasonM]

Nice I guess, but I never used them back in F1 2013 and I don't think i'll use them in F1 2017. I prefer continued improvements to the career mode, and if a man could dream feeder series for said career mode.

[Bobfoc]

Codemasters' F1 games are always mechanically decent, but I feel as though they're also rather sterile. The career/season modes get repetitive quickly, and licensing issues mean that you never see drivers changing teams. The whole F1 world feels very static as a result.

[Chris2K]

In "you couldn't make this up" news they've had to replace Fernando Alonso's engine before qualifying for the Indy 500. I guess he's used to it.

[Lineker]

He did qualifying relatively decently, though.

 

Haas have changed their livery for the rest of the season.

[JasonM]

It's... alright I guess, reminds me of the old Sauber liveries. It's just a bit bland, and will further have the cars blend into the tarmac. 

[Katsuya]

The speed at which Alonso seems to be acclimatising to Indy is remarkable.

[Chris2K]

I think the colour schemes this year are great purely because every team looks different to everyone else, Haas going greyer doesn't make much of a difference other than making them less red, thus less like Ferrari, so it's fine by me,