Motorsport

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A thread to discuss anything on track. Formula 1 chat (as it probably often will be from me), but also its support races, Formula E, BTCC, WEC, WRC, NASCAR for our friends of simple tastes across the pond, MotoGP or the TT for those who prefer not to have enough wheels on their vehicle. Or maybe you've just been on a track day? Whatever.

[TQR 14,402]

Anyway, the 2020 British Grand Prix. Aside from Magnussen and Kvyat's crashes early doors, it wasn't the most eventful affair until the last few laps where everyone's front left tyres cunted off the rims - very unlucky for Valtteri Bottas who was keeping Hamilton in a sweat for the entire race. Also unlucky for Verstappen; if his team hadn't have pitted him, he'd have taken the win from Hamilton on the last lap. Hindsight innit.

 

Props to Alex Albon, though. His recovery from his usual luck was stellar today.

 

I can see a lot of 2-stop strategies next weekend. It's meant to be hotter and these Pirellis are clearly horse shit round Silverstone in particular.

 

I did miss being there this year. Silverstone on a race day is just something else.

[Lard Bazaar 3,800]

2 hours ago, The Quim Reaper said:

Anyway, every single F1 race ever, it wasn't the most eventful affair

FTFY

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Formula E makes a return later, in Berlin; there’s going to be 6 races in 9 days to wrap up this disjointed season.

 

For F1 sceptics, FE is definitely worth a go if you haven’t - the racing is seriously close and dicey.

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Shaping up to be a great weekend for Force India/Racing Point/Pink Mercedes. 
 

Sergio Perez has tested positive for Covid again, so Nico Hulkenberg is back in the car (hooray!). Plus, off the back of the persistent complaints to the FIA from Renault boss Cyril Irritaboule, they’ve been fined €400k and docked 15 championship points for copying Merc’s 2019 car. With Stroll still somewhat underperforming in the car he has this year, that’s going to hurt their championship a great deal.

 

Still, who knows what’s going to happen in this 70th Anniversary Grand Prix? With track temps likely to be at least in the mid-50s, everyone’s tyres might just wither and die.

[gcreptile 10,979]

So I'm reading that Lewis Hamilton equalizes Michael Schumacher's race-winning record. Quite impressive, because I remember that Schumacher's breaking of the Senna records was already regarded as historically unique. But I guess it's very likely that Hamilton becomes the ...winningest... Formula One race ever.

Also Kimi Raikkönen is now the driver with the most Formula One starts, also one for the history books.

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Very impressive feat for Hamilton but it was gifted to him today from Bottas’ car’s death. Doesn’t detract from the achievement one bit though, and was a touching moment with Mick, Michael Schumacher’s son and F2 driver, hand Hamilton Michael’s 2012 race helmet. He’ll be matching Schumacher’s 7 World Championships this year too, it seems. I wouldn’t totally rule out a retirement after that.

 

Raikkonen has made 323 starts. Not bad for someone who admits he just does this for a hobby. Absolute legend.

 

Also, big up Nico Hulkenberg. Yesterday morning he didn’t know he was going to be racing, but today he got straight in the car as a sub and went from 20th to 8th. If I were Red Bull’s boss I’d sign him right up for next year and have Alex Albon partner Pierre Gasly in the sister team. I think he’d be stronger there.

 

Shame for Lando Norris today. Again, a car death. He was well placed for another podium. That man’s gonna have a decent couple of championships under his belt in a few years time.

 

[Lard Bazaar 3,800]

30 minutes ago, gcreptile said:

 ...winningest... 

[Toast 16,153]

1 hour ago, The Quim Reaper said:

 it was gifted to him

 

[Lord Fellatio Nelson 6,219]

Giving Hamilton Schumachers helmet when the fella isn't even dead yet is just sick!

 

 

 

[Toast 16,153]

31 minutes ago, Lord Fellatio Nelson said:

Giving Hamilton Schumachers helmet when the fella isn't even dead yet is just sick!

 

"Giving", yes.   (Since young QR responded with a confused face.)

Where has this "gifting" nonsense come from all of a sudden?  You give a gift, you don't gift a gift - that just sounds silly.

 

[Lard Bazaar 3,800]

23 hours ago, Toast said:

 

"Giving", yes.   (Since young QR responded with a confused face.)

Where has this "gifting" nonsense come from all of a sudden?  You give a gift, you don't gift a gift - that just sounds silly.

 

Fucking Yanks innit, just like ‘reached out’ YOU DIDN’T FUCKING REACH OUT, YOU RANG THEM UP

[Toast 16,153]

Just now, Lard Bazaar said:

Fucking Yanks innit, just like ‘reached out’ YOU DIDN’T FUCKING REACH OUT, YOU RANG THEM UP

 

[RoverAndOut 4,746]

7 hours ago, gcreptile said:

So I'm reading that Lewis Hamilton equalizes Michael Schumacher's race-winning record. Quite impressive, because I remember that Schumacher's breaking of the Senna records was already regarded as historically unique. But I guess it's very likely that Hamilton becomes the ...winningest... Formula One race ever.

Also Kimi Raikkönen is now the driver with the most Formula One starts, also one for the history books.

 

Schumacher matched Senna's mark of 41 at Monza, in 2000 which was a big deal (that's when he cried) but the Most Wins record belonged to Alain Prost at 51. He broke that in Belgium in 2002. While it's an impressive total, as is Hamilton's matching (and no doubt significantly bettering) of it, but neither are that surprising in the grand scheme of things. Both have had the benefit of being in significantly superior cars for the majority of their careers (Schumacher's Ferrari team won 6 constructors titles in a row between 1999 and 2004 and Hamilton's Mercedes have won every title since 2014 - even Vettel in joint-4th was with Red Bull, who won every title between 2010 and 2013). This is not unlike many of the top drivers in the past, but I would argue that with rare exceptions (Williams in 92 for example, McLaren in 88) the difference between the top 2 or 3 teams hasn't been as big as it has over the past 2 decades, even though the team winning has changed.

 

The other major factor is the huge increase in reliability, particularly over the past decade but this was evident even in the mid-2000s. How many races did Prost, Senna, Mansell, et al lose because of car failures? Great drivers, consistently in the fastest cars, that rarely break down (Bottas's power unit today being a rare exception - his 4th reliability failure in 4 years at Mercedes - Hamilton's had 1 in that time) are always going to win most of the races. It'll be the same until Mercedes mess up or Hamilton retires and then someone else will likely take up the mantle - Max Verstappen is 23 and has 9 wins - if he gets in a dominant car for long enough he could well challenge Hamilton's eventual record in the future but we'll see. The race behind Hamilton-Bottas-Verstappen this season is thrilling, 6 teams and 11 drivers in a different order every week.

 

And without wishing to be a downer (that ship sailed), Raikkonen's record won't last the test of time either - Alonso's back next year and just a season behind Raikkonen (although that depends when they both finally give it up) but Hamilton's just over 3 seasons behind Raikkonen and potentially got a good few more in him if he stays interested. Verstappen's already a third of the way to Raikkonen at 23! Kimi couldn't care less about the record, but it's impressive nonetheless - the power of being quick and not ruffling any feathers along the way.

[TQR 14,402]

1 hour ago, Toast said:

 

"Giving", yes.   (Since young QR responded with a confused face.)

Where has this "gifting" nonsense come from all of a sudden?  You give a gift, you don't gift a gift - that just sounds silly.

 

Hmm...no, it’s a verb too.

 

[Toast 16,153]

This usage has only recently started to be common here in the UK, though.   It is, as Lardy said, an Americanism.    What was wrong with "give", which has been in normal use all my life?

And when I see "Gifting" as a category in shops or adverts it boils my piss.  It's "GIFTS" !  We've already got "snacking" instead of snacks, what's next?  Trousering?  Toying? 

[En Passant 3,743]

1 hour ago, Toast said:

We've already got "snacking" instead of snacks, what's next?  Trousering?  Toying? 

 

Stop toying with us, say what you really think.

I'm thinking of setting up a snacking (and possibly gifting) stand down at Peckham market and trousering the the proceeds, though I probably couldn't do that last part if I chose set it up in the US rather than Peckham since that would presumably be panting the proceeds which makes no sense, or rather, even less sense.

 

Anyway didn't we do most of this in an Americanisms (or words we hate or something...) thread a bit ago? And winningest wonningmost by a margin.

 

It drives me crazy too, but I'd imagine it's a now a Sisyphean task to stop this deluge due, I guess, to the dominance of the US in the spheres of TV, film and to some degree the internet. 

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What boils my piss even more is when people look scornfully upon language evolution (no, not Americanisation, evolution). It’s what makes language great. Get back in the sea, for fuck sake. It’s hardly as if being gifted something is like sitting on your fanny, eating a Twinkie that’s a winningest color I could care less about, y’all. It makes perfect grammatical and linguistic sense.

 

Anyway, motorsport...

[Toast 16,153]

7 hours ago, The Quim Reaper said:

What boils my piss even more is when people look scornfully upon language evolution (no, not Americanisation, evolution). It’s what makes language great. Get back in the sea, for fuck sake. It’s hardly as if being gifted something is like sitting on your fanny, eating a Twinkie that’s a winningest color I could care less about, y’all. It makes perfect grammatical and linguistic sense.

 

Anyway, motorsport...

 

What about asking for the "bathroom" when you want to have a piss (boiled or otherwise)?

[Lard Bazaar 3,800]

4 minutes ago, Toast said:

 

What about asking for the "bathroom" when you want to have a piss (boiled or otherwise)?

Or ‘comfort break’? I much prefer ‘I’m away for a shite’. 

[TQR 14,402]

18 minutes ago, Toast said:

 

What about asking for the "bathroom" when you want to have a piss (boiled or otherwise)?

 

Shitter + bath = Bathroom

No shitter, bath = Bathroom

Shitter, no bath = Shithouse
Someone who calls a room with no bath a bathroom = Shithouse

[Toast 16,153]

A question that's very difficult to answer politely:

"Is there a bathroom on the bus?"

[time 8,619]

13 hours ago, Toast said:

This usage has only recently started to be common here in the UK, though.   It is, as Lardy said, an Americanism.    What was wrong with "give", which has been in normal use all my life?

And when I see "Gifting" as a category in shops or adverts it boils my piss.  It's "GIFTS" !  We've already got "snacking" instead of snacks, what's next?  Trousering?  Toying? 

My 1991 Oxford dictionary does include 'gifted' as a verb, meaning to 'bestow', so it would appear to have been around in that sense for a lot longer than I thought. (For the record I also disapprove of this usage). I have heard 'trousering' being used, in the sense that 'pocketing' would have sufficed, but 'toying', surely has been around for years, as in toying with someone's affection/emotions etc.?

 

My biggest language bugbear is the phrase 'a big ask' when referring to an onerous task. 'Ask' isn't, and to the best of my knowledge, has never been, a noun.

I also dislike people referring to meetings as 'meets'.

[gcreptile 10,979]

Ah, the thread to discuss watersports, I mean, motorsports.

[Grim Up North 3,727]

'It is what it is.'

 

'24/7'