2018 Mexican Grand Prix

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Starting this now so we don't forget later.

[Rob Dylan]

and in due time the topic has been unlocked will we see Hamilton claim his fifth title? Or will there be a miracle for Vettel to keep it alive for yet another round?

[Barbazza]

Will Ricciardo's car 'accidentally' go bang again?

[CarloSpace]

Will Haas get disqualified once again?

[Rob Dylan]

Will Hartley and Ericsson score points again?

[yannicksamlad]

Will Hartley and Ericsson score points again?

...No....


seems very unlikely...

[yannicksamlad]

IIRC last year Renault had some issues with the altitude and there were a number of failures. So I trust that won't happen again, and bizarrely despite the boringly-long straight the Renault runners are not supposed to be at a huge disadvantage since everyone's engine power is limited by the lack of oxygen. (I struggle to get my head around that - but Red Bull are feeling very confident. In the old days at Kyalami the turbos just ramped up the pressure and rammed increased volumes of air into the engine to give them a huge advantage over non-turbos, but perhaps this can't be replicated now) .
Its a bit of a strange track layout , but perhaps this could make tyre performance difficult to manage, which makes things more interesting. And will anyone get penalised for short-cuts on lap 1 ?

[Bleu]

Talking about layout - while the track has loooong front straight, last year the pole time was 3rd slowest of all - only Singapore and Monaco were slower.

[mario]

IIRC last year Renault had some issues with the altitude and there were a number of failures. So I trust that won't happen again, and bizarrely despite the boringly-long straight the Renault runners are not supposed to be at a huge disadvantage since everyone's engine power is limited by the lack of oxygen. (I struggle to get my head around that - but Red Bull are feeling very confident. In the old days at Kyalami the turbos just ramped up the pressure and rammed increased volumes of air into the engine to give them a huge advantage over non-turbos, but perhaps this can't be replicated now) .
Its a bit of a strange track layout , but perhaps this could make tyre performance difficult to manage, which makes things more interesting. And will anyone get penalised for short-cuts on lap 1 ?

There are now some restrictions on the turbocharger unit itself, such as the maximum rotational speed, which would have been unrestricted at the time; that will have an impact on the maximum airflow that they can channel through the turbocharger unit.

[You-Gee-Eee-Day]

Will Ricciardo's car 'accidentally' go bang again?

Is "Accident" the word written on the red button underneath Horner's desk? Don't get me wrong, I'm still laughing darkly every time it happens, but in a way it really is getting beyond a joke.

[Rob Dylan]

So Verstappen fastest in both sessions, though an issue in the last few minutes causes him to retire.

The Renaults are also really fast this year. It would be really good to see a shock podium to liven up the end of the season

[good_Ralf]

Is "Accident" the word written on the red button underneath Horner's desk?

So Verstappen fastest in both sessions, though an issue in the last few minutes causes him to retire.

Looks as though the sensors activated by Horner's button have been fitted to the wrong Red Bull this weekend...
But in all seriousness, no driver, especially the likes of Ricciardo, deserve the unreliability he's had, whether it be a product of Red Bull's cynicism, or Newey's packaging

[mario]

Is "Accident" the word written on the red button underneath Horner's desk?

So Verstappen fastest in both sessions, though an issue in the last few minutes causes him to retire.

Looks as though the sensors activated by Horner's button have been fitted to the wrong Red Bull this weekend...
But in all seriousness, no driver, especially the likes of Ricciardo, deserve the unreliability he's had, whether it be a product of Red Bull's cynicism, or Newey's packaging

I wouldn't be too hopeful for Ricciardo just yet, because he was reporting problems with the car overheating during the practise sessions - let's hope that it hasn't caused too much damage ahead of the race.

Still, both Red Bull and the Renault works team do seem to be doing especially well here - that said, Red Bull were also topping the time sheets during the practise sessions last year as well, only for Vettel to then blow things out the water with his Q3 lap. I can't help but wonder whether we really will see those drivers being quite as far up the grid, or if normal service will be restored soon.

What is also noticeable is that the hypersofts are really falling to pieces very quickly here, which could make things trickier for the front runners - whilst drivers could stretch things out more easily in Singapore, given how difficult it was to pass there, it's going to be a lot harder to block other drivers.

It does suggest that we might see a repeat of what happened there, where the drivers on the fringes of the top 10 made up a lot of ground - only, to some extent, with so many drivers having gone for so many of the hypersofts, the question will be who would have the tyres to be able to run a longer first stint?

[Rob Dylan]

Good to see a turnaround of luck for Ricciardo - great pole lap!

Properly petulant from Verstappen by hitting that No. 2 barrier spot after the session was over. C'mon kid, your day will come.

But I still worry that those Red Bulls won't last until the end of the race. I just hope I'm wrong.

[Fetzie]

The weather forecast looks quite foreboding:

https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/Au ... 6638:25:MX

High chance of scattered rain and thunderstorms developing throughout the afternoon.

[dinizintheoven]

Early candidate for Reject of the Race: Bernd Mayländer's ridiculous false porn-star moustache, which I've just seen while he was interviewed on RTL. The rest of the world may not get to see that.

[Londoner]

Scott Dixon became a five-time champion over a month ago, yet you don't see people creaming themselves like they're doing on Twitter right now.

Formula B almost two and a half laps down on the top 5. This performance gap is ridiculous.

[mario]

Is "Accident" the word written on the red button underneath Horner's desk?

So Verstappen fastest in both sessions, though an issue in the last few minutes causes him to retire.

Looks as though the sensors activated by Horner's button have been fitted to the wrong Red Bull this weekend...
But in all seriousness, no driver, especially the likes of Ricciardo, deserve the unreliability he's had, whether it be a product of Red Bull's cynicism, or Newey's packaging

I wouldn't be too hopeful for Ricciardo just yet, because he was reporting problems with the car overheating during the practise sessions - let's hope that it hasn't caused too much damage ahead of the race.

Well, that was one prediction that I wasn't hoping would come true - unfortunately, we're seeing the familiar sight of Ricciardo on the back of a motorbike disconsolately hitching a ride back to the paddock again.

[Rob Dylan]

I joked with You-Gee-Eee-Day during the race, saying I'd be fine with any of the top six retiring, except for Ricciardo.

[Waris]

HOOOH BOY, and now this:

Ricciardo: No point turning up to last two races

I don't know how reliable this source is, but that would be quite an acrimonious end to Ricciardo's relationship with Red Bull. Could that mean we get a driver change after all this year, finally? -knocks on wood to avoid jinxing-

[You-Gee-Eee-Day]

HOOOH BOY, and now this:

Ricciardo: No point turning up to last two races

I don't know how reliable this source is, but that would be quite an acrimonious end to Ricciardo's relationship with Red Bull. Could that mean we get a driver change after all this year, finally? -knocks on wood to avoid jinxing-

That is one of the saddest things I have read in so long. Poor Ricciardo.

[Rob Dylan]

In the hypothetical scenario that Ricciardo leaves early, who would take his place? Buemi? Would they just promote Gasly immediately? And if they did, who would take Gasly's place?

[Waris]

In the hypothetical scenario that Ricciardo leaves early, who would take his place? Buemi? Would they just promote Gasly immediately? And if they did, who would take Gasly's place?

Motorsport is reporting it now too: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ricciardo-helpless-cursed-red-bull-gasly-mexico/3204924/

I believe Buemi is not a reserve driver, just a test driver. But I think they might promote Gasly early and put Buemi in the Toro Rosso for the last two races, while they continue to sort out the second seat for next year.

[IceG]

In the hypothetical scenario that Ricciardo leaves early, who would take his place?

I had a sudden mental image of Gutierrez jumping up and down shouting "Me, me, is it me? Please let it be me!"

Please ban me forthwith.

[Bobby Doorknobs]

Please ban me forthwith.

You have hereby been promoted to moderator status.

Anyway, it would almost certainly be Gasly in the Red Bull: The reserve driver role has never really meant anything as long as there's been an iota of confidence in one of the Toro Rosso boys, and it would take some unusual circumstances for Buemi to drive instead. That would leave the possibility of our WEC championship leader driving for Toro Rosso instead, but I get the feeling that that would only come to pass if it turns out there's no other suitable alternative for them.

Honestly though, I expect to see Ricciardo in the last two races once his head's cleared.

[Rob Dylan]

That would leave the possibility of our WEC championship leader driving for Toro Rosso instead, but I get the feeling that that would only come to pass if it turns out there's no other suitable alternative for them.

I myself have been waiting for years for Kazuki Nakajima to return to his rightful place in F1!

[mario]

Please ban me forthwith.

You have hereby been promoted to moderator status.

Anyway, it would almost certainly be Gasly in the Red Bull: The reserve driver role has never really meant anything as long as there's been an iota of confidence in one of the Toro Rosso boys, and it would take some unusual circumstances for Buemi to drive instead. That would leave the possibility of our WEC championship leader driving for Toro Rosso instead, but I get the feeling that that would only come to pass if it turns out there's no other suitable alternative for them.

Honestly though, I expect to see Ricciardo in the last two races once his head's cleared.

It does sound like the sort of remark that he's made out of pure frustration, and I expect that he will think better of it once he has had a chance to reflect on things - I don't think that he would actually sit out those last two races.

In the rather unlikely event that it did happen, I agree that Gasly would almost certainly be moved into his seat - it's hard to see who else would take it. The only slight reason why I could possibly see Red Bull keeping Gasly at Toro Rosso would be if they were keen to try and get Toro Rosso back ahead of Sauber in the WCC, which is one of their stated objectives, but that seems to be rather remote.

As for his replacement, I agree that they might try to put one of the drivers they've been weighing up for a 2019 drive in there if they can get a contract sorted out - it seems that has been a sticking point with some drivers. Buemi, though, would make a useful stop gap if needed.