Grand Prix Rejects

And Di Grassi retired again. What a bad season for him. I think it's pretty safe to say he is effectively out of the championship already. What is happening with Audi?

Dj_bereta wrote:And Di Grassi retired again. What a bad season for him. I think it's pretty safe to say he is effectively out of the championship already. What is happening with Audi?

Karmic retribution for cheating on emissions tests?

That commentator on Spike though, jeez.....he's the one who used to do WTCC occasionally when Martin Haven was absent. The fact that he makes Haven sound like Murray Walker gives you an idea how awful he is.

If that wasn't bad enough, Mike Conway was simply unbelievably boring. I honestly found myself staring into the distance at times while he was speaking, that was the effect he had on me.

Salamander wrote:(Although after watching the Daytona 24 Hours, I can do without seeing the interior ever again )

Le Mans is gonna be even worse

Another FE weekend. Champion do Grassi is starting from the back of the grid, because of course he is, just can't get a break this season. And four teams have been penalised for using 5GHz WiFi internet, which the FIA wanted to reserve for themselves...

Di Grassi has finally scored points this season! Abt gets to keep his win this time! Prost's performance this year compared to his teammate is awful, almost rejectful!

Nico Prost's retirement wasn't so much his fault this time, but it had me wondering - how long is he going to be able to keep his drive before Dad says "désolé, Nico, but we've got a championship to win here and we're going to prise JEV away from Techeetah"?

If I had to hand out Reject Of The Race, though, it'd be to Mahindra - that wasn't like them at all; still, Felix Rosenqvist was looking a bit like he might do a Buemi-esque hatchet job on the field this year and we can't be having that, can we? And in a week where we celebrate the return of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (fanfiction) to the radio, Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race at 16,936,721 to 1... and falling! goes to Richard Hammond's favourite driver, who fortunately did not end up with a million-gallon vat of custard tipped over his head. Who else but... OLIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Also, while we're here: seeing what's happened to the blackcircles.com sponsorship adverts at every break, I'd be willing to bet that FE has now permanently decamped to 5Spike, as they're calling it now (presumably to ram home the point it's part of the Channel 5 empire). This does mean there's unlikely to be too much buggering about with the schedules as there was in season 3, but on the downside, I can't watch 5Spike in HD like I can with Channel 5. (I should point out that I can't watch any channel in proper HD because the solitary HDMI socket on my 11-year-old TV is knackered, but an HD feed coming through SCART is still better quality than an SD feed which is like watching YouTube ten years ago.)

Hmmm highlights on BBC, foreshadowing?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/43278952

If the BBC want a slice of the Formula E pie, they're a bunch of twonks if they put huge spoilers in the headline like that! I've noticed the radio schedules are doing the same, to the point where I missed two of the New Zealand v England One-Day Internationals and when I went to the Five Live Sports Extra schedules to catch up on it and spend eight free hours listening to Jirimy Coney talkung about parsumonious bowling from Ungland's Edil Reshid apologies to any Kiwis for the accent when instead I was delivered a headline that screamed "STOKES LEADS ENGLAND TO VICTORY!" before I've even found the programme link. Well cheers for that, now I've got eight hours to fill and all I'm likely to do is fill it with my own thoughts, which is a dangerous proposition these days.

Yeah, I mean, when the BBC did Formula 1, they were quite good at keeping it on the down-low as to the results of the qualifying and then the race, but I've found a couple of times that Channel 4 has given it away before I've seen it. I think the issue is that there's no direct link to watch the race on the website - you have to go through about three or four searches, all of which might just pop the result up at you.

I honestly think it would be smart for these websites to have links at the top-right of their sites after major sports events saying "click here to go straight to the race highlights".

sswishbone wrote:Hmmm highlights on BBC, foreshadowing?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/motorsport/43278952

That explains why they spoilered the race for me. I didn't watch the race until today but the BBC helpfully gave away the result when I checked the F1 page (note: not the Motorsport page) on Monday.

Delighted for smily Mr. Abt - I had wondered if me and baker had cursed him permanently.

I hope 5 don't dump the races on Spike permanently but having experienced Eurosport's commentary before - and apologies, that is what I was having a rant about previously, NOT Spike - I would rather watch SD coverage than the horror of Eurosport.

dinizintheoven wrote:If the BBC want a slice of the Formula E pie, they're a bunch of twonks if they put huge spoilers in the headline like that! I've noticed the radio schedules are doing the same, to the point where I missed two of the New Zealand v England One-Day Internationals and when I went to the Five Live Sports Extra schedules to catch up on it and spend eight free hours listening to Jirimy Coney talkung about parsumonious bowling from Ungland's Edil Reshid apologies to any Kiwis for the accent when instead I was delivered a headline that screamed "STOKES LEADS ENGLAND TO VICTORY!" before I've even found the programme link. Well cheers for that, now I've got eight hours to fill and all I'm likely to do is fill it with my own thoughts, which is a dangerous proposition these days.

It's probably not even deliberate, I seriously doubt that anyone who posts on the BBC website even thinks about anything before pressing whatever button it is that releases the mostly badly written posts that probably haven't even seen a spell checker.

Btw, as someone who has been to NZ and intends to work and live there ASAP, I think that's a pretty good take on the accent!

Barbazza wrote:hted for smily Mr. Abt - I had wondered if me and baker had cursed him permanently.

I hope 5 don't dump the races on Spike permanently but having experienced Eurosport's commentary before - and apologies, that is what I was having a rant about previously, NOT Spike - I would rather watch SD coverage than the horror of Eurosport.

It's weird, isn't it. Eurosport, a channel so good at having good commentators for any random sport, something that served them very well for the Olympics, they can't find anyone decent for a sport as popular as car racing. I know some commentators take half a season or so to get good—like Alex Jakes, and especially relevantly Jack Nicholls—but they still clearly loved motorsport, and the Eurosport commentary doesn't even give that off. Remember in Chile how they non-reacted to the leaders who were also teammates colliding in a bizarre way? Imagine Nicholls freaking out over that. Imagine anyone freaking out over that. The least the channel can do is pick up someone who gives an impression of liking motorsport.

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:It's weird, isn't it. Eurosport, a channel so good at having good commentators for any random sport, something that served them very well for the Olympics, they can't find anyone decent for a sport as popular as car racing. I know some commentators take half a season or so to get good—like Alex Jakes, and especially relevantly Jack Nicholls—but they still clearly loved motorsport, and the Eurosport commentary doesn't even give that off. Remember in Chile how they non-reacted to the leaders who were also teammates colliding in a bizarre way? Imagine Nicholls freaking out over that. Imagine anyone freaking out over that. The least the channel can do is pick up someone who gives an impression of liking motorsport.

Now we know Barb wasn't talking about Spike's commentary (because I'd have noticed if it wasn't Jack Nichols, Bob Varsha and Dario Franchitti) - yes, that is weird. Usually, any time I hear of Eurosport on this forum, it's being lavished with praise. Or is that because their coverage of F1 in the 1990s was far more extensive, seeing as that's where prequalifying was shown, that's where all the archive videos of the Life L190 and Perry McCarthy come from, and it's all gone a bit pony in recent years? I've never subscribed to Eurosport, so I've got no recent reference points.

I come from a position of not having seen Eurosport's F1 coverage at the time, although watching it now on Youtube it certainly looks pretty good.

What I do know is that their current coverage is poor. Random ad breaks are fired off sometimes in the middle of commentator's sentences, occasionally without warning in the middle of the race (mostly when a safety car is out, but not always) and there is often next to nothing in the way of post-race coverage, especially if there's an over-run due to safety cars or late starts.

Martin Haven should be retired. He comes across as a massive big-head, forever shouting down his co-commentators and claiming they are 'wrong' on a regular basis. There was a time during a WTCC race when Matt Neal went very quiet after being put in his place by this idiot who (I assume) has never driven a racing car and I was hoping that he was gearing up to punch Haven on the nose. Poor Harry Vaulkhard barely got a word in but he seems to have disappeared now.

And the guy - don't know his name - who deputises for Haven and also did the Formula E coverage is, as has already been said, seemingly someone who's done a bit of basic research online but has no real interest in Motorsport. And if I'm ever up at 3am unable to sleep I now know that all I need is a looped tape of Mike Conway talking about...well, anything.

The worst thing is that for other sports, although inevitably the coverage isn't always as good as Sky, they at least seem to be *trying*. Snooker and tennis are good examples of this. For Motorsport the attitude seems to be 'well, we've got the rights, suppose we may as well sling it on, call Haven....'

I enjoyed the Punta del Esta race yesterday, despite no overtaking for the lead. But even when do Grassi gets a decent result, he gets punished for a pants decision: https://www.autosport.com/fe/news/13488 ... ar-offence

dr-baker wrote:I enjoyed the Punta del Esta race yesterday, despite no overtaking for the lead. But even when do Grassi gets a decent result, he gets punished for a pants decision: https://www.autosport.com/fe/news/13488 ... ar-offence

I had to check, more than once, that this was Autosport and not The Daily Mash or The Onion.

Reality, it seems, is out to lunch - with Norbert Haug and the departed spirit of Jose Froilan Gonzalez. And then, after lunch, reality went out for a few drinks with Adrian Sutil and the equally departed spirit of James Hunt. What reality did after that with Tomas Enge is best not mentioned.

If his Mother had been there, would she have told him to wear an old pair inside out?

Back to the race, and I was hoping for a bit more of a thriller although Mitch Evans made an exciting dash through the field. And Nico Prost was utterly awful again, surely even Alain's patience must be wearing thin?

Barbazza wrote:Back to the race, and I was hoping for a bit more of a thriller although Mitch Evans made an exciting dash through the field.

A bit more of a thriller? The whole race was a battle for the lead....

At least he was allowed to keep his podium. Back in 2006 Juho Hänninen was disqualified from Rally Finland for the same reason so the fine is actually very minor punishment

CarloSpace wrote:At least he was allowed to keep his podium. Back in 2006 Juho Hänninen was disqualified from Rally Finland for the same reason so the fine is actually very minor punishment

I remember that rally incident, but I had forgotten that they received a DSQ for it.

Hmmm. Two further races and not a single post on this thread? Let me change that.

Nico Prost will lose his drive for next season, and here's how. Dad would, of course, keep him on as it'd cause a lot more trouble than it's worth to fire his own son, regardless of how many points he hasn't scored this season. However, next season, Renault will hand over the e.dams team to Nissan - who they own, so it won't be any different to the corporation as a whole - but, likely as not, Prost Senior will concentrate on bringing the Renault F1 team to the top, and without him it'll be au revoir Nico.

As for who would replace him, I think we're looking at the eventual champion currently driving for the customer team, and who might be given a promotion of sorts...

dinizintheoven wrote:As for who would replace him, I think we're looking at the eventual champion currently driving for the customer team, and who might be given a promotion of sorts...

If JEV ever moves to Edam cheese, the whole field's gonna be so boned...

Although, as Sir Murray Walker would say, EF is Formula E backwards, anything can happen and it usually does, and e.dams haven't quite been at the races this season as much as I'd feared. I need say no more about Lucas di Grassi's season as well. Maybe it'll be DS Virgin's turn in the spotlight next year with the new car and the entire-race battery and Sam Bird will be the first non-ex-F1 driver to be champion. Whatever happens, I will continue to hope for not a walkover.

Felipe Massa announced at Venturi from next season. Our Mayor had better start crashing dopey Council heads together to make a Birmingham race happen next year now!

Barbazza wrote:Felipe Massa announced at Venturi from next season. Our Mayor had better start crashing dopey Council heads together to make a Birmingham race happen next year now!

I'ld come to B'ham for an FE race (personal schedule permitting).

I suppose that's an OK choice for him, as there won't be quite so much pressure to overturn the reputation of those drivers who had success in F1 doing the polar opposite in FE (as Jarno Trulli and Jacques Villeneuve will attest - and Nick Heidfeld has so far recreated his F1 career with several podiums but no wins).

I further suspect Mercedes might come knocking when they enter the series, given Felipe still gets on well with the management at Williams, and they won't want a joker like, say, Ma Qing Hua.

I third the call for the Birmingham Superprix to be revived!

Of course i'd be in favour of a race in Birmingham seeing as it's my hometown. Other than the disruptions it may cause to my commute to work

And even though I've stopped watching it this season, I would happily go to a race if it were nearby

Bit of an uneventful race in Berlin yesterday. Everyone finished on the lead lap, and 19 finished within a minute of the leader, with Sarrazin 65 seconds behind. And only the second 1-2 in the series, and the second of the season, with Abt making the milestone this time.

And only the second ever maximum points haul for a race, even if it's only 29 now and was 30 when Sébastien Buemi did it at the beginning of season two and made that look very ominous.

There was a comment during Daniel Abt's mad celebrations that, initially, it looked like he'd been picked as the second driver at the team because his dad was running it, but he's justifying his place now more than ever. Meanwhile, the other son-of-a-team-boss is still going backwards...

And - maybe I'm repeating myself here - what is going on at Andretti? They were right up the sharp end in the beginning, and have been in reverse ever since. It'll be between them and Dragon for the wooden spoon, who have looked like St. George has been invading the garage all year.

dinizintheoven wrote: Meanwhile, the other son-of-a-team-boss is still going backwards...

It seems incredible now that he oh-so-nearly won the the first ever FE race until that crash at the last turn, with a few hundred yards to go, with the slightly boring one.

Hey guys, asking for help from any of you that've been to a Formula E event before.

I'm heading off to Zurich for the holidays, and it's just nice that I'm there by the time the ePrix is going on there. I am aware tickets are sold out, but I've heard that access to the EVillage is free. Is that true for the general public or just ticket holders? And are there any decent views of the track from the eVillage normally?

WaffleCat wrote:Hey guys, asking for help from any of you that've been to a Formula E event before.

I'm heading off to Zurich for the holidays, and it's just nice that I'm there by the time the ePrix is going on there. I am aware tickets are sold out, but I've heard that access to the EVillage is free. Is that true for the general public or just ticket holders? And are there any decent views of the track from the eVillage normally?

Can only talk about the Battersea experience. The eVillage was in the middle of the park, with the track running around the perimeter roads, so you wouldn't have been able to get there without General admittance tickets. And, being a park, you couldn't see the cars for the trees. And the barriers. And the catch fencing. And the crowds trackside between the trees. And the big screen TVs broadcasting the race. Good atmosphere there though, and gives you a chance to race towards the podium ceremony post-race.

But not every ePrix has been in parkland, so experienced elsewhere may well vary. But you should go, just for the experience and atmosphere. If somehow you can get tickets or something.

Looking around the Battersea eVillage, it came across to me as a bizarre hybrid of an international motorsport event, an eco-car showroom, and a village fete. And that's not intended as a criticism, it looked a lot less corporate and sterile than I'd imagine the British Grand Prix has become (given that I was last there in 1991 and a lot will have changed, but I'd expect wall-to-wall UBS and Rolex logos, approved corporate catering, and not even the slightest hint of local flavour - as interchangeable as any big shopping mall anywhere in the world).

One thing was for certain on the day... the cars are far from silent, but I didn't have bleeding eardrums by the end of qualifying.

Well, thanks for the tips guys. Not too many views of the track from the E Village, but I have a decent spot at turn 1...

...and, despite the chicken wire, a fine view of Edoardo Mortara's suspension going bang.

Whatever happens now, we will have a fourth new champion for the fourth season; I just hope the penalties handed out near the end of the race weren't in some way contrived to make the final double-header a bit closer than it would otherwise have been. JEV now needs 35 points to be absolutely sure of the title whatever Sam Bird does, though I'll be hoping for two completely different winners in New York - Nick Heidfeld, or one of the Jaaaaaaags (preferably Mitch Evans, who's shown Mr Crashgate the way for most of this season). As for Andretti, they're now the only team without a podium for this season... that BMW power can't come soon enough.

Welp, that was eventful. I'm grateful that Sam Bird has closed the gap through a mix of serendipity and ability, but I'm not glad about that full course yellow decision. First, it needed to happen BEFORE JEV hit the spoiler, and then when it did come, and all those penalties for speeding. I've heard rumours that those drivers who got the penalty didn't hear the countdown over the radio? Either way...all the better for Bird, who I'm sure you've deduced that I support

AcesCalifornia wrote:Either way...all the better for Bird, who I'm sure you've deduced that I support

I too will be supporting the one known as Bird.

3rd May 2018:

dinizintheoven wrote:Nico Prost will lose his drive for next season, and here's how. Dad would, of course, keep him on as it'd cause a lot more trouble than it's worth to fire his own son, regardless of how many points he hasn't scored this season. However, next season, Renault will hand over the e.dams team to Nissan - who they own, so it won't be any different to the corporation as a whole - but, likely as not, Prost Senior will concentrate on bringing the Renault F1 team to the top, and without him it'll be au revoir Nico.

12th June 2018:

motorsport.com wrote:Nico Prost will leave the e.dams Formula E squad at the end of the 2017/18 season, the team has announced.
The French driver has raced for the team, which will be swapping Renault’s involvement for alliance partner Nissan ahead of FE’s fifth season, since the first race of the electric championship.
His father – four-time Formula 1 world champion Alain Prost – was a co-owner of the team before he sold back his stake earlier this year.

I am Nostradamus.