2016 Russian Grand Prix

I know it's all fun and games to watch someone with more money and opportunity than talent perform accordingly, but surely he must have a serious problem if it means he's far slower than someone who hasn't driven his car before today, while he has months and miles behind the wheel. He can't really be that bad.
That's what's not adding up forme....hasn't Palmer been faster than KMag in a couple sessions? I'm no Julian fan, but something seems strange.
 
I know it's all fun and games to watch someone with more money and opportunity than talent perform accordingly, but surely he must have a serious problem if it means he's far slower than someone who hasn't driven his car before today, while he has months and miles behind the wheel.
Felipe Nasr had some mystery ailment that was afflicting his car, so I suppose that it's possible that Palmer has a similar problem. But I am sceptical because his performances have been up and down, whereas Nasr's were consistently poor.

He can't really be that bad.
Stranger things have happened.
 
Felipe Nasr had some mystery ailment that was afflicting his car, so I suppose that it's possible that Palmer has a similar problem. But I am sceptical because his performances have been up and down, whereas Nasr's were consistently poor.

That seems to be the theory Gillian is going with for now. KMag is quietly supportive by pointing out that he too has oversteer problems if not as severe. Very diplomatic of KMag, I'd say.

A chassis is a very complex carbon-fibre assembly, maybe Julia-Ann has a genuine problem with her car... but I think she has, as your dreaded Martin Brundle might say, run out of talent.
 
Hey, I quite like Brundle. I'm just disappointed that he has bought into the Hamilton hype. I expect it from Kravitz, but not Brundle.
 
If you're surrounded and brewed in an institution that bias one driver, it will rub off on you. I can't find myself blaming him for it, or being mad at him at all, considering Ted's or Croft's Hamilton bias gauges 'still rising'. If it goes much further they'll reach James Allen.
 
And James Allen is at quality journalism. Seriously - his website has some really good articles on it, especially since he took on Alex Kalcinaukas as a second correspondent.

I suspect that his problems as a commentator came from the way you can't have extended periods of dead air during a race. Someone needs to be talking, which I think brought out Allen's tendency to blather. It's not a problem in print journalism.
 
Hey, I quite like Brundle. I'm just disappointed that he has bought into the Hamilton hype. I expect it from Kravitz, but not Brundle.

I see what you mean... but British motorsport is a very small world. Even Brundle (who I'm also a fan of, outside some of his Sky madness) succumbs to the connections at times.

Kravitz, however, d'oh.
 
Well since we're slating Sky F1 presenters, I guess I'll chip in.

I'm not a fan of Crofty, I find him a bit grating and don't feel he really fits in with the other presenters. I think there are much better and more knowledgeable commentators that should be in his place. Brundle is one of my favourites though, I could listen to him talk about cars and motorsport for hours.
 
And James Allen is at quality journalism. Seriously - his website has some really good articles on it, especially since he took on Alex Kalcinaukas as a second correspondent.

I suspect that his problems as a commentator came from the way you can't have extended periods of dead air during a race. Someone needs to be talking, which I think brought out Allen's tendency to blather. It's not a problem in print journalism.
He is a good journalist and he knows mostly what he is talking about, but his later ITV days where hilariously bad.

Although that did make him better by moving on from that, I doubt he would do the same thing again, his commentating before Hamilton came into the scene was perfectly fine and much better then crofty.

Kravitz right now is easily the most Biased in the sky team.
 
Allen is a good journalist, but he just started to become a bit of a joke around the time Button started to have some success in the BAR. No one will ever forget his react-gasm when he finally won a race. For all his flaws, still, replacing him with Jonathon Legard was a terrible move.

If there's any problem I have with Croft it's how he always seems to talk as if his audience knows nothing about F1 and are watching for the first time. I want to hear Brundle getting more technical and Croft just doesn't seem to let that happen.

Kravitz is almost like a joke at this point, watching him struggle with umbrellas and turn any negative situation for Hamilton into a positive. If you don't take him seriously you can at least laugh.
 
There's always gotta be one presenter who gets grief and causes a bit a controversy, otherwise we wouldn't be talking about the programming which in turn wouldn't give it publicity. Sort of how a reality TV show purposely picks two conflicting personalities to get people talking about some disagreement or something. Sure, Kravitz and Herbert can be quite annoying with their favouring of British drivers (except strangely Button most of the time), but what do you expect from British presenters, they aren't necessarily going to be parading a Russian driver, for instance.

I'm still a fan of the coverage, though, better than anything I've ever seen for any other motorsport.
 
That seems to be the theory Gillian is going with for now.
Which seems like a pretty pathetic excuse. It takes all the blame off him, places it on the car, and is something that cannot be remedied quickly.

KMag is quietly supportive by pointing out that he too has oversteer problems if not as severe.
Which is something that should be curable. The problem is that Magnussen has been pretty consistent, while Palmer is all over the place. I would be more inclined to believe the theory that there is a fault in Palmer's car if he was consistently seven tenths of a second slower, but sometimes he's considerably closer to Magnussen.
 
Degradation? What degradation?

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They're also struggling to get the SS up to temperature it seems, Mercedes doing two warm up laps in FP3.
 
I'm loving that high-speed camera about two-thirds of the way through Turn 4 - the incredible roll angle on the cars, the shower of sparks coming out from under the car, the heat shimmer from the exhaust, and even the wind vortex off the rear wing.
 
It would be a little harsh if Hamilton took a penalty for not braking sharply, heading into the wall and then swerving around the Turn 2 exit bollard. If he'd been recovering from a bigger "off" then it would make sense... as it was I think there was little he could do.
 
Palmer's excuse of "it's the car, not me" is rubbish; he's a tenth behind Magnussen.

It would be a little harsh if Hamilton took a penalty for not braking sharply, heading into the wall and then swerving around the Turn 2 exit bollard. If he'd been recovering from a bigger "off" then it would make sense... as it was I think there was little he could do.
It's pretty much expected that you do it, even for a "minor" off. The racing line through the left kink means that drivers will be accelerating through the part of the track Hamilton rejoined it. Remember what happened the last time a driver rejoined without a second thought? Kimi Raikkonen destroyed four cars.
 
It's pretty much expected that you do it, even for a "minor" off. The racing line through the left kink means that drivers will be accelerating through the part of the track Hamilton rejoined it. Remember what happened the last time a driver rejoined wihout a second thought? Kimi Raikkonen destroyed four cars.

Academic now anyway, he's not going to qualify.

I still think it would have required a dramatic (and far more dangerous) move to get around the bollard, but hey.
 
Hamilton out with power failure. Really not his year so far. Also denying us once again of a race at the front more than likely.
 
I can't see this track lasting very long, a lot like the Valencia Street Circuit. With the money Russia has I reckon they'll build another proper Grade 1 circuit before long.
 
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