The Roar
The Roar

The Roar

Ben Waterworth

Roar Pro

Joined July 2019

16k

Views

28

Published

97

Comments

Ben is a journalist and radio host currently living and working in Canada where he thankfully has retained his Australian accent and has avoided eating too much poutine as he is on the keto diet. He has a particularly strong passion (and somewhat obsession) with Formula 1, as well as North American sports. Ask him about his beloved Raptors winning the NBA Championship in 2019. He'll happily engage in conversation with you about it again and again and and again.... www.benwaterworth.com

Published

Comments

Older Submissions

Gotta say placing faith in Binotto is a tough pill to swallow. Arrivabene getting dumped hurt the team more than they ever knew, especially around his working relationship with Seb, who really has struggled the most since that change happened. I agree some stability is needed to try and keep their feet on the ground, something they haven’t really done since Todt came in to the team in 93. Think about what has happened since Schumacher left in 06? The changes that have occured every few years have just been a vicious cycle, and that’s why they’re stuck in this weird phase and no titles since 2008. It’s bloody painful I tell you as a Ferrari fan, and one hopefully they kick soon. But great article all the same!

Why we've got to accept a Ferrari rebuild

View Comment
Motorsport
 
3w

Ah, yes. You’re correct. My bad!

Five talking points from the Spanish Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

Great article. It’s such a confusing situation, but one that you can’t help feel sympathy for RP given they technically haven’t done anything wrong

The 'Pink Mercedes': Clever engineering or a blatant cheat?

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

Albon isn’t new to F1 either. He has had the same amount of time behind him as Gasly had a year ago, and is consistently off the pace of Max. Exactly the same situation

Five talking points from the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

The same argument can be made for Gasly last year. There are only so many chances a driver can be given, and when you’re in a team that is hoping to content regularly for wins, you can’t have a second driver who is constantly under performing. I too am a big Albon fan, but Red Bull need to get something sorted in order to have a more consistent pairing soon. It’s something they’ve direly missed since Dan left.

Five talking points from the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

From the official F1 website post race interview with Hulk:
“The first half of the Grand Prix was obviously very good,” said Hulkenberg, “we were kind of on target to hold onto P4. But then Charles on his one-stop was very strong. I don’t know, in my last stint on the prime [hard tyre], the second stint on the prime, that seemed a wholly different set of tyres, not the same grip.

“Then I picked up some blisters on them from the rear axle and consequently fairly big vibrations that ultimately forced us to stop off that tyre and three-stopping then obviously onto P7.”

Well it’s not ideal and I just don’t understand because the second stint, that was all fairly straightforward and easy and usually it gets easier as the fuel comes out of the car.

“So I thought the third stint should be very straightforward, but it came differently, unfortunately, so we just need to see why that happened. But given all the circumstances, I’m very happy to be standing here with six points to be honest.”

Five talking points from the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

Both Hulkenberg and RP confirmed that was the issue after the race. Hulk said he doubted he could’ve made it to the end on his tyres

Five talking points from the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

Hulkenberg reported a vibration in his car, they pitted him as a precaution. Had nothing to do with protecting Stroll’s place

Five talking points from the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

The guy won five Championships for four different constructors too. Four. To me that in itself deserves credit, as nobody else has for more than two

Five talking points from the British Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

Yeah I was banging on hope this would be his weekend but alas, it wasn’t to be. He was very lucky to get two points. He really shouldn’t have gotten any.

Five talking points from the British Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

Max was far too dangerous in what he used to do, so that makes sense. The way he has matured though as a driver in the last 24 months has been incredibly impressive.

Five talking points from the British Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

Great insight there! I for one haven’t followed Indy super well, but it does peak my interest slightly. I’m a fan of Will Power and Scott Dixon, and it baffles me they seemingly get ignored for their feats in their respective countries. Although having said that NZ appreciates Scott more than we seemingly do with Will. I was a big Montoya fan and admired his skill. He was tempting to put on my list there, it was such a shame he left when he did because I feel he really could’ve gone on to do some really damage in F1.

I agree about Hamilton. I would have so much more respect for him if he tomorrow dropped everything, went to say Renault or Aston Martin or someone who is on the up and took them to a team that could win. That’s why I have to hold Schumacher up so much higher. What he did with Ferrari was phenomenal, and holds a load more weight with his records than Hamilton. Yes, Schumacher had the best car in the field for the early 2000s, but he took five years building that team to that point. He also had better competition (even in 2002 and 2004 I would argue, despite what the records say) and had two drastic rule changes introduced in an attempt to curb his dominance. Hamilton hasn’t had any of that since 2014 and walked right into a Mercedes team that was set to dominate. Again, no disrespect to Hamilton. You can’t put any driver in any car and expect them to win in it. You need to have talent to do so, and Hamilton is extremely talented. But the luck he has had and the machinery he has had just takes it away. Every one of the greats has won in cars that are not worthy of a win. Even Vettel, a man people deride as someone not worthy of his status as a multiple World Champion (a fact I utterly dispute) won in a car that was two years removed from being a Minardi, showcasing his skill as a driver. Let’s get Hamilton in a car that can’t win, make him win in it, and then really showcase how great he is.

Five talking points from the British Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

Good question. Based on eras I would go with:
50s: Fangio, Moss, Brabham
60s: Clark, Stewart, Surtees
70s: Lauda, Fittipaldi, Villeneuve
80s: Prost, Senna, Piquet
90s: Schumacher, Hakkinen
00s: Raikkonen, Alonso, Hamilton
10s: Vettel, Verstappen

They’d be my standouts, tried to make it so they appear only once, because obviously some could be in both decades. It’s a very tricky list as I could’ve added more for sure, but yeah. Always a great question. Would love to see your list!

Five talking points from the British Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

It’s an impossible question that can never be answered: who is the best ever. You can do as much statistical analysis as you like, but there are always positives and negatives for any argument. I personally am on the ‘Schumacher is the greatest’ bandwagon, but I can understand the negatives against him at the same time. Just like I can do the same with the likes of Senna, Fangio, Clark, Vettel, Prost etc etc etc. I should really add I don’t dislike Hamilton, I admire him, enjoy him as a personality and think he is one of the all time greats. I just think however he has more question marks around his greatness than many of the ones I mentioned above.

Five talking points from the British Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

He also had a massive respect for Fangio too. I always admired that

Five talking points from the British Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

Oh interesting, thanks for clearing that up. I had always assumed they were just there. When did they stop being used? Do you know that? Had no idea they were taken away for a period

Five talking points from the British Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

Lucky it happened right at the end, was very similar to 2013. Scary stuff considering they’ll have softer compounds next weekend

Five talking points from the British Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

I’m no Alonso fan in the slightest, but man you made me like him for a moment there with your comments…

Five talking points from the British Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Aug

They never should’ve sacked Arrivabene. It’s really that simple

Fighting in Ferrari: Binotto vs Arrivabene

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Jul

Agreed. While I get they invest a lot of money into their young talent, they don’t always come through as successfully as they like. And right now they have a very thin talent pool to choose from. Vettel going back wouldn’t be the worst idea either. I think it would be good for him to get a refresh and then feel comfortable back in the place where he proved to be so successful. But yes, Hulkenberg and Perez would also be great fits. They need someone in that car next to Verstappen to actually score points and race with him and not be so far back

Five talking points from the Hungarian Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Jul

Agreed re your point on people screaming against rules. I mean as I mentioned Ferrari literally had two major overhauls introduced to stop their dominance. 2017 was the last big change for F1 and that wasn’t done to curtail the dominance of Mercedes. When you have engine freezes and limited ability to change on an engine dominated formula since 2014, there ain’t nothing that will change

Five talking points from the Hungarian Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Jul

Hungary is generally always a dull affair, but it was a tad interesting with the rain and the midfield race. But you know the sport is in trouble when the most common talk in modern F1 is the midfield battle as everybody knows who is going to win

Five talking points from the Hungarian Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Jul

I have to say right now I might agree with you about Russell. Norris is exciting but can be a tad inconsistent. Albon too needs more time to develop but has skill. The thing about Russell is he is outperforming his car more than anyone else on the grid. And that’s what is great to see.

The penalties were interesting. Bottas to me was 50/50. I’ve seen jump start penalties been given for less than that in the past, but yeah he was behind enough so again, line ball. I wrote this directly after the chequered flag so didn’t get to digest all the penalties, but Red Bull getting away with that was very surprising. The inconsistency sometimes in the sport is baffling.

Perez will get a seat somewhere. He is liked by many, has an entire nation of supporters behind him and there’s no way he’ll miss out on a seat. Haas seems likely, or even maybe Alfa, but imagine if Red Bull took a punt on him? That would be great to see. He was promoted way too early to McLaren and it was a shame to see him miss his opportunity by being rushed into a top team. He comes with so much talent and experience that any team that was available would be silly not to offer him something.

Five talking points from the Hungarian Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Jul

I used to love Jos growing up, always had a soft spot for him. He was exciting on his day but sadly never consistent enough to really be a threat. Max is just something else though. That doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that he does that. I’d love to see that video

Five talking points from the Styrian Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Jul

The stewards deemed it a racing incident and I have to agree. Stroll went for a lunge when he saw a gap and made it work. It was the last lap so he was always going to have a go and he did and pulled it off

Five talking points from the Styrian Grand Prix

View Comment
Motorsport
 
Jul
Older Comments