featured_spectre Posted April 22, 2014 Posted April 22, 2014 Chocolate pizzas take more effort than a quick nose around Wikipedia! :-) Didn't use it, its blocked here at work and my phone is at home. Also I have a great F1 knowledge, so ha! And eyes will defo be peeled in may.
sonofsanta Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 (edited) I was thinking last night, as I enjoyed the Austrian Grand Prix - this season has turned out very differently to expectations when all the driver swapping was taking place last year. Felipe Massa was dropped by Ferrari - turns out Williams have been a much more competitive team for him. Maldonado left Williams for Lotus after much fighting over the seat - which really hasn't worked out for him. Hulkenberg missed out on the Lotus seat, perhaps unfairly as he didn't have the sponsorship - but Force India have had a cracking season so far and he's well up the drivers' standings, where Lotus still look like they're in pre-season testing. Talk about a bullet dodged. His 2013 team, Sauber, are having a torrid season as well. Perez was unceremoniously dropped by McLaren after a single season, but Force India have outpaced them everywhere except Australia. Going back a further year, everyone thought Hamilton was a mug for leaving McLaren at the time, but it turns out to have been perfectly timed. I like this new era of unpredictable F1 Edited June 23, 2014 by sonofsanta bit more on the Hulk
L3OUGH Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 I was thinking last night, as I enjoyed the Austrian Grand Prix - this season has turned out very differently to expectations when all the driver swapping was taking place last year. Felipe Massa was dropped by Ferrari - turns out Williams have been a much more competitive team for him. Maldonado left Williams for Lotus after much fighting over the seat - which really hasn't worked out for him. Hulkenberg missed out on the Lotus seat, perhaps unfairly as he didn't have the sponsorship - but Force India have had a cracking season so far and he's well up the drivers' standings. Perez was unceremoniously dropped by McLaren after a single season, but Force India have outpaced them everywhere except Australia. Going back a further year, everyone thought Hamilton was a mug for leaving McLaren at the time, but it turns out to have been perfectly timed. I like this new era of unpredictable F1 ^^ This. Don't forget about Riccardo putting Vettel to shame.
featured_spectre Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 I am thoroughly enjoying the season still. Its been quite intense and lots of things up in the air. I am liking that Vettel isn't on the pedestal he put himself on and has to earn his positions now as the field has been leveled a bit more. Its generally more fun to watch.
JRowley Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 (edited) Agreed, and its great to see some different teams in the top 6/10, Williams having a return to the podium, and Force India. Really enjoying this season, Hamilton's been a bit unlucky so far though, having to claw back points wherever he can whereas Rosberg has been extremely lucky all things considered. He's leading the championship purely on reliability. Edited June 23, 2014 by JRowley
teejay Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 This is, Bernie E said before the start of the season that he wanted to see Rosberg win the championship which by the looks of it what Bernie wants, Bernie gets It was brilliant seeing Williams at the front again, long may it continue! Much prefer to see real racing teams at the front rather than drinks companies.
Hefferzzzz Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 Much prefer to see real racing teams at the front rather than drinks companies. You mean like the Martini liveried williams??
JRowley Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 I will say, McLaren have been the biggest disappointment for me, they have just fallen asleep again when it comes to aero development, at this point I don't think it actually matters if Honda become their engine supplier given the gap they have currently to Mercedes, or even the next Mercedes powered team. Honda won't fix their aero issues, that's for sure.
teejay Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 You mean like the Martini liveried williams?? Sponsored, not owned, big difference
sonofsanta Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 It was brilliant seeing Williams at the front again, long may it continue! Much prefer to see real racing teams at the front rather than drinks companies. There's an irony in you declaring that after a race that only happened because the drinks company in question bought and renovated the track... I don't have a problem with Red Bull being in the sport, they're putting a lot of money into it and supporting it in lots of ways. I did have a problem with their complete domination... just as I did with Ferrari back in the day. At least Mercedes have two closely matched and competitive drivers, where Vettel had the feel of the car over Webber, and Schumacher was clearly a No. 1 driver.
teejay Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 There's an irony in you declaring that after a race that only happened because the drinks company in question bought and renovated the track... I don't have a problem with Red Bull being in the sport, they're putting a lot of money into it and supporting it in lots of ways. I did have a problem with their complete domination... just as I did with Ferrari back in the day. At least Mercedes have two closely matched and competitive drivers, where Vettel had the feel of the car over Webber, and Schumacher was clearly a No. 1 driver. Irony intentional
synaesthesia Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 I find it a little more than odd that over the course of the season so far Hamilton has been held up in the pits by the tune of over 6 seconds compared to Nico. There's a lot of conspiracy surrounding that of course, but I'm getting cynical with age (and more so whilst I'm at home being ill and feeling sorry for myself). Just noticed yesterday after 1.9 seconds of difference in the pits (which is slightly more than the finishing gap between them) and this has been the case most of the year. I can't imagine it's a case of "entry or positioning" as Lewis's PR speak is programmed to tell us, after all he's been party to some of the fastest pitstops in history. On that note though - 2.1 seconds from Williams! Awesome, I can't fart in that timeframe.
cobra427col Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 Am I reading too much into my own thinking - but Hammy seems to have fractionally slower pit stops consistently - when Rosberg is leading. I could be my general perception - but we're only talking fractions of seconds slower. I could be wrong any it's Hammy thats slower in/ out.
sonofsanta Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 The question was asked of Lewis in the post-race Q&A: Q: (Chris Medland - crash.net) Question for you, too, Lewis, about the pit stops. You lost 1.9s across the two stops to Nico, very evenly split in each stop. Is that frustrating, because for a long time you were running about 1.9s behind Nico at the end and did the team tell you the reasons for it? LH: They haven’t yet. I didn’t even know I lost that much time, they didn’t feel that fast. Could be my positioning. I don’t know. I’ll obviously investigate... obviously it is frustrating when you lose time because you’re constantly doing everything you can to gain a tenth here, a tenth there, so when you lose quite a chunk... two seconds over two pit stops it’s tough but the guys... at least we haven’t really made any mistakes. If we step back a little bit and look, we’ve had so many one-twos this is just incredible this year so I’m hoping in the future we won’t have those problems.
synaesthesia Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 As I said, PR training. It's not like that's always been the case for him. 6 seconds is a LONG time.
JRowley Posted June 23, 2014 Posted June 23, 2014 Apparently on his second stop he had a cracked wheel rim which caused the delay, on his first stop it was reported he was further forward in his box than intended. What gets me is that this is happening at almost every race, they should have identified the issues 4 or 5 races ago.
sonofsanta Posted June 27, 2014 Posted June 27, 2014 Oh for the love of... another daft plan by Bernie to artificially introduce drama while diminishing the value of racing: BBC Sport - Formula 1: standing re-starts after safety car to be introduced There's nothing wrong with rolling starts. There may not be much overtaking at the very instant of the restart, but by bunching the field up it gives us all the drama we need - like Bahrain this year.
Zoom7000 Posted June 27, 2014 Posted June 27, 2014 Oh for the love of... another daft plan by Bernie to artificially introduce drama while diminishing the value of racing: BBC Sport - Formula 1: standing re-starts after safety car to be introduced There's nothing wrong with rolling starts. There may not be much overtaking at the very instant of the restart, but by bunching the field up it gives us all the drama we need - like Bahrain this year. I quite like this idea. At the moment, the race leader just runs away with it by bunching everyone up. Standing restarts would definitely add excitement.
sonofsanta Posted June 27, 2014 Posted June 27, 2014 I quite like this idea. At the moment, the race leader just runs away with it by bunching everyone up. Standing restarts would definitely add excitement. Seems like it's leaving a bit too much to chance for my liking - depending on your strategy, and when the incident occurs, your tyres could be completely shot, and have no grip because they've cooled off too much on the slow laps (which they're keeping because Merc pay the FIA money to provide the cars). It's not quite as daft as double points for Abu Dhabi, but it's another time that no-one has asked the drivers what they think.
sonofsanta Posted July 28, 2014 Posted July 28, 2014 (edited) So, halfway mark, and all those naysayers at the start of the year saying these new rules would result in boring racing, everyone conserving fuel, no real fighting, well... they look pretty stupid now, don't they some of the most exciting races I've ever seen have come this year, and on some of the most boring circuits as well (Bahrain, yesterday's Hungaroring). Bottas and Ricciardo are looking like future world champions; I'd suspected Bottas would have it in him but DanRic has been a very pleasant surprise. Does make you wonder what Webber could have achieved with the car this year though, now that the rules suit his driving style more than Seb's. Everyone else having fun? Edited July 28, 2014 by sonofsanta
synaesthesia Posted July 28, 2014 Posted July 28, 2014 Absolutely loving it this year. Some absolutely cracking races. Great result yesterday - respect for Rosberg & his team is starting to disappear somewhat. He's a very talented driver but has to learn to race rather than whine. Hamilton has made 40 places in 2 races! Everything that occurs though is adding fuel to the conspiracy theories which I just can't buy into. But every little failure (or large flaming one), every team order (SERIOUSLY?) makes it harder to ignore. All the eejits that say Hamilton was wrong to disobey the orders though - why the HELL are you watching F1? You're not worthy fans! Cracking drives from all of the top 3 yesterday. Ricciardo is extremely likeable and will make a good world champion. His smile is so damn infectious! Bottas is a good ambassador too, very quick indeed. Great to see Williams doing much better.
featured_spectre Posted July 28, 2014 Posted July 28, 2014 Hamilton is racing his heart out. Imagine if he hadn't had the fire how far he would have won by.
Duckstein Posted July 28, 2014 Posted July 28, 2014 Hamilton is racing his heart out. Imagine if he hadn't had the fire how far he would have won by. Imagine if he hadn't had all the "bad luck" that has come his way all season. Car failure in Australia, brake disc failure, engine fire etc etc
featured_spectre Posted July 28, 2014 Posted July 28, 2014 Very true, but that was a race and a half, to end up where he did was nothing short of amazing, especially as he wasn't expecting to do so well.
XiJ Posted July 28, 2014 Posted July 28, 2014 I'm struggling to remember a better race and I've been watching a long time. Lewis did exactly the right thing - as any body would have some and certainly any other driver. I can understand why the team asked him as they thought his medium tyre soul last and be decent until the end. The race it's self had everything and every lap seemed exciting. Think I held by breath for the last 10 laps!
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