Formula1 2013 thread

[_Rick_]

Ferrari is La Famiglia.

And in the family, that's how you say good bye.

...also, what happened to Vettel, that one moment he was being overtaken by Alonso, then 5 seconds down - then 30 and behind Massa.

Pretty much a classic Barcelona race, with the usual lack of overtaking, except for Lewis Hamilton, that gave away places left and right. Almost all the other passes were simple DRS affairs...

 

[tweakmonkey]

Not a bad race but ughhh I'm tired of Pirelli & the current tire conservation trend. What's the point of building the fastest car in the world if it's motoring around the track at 80% didn't the Michelin and Bridgestones last 30-40 laps? I swear seeing 1 and 2 stop races that were mostly flat out. Now it's 3-4+ with conserving for half the race still

I like how Ferrari pushed anyway at least

 

[JulesMaximus]

I loved the Ferrari strategy. Push every lap and we'll pit as many times as needed. Awesome race, awesome result for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso! Great to see a Spaniard win the Spanish Grand Prix!

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I loved this race. Great result for Ferrari, obviously, and for Kimi as well. I can't help but be pleased when Red Bull is off the podium.

 

[punjabiplaya]

Not a bad race but ughhh I'm tired of Pirelli & the current tire conservation trend. What's the point of building the fastest car in the world if it's motoring around the track at 80% didn't the Michelin and Bridgestones last 30-40 laps? I swear seeing 1 and 2 stop races that were mostly flat out. Now it's 3-4+ with conserving for half the race still

I like how Ferrari pushed anyway at least

Now it's not about making the fastest car. It's about making the fastest car that handles the tires. Some argue that it detracts from the development. I think it adds another dimension of strategy and design to the cars. Raw speed is only a small part of the factor now, as demonstrated by Mercedes.

 

[_Rick_]

I don't mind so much, that the tires degrade so quickly, but they should at least allocate more tires for race/quali, and maybe waive the "each type of tire at least once" rule.

Also, I'd like for Pirelli to try and make the tires be more of a choice, where you can actually gain the time of a pit stop, in the time it takes to wear off a set of the softer tires. Currently this seems to be impossible, with performance being too similar, and durability being too dissimilar. This could of course be a problem with the tracks we've had so far, and the strategies the teams have selected, but I think there's some lee-way.

Of course, the situation is all over the place currently. In Barcelona the medium tire was faster (on the fast cars) and didn't degrade much quicker than the hard tires, from what I saw. In China (?) the softer tire lasted all of 5 laps, if you were lucky. Nobody can gain the 15-20 seconds it takes to gain an advantage in 5 laps, at least not when the harder tire is less than 2 seconds per lap slower on average.

I also can't help but wonder how Rosberg would have done had Mercedes 4-stopped him, keeping him on the medium tire until the last stint.

I suppose that the entire tire-thing is very much circuit dependent. On a circuit where they work, there will be more "race" strategies, and on circuits with high degradation, we'll see more teams choosing a careful and conservative approach to tire-management. The goal should obviously be, for multiple strategies to actually work, and not for one tire to be good and another to be bad.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

honda is re-entering f1 as an engine supplier, partnering with mclaren in 2015. mclaren will continue with mercedes engines for 2014 - the 1st year of the new v6 turbo era. honda has not announced its 2nd team to supply.

the consensus is that honda will suffer for not getting its engines out for 2014, although there is now the possibility of running them mostly unchanged at le mans. mclaren is keen to talk up the past, but anyone that thinks "mclaren + honda = glory days all over again" has another thing coming.

 

[_Rick_]

mostly unchanged at le mans

Slightly off topic, but the LM-based Peugeot pikes peak special is using an SCV6 (but huge displacement - 3.2L?)...

aaaand:

Wouldn't it be bloody awesome, if a hybrid-production-based GT class would be at LM 2014, so that the La Ferraris, McLaren P1s and Porsche 918 could duke it out in endurance racing?

The Porsche is basically an evolution of a (winning) LM-design (GT1->CarreraGT->918), the last McLaren supercar won Le Mans as well, and it's a damn shame Ferrari has only been running V8s at LM for the last few years.
Stick a wing on the back of those, add some racing rubber, and off they go! Porsche wants to go back to LM anyway next year....

As for the Honda deal - nice to see another engine supplier return. With Cosworth leaving the scene (and not producing a winning engine in quite some time) someone had to pick up. The rumors regarding Honda's return were of course circulating for a month already, so there's no real surprise. And I do wonder what McLaren expects from gaining by swapping engine suppliers after just one season. I'm also thinking that the likes of Williams and Sauber may have an eye on a Honda engine, eventually. You don't get a McLaren contract based off nothing but thin air, so I'll expect that there are quite some ressources being invested in making that engine work.

I do wonder how much the engines differ in performance, with them still being so new. I haven't looked at the precise specs yet, but I suspect that there is a bit more wiggle room, compared to the last few years of V8 stagnation.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

bloody awesome, indeed! unfortunately, current top-class gt cars are performance-equalized and share little if anything with their road-legal sisters. you have to get down to something like gt4 or 5 to see an actual 911, la ferrari or p1 on a race track

 

[Skurge]

honda is re-entering f1 as an engine supplier, partnering with mclaren in 2015. mclaren will continue with mercedes engines for 2014 - the 1st year of the new v6 turbo era. honda has not announced its 2nd team to supply.

the consensus is that honda will suffer for not getting its engines out for 2014, although there is now the possibility of running them mostly unchanged at le mans. mclaren is keen to talk up the past, but anyone that thinks "mclaren + honda = glory days all over again" has another thing coming.

I imagine the performance will be good, but There could be a lot of exploding engines.

 

[Imported]

So.. anyone up for a track day at COTA? Only costs a cool $55k.

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com...il&utm_term=0_87543618e1-4b1b77be6d-245954177

Come on Powerball!

 

[cbrsurfr]

So.. anyone up for a track day at COTA? Only costs a cool $55k.

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com...il&utm_term=0_87543618e1-4b1b77be6d-245954177

Come on Powerball!

WTF! $55K is insane. So 2 mill to rent the track for a day. No clubs will ever be able to afford to host anything there. Guess I'll have to leave the country to drive an F1 track.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

So.. anyone up for a track day at COTA? Only costs a cool $55k.

http://www.circuitoftheamericas.com...il&utm_term=0_87543618e1-4b1b77be6d-245954177

Come on Powerball!

$1999 for f1, turn 1
only $1949 for turn 12

 

[Imported]

WTF! $55K is insane. So 2 mill to rent the track for a day. No clubs will ever be able to afford to host anything there. Guess I'll have to leave the country to drive an F1 track.

2mil? Am I missing something? 36 drivers at 55k for the day.. so about 1500 a driver.

 

[_Rick_]

2mil? Am I missing something? 36 drivers at 55k for the day.. so about 1500 a driver.

Whether that's reasonable depends a lot on the amenities....
But if it's a bare-bones package, that's still quite expensive.

 

[Atty]

honda is re-entering f1 as an engine supplier, partnering with mclaren in 2015. mclaren will continue with mercedes engines for 2014 - the 1st year of the new v6 turbo era. honda has not announced its 2nd team to supply.

the consensus is that honda will suffer for not getting its engines out for 2014, although there is now the possibility of running them mostly unchanged at le mans. mclaren is keen to talk up the past, but anyone that thinks "mclaren + honda = glory days all over again" has another thing coming.

This could be interesting. At the very least it will be entertaining as engines blow up.

This also lends to the rumor of a Honda/McLaren road car.

 

[LTC8K6]

You'd think this would really slow them down, particularly the huge drop in the amount of fuel they can use per race. 100kg total (down from 160kg), and 100kg/hr max flow rate.

But they will probably be just as fast.

With the massive new KERS system capacity, the blowups could be spectacular.

Some of the rules are odd, like running only on electric power in the pits. I can just see those engines not re-starting.

They are really bringing the engine tech back down.

I don't know how the heck you manage to build a car that meets the regs.

http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/regulation/file/2014-F1-TECHNICAL-REGULATIONS-111212.pdf

 

[cbrsurfr]

2mil? Am I missing something? 36 drivers at 55k for the day.. so about 1500 a driver.

Oops I read that as 55K per person. 1500 per person is way more reasonable.

 

[Imported]

Whether that's reasonable depends a lot on the amenities....
But if it's a bare-bones package, that's still quite expensive.

It appears everything is included except for insurance? I've never organized a track day.. I'd have to ask a couple friends what they think.

 

[punjabiplaya]

I'm giddy like a school girl for this weekend.

 

[_Rick_]

Only 4.5 hours from here... I'm a tiny bit tempted - but not interested in paying the admission cost, and it'll be better on TV.

Temptation will continue with Le Mans and Spa though :/

 

[redgtxdi]

Only 4.5 hours from here... I'm a tiny bit tempted - but not interested in paying the admission cost, and it'll be better on TV.

Temptation will continue with Le Mans and Spa though :/

Yes, but the sounds.......oh the sounds of those beautiful v8's screaming aloud.

That's one of my biggest concerns about when f1 goes to the v6. Will that sound be gone forever? (I can't stand the sound of v6 Indy cars these days).

 

[JulesMaximus]

Another Mercedes front row lockout. Anyone but Vettel is fine with me, congrats to Nico Rosberg for a great lap.

I will be pulling for Alonso in the race tomorrow though.

 

[busydude]

Not really surprised that Mercs are on top. I think at least one of to them will finish on the podium.

 

[_Rick_]

Well, Monaco has always been a bit the Nascar of F1 - Cars go round and round, with not much happening until someone crashes.
And boy did people crash. And burn.

The one thing that was probably quite exciting, but not well covered by the cameras, was Raikkönen's sprint up three positions in the final 5 laps or so. Apparently the Hulk made a mistake someplace in the last lap, which allowed him to slip through.

Shame that Grosjean allowed himself to get caught out again. Currently it doesn't look too good at all for him, with regards to a future at Lotus. And I hope Massa recovers, from what looked like the most uncomfortable crash today.