The 2014 Formula1 Thread!

[The Boston Dangler]

good race, great finish, hot canadian babes. unreliable cars make for unpredictable results and great races, so instead of a gimmick like drs teams should be allowed to push even harder to the breaking point. even without the merc problems, there was always going to be a fight for the win between 2 damn good drivers.

everyone hates a draw, but my drivers of the day are ricciardo for a clean, fast drive for a maiden win, and rosberg for getting his sick car home in 2nd.

i have to say this was massa's race to win. when he got back in position he became pretty sloppy - missing apexes, wheelspin, forgetting drs was a huge one. that crash was pretty massive, and both drivers had suffered head injuries before.

so newey is taking hands off the f1 program and instead has another mountain of money and the entire soon-to-be-built new red bull technology center as his unrestricted toy box for planes, boats and anything else. it seems if the f1 rules were looser, he would have taken the ferrari offer.

i'm not sure red bull would bail out too quickly. they're invested very deeply in terms of money and infrastructure - you don't build a new, improved red bull tech center with the intention of dumping your first-class f1 team. besides, it isn't about pushing their shitty energy drinks, it's about pushing the red bull brand.

 

[LTC8K6]

Saw that, but doesn't explain why he did so. The only thing I can think of is that he never expected Massa to approach at that speed and try to brake that deep.

Looking at the video I'd have to agree. It looks to be a 0% chance that Massa makes that corner. I can only imagine he was desperate to pass Perez there and try to get Vettel on the back straight. It's clear that he had much more pace on the straights.

Still, you have to either look or not recklessly block like that.

Massa easily makes the corner, imo. He had much newer tires, too.

Perez pulls out to try Vettel without looking.

 

[norseamd]

vice follows femen protesting the montreal grand prix

also very much NSFW

http://www.vice.com/read/femen-are-protesting-montreals-grand-prix

 

[manimal]

fantastic race though the commentary was sucking worse than a virgin nun so I switched over to a Italian stream and it was MUCH better.


I feel bad for Massa though I did notice him getting very sloppy after his last stop and I wondered if he took out some wing to get more speed.

Penalizing Chilton grid penalties is kinda pointless isnt it?

Perez is such an enigmatic driver. I wonder if its just concentration or if he gets too emotional during races like Ruebens used to and Massa is prone too.

Ferrari need a DRASTIC change and hiring a guy with NO RACING experience who sold cars to doctors and lawyers is conceding the year. They are going whole hog on next years engine though frankly its not just one thing the car is bad at. Its bad at everything.

I think Mercedes learned a valuable lesson in setup today. One could expect them to be very conservative with setups in tracks like Canada.

Anyone else know any more about the illegal engine settings Hamilton used? Seems like a story that should have more legs.


and yes Lauda for F1 king!

 

[The Boston Dangler]

illegal engine settings for hamilton? link?

Ferrari need a DRASTIC change and hiring a guy with NO RACING experience who sold cars to doctors and lawyers is conceding the year. They are going whole hog on next years engine though frankly its not just one thing the car is bad at. Its bad at everything.

they haven't replaced an engineer (with this move), they've replaced a manager. his role is to gather the right people, provide them with the right tools, and ensure they do their thing and get results.

 

[_Rick_]

Anyone else know any more about the illegal engine settings Hamilton used? Seems like a story that should have more legs.

I think you mean the "agreed upon not to use" settings in Barcelona?
Those were legal, they were just trying to go for better endurance, I think.

Also, thanks Perez, you put me top of the league again

 

[The Boston Dangler]

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/06/15/f1-fanatic-round-1506/

“Michael Schumacher is being moved from intensive care to a rehabilitation ward in the Grenoble hospital where the Formula One driver is being treated for severe brain injuries, a German magazine has reported.”

 

[_Rick_]

Rumours, that Caterham won't be starting in Austria, due to financial issues....

 

[The Boston Dangler]

with skyrocketing prices for attendance and tv coverage, and wec gaining momentum furiosly, f1's popularity has been dropping constantly for over a year. their solutions:

1. drs
2. worthless tires
3. megaphone exhausts (to be tested again)
4. cosmetic sparklers
5. standing restarts

what's next, tweet for more horsepower? the old joke was installing sprinklers at every track...nobody's laughing any more.

the rulemakers (fia) and owner/promoter (formula one mgmt) are driving f1 into the dust. to hell with these idiots, put me in charge! i could hardly do worse.

 

[LTC8K6]

A nice unfettered high revving V8 engine would bring me right back...

It can't cost as much as all that crap they are using now...

 

[The Boston Dangler]

A nice unfettered high revving V8 engine would bring me right back...

It can't cost as much as all that crap they are using now...

the vast majority of fans don't mind / like the sounds coming from the 2014 cars. it's ecclestone and ferrari making all the noise about the lack of noise, and claiming it's what the fans want.

What F1 spectators say about the engine noise debate

and if f1/fia was serious about cutting costs, they'd bring back customer cars. however, they are not. they are serious about keeping the "haves" on top and the "have nots" on the bottom.

 

[LTC8K6]

Who said anything about the volume? It's the sound that's horrible, not the sound level.

 

[Topweasel]

Who said anything about the volume? It's the sound that's horrible, not the sound level.

That's the key I didn't miss the drops from V12's to V10's to the 8's. They sound the same, maybe not as deep or not as loud. But overall it was slight change on the note and more of a volume thing. These Turbo's just plain sound different. That said even then I am not really bothered by it.

 

[LTC8K6]

Well, Nascar is at Sonoma. A stick for gear changes, a clutch operated with your left foot, heel and toeing, and loud V8 engines.

 

[_Rick_]

Hmm, one hour before quali, and I don't seem to be able to set the bonus selection in the fantasy league...

 

[norseamd]

eccelstone is destroying f1

turbo v12s with ground effects and kers would probably go a long way towards recovering their viewers

 

[_Rick_]

The viewers are the product, not the racing.
The teams and tracks are the primary customers, and only then come TV rights.
Anyway, I don't see a major problem with F1, some factor will always be limiting performance, be it tires, engine tech, fuel or downforce.
F1 has grown into a very strictly regulated sport (compared to pre-war and 50's GP racing), but that's what's needed to assure driver safety and maintain a rough level of equality between the constructors.

Anyway, fantastic result for Williams, being able to switch on those tires really paid off.
If they can keep tire wear down over the race, they'll have podium places to lose only to incidents...

I did get a bit teary when Alonso gave Massa a congratulatory hug

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i am delighted to see williams at the pointy end of the grid again. now they need to turn this opportunity into results. both veteran massa and new guy bottas have at times looked quick but inconsistent this year. don't countmercedes out yet, though - they've had a nearly 2 second advantage over the field this year.

1 F Massa (BRA) Williams 1'08.759
2 V Bottas (FIN) Williams 1'08.846
3 N Rosberg (GER) Mercedes 1'08.944
4 F Alonso (ESP) Ferrari 1'09.285
5 D Ricciardo (AUS) Red Bull 1'09.466
6 K Magnussen (DEN) McLaren 1'09.515
7 D Kvyat (RUS) Toro Rosso 1'09.619
8 KM Räikkönen (FIN) Ferrari 1'10.795
9 LC Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes -
10 N Hülkenberg (GER) Force India -

 

[The Boston Dangler]

The viewers are the product, not the racing.
The teams and tracks are the primary customers, and only then come TV rights.
Anyway, I don't see a major problem with F1, some factor will always be limiting performance, be it tires, engine tech, fuel or downforce.
F1 has grown into a very strictly regulated sport (compared to pre-war and 50's GP racing), but that's what's needed to assure driver safety and maintain a rough level of equality between the constructors.

the race tracks are a mix of customer and victim. firstly, car racing and tv go together exceptionally well. then, f1 takes the merchandise and advertising revenue while jacking the fee 10% annually, leaving the track/promoter to take only ticket sales and concessions. there are some that barely stay in business (the classic euro tracks), some that are/were poorly conceived and poorly executed public works projects (india, korea), and some that exist just to blow up mountains of monarch/oligarch money (middle east, russia).

in the end, the tv audience is the primary target, being many, many times larger than the number that will ever attend a race in person. the tracks are now there just to facilitate the tv program. to this end, f1 has let its greed get the better of it - exactly how popular (and valuable) would google, youtube, twitter and facebook be if they each charged $50+ per month?

as for the cars, every year the rules slow them down and every year they find a way to go even faster. if the rules didn't slow them down, you'd have every track in the world obsolete (like golf courses and super high-tech clubs), and the fatality rate would drive car racing into extinction. a driver managing the car (tires, motor, fuel, everything) has always been a huge part of racing and always should be, although the terrible tires of 2013 were an artificial imbalance for the worse.

however, i think the rules themselves are far too restrictive in that everyone is forced to construct very slightly different versions of the same thing. my ideal solution is to clearly define parameters and allow complete freedom with those parameters, even more aggressive than lmp1.

 

[manimal]

go go massa!


I think Alonso is gonna surprise today. Hes qualified better and he loved the old ring.

 

[manimal]

great race so far !!!! Massa should have pitted two laps earlier

 

[manimal]

I have been saying its heat soak and they showed how hot the rear of the car was under infrared on the Mercedes and I think we have found the weak link in the Mercedes design. Brake cooling and heat soak. Tighter tracks should see this the year on unless they redo the rear pod.

Didnt they say earlier in the year that Mercedes had smaller brakes this year?

 

[_Rick_]

Not a very exciting race, but that's mostly due to the nature of the track. Also, because for once there was action at the front, there was very little coverage of what was happening in the mid-field.
But most of the passes happened under pitstops "as usual".

Fantasy-league-wise, a mixed bag, with the Williams ruining my hopes for a decent score, and both Button and the Hülk not being anywhere close to where they need to be...

 

[JulesMaximus]

Williams really screwed up on the strategy. Glad to see Rosberg get another win though. I have a feeling he is going to take the championship just based on consistency. That last race being worth double points though might fuck that whole thing up though.

BTW-Did anyone watch the F1 Documentary that was aired a couple months ago? I DVR'd it and watched it yesterday. I thought it was very good and they had a lot of great footage and interviews. It is 2.5 hours but totally worthy.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

just ok race. my drivers of the race - bottas and perez. the williams strat was just...ouch. otoh, the long strategy for perez did get him some extra positions, but his driving (and some very convenient retirements) made it work - 15th to 6th. excellent 1st lap for hamilton, coming from way back in 9th to 4th. merc still having heat problems, running right at the limit but they were expecting it this time.

the best features of this track are the yodeling, lovely scenery and the even lovelier girls - they looked awesome! they're right there at the top with the canadians and italians. the british girls are pretty but the santander dresses were crap, and the texas girls' cowboy outfits were just alright - time to put all that junk away and step into some first-class fashion.