The 2014 Formula1 Thread!

[JulesMaximus]

Hamilton just seems to own Rosberg. I see another championship in his future.

I have to hand it to Lewis Hamilton, he has matured greatly this season.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Well, besides the Mercedes dominance, it was a fun race. Brave pass by Hamilton, and the mid pack battles were pretty intense at times.

pretty steady up front, some great action in the pack is the highlight this race.

Hamilton just seems to own Rosberg. I see another championship in his future.

I have to hand it to Lewis Hamilton, he has matured greatly this season.

he's always been fast, but at great cost - very hard on cars, prone to mistakes and crashes, easily psyched out or losing grasp of the strategic picture, et cetera. it looks like he's addressed those problems (having the best car helps ) and his form is definitely at a personal best this year.

 

[manimal]

he's always been fast, but at great cost - very hard on cars, prone to mistakes and crashes, easily psyched out or losing grasp of the strategic picture, et cetera. it looks like he's addressed those problems (having the best car helps ) and his form is definitely at a personal best this year.

Both of you guys have great points. I do see Hamilton as another lucky great driver in a great car. Is he the best in the paddock? No for the reasons you listed above. He got the car built to his desires and now the team is in full support of his style not rosbergs. Early on when dev was more neutral Rosberg was closer. Seems they are making the car understeer more so Hammy can stay in control in the fast sweeping corners that have given him problems for years.


Seems to me hamilton is just another Vettel. Great driver in a better car than everyone elses. Now that Vettel is in a more pedestrian car his skills seem more pedestrian.


How would Alonzo and even Bottas be in this car? Faster than hammy. I think Bottas is gonna be the next great one if his rides over the next few years allow.

 

[Skurge]

Both of you guys have great points. I do see Hamilton as another lucky great driver in a great car. Is he the best in the paddock? No for the reasons you listed above. He got the car built to his desires and now the team is in full support of his style not rosbergs. Early on when dev was more neutral Rosberg was closer. Seems they are making the car understeer more so Hammy can stay in control in the fast sweeping corners that have given him problems for years.


Seems to me hamilton is just another Vettel. Great driver in a better car than everyone elses. Now that Vettel is in a more pedestrian car his skills seem more pedestrian.


How would Alonzo and even Bottas be in this car? Faster than hammy. I think Bottas is gonna be the next great one if his rides over the next few years allow.

Alonso and Hamilton were in the same car. Neither was faster than the other. Remember 2009 with the crappy car they had. He did pretty well. 2008, the Ferrari was probably the faster car and he held his own against Kimi and Massa (Granted, I don't think Massa is very good). Hamilton has been quicker than Rosberg since joining the team so I don't know how you can to the conclusion that Mercedes are supporting him more than Rosberg. Seems to me like Mercedes are very Neutral.

One key point, I haven't seen Rosberg pass Hamilton on the track. Rosberg has been making mistakes all year when under pressure.

I still think Alonso is the more complete driver (less errors and better tactician), but I would not say he is faster. Bottas, well he is new, so I will reserve judgment. Ricciardo has impressed me more than Bottas this year. Not many people can get past Alonso they way he has been able to this year.

 

[foghorn67]

Both of you guys have great points. I do see Hamilton as another lucky great driver in a great car. Is he the best in the paddock? No for the reasons you listed above. He got the car built to his desires and now the team is in full support of his style not rosbergs. Early on when dev was more neutral Rosberg was closer. Seems they are making the car understeer more so Hammy can stay in control in the fast sweeping corners that have given him problems for years.


Seems to me hamilton is just another Vettel. Great driver in a better car than everyone elses. Now that Vettel is in a more pedestrian car his skills seem more pedestrian.


How would Alonzo and even Bottas be in this car? Faster than hammy. I think Bottas is gonna be the next great one if his rides over the next few years allow.

He's done well without a tailored car.

 

[tweakmonkey]

Hamilton is super aggressive, always taking chances and making spectacular/dangerous passes more than anyone (unless you count qualifying 24th in a front row car and boosting the stats by passing 20 much slower cars). He goes for victories and that gives him a reputation as "reckless" when in reality it's just the way to win in an inferior car. Most drivers would be happy with 5th in those cases but Hamilton would rather risk a few bumps and shunts making daring passes to get 3rd etc.

Hamilton is a beast - period. Diva and emotional, sure, but he's a fantastic driver and right there with Alonso for overall skill / speed. This has been the case since the beginning of his career and most other drivers acknowledge his skill. It's just that Mclaren was so bad for so long. Even then, when the car held together and the team didn't muck up the pit stops, he was often a race winner or on the podium.

ALSO - one key reason why Senna, Vettel, Michael Schumacher, and many other champions of the past did so well is because they worked with the whole team to build the perfect car for them. That's part of the job and the skillset that makes a successful racer, and nothing to discredit his skill as a driver.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Formula 1: Where does all the money go?

How can a sport that generates more than £1.1bn per year in revenues have teams at the back of the grid desperately struggling to make ends meet?

 

[Koing]

Hamilton is super aggressive, always taking chances and making spectacular/dangerous passes more than anyone (unless you count qualifying 24th in a front row car and boosting the stats by passing 20 much slower cars). He goes for victories and that gives him a reputation as "reckless" when in reality it's just the way to win in an inferior car. Most drivers would be happy with 5th in those cases but Hamilton would rather risk a few bumps and shunts making daring passes to get 3rd etc.

Hamilton is a beast - period. Diva and emotional, sure, but he's a fantastic driver and right there with Alonso for overall skill / speed. This has been the case since the beginning of his career and most other drivers acknowledge his skill. It's just that Mclaren was so bad for so long. Even then, when the car held together and the team didn't muck up the pit stops, he was often a race winner or on the podium.

ALSO - one key reason why Senna, Vettel, Michael Schumacher, and many other champions of the past did so well is because they worked with the whole team to build the perfect car for them. That's part of the job and the skillset that makes a successful racer, and nothing to discredit his skill as a driver.

I fully agree.

Hamilton can hold is own in a not so great car. He still managed to do well when Redbull was dominating in a sub par car.

Nico hasn't come from behind to beat Hamilton yet this season.

Koing

 

[The Boston Dangler]

it's official - marussia is dead. meanwhile, caterham has taken to crowdfunding to try and live another day.

force india, sauber and lotus were threatening to boycott the usgp until they were assured just before the race that things would change.

something is seriously f'd up when a top-class sports league only has 11 teams with only 4 contenders, a spot taken by a contender's private feeder, and the rest either folding or seriously close to it. bernie's old-world system simply cannot work any more, not with annual budgets of several hundred million dollars.

nor would the premier league's system be possible. their aren't nearly enough interested parties, and the technological nature renders promotion/relegation totally unworkable.

team-owned (and sanctioned) leagues have been extremely successful in north america, although none are car racing. if the buyout price was split evenly, there's no way half of them could raise the money. besides, there's no way the haves would put themselves on equal footing with the have naughts.

f1 is borked and i think it's time the fia, as the series owner and regulator, started brute-forcing some corrective actions, like invalidating massively lopsided contracts and abandoning the flawed, superficial concept of every team being a unique manufacturer.

 

[Railgun]

1) Bernie isn't enforcing the cap

2) tv rights shares aren't evenly distributed. They should be.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

decent race in brazil, lots of good fighting up and down the pack. hamilton needs 2nd place in abby dabby to clinch the title, rosberg needs 15 more points than hamilton. i almost forgot, massa drove a hell of a race to get back to 3rd in front of the home crowd.

the brazil weekend saw plenty of drama off the track, as the 3 teams threatening to boycott in usa until given verbal assurances (lotus, sauber, force india) seem have been told "F.O." and are claiming there's a conspiracy to trim the grid down to 5 3-car teams.

meanwhile, the big 3 are fighting like hell over a possible engine unfreeze and the 3-cars/customer cars issue. as usual, everyone is trying like hell to exploit every possibility to their advantage. this time it appears there's a serious chance of bringing down bernie's house of cards.

 

[Railgun]

Hmm, seems I'm not the only one who thought of this. :sneaky:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/29604437

So then you were both wrong. :sneaky:

 

[The Boston Dangler]

alright, it's going down! qualifying in half an hour, race starts tomorrow at 8:00 am eastern.

Lewis Hamilton v Nico Rosberg: how the title can be won

^^^ title permutations chart that doesn't copy/paste correctly

even with double points paid for this race, hamiltons 17 point edge is huge. even if rosberg wins, hamilton takes it with 2nd place. basically, rosberg needs a disaster for hamilton, plus the win - hamilton looks like he's sorted out his wild side this year, so i don't count on it happening.

but, races aren't run on paper. you know anything goes in this race!

 

[Meghan54]

Well, Rosberg won pole, putting Hamilton second on the grid and about exactly where he probably wants to be.

The race will start and Hamilton will just pace Rosberg around the track and not have to worry about Rosberg trying a desperate pass which could end badly.

 

[merlion]

Then the M-B higher ups direct the switch to be thrown causing intermittent fuel delivery problems with Hamilton's engine, and he then drops down the field allowing Rosberg to be crowned the new World Champion.

 

[_Rick_]

Both RBs eliminated from quali because of front wing flex. Talk about kicking someone when they're down.

Vettel will have a nice opportunity to make his last race for RB a memorable one though. Won't be like in 2012 though, that's for sure.

 

[merlion]

An interesting tweet from @PhilDuncanF1 -

Ron Dennis on 2015 line-up: "You presume that there are three people involved. You should stretch your imagination and maybe think of four."

 

[merlion]

Another good tweet from @TheVijayMallya -

A big F1 team that says we small outfits should not come with bananas to a gun fight, grabs maximum money and cheats on the regulations

 

[_Rick_]

Well, that race ruined my fantasy league result for good.

From here it looks like the current number 2 in the standings has gotten enough of a boost in the last race to go into #1 overall.

Now it remains to be seen who wins the seat at McLaren: Magnussen, Button, Grosjean, Vergne? Supposedly an announcement will come around early December.

I wonder if Caterham manage to get properly set up over winter, and who will slot into the unsigned STR seat.

 

[merlion]

If Grosjean were to go to McLaren, it would need to be some type of driver swap, as it was just recently announced that he was re-signed to Lotus.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/11/19/grosjean-confirms-hell-stay-lotus-2015/

I'm sure that Lotus is hoping to regain their form of the '12-'13 seasons with the change to Mercedes powerplants next season.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Awesome awesome awesome race! Hamilton made a fantastic start and jumped out to a small lead he was able to hold at around 2.5 seconds until after the first stop and then Nico started reeling him in until his KERS started acting up. Tough break but he really needed a miracle to take the championship today and it just wasn't his day. Fitting end to the season though and I think Lewis Hamilton really deserved to be crowned World Drivers Champion in the end anyway. How can you win 11 races in a season to the next guy's 6 wins and not win the championship? That would have been a travesty IMO.

Hamilton deserves this. He drove a great race and a great season repeatedly coming from back from a disasterous quali that had him start almost dead last or the pit lane to get on the podium. Nico was pretty consistent but he had some bad luck too. I was really pulling for Nico too throughout the season. Was nice to see him congratulate Lewis after the race.

 

[LTC8K6]

Then the M-B higher ups direct the switch to be thrown causing intermittent fuel delivery problems with Hamilton's engine, and he then drops down the field allowing Rosberg to be crowned the new World Champion.

You had it backwards.

They threw the switch on Nico, because Hamilton has always been the #1 driver.

 

[Railgun]

Nico "only" won five races to Hamilton's 11 and was only 17 points down...

Yeah, ok, car problems but still.

In the end, both we're too whiny for my liking. I was pulling for Nico for a while until he allegedly, intentionally hit Hamilton.

 

[LTC8K6]

Nico "only" won five races to Hamilton's 11 and was only 17 points down...

Yeah, ok, car problems but still.

In the end, both we're too whiny for my liking. I was pulling for Nico for a while until he allegedly, intentionally hit Hamilton.

I was only joking, about throwing the switch, but I did post early on that there would only be one #1 driver and it would be Hamilton.

There is always a #1 driver, no matter what the team claims, imo.

Nico is not going to want to play second fiddle.

That's exactly what he is at Mercedes, imo.

 

[LTC8K6]

Strange thing to say. Alonso has been dragging Ferrari up to places and podiums they should never have seen...

Alonso hits back at Ferrari boss Mattiacci

Fernando Alonso has hit back at Ferrari principal Marco Mattiacci for saying that Sebastian Vettel would bring "the utmost motivation and commitment" to the Formula One team when he replaces the Spaniard next season.

"I heard the comments and I don't think they were very good," Alonso told reporters ahead of his last race for the Italian team at Sunday's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"If he tried to mean that I was not motivated, he arrived too late at Ferrari.

"He has a few months here and didn't see probably all the five years that I've spent here and how I've fought every single race in the championships," added the double world champion.

Ferrari have not won a race since Alonso's last victory at his home grand prix in May last year and are facing their first blank season since 1993. They are currently fourth in the standings.

Alonso was quick also to point out that only one driver, himself, has won a race for the sport's oldest and most successful team since 2009.

He also made clear that he had decided to leave rather than Ferrari opting to replace him with Red Bull's four-times champion Vettel.

...

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/alonso-hits-back-ferrari-boss-mattiacci-103252742--f1.html