2014 F1 General Discussion Thread.

[KenONeill]

Anybody thinks Red Bull is going to surprise us this weekend?

Well, the pointy German one beating the big nosed Aussie would be a surprise from Vermillian Male Bovine. 

[Jabozuma]

^, That's true. seems like The Cherub lost his Muse somewhere opposite to Roo having plenty of spring in his step 

[Jabozuma]

I actually want Williams to do really well this season. Perhaps next year they will be able to challenge the WDC and WCC!

[jlwah]

I actually want Williams to do really well this season. Perhaps next year they will be able to challenge the WDC and WCC!

Well Williams do have the best paint job this season, so they've already won something!

 

After P1 & P2, it seems as though it'll be business as usual at the front. Alonso looked strong so if he can qualify well he should just make the third step on the podium.

 

Having said that, a rain shower, or two, or three will certainly spice things up, particularly if a safety car or two is thrown in for good measure.

[kevberlin]

Rosberg shows again that he is not playing second fiddle to Hamilton. Great stuff!

[jlwah]

Rosberg shows again that he is not playing second fiddle to Hamilton. Great stuff!

Don't think Hamilton will be too worried, it's forecast to be a dry race tomorrow and Hamilton had the measure of Rosberg in the dry practice on Friday.

 

Fair bit of mind games going in the post qualifying interviews between Hamilton and Rosberg.

 

What should worry everyone else tho' is that the Mercedes were 2 seconds clear of third place!!

[mr rooney]

I don't really follow F1 unless it's at Monaco or Spa as I like Moto gp best, but I must say those turbo engines do sound soooooo much better than those screeching things from last year.

Also forgot just how fast these cars are with lap times of around 2.05 at Spa in very wet conditions. When I was at Spa last year for a track day the best road cars were doing 3 min plus laps in perfect conditions!!

Edited 24 August, 2014 by mr rooney

[Xavier]

Hey, Mr Roo agrees with me on the sound. Yay

I missed the post quali interviews as the phone rang. Will watch that on iplayer now.

[MartynVRS]

I do like the sound. The engine is now with modern times, has tech that will filter down, etc. I'm all for them. Shame they don't rev a little higher but apart from that it's good.

[Ootohere]

Poor Lewis Hamilton,  everybody is against him.  

Or he chose  the wrong team to move to probably.  

He needs to get a grip of his emotions, grow up or just get out of that team. IMO.

 

It was great to see the other Mature of mind, yet young drivers racing cars and trying to win, rather then having a continuing huff with a team mate.

 

Loved this race.

 

george

Edited 24 August, 2014 by goneoffSKi

[gadgetman]

lewis is good like most of the top 10,has a great car but seems to lose focus easily when either finishing in front of the others (cocky) or behind others (gets in a rut).

He has the car, he has the ability he just needs to get his head straight if he wants another championship

[hardcorehobbit]

Rosberg needs to let go of the bad blood.

Anyone else would have held their hands up and say 'Sorry, I accidently hit you.'

He says - No, I was faster and I was going to overtake. I was alongside.

 

If thats the case, he needs an eye test.

 

 

 

Anyone else hear his interview on Sky where he said only British fans were booing him and effectively saying all British fans were awful?

[kevberlin]

I just think the Mercedes rivalry is great entertainment. Some of the driving further down the grid (Alonso in particular) was brilliant too.

Looking forward to Monza already ........... And I thought this season was going to be a duffer. How wrong was I?

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

**** going down at Merc now, Hamilton reckons they've had a meeting and Rosberg admitted he done it on purpose  :peek:

[gadgetman]

I can't see rosberg doing it deliberately myself, and if he did, being stupid enough to admit to doing it.

I'm sceptical of what comes from Hamiltons camp.

And what is going on with his accent?

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

In fairness, after Niki & Toto's reactions I wouldn't be surprised and I wouldnt expect Hamilton to come straight out with it unless there was something going on. Insinuating something is fairly common but out and out saying someone admitted it? Not likely unless theres some truth in it. I've only seen one replay of it but seemed very 'sloppy' of Rosbeg if it was a genuine accident. Also Didnt notice anything with his accent tbh?

 

I was gutted, missed most of the race as I was working, listened to it on the radio and watched the last bit. Pleased for Ricciardo, another cool calm drive when it matters & Bottas doing the same. I duuno if its a one off but RB/Williams/Ferrari seem to be closer than ever, Ferrari seem to have caught up a little maybe. Roll on Monza! 

[hatchy]

I can't see rosberg doing it deliberately myself, and if he did, being stupid enough to admit to doing it.

I'm sceptical of what comes from Hamiltons camp.

And what is going on with his accent?

 

Few lines down. Mercedes pretty much saying what Hamilton said is 'broadly accurate'.

 

You could tell from replays that he left his front wheel there on purpose (little jink of the wheel). Calculated risk TBH, I leave my nose cone there.Worst case scenario is I lose end plate and best case is He gets a puncture. Slow speed corner so not exactly life in danger stuff. Unlike when Senna did Prost at Suzuka in the first corner as payback for the previous year at the same track but at the chicane. 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/28921431

[Xavier]

Whilst it might not have been totally deliberate, it was totally avoidable.

Look at a little further where Alonso was annoyed and raised his hand. He was getting squeezed, and then pulled out. Pretty much identical situation with Nico/Lewis, and let's face it, it's not the first time the one behind is naturally squeezed and runs out of corner.

 

I thought Mercedes' saying they were abandoning after Lewis had repeatedly asked due to aero issues at the end was a bit of a cop-out. Maybe they were hoping for a safety car, rain, whatever, but with Lewis' car performing as it was, he was never going to do an amazing comeback like a few weeks ago, and I thought Lewis' interview post-race was very well thought out. He must have been (still) boiling after that incident, and his argument about saving the engine considering he'd already lost one in the previous qualies was a very valid, factually correct point.

 

I was surprised though how vocal and up front Mercedes (Toto and Nikki) comments were.

 

May the fireworks continue, but as a Lewis fan, it would be nice if some "bad luck" was more evenly spread. I'm hoping that his karma will run over others' dogmas

[moley]

All the time Rosberg has more points than Hamilton and less races to go then Rosberg can afford to hit Hamilton. If they both go off and neither score points then that hurts Hamilton far more than Rosberg.

Rosberg is a journey man in the best car at the moment, he struggled for a lot of laps to pass Vettel, he's not a racer.

 

...but well done Ricciardo,,,you're a real racer and hopefully a future world champion.

Edited 24 August, 2014 by moley

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

I'm not a big Hamilton fan but it'd be nice to see them fight on level terms, the mechanical breakdowns were unlucky but having seen this whole incident, I wonder if it puts a different slant on the Monaco incident? I mean a few weeks back Rosberg was 'the last person' who'd pull a stunt like that and whiter than white, now he's happy to run into someone? Maybe Monaco wasnt so much of a accident? Who knows? 

[hatchy]

I was at my Fathers while race was going on so whilst I was watching it the sound wasn't exactly high so wasn't aware of the other damage he had on the car. Very astute of him to be thinking about saving his engine for future races and I think he should have ignored the team and just parked it up as soon as he had that thought. He knew he was never going to get near a point scoring position.

[Xavier]

I know they said his engine was fine, but look at his previous engine that caught fire... OK, that's catastrophic failure and I don't think down to excessive usage, but should another engine blow up before the end of the season due to wear, Lewis and everyone else will look back at Spa today and wonder if it could have been avoided...

 

Good for Ricciardo though - he's going to become a very popular driver I reckon

[SEVrs]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/28920554

 

 

Seems that Toto Wolff is in no doubt.  I think that he was at the debrief meeting too so knows what was said.  I doubt Mercedes though will publicly condemn one of their own drivers but they have already said that Hamilton's version of events is accurate, and that is apparently  official.  It's the nearest we'll get to understanding what was inside Rosberg's head.  The guy doesn't seem capable of wanting to win in a fair and square fashion unlike Lewis. 

[JoshH]

Magnussen penalised

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/28921764

[Xavier]

I completely missed that Magnussen incident. Was it really that bad?