Yeah yeah, it's been 2 days since Lewis took the title in the final race but with so much going on this year and tests starting today I cant help but want to fill the void for 3 months of no racing. 

 

I've just been flicking through the pictures from this mornings test session so far here:

 

http://www.planetf1.com/photo-gallery/9578613/Testing-Seb-In-A-Bit-Of-Red-Max-Crashes#photo=0

 

It's so odd seeing Vettel at Ferrari, shame RB wouldnt let him drive. Max has had his first spank in the TR and Macca have had a few electrical gremlins keeping them in the garage for the morning. They've already said they will do 10 or so short runs checking everything between each run, then slightly longer and build it all up each time. Might be why they've stuck Vandoorne in there, someone who isnt going to get too carried away too quickly? I guess they dont have anyone else just yet to use. 

 

Any news of the great engine freeze debate I'll add when it comes up, I cant bloody wait. Whats peoples predictions? I think Merc are going to be hard to beat, at the moment I think unless the engines are unfrozen, either Williams or Mclaren will be the only two able to challenge. 

 

Whats peoples take on Vettel? I think this is boom or bust for him, if he helps pull Ferrari back up the front he'll go a long way to silence the critics but if he struggles, especially next to Raikkonen he'll just reinforce the thought that he is only as successful as he is because of the car he had. 

 

Over at Redbull it'll be another interesting pairing, can Daniel Ricciardo continue his form? I've been seriously impressed by him and Kvyat who gets a very quick promotion to the lead team. 

 

Lotus and Force India both running Merc motors, will that boost Lotus back up to the front again? Or are they going to be the lowest placed Mercedes runners? Will any of the other teams make it onto the grid? 

 

Any news stick it in here, including the all important livery changes. Roll on 2015! 

Vettel was downbeat on Sunday - what with the RB starting from pitlane but then finishing ahead of Ferrari. I don't think he'll pull Ferrari out of the mire.

 

Really hope that McL do a "Brawn" and come out and smash Merc - would make a fantastic opening race. Remember Honda have bags of experience with IndyCar engines plus will have gained a lot of data from this year. The McL with a Honda badge on it just seems so right.

 

Likewise really pleased that Williams are finally back up in the ranks where they belong. Been out in the wilderness for years but it's good they are back. Massa has done a sterling job this year and Bottas just grows and grows with each race.

 

RB/Renault have Mario Illien in their ranks now, so the Renault engine should start to pick up next season. The 2x Dan's will form a very good partnership.

 

Predictions for 2015? Too early to tell yet but it will be Ham, Ros, Alo and Bot fighting it out I reckon.

 

Can't wait - 110 days until first race.

2015 Predictions:

 

The Mercedes show rolls on,

Wins for Williams and RedBull?

Another poor Ferrari, which Vettel won't carry on his back like Alonso did?

Honda impatience at McLaren's slow progress leading them to RedBull in 2016?

Sauber / Lotus / Caterham run out of money

14 car grids by years end?

Not a prediction, just a fact,

'A year of talk about VW-Audi coming back into F1'.

Vettel was downbeat on Sunday - what with the RB starting from pitlane but then finishing ahead of Ferrari. I don't think he'll pull Ferrari out of the mire.

 

Really hope that McL do a "Brawn" and come out and smash Merc - would make a fantastic opening race. Remember Honda have bags of experience with IndyCar engines plus will have gained a lot of data from this year. The McL with a Honda badge on it just seems so right.

 

Likewise really pleased that Williams are finally back up in the ranks where they belong. Been out in the wilderness for years but it's good they are back. Massa has done a sterling job this year and Bottas just grows and grows with each race.

 

RB/Renault have Mario Illien in their ranks now, so the Renault engine should start to pick up next season. The 2x Dan's will form a very good partnership.

 

Predictions for 2015? Too early to tell yet but it will be Ham, Ros, Alo and Bot fighting it out I reckon.

 

Can't wait - 110 days until first race.

 

It would be amazing for Mclaren to come out all guns blazing down under. I did get a tingle seeing the honda name on the car, and I'm a bit too young to remember the red and white cars tbh. I just hope they dont drop Button in the meantime and make me hate them a little bit. 

 

Bottas I keep saying how much I like him, I want to find some odds on him becoming a WC at some point and maybe chuck a few quid on. I think we'll be seeing a few battles with him and DR over the coming years. 

 

I'd love for more of the same as this year just close the pack up a bit. 

 

2015 Predictions:

 

The Mercedes show rolls on,

Wins for Williams and RedBull?

Another poor Ferrari, which Vettel won't carry on his back like Alonso did?

Honda impatience at McLaren's slow progress leading them to RedBull in 2016?

Sauber / Lotus / Caterham run out of money

14 car grids by years end?

 

Thats my prediction for Vettel, no one can drag a poor car along like Alonso (ok maybe Hamilton too) so if they end up having two versions of Raikkonen from this year they'll be a laughing stock. 

 

Sauber have already secured enough to survive next year, I was reading that Lotus have got enough to make some progress now too. I'll be surprised if Caterham even make it to the first race tbh. 

Vettel - I'm already wondering if his success was at least partly that no-one else could use the counter-intuitive techniques needed with exhaust blown diffusers as well as he could?

 

McLaren - Look, if you don't sign drivers they can't test for you.

 

VMB - How to look even more like bad losers than you already did!

 

Engines - People are contradicting themselves here. If Mercedes do well then Williams should keep doing well. OTOH if Honda blow Merc away, I don't see Willie getting better than 5th and 6ths barring a black swan event.

It would be asking the earth for Honda to blow Merc away with a 4 year head start (Brawn said the work on the turbo car started in 2010).

 

It's not gonna happen in 2015.

 

The last time they were both in F1, Honda quit, Brawn, literally, chucked a Merc V8 in and Bingo!

Edited 25 November, 201411 yr by camelspyyder

Engines - People are contradicting themselves here. If Mercedes do well then Williams should keep doing well. OTOH if Honda blow Merc away, I don't see Willie getting better than 5th and 6ths barring a black swan event.

 

I dont get that, all Merc engine cars should be performing the same? Next year we should see Merc/Williams/FI/Lotus all locking out the front of the grid? 

I dont get that, all Merc engine cars should be performing the same? Next year we should see Merc/Williams/FI/Lotus all locking out the front of the grid? 

Merc (werke) and Willie have already taken different aero paths, and when have FI looked vaguely competitive with the other two for 3 successive races this year?

Do we want an F1 in the title of this thread?

 

Engines - People are contradicting themselves here. If Mercedes do well then Williams should keep doing well. OTOH if Honda blow Merc away, I don't see Willie getting better than 5th and 6ths barring a black swan event.

 

Kind of I guess. The Merc is the factory team so will always get upgrades and improved development. That's one of the reasons why McL have moved away to Honda because they can't develop or upgrade the engine themselves, Merc protect the coding etc.

 

Williams therefore will always be one step behind.

Assuming Williams didn't optimise the motor the way Merc did, that would suggest the chassis and aero are pretty close already.  It's a step up they can make, certainly there must be more ground Petrobras (and other fuel companies Total? on the Lotus) can make up on Petronas.

Honda engine update:

 

1 & 1/2 days testing at Abu Dhabi - total laps completed 2.

 

That's possibly worse than Renault did on their first test.

 

I think I'll risk a few quid on it not blowing off Mercedes in the near future.

I wont be reading too much into it yet, they'd already said this session was more about working through glitches and the like before they use a race engine during winter testing. There are no doubts that Honda will have a working engine by the first race, how quick it is going to be is the bit that everyone is waiting on, which we'll not know for a while yet. 

I wont be reading too much into it yet, they'd already said this session was more about working through glitches and the like before they use a race engine during winter testing. There are no doubts that Honda will have a working engine by the first race, how quick it is going to be is the bit that everyone is waiting on, which we'll not know for a while yet. 

 

That what Renault were saying early this year when the RedBull's couldn't manage a lap.

I might be wrong but I thought this test was an extra one compared to last year, this is a couple of months ahead of last seasons first test which was January making it difficult to compare the two. Renault and RB had been working together for a good few years too, this is going to take more work with Honda being out of F1 for a while and the motor going into a new car. If we get to the Jan/Feb test and Honda are still in the same position then yeah I think panic might set in. Plus as I said, while the Renault engine isnt as reliable as it's Merc rival, the bigger issue is the lack of speed. A few glitches in the first test gives no clue as to how fast the Honda is. 

And it's been said for years now, probably since the 1890s, that "it's easier to make a quick car reliable than it is to make a reliable one quick".

Honda managed 2 laps today!

And it's been said for years now, probably since the 1890s, that "it's easier to make a quick car reliable than it is to make a reliable one quick".

 

So McHonda reliability currently= zero.

 

And when was the last genuinely quick McLaren?  2011?

 

So regretfully, at the moment slow and unreliable.

 

I hope they fix it though.

 

 

I dont get that, all Merc engine cars should be performing the same? Next year we should see Merc/Williams/FI/Lotus all locking out the front of the grid? 

 

DIfferent fuels in all of them for a start - None of the others have the same power yet, despite having the same engine.

Edited 26 November, 201411 yr by camelspyyder

Exactly my point, just because Merc and Williams have the same motor doesnt mean they'll perform the same. 

He'll not be in F1 next year but Rubens just won the Brazilian V8 championship (think latin version of NASCAR)  :clap:

 

Not a bad championship - 5 ex F1 drivers, 15 different winners this year from 30 regular entries,

 

Is it on TV anywhere in Britain or am I going to have to search further afield?

Edited 30 November, 201411 yr by camelspyyder

Who?

Who?

 

Barrichello, remember him? Started more GP than anyone else in history...

21 GP on provisional list next year - including Korea

Double points scrapped. And it's D Day for JB today. Let's hope he's got a seat.