Well done JB.  Nobody thought Honda would get to the finish.

Well done JB.  Nobody thought Honda would get to the finish.

 

Agreed, massive achievement, I was willing him to get a point but a finish is still huge progress.  Long way to go but he sounds really up beat talking about the car. Ferrari appear to have made the biggest gains, Renault no so much. All the new guys impressed overall I think too. 

Pretty dull race but expected. Mercedes just managing the gap between the others. Still don't think they've gone flat out in a race yet and they've made a big step on again. Disappointed by McLaren but again expected. Honda are being a bit over cautious with this new engine though. They should just turn up the wick, see what fails and replace. Even if it means going through a few engines and getting penalised the development would be invaluable.

All the new guys are great which is a nice surprise. Have a feeling Red Bull dominance is all but over and they'll become like Benneton.

Manor GP turned up but didn't compete. They turned up to get the money for last year. Some are angry on Twitter because they shouldn't have been there because they had no software for the ECU, etc. But think of the bigger picture. They need money to survive, they are massive underdogs which appeals to some fans and F1 if anything needs more teams not less. Would have been short sighted to penalise them for not competing. OK they'll never win a race but they have to be allowed to try.

A caveat to this is Manor GP better have something sorted by Malaysia. The right people are there so we'll see.

No penalty for Kimi apparently and Bottas has a herniated disk which is fixable with physio but who know is he'll be ready for Malaysia. There's a chance Susie Wolff would end up in the car as Williams don't actually have reserve drivers. Malaysia is a tough track to have a debut race on though.

Going to be a very dull season unless the Hamilton and Rosberg duel develops into the bitterness that Prost and Senna did. Rosberg must be unhappy that he appeared to have the upper hand in practice then dropped the ball in qualifying and never got close to Hamilton in the race.

 

Red Bull very unhappy with Renault apparently, seems they have done little development over the close season. Going to be a major fall out soon?

Red Bull gets bored and they'll sell the team to them. Who knows but Horner needs to man up and start working hard again. They've have 4 good years on top.

 

It doesn't help that Adrian Newey is doing F1 part time only now - Cup of Americas is occupying his thoughts now. Apperently designing racing boats is more of a challenge and more importantly no Bernie there .

As I was saying...
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118081

Helmut Marko really is a helmet...

I can understand why the FIA selected the engine rules they have as there is a clear benefit for future road car technology. But they are chuffin' expensive and it does appear that only Mercedes have mastered it, and the rules restricting in-year development mean that if you get it wrong at the start of the season you are ****ed.

 

The FIA need to wake up and realise that having only 10 or 12 cars on the grid powered by maybe 3 manufacturers does not make interesting racing and the fans will go and watch something else. Screaming V12s were banned because they were too expensive; I reckon you could develop some serious motors on a quarter of what they must be spending to develop these hybrids.

I still think it's ridiculous that Red Bull are complaining about the rules when it allows Mercedes to dominate but not a peep from them when the rules allow them to dominate, I don't believe for a second they would still be complaining the same way if the Renault engine was competitive.  

 

That said their frustration is understandable as last year Mercedes had a big advantage while the Red Bull appeared to be a well designed car that lacked a decent engine and I'm sure the hope was the Renault engine would catch up to Mercedes this year but while the Ferrari engine is looking far better, the Renault engine seems to have dropped back further.  It must be extremely difficult designing such hugely complex engines but having no choice over any of it as all the parameters (capacity, cylinders, turbo, recovery system) are all fixed.  The FIA WEC LMP1 hybrid cars have highly complex engine systems but they have a much more open choice and all four have opted for quite different systems to each other all with various trade offs for performance and reliability and I wonder if they should have made the rules a bit more flexible to allow the engine manufacturers more choice to design something that suits them although I guess the big problem with F1 is that even with the very tightly constrained rules at the moment the difference in performance in just two hours is staggering.

 

John

More testing would fix some of this but not all of it. There are budget caps but it's still hard to regulate. Merc got it right first and now everyone else has to catch up. It's how racing has always been,

F1 should have a budget cap and fewer rules to stimulate invention.

MartynVRS, on 15 Mar 2015 - 20:28, said:

As I was saying...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118081

Helmut Marko really is a helmet...

 

Red Bull are having a crybaby moment, but all of the teams play political games to enhance their own chances.

 

How many other teams have an F1 driver or Le Mans 24 winner on their managment teams?

 

Marko and Lauda are the only 2 managers in F1 who actually have the insight of being top drivers, and both are politically acute as well.

 

(Horner was in F3000 but was able to realise he wasn't quick enough and stepped sideways into management)

Edited 15 March, 201511 yr by camelspyyder

tweenster, on 15 Mar 2015 - 20:58, said:tweenster, on 15 Mar 2015 - 20:58, said:

I can understand why the FIA selected the engine rules they have as there is a clear benefit for future road car technology. But they are chuffin' expensive and it does appear that only Mercedes have mastered it, and the rules restricting in-year development mean that if you get it wrong at the start of the season you are ****ed.

 

The FIA need to wake up and realise that having only 10 or 12 cars on the grid powered by maybe 3 manufacturers does not make interesting racing and the fans will go and watch something else. Screaming V12s were banned because they were too expensive; I reckon you could develop some serious motors on a quarter of what they must be spending to develop these hybrids.

 

V12's were only banned after Ferrari chose to go V10.

 

Which was a shame because the 412T made my favourite noise in F1.

Edited 15 March, 201511 yr by camelspyyder

F1 should have a budget cap and fewer rules to stimulate invention.

 

A few years ago the FIA suggested a budget cap and the teams threw it out!

A few years ago the FIA suggested a budget cap and the teams threw it out!

Only because of the increase of restrictions and rules.

Bin them in exchange for a budget cap.

The problem as usual is a systemic one. At the root of all the troubles and, among others, only 12 cars on the grid is the way the F1 revenue stream is apportioned among participants. Ferrari gets $200mil and the bottom teams get $5mil or so - that is not going to work and we can see the proof right now. Evil Dwarf has the the sport in strangle hold and will not let go.

To make it a competitive sport again they would have to give each team a guaranteed £70mil (arbitrary) with bonuses for reliability, points, overtakes performed or whatever would work the best. Then limit the overall budget to say £250mil including drivers wages and you are sorted.

As for the regulations they introduced the token system this year for engine development where each team has (had) a number of tokens to spend on different parts of the power train - see here http://www.espn.co.uk/f1/motorsport/story/194433.html

 

WHatever happens as things stand we have two formulas in each race, Mercedes F1 and The Rest F1 where the second one is celarly dominated by teams with Merc power train...

 

I was watching Worldwide Rallycross Champs today, much more interesting!

 

 

WHatever happens as things stand we have two formulas in each race, Mercedes F1 and The Rest F1 where the second one is celarly dominated by teams with Merc power train...

 

I was watching Worldwide Rallycross Champs today, much more interesting!

 

Shame, I missed WRX, but I just watched the Phoenix NASCAR live which was great.

 

I have to be optimistic about F1, the flyaway races dont always show how the rest of the season will turn out.

 

With a glass half full outlook, Ferrari and Williams were pretty close to Mercedes (0.5 per lap) - so different conditions and setups in Malaysia could close it up.

 

I hope so.

I wouldn't say either were close, they finished the race nearly 30 seconds back and it looks like while they were pushing hard, Mercedes could have gone faster.  The results are largely consistent with the test sessions where Mercedes also dominated so unless Mercedes develop a chronic reliability issue I can't see the situation changing from last year.

Still, Prost v's Senna in '88 was a fantastic year and they only lost 1 race the whole season.

 

I suspect McLaren's advantage over the field that year was greater than Mercedes this or last.

 

If Rosberg performs like he did last year and takes the fight to Hamilton it could be a classic regardless of the other players.

Ferrari are quicker than I expected, and Honda-McLaren more reliable, but otherwise everything looked very much like I thought from testing.

Whatever happens as things stand we have two formulas in each race, Mercedes F1 and The Rest F1 where the second one is clearly dominated by teams with Merc power train...

 

But that's no different to when Red Bull were winning four consecutive titles. Or when Ferrari and Schumacher were winning. It isn't Mercedes fault that the other teams aren't good enough to compete with them and they appear to be doing it without stretching the interpretation of the rules beyond that which is logical and/or reasonable. 

 

There are plenty of other Formula racing series where competitors have the same cars or same power trains, etc., but in truth I rarely watch them as I see them as being quite dull and often the only overtaking action takes place when a driver gets physical.

 

Personally I'd prefer to see F1 with less design restrictions to really see what the designers could come up with. 

I was listening to Rosberg post race waffle and was rather surprised how relaxed he seemed - I screwed up during qually, Lewis drove like a World Champion, made no mistakes and that is it. I like that

I also could help but smirk at SV he he he, his face almost split in half he was so chuffed at the first race of the season podium - what a world of difference between his last year at RBR!

 

I am not sure what is going on with LH but that massive golden chavtastic chain around his neck during post race interviews... words fail me I am afraid.

I respect his talent behind the wheel and it is beyond discussion but outside of the car, oh dear...

But that's no different to when Red Bull were winning four consecutive titles. Or when Ferrari and Schumacher were winning. It isn't Mercedes fault that the other teams aren't good enough to compete with them and they appear to be doing it without stretching the interpretation of the rules beyond that which is logical and/or reasonable. 

 

There are plenty of other Formula racing series where competitors have the same cars or same power trains, etc., but in truth I rarely watch them as I see them as being quite dull and often the only overtaking action takes place when a driver gets physical.

 

Personally I'd prefer to see F1 with less design restrictions to really see what the designers could come up with. 

 

True, there were eras where others dominated as well but apart from one year Ferrari swept the table there was never a situation where one team dominated so massively and nobody else stood even a remote chance of getting close. This is why I wrote about two formulas. 0.5sec a lap? Please! That is not racing and Merc wasn't really pushing apart from the pitstops and that was scary!

True, there were eras where others dominated as well but apart from one year Ferrari swept the table there was never a situation where one team dominated so massively and nobody else stood even a remote chance of getting close. This is why I wrote about two formulas. 0.5sec a lap? Please! That is not racing and Merc wasn't really pushing apart from the pitstops and that was scary!

2013 saw Red Bull win 13 out of 16 races and the constructors championship by 236 points. Not hugely different from Mercedes last year (16/19 race wins and 296 points ahead in constructors championship).

 

Perhaps it makes it easier to explain Christian Horner's sour grapes comments after yesterdays race. That's a big reversal in fortunes, particularly as most of it was as a result of their engine partner rather than their car.