F1 2014 season kicks off.

[pablo]

I was hoping to see them both on the podium till Perez ran out of breaks. Think my neighbours heard me shout out when they came together

[pablo]

Was a bit surprised at Chiltern blaming his team mate for their crash. The replay clearly showed Chiltern loosing the backend of his car which caused the crash.

[jap.slapper]

Was a bit surprised at Chiltern blaming his team mate for their crash. The replay clearly showed Chiltern loosing the backend of his car which caused the crash.

Yeah I thought that was a bit ridiculous to be honest, unless something happened that hasn't been captured on camera it was pretty clear cut, Chilton lost the back end and wiped out his team mate whilst trying to ride it out....pretty straight forward


as for Rosberg being a grumpy fecker'.....remember he is German and that might just be the way that he handles the pressure

I figure although Mercedes priority will be to win the constructors title it would be better for Mercedes if Rosberg wins the championship this year, as from an investors perspective having two world championship drivers (and 2014 runner up) is better potentially than having one two time world champion and a runner up

Lewis has his work cut out and needs a bit of good fortune if he wants to pull this back

[jap.slapper]

and just to add (although I 100% disagree with the new ruling) I think that double points in the last race will play a huge part in deciding which driver comes out on top this season

50 points for a single race win with the potential of a DNF for the other driver....can't be right in my opinion

[maff]

Agree completely about the double points, most fans hate it and the FIA ignore the complaints, fewer people complain about the noise and they make a big song and dance about 'fixing' it. Madness.

[jap.slapper]

It looks to be bloody hot in Hungary at the moment....in fact more so for Chilton as his car's literally just caught fire, oh dear!

I just thought I'd put a thought out there regarding last weekends race (and forgive me as it is just me thinking out loud) but Mercedes decision to bring Hamilton in after Sutil spun on lap 48 having just completed 8 laps on that particular set of tyres, could in my opinion have a long lasting impact on the Championship standings.

I personally think that Hamilton could have made those tyres last until the end of the race and in doing so would have kept him in front of Bottas. His tyres would have been in a state towards the end of the race but I don't think that Bottas/Williams would have pushed and challenged Hamilton for 2nd place and would have been more inclined to be happy to settle for 3rd. As it was Hamilton burnt through the new set of tyres making up the ground to claw his way back up to 3rd and then wore them out further challenging Bottas for 2nd, eventually conceding (and at the same time with Williams realising) that Hamilton's tyres were now shot.

Anyway, enough waffle from me....Practice 1

[jap.slapper]

Just two comments on todays GP for now

Firstly regarding the presence of the astro turf beyond the curbed area of the last corner onto the start/finish straight....nice thought, reasons for it being there explained by Charlie W prior to the race but clearly it's extremely dangerous and should be removed for reasons demonstrated by both Vettel and Hulkenberg today who both dipped a rear wheel onto it, one of which was lucky the other not so

and secondly regarding the proposed reformat of post Safety Car restart, currently of course once the SC is in the cars go pedal to the metal and it's every man for himself, however there has been talk of the entire field reforming on the grid in pre SC order and then going from a standing start.

In my view that idea is unfair more so than the current procedure and is also pretty dangerous (or would have been today) considering the amount of carbon fibre shards and broken bits of Hulkenberg's car that had literally covered the entire area on the right hand side of the mid grid positions. Granted it looked like it had been cleared by the marshal's however as it was predominantly off the racing line it wouldn't matter so much during the rest of todays race however if you were one of the unlucky drivers who happened to be unfortunate enough to have to form up slap bang in the middle of where the debris was, it's a fair bet that somebody on the right hand side would pick up something that could cause a puncture.

In my view the current SC procedure, albeit unfortunate for the guys who have battled away to build up a hefty time gap (Rosberg today for example) it is the lesser of evils and like it or not it does actually work.


Just my 2p worth


Well ok....point 3, Lewis did well but he seriously needs to stop moaning especially whilst driving, he seems to constantly be bleating about 'how there's vibration' and about 'how it doesn't feel right' and 'how his seat is hot and it's making his ass warm' and 'how the tyres don't feel right' (despite improving over his previous 3-4 lap times?) it's very school boy'ish in as much as he moans to give excuses that (a) if he doesn't do so well then that was the reason and (b) if he does do well he's a hero for fighting through the problems....YAWN!!!

Just fookin' drive the car and lose the 'face like slapped arse' expression when stood on the podium FFS!


I've always liked Lewis (and Rosberg for that matter....did I mention I've got Nico's old race suit bag ) but they are both really starting to piss me off this season with this spoilt child mentality.

Rant over.....good race....Button for Prime Minister

[maff]

It was an awesome race, Hamilton outside of Verne was pure brilliance. Gotta love it, Rosberg just hasn't got Hamiltons overtaking chops. But you're right, the constant whine whine whine, wears a little thin. For years now I've thought they should take the radios off the cars and leave it to the drivers to get on, if its good enough for MotoGP....

[jap.slapper]

I've just heard that the re-start from a standing start has been given the go ahead for next season....I think that's a wrong move (in the same way as their insisting on the fitting of titanium bits to the underside of the cars to create 'sparks for show') apparently that'll excite the fans?!? Hmm, I'm not sure many 4 year olds watch F1 to necessitate 'magic sparks' but hey ho....

and just a thought on this whole Hamilton/Rosberg/Mercedes fiasco regarding favouritism towards Nico. I suppose you could look at it from a financial gains perspective, in as much as having two World Championship winning drivers in the team is more attractive to sponsors and investors than their having a single two time World Champion and a runner up. Just a thought.

[Danny@APT]

I've just heard that the re-start from a standing start has been given the go ahead for next season.....

Where did you hear that, by the way? Bernie's been quoted in several articles recently saying it definitely won't happen?

http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewto ... 54#p526663