The F1 thread

chillidoggy

Not surprised, I always thought Di Resta was an average driver.

Bit late in the season for all the fannying around, though. It's possibly a bit unfair on the drivers.

stickyfiddle

Sounds like Perez and Hulk at FI next year. I've never quite seen why they were so keen on Sutil or DiResta so good to see a change if it's true. 

The whole slow-silly-season seems to be centred around whether Lotus would get their Quantum deal sorted before Hulk got bored waiting and signed somewhere else, or if that falls through they'll need Crashtor's petrodollars as seems to be the direction that's heading. 

With Webber leaving and Magnussen/Kyvat coming in there don't seem to be a huge number of drivers going to be out in the cold though, besides Diresta. 

fretmeister

Di Resta and Sutil out...

http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/9041268/Whitmarsh-Is-Happy-With-Perez-Deal

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

Sounds like Perez and Hulk at FI next year. I've never quite seen why they were so keen on Sutil or DiResta so good to see a change if it's true. 

The whole slow-silly-season seems to be centred around whether Lotus would get their Quantum deal sorted before Hulk got bored waiting and signed somewhere else, or if that falls through they'll need Crashtor's petrodollars as seems to be the direction that's heading. 

With Webber leaving and Magnussen/Kyvat coming in there don't seem to be a huge number of drivers going to be out in the cold though, besides Diresta. 

Di Resta had too many average performances and he's a big guy - not what you want going forward. Good to see Heikki Kovalainen looks like he'll get a drive.

stickyfiddle

One last run for the Renault V8..

http://instagram.com/p/hHGMIRtJeV/#

musicegbdf

Bored , bored , bored. Looking forward to the Touring cars even more now.
I think a lot turning off to F1 right now. The RB just looked to be so much faster than the other cars...

Let's hope for more excitement next year. Can't blame RB or Vettel it is their job to win, but just boring.
Lucky there were a few battles down the order.

Perhaps Touring Cars have the idea , they keep changing things with success ballast and boost reductions for the faster cars....

Fretwired

musicegbdf said:

Bored , bored , bored. Looking forward to the Touring cars even more now.
I think a lot turning off to F1 right now. The RB just looked to be so much faster than the other cars...

Let's hope for more excitement next year. Can't blame RB or Vettel it is their job to win, but just boring.
Lucky there were a few battles down the order.

Perhaps Touring Cars have the idea , they keep changing things with success ballast and boost reductions for the faster cars....

I agree - the second half of this year was boring. As you say it's not Vettel's fault. I think next year will be interesting simply because of the major rule changes and a move to unproven technology leading to breakdowns, engine failures and so forth.

stickyfiddle

The FIA banned testing, running 2 wind tunnels 24-7, big changes to engine maps and all that, partly to cut costs but mostly to stop Ferrari running 3 cars round Fiorano 6 days a week all year, but in return they've given us a position where whoever has the best design at the start of the year wins and the others can't catch up because they're not allowed to test new parts before races, and not allowed to change engine maps which are obviously becoming so crucial in these days of KERS (and ERS next year too). It's just silly, and Todt is too busy keeping everything nicely corrupt (he's standing for re-election on his own because he bought the nominations..) that he surely doesn't have time to sit down and work out how to make it fair but give teams a chance to catch up if they make a mis-step early in the year

bobblehat

stickyfiddle said:

The FIA banned testing, running 2 wind tunnels 24-7, big changes to engine maps and all that, partly to cut costs but mostly to stop Ferrari running 3 cars round Fiorano 6 days a week all year, but in return they've given us a position where whoever has the best design at the start of the year wins and the others can't catch up because they're not allowed to test new parts before races, and not allowed to change engine maps which are obviously becoming so crucial in these days of KERS (and ERS next year too). It's just silly, and Todt is too busy keeping everything nicely corrupt (he's standing for re-election on his own because he bought the nominations..) that he surely doesn't have time to sit down and work out how to make it fair but give teams a chance to catch up if they make a mis-step early in the year

IMHO .Although the lack of mid season testing makes it hard to catch up, it also stops the mid field teams and also rans from falling too far behind. The last thing we need is a return to the days when teams like Minardi would fail to qualify for a race . I would also doubt that half the teams would still be on the grid if there hadn't been any cost saving measures introduced.

stickyfiddle

bobblehat said:

stickyfiddle said:

The FIA banned testing, running 2 wind tunnels 24-7, big changes to engine maps and all that, partly to cut costs but mostly to stop Ferrari running 3 cars round Fiorano 6 days a week all year, but in return they've given us a position where whoever has the best design at the start of the year wins and the others can't catch up because they're not allowed to test new parts before races, and not allowed to change engine maps which are obviously becoming so crucial in these days of KERS (and ERS next year too). It's just silly, and Todt is too busy keeping everything nicely corrupt (he's standing for re-election on his own because he bought the nominations..) that he surely doesn't have time to sit down and work out how to make it fair but give teams a chance to catch up if they make a mis-step early in the year

IMHO .Although the lack of mid season testing makes it hard to catch up, it also stops the mid field teams and also rans from falling too far behind. The last thing we need is a return to the days when teams like Minardi would fail to qualify for a race . I would also doubt that half the teams would still be on the grid if there hadn't been any cost saving measures introduced.

Yeah- not arguing with that, just that there needs to be a middle ground somehow. Thankfully I'm not the one who has to think of what it is!

Hopefully next years reg will help as it seems aero is the really tricky bit to get perfect in combination with the mega-frail tyres these days. We might even see a midfield team jump forward as they've been doing their best with naff-all coanda and whatnot!

bobblehat

stickyfiddle said:

bobblehat said:

stickyfiddle said:

The FIA banned testing, running 2 wind tunnels 24-7, big changes to engine maps and all that, partly to cut costs but mostly to stop Ferrari running 3 cars round Fiorano 6 days a week all year, but in return they've given us a position where whoever has the best design at the start of the year wins and the others can't catch up because they're not allowed to test new parts before races, and not allowed to change engine maps which are obviously becoming so crucial in these days of KERS (and ERS next year too). It's just silly, and Todt is too busy keeping everything nicely corrupt (he's standing for re-election on his own because he bought the nominations..) that he surely doesn't have time to sit down and work out how to make it fair but give teams a chance to catch up if they make a mis-step early in the year

IMHO .Although the lack of mid season testing makes it hard to catch up, it also stops the mid field teams and also rans from falling too far behind. The last thing we need is a return to the days when teams like Minardi would fail to qualify for a race . I would also doubt that half the teams would still be on the grid if there hadn't been any cost saving measures introduced.

Yeah- not arguing with that, just that there needs to be a middle ground somehow. Thankfully I'm not the one who has to think of what it is!

Hopefully next years reg will help as it seems aero is the really tricky bit to get perfect in combination with the mega-frail tyres these days. We might even see a midfield team jump forward as they've been doing their best with naff-all coanda and whatnot!

Pat Symonds was saying yesterday that nobody has a clue what's going to happen next year because as yet nobody has got their hands on a new engine. This has got to be the best opportunity that any of the the mid field teams has of winning  or even coming close to winning a race or maybe even the championship.By 2015 the big boys will have got their act together and things will be back to normal. Could be worth putting a few quid on Hulkenberg or Perez for the 2014 title!

Fretwired

New rumour circulating - looks big Ron's back in charge at McLaren F1 and Twitmarsh relegated .. looks like the shareholders don't want a repeat of this year ... ;-)

bobblehat

I wouldn't be surprised if that was always going to be the case after the P1 project was finished.Will be good to see him back though and give the team a bit more focus for next year.

Horatio_Caine

Wow, if that proves to be true and big Ron takes back the helm then McLaren can keep dreaming on trying to sign Alonso for 2015 given what happened in 2007 with those two.

Fretwired

Horatio_Caine said:

Wow, if that proves to be true and big Ron takes back the helm then McLaren can keep dreaming on trying to sign Alonso for 2015 given what happened in 2007 with those two.

It could be a gambit - big Ron could be after Brawn. If Ferrari don't deliver next year and McLaren become serious contenders then Alonso will move. He wants to win more championships. He'll go to whichever team can give him a car - given the amount of money he earns from sponsorhip I don't think he'd be motivated by money. He'd sign for Caterham if they could give him a car to beat Vettel and Hamilton.

Horatio_Caine

True, to be honest looking at it more with everything up in the air about next year then who knows.  I suppose Hamilton isn't at McLaren anymore either so if they do turn out competitive and get potentially high end staff like Brawn then maybe things will go different.  This year got pretty boring, I can see next year being different, in what way I don't know, but hopefully better and closer.

One thing I would like to see next year is Pastor Retardo not being in it and fucking off to Indy Cars or something, sadly due to the sponsorship crap looks like that really is a dream.  Indy Cars or some sport like it might do him good, as when you mess up somebody's race they go one level over words in the form of gloves off fist time.  The he might wish that he didn't drive like such a nob in F1 constantly.

Ianpdq

On Thursday, Mercedes ended months of rumours when they confirmed that Brawn would leave the team at the end of this year.so Ross is going but where too?

Fretwired

Ianpdq said:

On Thursday, Mercedes ended months of rumours when they confirmed that Brawn would leave the team at the end of this year.so Ross is going but where too?

If I were a betting man I'd have an each way bet on McLaren or Ferrari. However, he could be lured to Williams but I have a hunch he would be nervous of the potential for family politics between Claire and Frank with him in the middle.

fretmeister

Dick confirmed at Lotus

http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/9048860/Lotus-Finally-Confirm-Maldonado-For-2014#

fretmeister

Even Lotus are taking the piss on their own Twitter feed!!

https://twitter.com/Lotus_F1Team/status/406453321109471233