Formula 1 The F1 jibber jabber thread.

[Olgaline]

Met Hamilton, is a good bloke even if he tries to break bones when you shake hands!

Isnt he about 3 feet tall?

 

[Raven]

He is an actual lego man.

 

[Moriath]

Isnt he about 3 feet tall?

no thats bernie ecclestone

 

[caLLous]

The (Sky Sports F1) 2014 F1 Season Awards.

 

[Job]

Lovely fast paced 3min film on the 2014 F1, turn up the speakers and enjoy.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWMWVtZjNXA

 

[Raven]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula-one/31050734

Forced to stop testing because of a "Blizzard" heh

I also like how they call the team German, are they fuck, German company yes, the car is British as are the support teams.

 

[Moriath]

Is that a suprise in Britain when it's been snowing some?

 

[Raven]

Its the same biblical snow storm that had people wetting themselves at work (I am about 15 miles from Silverstone) Basically we had about an inch of small hail followed by an inch of heavy snow in about 20 mins. Then the sun came out and it was gone as quickly as it came.

Though I guess you don't really want to be beasting a new F1 car around in that Hardly a blizzard though!

 

[Moriath]

Its the same biblical snow storm that had people wetting themselves at work (I am about 15 miles from Silverstone) Basically we had about an inch of small hail followed by an inch of heavy snow in about 20 mins. Then the sun came out and it was gone as quickly as it came.

Though I guess you don't really want to be beasting a new F1 car around in that Hardly a blizzard though!

Should have put chains on their tyres. Not heard about winter tyres and mcclaren obviously hehe

 

[caLLous]

So Rosberg did a 1:22.7 on soft tyres today. That's like 2 seconds quicker than anybody else. Indeed, Lewis was matching other drivers' soft-tyre times when he was on mediums earlier in the week.

I know, I know, it's only pre-season... but I wonder who'll come second in the constructors this year?

 

[Jupitus]

So Rosberg did a 1:22.7 on soft tyres today. That's like 2 seconds quicker than anybody else. Indeed, Lewis was matching other drivers' soft-tyre times when he was on mediums earlier in the week.

I know, I know, it's only pre-season... but I wonder who'll come second in the constructors this year?

Hard to call, but I reckon Williams are still up there...

 

[ECA]

The track is being rubbered in throughout the test, so times would be expected to fall throughout.

I'm expecting a mercedes champ+constructors title, but they'll lose more races this year than last, and more importantly the driver battles up and down the field are a really interesting.

Also - Williams should have won Austria last year, but their race tactics were rusty as fk for competing for wins, they went for 2nd+3rd rather than the win.

 

[sayward]

Anyone else think the whole Alonso accident thing sounds odd?

 

[ECA]

Yes, that was all a bit weird, the tldr is he had a concussion and some form of amnesia ( not uncommon ).
Could permanently affect him, could be a full recovery, or anywhere in between.

We won't know until the races start though. ( omg 2 weeks to go!!!!! ).

 

[caLLous]

Yeah it's crept right up on us. I do like this Sky Sports F1 advert (it was on at half time in the Cup final)...



Much better than America's effort anyway...

 

[Jupitus]

The Alonso crash is odd in that we still aren't sure of the cause... gusting wind? Really?? In terms of the medical situation, I suspect that with testing not offering any points they really are just being extra cautious, but I'd love to be a fly on Ron Dennis' wall...

 

[caLLous]

As if Merc weren't dominant enough already, Toto Wolff has said that they only used one engine through all of their pre-season testing. He did say they refreshed bits of it but that is mighty impressive, especially given the amount of running they did.

Overall mileage across the 12 days of pre-season testing - by power unit:
1. Mercedes, 3,996 laps - 18,378 km
2. Ferrari, 2,427 laps - 11,132 km
3. Renault, 2,149 laps - 9,886 km
4. Honda, 380 laps - 1,751 km

 

[Gumbo]

There's more than one user of Merc power units though, so do those numbers above relate just to the Mercedes team's use of one engine, or all the Merc teams put together.

 

[caLLous]

That's a total of the whole distance done by all cars running Mercedes engines throughout all of testing.

This is a total by team (stars next to Merc-powered teams)...

Overall mileage across the 12 days of pre-season testing - by team:
1. Mercedes, 1,340 laps - 6,121 km *
2. Sauber, 1,245 laps - 5,709 km
3. Toro Rosso, 1,206 laps - 5,534 km
4. Ferrari, 1,182 laps - 5,423 km
5. Williams, 1,069 laps - 4,913 km *
6. Red Bull, 943 laps - 4,352 km
7. Lotus, 918 laps - 4,230 km *
8. Force India, 669 laps - 3,114 km *
9. McLaren, 380 laps - 1,751 km

 

[Draylor]

The top 3 each use a different manufacturers engine. With differences of less than 10% its not particularly meaningful.
Force India did 1500km or so using their 2014 car. Distance/lap count numbers for their 2015 car would put them in last place. Even so coming close to McLarens numbers (365 laps vs 380) in 2.5 days shows just how bad McLaren have been.

Oh, and Alonso isnt going to Australia. That'll give the media types something to waffle on endlessly about for the next 10 days.

 

[caLLous]

The top 3 each use a different manufacturers engine. With differences of less than 10% its not particularly meaningful.

Yes, the point being made was that the Merc team did all of their 6121km on one engine (with bits refreshed). It's not as impressive as it first sounded but still makes it seem like they've ironed out some reliability problems. You have to think that if other teams using other engines had only used one then they'd be crowing about it too, but they're not.

 

[Exioce]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/race-calendar/

We get Bahrain, Russia and Kuala Lumpur, but no Australia (opening), Monaco, Spain, Monza, Singapore etc.
What a crock of shit, do they realise they are shooting themselves in the foot so badly?

 

[caLLous]

They've gone for the cheap ones (assuming different races cost different amounts for the broadcasters) to make it look like they're trying. I was forced to watch a couple of races on the beeb last year, their coverage is embarrassing next to Sky's. Either go all in and give it your best shot or don't bother.

 

[ECA]

GVDG lawsuit result announced tomorrow 10am, will be very interesting.
Mostly teams just ignore contracts because filing lawsuits in every country you go to race in to stop something like this is insanely prohibitive, but they fucked over GVDG and his sponsors, ( they took his money last season for this one ), then told him to fuck off.

He won in swizterland, but Sauber basically ignored it so he's lawyering up in aus. Will be super interesting to see what happens if he wins.

 

[ECA]

GVDG won. No idea what sauber are gonna do now.

 

[caLLous]

Give him a ton of cash that they don't really have? They surely can't give him a drive can they?

 

[Draylor]

Its a beautifully fucked up situation that could only happen in F1.

If he drives then they risk upsetting the sponsors of Ericsson or Nasr who have funded the team over the winter. Without their money Sauber wouldnt be in Australia.
If he doesnt drive then the Australian courts can seize the assets of the team which are currently at the track.

Its hard to discount the current conspiracy theories that this situation has been designed by van der Gardes father in law as leverage to buy the team. As a billionaire he can likely afford it, unlike most of the recent wannabe team owners ...

 

[caLLous]

Six tenths... Not the gap between Merc and the rest but the gap between Lewis and Nico.

 

[Olgaline]

Mclaren confirm health issues with Alonso, might mean another round for Mag in Malaysia... ...
How convenient for Alonso, following that Qual. in Australia.

 

[caLLous]

He's probably claiming he doesn't remember signing for McLaren...