Formula1

@S-NipE
Although I see that as boring as it can be, they deserve that. Everyone knew about the rules, everyone had the same amount of time to do their homework and Mercedes did theirs for A+


Oh...and I have just read at one of Croatian news sites that one of doctors that are working with Schumacher has said that Michael will definitely wake up from his coma, but that he will probably need to learn basic things like writing, eating etc.
 
Spain, Q
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Maldonado managed to crash yet again, on the exit of T3 in his first flying lap in Q1. Session was red-flagged while his car was carried away.
YouTube - F1 Spain (Barcelona) 2014 - Pastor Maldonado Crash


Vettel stopped at the exit of T2 when he went out from pit lane with gearbox failure.
 
Maldonado simply hasn't the talent to race in a class like F1. It still is a miracle to me how he won in Barcelona. I mean, Grosjean proved that he can race in GP2 and, after some more or less stupid races, also in F1. He was over motivated in his first year, but he has talent. Maldonado on the other hand is a pay driver like the ones that were there in the early 90s.
 
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I can only assume that Lotus F1 are desperately short of finances to even consider Maldonado over a more able driver such as the Hulk.

I can't see the guy getting a drive next year. The financial backing he brings is surely not worth the hassle and repair bills that follow. Not only that, other drivers have been voicing concerns over his driving style (or lack of it).
 
Yes, a bit boring really. One team domination has long been a part of F1 but that doesn't mean I like it, nor should the FIA not do something about it for the sake of the sport. After years of Vettel streaking clear of the pack and now the Mercedes show, I can see casual fans turning off in big numbers.
 
well, like I said, I have nothing against one team domination...they did they job and they deserve it.

Problem with this race was that there was no real racing behind 2 Merc cars. They just paired themselves and finished the race in that manner, according to the speed of the cars...just look at the results in final order:
2x Mercedes
2x RB
Williams
2x Ferrari
Lotus
2x Force India
2x McLaren
Williams
Toro Rosso
Lotus
2x Sauber
2x Marussia
2x Caterham
Toro Rosso

Those that weren't paired had some technical problems or had made a mistake.
 
I do have a problem with one team domination which is probably why F1 has never been at the top of my motorsport "to watch" list.

Competitive racing (at the front) between different teams is what I want to see. F1 doesn't deliver that on a frequent basis.

We all have our own preferences for what is entertainment though.
 
I definitely agree with you that competitive racing between multiple teams at front is what keeps us on the edge of the seat, but in F1 it is very hard to achieve because by rules every team is required to completely design and build their own car. It is quite hard to achieve competitive racing between 11 different cars.
 
Yes that's true, F1 has always been a 'research and development' lead series. It can never be a true spec series. All the FIA can do is look into ways to reduce costs and level the playing field between the rich and poor teams. To be fair they are doing that but they can only go so far without incurring the dissatisfaction of the big teams.
 
I actually sympathise with Marussia and Caterham (and HRT although they aren't here anymore) as they entered F1 in 2010. with promise that budgets will be capped to 40M $ per team per season. Otherwise teams would have been able to choose to have unlimited budget like they have now, but with limited development and testing allowed during season. Now teams finally have reached and agreement to cap the budget on 150M $ per season, but RB and Ferrari vetoed that agreement as they wanted 260M as a budget cap.

FIA is trying to level the field, but they are doing it wrong in my opinion. You can't have rules which mandate for every team to have custom built car but regulate it so tightly that you kill any innovation. Sooner or later they will all converge to the same basic design and you'll have a spec series where those with more resources will have more refined solutions on their car and still have advantage over the rest of the field. I don't really like how 70s cars looked, but I like that era in F1 (although that was some 20 years before I was born) because they just started to play with aerodynamics, they started to experiment with different wing profiles, different wing positions, different suspension layouts (Tyrell with 6 wheels is great example), Renault started to experiment with turbo engines...and yes, even smaller teams did get their share of success (podiums, wins) because they had some young previously unknown engineers who had great ideas that they implemented on their cars (because there was almost no restrictions on what you can place on the car, just some basic measures were regulated) and those worked. In those days you could paint all cars in plain white and you could instantly recognize which car is which.

Anyways, few years ago I resented spec series' as I thought of it as boring one car processions. Luckily I surpassed my prejudice and now I enjoy in close competitive racing in IndyCar, GP2 and when I remember to watch GP3 and WSbR
 
First race I didn't finished watching in some years now, but only because I had to leave for a meeting, not because of the race itself. But to be honest I expected that as Mercedes are leading with such an advantage on the one hand and Barcelona being a relatively boring track to race on on the other hand. Think the next few races will be much better.
 
Glamour is the only reason why Monaco still is in F1 calendar. Track does not meet any safety requirements asked from other tracks, there is no paddock area (something which was forced on Spa to solve between 2005 and 2007, that is why there was no Spa in 2006), race does note meet required distance for a Grand Prix (minumum of 300km in race distance) and there is just no fun watching it unless someone crash.
 
Today was 1st of 2 test days this week in Barcelona

Unofficial Tuesday times from Barcelona:
1. Max Chilton, Marussia, 1m 26.434s, 60 laps
2. Charles Pic, Lotus, 1m 26.661s, 70 laps
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1m 26.674s, 79 laps
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 26.965s, 19 laps
5. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso, 1m 27.724s, 51 laps
6. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, 1m 27.727s, 53 laps
7. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1m 27.756s, 55 laps
8. Jenson Button, McLaren, 1m 28.333s, 74 laps
9. Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham, 1m 30.101s, 72 laps
10. Sebastien Buemi, Red Bull, 1m 31.440s, 54 laps
11. Giedo van der Garde, Sauber, 1m 31.783s, 86 laps
Click to expand...


There was lots of rain in the morning and Raikkonen managed only 19 laps before his run came to rather smokey end
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And tomorrow Mercedes will test new "megaphone" exhaust pipe, approved by FIA, which should in theory bring back some small part of noise
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:LOL:

This whole discussion is ridiculous to me. I'm watching motorsport, because of the sport, not the sound. If the cars produce a proper sound, fine, but all this fuss about the sound is annoying.
 
tell that to all those "I ain't watchin' F1 again cause it is too quiet" fanboys.

Renault engineer said that he was in Le Mans last year and that at the start of the race almost 60 cars made less noise than 22 F1 cars. And F1 wasn't always about noise...it was not until 1989 when turbos were banned that engine manufacturers started to produce V10s and V8s, with Ferrari unleashing king of all screamers, their mighty yet not that drivable V12. All that fuss about noise started in 2006 when V8 became mandatory, and even than it was only because of TV commentators which never forgot to mention that V8s are not as loud as V10s were.


I mean, this winter Formula E series is starting (spec-car series with electric power only) supplied by power by, interestingly enough Renault (known for great reliability with their KERS and now ERS systems). And although sound is well...like 10€ remote controlled car, some great drivers will be in and if racing will be good I will try not to miss any race...

YouTube - Formula E Car - Test Debut

Confirmed drivers for 1st Formula E championship:
Lucas di Grassi
Daniel Abt (both for Audi team)
Sam Bird
Jaime Alguersuari (both for Virgin Racing)

there are still 16 seats available, and this is Formula E "drivers Club", drivers who applied for testing and will get the chance to join one of 8 remaining teams:
Christijan Albers, Marco Andretti, Nathanael Berthon, Marco Bonanomi, Sebastien Bourdais, Alex Brundle, Sebastien Buemi, Adam Caroll, Karun Chandhok, Dani Clos, Ben Collins, Conor Daly, Jerome d'Ambrosio, Robert Doornbos, Kuba Giermaziak, Nick Heidfeld, J.R.Hildebrand, Ryo Hirakawa, Narain Karthikeyan, Christian Klien, Jon Lancaster, Katherine Legge, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Ma Qing Hua, Nicolas Manassian, Franck Montagny, Giorgio Pantano, Agustin Paya, Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Stéphane Sarrazin, Takuma Sato, Bruno Senna, Oriol Servia, Andy Soucek, Adrien Tambay, Jarno Trulli.

There are some current and ex. IndyCar drivers (Andretti, Bourdais, Daly, Hildebrand, Legge, Sato, Servia), ex F1 drivers (Albers, Bourdais, Buemi, Chandok, Clos, d'Ambrosio, Doornbos, Heidfeld, Karthikeyan, Klien, Liuzzi, Qing Hua, Pantano, Sato, Senna, Trulli) and few less known drivers from GP2, GP3, Super Formula, WTCC...


Race Calendar:
China - September 13th 2014
Malaysia - October 18th 2014
Uruguay - December 13th 2014
Argentina - January 10th 2015
TBA - February 14th 2015
USA (Miami) - March 14th 2015
USA (LA) - April 4th 2015
Monaco - May 9th 2015
Germany - May 30th 2015
UK - June 27th 2015
 
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And Mercedes testing new exhaust pipe today. Not only it is completely and utterly stupid waste of time to artificially make some noise so that some fanboys are kept happy it also looks ridiculous
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This is the new sound...I am not really impressed, as those cars sounded great in testing when fans were recording with mobiles and cameras, but when we heard them in official broadcast they were quieter
http://www.mobypicture.com/user/piusgasso3/view/16896640


And Minidrivers did a little joke about it
YouTube - [ENGLSH] - MiniNews - 002 - The sound of the V6
 
Rosberg has said that he haven't noticed anything different about sound of the car with that pipe
 
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times from yesterdays test session

Unofficial Wednesday times from Barcelona:
1. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1m 24.871s, 102 laps
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1m 25.805, 102 laps
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1m 26.480, 94 laps
4. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber, 1m 26.972s, 85 laps
5. Susie Wolff, Williams, 1m 27.280s, 55 laps
6. Jules Bianchi, Marussia, 1m 27.718s, 55 laps
7. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1m 27.973s, 73 laps
8. Daniel Juncadella, Force India, 1m 28.278s, 91 laps
9. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 1m 28.441s, 136 laps
10. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 1m 28.910s, 21 laps
Click to expand...
 
I never actually had a chance to see Blancpain GT race, but I have heard almost unanimously positive impressions of it.

Brands Hatch is not very high on my favorite tracks list though, but it is still a good and challenging track.
 
It seems to be a drivers favourite because the circuit has so much character. Narrow and full of rises and falls. Paddock Hill bend is one of the best corners you will see anywhere. I love watching races there. Very much an old school track. No way F1 could ever go there again sadly.

Blancpain is great. Try and catch it if it goes anywhere near you. My favourite car - the Mercedes SLS - didn't disappoint. It sounds like thunder. The BMW Z4 surprised me - I think it was the loudest.
 
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