2014 Formula 1 Thread

As long as Hamilton doesn't lose his head this should prove to be the most anticlimactic race of the season.

Hamilton would be a fool to get ahead of Rosberg. A racy Rosberg behind him woud be his biggest threat.

Let Nico go and win the race. Hamilton just needs to be delicate with his car and beat the Williams duo. Should be easy.

ValSalva said:

As long as Hamilton doesn't lose his head this should prove to be the most anticlimactic race of the season.

Hamilton would be a fool to get ahead of Rosberg. A racy Rosberg behind him woud be his biggest threat.

Let Nico go and win the race. Hamilton just needs to be delicate with his car and beat the Williams duo. Should be easy.

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Your right of course, but somehow I can't see it. Hamilton is not going to want to see his rival race of, just incase the Williams catch him.
If he gets in front, it's Nico that's going to have to take the risks. Either way it will be fun. Just hope it doesn't get decided by a back marker on their F1 debut.

Red Bull have been disqualified from qualifying for fielding illegal front wings. Not that it will affect the Chsmpionship at the front, but I'm sure Williams and Ferrari are pleased!

Apple fanboy said:

Your right of course, but somehow I can't see it. Hamilton is not going to want to see his rival race of, just incase the Williams catch him.
If he gets in front, it's Nico that's going to have to take the risks. Either way it will be fun. Just hope it doesn't get decided by a back marker on their F1 debut.

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Yeah, it wouldn't be a nice ending to the season if Maldonado forgets to look in his mirrors and takes out a Mercedes

I just think Lewis will play it safe. He can stay from two to ten seconds behind Rosberg the whole race. That's been enough to stay ahead of the rest of the field all year. No reason to think it will be any different during this race.

Either way, we'll see. Hope mechanical issues do not play a factor.

ValSalva said:

Yeah, it wouldn't be a nice ending to the season if Maldonado forgets to look in his mirrors and takes out a Mercedes

I just think Lewis will play it safe. He can stay from two to ten seconds behind Rosberg the whole race. That's been enough to stay ahead of the rest of the field all year. No reason to think it will be any different during this race.

Either way, we'll see. Hope mechanical issues do not play a factor.

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Maldonado.... who knows

If Rosberg leads and Hamilton is running is second, Rosberg will back them up. If Hamilton tries to pass, thats dangerous for potential damage. Anything can happen, from a procession to wheel to wheel racing. I just hope that the other drivers race to win, thats the idea of racing, not to get out f the way of the top two. I don't want two races going on. I want Williams to go for it, and given their grid positions and that the Mercedes guys will want to avoid collisions with anyone, and to complete a clean race, there best times may be less than the Williams best lap times. two opposing motivations

tdale said:

Maldonado.... who knows

If Rosberg leads and Hamilton is running is second, Rosberg will back them up. If Hamilton tries to pass, thats dangerous for potential damage. Anything can happen, from a procession to wheel to wheel racing. I just hope that the other drivers race to win, thats the idea of racing, not to get out f the way of the top two. I don't want two races going on. I want Williams to go for it, and given their grid positions and that the Mercedes guys will want to avoid collisions with anyone, and to complete a clean race, there best times may be less than the Williams best lap times. two opposing motivations

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i'm hoping bottas gets a jump on lewie and runs 2nd behind nico all day...

that said, i do believe lewie will lock it up pretty easily today and he is/will be a very deserving champ, imho.

Apple fanboy said:

Red Bull have been disqualified from qualifying for fielding illegal front wings. Not that it will affect the Chsmpionship at the front, but I'm sure Williams and Ferrari are pleased!

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And Mercedes - more cars out of the way will allow more space for them. There were rumours of a leaf spring but Christian has said there was a thin slice of metal which allowed more flexion.

So Nico to pull away and hope the Williams or mechanical failure can scupper Lewis or to will he try and back up Lewis in to the field?

Alternativly Lewis might get the jump on him or just run him off the road!

I hope they can resolve this with a fair race, otherwise things will be very frosty next year!

Enjoy.

The worst possible start for Nico then. Hamilton's to lose from here. Reliability could still be a decider.

With Botas dropping down the field, I think Nico has lost the guy most likely to challenge for second anyway.

Well Nico is hoping for a failure from Lewis after his ERS failure. Listening to his radio messages he is currently the angriest man in F1!

Sad for Nico as it all went wrong for him, but with Hamilton leading before his failure, the result wasn't really in doubt.
Red Bull did really well from their pit stop start.
And Williams kept Lewis honest in the end. Good to see a double podium for them. Hopefully we can see some race wins next year for this great team.

All's well that ends well.

Well done Lewis! Woot!

MOFS said:

Well Nico is hoping for a failure from Lewis after his ERS failure. Listening to his radio messages he is currently the angriest man in F1!

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Nico seemed pretty cool to me on the radio. Actually very cool. Showed real class by finishing the race when they could have retired the car.

BenTrovato said:

Nico seemed pretty cool to me on the radio. Actually very cool. Showed real class by finishing the race when they could have retired the car.

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Given the state of his breaks, I'm surprised they didn't call him in earlier.

But yes I think he handled the day with maturity. I guess he knew, that short of a mechanical issue, Lewis was always going to finish in the top two.

I bet there are a few sore heads this morning in the Mercedes garage!

I was far too drunk after yesterday's race to post but a big well done to Lewis Hamilton on his second World title!!

I felt very sorry for Rosberg with his car failure. He handled defeat like a true pro and any ill feeling towards the guy is forgotten. It was a close fight and I am relieved double points didn't come into play. Nico lost out fair and square and will no doubt be more determined next year. Thanks chaps it was amazing to watch.

Cheers to Lewie!

Highlights this season for me were: Bottas, Nico, Riccardio, and Bianchi's point.

I hope Fred's lateral move to McClaren pays off. Honda please hit the ground running!

pachyderm said:

Cheers to Lewie!

Highlights this season for me were: Bottas, Nico, Riccardio, and Bianchi's point.

I hope Fred's lateral move to McClaren pays off. Honda please hit the ground running!

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Yes some competition next year would be good. Really hope Button gets to keep his seat. Him and Alonso would be a great pairing. Don't think it will happen though.

Alonso got every inch out of that Ferrari. Can't see Vettel doing the same. He was out classed all season long.
Next to Hamilton, Bottas and Riccardio where my drivers of the year.

Let me just say it would have an absolute travesty if, having won ten Grands Prix this season, Lewis Hamilton hadn't ended up with the World Championship. Fortunately that scenario didn't happen. And here's hoping they do away with the "double points" nonsense for next season.

Here's also hoping that more teams are competitive next year. There have always been teams at the back of the grid, but the utter domination of the Mercedes cars this year got a bit tedious. And lets hope that somehow the people that own and run F1 can figure out a way to keep a 12-team field at least financially viable, with any one of three or four teams capable of winning on any given day. You'd think with the amount of money sloshing around F! that would be possible, but who knows.

Overall, however, I think the sport had a lot to be proud of this year.

vrDrew said:

Let me just say it would have an absolute travesty if, having won ten Grands Prix this season, Lewis Hamilton hadn't ended up with the World Championship. Fortunately that scenario didn't happen. And here's hoping they do away with the "double points" nonsense for next season.

Here's also hoping that more teams are competitive next year. There have always been teams at the back of the grid, but the utter domination of the Mercedes cars this year got a bit tedious. And lets hope that somehow the people that own and run F1 can figure out a way to keep a 12-team field at least financially viable, with any one of three or four teams capable of winning on any given day. You'd think with the amount of money sloshing around F! that would be possible, but who knows.

Overall, however, I think the sport had a lot to be proud of this year.

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The bold part is critical to me. The World Championship is cheapened by a smaller field.

vrDrew said:

Let me just say it would have an absolute travesty if, having won ten Grands Prix this season, Lewis Hamilton hadn't ended up with the World Championship. Fortunately that scenario didn't happen. And here's hoping they do away with the "double points" nonsense for next season.

Here's also hoping that more teams are competitive next year. There have always been teams at the back of the grid, but the utter domination of the Mercedes cars this year got a bit tedious. And lets hope that somehow the people that own and run F1 can figure out a way to keep a 12-team field at least financially viable, with any one of three or four teams capable of winning on any given day. You'd think with the amount of money sloshing around F! that would be possible, but who knows.

Overall, however, I think the sport had a lot to be proud of this year.

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that first bit about wins. completely agreed. that is one of the reasons why i think nascar is so stupid. most wins should be champ.

vrDrew said:

Here's also hoping that more teams are competitive next year. There have always been teams at the back of the grid, but the utter domination of the Mercedes cars this year got a bit tedious. And lets hope that somehow the people that own and run F1 can figure out a way to keep a 12-team field at least financially viable, with any one of three or four teams capable of winning on any given day. You'd think with the amount of money sloshing around F! that would be possible, but who knows.

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I think what they should do is take the stupid 5% they give to Ferrari just for being Ferrari and give it to Caterham and Marussia. Well, too late for Marussia but you get the idea.

I dunno. Giving money to them just because they're Ferrari is pretty dumb.

I don't care for Lewis much, arrogant. He's had the team more on his side as he is more marketable. Early on, they changed Rosbergs strategy and it put him well back, something is biased.More than once. This year, due to the dominance of Mercedes (congrats to doing that) the championship was hollow. Two horse race, not a struggle all through the season as can be the case.

Well done Ricciardo, he has been awesome, Bottas too. Interested to see how good Kyvat is, his talent will be seen in a good car. Good effort Red Bull, a slow car that beat every Mercedes powered car except for two.

Next year the gap will close, not sure how much. Honda may be competitive. Red Bull will get some hp from somewhere I hope.

tdale said:

I don't care for Lewis much, arrogant. He's had the team more on his side as he is more marketable. Early on, they changed Rosbergs strategy and it put him well back, something is biased.More than once. This year, due to the dominance of Mercedes (congrats to doing that) the championship was hollow. Two horse race, not a struggle all through the season as can be the case.

Well done Ricciardo, he has been awesome, Bottas too. Interested to see how good Kyvat is, his talent will be seen in a good car. Good effort Red Bull, a slow car that beat every Mercedes powered car except for two.

Next year the gap will close, not sure how much. Honda may be competitive. Red Bull will get some hp from somewhere I hope.

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Not sure I agree with your team bias. I think they have been very fair all season to give both drivers an equal chance. Remember it was 11 verses 5 race wins. And one of Nico's was Monaco which was (rather dubiously) one on Saturday.

Yes lets hope Honda have a good package next year. Seeing a few different cars and drivers get results would be nice for a change.

Apple fanboy said:

Not sure I agree with your team bias. I think they have been very fair all season to give both drivers an equal chance. Remember it was 11 verses 5 race wins. And one of Nico's was Monaco which was (rather dubiously) one on Saturday.

Yes lets hope Honda have a good package next year. Seeing a few different cars and drivers get results would be nice for a change.

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I don't have a team bias, I enjoy a good race and a good drive. But when the championship was in two parts, Lewis vs Nico , and the other race to be best of the rest, there were very very few races between the top two. Three times they were racing together, then the team changed strategy and that split them, always to Hamiltons favour. Whether that was a contrived bias for Hamilton, or a desire to avoid the head to head at Bahrain, I dunno, but the race with these two rarely happened throughout the year. Early on Hamilton made frequent errors, but latterly it was like Webber and Vettel, Webber always had the run of the green against him, a lopsided rate of problems. Having sad all that, I do favour Hamilton as being marginally on top, but the closeness was rarely seen, whether thats team management I dunno, but it appeared to be too frequent for the stats to go how they went.

Pity Honda had issues at testing.I imagine that while they have little engine data to go on, as much of that is locked to the engine supplier, Mercedes, they will have the hp and torque per rev range, so they should be well placed to provide a power plant that can compete. McLaren however seem to have a poor car. Best power plant but poor race pace. RB is the opposite, they must have the best car, aero/mechanical grip wise, but have low power. Hope they can pickup some hp, 60 down I recall. However, as you also hope, I can see it being much closer on 2015. The top team will have far lower % gains to look for than the lesser teams

tdale said:

I don't have a team bias, I enjoy a good race and a good drive. But when the championship was in two parts, Lewis vs Nico , and the other race to be best of the rest, there were very very few races between the top two. Three times they were racing together, then the team changed strategy and that split them, always to Hamiltons favour. Whether that was a contrived bias for Hamilton, or a desire to avoid the head to head at Bahrain, I dunno, but the race with these two rarely happened throughout the year. Early on Hamilton made frequent errors, but latterly it was like Webber and Vettel, Webber always had the run of the green against him, a lopsided rate of problems. Having sad all that, I do favour Hamilton as being marginally on top, but the closeness was rarely seen, whether thats team management I dunno, but it appeared to be too frequent for the stats to go how they went.

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This was Nico's fault and it seems like he learned his lesson. Nico was in control of the championship when everything exploded and if he was a ruthless world champion he would have told everyone to stuff it and Hamilton to stop crying like a baby. Then he'd go out and keep nailing pole positions. That's what you have to do. If you watch the interviews that Hamilton just did, he admits how difficult Spa was when he lost 18 points to zero. That was the turning point where you need to hammer your opponent. Instead Nico, through the team let Lewis back into it. I'm willing to bet Lewis wouldn't have budged if the tables were turned. He knows what it takes to win especially after that battle with Alonso earlier in his career.

Mercedes did begin to favour Lewis (maybe to make it up to him) after the fiasco but Nico let it happen and you can't do that in this game. You have to keep the pedal down all the way through Abu Dhabi. I'll be interested to see how Nico comes back in 2015.