Picking up from the 2013 Formula 1 discussion thread.
Let the tire swaps, aero swaps, engine swaps and driver swaps commence...
Let the tire swaps, aero swaps, engine swaps and driver swaps commence...
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2014 Formula 1 Thread
- Thread starter RaceTripper
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Well 'rumours' Alonso has signed for McLaren for 2015 are doing the rounds. Di Resta being sued by Anthony Hamilton over termination of contract heat up with email dates apparently being altered and thank god India and Korea are missing off the 2014 calendar!
Here's hoping the V6 engine introduction, slimmer front and rear wings and exhaust exit's being banned from the diffuser area make the racing a lot more unpredictable and exciting next season. 2013 was awful from a viewers standpoint and we need a shake up I feel. I want to see Vettel fighting for wins against his equal's rather than a technical advantage that keeps him at the front on a Saturday. Red Bull have just been far too good and its down to the teams now to pull their fingers out and give their top drivers a car to challenge. I just hope Newey has missed a trick this year!! Roll on 2014
Here's hoping the V6 engine introduction, slimmer front and rear wings and exhaust exit's being banned from the diffuser area make the racing a lot more unpredictable and exciting next season. 2013 was awful from a viewers standpoint and we need a shake up I feel. I want to see Vettel fighting for wins against his equal's rather than a technical advantage that keeps him at the front on a Saturday. Red Bull have just been far too good and its down to the teams now to pull their fingers out and give their top drivers a car to challenge. I just hope Newey has missed a trick this year!! Roll on 2014
Anyone else expecting more failures? Turbos are pretty hot (ok very hot) and we've been seeing alternator and KERS failures caused by heat without them. And KERS is more powerful so more critical if it fails...
Turbo technology has come a long way since it made its last appearance in F1. Even with road going cars, you no longer have to baby them like you used to when they were oil cooled (my last two cars have been new turbos). Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the season goes with all the new tech.
My current car is a turbo. But it's not installed in such a tight and constrained environment and is not being stressed by the sort of engine revs that F1 engines produce. Turbo road cars get turbo failures. I expect that the turbos for the F1 engines will have lifespans only slightly longer than they are expected to last. So some will fail. Quite possibly in a spectacular fashion.
And non-turbo road cars fail also. I've never heard that [modern] turbo road cars fail with higher incidence. We shall see. I have been watching turbos race in sports car racing (ALMS, LMS, World Challenge, etc) for years. They fail and so do their naturally-aspirated competitors. Actually, what has been likely the most reliable car in sports car racing (Audi TDI R10, R15, R18, etc) are turbos.
We shall see how it all pans out, but I wouldn't be too quick to dismiss turbo technology. If Audi and Peugeot can get it right for LMP1 cars (which also have very constrained environments), I think F1 can get it right. Those LMP1 cars are a lot like F1 cars, but with fenders.
I'm not dismissing it. I'm hoping it brings slightly less predictable outcomes to the races. I've stopped watching most of the race as it's often over after lap 1!
I'm with you there. This season was very boring, reminiscent of the Schumi/Ferrari snoozefest years. I am hoping the new formula throws a wrench in the Finger Boy works. I am looking forward to the Alonso/Kimi dynamics at Ferrari, whatever that turns out to be (should be interesting in any case).
Nice! I didn't know we had an F1 thread!
Lots of continued rumblings that Mercedes have something special for next year. I hope so as it's about time Red Bull suffer a fall from grace. It'll be fun to see Horner with a 'bulldog chewing a wasp' type face.
Hopefully this will mean McLaren, Force India and Williams have a good season also.
I'm still very concerned about the noise the V6 'Power Unit' will make, it makes my heart bleed going back and hearing a V10 at stupid-amount-of-revs scream around a track.
Less than 2 months before testing starts, even sooner for the car launches. And I'm expecting to see a few ridiculous looking nose jobs!
Lots of continued rumblings that Mercedes have something special for next year. I hope so as it's about time Red Bull suffer a fall from grace. It'll be fun to see Horner with a 'bulldog chewing a wasp' type face.
Hopefully this will mean McLaren, Force India and Williams have a good season also.
I'm still very concerned about the noise the V6 'Power Unit' will make, it makes my heart bleed going back and hearing a V10 at stupid-amount-of-revs scream around a track.
Less than 2 months before testing starts, even sooner for the car launches. And I'm expecting to see a few ridiculous looking nose jobs!
Welcome to the thread. We've been at it for years. Last year's thread had over 400 posts, so it's reasonably active during the season, silly and otherwise.
I won't actually mind if Red Bull/The Finger win again. I will mind if they manage to do it easily. I want to see a race to finish, not just to the first corner.
Welcome to the thread. We've been at it for years. Last year's thread had over 400 posts, so it's reasonably active during the season, silly and otherwise.
Thanks for the welcome
I have a feeling 2014's silly season will be one to remember!
With Red Bull's famous KERS issues, they've got to suffer at some point? I really think 2014 will have Red Bull on the back foot. I know they're the works Renault team but they still won't have the same level of insight as Mercedes and Ferrari have had.
I'll mind.
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Hoping for more failures. Makes it more exciting.
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Welcome to the thread.
The new system isn't anything like the current kers system. Kers was a bolt on to an existing engine package.
The new engines are not being called engines. There power trains and no longer have KERS but ERS.
Before I go on my rant about this 'double points' situation I'd like to point out I've been a massive fan of Formula 1 for as long as I remember. I've watched pretty much every single race since 1984 & have followed every major story, championship... And scandal inside & out since then. I I understand that Formula 1 is an ever evolving sport, and believe it or not I like that.
However, the steps taken by the FIA in recent seasons are ruining this sport.
F1 for me was enthralling, exciting and intense even in the days of Schumacher dominance. I accepted then as I do today that the team who is winning is there because their team have come up with the best solution for the regulations and have found a driver worthy of displaying the cars full potential. I was one of the few people on the positive side of DRS & KERS when introduced & it has been incredibly successful in spicing races up. Now I know many saw this as 'artificial' on the FIA's part & found it took at the 'true' overtaking found in Formula 1 but it got to a stage where it was extremely difficult to overtake & things needed to change. But today, I feel the F1 gimmick brigade took a final, unrecoverable step to destroying F1 for the fan and the neutral.
I refer of course to double points. Consider Driver 1. Driver 1 has been consistently quicker than driver 2, but has had somewhat of an unreliable car (all new engine, chassis etc. coming in to force next year). However he has soldiered on & goes in to the last race with a 49 point. Driver 1 is taken at at the first corner or breaks down in the race. Driver 2 goes on to win the race, and the title... By 1 point. Is he a worthy winner? He won when no driver before had the opportunity. That to me is a complete scandal.
For me the even BIGGER scandal comes with the constructors' championship & the already ludicrous funding situation that Bernie's got in place. Lets say Williams score 5 points over the course of next season at three races. It rains in the season finale. And Catherham, who have been the same distance behind Williams as Williams has been to Red Bull - finish 9th and 10th in a race of 11 finishers. Catherham by this logic would earn more prize money than a team who score legitimately at three events. That to me is wrong. There are too many hard working engineers and drivers in F1 to have jobs and titles decided on a complete gimmick which benefits no party.
I hope this ridiculous rule is set right before the season commences and to be honest I hope the governing body is changed to people who care about the teams and the die-hard fans more than the casual viewer.
-Niall
However, the steps taken by the FIA in recent seasons are ruining this sport.
F1 for me was enthralling, exciting and intense even in the days of Schumacher dominance. I accepted then as I do today that the team who is winning is there because their team have come up with the best solution for the regulations and have found a driver worthy of displaying the cars full potential. I was one of the few people on the positive side of DRS & KERS when introduced & it has been incredibly successful in spicing races up. Now I know many saw this as 'artificial' on the FIA's part & found it took at the 'true' overtaking found in Formula 1 but it got to a stage where it was extremely difficult to overtake & things needed to change. But today, I feel the F1 gimmick brigade took a final, unrecoverable step to destroying F1 for the fan and the neutral.
I refer of course to double points. Consider Driver 1. Driver 1 has been consistently quicker than driver 2, but has had somewhat of an unreliable car (all new engine, chassis etc. coming in to force next year). However he has soldiered on & goes in to the last race with a 49 point. Driver 1 is taken at at the first corner or breaks down in the race. Driver 2 goes on to win the race, and the title... By 1 point. Is he a worthy winner? He won when no driver before had the opportunity. That to me is a complete scandal.
For me the even BIGGER scandal comes with the constructors' championship & the already ludicrous funding situation that Bernie's got in place. Lets say Williams score 5 points over the course of next season at three races. It rains in the season finale. And Catherham, who have been the same distance behind Williams as Williams has been to Red Bull - finish 9th and 10th in a race of 11 finishers. Catherham by this logic would earn more prize money than a team who score legitimately at three events. That to me is wrong. There are too many hard working engineers and drivers in F1 to have jobs and titles decided on a complete gimmick which benefits no party.
I hope this ridiculous rule is set right before the season commences and to be honest I hope the governing body is changed to people who care about the teams and the die-hard fans more than the casual viewer.
-Niall
the double point rule is a bit perplexing, but certainly not more than the compulsory two tyre types rule and other genius moments. i don't think it will make much of a difference in the end, and it will likely make for more exciting last races.
the problem is the boring races, too many of them and the 'fixes' are typically too gimmicky.
if they really wanted to eliminate processional races, a solution in my opinion would be to get away with qualifiers altogether and start the top 10 in reverse championship standings order, with the rest in direct championship order (can't have the very slow cars in front).
would be a bit of a pity because i like quali and the current quali format is solid, but i would sacrifice it for more exciting races, where the good cars are forced to overtake to win.
the problem is the boring races, too many of them and the 'fixes' are typically too gimmicky.
if they really wanted to eliminate processional races, a solution in my opinion would be to get away with qualifiers altogether and start the top 10 in reverse championship standings order, with the rest in direct championship order (can't have the very slow cars in front).
would be a bit of a pity because i like quali and the current quali format is solid, but i would sacrifice it for more exciting races, where the good cars are forced to overtake to win.
Instead of double points on the last race (which depending on the venue will suit some teams more than others), how about a joker where the team can elect one race per year to earn double points?
Not sure if this is good or bad news. FIA have opened the Expression Of Interest process for 2015 or 2016..
Via FIA.com
So either a new team (VW/AUDI group?) or we may be about lose a team (or teams?).
Via FIA.com
So either a new team (VW/AUDI group?) or we may be about lose a team (or teams?).
I was a big supporter of the new teams joining. But let's be honest here. They've had long enough to bridge the gap to the back of the older teams. They have not. Time for an ultimatum from the FIA: score at least one point or lose your place.
I don't think it's in the FIA's interest to lose more F1 teams. I'd imagine Bernie would be pretty upset too (despite his current situation). Regardless of where they finish in the championship, they still get to go racing, keep a lot of bright minds employed and let's be honest, who wouldn't enjoy being part of that?
Hopefully the 2014 changes will allow them teams to bridge that gap. F1 needs more Q1 upsets!
In other news, Perez confirmed at Force India (finally). Where does that leave Sutil/Di Resta?
Agree the new teams aren't detracting from the sport so why not let them carry on? Really not sure their owners are getting a good ROI (return on investment), but that's up to them.
It leaves them possibly outside of F1. Di Resta is looking at Indy cars I believe.
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