Official Formula 1 thread

[finch1750]

Originally Posted by White64Goat

NBCSN (DirecTV channel 220) has qualifying at 1-2:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Pre-race at 2:30-3 a.m. and the race from 3-5 a.m. Not sure about a streaming link...........


Maldanado not having a good weekend. Spun out in practice session one fiddling with the steering wheel and then in practice session two spun and hit the wall coming into the pits and tore the right front suspension off.

Watching Friday nights practice broadcast now and Hamilton just came out and went to the top of the board.........

Qualifying was actually held this morning, watching it now. Sunday a.m. is a repeat broadcast. Qualifying is in the rain.......

Maldanado's woes continue.... lost an engine in practice session 3 and has a 5 space grid penalty and Wil Buxton says he'll be starting the race from Beijing......

"I crashed"

"Oh. Okay."

"Sorry"

That is one of the best radio sequences I have heard. Lol. The team was like really. Haha

[cfusionpm]

Seriously, why is this guy racing? He can't do anything to save his life. Maldonado needs to get out of F1... maybe he could find a home in Nascar...

[White64Goat]

If it rains maybe Red Bull will have a chance since they qualified 2 & 3 with Hamilton on pole and Rossberg 4th.

[cfusionpm]

I read that Rossberg made a mistake on his last timed lap. His in-car indicator said he was 2 tenths behind on his time, so he took a risk on the last turn with nothing to lose. Unfortunately, his back end stepped out and lost even more time. But the real bad part was his display was incorrect and he was actually 2 tenths UP, which would have put him ahead of Vettel and in 3rd spot.

[ayau]

Originally Posted by cfusionpm

I read that Rossberg made a mistake on his last timed lap. His in-car indicator said he was 2 tenths behind on his time, so he took a risk on the last turn with nothing to lose. Unfortunately, his back end stepped out and lost even more time. But the real bad part was his display was incorrect and he was actually 2 tenths UP, which would have put him ahead of Vettel and in 3rd spot.

How does something as "simple" as a stopwatch mess up?

[cfusionpm]

Originally Posted by ayau

How does something as "simple" as a stopwatch mess up?

He may have misread it as well. Was from here, under Nico's comments: http://en.espnf1.com/china/motorsport/story/154961.html

[GTB/ZR-1]

Originally Posted by GTB/ZR-1

And--reveling in Riciarrdo outperforming Vettel, once again. As some of us have felt, he's very talented--but seemingly overrated...

Ahem.... lol

[wheelhaus]

I've had a theory for a while now about driver's success and generational changes of the rules and how the cars are designed. It seems that every time there's a major change in how the cars operate, there's a paradigm shift in the successful drivers. Sometimes a driver can maintain success through several generations, but it seems that they're sensitive to design changes and once the cars are different enough, their success fades.

For instance, the V8s and heavy electronics usage over previous years, traction control, DRS, etc seemed to play to Vettel's driving style and the engineering team's strengths. Now that everything is V6 hybrid turbo, the cars feel different and produce power differently. It may just be teething problems, but I wonder if the rest of the season will play out much differently than it has so far.

I'm also not a Vettel fan, and it's interesting to see him humbled when the tables are turned. I'm enjoying Ricardo's performance especially as Vettel's teammate, and damn if he's just not a super likeable guy.

I really want to see Kimi on the podium, but I wonder how possible that really is this season...

[cfusionpm]

Vettel's case is very simple. When the car has massive rear grip, he is damn near unbeatable. When the car does not have massive rear grip, he is mediocre at best.

He and Webber were relatively well matched until EBD, when Vettel handled that extra grip much better. Then when EBD was banned, they were relatively evenly matched, with maybe a small tilt to Webber (which was overturned by team favoritism in 2010). By the last half of 2012 and all of 2013, RBR was extra fine tuned on coanda blown exhaust, recreating what they had lost by banned EBD, and Vettel soared off in the distance again.

Now, in 2014, there is less downforce, no rear difuser aid, smaller wings, massively more torque, and harder compound tires. Are we all shocked that he's struggling? This is exactly the OPPOSITE of the environment he's good with and exactly what us "Vettel haters" have been saying all along.

I like Alonso, because he can take a piece of shit car and put it in WDC contention. Just like he did today by taking that garbage truck Ferrari and putting it on podium, ahead of two Red Bulls despite qualifying behind both of them. And it's why I keep saying over and over, the likes of Alonso (and Hamilton) are better drivers than Vettel, because they can adapt so well to changing cars and changing conditions. But he definitely showed his true colors today with his "tough luck" comment. Maybe someone should be telling him "tough luck" that Daniel finished 25 seconds ahead of you.

To be fair, it seems Raikkonen is a lot like Vettel too. Immensely fast in a car he is comfortable in, but just OK in a car he is not 100% comfortable in. And his performance showed that too.

[ayau]

I liked Vettel's response after the Team ordered him to allow Daniel to pass...

Vettel: Tough Luck.

[Silver Ignition]

Vettel is an arrogant toolbag.


I feel bad that Ferrari can't make a better chassis because both Fernando and Kimi are awesome drvers. Same for Ricciardo; kid's got heart, must be tough in Vettel's shadow but he's showing that he deserves to break out of that.


I know we have 18ish races left but I'm not sure anyone's gonna catch Lewis or Nico. These guys are in such a groove. Their cars are flawless, their driving is superb, and they WANT it....especially Rosberg; when receiving the 2nd place trophy he almost looks like he doesn't want to take it...he reluctantly grabs it, holds it up quickly, then puts it down or hands it off. He could be more gracious and I'd respect him a bit more if he was, but I guess there's two much arrogance in F1.

[rice_classic]

Originally Posted by Silver Ignition

but I guess there's [too] much [alpha] in [racing].

FTFY.

But I suppose, such is the nature of any highly competitive activity.

[FnFast]

I am glad Lewis is winning and Mercedes made a great car. Lewis even shared the 1st Place trophy with Nico and Nico didn't want anything with it. Both great drivers. I will still cheer for Kimi though. 2 years in a row he was placed in a car he doesn't feel comfortable with.

Going to be a great season though.

[Superhatch]

Based on this season and whats happening behind first and second I'm really excited about next season. I think Merc has really run away with this series and will continue to do so for a while, but I'm hopeful that teams using this season as a test bed will be able to make large leaps forward for next season and really pull the field closer from first to last.