Official Formula 1 thread

[mike the snake]

YES!!

A well earned championship for Hamilton.

I can't wait to see what next year holds, with the driver changes and Honda entering the picture.

Hopefully, after next year, they'll change the engine configurations back to something more exciting.

[jdmblood]

Interested to see which team Alonso ends up on. When they interviewed him before the race you could tell he wasn't excited for the race at all. Either way congrats to Hamilton even though winning the championship due to your opponent having technical difficulty is kind of pathetic..

[Agent 86]

Originally Posted by jdmblood

Either way congrats to Hamilton even though winning the championship due to your opponent having technical difficulty is kind of pathetic..

[jdmblood]

Originally Posted by Agent 86

a win is still a win lmao

[Lunatic]

Originally Posted by mike the snake

YES!!




Hopefully, after next year, they'll change the engine configurations back to something more exciting.

That would be nice but I doubt it will happen.

[Lunatic]

Originally Posted by jdmblood

Interested to see which team Alonso ends up on. When they interviewed him before the race you could tell he wasn't excited for the race at all. Either way congrats to Hamilton even though winning the championship due to your opponent having technical difficulty is kind of pathetic..

It was made official today he going to Mclaren.

[FnFast]

Good race. Nico was a good sport. 2015 will be exciting.

I want Jenson Button to stay in F1. December 1st we find out. Strong end of the season for him I think.

[jdmblood]

Originally Posted by Lunatic

It was made official today he going to Mclaren.

I always thought McLaren was owned by Mercedes, but then the first article I opened about Alonso said "mclaren-Honda"


I'm confused...

[mike the snake]

Really??? Pathetic is what Rosberg did during the season. Hamilton fought a long hard battle all season, and he didn't win the chanpionship because Rosberg had tech difficulties, in fact Rosberg could have won the race and still lost the championship.
The double points thing was stupid and gave Rosberg a chance to take the championship away from Hamilton, but luckily that didn't backfire and the better, more deserving driver won. Nothing pathetic about that.

Originally Posted by jdmblood

Interested to see which team Alonso ends up on. When they interviewed him before the race you could tell he wasn't excited for the race at all. Either way congrats to Hamilton even though winning the championship due to your opponent having technical difficulty is kind of pathetic..

[torqdork]

Like I said earlier, it was Hams championship to lose. Too bad it was due to his teammates wounded car although Hams blinding start pretty much sealed the deal. Gracious scene of the only contenders, Lewis and Nico, congratulate one another afterward.

Maybe I missed something, but hearing the paid hacks praise this season as one of the best of the past 30 years was beyond my comprehension. Having followed the series while still on my bicycle in the '70's, I don't remember a less inconsequential, less exciting or less memorable season than this. Without change, I fear 2015 will be more of the same. Honda will be a blip, Ferrari will struggle, Merc in someone's chassis will dominate once more.

That change won't happen until they find Bernie with a dead girl or live boy. Until then, Button would be a fool not to switch to WEC. In my book, F1 is a lost cause for now.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by jdmblood

I always thought McLaren was owned by Mercedes, but then the first article I opened about Alonso said "mclaren-Honda"


I'm confused...

It never was. Mclaren partnered with Mercedes for engines, kind of a sponsorship deal as Mclaren puts the Mercedes logo all over their cars (and their name) for advertising as they race up front and they get what amounts to drastically cheaper engines (maybe even free engines + $$$, depends on the deal). And they will do a similar deal with Honda next year.

This is not uncommon with non-factory teams (such as Mercedes & Ferrari, in the past Renault, Toyota & Honda), currently the only other one is Infiniti Red Bull (used to be RB Renault) in recent memory there was BMW Sauber, BMW Williams, & BAR Honda. Often times engine suppliers aren't willing to fund their own 'in-house' team so by sponsoring an established team they get similar advertising profits for much less cash down.

It also isn't uncommon for broadcasters to lump team names in with engine suppliers 'Sauber Ferrari' 'Williams Mercedes' 'Lotus Renault' even though those aren't the official team names.

Bottom line is that aside from Ferrari and Mercedes right now, any of the other teams can really use whatever engine they can negotiate into their cars.

Edit: As an aside I find it ironic that in 2009 Kimi was on the outs with Ferrari with Alonso sitting pretty, five years later the roles are reversed. If he's in a half decent car and drives as possesed as he did post-Mclaren in that P.O.S. Renault he will be fun to watch next year.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

Edit: As an aside I find it ironic that in 2009 Kimi was on the outs with Ferrari with Alonso sitting pretty, five years later the roles are reversed. If he's in a half decent car and drives as possesed as he did post-Mclaren in that P.O.S. Renault he will be fun to watch next year.

Meh, different situations really.


Kimi was tired of the F1 grind and Ferrari bought out his contract so they could hire Alonso.


Alonso left because they couldn't give him a more competitive car. And he still dragged that car nearly to a WDC 3 times in 5 years. Alonso is the most complete driver on the grid.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

Meh, different situations really.


Kimi was tired of the F1 grind and Ferrari bought out his contract so they could hire Alonso.


Alonso left because they couldn't give him a more competitive car. And he still dragged that car nearly to a WDC 3 times in 5 years. Alonso is the most complete driver on the grid.

Begin rant:
That's entirely a matter of perspective.

http://f1bias.com/2012/04/05/truth-a...antander-2008/

I'd say Ferrari has spent the last 8 years chasing the hot driver instead of building a team. In the process they have discarded good drivers at great cost instead of nurturing and they are reaping what they have sown: Barrichello went on to finish 2nd in the drivers championship in '09, Raikkonen finished 5th in '13, 3rd in '12, Massa finished 7th this year. All these points finishes I've highlighted have been at least better than Ferrari's #2 driver in "lesser" equipment, Brawn Lotus and Williams were/are on much smaller budgets then "The Scuderia". Sure you can argue that those teams got flash in the pan advantages with good drivers who could take advantage but Ferrari had the opportunity to continue supporting those drivers and declined in favor of the guy lighting up the scoreboard last weekend.

I do agree that this move is precipitated by Alonso's frustrations but the result is indicative of Ferrari politics: "Why should we satisfy YOU, a piddling 2x world champion when we have a 4x world champion knocking on our door? One who will likely agree to a much cheaper contract to drive in red."

Red Bull is building a dynasty, a feeding program that strengthens itself. McLaren always concedes to speed and talent (Mag vs. Button will be intersting, long vs. short term planning, how much do they expect from Alonso to mentor?). Even Williams has no problem admitting weaknesses and changing direction when they understand their problems, meanwhile Ferrari is driven by hubris to this very day. They are bar-none my least favorite team, I'd willingly wear Caterham or Marussia colors instead.

I do believe that if they were so inclined keeping Alonso would not be hard, you don't have to go back very far to see Alonso fawning over the red jump suit and the honor, hell he'd probably take a pay cut if it meant hiring better engineering talent to improve the car or improve infrastructure.

Of course every situation is different (I would have chucked Massa sooner myself but of course I was wrong, he's got plenty of speed left) and I'm sure you can pick apart my argument but from an outside perspective I don't see Ferrari's brute force approach to success as getting them very far in the next few years, especially considering the two most successful guys right now have been drivers that were nurtured by their respective teams for nearly a decade leading up to their F1 seat (Vettel & Hamilton).

/meaningless trash

[rice_classic]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

meanwhile Ferrari is driven by hubris to this very day.
...
Of course every situation is different (I would have chucked Massa sooner myself but of course I was wrong, he's got plenty of speed left)

Yup. To further your point about hubris, Ferrari just canned Mattiaci. Seriously, how many people are the Scuderia going to fire?!
http://www.motoring.com.au/news/2014...-ferrari-47707

Also, I too wished Massa would have left Ferrari earlier because I wanted to see him do well and I just knew he would never be "allowed" to do well at Ferrari as I felt Ferrari always saw him as a #2 and that's bad because at Ferrari, unlike other teams, there is always a distinct #1 and #2.

Massa left 'big red' and look what happens. Halleluiah!

Rewind 15 years and I was a huge fan of Ferrari because of Schumi. That's changed. In fact, Ferrari has spent so much time not winning that I don't even see them as a top tier race team, just a top-budgeted-race-team. And with every hubris-inspired-move they make I like watching them not win more and more.

And finally, this has proven what I've said all of 2013, Vettel isn't as fast as his championships suggest. He was consistently outpaced by his teammate. Watching Vettel not win in a Ferrari next year is going to appeal greatly to my inner sadist.