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2014 Formula 1 Season Thread

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Renault definitely seemed to have made a step forward in Spain, but I'm also sure that the lack of long straights and emphasis on aero went some way towards disguising their powertrain weaknesses.

Maybe Ian could help but with it's number of flowing fast corners I guess Barcelona has less heavy braking. Does this make harvesting more of a challenge over the course of the lap?

Monaco should be interesting. At least Saturday. Hamilton was mighty impressive there in the past but struggled last year as he adapted to the new team and car. My guess is that Saturday will be a true battle royal and the tail happy nature of some of the 2014 cars may well make for some remarkable photos and the odd safety car...
 
I was watching the race and a thought occurred to me.

Is there any correlation between how aggressive a driver is with the throttle and their fuel consumption? I could be wrong, but it looks to me that the smoother drivers are using more fuel, (e.g. Ham v Ros). Comparing drivers in the same package obviously.

In what way does the way a driver drives affect the fuel usage with these new hybrid engines?

Also, everyone comments on how its "good" that some drivers are reserving fuel. This doesn't make sense to me. Surely with an ultimate fuel flow rate cap, any "saved" fuel over and above what the driver could feasibly use in the rest of the race is just dead weight, and so bad. I'd have thought that the ideal place to be would be just inside the green zone.
 
GTM said:
I was watching the race and a thought occurred to me.

Is there any correlation between how aggressive a driver is with the throttle and their fuel consumption? I could be wrong, but it looks to me that the smoother drivers are using more fuel, (e.g. Ham v Ros). Comparing drivers in the same package obviously.

In what way does the way a driver drives affect the fuel usage with these new hybrid engines?

Also, everyone comments on how its "good" that some drivers are reserving fuel. This doesn't make sense to me. Surely with an ultimate fuel flow rate cap, any "saved" fuel over and above what the driver could feasibly use in the rest of the race is just dead weight, and so bad. I'd have thought that the ideal place to be would be just inside the green zone.
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Are you saying Rosberg is a smoother driver than Hamilton? Of these two, Hamilton was in front for the whole race so he was able to drive with no one affecting his airflow (other than back markers) and he wasn't trying to chase anyone down so on that basis alone, I would guess Rosberg would use more fuel as he was trying to make up time and catch Hamilton. That, to me, would make Rosberg drive more aggressively.

And I would guess you're right in that if a car is carrying more fuel than a similarly matched competitor, it would affect lap times. It was mentioned during the race by one of the BBC commentators.
 
I caught a bit of the GP for the first time in ages and the first thing I noticed was the old engine noise has gone.

What happened to the: peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooooooooh?

All I heard was: rrrrrrrrrrrrrrurrrrrrrrrurrrrrrrrrurrrrrrrr

Be sad if it's got to the stage where my snoring makes a more impressive noise than an F1 car.
 
kcdionysus said:
Are you saying Rosberg is a smoother driver than Hamilton? Of these two, Hamilton was in front for the whole race so he was able to drive with no one affecting his airflow (other than back markers) and he wasn't trying to chase anyone down so on that basis alone, I would guess Rosberg would use more fuel as he was trying to make up time and catch Hamilton. That, to me, would make Rosberg drive more aggressively.

And I would guess you're right in that if a car is carrying more fuel than a similarly matched competitor, it would affect lap times. It was mentioned during the race by one of the BBC commentators.
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Given that he clearly is, yes. Just watch the side-by-side comparison of their qualification lap. I don't agree that there is any correlation between a driver chasing down the car in front and his driving style.
 
rzme01 said:
I caught a bit of the GP for the first time in ages and the first thing I noticed was the old engine noise has gone.

What happened to the: peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooooooooh?

All I heard was: rrrrrrrrrrrrrrurrrrrrrrrurrrrrrrrrurrrrrrrr

Be sad if it's got to the stage where my snoring makes a more impressive noise than an F1 car.
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You can't hear the engines in their full glory on the TV. I for one prefer the fact they are quieter. It actually means they can turn the car sounds further up in the broadcast mix and now we get to hear tyres squealing etc which before we never could. Sounds more like real motor racing to me, rather than watching a gaming console.
 
rzme01 said:
I caught a bit of the GP for the first time in ages and the first thing I noticed was the old engine noise has gone.

What happened to the: peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooooooooh?

All I heard was: rrrrrrrrrrrrrrurrrrrrrrrurrrrrrrrrurrrrrrrr

Be sad if it's got to the stage where my snoring makes a more impressive noise than an F1 car.
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Old engine - 2.4litre V8 naturally aspirated generating 750 bhp revving to 18000 rpm

New Engine - 1.6litre V6 with turbo charging, hybrid electric motor/energy recovery systems and heat recovery systems generating similar power but much more torque.

Fuel consumption down from 160kg per race to 100kg and max fuel consumption rate of 100kg per hour.

Result is a lower revving engine, limited to 15000 rpm but most limit to max efficiency of around 10k to 11k

So yes much lower pitched noise and hence less distinctive
 
merlin said:
Maybe Ian could help but with it's number of flowing fast corners I guess Barcelona has less heavy braking. Does this make harvesting more of a challenge over the course of the lap?

Monaco should be interesting. At least Saturday. Hamilton was mighty impressive there in the past but struggled last year as he adapted to the new team and car. My guess is that Saturday will be a true battle royal and the tail happy nature of some of the 2014 cars may well make for some remarkable photos and the odd safety car...
Click to expand...

Yes, harvesting at Barcelona is more difficult for the reasons that you have given.

Monaco should be a bit closer but it would be a big surprise if Mercedes were not on pole and out of the two drivers, I expect Nico to win, even though Lewis is totally on it this year.
 
GTM said:
I was watching the race and a thought occurred to me.

Is there any correlation between how aggressive a driver is with the throttle and their fuel consumption? I could be wrong, but it looks to me that the smoother drivers are using more fuel, (e.g. Ham v Ros). Comparing drivers in the same package obviously.

In what way does the way a driver drives affect the fuel usage with these new hybrid engines?

Also, everyone comments on how its "good" that some drivers are reserving fuel. This doesn't make sense to me. Surely with an ultimate fuel flow rate cap, any "saved" fuel over and above what the driver could feasibly use in the rest of the race is just dead weight, and so bad. I'd have thought that the ideal place to be would be just inside the green zone.
Click to expand...

The teams and drivers are still learning about how to get the best out of the powerplant. Last year showed that small differences in driver style affected the tyres dramatically so it is likely that this has some bearing on fuel consumption. Lewis brakes very late and harder than other drivers, which will allow him to put more energy into the storage system at any point around the lap (whilst respecting the system limits). But then needs to be on the throttle slightly longer to get to that point thereby using a bit more fuel. There are of course other factors that affect this, with other driver style factors being more important.

Yes saved fuel at the end of the race is dead weight. The race strategist should be advising as to what the best approach to fuel burn down is.
 
LH will be on it at Monaco, it's a Senna track. Pole if it's dry unless his half of the pits let him down
 
Yes I know its testing but still:

1. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 1m26.434s
2. Charles Pic Lotus-Renault 1m26.661s +0.227s
3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m26.674s +0.240s
4. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m26.965s +0.531s
5. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault 1m27.724s +1.290s
6. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m27.727s +1.293s
7. Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1m27.756s +1.322s
8. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m28.333s +1.899s
9. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 1m30.101s +3.667s
10. Sebastien Buemi Red Bull-Renault 1m31.440s +5.006s
11. Giedo van der Garde Sauber-Ferrari 1m31.783s +5.349s
 
cutting42 said:
Yup, me too ;-) Something to do with a British driver who I support and the fact that the team mates are allowed to race. I was getting really nervous towards the end as, like many, I thought Nico would catch and pass Lewis.
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Ditto, tho I had to record the race & watch it later that night without knowing the result. Lewis was starting to sound quite frantic at the end - pretty understandable under the circumstances!

The tension between the drivers is going to increase more than few notches with each race & hats off to Mercedes for letting them get on with it. Obviously their current dominance allows this but if the Red Bull gets on pace, the team will have a BIG decision to make.

Nico looks to have had the better race pace these past two races - needs a pole to make it count tho & Monaco is the place to do it.

I'll put a virtual fiver on him winning that one & turning things around.
 
Cav said:
What, in 2014, does that mean? What did it ever mean?
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Same now as it has ever meant. It is a track where the driver really can make a difference. On a pure aero or a pure power track the car car defines greatly how well you are likely to do. Monaco does not demand much aero or power and is very much about how clean and brave you are as a driver. Therefore a driver can outperform a cars limitations.
 
Cav said:
What, in 2014, does that mean? What did it ever mean?
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In 2014 it means a record six wins, second place on his first visit (in a Toleman) and of course the infamous barrier incident when leading by a minute.
 
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