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2014 Formula 1 Season Thread (part II)

F1eng said:
Quite. He drove well but finishing third was much more down to him gaining massively in the safety car and Nico losing even more massively than his good driving. I suppose one would not expect the british press/tv to make much of that fact though ;-)
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I think to be fair Frank Nico lost out mostly by not having the racecraft to successfully pass Vergne, something Hamilton accomplished with some aplomb.

I'd agree though I don't think it was a "great drive" from Hamilton as it will no doubt be portrayed. It was a good one though in difficult circumstances, hampered IMHO lack of any help from the pit wall. I'd have loved to have seen how it would have panned out on a second set of options.

It could have been worse though. He could have still been at Woking and have been sent out on inters. Why do they continue to employ Michael Fish?
 
I wonder what it would be like going from a team like Mercedes to a less 'top end' team? I imagine it would be very exciting and extremely rewarding, together with the inevitable frustration. It could be very much an emotional roller-coaster, and I would think the camaraderie would be immense. Just think what Force India are going through right now - who wouldn't want to be a part of that?
Personally I'm more interested in the smaller victories than the bigger ones. And I'd still celebrate if Caterham got a point. Just one point. Maybe one day before it's over.

My main interest yesterday was willing Kimi to get back on form.
 
Interesting race, and I think Hamilton's downbeat demeanour was based around the fact that with a bit of strategy tweaking it could actually have been a win. Share your thoughts about Kimi, Rasher, it's frustrating that he can't seem to get to grips with the car in the same way that Alonso seems to be able to. It's as if he just can't seem to adapt to the nuances of the new F1 racing style.
 
Rasher said:
I wonder what it would be like going from a team like Mercedes to a less 'top end' team? I imagine it would be very exciting and extremely rewarding, together with the inevitable frustration. It could be very much an emotional roller-coaster, and I would think the camaraderie would be immense. Just think what Force India are going through right now - who wouldn't want to be a part of that?
Personally I'm more interested in the smaller victories than the bigger ones. And I'd still celebrate if Caterham got a point. Just one point. Maybe one day before it's over.
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I think you have covered the main points of going from a big team that is winning to a much smaller team. I did that when I moved from McLaren in 98 to British American Racing.

I have heard and it has seemingly been confirmed by reports elsewhere on the Internet that Caterham have broken their employment contract with the people that they made redundant a week or so ago. Security guards escorted them from the building and they were told that they will not be paid beyond that day.

So whilst it is really good to see a small team get a point, they need to treat people fairly when they make them redundant if they want the public support and to be seen as a business that companies will want to invest in.
 
IanW said:
I have heard and it has seemingly been confirmed by reports elsewhere on the Internet that Caterham have broken their employment contract with the people that they made redundant a week or so ago. Security guards escorted them from the building and they were told that they will not be paid beyond that day.

So whilst it is really good to see a small team get a point, they need to treat people fairly when they make them redundant if they want the public support and to be seen as a business that companies will want to invest in.
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Yup, saw some stuff this morning on that. I hear they are likely to sue for wrongful dismissal.
 
The more I look at the Hamilton strategy call the more it sucks.

In his stint following the initial safety car, Hamilton did 31 laps on the option tyre setting his fastest lap at the end of the stint.

At the time of his stop, there was 31 laps left and he had the benefit of a much lighter fuel load. And they put him on the slower prime tyre?
 
The engineering team which in this case means the tyre experts feeding the race strategist with information.

Something went wrong there and that is going to be due to having the wrong information available. The tyre degradation is monitored all weekend as that is crucial to the tyre choice during the race. The rain before the race will have altered how the tyres work during the race so they may have tried to second guess how the tyres would work or used the old data.

Mercedes (and in particular as Brawn GP) were very good with strategy but this time it hasn't worked (mistakes will always be made at some point) out. There will be an inquest going on right now!

Addressing other comments in the thread, McLaren used to be very good on strategy, except when Ron Dennis over ruled as it was his train set.
 
Patrick Dixon said:
Hamilton should swap with Vettel for next year - Red Bull are going to be back on top next season if they get anywhere near engine parity, and Hamilton and Ricciardo in the same team would be ... interesting.
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I did read that there are rumours about Vettel and Mercedes so this could be a possibility? If Hamilton continues with his run of bad luck and/or gets uncomfortable with things like team calls to 'let Rosberg through', I suppose he might move again? I'd like to see him in a team that is vying to be a contender but isn't quite there yet......like Force India or Williams maybe??
 
Were Mercedes to replace Hamilton with Vettel, one would really have to question the logic from a sporting perspective - although from a Marketing POV for MB it would no doubt please the board.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to see Hamilton & Alonso heal the old wounds and team up at Ferrari under a returning Ross Brawn's stewardship? The two Englishmen just might relish the challenge of unseating the Silver Arrows in the event of a change at Brackley.
 
I don't know where these rumours come from but the Vettel/MB rumour was mentioned on the coverage on the BBC. I guess it might be because both Vettel and Hamilton's contracts end at the same time although it was reported in the media that Hamilton was looking for a multi year extension to stay at Mercedes. I wonder if he's still thinking the same now after the issues over the weekend. Lewis has had a long standing association with Mercedes and he said as much before so if he were to move, I suspect it would be to another Merc powered team rather than Ferrari......but you never know.
 
merlin said:
Wouldn't it be wonderful to see Hamilton & Alonso heal the old wounds and team up at Ferrari under a returning Ross Brawn's stewardship? The two Englishmen just might relish the challenge of unseating the Silver Arrows in the event of a change at Brackley.
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On current form, the only change at Brackley that would result in Ferrari unseating the Silver Arrows would be the dismissal of the entire Merc design department.
 
With Paddy Lowe taking over from Bob Bell Markus I don't think they all need to leave. I think operationally this season there have been clear issues, and these are seemingly getting worse rather than better - disguised hugely by the dominant performance of the car.

It will be interesting to see if Lowe is as successful in the long term as the likes of Brawn and Bell have been.

Ferrari have some very talented engineers and nowadays some superb facilities. Allied to a sizeable budget, I would have thought that someone like Brawn could entice a few loyal lieutenants to Italy should they be given the freedom.
 
F1 is rapidly disappearing up its own fundament.

How can the soi-disant pinnacle of motorsport be so dominated by rules that require teams to change tyres; that introduces such bizzare engine regulations that result in failures; that has a weird fuel limits and fuel flow limits that militate against actual racing; that then has to have regulations to produce artificial excitement?

I really have had enough and I all do these days is fast forward through most of the race to capture the few interesting bits - usually drivers blaming others for their poor results.
 
Cav said:
F1 is rapidly disappearing up its own fundament.

How can the soi-disant pinnacle of motorsport be so dominated by rules that require teams to change tyres; that introduces such bizzare engine regulations that result in failures; that has a weird fuel limits and fuel flow limits that militate against actual racing; that then has to have regulations to produce artificial excitement?

I really have had enough and I all do these days is fast forward through most of the race to capture the few interesting bits - usually drivers blaming others for their poor results.
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Well just don't watch it then! It really is that easy.
 
I watch it by fast-forwarding through the boring bits i.e. 90%. Why do you care anyway?
 
Mike,

Markus has been to Brackley!

For me being able to walk to work at a job I really enjoyed was pretty ideal. But in my line of work you need to change every now and again (I had stayed too long) and so that is what I am in the process of doing.

As to Italian lessons, the politics at Ferrari is a large contributor to the problems that they are having and I would not be the person to sort that out. Ross + a few others did in the past and may do so again.

Ian
 
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