Formula 1 2014: General Discussion Thread

Max_Charger

"Senna" documentary just started on it4 if anyone interested.

Jordan 199

Force India with Smirnoff on board:



:cool:

lolie

Looks the part, if only it had a decent looking nose.

lolie

Going Strong wrote: »

I remember the Brazilian squad dedicating their 1994 World Cup victory to Senna.

Even though I watched the world cup and the final I don't remember any of that.
At that time I didn't get to watch F1 so it surprised me that hearing his death on the radio seemed a bigger deal to me than it should have been.

Gillespy

Has the makings of a 'caption this' thing.:D

Max_Charger wrote: »

"Senna" documentary just started on it4 if anyone interested.

On at the same time on Sky F1 was an hour long interview with Ron Dennis where he mentioned it and said some of the people in that had no business talking about Senna at all as they didn't really know him.

Dravokivich

Gillespy wrote: »

Has the makings of a 'caption this' thing.:D

"Are those my feet?"

:pac:

smellslikeshoes

Gillespy wrote: »

Has the makings of a 'caption this' thing.:D

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQGzEIJaEVE

lolie

Former Ferrari chief mechanic Nigel Stepney was killed early this morning in a traffic accident in England.
Although he's probably remembered more for his involvement in the 2007 Spygate scandal.

Mike Litoris

Tragic news.

Hit by a lorry after getting out of his van.

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/ashford/news/m20-ashford-closed-after-person-hit-16678/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Jordan 199

Mike Litoris wrote: »

..jesus, look at how much of the driver is exposed.

donspeekinglesh wrote: »

How was that even legal? That roll hoop offers no protection.

To be fair, that pic of the Life car Mike posted looks like it was taken at Goodwood and not at a GP.

This pic below is when Gary Brabham drove the Life in 1990:

Ghost Train

Sad to hear that news. RIP
Thought this was good read, a little bit about his history in f1
http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/nigel-stepney-1958-2014-2/

Zcott

It seems he stopped his van, got out and walked on to the motorway, and was then struck. Seems very unusual.

vectra

Jordan 191 wrote: »

Force India with Smirnoff on board:



:cool:

New driver arrived on their doorstep instantly once the announcement was made :pac:

_rebelkid

Marussia boss Graeme Lowden is a man of many talents. This year, we've found out the he can draw.

_rebelkid

Spanish GP Race Thread.

walshb

When are we going to get them all in the same car so we can gauge that bit better as to who is the best driver?

walshb

Gintonious wrote: »

"...And you know a lot about racing. And you should know that by being a racing driver, you are under risks all the time. By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you're no longer a racing driver, because we are competing. We are competing to win, and the main motivation to all of us is to compete for victory; it's not to come 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th."

I love that Senna quote. He was mesmerizing to listen to. Very insightful and interesting, and of course, the fastest F1 driver ever.

PopePalpatine

I have to disagree. That was in his infamous interview with Jackie Stewart after the 1990 Japanese GP, where he took Alain Prost out in the first corner.

_rebelkid

walshb wrote: »

When are we going to get them all in the same car so we can gauge that bit better as to who is the best driver?

When F1 becomes GP1, so, to answer your question, never.

F1 is a Prototype race Series. It's a top tier championship where the car makes as much of a difference as the driver. Like the LMP1 cars this year; new electrics and the top teams (Audi, Toyota and Prosche) have all gone different ways. The same is for F1. It will never be a single make championship. And I do not mind that.

flazio

walshb wrote: »

When are we going to get them all in the same car so we can gauge that bit better as to who is the best driver?

The BBC put them in a Suzuki Liana every once in a while.

walshb

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I have to disagree. That was in his infamous interview with Jackie Stewart after the 1990 Japanese GP, where he took Alain Prost out in the first corner.

Didn't Prost admit a few years later that he did cut across Senna? Or was that Suzuka 1989? I think in 1990 Prost did open the door, and then turned in. Senna went for the gap and Prost closed the door in 1990.

Frank Bullitt

Apparently McLaren will be using a tusk nose like Lotus this weekend.

PopePalpatine

Gintonious wrote: »

Apparently McLaren will be using a tusk nose like Lotus this weekend.

Frank Bullitt

http://gptoday.com/full_story/view/486425/McLaren_set_to_try_Lotusstyle_double_nose_in_Spain/

Zcott

Frank Bullitt

Luckily, it seems they won't be!

stevenmu

I might be the only one, judging by some of the reactions here, but I think the Lotus nose is one of the nicer ones out there at the moment. I definitely think it's way nicer than McLaren's current ant-eater nose anyway.

mickdw

I agree. The first mclaren nose we saw this year made for a stunning car. The latest one absolutely destroys the lines of the car.
The twin tusk setup would be a great improvement over the current one imo.

Jordan 199

stevenmu wrote: »

I might be the only one, judging by some of the reactions here, but I think the Lotus nose is one of the nicer ones out there at the moment. I definitely think it's way nicer than McLaren's current ant-eater nose anyway.

And the Lotus nose is nicer than the Toro Rosso nose.

Jordan 199

Renault - some teams are late with payments.

The teams in question have to be Lotus and Caterham.

mickdw

Lotus are a disgrace. Are they actually paying anyone?
Id hate to think what is happening to small businesses that supply them if they will happily shaft headline companies and drivers.
The spoof finance last year still strikes me as odd. There was heavy suspicion that the guy was a fraud yet lotus presented him to worlds media as the future of the team. Surely they were not that naive. Was it a stalling tactic engineered by themselves in full knowledge that it would never come off?

flazio

So who do Renault use as their "works" team. Red Bull?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113859


Perez complaining about the tyres, apparently a lot of drivers are too. I don't see an issue myself, the longer it takes to get the cars back on rails with downforce, the better in my opinion.

flazio

flazio wrote: »

So who do Renault use as their "works" team. Red Bull?

Yup, switched this year I think. Though they were working very closely with them before as well.

HigginsJ

I might draw a lot of ire for saying this but I'm a bit withered with all the Senna coverage on Sky F1 the last few weeks.

Brian_Zeluz

HigginsJ wrote: »

I might draw a lot of ire for saying this but I'm a bit withered with all the Senna coverage on Sky F1 the last few weeks.

Sky could make a piss up in a brewery sound boring to be fair.

Great piece from EJ on BBC there, revealed he offered Senna 50% of the team to drive for Jordan.

Zcott

Brian_Zeluz wrote: »

Sky could make a piss up in a brewery sound boring to be fair.

Great piece from EJ on BBC there, revealed he offered Senna 50% of the team to drive for Jordan.

Yep, didn't know that at all about EJ offering Senna 50%. I also didn't know Senna carried an Austrian flag in his car for Roland on May 1st.

PopePalpatine

I wonder how different history would be if Senna joined Jordan in '94.

mickdw

PopePalpatine wrote: »

I wonder how different history would be if Senna joined Jordan in '94.

Well, assuming senna lived on, surely Jordan with senna on board would have somewhere along the line got full Honda backing and the decision by Honda to favour BAR over Jordan would never have come about. Honda might have taken full ownership of Jordan and as history suggests they would probably have closed it down just when they were about to be competitive.

Gillespy

I found nothing wrong with what Sky did or Senna week in total. In fact some of it was refreshing in that it didn't paper over his less admirable moments or traits. The BBC piece wasn't anything special in comparison I thought, contributions from practically the same people with some appropriate music in the background, nice little insights from Eddie though.

Easy to say now but half the team would've been a nice payday in the longterm for a few years of driving.

And yeah, thought the Senna stuff was a bit overdone. Been thinking that for about 18 months now though :P

Zcott

Does anyone else miss the days of Sunday morning warm up? I always enjoyed having at least a bit of an idea who was fast in race trim before the race...

ZiabR

Gillespy wrote: »

I found nothing wrong with what Sky did or Senna week in total. In fact some of it was refreshing in that it didn't paper over his less admirable moments or traits. The BBC piece wasn't anything special in comparison I thought, contributions from practically the same people with some appropriate music in the background, nice little insights from Eddie though.

You don't become successful in sport without being an ass some of the time. Look at any of the world champions, arrogant 60% of the time. You need a hard neck to be successful in the sport.

Jordan 199

I wonder will this season be like 1988 where one team was totally dominant.

guyfo

Zcott wrote: »

Does anyone else miss the days of Sunday morning warm up? I always enjoyed having at least a bit of an idea who was fast in race trim before the race...

No?

Teams used qualy only set ups back in those days, qualy trim is race trim now.

PopePalpatine

Given that the 2014 titles are all but sewn up (barring catastrophic errors by Mercedes), I wouldn't be surprised to see Ricciardo as a good bet for 2015 if Renault get their act together.

Frank Bullitt

This is the most dominant start to a season since 88 apparently.

Gillespy

What kind of advantage did those McLarens have over the rest?

PopePalpatine wrote: »

Given that the 2014 titles are all but sewn up (barring catastrophic errors by Mercedes), I wouldn't be surprised to see Ricciardo as a good bet for 2015 if Renault get their act together.

He would be a popular champion. Seb looked more like his old self yesterday though, only for him being out of position it could have been a great battle between them.

walshb

I seem to recall that Mansell and Williams had a similar start to the '92 season. Mansell won the first 4-5 races. But yes, almost 1-2 for Mercedes in the first 5 races seems to be the best result ever to date. This car dominance takes away from the real duels in the sport. Take Vettel, just how great is he? Done nothing this season, and is even trailing his team-mate. Monaco should show us more competition. The power advantage that Mercedes has will be negated somewhat.

Myrddin

walshb wrote: »

This car dominance takes away from the real duels in the sport.

Can't say I'd agree with that. A dominant team, is a hell of a lot more exciting to watch than a dominant driver (ie 2011, 2012, & 2013). At least there's a fight up the front now, instead of the winner being more or less decided on Saturday afternoons. If there was another two or three laps in Spain there, I reckon Nico would have won that race...& even still, him hunting down Hamilton made it exciting. That was never the case with Vettel, if he got pole as he usually did, the race was over after the first corner.