Formula 1 2014: General Discussion Thread

Jordan 199

Romain Grosjean driving an early 80's turbo charged Renault F1 Car.

KarlFitz01

I was watching the Midweek report on Sky and they were talking about a rumour about Newey going to Ferrari. What would peoples opinion be? I cant see it to be honest.

Charlie-Bravo

When you reach to the top after years of hard work, and have been consistent for a few years while at the top, I would move to another team to bring them up. The fact the RB have an engine power problem, in my view his work is done for RB this year too. I'd move to a weaker team and make them go faster with the aero design input. Ferrari aren't the weakest of teams though - aim lower Adrian!

Ghost Train

Bit of a culture change though, moving to italy and fitting in with their way of working, not sure I can see Newey making the move from an English team... but maybe he would

Infoanon

Ghost Train wrote: »

Bit of a culture change though, moving to italy and fitting in with their way of working, not sure I can see Newey making the move from an English team... but maybe he would

Its rumoured that Adrian Newey and Christian Horners contracts with Red Bull are interlinked which could make Adrians move more complicated IF he even wanted to move.

KarlFitz01

Infoanon wrote: »

Its rumoured that Adrian Newey and Christian Horners contracts with Red Bull are interlinked which could make Adrians move more complicated IF he even wanted to move.

Wasn't there always rumours that Newey and Horner would end up at Ferrari with Vettle. Another rumour last was Alonso stopped Ferrari going after Vettle instead of Kimi? Maybe I'm wrong but I can remember that from last year.

Frank Bullitt

The offer is rumoured to be a blank cheque as well.

Plenty of rumours of Alonso always leaving Ferrari, he won't go anywhere.

Zcott

I think at this stage Adrian probably isn't motivated by the money. And that's what makes it a hard sell from Ferrari.

KarlFitz01

Zcott wrote: »

I think at this stage Adrian probably isn't motivated by the money. And that's what makes it a hard sell from Ferrari.

Would he not be motivated by the challenge at Ferrari?

Going Strong

KarlFitz01 wrote: »

Would he not be motivated by the challenge at Ferrari?

Well, there's the challenge of bringing the biggest name in F1 back to winning ways tempered by the fact you'd have di Montezemolo to deal with. Tough choice really.

Zcott

That'd be a great challenge alright but Ferrari are intensely political, and whenever you contrast that to the attitude that Red Bull have, would you want to go to Ferrari?

Plus, he's 55. Realistically it'll take two years for him to get up to speed at Ferrari, and then he's not far off 60. I don't see this happening.

Brian_Zeluz

Hill drives the Renault RS01 around Monaco, gives it the beans after an easy first lap.
http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/9314075/turbo-f1-power-returns-to-monaco

Jordan 199

Ah the Renault RS01, aka the yellow teapot. Had serious turbo lag but once Renault sorted that out, turbo charging was the way to go in F1.

Hart and BMW had inline 4's with a single turbo charger.

Ferrari, Ford, Honda, Motori Moderni, Porsche and Renault were V6's with two turbo chargers.

Alfa Romeos were V8's with two turbo chargers.

_rebelkid

"The legend is gone"- Sir Jack Brabham has died.

Jordan 199

Sir Jack Brabham - won the 1966 title in one of his own machines :cool:

Infoanon

_rebelkid wrote: »

"The legend is gone"- Sir Jack Brabham has died.

A 3 time world champion, RIP

SilverScreen

It's sad that the team he founded died before he did. Would have loved to seen his name live on in F1 like McLaren.

Going Strong

Infoanon wrote: »

A 3 time world champion, RIP

And the first to realise what kind of money could be made by taking a rear-engined car to the Indy 500. Always a man with his eye on the main chance.

_rebelkid

Legends of F1: Sir Jack Brabham (SKY)

Jordan 199

French GP could be back next year.

I hope it will

_rebelkid

Monaco GP Race Thread.

Brian_Zeluz

LIGHTNING wrote: »

He was struggling with the down-shifts on the first lap! He looked like he was enjoying himself. You can tell he was concentrating as he was barely talking during the piece! Good video.

Yeah I was surprised how simple and yet brilliant a piece it was, if only sky could be like that all the time.

ZiabR

LIGHTNING wrote: »

He was struggling with the down-shifts on the first lap! He looked like he was enjoying himself. You can tell he was concentrating as he was barely talking during the piece! Good video.

Only got to watch this last night, loved it. Really good piece of filming, he really enjoyed himself alright. The manual aspect of the car made it harder to get to grips with.

Zcott

I was really hoping he'd floor it all the way up the hill but he kept lifting about halfway. Great sound though.

flazio

When was the last time an F1 grid lined up as qualified? I.e no penalties.

_rebelkid

Ant Davidson and Johnny Herbert debate Rosberg's Move

_rebelkid

The Caterham Group, including the F1 Team, could be up for sale.

Infoanon

_rebelkid wrote: »

The Caterham Group, including the F1 Team, could be up for sale.

Rumour has it that Bernie was initially suggesting to Gene Haas that he should buy Caterham.

Think its fair to say that there are a lot teams up for sale/equity investment at the moment.

counterlock

I was giving out this morning about a piece Ted was doing strolling around the harbour looking at boats and talking to a drunken fan.

This afternoon I switched on the Indy 500 preview and, my god, BT have done a terrific job in making sky's coverage look top notch! If they get the rights to it in 2019 we're done for.

Zcott

counterlock wrote: »

BT have done a terrific job in making sky's coverage look top notch! If they get the rights to it in 2019 we're done for.

Is that an actual rumour?

counterlock

Zcott wrote: »

Is that an actual rumour?

I'm sure they will be in for it. They blew sky out of the water with their champions league bid

Zcott

I hope it's true because I have BT Sprt but not Sky

Btw, mods: any chance of removing the F1 2013 predictions sticky? Just noticed its 2014.

flazio

flazio wrote: »

When was the last time an F1 grid lined up as qualified? I.e no penalties.

Did a Wiki look up on this and the answer is the 2014 Chinese grand prix. So far this year it's the only Grand prix where the end of Qualifying order translates to the Sunday afternoon grid.
Last year out of 19 races, how many starting grids do you think carried no grid penalties?

5

Mike Litoris

counterlock wrote: »

I was giving out this morning about a piece Ted was doing strolling around the harbour looking at boats and talking to a drunken fan.

This afternoon I switched on the Indy 500 preview and, my god, BT have done a terrific job in making sky's coverage look top notch! If they get the rights to it in 2019 we're done for.

Jaysus, how bad can it get?:eek:

I'm happy with what the BBC gets and watching the rest on Setanta. I've watched a few on Sky, including the post race stuff last weekend and it can be tough going. The BBC team are a different class.

_rebelkid

Mike Litoris wrote: »

Jaysus, how bad can it get?:eek:

I'm happy with what the BBC gets and watching the rest on Setanta. I've watched a few on Sky, including the post race stuff last weekend and it can be tough going. The BBC team are a different class.

BT were awful. Absolutely terrible. As in, if I had paid for it, I would have it removed instantly. It was terrible. Made Sky look like 2011 BBC coverage...

Mike Litoris

_rebelkid wrote: »

2011 BBC coverage...

It still hurts that it got taken away...to an extent. That said I dont miss Brundle half as much I thought I would've. I'd even put Edwards and DC on par with MB and DC, I think they're a great team.

_rebelkid

Mike Litoris wrote: »

It still hurts that it got taken away...to an extent. That said I dont miss Brundle half as much I thought I would've. I'd even put Edwards and DC on par with MB and DC, I think they're a great team.

Ben Edwards is great at what he does. To me, he's the natural successor to Murray Walker.

Arthur Beesley

flazio wrote: »

Did a Wiki look up on this and the answer is the 2014 Chinese grand prix. So far this year it's the only Grand prix where the end of Qualifying order translates to the Sunday afternoon grid.
Last year out of 19 races, how many starting grids do you think carried no grid penalties?

5

5?

losthorizon

Nico Rosberg was involved in an accident at a Mercedes event on Tuesday after two people wandered on to the track.

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/24207/9328668/nico-rosberg-shocked-after-accident-at-mercedes-pr-event-leaves-two-people-injured

He was involved in the event but not the accident.

Sitec

Regarding the development of the engine (power unit :cool:)...

* Can Renault split the turbo in the same way Mercedes did or do they have to wait til next season?

* Do the other teams with the Mercedes engine have the split turbo?

* Is there a single engine management ecu for both engines?

if not.....

* Do Mercedes have bespoke engine mapping vs other teams?

losthorizon

Deleted User wrote: »

He was involved in the event but not the accident.

Being a bit pedantic? The article makes clear his car didnt hit anyone but he was centrally involved.

Technoprisoner

Sitec wrote: »

Regarding the development of the engine (power unit :cool:)...

* Can Renault split the turbo in the same way Mercedes did or do they have to wait til next season?

* Do the other teams with the Mercedes engine have the split turbo?

* Is there a single engine management ecu for both engines?

if not.....

* Do Mercedes have bespoke engine mapping vs other teams?

i dont know the answer to any of the above but i just read a short article saying redbull are considering change engine manufacturers and there was mention of vw being a supplier

Infoanon

Technoprisoner wrote: »

i dont know the answer to any of the above but i just read a short article saying redbull are considering change engine manufacturers and there was mention of vw being a supplier

F1 have courted VW for the last 25 years - I can't see them suddenly deciding to do F1 even as a mere engine supplier after all this time - and certainly not at the current investment levels required and Berniegate in full flow.

losthorizon

losthorizon wrote: »

Being a bit pedantic? The article makes clear his car didnt hit anyone but he was centrally involved.

In that case I've been involved in a lot of accidents. :P

Jordan 199

Sitec wrote: »

* Is there a single engine management ecu for both engines?

if not.....

* Do Mercedes have bespoke engine mapping vs other teams?

McLaren supply all the teams with the same ECU's.

Ghost Train

Sitec wrote: »

Regarding the development of the engine (power unit :cool:)...

* Can Renault split the turbo in the same way Mercedes did or do they have to wait til next season?

* Do the other teams with the Mercedes engine have the split turbo?

* Is there a single engine management ecu for both engines?

if not.....

* Do Mercedes have bespoke engine mapping vs other teams?

Well I think the homologation rules apply right through to 2020, I guess they could could split the turbo anytime if it was for "reliability, safety or cost saving reasons" and within the development rules

LIMITATION OF DEVELOPMENT
To control costs over the life cycle of the new
formula, development will be subject to a series
of restrictions over a seven-year period. These
restrictions have been developed to form a defined
path that will allow manufacturers to fully develop
the Power Units.
“The most efficient way to reduce development cost
is to stop it. This is known as a ‘freeze’,” explains
Lom. “This was partially done with the V8 engines.
It works well with mature technologies but could
be risky when imposed on new technologies, as
it can lead to a team/manufacturer whose initial
product is superior, leading to them achieving
a dominant position from the outset and this
domination would then naturally persist for the
duration of any development freeze. Therefore, we
have set out a schedule that will keep costs down
but still permit development.”
The development cycle is scheduled according to
an available set of elements that can be developed
each year.
The Power Unit is divided into families of functions,
with each family being given a certain importance,
labelled as category 1, 2 or 3 components. For
example, the pistons are ranked 2, while the
ignition system is ranked 1. The complete Power
Unit is made up of the sum of these ranked items,
with the complete Power Unit being represented by
the total number, 66. Each year, each Power Unit
manufacturer will be allowed to choose what parts
of the engine they wish to develop and will spend
a set ‘budget’ of ‘tokens’.
This development budget decreases each year
across the seven-year schedule. For 2015 the
budget available to teams is 32 tokens (close to
50% of possible development) but for 2018 the
budget drops to 15 tokens (less than 25% of
possible development).
2015 50% 32 ‘tokens’
2016 41%
2017 32%
2018 23% 15 ‘tokens’

Each engine manufacturer can only homologate one engine, so I'd understand that all the mercedes engines would be identical and have the split turbo

control electronics are part of the power unit and as such that hardware would be standard on all mercedes engines
Not sure about engine software, would imagine to be fair to all teams that works and customer engines should get similar software, maybe it's like the mclaren ecu and teams or open to developing the engine software with the help of the engine manufacture engineers, work out their own engine maps and settings

Grim.

Technoprisoner wrote: »

i dont know the answer to any of the above but i just read a short article saying redbull are considering change engine manufacturers and there was mention of vw being a supplier

Cant see that happening, VW are currently spending hundreds of millions on two LMP1 teams aswell as DTM and GT programs

Gillespy

If RB want to be a factory team they will need someone new to come on board with them. Renault have come a long way in six races, bit premature to write them off. Although they've been crapping on Renault since day one of Jerez testing, it's full time job by Marko, maybe they are looking elsewhere.

guyfo

Grim. wrote: »

Cant see that happening, VW are currently spending hundreds of millions on two LMP1 teams aswell as DTM and GT programs

Plus dominating the wrc with a huge effort.