F1 2014 Season

[JonnyAppleSeed]

Honda have already set up a European headquarters for their Formula One operations, in Milton Keynes ..... Could this be next door to Redbull ?

[OldBloke]

Honestly, if it wasn't for bad luck he'd have no luck at all :sad:

Rain tomorrow please.

[TeaLeaf]

Totally agree, even Lauda thought it appalling luck and very unfair. Was struggling to get my Sky running on my laptop, it seems Sky don't want to give you access when you're abroad, so I had to use a vpn in the end to make it think I was in the uk.  Ferrari messed up again with Raikkonen out in q1.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[OldBloke]

Rain tomorrow please.

Thank you

[TeaLeaf]

Great race!  Very surprised by team orders being given when the gap was as big as it was, I thought that a little odd.  Eg. The gap from Rosberg to JEV was 0.3 but Rosberg didn't get much closer than 0.9 secs?  He spent a chunk of time not even having drs.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Jamin]

I'd decided after the first few races that I wouldn't bother to make an effort to watch each race... well that's been forgotten since Silverstone, what a great season this is turning out to be

[Snokio]

Medium tyre seemed pretty redundant in this race, slow and degrades at the same rate as the softs!?! Great race, happy for Ricardo and gutted that Mclaren got it wrong on the choice of tyres during first pit stops (I was hoping it would rain again)

[TeaLeaf]

Huge uproar in the news websites after yesterday's F1 race which I will preface by saying that I was (prior to the race) a Division II Rosberg supporter and a Premiership Hamilton supporter.

Ferrari:
Amazingly light penalty for sending people back onto the grid to start Alonso's engine.   A five second stop & go to be served during the next pit stop was stunningly weak from the stewards given how dangerous it was to the pit crew and for other drivers to have jack and other equipment on the grid as F1 cars went by.   Imagine what could have happened - car behind sees the crew and avoids, but next car is unsighted and does not realise so drives right into the back of Alonso killing pit crew and maiming the F1 driver.   The F1 driver being maimed btw is not Alonso, he'd be fine, it would be the driver whose car hit the steel jack that was pointing like a lance out of the back of the Ferrari which could have then punched through the chassis right into the drivers legs and mangled them like a mincer.   Good job Ferrrari in thinking through the lesser of two evils, they prioritised their points over their staff and driver safety.   Bad move.

Magnussen:
Quite rightly got penalised after pushing 75% of Alonso's Ferrari onto the grass at 210mph on the approach to Les Combes.  This 20 second penalty pushed him from 6th to an 'out of the points' 12th place.   His move on Alonso was nothing short of bloody dangerous and the head on camera angle gave the best view of just how much of Alonso's car was on the grass.  Given that at that point there were FOUR cars almost abreast across the circuit you can see the potential for one little grassy bump to trigger a monumentally awful accident.   Magnussen got away very lightly, especially as he was lucky that Button's points on their own were enough to overtake Force India in the Constructors Champsionship (McLaren are now two points ahead of Force India), imagine how amused Ron Dennis would be if Magnussen's mistake had meant they stuck in 6th still and behind Force India!

Raikonnen
Good to see he finally got a clean race and some points.

Ricciardo aka "the smiling bloke")
Again demonstrated he can handle the Red Bull better than Vettel.   This season is definitely going a long way to devaluing Vettel's reputation as a premier driver.   These days the memories (and the conversation) is more along the lines of:

-Webber was a great bloke but was only ever an average driver
-Vettel regularly beat Webber because Vettel was an average to good driver
-Ricciardo is a good driver which is why he regularly beats Vettel
-Vettel only won his World Championships because he was the better of the two drivers at the time in Adrian Newey's dominating Red Bull car

The logic seems sound to me, feel free to correct me if you see an error.

Vettel
Will someone please get this kid a map so that he can learn where the track limits are?   I'm getting really bored of seeing him ignore them every race.  Yesterday he was the worst offender at Raidillon (the top bit of Eau Rouge) and in particular at Stavelot (aka Stavelot 1 or turn 15).  He does this every race and very rarely does anyone ever actually haul him over the coals for it.  Grrr.

Rosberg & Hamilton
Do I need to say more?   After watching the replays during the race I thought the double steering move by Rosberg a little odd, but concluded that the incident was another event in a year during which Hamilton can't even buy some luck.  I had believed that Rosberg's move was simply over-eagerness, clumsy and that he would apologise for ruining his team mate's race in the post race interview.

Then I listened to the podium, post-race and paddock interviews and he said nothing.   No apology, not even a nod in that direction.  Indeed he amazed me by saying that he "could not comment until he had seen the incident on TV".  Errr, come again?   You were there driving the car at the time, were behind and had a full view of the other F1 car and had the best view in the house, how could you not know what went on?   At this point my feelings for Rosberg as a person started to go downhill a little as I thought not apologizing was classless.

Then I heard the reports from the 16:45 meeting yesterday between Paddy Lowe, Totto Wolff, Rosberg & Hamilton.   And now I am officially gob-smacked.  Rosberg is confirmed (by Mercedes) as saying that he wanted to hold his line, he wanted to make a point to Lewis that he would not be pushed off the track even though he only has the front of his wing alongside Hamilton's rear tyre.   He could have avoided the incident (now that double move of the steering wheel begins to make more sense to me), but he chose to "make a point" to Lewis.   In anyone's book that's the same as saying he hit Hamilton deliberately but without using those damning words.

What will Mercedes do?   In my mind this to have a serious reaction from Mercedes and I'd suggest a one race ban.   Rosberg loses a race worth of Championship points, but if Mercedes give the reserve driver a race then their car is good enough that they'll still get Constructors points and it will send a message that you simply can't hit other drivers "to make a point".

Messrs Piquet Jr, Briatore & Simmonds all know the effect of deliberately causing an accident and had a ban from F1.  Will the FIA re-open this incident to investigate further?

Now consider Nico's father (Keke Rosberg) and Keke's reaction when Michael Schumacher, during qualifying for the Monaco grand prix in 2006, parked his car at the Rascasse corner to ensure he kept pole position.  The stewards, media & fans went nuts on him and Keke was very outspoken, calling Schumacher (amongst other things) a "cheat".

Now remember that Rosberg had a similarly controversial incident (which he escaped without penalty) at Monaco this year when he 'lost control' as he approached Mirabeau and that this loss of control followed by his highly unusual reversing out onto the track again caused everyone else's hotlaps to be ruined, thus keeping pole position for Nico Rosberg.

Now factor in the way Nico Rosberg usually drives the Les Combes corner in a Mercedes.   Here's a clip from the 2010 Spa Grand Prix - this time Rosberg is on the inside racing line where Hamilton was and Schumacher was on the left where Rosberg was yesterday.   Schumacher is ahead going into Les Combes and has almost a complete car length alongside Rosberg as they turn into the second apex of Les Combes and look what Rosberg does to him.  

(camera view from Schumacher's car)

Now think that Rosberg is saying Hamilton should have left him room (even though he was not even alongside by the middle of Les Combes), Rosberg's second steering wheel input to turn into Hamilton's car and Rosberg saying that he wanted to make a point to Hamilton.

Having considered all of the above, I'm no longer a Rosberg supporter, not even at Conference level.   I'm disappointed with him and now convinced that he did at Monaco what I had previously thought he probably did not do.  I was wrong.

I wonder what Keke Rosberg will say about his son's lack of sportsmanship (or plain old cheating)?

[Snokio]

Good race but I doubt very much Rosberg did it on purpose, I think he means he wasnt backing out of the move but Ham closed the door (almost a contradiction), not a fan of either of them so to speak, but I do think this story is not big as they are making it out to be tbh, very easy to analyse something 20 times at 5 angles and slow motion at something that happened over a period of a couple of seconds or so IMHO

[JonnyAppleSeed]

Agree with the Ferrari start ... Far too dangerous to have people on the track as the cars set off. Also picking his way through weaving cars to get back into his grid slot didn't look safe. A pit lane or back of the pack start was required.

Ross/Ham incident was always going to happen at some point and will again before the end of this season.

TL you mentioned the Monaco incident  I also remember another I think at Canada. Ros drove over the tarmac run-off area and rejoined the track through the gap. By keeping his foot in Rosberg lost so little time he set the fastest lap of the race when he crossed the finishing line. He also pulled a few tenths of a second clear of Hamilton â€" enough to break the DRS window and Ham melted his breaks trying to catch the time back
Given the fact they deleted his lap time set on this lap from his ‘fastest lap/current lap’ graphic, I find it strange that they don’t think he gained an advantage from exceeding the track limits.
+1 to the Rosberg (I was trained by DickDastardly) camp :blink:

[OldBloke]

Excellent race summary TL. I agree entirely with your views ... except one.

I'm a huge LH fan too but, for me, the man lost some brownie points yesterday due to his whining. Yes, he's had an incredibly tough time of late and he tries his best to sound positive in interviews but I'm not buying it. He's an emotional guy and he simply cannot hide that in pre-arranged soundbites. Yesterday, Rosberg got one over him both on the track and psychologically. He had a point to make to the pundits who, quite rightly IMHO, say that he (Rosberg) is quick but not capable of taking it to LH in a race. He is now smiling from ear-to-ear.

What happens next is anyone's guess. If Jean Todt gets involved and issues a punishment he will be undermining the stewards who, I read, did look at the incident and decided to take no action. Mercedes cannot damage their chances for points in the remaining races (or next year) by ****ing off one of the drivers so what can they do? I do like your idea, TL, but can't see it happening.

I think we'll see a strongly worded missive from Mercedes containing a new set of 'rules of engagement' for their drivers and we, the punters, can look forward to the next race.

[TeaLeaf]

now that we're into the second half of the F1 year, the 'silly season' is officially upon us.  Let driver speculation commence!

Interesting comments from Gian Carlo Minardi (the founder/owner of the Minardi F1 team) over the weekend about driver movements:

• With Honda desperate to return to F1 with a top name driver Minardi sees an opening at McLaren next year
• With Magnussen doing the business that means Button would lose his McLaren seat
• Of the three top drivers not under contract in 2015, Alonso has ruled himself out with his recent statements about remaining with Ferrari next year
• That leaves Hamilton & Vettel as possible McLaren targets for Button's seat
• Hamilton has stated only recently that he is keen to sign a new 3 year deal with Mercedes and remain in his current team
• That leaves Vettel as the obvious choice for Honda to back for a McLaren seat.
• Minardi reports that Ecclestone is 'very keen' to see the four time world champion pairing up with Honda.
• Minardi also says that Ecclestone made a special trip to speak to Vettel this past weekend to promote the possibility of a move to McLaren Honda.
• With Ricciardo giving Vettel a pasting and Newey going to play with yachts next year that might push the Sebster into the Ron Dennis camp and open up a spot at Red Bull alongside Ricciardo.
• Torro Rosso's signing of the currently 16 yr old (seriously, that young is illegal in some states) Verstappen fills one Torro Rosso seat and they already have Kvyat under contract with JEV losing his drive for 2015.
• Torro Rosso's young driver program is up in arms about Verstappen jumping several formulas and a load of other drivers to get to the Torro Rosso F1 seat.  Top of that list is Carlos Sainz Jr who is well known, well funded and with a decent pedigree (just like Verstappen).
• So Minardi thinks that will mean Torro Rosso sign Carlos Sainz Jr and put him into Kvyat's seat.
• Kvyat then gets pushed up to the spare Red Bull seat to drive alongside Ricciardo.
• So what happens to Button and where does he drive?  I'm not sure many teams lower down the grid could pick up his â,¬16m salary.
• Ferrari and Button don't seem to sit well together, so as Raikonnen's seat does not free up until 2016 the prancing horse is not an option (even though they have the money to pay him)
• Could Massa be removed and replaced by Button?  Unlikely as it would cost Williams a ton of cash that they probably do not have to break Massa's contract and that would still leave them trying to find money to pay Button.  Massa's contract is through at least 2015 with options beyond that for both sides.
• All the above goes out of the window if this past weekend impacts upon Hamilton's previous determination to remain at Mercedes and prompts him to look further east for his horsepower.  Senna & Honda are a potent memory for him, I'm just not sure it is potent enough to overcome the strict regimentation of everything at McLaren, so you never know.
• And my own personal speculation:

   IF Hamilton to McLaren THEN Bottas (NOT Vettel) to Mercedes AND Button to Williams.[/LIST]

All speculation, but interesting none the less.   Made me think about things for a few minutes and the possibilities were quite entertaining!

[Snokio]

Interesting, I think if Button stays ahead of Mag this season he will stay with Mclaren with one year contract, if he enjoys F1 then he would take a pay cut like Massa did when joining Williams, dont think Frank would consider Button when s deal went sour many years ago.
Suspect Honda will supply engines to other teams, Suber a possibilty and maybe Redbull / Lotus unless Renault get their act together. Bottas and Mercedes seem a good match, maybe a switch with Ham or Rosberg

[TeaLeaf]

...and on the back of yesterday's speculation, the BBC post something today:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/28952174

[Snokio]

Thanks for linky, would be strange to hear the likes of Button and Alonso retiring at such a young age, it cant be down to fitness like footballers, and reaction time would not have deteriorated. Shame the Schumacher period didn't bring success of an elder statesman. It would have proved age is not a factor