F1 2014 thread

[Willie Trombone]

You're not serious.

Merc very bravely took to social media to figure out a solution. A good move IMO.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/115614

FANS WANT RACING FREEDOM

Mercedes took to social media on Thursday to find out what F1's fans thought was the best course of action: strict team orders or free racing.

Feedback came from more than two million people across Facebook and Twitter, and over 90 per cent believed that giving the drivers continued freedom to race was the best way forward.

Opinions over how to deal with matters should another crash happen were more divided, however, as there was no consensus about the right type of punishment for any trouble.

While ideas such as race bans, fines - and even jokingly forcing Rosberg to wear Hamilton's Mercedes cap for a weekend - were suggested, each sanction is not without problems that could further hurt the team's championship ambitions.

 

[Dave]

You're not serious.

Yes, and it's been said that it is one of the considered punishments if it was to happen again.

It's even mentioned in #1961

While ideas such as race bans, fines - and even jokingly forcing Rosberg to wear Hamilton's Mercedes cap for a weekend - were suggested, each sanction is not without problems that could further hurt the team's championship ambitions.

 

[Polish]

'We have both made mistakes' - Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton has admitted both he and Nico Rosberg have made mistakes during their championship campaign this year, saying it would "be wrong to point fingers" following their collision at Spa-Francorchamps.

Rosberg took responsibility for the clash and apologised to Hamilton, Mercedes and the fans on Friday. Both drivers were summoned to a meeting with team bosses Toto Wolff and Paddy Lowe in Brackley, after which the team issued a statement saying Rosberg had been disciplined but the drivers were still free to race.

Following several incidents this year, including engine mapping controversies in Bahrain and Spain, Rosberg's Monaco qualifying lap and Hamilton disobeying team orders in Hungary, Hamilton admitted both drivers had made mistakes this year.

"Today we came together as a team and discussed our differences," he said in a statement. "Nico and I accept that we have both made mistakes and I feel it would be wrong to point fingers and say which one is worse than the other. What's important is how we rise as a team from these situations. We win and we lose together and, as a team, we will emerge stronger.

"There is a deep foundation that still exists for me and Nico to work from, in spite of our difficult times and differences. We have the greatest team, the strongest group of individuals who have worked their hands to the bone to give us the best car you see us racing today. It's important that we never forget that and give them the results they deserve. Today, Toto and Paddy told us clearly how we must race against each other from now on in a fair and respectful manner.

http://en.espnf1.com

Fekking contradicting prick.

 

[Polish]

Yes, and it's been said that it is one of the considered punishments if it was to happen again.

It's even mentioned in #1961

Ross must be looking at this and shaking his head. One day the wheels will fall off and they will come crying to him to come back and fix the mess.

 

[Willie Trombone]

'We have both made mistakes' - Hamilton



http://en.espnf1.com

Fekking contradicting prick.

LOL
Don't let the hype get to you... and don't take the media seriously

 

[Polish]

LOL
Don't let the hype get to you... and don't take the media seriously

I don't. What I do though is wish Lewis some more engine failures, flat tyres and electrical issues.

 

[Polish]

F1 week !!!

 

[Polish]

F1 week !!!

Already a better week than any other

 

[Agent_Smith]

From Planetf1.com. This is definitely good for F1. Team orders or telling their drivers to cool it would've robbed F1 of a battle of the Senna/Prost or Mansell/Piquet variety.

Mercedes Duo Free To Race 'Hard'

Mercedes may have lost a nailed on 1-2 at Spa, but they're still giving the viewing public what F1 desperately needs.

The decision by Mercedes to allow their drivers to continue to race each other hard will come as a huge relief to TV executives around the world. The Nico vs Lewis Show has become big box office (though obviously not for the paying punter at Hockenheim) and now fans know they won't be denied their latest instalment at Monza.

After a meeting at the team's Brackley HQ on Friday with Paddy Lowe, Toto Wolff, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, the Press steam cranked out the following statement.

"Toto Wolff, Paddy Lowe, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton met today in the boardroom of Mercedes AMG Petronas headquarters in Brackley to discuss the events of the Belgian Grand Prix.

"During this meeting, Nico acknowledged his responsibility for the contact that occurred on lap two of the Belgian Grand Prix and apologised for this error of judgement.

"Suitable disciplinary measures have been taken for the incident.

"Mercedes-Benz remains committed to hard, fair racing because this is the right way to win world championships. It is good for the team, for the fans and for Formula 1.

"Lewis and Nico understand and accept the team's number one rule: there must be no contact between the team's cars on track.

"It has been made clear that another such incident will not be tolerated. But Nico and Lewis are our drivers and we believe in them.

"They remain free to race for the 2014 FIA Formula 1 world championship."

Rosberg has had to climb down from his untenable position that their Spa accident 'was Lewis's fault because he didn't leave me enough room' etc and admit he made an error - an error that not only handed victory to another team, it also brought Red Bull back into striking distance for the driver's title.

Nothing much has really changed with the announcement. All team-mates from F1 to GP2 to Touring cars to WEC know that it is unacceptable to crash into a team-mate. No change there. At the Silver Arrows team, it's just a bit more unacceptable than it was before.

Rosberg, a German driver in a German team, is not going to be publicly hampered in any way by Mercedes. It would be very very bad PR for them to restrict his chances of winning the title in a bid to even out the anomalies in points brought about by the Belgian GP coming together.

The most interesting question about Friday's meeting is: What were the 'disciplinary measures' that Mercedes invoked against Rosberg?

Straight after the race, Lewis guessed that Nico would get a slap on the wrists and nothing much would happen. Given his tendency to divulge information about intra-team injustices (remember him tweeting Jenson Button's telemetry in 2012?) it's likely that Mercedes have told him to keep the details of any Rosberg sanctions to himself.

Or... if Lewis deems them to be insufficient... we'll find out next weekend.

The good news is that the Mercedes team are prepared to see their drivers racing "hard" i.e. not just following each other after the final pit-stop has sealed the order. And that's also good news for Lewis, who is naturally much better at racing hard than Nico.

Though it's great for the neutral fan to see guys like Daniel Ricciardo seizing his moment, the closer he comes to Rosberg and Hamilton - with the threat of a 50-point bonanza in the final race - the more likely we'll see Mercedes switch to safety mode.

Until then, it's game on at Monza.

 

[Polish]

Remains to be seen how the next few races develop.

Could be different whether a gap emerges or if they keep running with minimal difference until the last race.

 

[Willie Trombone]

I don't. What I do though is wish Lewis some more engine failures, flat tyres and electrical issues.

And that's where we differ. I'd rather watch Rosberg win on merit or get beaten by a better driver. Seeing the best in poor cars is the one downer about F1.

 

[HapticSimian]

IF his car remains in one piece, I expect Lewis to spank Britney in the next race or two. LH has a point to prove, and NR will be treading very lightly, lest Toto only gives him three wheels for the next race...

 

[Willie Trombone]

IF his car remains in one piece, I expect Lewis to spank Britney in the next race or two. LH has a point to prove, and NR will be treading very lightly, lest Toto only gives him three wheels for the next race...

Let's hope he gets to do what he was about to the last race.

 

[Polish]

Let's hope he gets to do what he was about to the last race.

Yes, DNF and cry like a sissy.

 

[Polish]

Verstappen crashes on F1 demo run

Max Verstappen's first public outing in an F1 car ended in rather embarrassing circumstances after he crashed at a demo event in Rotterdam.

Verstappen has been confirmed as Jean-Eric Vergne's replacement at Toro Rosso for 2015, and will debut when he is 17 years old - which will make him F1's youngest driver by a significant margin. He was demonstrating a Red Bull RB8 - with which Sebastian Vettel won the title in 2012 - around Rotterdam in a Toro Rosso livery when he hit a barrier and lost the front wing of the car.

The video below, captured by a member of the crowd, shows Verstappen hitting the barrier - albeit at a rather slow speed - after completing doughnuts.

[video=youtube;293uG4Nr3KQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=293uG4Nr3KQ&feature=player_embedded[/video]

http://en.espnf1.com

eish, too eager

 

[Polish]

Honda confident of matching Mercedes in 2015

Honda thinks it will have no problem immediately challenging pace-setters Mercedes in 2015 despite debuting its V6 turbo engine a year after its rivals.

Next season Honda returns to F1 after quitting the sport in 2008, with McLaren its sole team for at least its first season. Renault and Ferrari both had a slow start to life in the V6 turbo era but motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai does not think Honda will suffer in a similar fashion.

"I have confidence that we will match Mercedes," Arai told the official F1 website. "I think that the two other engine suppliers will recover next season - I strongly believe that. And we will be there too.

"You can only make conclusions [about 2014] when you have all the different data on the table. I can imagine that Mercedes found the perfect balance between their chassis and their power unit and that the others didn't find that balance. So we work together with McLaren as one team - because this is the only way to go."

Arai says Honda is open to supplying teams other than McLaren after its exclusive deal ends next year, though the Woking-based team will continue to be the focus of its F1 attention.

"In 2015 we don't have the plan to supply any team other than McLaren. In 2016 or after, if some teams or partners ask us to supply them too, we will take a look at that situation.

"But even in 2016, McLaren will be our main partner in F1. And even if we supply other teams from 2016 onwards our main focus will always be to win - to make the engine better through more data - and not necessarily to look at a return on investment. If you win that comes automatically."

http://en.espnf1.com

A little arrogant but then again they have great history in the sport.

 

[Polish]

A change of name for Haas

Ahead of its entry in the 2016 world championship, Haas Formula has changed its name to Haas F1 Team.

The announcement came courtesy of Twitter (where else) as the much-anticipated American outfit opened its social media campaign courtesy of Facebook and a website.

The name change comes courtesy of team founder Gene Haas in order to "better correlate his team with motor racing's prestigious series". However, Haas Formula will remain the legal entity as the North Carolina outfit becomes the first American-led F1 team since 1986.

www.pitpass.com

Nooice, glad to hear that this is materializing.

Having said, I fear that we may lose a team, not that I know which one, but often that is the case with the smaller guys. We know that Bernie has zero sympathy for the smaller teams and will not offer support from his side unless he has a personal interest there.

 

[Dave]

Honda confident of matching Mercedes in 2015

http://en.espnf1.com

A little arrogant but then again they have great history in the sport.

Well, they would have had a whole year reverse engineering the Mercedes engine that McLaren currently has... .

 

[redspark]

F1 week !!!

Double yay. Tjovitjo!

 

[thestaggy]

A change of name for Haas



www.pitpass.com

Nooice, glad to hear that this is materializing.

Having said, I fear that we may lose a team, not that I know which one, but often that is the case with the smaller guys. We know that Bernie has zero sympathy for the smaller teams and will not offer support from his side unless he has a personal interest there.

I think Marussia are coping, but Lotus, Sauber and Caterham may not be on the best footing.