F1 - General discussion and 2016 Season

[thestaggy]

Nice pit stops, Williams. . . Good lord they have been pathetic in the pits all year. Also, when they don't cock it up they are a full second slower than Mercedes.

As good a season as they've had, they let a lot get away from them and I am adamant that this was a car capable of winning a race or two before the Merc dominance really set in.

The car is quick and this race had proved that - we now need to make sure that in Abu Dhabi we fully maximise the points that we should be attaining with this car. - Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering

 

[roskii]

Williams may need to change their pitcrew gear after that Massa entry

 

[Polish]

Sooo, and then there was 1.

Textbook race, some may claim boredom, i think it pretty much summarized the year. I am very pleasantly surprised that Rosberg kept his cool and kept it together.

Nice one Massa, at home that's always extra nice.

And McLaren coming in 4th, shows progress to be able to outdo Ferrari and RBR, nice work Eric.

Gives us everything to look forward to at Yas Marina.

 

[Polish]

Williams may need to change their pitcrew gear after that Massa entry

Does anyone know exactly what happened there ?

 

[Agent_Smith]

Does anyone know exactly what happened there ?

Massa mistook the the McLaren team for his own (after confusing the overalls).

"It was not an easy race but what a fantastic result for me, for my family, and for the team to finish on the podium in front of my home fans. The energy from the crowd was amazing and really pushed me forward. The car had strong and consistent pace today and this allowed me to stay in third despite issues in my two pitstops. In the first stop I incurred a stop-and-go penalty after speeding in the pit lane after I hit the limiter twice by mistake, and in the second I stopped in the wrong box. We're not normally next to McLaren and in the light their overalls looked the same colour as ours so this caught me out. In the end these issues were not enough to take away my podium because we had a good aggressive strategy and a really good car."

 

[Polish]

Oh, is that it ?

Ah well, wouldn't really have made a difference in the end.

But Williams pits stops are really krappy.

 

[Agent_Smith]

We might still Caterham at Abu Dhabi... Watch this space

Fans donate to cash-strapped Caterham

The fans of cash-strapped Caterham stumped up £1-million in 48 hours in response to the team's attempt to secure funds to race in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The backmarkers went into administration last month and missed Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix having also sat out last Sunday's race in Texas.

On Friday Caterham got out the begging bowl, launching the #RefuelCaterhamF1 project where they asked fans to pledge £10 or more in an effort to reach a target of £2.35-million to get to the UAE grid on November 23.

The campaign closes on Friday, or sooner should the target figure be reached.

The team's adminstrator and interim team principal Finbarr O'Connell said: "The Caterham F1 Team is almost half way to its funding target.

"I am not packing my toothbrush as yet though and there is still a lot of fundraising to be done by the Team."

O'Connell said the campaign was gathering momentum, and had generated interest from potential buyers.

"A new financially sound interested party has entered the arena and is considering acquiring the Team," he revealed.

"This new interest is wholly due to this campaign."

He explained the reasoning behind the novel scheme.

"The plan is not to run a F1 team by using Crowdfunding but rather this funding is providing a stepping stone for the Team to a new financially sound future.

"If teams don't race they are at a huge disadvantage as regards a potential purchaser making a very expensive purchase decision and this Project gives the Team the ability to showcase itself and especially its cars."

Caterham launched the crowd fundraiser on the same day that fellow strugglers Marussia ceased trading and made nearly 200 staff redundant.

Caterham's initiative has been attacked however by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

"I don't agree with the fans having to fund a team," Horner told Sky Sports News.

"The fans pay to be entertained by the teams, they shouldn't be having to pay for a team. The concept of that is wrong and shouldn't be allowed."

 

[thestaggy]

We might still Caterham at Abu Dhabi... Watch this space

Oh yeah, it hasn't been posted yet, but Marussia is officially dead. The administrators could not find a buyer so the team has been shutdown and all the staff laid off. They also forfeit any prize money they'd have been due, so even if you buy their assets and their name you won't get a slice of the cake.

Marussia Formula 1 team closes doors, staff made redundant

Marussia's hopes of making a return to Formula 1 have been dashed, after administrators confirmed the outfit was shutting its doors.

Despite frantic efforts to try to find a buyer for the team over recent weeks, the failure to complete a deal has forced it out of business.

Administrators FRP Advisory LLP said that the Marussia team had ceased trading and the 200 staff had been made redundant.

Geoff Rowley, joint administrator, said: "It goes without saying that it is deeply regrettable that a business with such a great following in British and world motorsport has had to cease trading and close its doors.

"Whilst the team made significant progress during its relatively short period of operation, operating a F1 team requires significant ongoing investment.

"The group was put into administration last month following a shortfall in on-going funding and the administration process provided a moratorium to allow for attempts to secure a long term viable solution for the company within in a very limited time-frame.

"Sadly no solution could be achieved to allow for the business to continue in its current form. We would like to thank all the staff for their support during this difficult process."

He added: "The team will not be participating in the two further rounds of the 2014 championship remaining, in Sao Paulo and Abu Dhabi.

"The joint administrators will continue with their statutory duties to realise the assets of the business in the best interests of all the creditors."

The news of Marussia's demise comes just a day after the company that owns the entry - Manor F1 Team - appeared on a provisional line-up for the 2015 F1 season.

Marussia originally entered F1 in 2010 as Virgin Racing, before being taken over by Russian businessman Andrey Cheglakov.

It scored its first points at this year's Monaco Grand Prix, which would have helped secure it a hefty boost of commercial rights incomes at the end of the season.

But with the costs of F1 increasing, the team could not secure the budget it needed to finish the campaign - so will forfeit the income.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116664

Their webpage was last updated on the 30th October, Twitter on the 17th and Facebook on the 15th.

 

[Polish]

Nice one Caterham !

You know Bernie could end their troubles at click of finger without hardly any impact to himself, but he's a greedy fukker and has F1 by the balls.

 

[Polish]

One more race for the next 4 months.

 

[sand_man]

Yeah, season finale's always suck...

 

[Polish]

Just to clear up.

That double points, is that double points for every point scorer, or just to the winner ?

 

[sand_man]

Double for every points scorer I think. If Hamilton finishes 2nd he will still win apparently so....

 

[Polish]

Need to find possible permutations, always nice to know what are the options.

Def Hamilton's to lose if he screws up in A-D, or has bad luck, so i think the pressure is on him.

 

[caroper]

Just to clear up.

That double points, is that double points for every point scorer, or just to the winner ?

Yes, 1 point for 10th Place becomes 2 points, 25 Points for !st becomes 50 and all layers in between for both drivers and constructors points.

It is just 2 races in one with identical results in both races.
So it even effects the profit payouts to the teams at seasons end.

 

[Polish]

Ok, here are scores for Abu Dhabi

For teams:

Abu Dhabi scoring
Place Race points
1st - 50
2nd - 36
3rd - 30
4th - 24
5th - 20
6th - 16
7th - 12
8th - 8
9th - 4
10th - 2

 

[Polish]

Title permutations for the final race

Hamilton, 334 points
How the Briton can win the title:

Finish ahead of Rosberg
Finish no lower than second if Rosberg wins
Finish fifth or better if Rosberg doesn't win
Finish sixth or better if Rosberg is not in the top two
Finish eighth or better if Rosberg misses on the podium
Finish ninth or better if Rosberg is fifth

Rosberg, 317 points
How the German can win the title:

Win the race with Hamilton third or lower
Finish second with Hamilton sixth or lower
Finish third with Hamilton seventh or lower
Finish fourth with Hamilton ninth or lower
Finish fifth with Hamilton 10th or lower
Should Hamilton not score any points, Rosberg still must finish no lower than fifth to overturn the 17-point deficit.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/29982917

 

[Polish]

Another list maybe easier

Hamilton can win the title if:
He wins or is second
Is third, fourth or fifth and Rosberg does not win
Is sixth and Rosberg does not finish in the top two
Is seventh or eighth and Rosberg does not finish in the top three
Is ninth and Rosberg does not finish in the top four
Is 10th or retires and Rosberg does not finish in the top five

Rosberg can win the title if:
He wins and Hamilton is no better than third
Is second and Hamilton is no better than sixth
Is third and Hamilton is no better than seventh
Is fourth and Hamilton is no better than ninth
Is fifth and Hamilton is no better than 10th

http://www.sportinglife.com/formula1

 

[Polish]

Big teams have an agenda - Sauber

Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn thinks Formula One's bigger teams have an agenda to drive the smaller teams off the grid and alter the DNA of the championship.

On Sunday the Times reported Red Bull and Ferrari will run three-car teams next season, though that was immediately denied by both teams in the build-up to the Brazilian Grand Prix. This came after crisis talks to find solutions to F1's cost crisis, triggered by threat of a boycott at the US Grand Prix from the struggling trio of Sauber, Force India and Lotus, yielded little on Saturday evening.

At that meeting Kaltenborn says certain proposals were made to the smaller teams which would give weight to the argument the big teams have an end goal in mind, having already baulked at suggestions they should give up a share of their revenues to help the smaller teams.

When asked if a two-tier championship or customer car scenario had been put to Sauber, Kaltenborn replied: "As ideas, but that tells you where it is going."

Kaltenborn added: "Looking at the proposals which have been made you have to believe there is some agenda, don't you? The agenda seems to be that people are looking at four or five names to stay in here, and when ideas are offered to us of a year-old chassis or engines which are maybe a different spec or series, there must be agenda. As there's no-one reacting to it in front we don't know whose agenda it is.

"That's why it's important we said what we had to on this point because these things are changing every day, but the fact is it cannot remain like this. It's no way we want to work and can work and the more these ideas are coming up the more we three get the feeling that maybe some people don't want us to be around and maybe the sport is supposed to be changed in a very different way."

Kaltenborn thinks one of the biggest problems is the fact the bigger teams no longer view F1 as just a sport.

"The big teams out there use this as a simple sporting marketing platform. It's nothing more for them. They talk of it as being a sport, about Benetton, all this stuff where is that now? We are not out here with, as they are saying, begging bowls.

"We also work quite well in times, if you look back, when you had a Toyota with a horrendously high budget, and we had our little budget but we used to be on the podium often. We don't need to be a threat to them but we are part of the show and it's very disrespectful to behave like this to teams within the sport and even more disrespectful towards the fans."

http://en.espnf1.com

Bit of a conspiracy theory but ja i suppose could have some sense.

 

[vinodh]

Nice one Caterham !

You know Bernie could end their troubles at click of finger without hardly any impact to himself, but he's a greedy fukker and has F1 by the balls.

It's so easy to say that Bernie should just throw some cash and then all will be fine. What's stopping Caterham from receiving a huge cash injection and then mismanaging it again? Renault and then Lotus was a perfect example of a team that was doing so much with so little. Toyota was the reverse example. Cash will allow Caterham to be on the grid again but they will still be a back marker.

Caterham remind me of teams in the early 90's: It was almost like everyone could start an F1 team but very few were actually competitive. I know they got drilled by the budget cap scam but still, do you wait for the ship to sink before realising there's water coming in?

There's a lot wrong with F1. Pay drivers, stupid rule changes (they want to make it cheaper but introduce super expensive engines), Bernie refusing to allow F1 to be streamed and available on multiple platforms thereby reducing the TV money, ridiculous fees for hosting a race, races being held in countries that don't really give damn about motorsport, Tilke designed borefests, converting F1 into endurance racing, the list goes on.

I was actually quite disappointed when FOTA was disbanded. A breakaway series would have been the jolt F1 needed to listen to it's fans and kick Bernie in the nuts.