Formula 1 2015 Discussion

Tiltsta said:
I think the interesting part of the race was the fact that Hamilton couldn't pass Vettel for a really long time, so something changed in the Ferrari....it just wasn't as dramatic as the rumor mill suggested it would be. Kimi was running the old aero kit, and he was considerably behind Vettel (he usually is, but it seemed to be a much bigger gap). I guess Ferrari made a bit of progress, but it seems it is still not enough to catch a Mercedes...but it can hold them at bay without wacky pit strategies. Perhaps things will get more interesting, but I think OGG has it right, it is going to take some special track types to see much of a challenge to Merc (like Monaco).

Williams looked decent, especially Bottas. They seem to need some aero work. Car is fast in a straight line, but it seems to kind of suck in the corners. At least they are scoring lots of points to build something better for next year.

McLaren continues to be lost in the woods. Alonso retires and Button complains about simultaneous oversteer and understeer. :messedup: It seems the Honda power unit isn't their only problem, as the engine doesn't have much to do with the chassis issues. I hope they can pull it together, as it is a real embarrassment to have two world champion drivers with tons of driver experience barely in front of Manor racing.

The exciting part of the season so far is the young talent....even if it means pushing some of the established guys into F1 retirement in the next few years, including some of the talent we all love. I can't see some of the guys in their 30's having too many seasons left.
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Great post.

Kimi is getting the shaft. He has way bigger balls than Vettel, I say put him in the fast car and let him loose.

I thought the Williams chassis would be better than it is, it's so close... I really think they have enough to work with that with a few corrections, the car will be a legitimate threat.

McLaren. They need to clean house entirely. Their futility is an insult to the name. Obviously, the chassis is a complete turd burger. The Honda power hasn't done them any favors, but last year they had Merc power and still couldn't keep up. Time to fire everyone and start over.

The young drivers are amazing. A changing of the guard is imminent. It'll suck to see some beloved veterans get bounced, but there is some brilliant young talent coming up and they deserve their time in the Sun.

Of course, if there were a few more teams, there would be much more opportunity for young drivers, and the sport desperately needs to field more cars.

The Manor/Marussia cars with their plain white and red liveries devoid of sponsorship logos are just embarrassing. Kudos to the team for their commitment, but they are more of an obstacle than a challenger on the track.
 
I am really disappointed with where McLaren are, as long time fan of that team. They are really out to lunch again. Hamilton looks more and more like a genius for jumping that ship.

Kimi was using the old aero package because he wasn't comfortable with the new package. Hopefully Ferrari can sort it out and get him back to the front. Still finishing 5th isn't bad considering he was running the old spec.

Ferrari are updating their PU for the Canada race, so they could still yet close the gap even more, and perhaps improve the qualifying pace.

Rosberg drove a perfect race, but I suspect Lewis's round the world jaunt during the break had an affect on his performance. It just shows that unless he totally focus's on racing Rosberg could still steal the championship right from underneath him, and this win will definitely give him the boost he needs to do just that. Monaco is a track that he has done very well with historically so it could be two in a row for him after all is said and done.

Those young guys are definitely exciting to watch. Nasr looks like he is a real talent behind the wheel. I wouldn't be surprised to see him in a red car in a few years.
 
There are rumors flying around that Mercedes and especially Ferrari have been violating the fuel flow restriction, and that's part of the reason Ferrari have looked good recently. Charlie Whiting issued a blanket warning to the teams about violating the fuel flow rule right after qualy.
 
Didn't get to watch the race but sounds like I didn't miss anything.

OTOH watched a great Blancpain GT race. Some great racing and overtaking that you would love to see in F1 but sadly seldom do these days except for 11th place :(
 
I read that there is talk of re-fueling next year with different engines to increase noise. I guess too many people say that the racing is not as interesting with the quieter cars. I also heard that there are more than a few calling for Michelin to come back into the sport to force Pirelli to use tires that are more racy than wear-oriented.

Weber told Coulthard that even when he races in Le Mans they race all out from lap one because they don't have to worry about artificially-induced tire wear. Michelin, reportedly, is saying that they would be happy to come back into the sport as long as they are not forced to produce tires that are a focus of racing strategy, as the tires are now.

I must admit: I think the tires are a load of crap. So is the fuel management. It seems that we get a few hot laps and then the performance falls due to tires that have crapped out or the driver's need to manage fuel. Are we racing or what?

I think it was Hurley Haywood, years ago when IMSA refused to follow the FIA mandated fuel economy guidelines for endurance racing, that said: "People come to watch us race, not save fuel."

I think that his attitude is the attitude that we should expect and that F1 should strive for. Racing, not strategy based around artificial limitations. IIRC most of the tire and fuel strategies were conceived to improve the racing through strategic pit stops for tires, and through management of fuel for the long run. This so racing was not just a "parade" of one car leading the pack for the whole race.

It seems that no matter what they do to the series for the last 20 years that is all we get: Shuey in Bennetton, Hakkinen for two years, Shuey again for five, Alonzo for two, then a few one year wonders in Kimi with Ferrari, Hamilton and Button, then Vettel and now Merc.

It is still parade racing.

Gimme Audi, Porsche and Toyota duking it out for six hours (especially Audi and Porsche) any day over F1 right now.
 
For 2016 they will allow the teams to decide which two of the four tires to use at any given track. That should make for some interesting strategy as some teams may gamble with using a softer and less durable tire to get more speed, or they may go the other way and try to do less pit stops.

Refueling is proposed to return in 2017 with the power units expected to produce around 1000 bhp. They are also going to change the aero rules and go to wider tires in the rear so that overall the cars are 5 to 6 seconds a lap faster than they are now.

Pirelli is not to blame with the way the tires are, the FIA wanted high degredation tires to spice up the racing, and that is what Pirelli gave them. Michellin wants to go to 18" wheels, but they did a test on one of the Lotus cars last year with the 18" rims, and I think it looked ugly.
 
Aaaaaaaaaand, we're back to the Lewis show as Nico steps on his dick in qualy. Maybe Lewis will party too much tonight and get a shitty start and Nico will beat him to Sainte Devote.
 
Holy shit! Didn't see that coming! It was kind of funny when Lewis plowed into the third place sign at the podium. Can't say as I blame him; Mercedes fucked him royally.

jelloman said:
I was pissed that NBC dropped the post-race coverage...I really wanted to see his interview...
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Me too. I've been trying to find the podium interviews on the web, but I've only seen the interviews they do individually well after the race. To his credit, Nico said it was Hamilton's race and he deserved to win.
 
I just watched the podium interviews. Hamilton was admirably restrained and professional. The best part was when the interviews were finished, the guy doing the interviews said that there were not a lot of happy drivers on the podium today, and Vettel jumped into the shot and said, "I'm happy! I'm happy!"
 
What a strategy fuck up from Hamilton's crew. It is bad enough of a mistake that I suspect Merc might have planned it to give Nico the 3rd Monaco win in a row, which looks good for the team. The probably already have the manufacturer's locked up for the season, and it is likely they will have the driver's too, so why not pick up a notch for the record books.
 
Tiltsta said:
What a strategy fuck up from Hamilton's crew. It is bad enough of a mistake that I suspect Merc might have planned it to give Nico the 3rd Monaco win in a row, which looks good for the team. The probably already have the manufacturer's locked up for the season, and it is likely they will have the driver's too, so why not pick up a notch for the record books.
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I'm not generally one to subscribe to conspiracy theories, but that strategy maneuver so late in the race was inexplicably bizarre. How could they have thought that was in any way going to improve Hamilton's chances when he was already in the lead? You seriously have to consider sabotage as a viable factor.

It's nearly the exact same thing they did to him at the same race, with the same result once before, so they had to be aware.

I just don't get it.

Either way, I'm not a big Hamilton fan. I would love to see Nico take the Drivers Championship, but not like that. Not by his team screwing over their other Champion to get there. It is very reminiscent of the shit Red Bull was doing when Vettel and Weber were team mates.

Anyway, at least it added some needed excitement to the race.

Massa got screwed again. I can't believe his luck.

Verstappen looked incredible right up until he had the biggest DERP moment of the year so far. He's feeling that shit today, I assure you of that. That was a brutal hit.

Crashtor: 5th early retirement out of 6 races. Move along, nothing to see here.

As much as I am not a Vettel fan, I loves me some Scuderia. It kills me to cheer him on, but I will do so happily if he can challenge the Mercs.
 
I'm not a big conspiracy theory fan myself, but the situation was just so nuts that I had to consider it. Lewis will get the driver's, and merc the constructor's, pretty much regardless of what happens, so why not go for the Mercedes 3 Minaco wins bragging rights? It certainly is a conspiracy theory, but one with no downside and a lot of upside for those involved . :tinfoil:
 
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I have to give Hamilton credit for how he's handled it. He's known to be pretty outspoken, so it must take massive restraint for him to not go on an expletive filled rant. Kudos.

If that shit happened to Kimi Raikonnen, the next 24-48 hours would be a combination of comedy gold and blistering verbal assaults. He'd wind up in a straight jacket.
 
As expected the race itself was a snoozefest right up until Verstappen decided to wreck into Grosjean. That strategy call for Hamilton was a royal clusterfuck, Niki Lauda has pretty much made that clear, and he's not one to hold back from speaking his mind.

Seriously I think instead of running the F1 cars in this race they should have to run a road car from whatever manufacturer they are representing. Ferrari, Manor, and Sauber would run Fiat 500's, Mercedes, Force India and Lotus would run Merceds A class cars, Red Bull and Torro Rosso would run Renault Clio's and McLaren Honda would run Civics., all the cars would have to be factory stock with the appropriate safety equipment added. I think it would make the race much more exciting, and at least they could pass each other.
 
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