I dont like Massa much, i thought he had a few good races but was flattered by a better car and then shown up by better drivers.
I don't get this. He was beaten to the championship by Lewis Hamilton at the last bend of the last race one year. Until his head injury, he was up there, but it is clear he now isn't the driver he was. It is sad that the latter part of his career is being remembered more than the early part.
On Massa- post spring/helmet interface. What if that didn't happen?
@oldBloke
The amount of mistakes and crashes he made in that season, and, as the McLaren team situation imploded and they split their effort into 2 drivers, both new to the team and the car, he still couldnt find any form in the latter half when it counted the most, and it was Kimi that more than often was ahead, after his season was plagued with mechanicals and issues - indeed Kimi had to let him past just to keep his title hopes alive....This was the season of his famous 7? 8? spins at British GP, and his inability to be overtaken or to overtake without crashing into Lewis.
Instead of bouncing back , he fell back and was never a contender again.
and his inability to be overtaken or to overtake without crashing into Lewis
Oh yes, I forgot about those two fridge magnets 😆
Ferrari have shown a lot of good faith towards Massa. His 2011 season was dismal and he was no great shakes the year after.
I'm sure Alonso will be sorry to see him go as he was undoubtedly an obedient number 2 but Ferrari had to get a better second driver
i think its awful that HE had to announce his departure, and Ferrari did not do it for him
Or to look at it another way, they gave him the opportunity to give the news out himself first, as he saw fit. I thought that was pretty good of them and really, despite being far from a Ferrari fan, you'd have to say that they've been very supportive of Massa, giving him time to recover from his accident and then sticking with him since when his results haven't been up to scratch for a top team.
What's with the 1.6Ltr engine thing??
Nissan Micra stylee ?? 😯
Yeah. If your Micra has 600+ BHP, turbo and other energy recovery 😉
http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2013/8/14875.html
Turbo containment is going to be a issue, think how fast it's going to be spinning and how far bits will go if it blows 😯
Will be interesting, Williams running a merc engine too next year, not sure the Renault engine will be that good next year 😉
Yep Williams on Merc next year. I really hope that helps them improve. It's sad to see them crawling around at the back.
Plenty of motorsport series (some with more powerful engines too) use turbos without issue. I can't see if being a particular problem for F1.
Aero is the issue for them (williams), and the mental south american.
They've lowered the max rev limit to 15000, so less of an issue now maybe.
On the theory that the Merc will be good next year (we'll see obviously but it's expected to be) and with engines becoming more of a determining factor, I'm hoping that it'll mask over some of Williams' aero issues...
600bhp out of a Micra engine... 😯
Doubt it to be honest, the Renault engine they've currently got is pretty good, the stabilty of the car is the issues I beleive
anyone heard if anyone is covering the new Formula E series?
Why the predictions of doom for the Renault turbo - they've got a pretty good track record of F1 turbos you know. Better than Merc's anyway.
600bhp out of a Micra engine
Pah, there was meant to be well over the 1000BHP mark in the old turbo days. I think that was from a 1500 cc 4 pot. BMW block basically that in yer 316 saloon!
Mind you I don't think the lifespan was too great.
The old BMW blocks actually had 100,000 road miles on them before being converted to F1 use 😯 They reckoned on all the stresses being worked out of the block by then
Turbo containment is going to be a issue, think how fast it's going to be spinning and how far bits will go if it blows
The most powerful F1 engine ever made was a BMW turbo back in 1986 and put out something in the region of 1,600bhp. For three laps anyway, for it was built specifically to get Gerhard Berger on pole position before it spat it's guts out. There are stories of cylinder heads having to be welded into place as there was no limit on boost pressure.
And yes, the block owed an awful lot to the common or garden 4 pot saloon car engine of the day. Imagine if manufacturers were obliged to use a production car block as the basis of an F1 engine?
...and Paul Di Resta is the bridesmaid once again!
I'm going to let my Mother know, she has a Micra... 😉
Pah, there was meant to be well over the 1000BHP mark in the old turbo days. I think that was from a 1500 cc 4 pot. BMW block basically that in yer 316 saloon!
Quite an interesting story behind the development of that IIRC. Seem to recall stories of the blocks being left behind the factory and the workers p*ssing on them. Probably not true, but funny all the same.
Back to Ferrari, I'm another person fully expecting to see some of Alonsos toys being thrown about next year. As for McLaren, I don't see Button going anywhere soon, he's too big an asset at the minute.
Shock horror, Kimi signs for Ferrari. And Lotus [url= https://twitter.com/Lotus_F1Team/status/377765191053606912/photo/1 ]tweet[/url] "So #Kimi is off to #Ferrari for 2014; it hurts a little bit… #F1 #Raikkonen " with this picture...
[img] 
[/img]
What are they trying to say???
Is that Alonso to Kimi?
"Now relax Kimi this won't hurt a bit"
Or the other way round?
Or kimi to Lotus?
thepurist - MemberShock horror, Kimi signs for Ferrari. And Lotus tweet "So #Kimi is off to #Ferrari for 2014; it hurts a little bit… #F1 #Raikkonen " with this picture...
What are they trying to say???
Don't know but if they'd paid their drivers/staff on time they might have more of a point.
Alonso confirmed for Ferrari as well BTW:
Maranello, 11 September 2013 – Scuderia Ferrari announces that it has reached an agreement with Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn will join Fernando Alonso in the driver line-up for the next two racing seasons. - See more at: http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/back-kimi#sthash.pfTxDUlg.dpuf
http://formula1.ferrari.com/news/back-kimi
Can't really see Lotus' problem.
Kimi wasn't under contract beyond this year. He has delivered them two victories and a load of podiums.
Still pretty funny though!
They really used THAT picture?
Sorry but when Lotus couldn't pay/delayed paying his wages mid-season and he asked for assurances etc- how could they promise him anything big for next year to make him stay?
disingenuous to say the least.
I assume it wasn't meant to be too serious though no doubt, people will take it that way. Lotus has tweeted various humourous things previously.
[img] 
[/img]
Where from??
[url= http://www.shotdeadinthehead.com/kimi-vs-fernando-t-shirt.html?utm_source=SP_FB_SD_IP&utm_medium=LN&utm_content=IP&utm_campaign=Sniff_Petrol_Feature_Tee ]here[/url]
Fantastic. Can't wait for the new tshirts mid-season 8)
There's a brilliant piece on Planet F1 about 'Fernando the team player'
Basically speculating how Alonso will behave if Kimi is leading him in the championship and things don't seem to be going his way. He has a poor record of imploding and making things really unpleasant for himself.
Can't wait.
We've seen a glimpse of that already. He only partly redeemed himself by complimenting Hamilton FOUR years later.
