The F1 2015 thread…

I’m hoping LH will try what NR tried last year – he’ll probably pull it off.

Does anybody else think that Sochi looks a bit, well, grim?

It wouldn’t be high on my list of places to see an F1 race.

Bottas running well.

Thise Russian marshals want a rocket us their ar*e – took way to long to get to Grosjean. And even then it was a bloke with a broom.

Duck tape barrier ftw!

You do get a sense of the speed of the cars on this track though. Somehow they looked pedestrian in Singapore.

Now that was incident packed.

Mercs win constructors !

Do you think the stewards held off on decision to pi** on Mercs fireworks? 😀

Good work Force India! Epic stuff. Putin always looks a bit awkward when he pops up in that anteroom, hey?

i’d be awkward in a room with putin ..
Bit of a snooze fest until the end.. dodgy camera work as directed by Bernie.. there seemed to be a lot of coverage of Ricciardos Redbull and the Lotus that it was following for half the race. I guess if Red bell cant get coverage as winners they are doing a deal with Bernie to get at least 10% of the air time no matter where their cars are positioned. As bernie stated its all sorted 🙂

Only just watched the replay, wow that impact of Grosjean’s was big, the full speed replay really shows what these guys are dealing with every couple of weeks. Fantastic, and unbelievable, he was able to get out unscathed, although I bet he’ll have a sore head for a day or so!

Unlucky for Nico but Lewis has deserved this year’s title by a country mile, he has been the best driver without any doubt in my mind. Assuming Lewis wraps this up in Austin then the last few races could be fun as it’s all about the wins.

Next year is shaping up nicely too, Mercedes v Ferrari (well Lewis v Seb) could be really good.

Oh yeah, Putin in the drivers room at the end, massively awkward!!

Normally a big Raikkonen fan, but that was a stupid move on Bottas…felt well sorry for him.

Yeah, I think Raikonnen got a bit frustrated there. Shame, he’d been having a pretty good race up to that point. I wonder if he’s a bit narked at how much Vettel is outperforming him?

Vettel now ahead of Rosberg in the Championship standings – in a car with that much dominance is just wrong

one has to wonder what would’ve have happened if Alonso was driving the ferrari, no disrespect to Seb. I think Alonso and Seb partnership would have been mighty.
It will be interesting if Kimi can bring the car home next year when the cars are more competitive and try and win the constructors. Unless Renault sort out their engine I cant see any of the other teams with the resources to keep up the fight to Merc except Ferrari.

in a car with that much dominance is just wrong

The speed of the car does not really make that much difference. Whether NR beats Vettel in a race by 2 seconds or 250 seconds the points are still the same.
Vettel has been consistent and NR has had reliability issues. In terms of reliability the Ferrari is more dominant than the Merc.

strategy blunders have given some additional points to ferrari too.

“We’re possibly going to be forced out of Formula One – Mercedes and Ferrari have refused to supply us out of fear,” Adrian Newey said.

They really are pretty obnoxious, aren’t they? I can understand why no one would want to be linked with them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/34513738

They really are pretty obnoxious, aren’t they? I can understand why no one would want to be linked with them.

They haven’t played this well at all. By criticising Renault so much they have given Mercedes and Ferrari an excuse not to supply them. If they had kept quiet the weight of public opinion would be on their side now. Whoops.

I expect the traditional teams have been waiting for this .. when red bull were the fun time guys with their storm trooper helmets working to boom boom music it was harmless fun. Then they got all serious and the fun went away. I guess big Ron is right in that none of the big guys are going to give a privateer team a winning engine whilst they have a works team.

Where there’s a rule change, there’s a loop-hole – exhaust blowing may be back next year!…

http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/latest/technical/2015/10/analysis—how-exhaust-blowing-could-return-in-2016.html

Am I thinking right that the wastegate would come into use at exactly the point where they want blown aero? I wonder which team and engine supplier were best at exploiting that? I’m sure it’s a complete oversight that they’ve let that through…

I wonder which team and engine supplier were best at exploiting that?

…that’ll be the team who don’t have an engine!

Despite this they are still making a lot of noise

IGMC

“We’re possibly going to be forced out of Formula One – Mercedes and Ferrari have refused to supply us out of fear,” Adrian Newey said

No-one wants to do business with you because you criticised your current engine partner even when you were winning. Then you threw your toys out of the pram when they decided not to supply you any more. Then you spat your dummy out when you realised you couldn’t build your own engine, Then you threatened to take your ball home when no-one would offer your their newest piece of tech. All in public and openly to the media.
TBH I feel very sorry for the employees at MK. To have this spat in public is out of order, and it strikes a pretty stark contrast between RB – Renault and McLaren – Honda who really have been dealt a poor engine this season.

Seems very much a toys and pram jobbie to me, when they were winning and dominant they blocked every rule change now they are losing they are blaming everyone else whilst asking for help – good luck with that! Adrian Newey may be brilliant but he’s no idea how to build real long lasting relationships with suppliers hence no-one wants to supply him with the latest tech.

McLaren have had a go at Honda in public as well. I think the only reason they haven’t more is they know that the car wouldn’t be that good even with a better engine.

You may or may not like Red Bull but F1 will be worse off without them. We’ll be left with a Merc vs Ferrari battle only. And the rest of the teams will be stuffed with drivers who bring sponsors with them.

As an aside I see Pirelli got the tyre contract again 👿

TBH I feel very sorry for the employees at MK

I read something at the weekend which suggested that the Renault buy-out of Lotus is stuttering because Renault could buy RBR instead at a knock down price if they are going to throw the towel in. Interesting.

It was also announced this morning that customer engines must be 2016 spec for next year.

They’ve been pretty quiet and restrained all things considered. Your suggestion that the chassis is bad is quite clearly a load of rubbish – educated opinion seems to be that it’s probably the 2nd best chassis.

Second tier, not second best as I understand it – the best being the RB with Merc very close behind (let’s call that top tier) and then Ferrari, McL together (second tier) followed fairly closely by Williams.

Your suggestion that the chassis is bad is quite clearly a load of rubbish – educated opinion seems to be that it’s probably the 2nd best chassis.

The evidence for that is what exactly? I don’t think they have terrible chassis but probably mid table (as per Nemesis comment). Still its irrelevant really as the PU is awful and the rules restricted so much that it is unlikely to change.

I thought the Renault stalling thing was over their acceptance as a historical marque and also payment profile i.e. they want more up front.

Well, I wouldn’t consider what I wrote to be putting them mid table but rather just below the top.

Anyway, this seems to be the view of the teams who do a lot of work analysing other teams’ relative performance – McL have a good chassis but not the best.

Ferrari made a big step in the off season, correcting a fundamental design mistake, much as Honda will be aiming to do – the token system essentially allows a full engine redesign so it’s feasible. Renault just cocked it up.

Renault’s stalling is a few things – payments, and scenarios – eg RB but this link is interesting, particularly this quote

As the chatter over Red Bull pulling the plug on F1 continues, one factor that has been clear is that if the Doomsday scenario is played out and Red Bull quit, it would not be to simply sell the teams. It would be to get them out of F1 and shift the staff to work on something else.

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/analysis-how-red-bull-could-deliver-an-f1-rival/

Mind you, reading between the lines, this is probably RB’s attempt to put pressure on Bernie who in turn will ensure there’s an engine for RB to use.

But… this is a fairly compelling vision and RB certainly have the resources to do it

A series consisting of venues like Adelaide, Hockenheim, Magny-Cours, Brands Hatch, Estoril, Turkey, Zandvoort, Indianapolis – and perhaps soon Monza and Silverstone – would bring in the crowds.

bit late for the F1 rival series.
that’s the kind of thing that’s been talked about before, but they always end up re-signing the concorde agreement.

if redbull really think they can set up a new series, pull sauber with them and maybe force india, for a first race in the spring, then good luck. oh and find an engine in time too, for 2 teams.

now when it’s mclaren (of old) and co hinting about a different grand prix series, it has more clout. the only clout this has is a possible grid of 16 cars next season and one pretty decent driver on the market for a seat.

Well, for 2016 it is but they could get it set up for 2017 I reckon. No need for any other teams – in fact, they wouldn’t particularly need to encourage that. You set up a well marketed series (something RB are good at and IMO F1 aren’t), make the cars look really cool, get some good drivers and you’ve got some serious potential. Particularly if you offset it against an F1 team with little value to sell if it has no engine…

As I said, it’s probably just political but it’s rather different to the threats of breakaway in the 2000s as RB has current history of running its own events – and of doing them well, not to mention that Bernie doesn’t hold all the cards this time – Merc and Ferrari do.

It seems likely to just be political posturing to force Bernie to throw his weight around, but the scenario in that article is certainly interesting. F1 has certainly left a gap in the market with the way it’s moved in recent years. I’d be tempted to add FA and JB to their list of potential drivers 😈

Good point on JB 😉

Not FA though – he needs his third F1 WC or he’s behind LH (TBC)

The lotus Renault buy out was all but a done deal 3 weeks ago until Bernie decided he was not going to pay them xx amount of millions in Historic Team payments. There will never be an rbr buyout on the cards for Renault

The interesting talk of a rival f1 series is perhaps pairing but has anyone thought that red bull could just buy f1 from CVC and just change the structure and then the rules.

Alonso staying at mclaren is utter pr nonsense at the moment. When asked about his future Alonso is not stupid to rock his boat that much just yet to say he is thinking of leaving. He is keeping all his options open if teams can run 3 cars next year!!