F1 2014

Keith Tanner wrote: Let's hope that Lewis doesn't idolize Senna TOO much, then. That's a total dick move that is a terrible way to win a championship. Schumi tried it on Villeneuve years ago and I haven't respected him since. Best quote about Abu Dhabi comes from Nico: "I'm still believing 100 per cent that I can make it but, of course, I will need some help from Felipe or Valtteri or Lewis himself."

If he doe's that I'll fly back tot he UK and kick him in the nuts myself. You're forgetting with Shucmi that he also took out Hill to win his first WDC at Adilaide in 1994.

Brazil may not have been the best race of the year but it was still entertaining. Lewis still has the upper hand and also managed to show he can crack under pressure, too. Nico was the faster/better driver all weekend and deserved the win.

Abu Dhabi may be a nail biter and I'm hoping someone from Red Bull or Williams makes a bold statement with a great performance that makes the Merc boys change strategies throughout the race.

If Lewis does anything that causes a Nico retirement, his championship would be equally deserving of an asterisk.

maybe....

Massa will pass Hamilton (ailing car?) on the last lap causing Hamilton to lose the championship...

Talk about poetic justice

oldeskewltoy wrote: maybe.... Massa will pass Hamilton (ailing car?) on the last lap causing Hamilton to lose the championship... Talk about poetic justice

Ironic, maybe. But having it poetic justice that the guy winning 10 races loses to a guy who won just 6? I don't see that. More of a crock of the double point thing.

Back in 2008, Lewis took a chance on the tire change, and it worked out to his favor. Not sure why people still hold that against him. He could have stayed on the tires, and probably still finished ahead of Timo.

Couple of other things- gotten from my GP Tours Newsletter:

The whole funding thing for the smaller teams is getting ugly- http://www.gptours.com/mobile_news.php?command=show&what=news&id=13194&utm_source=GPT+Master+List&utm_campaign=01acfa7c65-Off_track_civil_war_erupts_in_F111_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1427d3ca69-01acfa7c65-130234497#.VGD4zvnF8vk

So we may really see 3 Ferraris and Red Bulls....

And Bernie still hates the V6's- http://www.gptours.com/mobile_news.php?command=show&what=news&id=13200&utm_source=GPT+Master+List&utm_campaign=01acfa7c65-Off_track_civil_war_erupts_in_F111_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1427d3ca69-01acfa7c65-130234497#.VGD5CPnF8vk

But Mercedes could pull out, and I would not doubt Honda would not make a v8.

Who would supply v8's??? Maybe it will be like the 70's- a couple of Ferrari's and the rest Cosworths.

oldeskewltoy wrote: maybe.... Massa will pass Hamilton (ailing car?) on the last lap causing Hamilton to lose the championship... Talk about poetic justice

this …. as a long time Massa fan, I love to see this happen

Bernie's so odd. He seems determined to wreck the sport. He's the guy who benefits most from it, and he's the one who seems determined to stir the pot about noise. Noise noise noise.

I don't have a problem with how the V6s sound, but I wish there was more variety in the sounds. I'd like to be able to tell a Red Bull from a Mercedes without having to look.

The FIA has figured out how to make things technically interesting over on the WEC side of the house. More manufacturers, too. So maybe it's time to open up the rules a little and let the teams decide what they want to run. Keep it so the current powerplants are still legal, just allow things like V4s and supercapacitors and turbo diesels.

There is no way three car teams will happen. It needs unanimouse agreement from all the other teams and Force India, Lotus, Sauber wont ever agree, maybee Torro Rosso would so they could merge with Red Bull proper and do away with the need for a feeder team.

I'd rather see it being legal to sell your chassis to other teams up to a max of say 4 cars of one type on the grid. Then Torro Rosso could run Red Bulls, Sauber could run Ferrari's, Force India could run Mercs etc. That would be a better way to do it. We've already seen with one make championships like Indy car that having the best chassis (all of them) doesn't make life that much easier. Imagine how cool it would be if the 'B' team started developing their own parts and beat the 'A' team?

I think selling chassis to other trams should be fine. But make it the chassis with suspension but no front or rear wings. Make the customer team develop their own aero packages. Although I'm sure there's a number or reasons I'm not privy to why that wouldn't work but it sounds like a good idea.

In reply to Keith Tanner:

Turbo diesels in f1 would be bad ass.

Keith Tanner wrote: Let's hope that Lewis doesn't idolize Senna TOO much, then. That's a total dick move that is a terrible way to win a championship. Schumi tried it on Villeneuve years ago and I haven't respected him since. Best quote about Abu Dhabi comes from Nico: "I'm still believing 100 per cent that I can make it but, of course, I will need some help from Felipe or Valtteri or Lewis himself."

I like how you think about this Keith Tanner. I also lost tons of respect for M Schumacher when he decided to smash into J Villeneuve. Then a few years later he pulled that stunt at Monaco to crash at T1 some funky way. No respect even with his championships.

Similarly I will never forget the point when Red Bull designed a car around Vettel and left Sebatian Bourdais out to dry then gave Vettel the new wing from Webber's car. Then Vettel didn't know how to explain how much of a dick he was for not understanding multi21.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: There is no way three car teams will happen. It needs unanimouse agreement from all the other teams and Force India, Lotus, Sauber wont ever agree, maybee Torro Rosso would so they could merge with Red Bull proper and do away with the need for a feeder team. I'd rather see it being legal to sell your chassis to other teams up to a max of say 4 cars of one type on the grid. Then Torro Rosso could run Red Bulls, Sauber could run Ferrari's, Force India could run Mercs etc. That would be a better way to do it. We've already seen with one make championships like Indy car that having the best chassis (all of them) doesn't make life that much easier. Imagine how cool it would be if the 'B' team started developing their own parts and beat the 'A' team?

Sauber and FI have been walking on cracked, thin ice for a long time. Can any amount of cash actually save them? Lotus benefits from its' influx of Renault cash and technology but its' unlikely the factory would pony-up and buy the whole team; seems like they'd settle for being and engine supplier and leave it at that.

The customer chassis idea has merit and it worked to fill the grid in the 60's and 70's, albeit with limited success from the non-factory teams. March, Surtees and McLaren all eventually sold cars to privateers. IIRC, the only win for an independent came at the hands of Rob Walker and Jo Siffert with a Lotus 49.

Don't get me wrong; I like the idea of customer chassis and letting the smaller teams develop them as best they can. They'll still be slower than the factory guys but, at least, they'll be spending millions less than now.

oldsaw wrote: The customer chassis idea has merit and it worked to fill the grid in the 60's and 70's, albeit with limited success from the non-factory teams. March, Surtees and McLaren all eventually sold cars to privateers. IIRC, the only win for an independent came at the hands of Rob Walker and Jo Siffert with a Lotus 49.

Jackie Stewart won the 1970 Grand Prix in a customer March 701, I don't recall any others though.

But BRabham, Cooper, Lola, March, Lotus etc all used to make customer cars, even Ferrari did. In fact if Ferrari could have delivered Sir Stirling's car in time he wouldn't have been driving his old Lotus at Goodward and it wouldn't have broken and he wouldn't have had his crash.

Advan046 wrote: I like how you think about this Keith Tanner. I also lost tons of respect for M Schumacher when he decided to smash into J Villeneuve. Then a few years later he pulled that stunt at Monaco to crash at T1 some funky way. No respect even with his championships.

And Rosberg has done his best to do both of those this season! :)

I don't think the hit at Spa was on purpose. I think it was just misjudged. So far, it's been a pretty clean fight.

I'd LOVE to see customer cars back in F1. I bet Cosworth would build the engines, too.

Caterham's looking for crowdfunding to do the last race of the season now:

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/11/sport/motorsport/f1-caterham-crowd-funding-abu-dhabi/

Bernie, architect of the system that gives the top teams more than a smaller teams' annual budget just for showing up to each event, called it a disaster...probably with a straight face.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: Let's hope that Lewis doesn't idolize Senna TOO much, then. That's a total dick move that is a terrible way to win a championship. Schumi tried it on Villeneuve years ago and I haven't respected him since. Best quote about Abu Dhabi comes from Nico: "I'm still believing 100 per cent that I can make it but, of course, I will need some help from Felipe or Valtteri or Lewis himself."

If he doe's that I'll fly back tot he UK and kick him in the nuts myself. You're forgetting with Shucmi that he also took out Hill to win his first WDC at Adilaide in 1994.

Adrian, I think we'd all chip in for your plane ticket to watch that happen, but you have to wear a GoPro on your chest at all times!!

Although it would be a dick move on Lewis's part, one could argue that F1 has created this scenario with a double points last race. Lewis has obviously dominated this year (10 wins v. 5) and would ensure he'd get the championship and negate the skewing of the double points. If they ARE going to get rid of the double points next year, then what better way to make sure it's not a factor than to "force" it not to matter?

No, I don't think Lewis should, but I think any driver would be thinking about it, at least a little bit. It wouldn't have to be a dangerous move, just a quick bump into turn one that destroys the suspension of both......

Then a 1/2 finish for Williams (with Massa first) and bad luck for Red Bull to let Williams leapfrog into 2nd for constructors!!! (One can dream, can't they?)

-Rob

rob_lewis wrote: Then a 1/2 finish for Williams (with Massa first) and bad luck for Red Bull to let Williams leapfrog into 2nd for constructors!!! (One can dream, can't they?) -Rob

Oh man, I would love to see a Williams 1-2. Nothing against Red Bull, but a comeback like that for Williams after scoring only 5 points and finishing 9th in the constructors last year would be epic. Best result would be Nico trying to cut off Lewis and taking himself off. Then a 1-2 for Williams with Lewis 3rd so he's on the podium to win the WDC. The only thing better would be Button winning to give Ron the finger before he's (probably) dropped so the berkeleying brow can come back to McLaren.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

rob_lewis wrote: Then a 1/2 finish for Williams (with Massa first) and bad luck for Red Bull to let Williams leapfrog into 2nd for constructors!!! (One can dream, can't they?) -Rob

Oh man, I would love to see a Williams 1-2. Nothing against Red Bull, but a comeback like that for Williams after scoring only 5 points and finishing 9th in the constructors last year would be epic. Best result would be Nico trying to cut off Lewis and taking himself off. Then a 1-2 for Williams with Lewis 3rd so he's on the podium to win the WDC. The only thing better would be Button winning to give Ron the finger before he's (probably) dropped so the berkeleying brow can come back to McLaren.

Yeah, I'm torn between Button and Massa taking the win. As you said, for Button, it's a final kiss off to a team that's most likely going to drop him. For Massa, it's a finger to Ferrari for dropping him the the first place. McLaren has more recent wins, so I'd prefer to see Massa/Bottas take it and give Williams the 2nd. Jenson can be third. Lewis (if Nico's out) doesn't have to win to seal it. So, he could be anything from 4th on down.

But, if neither are plagued with car problems, it'll be Lewis first, Nico second and everyone else fighting for 3rd.

Then the official silly season announcements begin!!

-Rob

I'll take Button followed by Bottas then Riccardo. Just because I think they're the ones that deserve it.

It'll be interesting to see how hard Lewis fights for the win. If he drives with his head, he'll just cruise to second. That's all he needs to do. No point in throwing the car away. Let Nico take the top step on the podium, the real prize is the driver's title.

Too bad there's no chance of a wet race. That would really screw things up

Keith Tanner wrote: Too bad there's no chance of a wet race. That would really screw things up

If Bernie stays in charge... you might see that instead of a double points event in the future

oldeskewltoy wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote: Too bad there's no chance of a wet race. That would really screw things up

If Bernie stays in charge... you might see that instead of a double points event in the future

Random sprinklers!!!

Don't know that I'd count Jenson out just yet. He's very popular in Japan, and Honda may count that strongly on their return to F1 - their last experience didn't go too well, despite looking to be a world-beater on paper, and someone with Jenson's links to their society and country may be attractive to them. Besides, I don't know that Jenson's done just yet. Most of us figured he'd get smoked when he joined up with Lewis, and that didn't happen. He may do just fine alongside Alonso - at least, better than Kimi is managing. Of course, in the long run McLaren might be better off continuing with their young driver as an investment for the future, as Alonso doesn't have that many years left, either. And then you have to factor in the Ron Dennis factor????? That's why it's called silly season.

I think a big part is that Alonso wants Button to stay in F1. I hope that will keep him in a seat.

Button/Alonso would be a great pairing if the Honda engine works well.