F1 2014

rob_lewis wrote: But, I wouldn't be surprised if Vettel has a new teammate at Ferrari next year..... *My son and I were talking about Kimi just the other night. When he speaks in his native tongue, he's actually quite talkative. I wonder if much of his deadpan and simple responses are simply because he still isn't comfortable with English. I need to find some post race interviews from Finnish media..... -Rob

From what I hear he's very talkative in English bad well......right up until you turn the camera or mic. on, then he clams up.

I think Kimi will be at Ferrari next year. With Alonso gone, they need a link to this year's car for comparison. It's like keeping a constant in your testing process.

As for Kimi, what I think about most when I hear his name is the song that his native Finn's gave him. One year at the US GP, we sat with a group of about 100 or so, and they chanted this song the ENTIRE race! I'll be on my death bed and all I will hear is "Kimi...Kimi...Kimi Räikkönen..."

wvumtnbkr wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote:

z31maniac wrote: The way I heard it "blamed" on the Safety Car was the lower speeds, allowed the tire pressure to drop, which lowered the ride height to the point it bottomed out and he lost control. Sounds spurious at best to me.

Doubt it. If the car's starting to drag on the ground you'll notice it and take action accordingly. If your underbody wood plank gets worn too thin you'll be DQ'd (IIRC) so you'd do the warmup shuffle to get the tires hot again and gain ground clearance. Driving fast would do little for tire temperature and would wear the plank down more - on top of being dangerous.

Going fast in a straight line does nothing. Swerving back and forth does almost nothing. You need pace THROUGH the corner to heat up tires. Something the safety car is not really capable of in the wet. (Some say not capable in the dry either)

watching them run under double yellow at the start … prior to the red flag, I saw the safety car get nearly sideways a couple of times … one was a near snap sideways, due, it looked like, to hydroplaning … this with, what I'm sure are pretty impressive rain tires on the safety car … not much chance it could go any faster

Looks like Hamilton is going back to Mclaren next year. Alonso to Mercedes possibly? That would be awesome.

Spoolpigeon wrote: Looks like Hamilton is going back to Mclaren next year. Alonso to Mercedes possibly? That would be awesome.

Where the heck are you hearing that? I don't see it on F1.com, F1live, Autosport, F1B or any of my normal news sources. I take it it's speculation on your part. I really don't see it. Frank Williams is normally the only guy to get rid of newly crowned drivers champs the following year, and the way things are going Lewis is going to win over Nico and he also seems to have the political upper hand at Mercedes.

Apparently the FIA was looking at closed cars or a roll structure in front of the cockpit and tested it, but the teams rejected the idea as 'shockingly ugly' Vid of test

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Ugly and more crap to block an already limited view.

The interesting thing about a frount roll hoop is that when you are just sitting in the car not moving it would be a distraction but I bet that when you were driving your brain would fill in the small areas blocked by the bars and you would not even notice it. It in effect would become invisible. As for how it looks on a car that is another story all together but putting driver safety 2nd to looks does not seem to smart.

I guess Hanz devices should not be worn because they make a driver look bad when he gets out of the car for the all important TV interview or winners circle calibration.

Lancer007 wrote: In reply to Adrian_Thompson: Ugly and more crap to block an already limited view.

Agreed and I don't see it as needed really. Wheels are tetherd and I'm sure that steps will taken that no recovery vehicles are on a hot track in the future.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: Looks like Hamilton is going back to Mclaren next year. Alonso to Mercedes possibly? That would be awesome.

Where the heck are you hearing that? I don't see it on F1.com, F1live, Autosport, F1B or any of my normal news sources. I take it it's speculation on your part. I really don't see it. Frank Williams is normally the only guy to get rid of newly crowned drivers champs the following year, and the way things are going Lewis is going to win over Nico and he also seems to have the political upper hand at Mercedes.

http://mobile.f1today.nl/en/news/hamilton-signs-for-mclaren-for-2015/

That's where I saw it, but it's just speculations, nothing in stone yet.

Am I the only one that finds it weird that there is not much, if any, team loyalty in F1? It just seems strange that Vettle had 4 titles in a row with RB and leaves after one tough season. Of course I know it's not 100% up to the driver on where they go, I would just think with that much success they would have kept that combo.

I find it a bit strange too. With the money involved, perspectives probably get a little skewed. I mean, I'm sure they all want to win more than anything, right? I'm sure the bigger teams are all wooing the guys they want with stories of how much better they'll be next year. Once you've won a couple championships and have more money than you can spend though... now wouldn't it be nice to win at Ferrari? Or wouldn't it be awesome to bring Frank's crew back to the top step? Nut... Loyalty... hmmm. Why no loyalty? I mean, they all say every time that it's a team effort.
Of course, the engineers, techs, and even the team principals change too. It's like trying to keep your Super Bowl team intact for next year. I think the loyalty seems to extend to the drivers a bit more than the other direction. Look at Ferrari and Massa. I'm sure most of us were wondering why they kept him on for so long. After his accident he wasn't really the same (understandably). Great guy but not winning.
Button is still there. Great driver but outpaced by his teammate. Are they paying him or does he bring money in? So yeah, it's an interesting question.

na. It has been that way for a long time.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: Looks like Hamilton is going back to Mclaren next year. Alonso to Mercedes possibly? That would be awesome.

Where the heck are you hearing that? I don't see it on F1.com, F1live, Autosport, F1B or any of my normal news sources. I take it it's speculation on your part. I really don't see it. Frank Williams is normally the only guy to get rid of newly crowned drivers champs the following year, and the way things are going Lewis is going to win over Nico and he also seems to have the political upper hand at Mercedes.

Even Vettel going to Ferrari is speculation until they announce it themselves.

Just because a bunch of papers state it as fact doesn't make it so.

I am still thinking Vettel may be at McLaren! Honda may have sold him on their new powertain. And don't underestimate the power of nationality. Mercedes board just might want a "true" German on the team instead of a Brit to pair with their sort of German.

We must wait and see.

Spoolpigeon wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: Looks like Hamilton is going back to Mclaren next year. Alonso to Mercedes possibly? That would be awesome.

Where the heck are you hearing that? I don't see it on F1.com, F1live, Autosport, F1B or any of my normal news sources. I take it it's speculation on your part. I really don't see it. Frank Williams is normally the only guy to get rid of newly crowned drivers champs the following year, and the way things are going Lewis is going to win over Nico and he also seems to have the political upper hand at Mercedes.

http://mobile.f1today.nl/en/news/hamilton-signs-for-mclaren-for-2015/ That's where I saw it, but it's just speculations, nothing in stone yet.

I take that with a huge grain of salt. Seat fitting? Now? Is he going to start racing for them next week? And the reason he wants to leave Mercedes is because of Nico? I highly doubt it, like Adrian said, he clearly has the upper hand with management at Merc. He's the golden boy and he's in the best car. Why on Earth would he walk away from that to go into an uncertain situation at McLaren-Honda? Alonso I can see, he's been with Ferrari for a while and they clearly can't put a top-line car under him. Plus, he's not getting any younger. Lewis makes no sense.

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

Plus Hamilton has a contract through 2015.

Possible that Mercedes would rather have just Nico- a German for a German company, but what team would kick out the driver who either wins or finishes 2nd in the drivers championship?

I still think that a lot of the Hamilton-Rosberg soap is due to the press. Maybe for a race or two, but even after what happened at Spa- they have calmed down a lot.

Heck- this past weekend probably REALLY calmed some of the nerves down- putting the whole thing into perspective.

For Hamilton to break a contract, that would take a lot of money- either from him (the next team) or Mercedes.

Advan046 wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Spoolpigeon wrote: Looks like Hamilton is going back to Mclaren next year. Alonso to Mercedes possibly? That would be awesome.

Where the heck are you hearing that? I don't see it on F1.com, F1live, Autosport, F1B or any of my normal news sources. I take it it's speculation on your part. I really don't see it. Frank Williams is normally the only guy to get rid of newly crowned drivers champs the following year, and the way things are going Lewis is going to win over Nico and he also seems to have the political upper hand at Mercedes.

Even Vettel going to Ferrari is speculation until they announce it themselves. Just because a bunch of papers state it as fact doesn't make it so. I am still thinking Vettel may be at McLaren! Honda may have sold him on their new powertain. And don't underestimate the power of nationality. Mercedes board just might want a "true" German on the team instead of a Brit to pair with their sort of German. We must wait and see.

To be fair, Horner did say Vettel was going to Ferrari.

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Lancer007 wrote: In reply to Adrian_Thompson: Ugly and more crap to block an already limited view.

Agreed and I don't see it as needed really. Wheels are tetherd and I'm sure that steps will taken that no recovery vehicles are on a hot track in the future.

This attitude seems short sighted--the idea is to protect against a front impact, right? Not just a front impact against one single piece of equipment? As we've seen, just because they tested this with a wheel/tire doesn't mean it couldn't have been useful in another situation, like in the case of a recovery vehicle, or a truck's lift gate, or whatever bizarre thing happens next time.

I'd say its pretty well debunked as BS now.
http://www.pitpass.com/52661/Hamilton-to-McLaren-claim-utterly-without-foundation
Contacted by Pitpass, a McLaren spokesman said: "This report is utterly without foundation, which is hardly surprising given the ultra-unreliable website on which it has appeared [F1Today.net]. As Ron Dennis said in Suzuka, McLaren has finalised no contracts with any drivers for 2015"

z31maniac wrote: To be fair, Horner did say Vettel was going to Ferrari.

Yes true and at the same time we are all only guessing until Ferrari or Vettel release it officially. I give it a high probability of being Ferari but then I never thought Kimi would go back to Ferrari either surprises can happen.

GameboyRMH wrote:

z31maniac wrote: The way I heard it "blamed" on the Safety Car was the lower speeds, allowed the tire pressure to drop, which lowered the ride height to the point it bottomed out and he lost control. Sounds spurious at best to me.

Doubt it. If the car's starting to drag on the ground you'll notice it and take action accordingly. If your underbody wood plank gets worn too thin you'll be DQ'd (IIRC) so you'd do the warmup shuffle to get the tires hot again and gain ground clearance. Driving fast would do little for tire temperature and would wear the plank down more - on top of being dangerous.

I didn't think they had the plank in '94.

Also, the wiki about diffuse axonal injury says that Hammond sustained one in the dragster accident, and he was able to come back, so there is hope yet for Jules, even if the odds are stacked against him.

jsquared wrote:

GameboyRMH wrote:

z31maniac wrote: The way I heard it "blamed" on the Safety Car was the lower speeds, allowed the tire pressure to drop, which lowered the ride height to the point it bottomed out and he lost control. Sounds spurious at best to me.

Doubt it. If the car's starting to drag on the ground you'll notice it and take action accordingly. If your underbody wood plank gets worn too thin you'll be DQ'd (IIRC) so you'd do the warmup shuffle to get the tires hot again and gain ground clearance. Driving fast would do little for tire temperature and would wear the plank down more - on top of being dangerous.

I didn't think they had the plank in '94. Also, the wiki about diffuse axonal injury says that Hammond sustained one in the dragster accident, and he was able to come back, so there is hope yet for Jules, even if the odds are stacked against him.

Correct. The plank was introduced as a result of Senna's accident to provide a minimum ground clearance. Remember the sparks you used to get, that's because the cars were so low they needed the titanium skid blocks all the time.

Not quite sure I'm reading the chatter right here, but two things definitely are happening next season, no guessing involved and both drivers have openly talked about it already. Vettel is going to Ferrari, Alonso is going to McLaren. Kimi has already stated that 2015 will be his final season in F1, but that could change. Hamilton leaving Mercedes? Seriously doubt it. Every driver works like heck to find the best car at the right time and Hamilton is in it right now. No way he leaves that ride. Button is probably out of F1, at the very least out of McLaren.

Ron Dennis didn't say Alonso wasn't going to McLaren, he said that there wasn't a signed contract yet. That doesn't mean that there wasn't a contract sitting on his desk waiting for him to get back to England and sign it. :)

So my guess is:

• Vettel has a contract with Ferrari (OK, this isn't much of a stretch)
• Alonso is definitely leaving Ferrari, and is negotiating a contract with McLaren
• Ferrari isn't willing/allowed to announce Vettel's contract until Alonso's negotiations are done
• Vettel isn't allowed to say that he's going to Ferrari for the same reason, but is allowed to say he's leaving RB, so he did. This seems like it might undercut Alonso's negotiating position.

This may or may not have helped prevent the e crash, but it could of help make the racing better is to get rid of the stupid parc ferme rule and allow the teams to adjust ride height and front and rear wings angle for wet weather races. What would that hurt? It isn't a qualifying motor that only lasts a few lapse this is a few shims and adjustment built into the car.