Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
11/22/14 8:43 p.m.

Yup. It's up to non-MB cars to decide the wdc, really. Either by finishing 2nd or by taking out Lewis.

oldeskewltoy
oldeskewltoy SuperDork
11/22/14 9:47 p.m.
Keith Tanner wrote: Yup. It's up to non-MB cars to decide the wdc, really. Either by finishing 2nd or by taking out Lewis.

Hmmmm, I see bounty... $10m half put up by Vettel, half by Alonso.... Which one of the "B" teams needs $10m....

Lancer007
Lancer007 Dork
11/22/14 9:52 p.m.

If one of the Mercs bogs and Bottas gets abjump, it's gonna be an exciting first corner and lap.

I'm hoping that Hamilton can pull this off. I wasn't his biggest fan after the way he just walked non to McLaren and was treated like the golden child while Alonso was treated like E36 M3. But after his stint at Mercedes I rake back anything negative I had to say about him earlier in his career. I'd bet this is what Vettel is after in his Ferrari move, legitimatizing his status as a great driver.

I am really looking forward to tomorrow morning. Not looking forward to the off season... Motorsports withdrawl is awful.

armt350
armt350 New Reader
11/23/14 7:03 a.m.

In reply to oldeskewltoy:

Uhm... All of them?

wbjones
wbjones UltimaDork
11/23/14 8:59 a.m.

too bad Massa couldn't pull it off … the super soft just couldn't make up that much difference

ncjay
ncjay Dork
11/23/14 8:59 a.m.

Hamilton did it. Sucks that Nico's season ends like that. Heckuva comeback year for Williams and Massa. Jeez, the mighty Ferrari, and the best they could do was fight for 10th spot? Not too good. Those guys have some work to do this winter.

wbjones
wbjones UltimaDork
11/23/14 9:09 a.m.

if Alonzo couldn't get anymore out of it … and if Vettal couldn't get any more out of the Red Bull than he did … I'd say he's got his work cut out for him next yr

aussiesmg
aussiesmg MegaDork
11/23/14 9:50 a.m.

I want to see Red Bull with a stronger engine package for 2015

Congrats to Lewis

Advan046
Advan046 SuperDork
11/23/14 10:14 a.m.

Yeah! Hamilton WDC!

That start was GREAT plus a Rosberg boggy start.

Also big RESPECT to Claire Williams making the team that can drag her Dad's team back to the front!

I hope Williams is a little stronger next year and that McLaren Honda have an equal package so we would have a three way battle with MB/McLaren/Williams. Maybe Ricciardo can join in a RB every once and a while.

Keith Tanner
Keith Tanner MegaDork
11/23/14 12:00 p.m.

Yeah, the ERS failure really didn't affect the race, Hamilton won it on the start. I do like the fact that he asked to be able to fight for the overall win after sandbagging most of the race, sure helped make it interesting.

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy PowerDork
11/23/14 1:36 p.m.

Is Frank Williams going downhill, or just getting old and ready to retire? I haven't seen him at a race for most of the year, I think. I understand the young'un has taken over, but for him to just stop going to the races seems sudden. I suppose it was a pretty big deal getting him around, maybe he just got tired of the travel hoo-hah, or doesn't want to step on Claire's toes.

Williams sure got their ducks in a row this year. I'm very glad to see it, and I sure hope they can keep the progress going.

Streetwiseguy
Streetwiseguy PowerDork
11/23/14 1:47 p.m.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/10140354/Claire-Williams-Formula-One-How-rude-that-people-keep-asking-me-when-Ill-get-pregnant.html

racerfink
racerfink SuperDork
11/23/14 3:38 p.m.

Just REALLY listened to the podium interviews. Man, Brundle really dug some wounds when interviewing Massa.

codrus
codrus Dork
11/23/14 6:55 p.m.
Streetwiseguy wrote: Is Frank Williams going downhill, or just getting old and ready to retire? I haven't seen him at a race for most of the year, I think. I understand the young'un has taken over, but for him to just stop going to the races seems sudden. I suppose it was a pretty big deal getting him around, maybe he just got tired of the travel hoo-hah, or doesn't want to step on Claire's toes.

As I understand it, Sir Frank goes to most of the European races, but not so much on the overseas ones.

And yeah, the ERS failure made no difference to the championship. Hamilton's car didn't break, and that was really the only way that Rosberg could win the championship, even if he'd won the race.

Lancer007
Lancer007 Dork
11/23/14 8:09 p.m.

Great drive by Hamilton. I was pulling for him to win the race and the championship but when it looked like Massa might be able to catch him I wouldn't have been upset if Massa had been on the top step.

Jim Pettengill
Jim Pettengill HalfDork
11/23/14 10:50 p.m.

I think I heard a couple of races back that Sir Frank was in hospital, so his health may be failing. Big kudos to Hamilton this whole season. I've long maintained that Lewis' biggest adversity is often Lewis himself. This year, though, he has been mentally solid and seems to have matured a bunch. Today he got a killer start, then managed the gap and took care of the car, only pushing it as hard as necessary. Toward the end, when it was still unclear whether Nico could finish high enough to be a threat, he said "I'm not racing Massa", which showed an awareness of the important job at hand that I'm not sure he would have done a couple of seasons ago. Then, when the end was close and Nico was out of it, he picked up the pace enough to win - but just enough. All in all a championship drive. Also congrats to Williams, a double podium. Hope they do even better next year. It may have been dominated by Mercedes, but I thought this was a great season. No big gimmicks to keep other teams competitive, Merc just did a better job than the others and deserved to win - that's real competition. And they also did a good a job as possible letting the drivers race and keeping the equipment equal. Now I can't wait for 2015!

wbjones
wbjones UltimaDork
11/24/14 6:32 a.m.

yep … Merc did a better job with the power unit especially … Red Bull and Williams both may have had equal or even better chassises …

it'll be interesting to see what next season brings … since the ptb have reopened the engine development window .. see if Renault, Ferrari, and Honda can bring anything to the table to push Merc

Adrian_Thompson
Adrian_Thompson PowerDork
11/24/14 8:02 a.m.

Very happy that the guy I consider the rightful winner got it. Massive credit to Nico for a)Not giving up and driving the car to the end and B) Being a true gentleman and going up to congratulate Lewis before he got to the podium, he has gained respect in my eyes for the way he acted after losing. Very classy.

I think it was closer than people are giving it credit for. The ERS failure could just as easily have been Hamilton's not Nico's. If Hamilton had been falling back and Massa had got ahead of Nico it could have been really close there.

I think people having an issue with Lewis for the way McLaren treated him is nuts. First of all Alonso has said he never had an issue with Lewis at McLaren, it was the was Ron treated him, not Lewis. Also Alonso was the Douche bag that sold out McLaren in Spygate. If I had been McLaren when Alonso came knocking at the door for a job again I'd have started the negotiations with "You pay us back the $100m you cost us" and worked from there. Now yes McLaren 'cheated' but do you doubt that any team would have done the same thing and haven't Ferrari plus many other teams got away with massive rule breaking in the past with no penalty. Remember the days when FIA stood for Ferrari International Assistance!

Frank Williams is 72 and don't forget after his car crash he's been a Paraplegic for pushing 30 years now (Memory says it was on the way to Paul Ricard in 86, but I could be wrong). I have to think a massive trauma like that to the body probably has some other knock on long term effects on your health.

trigun7469
trigun7469 Dork
11/24/14 8:38 a.m.

Although I was pushing for Nico, it is nice to see the winner of the championship, win the last race. Hopefully next year Ferrari, Honda, and Renault can bring it to MB.

Adrian_Thompson
Adrian_Thompson PowerDork
11/25/14 2:08 p.m.

I know this is too late for the WDC, but I found it a fascinating read about Lewis and Nico. I know people will call ‘Brit Bias’ as Will Buxton is a Brit, so I’ll leave you to make up your own minds. Even if you don’t want to read the whole thing. This is the fith of well over 30 paragraphs of his comments on Nico. Don’t worry, he goes on to be very complimentary about him, but this was a bit of a shocker. BTW, Unlike Alonso I don't dislike Nico in any way, I just root for Hammy.

I can’t recall the first time I met Nico Rosberg. All I remember is that I despised him, everything he was and all he represented: the cock-sure, entitled, bolshy son of a world champion. No grace, no humility. Wafting in, a blur of blonde hair and arrogance. A Formula BMW champion yes, but only a few F3 wins and just three years in single seaters gave what I held to be little foundation for such seeming conceit. I disliked him intensely. It got to the point where I held such disdain for him that I would actively seek for our paths to not cross… which was fairly hard given I was PRing the championship in which he was racing. I’d simply ask someone else to grab his quotes for me. They always seemed to be able to pull more out of him anyway.

Link to the whole thing

Javelin
Javelin MegaDork
11/25/14 10:24 p.m.

Congrats to Hamilton on the superb year, a very well deserved 2nd WDC. Merc totally earned the Constructor's crown as well. Amazing year for Williams, definitely my new favorite team.

Flight Service
Flight Service MegaDork
11/25/14 10:39 p.m.

I am glad Hamilton won. He really is a cool guy from everything I have seen.

Adrian_Thompson
Adrian_Thompson PowerDork
12/1/14 10:13 a.m.

MArussia assets up for auction inc race cars minus engines (owned by Ferrari)

http://cal.cagp.com/event/marussia/

trigun7469
trigun7469 Dork
12/1/14 1:48 p.m.

Could make a really cool sim setup, with some of the parts from Marussia

ncjay
ncjay Dork
12/1/14 3:50 p.m.

I consider Red Bull Racing to be a 4 car team, including Toro Rosso. Seems like with the current situation, a team like McLaren or Ferrari would think about doing this as well and purchase Marussia. I'm sure Bernie wouldn't mind. With testing and resources limited they way they are, seems like having a 4 car team would pay off. It sure doesn't seem to be holding Red Bull Racing back at all.

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