F1 2014

In reply to Adrian_Thompson:

Foo.

Just called my dad last night to wish him a happy 68th. Hoping to do that many more times.

OK, some news this week before testing starts next week.

Bernie will go on trial for bribery so steps down from the Board of F1, but will still remain in charge. Talk about Teflon. I have a lot of respect for what Bernie did from the 50's through the mid 90's, but come on, someone please hasten the aging process as a coffin is the only thing going to free F1 from his grasp. Montgomery Burns is a berkeleying armature compared to Bernie. http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/25762411

Ron Dennis back in day to day control of the race team replacing Whitmarsh as CEO to see if he can turn around the team. I'm actually surprised Whitmarsh has survived this long with last year’s performance and Perez in, Perez out. I wonder what real change it will make. They've been concentrating on this year’s car for a big chunk of last year, and they've already poached people from RB etc. To a certain extent Dennis could reap the reward for work and re-org already done. We shall see. Not taking anything away from him. He was certainly responsible for saving McLaren in 1990 and turning it into the Lauda, Prost, Senna powerhouse we had for the next decade and a bit. http://en.espnf1.com/mclaren/motorsport/story/141925.html

This next one puzzled me when I saw the headline. Hass bidding to get rights to an F1 expansion team. http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/141933.html My first thought was 'surely Carl Hass is too old' Being a Brit originally my first exposure to Carl Hass was the ill-fated Lola Hass F1 team in the 80's. Anyway, it's talking about Gene Hass who is apparently a NASCAR team owner. Personally I've never heard of him or his team, but that's my disinterest in NASCAR showing. Hopefully this will be more successful than USF1 was 4 years ago!

Also old news now, but Lotus will miss the first test. They have a long winded press release that basically says ‘We not ready because we didn’t’ get Maldonado’s money until late’

Alot has been said about the new season already. I am excited to see what the new Turbo era has to offer. I am hoping we see more engine failures, it will allow our backmarker teams a bit more of a chance to catch up with the mid pack. (I am a Caterham fan)

Wings and aerodynamics are always a factor. Take away the Flappy Wing that can only be opened at certain parts of the track. In the end, when you have the leader coming up on a backmarker, he gets to open his wing, add the guy behind him and guess what? It negates the effect. Just saying, it is a gimmick that those that do not follow F1 see as helping, but in the end the good and great drivers pass and repass in the first 3 laps, when they cannot use the DRS. I haven't found it to be an aid overall. Get in the Draft, draft the car ahead and you will need good brakes to finish the pass.

Someone earlier mentioned that Haas is looking to enter F1. Awesome that will make things interesting if it can happen.

I will not go into refuelling. Put gas in, don't put gas in. The pit stops make the strategy and define it.

Still I cant wait to see what happens this season. Go Caterham, and lets hope that Kimi and Fernando do not take each other out.

Mike Kirby

A friend of mine just posted this on Facebook. It really needs to be added here. Lots of great F1 comments and video footage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=a7x2YDgXzss

Mike Kirby

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Also old news now, but Lotus will miss the first test. They have a long winded press release that basically says ‘We not ready because we didn’t’ get Maldonado’s money until late’

Translation: We're using Maldonado's money to pay Kimi's backpay.

Pirelli is back for another three years. This time with a little more say in compound durability. Does a less aggressive tire compound guarantee better racing?

Ron Dennis is back...........

For those who may be following. Caterham still has not announced drivers, but somewhere on Crash.net, there is talk of Kamui Kobyashie making a return with Caterham along with Marcus Ericson!!!

Have to wait and see. Kamui is great fun to watch, he could possibly pull out a good finish by dragging that car around by the scruff of its neck. Or break it multiple times a race. Either way have to see what will happen.

Mike Kirby

Mike924 wrote: For those who may be following. Caterham still has not announced drivers, but somewhere on Crash.net, there is talk of Kamui Kobyashie making a return with Caterham along with Marcus Ericson!!! Have to wait and see. Kamui is great fun to watch, he could possibly pull out a good finish by dragging that car around by the scruff of its neck. Or break it multiple times a race. Either way have to see what will happen. Mike Kirby

Racer.com and Autopsorts.com also rumored that has potential candidates. I don't think either of them have the money that Van De Garde has.

oldeskewltoy wrote: Ron Dennis is back...........

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ said: Speculation Ross Brawn will return to Formula One, after Ron Dennis stages internal coup at McLaren Ross Brawn, who left Mercedes at the end of last season, has been tipped to replace Martin Whitmarsh at McLaren, whose time as team principal appears to be over

http://www.racer.com/caterham-signs-kobayashi-ericsson/article/330175/

Kob and Ericsson are confirmed

Good to see Mr. Sushi king back

It also looks like McLaren may not have a title sponsor right away.
But the Picture of the Force India entry looks good. Cannot wait to see which teams actually make it to the first test session.

Mike Kirby

Force India released this today

Williams released renderings of their car today, they've done their best to make the dicknose look a little more tasteful:

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/williams-reveals-2014-f1-design/

Mike924 wrote: It also looks like McLaren may not have a title sponsor right away. But the Picture of the Force India entry looks good. Cannot wait to see which teams actually make it to the first test session. Mike Kirby

No title sponsor anounced, but they do claim to have the biggest budget they've ever had for 2014.

On the new cars. No actual pictures of the front of cars yet, but the Force India image and the Williams rendering are both a lot better than I feared. I always hated the super high noses, I like the lower front profile with or without wieners.

Not bad!

Ewwwwwwww

Thinks that make you go "hmmmmm"

What's better than 1 dicknose?

So...are they aerodynamically biasing the Lotus' cornering, or does it see something more exciting to its right?

Yeah, looks like this crop of F1 cars are looking very homely indeed. If the nose has to be so much lower, why not attach the front wing to it, instead of having that gawd awful front overhang!!!!

There has to be something in the rules that I am missing.

Mike Kirby

GameboyRMH wrote: So...are they aerodynamically biasing the Lotus' cornering, or does it see something more exciting to its right?

According to Scarb, the rules only allow for one dick, so the left dick is shorter so that it doesn't count as a dick. It's just a protuberance, a fatty growth, if you will. Splitting up the nose allows them to have it double as the vanes holding up the front wing without getting in the way of the airflow down the middle.

Oh well that's very clever.

Hey if Red Bull hasn't changed their livery the car will look like it's ready for safe racing.

Lotus team principle Boullier has resigned from his position as Lotus F1 team principal with immediate effect...

Rumors say he is going to McLaren...

Poor Lotus... lost Kimi and Boullier...

Does anyone else notice that the noses on the Lotus are different lengths? edit well not refreshing for hours makes a difference. At least I am not the only one.*

I would love to see an analysis of this one.