Motors The Bit-Tech F1 2015 Thread - Season Complete

I loved Alonso's "IDGAF, let me have fun" attitude. The car's a shitbox, they can't get power or fuel efficiency out of it, and clearly he's had enough.

Also, double McL retirement the weekend of an engine upgrade? Not encouraging.

RAI throwing away a podium was hilarious, almost like he's doing his very best to get sacked. TBH, I'd be very surprised if he's retained for next year. I know it's early in the year, but Arrivabene (sp?) has been pretty blunt about the contract renewal, and he's probably got his eye on Bottas, among others.

Kimi can't be cheap either. So even if they get a slightly sub-par driver who cannot better Kimi's results, as long as they're paying the new guy less, it'll still be a smart decision.

 

Was I the only one that thought Will Stevens sounded a bit Joey Essex when he had his hissy fit down the team radio? In his defence he didnt do a thing wrong, I did laugh at Gro's "he hit me he hit me". Yes he hit you because tyou served into him.

 

I too will be surprised if they retain Kimi for 2016.

Ferrari having their eye on the likes of Bottas, and Red Bull focussing on their academy drivers, really does spell disaster for the hopes of Hulkenberg. He's fast becoming a journeyman driver - at best, a safe pair of hands in the cash strapped middle order teams.

EJ was very vocal in his opinion of McLaren's season so far - there needs to be change at the very top. He even said Whitmarsh produced better results than Ron - a bit disingenuous, given that this is obviously a development season for the new partnership, but it's clear what he thinks of Mr Dennis.

 

Also caught some of the Formula E on Saturday. Moscow. Motor racing in Red Square!

Looks good, but one team (Villeneuve's I think) were taking 68 second car changes instead of the regulation 58. They were just sitting in the garage for 10 seconds they didn't need to.

 

Did you see the Beeb interview with the guy from McLaren [here - uk only]?

I do agree with his summation of 'If you want to beat [AMG] Mercedes, you're probably not going to do it with a Merc lump as they're always going to keep some of the good bits for themselves', and indeed That's happened with the Ferrari teams - Ferrari have a new engine, Sauber et al probably won't see it until Spa.

That said, they won't be troubling Merc with that Honda lump any time soon...

 

I don't think it is that simple. Not with 4 engine per season rule in place. Ferrari is now at 3rd engine, in 7th race of 19. Ferrari will have one engine change remaining for the next 12 races, so they will have to drive with this one for the next 6 races at least, that way they will have 7 races with 3rd engine and 7 races with 4th engine. But for Ferrari it is worth it, as they are (maybe) competing for 2nd spot in drivers and constructors championship.

Sauber on other side has situation clear - Red Bull advantage is too big, and the rest of the teams will have similar results even if they use the old engine. So they decided to simply divide the season in 4 parts, and use an engines for similar lengths. They plan to introduce 3rd engine in Spa, which would make it, surprise, suprise, exactly the 11th race of the season, which would be exactly the 1st race of 3rd quarter of the season (5+5+5+4). In Austrian GP they couldn't really achieve better results anyway, Brittish GP is probably the same and in Hungarian GP the engine is rather irrelevant. On other side in Spa and Monza engine is everything. There is also a chance than Ferrari will do some more engine modifications until end of August.

 

I did! How refreshing to see McLaren speaking (fairly) openly.

I agree - Merc would really have to drop the ball on chassis/aero for a customer team to challenge them.

One small paragraph on the beeb website made me smile:

That's a firkin massive "if"!

 

You make a valid point, but i think sauber's gripe was they didn't have access to the improved engine even they wanted/needed it... If Ericsson's/Nasr's engine goes pop before spa, the replacement will be the older spec engine, and not the shiny new and improved one the Ferrari works team have...

 

You base that logic on what ? The only question about new engines were finances, and even that rumor has been denied by Sauber.

 

Renault may drop out of F1

 

Oh no, again!

Unless your name begins with the letter F, that's about the most empty threat you can make. They'd be better served by ignoring the engine limits and development rules entirely. Of course there will be an outcry, but if you can force Ferrari and Mercedes to do the same you make the rules a moot point and they'll have to be changed.

Yes we're bringing an all new engine to the next race, the current one is unreliable and the rules allow changes on reliability grounds, so we changed the design of the failing components, which was all of them.

 

Hulkenberg won the 24hr LeMans, good for him .

 

Whilst a Porch win = Boo! for me, I am happy for Hulkenberg. It's not like he's going to win anything any time soon in F1...

 

Still far far better than Audi Diesel...

 

TBH of the VW teams I'd rather Audi win... but that said I *really* don't like Porsche... they're with Ferrari on the 'don't care who wins as long as it's not them...' list.

Also much lol at the Nissan LMP1 car... 2 conked out and the one that didn't was stone dead last...

 

Only Nissan could enter Le Mans with a front engine, front wheel biased four wheel drive LMP-1 car.

They should have stuck to the batmobile.

I hope this raises Hulkenberg's hypea bit more, he's too good to be sat in a Force India or Sauber for yet another year.

 

Hulks problem is lack of seats. Merc is tied up, Redbull will use there academy. Just leaves Ferrari of the big 3. Kimi if he goes will surely be replaced by Bottas. Leaves no more seats at the big 3.

Lotus. Force India , Williams, and McLaren are all in pretty similar positions none of the 4 will offer you a Title shot with the current regs.

2017 is the year of change and if he plans it correctly he could be in a team at the right time who get it right.

Personally think Redbull will leave F1 with the team sold to Renault. And if Berni retires we may get Audi.

As for engines not a lot between Ferrari and Mercedes Engine if anything. A lot of difference between the aero and chassis. The crap that was spouted that they all have similar Aero / chassis is the biggest nonsense I've heard.

Come race day no matter what Friday says Ferrari are rarely close most of the time not even in the same race.

 

Add in the fact the Haas team are set to be to Ferrari what STR are to RBR, it's looking like if you're not already at a top team or it's respective feeder team, your chances are limited... Gone are the days where you could start at the back and work your way forward [and that applies to teams as much as drivers]...

 

25[!] place grid drop for both McLaren's, 10 place drop for both RBRs before qualy has even begun... McLaren may as well not bother tbh...

This is why it's 25 [for Button at least]...

 

Actually McL should bother (and Alonso is). Higher qualification = less penalty.

Unused penalties (due impossibility to move the car behind the end of the grid) :
1-5 spots = 5 second added to pit stop.
6-10 spots = 10 second added to pit stop.
11-20 spots = drive trough penalty
20+ spots = 10 second stop & go

Alonso having 25 penalty spots, minus 6 or more puts him in the drive through penalty category instead of the 10 second stop & go penalty category. That is 10 second difference right there . So if Alonso finishes 14th or better, he saves 10 seconds of penalty.

Edit: Alonso is 15th, so question is if it will count into the 11-20 range or 20+ range