Motors The Bit-Tech F1 2015 Thread - Season Complete

Given that he finished, I think they'll be celebrating that result.

 

Somewhat sad to see Verstappen not finish, some drivers not start, etc.

The big surprise is Nasr in the Sauber I think. Even without retirements, he would have had a good race. And keeping that RBR behind him must be a massive confidence boost for Sauber. Also, I actually like that livery. The little stripe on the nose and the accents on the front wing make it look a bit like a 90's F1 car. Very cool to me.

Merc seem to be dominant (no surprise there), and Lewis seems to be sending a clear message to Nico, telling him that he can't catch him. The could get exciting towards the end of the season.

Vettel - VERY cool to see Ferrari up there again. I expect them to get stronger throughout the season, with Williams having to work very hard to hold on to their strong position.

A shame for Lotus - I would have liked to see Grosjean a bit more. At least he sounded upbeat in the interview during the race, saying it was something small and they know what happened and how to fix it.

As for Red Bull... I am with Toto Wolff, who basically told RBR to stop crying and get on with it. Horner sounds like a little b*tch when he cries about engine equalisation rules being needed and what victims RBR were when they were dominant. Helmut Marko threatening to quit (again) is also helping in making the team seem incredibly whiny.
What's interesting to me is that the RBRs were the ones having problems (with engine vibrations on the gearbox, with drivability), whereas STR was doing better (though it is VERY VERY early to judge by that)

 

FTFY

It must hurt when two rookies in the B team get on better than your four time world championship team.

 

In fairness, Verstappen didn't finish either.
had he finished, I would have said that very thing.

 

I wish I could say stop shut up to Horner. He's had it his own way for so long.

 

Wolff telling Horner to [essentially] 'Quit yo' whining' was great imo... And whilst it didn't pan out that way in the race [where arguably it counts] the fact TR were quicker than RBR over a lot of the weekend also made me smile...

One of the highlights of the weekend was Button and how he managed to keep Perez's much quicker FIndia behind him for as long as he did... The car is still a complete lemon though...

 

Complete Lemon but shows how good a driver Button is, and was it perez that lost a chunk of the floor against someone elses car? I remember seeing something like that and seeing as maldonado got nerfed first lap it couldnt have been him (im more shocked he didnt cause the crash myself).

 

Honda did mention that the engine is detuned, mind.

But i think they're looking at a pure development year this year.
I'd reckon they have a deal i nplace where Honda pays engine penalties, and they're trying to make a brawnesque move on next year.

 

Wasn't there mention of it being detuned because at full tilt it had the nasty side-effect of blowing up? *cough*Like Magnussen's Car*cough*

 

Could be expensive. Would be a very Ron thing to insist on though

Bit miffed the Manor Marussias didnt turn a wheel but looks like it was more to confirm they can get the 30-40M, which for thoe cost of moving everythign to Oz for the weekend makes sense.

 

They would be better off running the engine at max and breaking stuff.

As Red Bull proved, you're more likely to win with an engine that's fast but only finish two thirds of the time than you are with a slow lump that finishes everything last.

If they don't thrash it they'll never get it running right.

 

i told them. go carts would have been faster

at least then they may have finished

 

Agreed that it's better to be fast but unrelaible than reliable and slow... But I got the impression that 'we can't turn it up because it'll go bang!' = 'it won't make it round 1 lap' rather than 'it might not last race distance'

 

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118058
there's the source. It's down to reliability in the temperature.

Honestly, the last few seasons showed that McLaren was gloriously bad at almost anything. Bad aero, bad pitstops, (apparently) bad management, etc

Honda is new to the V6 F1 game. They need to learn. McLaren need to sort out their little problems. With the prospect of rules staying roughly the same, budget allowing, taking a development year would allow them to get their ducks in a row and fight at the front again.

 

McLaren and Honda really needed to collect data more then anything at the moment too.

 

Not with four engines for the season, they'll be lucky to make it to Silverstone without having penalties for using too many engines.

 

So Autosport published this (silencing the haters from last year).



They also did a "relative to Mercedes, how much did what team win or lose between 2014 and 2015 in Mebourne" comparo (paywalled).

The highlights:
Lotus: 2.038s gain
Sauber: 0.507s gain
Williams: 0.154s gain
Toro Rosso: 0.498s loss (pointing out that this could be the inexperienced drivers as well)
Ferrari: 0.673s loss
Red Bull: 0.996s loss
Force India: 1.078s loss
and then McLaren

 

The engine cap is irrelevant to McHonda, all it can cost them is grid and time penalties, since they're last and slowest, that's like threatening to break a legless man's shins. Also, Honda can make any changes they want on reliability grounds, if they protect the engines, they're cutting themselves out of development options.

Getting into the top ten and getting penaltied out would be better than being three laps behind, at last you can say to sponsors that you're improving (not that McHonda even has any sponsors).

The whole logic of protecting the engine seems flawed to me, born more out of pride or fear than drive to win.

 

What does Honda or McLaren need sponsors for? Your talking 2 of the biggest car manufactures in the world. Its the same as redbull, The only sponsors on the RBR car are what also sponsors the rest of the company. I dout any of them are paying a premium just to be on the car.

Merc and Ferrari are in similar positions niether really needs sponsors.

Does show how high the rate of development is in Formula 1, If Merc had stould still then they would be very far behind the front runners.

 

Depends how much Honda are willing to pay.

Whilst actual figures are hard to come by, Merc allegedly spent £300million plus last year, including the engines. Red Bull and Ferrari apparently spent even more than that.

Honda spent in the region of £200 million to come nearly last each year in 2007/8, if they are paying that kind of money again that still leaves Mclaren with £100million to find just to be in the top team ball park budget.

As much as Ron likes to talk big, Mclaren's total turnover is in the region of £250million a year and their profits are £20-ish million a year (vs turnovers in the billions for Merc, RB and Ferrari), they haven't got the money to 'sponsor themselves' like the others can.

Also, they need a sponsor so they stop looking like second hand Hispanias from 2010.