Motors The Bit-Tech Formula 1 2014 Thread - Season Complete

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Merc free front row in Austria

 

Wowzer, Well done to Williams, thoroughly deserved.

Sam

 

Based on the commentary I was listening to whilst watching Le Mans

#2 LMP1 has fuel flow limits and limits on the size of the fuel tank, LMP2 and below have air-flow restrictions rather than fuel flow restrictions

#3 Hybrids aren't mandatory, the amount of MGU power you have dictates you fuel flow limit but there is a 'no hybrid' option... Whether teams actually use it is another matter...

But yeah the rules do seem to be simpler in Le Mans/WEC, esp when you have a 3-point-something litre v6 [audi] a similarly sized v8 [toyota] and a dinky 2l v4 [porsche] trading blows...

Not seen the highlights yet but a Williams front row... wasn't expecting that...

 

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Would love to see Pasta's face right about now

 

Great driving from both Williams drivers. Absolutely chuffed for Massa. Should be another good race tomorrow.

 

There was an interesting discussion on Midweek Motorsport this week. They basically suggested that F1 should be like Garage 56 at Le Mans. Basically, an open box with X amount of wing area, Y of fuel flow, along with minimum ride heights, etc but 100% focus on innovation. They pointed out that for every kg of carbon fibre that makes it onto the car, there's probably 10-20kg of carbon fibre that goes in the bin.

 

Would love to see Di Montezemolo's face right about now.

So, exactly why did we fire that man?

 

Austrian girls are hot.

Just sayin'

[edit]

LMAO at the Merc engineers popping the syringe in the garage during the interviews!

Red Bull Ring is a stunning circuit. Great to see F1 back in Austria after all these years.

 

Just a great race overall. The grid girls were the icing. And I totally fangirl'd for a moment when Webber came on for the interview.

 

Alonso thinks Massa was toying with him during the race

 

The race was not the edge-of-the-seat stuff we've seen before, but not bad.
A part of me loves the track for the many crazy overtaking options it provides. Another thinks it's a bit bland.

Great drive from Bottas.
Great drive from Lewis as well. That start was +4 for him. It was, as seems trendy to say in F1 these days, "mega".
I honestly can't help but think that Lewsi got a bit of a raw deal in terms of pitstops, but the margins there are SO small, that he probably has a point when he says "maybe my positioning is wrong or something".
Rosberg drove a great race as well.
Ricciardo's late overtake also rocked.

Bad luck ruined Vettel's day - again. I can't help but feel a bit sorry for him.

Re: the girls. I thought those dresses were horrible. And when the Yodelling music started I thought "Yup - that about sums up the cultural value of Austria: Yodelling and bad fashion... oh, and that other dude that gave Germans a bad name. /trollface"

 

You chaps know that pit babes, booth babes and the like are usually hired though international PR agencies right? Yes, they try to hire locally where they can, but you'll likely see some of the same faces at other European circuits - throwing on a dirndl does not necessarily make the girl a local.

I enjoyed the race though - great result for Williams, and it increasingly looks like they've ended their protracted spell in the lower-mid table wilderness; having seemingly handed it over to McLaren.

Lewis had a wicked start and was really on it in lap one - impressive stuff. I'm a but gutted for Kvyat, because I was expecting a decent finish from him, and Hulk must be getting pretty sick of Ricciardo nicking places off him at the end of a race.

 

2015 Rules changes...

Let the bitching begin

 

Eh, the only dumb thing is the restarts from safety car. There's no need of a safety car if that's the plan, it's just a red flag.

Also, if there's going to be standing restarts then it's entirely possible we could get successive restarts at places like Aus, Monaco and Canada, which in turn could mean races timing out instead of completing the laps.

It'll be great for 'the show' to spend 45 minutes of a two hour race waiting for restart then declare the race over with fifteen laps to go.

All the other changes look fairly sensible, legislating against the ***** noses is overdue.

 

As I understand it, the safety car will be staying because Mercedes pay for sponsorship. The only difference will be that on the lap the safety car pits the drivers will line up on the grid in current race order and there'll be a standing restart.

 

If they try that slow line astern parade combined with sitting on the grid engines running for a minute or two half the field is going to burn out by the second corner.

It'll be hilarious, but doesn't seem overly well thought out.

 

The way I understand it is that the safety car period is essentially the same with the safety car picking up the leader, the only difference will be the last lap behind it will become a formation lap, same as at the start of the race.

The reasoning seems to be that if they were to throw the red flag the teams would need all the mechanics/tools etc on the grid every time, whereas this way they don't. I can see it working quite well, my only issue is how they deal with the lapped cars in the pack

 

If they line up on the grid and essentially have a mid-race restart, I think it might unfairly penalise lower order drivers who have, up until that point, had a good race and have punched above their weight. They will likely get out-dragged down into turn one by "better" cars, and all their hard work will be for nought.