hrd-hr30

sounds perfectly reasonable, and absolutely correct to me.

yep, and the last race Hamilton did everything he could to lose the WDC until his GP2 buddy, Glock, gifted the WDC to him on the last lap, slowing by an utterly ridiculous ~20 seconds compared to his previous lap with conditions no different - there was still a perfectly evident dry line on the track where Timo was crawling around the last corner... If karma exists, Hamilton will lose this WDC with a retirement on the last lap of the last race...

meh, I stopped watching after Williams gave away both of their positions to Dan. That was all I could handle after Louise passed Rosberg! lol you're right though - it's hard to argue Louise doesn't deserve the WDC with all those wins, but I still hope his car bursts into flames like at Hungary (iirc), only this time during the race. It would be fitting if something gifted the title to Rosberg considering the way Homo won his WDC...

these rules were announced well in advance, including the engine freeze. If a team built a better engine, they were always going to have a long standing advantage. That was obvious well in advance. FIA anticipated this and that's why the rules are the way they are - ie allowing development. (http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/publication/file/FIA%20F1%20Power%20Unit%20leaflet.pdf) They can change half the engine for next year. That's plenty you would think. Considering its really turbo & ERS systems that Merc have an advantage with. Renault surely don't need to throw out the whole ICE design to get on par??? Could they really have completely stuffed up every aspect of their engine design??? Seriously, there's plenty of scope for development. The other thing that I really don't like about RBR's approach here is them claiming it's too out of kilter because there was a Merc powered sweep of the top five in one single race. That's just spin. He knows it. But he knows it will make animpact on public opinion too.. It's just spin. A top 5 sweep hasn't happened before this season and it won't happen again. I twas just the specific set of circumstances at Sochi. Renault engines clean swept the top 4 in recent years. No other team cried to the media about that. No-one even raised an eyebrow.

unable to sympathise with RBR's crocodile tears I'm afraid. Five Mercedes cars in the top five has happened exactly once in sixteen races. Won't happen again at the next race, so there's no longer an issue. It presumably wasn't too far out of kilter when one team won 4 WDC in a row... f**koffhorner!

I hadn't, but I just had a look. The EO's think they can say black means white if it suits them. It's happened many times over the years. He's even doing it straight away with the new strut brace rule by claiming it would be part of the rollcage if it mounts to the same area on the firewall in the engine bay as a rollcage member does inside the cabin... That rule now allows rear strut towers to be triangulated rearwards with a brace of free design as well. Could provide a useful bit of chassis stiffening for cars with strut towers in the back Actually, the "free design" allows for some more creative interpretations than that as well. eg You could run members off a front strut tower brace forward down to the chassis rails as long as they remain "between the towers". The design is free - there's no need to say you can triangulate rearwards - the free design part already allowed that. And stipulating that you can triangulate rearwards does not preclude your free design from triangulating forwards...

rule changed because so many people were breaking it not really an exaggeration - the word from officials is "reflect what was already common practise amongst competitors" http://docs.cams.com.au/Regulations/2014%20Bulletins/B14-035%20-%20Group%203J%20Improved%20Production%20Technical%20Regulations.pdf But these metallic door trims are still not legal. That bulletin contains other ammendments for comonly broken rules such as subframe bushes. The only rule change in there not forced on them by weight of numbers breaking it is the strut brace rule.

Almost every new driver scared Senna. Alesi & Irvine, to name just a couple, while driving much lesser machinery. The reason Kvyat is getting the drive is simply because they only need a filler for 1 year until Verstappen gets promoted, which is an obvious fait accompli. And, as you say, marketing reasons. It's obviously not on merit. To claim qualifying performances as justification for his promotion to RBR is laughable, but we've already been over that - Qualifying 9-7 by +0.072s. The only way it could be closer is if it was dead even! And these days with the tyres and DRS qualifying is less important than ever. And Red Bull are certainly not in the business of playing the long game with their young driver program - they're not promoting him in the hope that in time he'll mature into a great racer. he doesn't have time - Verstappen has dibs on that seat for 2016. Nope, it's seat warming and marketing that got him the RBR drive.

undertray skirt too low from I heard.

unlike some I'm a fan of F1, not just one or two drivers. I don't even have a favourite driver. There's some I like because they've got some talent. One I favour because his team mate is an absolute wanker. Others I take an interest in because of a bit of a backstory. Some I like because they're underdogs or unfavoured. I don't understand blind fans of one driver who bag all the others...

who said anything bad about Dan? I thought I was talking about JEV. Dan's going great in the Red Bull obviously, and everyone likes him. But 2 years is a long time in F1 terms and he never managed to equal his team mate's best results in those 2 years. They finished those 2 years 1-all with just 1 point seperating them. JEV deserves a go in a better car far more than Kvyat does.

great insight - you're 100% right, the best drivers always get the seats and other factors like politics, cash, marketing, timing never come into it in F1. It doesn't matter anyway - he'll only be keeping the seat warm for a year until Verstappen hops in. That's why they're risking the young guy with no runs on the board. And putting JEV in the car would be like an admission they were wrong... They'd look like morons announcing one minute he sacked and the next minute he's being promoted to Red Bull.

yeah, 21 to 8. That is wiping the floor with him. What's the point of qualifying 5 places ahead if you're 2 places behind at the end of the first couple of laps FFS? Again, that's wiping the floor with him. Looks like he'd need to qualify at least 7 places ahead for it to be of any f**king use! lol what happened to "I cbf'd going toe to toe on every result"??? Only until you find one thing that suits you. and wow, Qualifying 9-7 by +0.072s. That's the closest of any pair of team mates in the whole of F1. You think that supports the point you're trying to make? lol And it's far more important than the trouncing he's getting in the Grands Prix... But you said that was only "for a start". Please go on with all the other ways Kvyat has outshone JEV... lol

Roy, the difference with Dan and JEV int he STR was Dan stuck it in 6th in qualy, JEV stuck it in 6th at the end of a GP.

are you saying JEV has not outshone his rookie team mate?

lol leading up to the British GP it was: JEV with 10th, 8th and 6th = 13pts Dan with a 7th and 10th = 7pts Dan got that 8th IN the British GP where JEV was taken out with a Pirelli blowout while ahead... don't let the facts get int he way of a good story

"as he was when RBR chose Dan for the test over JEV" - ie at that time they chose Dan for that RBR test at Silverstone. As you pointed out, JEV beat Dan in 2012. Yes four 8ths beats a few 9th and a couple of tenth places. By 16pts to 10 in fact. JEV certainly proved he had the better race finishing positions that year. Dan COULDA matched JEV's string of 8th's ONCE if not for the swaybar sob story, But even IF he did, it would still have been 3-1 to JEV for highest finishing position. That and the 16-10 is a pretty solid win IMO. If you count the points each "lost", JEV still comes out ahead. And JEV was thoroughly beating Dan in the first half of 2013 until that point when they overlooked him for the RBR test. Then everything changed. But still Dan never matched JEV's best 2013 race fnish of 6th and JEV was on for another 6th at Silverstone until the Failrelli fiasco claimed him as one of it's random scalps. Another mech failure took him out at Monza where he was right with Dan, robbing him of another points haul. Random reliability issues are the only reason Dan beat JEV in 2013. And this year it's JEV 21pts, Kvyat 8. JEV has more points finishes. Higher points finishes. 2.5times as many points. He's had a couple of absolutely storming stints passing all sorts of more fancied machinery and drivers in SIngapore and Sochi. And they choose Kvyat.

Just had a look at ringwood on youtube. Have to agree with above descriptions. I also don't like the look of the start of that armco fence on the outside of the 3rd last turn. Hope they've got a proper termination hiding under that rubber covering.

Slow experienced brick is beating the current young gun pretty convincingly. Just as he was when RBR chose Dan for the test over JEV for that matter... Head to head races in JEVs favour. Average finishing position in JEV's favour. WDC points 21 vs 8. Kvyatt's highest finish is 9th. JEV's had higher finishes than that 3 times this season. Including equalling his own record for highest STR finish since Vettel's STR victory. And was on for at least a 6th in Monaco as well. Not sure what he's doing wrong to be quite honest.

Camzilla sell good quality, reasonably priced mounting systems for roll cages and quality suction cup mounts. My suction cup mounted camera whacked a plastic pole at Mt Cotton Hillclimb at about 60kph and didn't budge - bent the pole over! Bunnings sell plastic coated stainless wire that you can use as a tether without risking your paintwork.

Jeezus! how long ago was that done? If you've been tracking it like that, you're a very luck bloke!

he hasn't been the same since that happened at Spa. i live in hope that he's saving up the next tyre slicing for the last round and 50pts Sochi track looked pretty good. And that Turn 3 was a ripper. They just need more fuel so they can make a proper race of it, instead of hybrid hypermiling live on worldwide television...

Race was just an economy run. #hypermiling

if they aren't enforcing track limits, it makes sense to exploit it to your advantage. I think the fact everyone had to conserve fuel helped Rosberg. If others had fuel to burn along with their fresher rubber, it might have been a different story. But yeah, Hamilton just coasting around setting fastest laps was a little bit ridiculous! And Mercedes engines top 5 places. Unfortunately it seems Rosberg is the one folding under the WDC pressure at critical moments lately. As much as I hate to say it, Hamilton seems to have his number now.

and just like CAMS race meets, you are also expected to understand and heed the flags. That's part of their responsibility at the "workplace". If a roofer ignores the safety requirement to hook his harness to the roof, falls and injures himself, is that a failing of WHS or the worker? personal responsibility really is a foreign concept these days!