Formula 1 2015

[dori34]

spewing, i could've made the japan F1 but it didn't occur to think about when it was on when i booked my Japan trip, so i booked it 2wks after F1.

[tweety bird]

Noob move..

[mad082]

have a cry RBR

http://www.news.com.au/sport/motorsport/mercedes-boss-rips-into-red-bulls-christian-horner/story-fnec578q-1227265679600

I agree with Horner about it being bad for the sport (they will lose viewers this year if the other teams don't close the gap). But I agree with your "have a cry".

Rbr should just ditch the Renault engine and bolt in either a fez or merc engine.

[djr81]

Horner can go eat a dick. It was ok by the sport when his team was winning and he gave no fk for anyone else struggling. Now he is in a world of pain and suddenly the sport is under threat.

Was then, is now. Maybe he will have cause to reflect and start by thinking of someone other than himself. How long that may last is another question.

[Anfanee]

something has to be done. But who knows what?

[zebra]

get rid of the f**ked fuel consumption regs, bring back refulling, and remove some aero

[hrd-hr30]

something has to be done. But who knows what?

the other teams need to do as good a job as Mercedes.

or the fans need to stop expecting parity type racing in a non-parity formula where they push the limits of engineering and each take slightly different directions...

Edited March 19, 2015 by hrd-hr30

[Roy]

Lol...but they cant do as good a job. Combination of money and technical resources....the limited opportunity to develop, test and implement due to testing restrictions and homologation of parts etc.

No doubt Mercedes gave done a good job. If they were miles ahead in an area of the car other teams could develop like aero or composite materials/weight...wheel or brake rech etc ..then get lifting boys.

But the engine freeze sinks that as an option.

They get a bandaid and have to develop an engine they only get 4 of for the season....its BS

[mad082]

Yeah the whole development freeze basically means that for this season (and I think even next season has limited development allowed too) we get to watch the mercs race each other, while the others race to be the first of the losers.

[Angus Smart]

bit of a boring race huh..

luckily the wec is interesting f**k the f1 circus

[hrd-hr30]

I think the focus on the engine as the entire reason for the Merc's speed is wrong. A third of the rest of the grid have the Merc engines, but none have got close to the Mercedes' lap times on any aero tracks. Williams is the only one that has matched them at times. They certainly had the straight line pace to match or beat Mercedes, so it's not that Merc are handing out lesser spec engines. But Williams can only keep up in terms of lap times on a few tracks where bhp and straight line speed matter heaps more than aero. And Ferrari now have plenty of power as well - I thnk they had higher trap speeds than the Mercedes engined cars! It's the Chassis and aero that is Mercedes real advantage IMO.

[Anfanee]

yeah fez was faster in the traps

[Gareth]

No German race this year for the first time in 55 years, farking bernie that greedy c*nt

[djr81]

No German race this year for the first time in 55 years, farking bernie that greedy c*nt

Well as much as I agree with your conclusion - the German GP is usually boring. It was bad enough before they redeveloped Hockenheim now it is just hopeless.

[Roy]

I think the focus on the engine as the entire reason for the Merc's speed is wrong. A third of the rest of the grid have the Merc engines, but none have got close to the Mercedes' lap times on any aero tracks. Williams is the only one that has matched them at times. They certainly had the straight line pace to match or beat Mercedes, so it's not that Merc are handing out lesser spec engines. But Williams can only keep up in terms of lap times on a few tracks where bhp and straight line speed matter heaps more than aero. And Ferrari now have plenty of power as well - I thnk they had higher trap speeds than the Mercedes engined cars! It's the Chassis and aero that is Mercedes real advantage IMO.

So IMO if you put a Merc engine in every car you would have a good race between RBR and Mercedes...then it is debatable where Williams would be relative to Ferrari this year, FI, Lotus etc. A few more races may add light to that.

Williams were largely competitive because of their engine. Yes others did less with their engine, but FFS it is Force India and a confused McLaren that we are comparing them to.

Williams built a slippery car that used the power of the Merc engine to do the job it did. RBR have good aero that they are trimming down to lower than target figures to try and give themselves a hope in hell in a straight line. If they had the power of the Merc they would run the same DF if not more than Mercedes and leave both to fight for the podium step.

This year, we will see how Lotus go...I am hoping they will beat Sauber which will give more of a feel for Mercedes vs Fezz power. The more you read about Allison the more you need to be open to the fact that the Ferrari this year is actually just a good car. I expect next year will be better again now that he is in charge of engine and chassis so the Ferraris are only going to get better as he whips the Fezz factory into shape and all groups start performing.

Having a good engine gives you good aero as you hacve good drivability off corners and you are not bleeding aero off the car to compensate for lack of grunt.

IMO Renault will get better by the time they are back in Europe and by Spain RBR, well Dan will be pushing for second best with Ferrari. Williams are still a bit of a mystert at present and need to see what Bottas can do with a clean weekend. Poor Massa is still the guy that always gets tyres stuck in his wing, bad pitsop, gets put on his lid etc

[mad082]

I've heard theories that the Renault engines are something like 80hp down on power compared to the mercs. That's a pretty substantial difference. And during the prerace show of the melbourne gp, I'm pretty sure that it was when they were taking the tour of the merc offices in the UK old mate toto was saying that they reckoned they'd found nearly a second of pace compared to last year's car. I doubt any of the others found half as much, so the gap just widened.

Oh and Dan Ricciardo came into work today....

[Nee-san]

Lol...but they cant do as good a job. Combination of money and technical resources....the limited opportunity to develop, test and implement due to testing restrictions and homologation of parts etc.

No doubt Mercedes gave done a good job. If they were miles ahead in an area of the car other teams could develop like aero or composite materials/weight...wheel or brake rech etc ..then get lifting boys.

But the engine freeze sinks that as an option.

They get a bandaid and have to develop an engine they only get 4 of for the season....its BS

Homologation and reduction in testing and modification has never and will never produce the desired outcomes of reduced cost and increased parity, it simply "locks in" the current performance disparity.

[Nee-san]

Looks like another year of...

Edited March 23, 2015 by Nee-san

[Roy]

I've heard theories that the Renault engines are something like 80hp down on power compared to the mercs. That's a pretty substantial difference. And during the prerace show of the melbourne gp, I'm pretty sure that it was when they were taking the tour of the merc offices in the UK old mate toto was saying that they reckoned they'd found nearly a second of pace compared to last year's car. I doubt any of the others found half as much, so the gap just widened.

Oh and Dan Ricciardo came into work today....

Wait and see I guess...but as always I am expecting Horner is sooking and making things out to be worse than they really are.

Testing wasnt as bad as Melbourne and that seems to support the argument that Renault were under a load of pressure to take a punt in Melbourne with an upgrade that wasnt fully tested and ready for a race weekend. So RBR may have played a part in wishing the risk upon themselves

I understand Renault were in Austria using extra dyno resources in conjunction with their own dynos getting the miles and hours on the drivability etc.

It seems maybe Bahrain, but more likely Spain we will see where Renault are at

[hrd-hr30]

Ferrari were even slower in a straight line than Renault last year and claim to have made 70bhp over the winter while still saving 10 of their 32 tokens. Their car is now the fastest in the speed traps - obviously a mix of drag and power, but they're not exactly hurting for power now and are more than a match for Williams.

Renault made up heaps of ground during last season. By the end they were about 40bhp down from what I read. Renault claim to have gained over 50bhp since the Barcellona test while saving 12 tokens for a mid-season upgrade. They have the most tokens up their sleeve. The problems with power and driveablitiy at Melbourne they're blame on the software. They can fix that without using tokens from my understanding. So they should be able to unleash that extra power they have up their sleeves as soon as they sort out the software gremlins. That should put them in the game with Ferrari and Williams. Then they have the most tokens left of anyone to upgrade during the season on top of that... But I doubt they'll catch Mercedes in race pace because the Merc's aero performance and fuel economy is just too good IMO. Alan Jones would be on your side that RBR have the best chassis though - if that makes you feel any better.. hehe

Mercedes also claim to have made 50bhp over winter. Seems to be the magic number... Who knows how true any of these claims are, but it's all we've got to go on. But they claim their real strength is in high speed corners now.

Edited March 23, 2015 by hrd-hr30