F1 2014: Year of the Six

onesecondglance

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I get where you're coming from, but I also get the objection to drivers being told "downshift early in turn four". It's their job to work that stuff out.

Messages about "you're not going fast enough" or "you're using too much fuel" are fine in my book and exactly what the pit crew and strategists are there for. It's a team sport so it's only fair to let the teams work as such.

Hopefully Charlie will instil some sense in the stewards regarding how to enforce the rules. The general principle seems fairly solid, but if it's enforced too harshly we'll go from one silly extreme to another.


In other news, first Formula E race this morning in Beijing. I'm just about to settle down and watch it. Our old friend Bruno Senna was fastest in practice! First time I think I've ever written that sentence... :D
 

KellyAssauer

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*adds small screen to steering wheel*

*texts fuel-usage message to screen*

*waves finger at Charlie*


Radios.
Wow.
When were they invented?
and the FIA just now discovered them?
Just wait until next year when they ban 8-track stereos.

*rolls eyes*
 

TedTheewen

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I guess the lesson this week was simple--Vettel blames the car for his lack of winning, not his driving style and how it doesn't seem to go well with the current setups.

I'm a Seb fan, but this just doesn't seem right. Then again, it does give me an excuse to pay through the nose for a Ferrari flag that will probably cost as much as my entire car is worth.
 

DreamWeaver

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Got up this morning, made tea, fed the dogs & cats, let said dogs out, then settled down to watch qualifying on the DVR.

:eek:

Vettel leaving Red Bull, rumored to Ferrari (yeah, TedTheewen, I hear you about that flag ;) ), Alonso rumored to McLaren, Kvyat to Red Bull. Evidently Alonso did something at McLaren before that cost them a huge $100 million fine? But everyone expects he's going back there anyway. Damn, F1 really thrives on drama...

And since I haven't been paying attention to the rumor mill, does this mean Button is screwed?
 

onesecondglance

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Yeah, he's likely to be the fall guy. It's a shame - I was hoping he'd get another outing with Honda, but never mind.

Most likely scenario is:
Vettel to Ferrari (basically confirmed by Red Bull)
Kyvat in at Red Bull (confirmed)
Alonso to McLaren
Button retires
Carlos Sainz Jr goes to Toro Rosso

Part of me wonders if there isn't a scenario where Kimi retires (again) and Alonso stays at Ferrari another year, then moves to McLaren in 2016 (i.e. let someone else get through any teething issues with the Honda engines).

DW - yeah, there's bad blood between Ron Dennis and Alonso. As in, it will be a real turn up for the books if Alonso goes there. But looking probable now!
 

KellyAssauer

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Wow. Just Wow. To think I had a hard time accepting Alonzo at Big Red...

Makes me wonder if Gutierrez, Sutil, or possibly de Sivestro (yes!) will replace Kimi...
 

DreamWeaver

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All they mentioned about Kimi is that he's getting paid ten million euros next year. Is there something else I should know? ;)
 

DreamWeaver

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So, I get up this morning and turn on the DVR to find F1 full of drama. First they throw out the possibility that Alonso may be signing a contract with Honda and *not* with Ron Dennis.

Then we have the typhoon and the sponsors' decision not to run the race early to avoid the worst of the weather. They've been stopping & starting and running behind the safety car--and now at least one driver is out with a car that won't restart, without ever having driven a racing lap. Wow.

ETA: OMG. No. No. No. Going to the internet for an update.
ETA: Prayers and healing energy going out to Bianchi, his family and his team. Evidently he's in surgery now.
ETA: L'Equipe reports Bianchi is out of surgery and is *not* on life support. I hope that's true; it would be a very good sign.
 
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DreamWeaver

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I'm finding a German news report [ETA: thisisf1.com cites Radio Monte Carlo] that Jules will be having a second operation to address bleeding, and that he is now intubated and on a respirator.

This is all so sad.
 
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TedTheewen

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This is upsetting. I used to work at a race track years ago. It was a dirt track for stock car racing but the emotions are the same.

We can spend millions upon millions on safety protocols but all of that is totally worthless when human error is applied. That tractor should have been gone or the cars should not have been on the track. Somebody screwed up.

One of the worst crashes I'd ever seen was made worse because the driver made his own roll cage and didn't get the welds right. He had gotten the metal too hot so the bonds weren't as strong as they needed to be. The result was the roll cage was sitting in his lap when his car finally came to a stop.

The entire crowd was silent. Nobody screamed or anything. All you heard was his throttle stuck wide open as a track worker reached in and disconnected it, then waved frantically for the ambulance to come.

We all thought we had just watched somebody die.

Another driver involved with the crash was fine. His family thought he was seriously hurt or worse. They went to the gate and were all crying. His kids were terrified and his wife was almost too shocked to walk. When they saw him, they were happy, but when he saw how scared they were he broke down right there. He had no idea how terrifying his racing had been for them.
 

onesecondglance

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They need to look at why the tractor was there. People crash in motorsport and nothing is ever going to change that, regardless of the conditions on track. But you can make sure there isn't a hazard in the way.
 

DreamWeaver

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Hindsight is 20/20, but recent experience (as in a couple of minutes earlier) had shown that corner was a place someone was likely to come off the track and crash. So of all the spots a crane might be, right in a proven hazard track would seem to be the worst.

Now, they do say the marshals were waving double yellow flags, but the visibility was so bad I can't imagine that was doing much good.

Friday I was driving home at dusk when unexpectedly a driving rainstorm hit. The situation was definitely white-knuckle. At times I couldn't see twenty feet in front of me, and I could definitely see nothing off the side of the road. I kept going because it was the only option--nowhere safe to pull off, and if I went too slow some idiot would rear-end me. When I think of those conditions, I wonder if the yellow flags at that corner in Suzuka were utterly worthless.

Update: the most recent news I've seen is that Jules' parents have arrived at the hospital.

ETA: Fan video of the accident has surfaced on You Tube. I don't recommend it (it's not gory, but it *is* shocking) but after seeing it I'd have to say the accident was like many aircraft accidents I've read safety reports on: many, many small things had to come together and all go wrong in just the exact way, for this to happen. Changing any one of those things might have prevented the accident (or, to be fair, made it worse by also injuring marshals). But none of them other than the presence of the crane and the weather conditions, seem to have been actively dangerous-looking.

ETA: FOM apparently have or are trying to get the video pulled from You Tube, but it's been picked up by too many other sites. It's like Pandora's Box--once it's opened, there's no putting everything back.

ETA: Somewhat off topic, but as a student of languages I normally embrace learning new vocabulary. However, I am not pleased to be getting a vocabulary lesson in all sorts of different ways to express "horrifying" in French, Spanish, Portuguese and German on Twitter, due to this incident.
 
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Perks

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It's unlikely that Bianchi will recover to anything like his former self. HIs family has revealed that he suffered a diffuse axonal injury. 90% of patients with that diagnosis never even regain consciousness.

Damn.
 

KellyAssauer

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There's all sorts of 'experts' weighing in now on Bianchi's chances of recovery. Ferarri has sent Michael's doctor/team on to Japan to consult. We can speculate, but what it comes down to now is the severity and Jules himself.

The 'thing' that gets me... is all those crazy tiny little details that had to line up for this to happen the way it did. It's a dumbfounding (to me) set of circumstances, nearly impossible for me to fathom. Something really good has to come out of all of this. It just has to.
 

onesecondglance

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Dull race today. Pirelli misjudged it - not sure why they didn't send their fella to check the tarmac as usual? political reasons? Either way, it shouldn't have been possible for Rosberg to do all but one lap on a single set of tyres (and look like he could keep going for a long time still).

Great result for my boys in McLaren to go clear of Force India in the Constructors. Over at Williams, Bottas is still my star of the season - another strong drive from him.

Interestingly, in five of the eleven teams, one of their drivers has scored more than twice as many points as their teammate:

Williams (Bottas 145, Massa 71)
Ferrari (Alonso 141, Raikkonen 47)
Toro Rosso (Vergne 21, Kvyat 8)
Lotus (Grosjean 8, Maldonado 0)
Marussia (Bianchi 2, Chilton 0)

McLaren are pretty close (Button 94, Magnussen 49), but Kevin's strong result today has pulled him back in.
 
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williemeikle

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After today Hamilton is now equal with Nigel Mansell for most GP wins by a Brit - a record he should pass easily and take to heights that'll be hard for anyone to catch for a while.

(Having been a fan since the days of Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart I'm hoping for a new Scottish talent at some point. Coulthard never quite made it to the very top. )
 

Perks

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I only wish we could have heard Nico's response when they said "We're going to try to go to the end on these tire." ----- on lap 2.

Crazy, man. Crazy.
 

onesecondglance

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Bad times for the back end of the grid.

On a sporting level, I'll be gutted for Marussia if Sauber manage to steal ninth place while they're not around to defend it.

On a personal level, I really hope for everyone working in those teams that the administrators can find a way to save their jobs. A forlorn hope, perhaps. A shitty situation to be in.
 

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Congrats to Lewis, although I was really hoping for Rosberg to edge ahead.

Any idea why Mercedes advised Rosberg to pit with just a couple of laps left to do? That confused me.
 

DreamWeaver

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Congrats to Lewis, although I was really hoping for Rosberg to edge ahead.

Any idea why Mercedes advised Rosberg to pit with just a couple of laps left to do? That confused me.
Normally they would do that to save a failing car for the next race, but since there *was* no next race, it didn't make much sense. When there *is* a next race, there are some advantages to stopping rather than finishing the race in a broken-car situation, but I can't think of them at the moment. :D

ETA: Yay, Lewis! I felt bad that Rosberg couldn't give him a hell of a fight all the way to the finish, but...yay, Lewis!!!!!
 
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Perks

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Normally they would do that to save a failing car for the next race, but since there *was* no next race, it didn't make much sense. When there *is* a next race, there are some advantages to stopping rather than finishing the race in a broken-car situation, but I can't think of them at the moment. :D
That's what I was wondering. They made mention that Lewis was coming up to lap him and the more paranoid quadrant of my brain wondered if they were worried that Nico would take him out.