Official 2014 Singapore Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS in the form of mahoosive 90s double-decker rear wings***

The amount of money distributed through the championships make this extremely unlikely. Also, if it was orchestrated, teams would NOT go bankrupt when they failed to get results.

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/21/2014 04:49PM by Morbid.

Actually an open cockpit is an open cockpit, and I was joking anyway, hence the smiley. Nevermind.

Awesome charge by Vergne at the end. He seemed to work his way past the Bottas train quicker than those queues usually get lapped! Great performance, not seen one like that for a while.

---

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/2014 07:40PM by EC83.

thank you Morbid.I told her that and she said: " why do we assume that what gets orchestrated is always set up by the suffering party (the team that bears the consequences)?".

Indeed, cars get into par ferme and anything can be done on them by fia bodies whatsoever.

@ mitadumapaga - yeah.... she is just f@cking with you now, and has flipped the burden of proof on you. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. If she can't produce it, then she has no case.

EC83 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Awesome charge by Vergne at the end. He seemed to
> work his way past the Bottas train quicker than
> those queues usually get lapped! Great
> performance, not seen one like that for a while.

That was crazy! They should tell him more often that he has a penalty!

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

There is plenty controversy enough in F1, but I don't believe that race throwing, fixing, pre-determined car failures are rife. This is not WWF wrestling or anything like that.

I think the media have over glorified Hamilton's victory, it was a accomplished as you would expect but as soon as Rosberg was out of the running it was always his race, and the safety car strategy dice throw was never going to be a threat to him, especially not when he could pull out 2.5 seconds a lap at will.

Fair result for Vettel, but another stellar effort by Ricciardo to carry that ERS problem and still finish on Vettel's tail. Alonso perhaps should have been P2, but Red Bull played the strategy on the safety car well.

Decent drive by Massa I thought, he looked pretty racy even if he did think he was he was driving like his grandma, this seemed to be first race for ages that he pulled off multiple overtakes.

Shame for Bottas, overshadowed by Massa today in all fairness, apparently he was carrying some steering issues and tyre wear woes, so to be within half a lap of fending of Perez etc was pretty galling, but to keep that train of quicker cars for behind as long as he did was impressive.

Good finish by Vergne, he made it hard for himself with those penalties for exceeding track limits but for once he pulled his finger out.

Bad luck for Button, but he needs a few tidy weekends now. He can't afford too many more weekends where he's basically outpaced by Magnussen when the team are so openly looking to replace him.

i think it was an impressive drive by hamilton. he pulled a gap when he needed to and he passed vettel fair & square.

i would kill to see how he would have coped with the situation had he rejoined behind ricciardo, though, even better, behind alonso.

Now I believe, it is all fair between nico and lewis in terms of reliability problems. from now on it will be head2head and the pressure will become no less for either.

On another note, yesterday in qualy I was all shaky in the last runs for hamilton and nico- burried in 6th and 7th respectively. To see how they cope with the pressure and make fantastic laps is just great. It made me realize what psyche and nerves those guys have. And as hakkinen said it in 1999 "everything comes down to nerves".

Magnussen suffered some kind of overheating issue in the cockpit and the seat. Yhe water in the drink bottle become so warm that it burned his lips while drinking. He was missing from the traditional post race interviews because he had to recieve treatment for dehydration and cramps.

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

very interesting:

Q: Could the cause be the team radio regulation changes, as they also meant changes to the dashboard?
NR: I indeed made changes to my dashboard but I doubt that this is the reason - but then who knows.


rosberg will be stunned if he finds out that he caused the problem himself.

Quote
mitadumapaga
rosberg will be stunned if he finds out that he caused the problem himself.

That's not what he meant. They changed some things on the wheel (likely just display options and a couple of button remaps). What he's referring to is whether the wires connecting it all up weren't plugged in correctly to reflect the changes they made.

Other than Rosberg's issues the first 2/3 of that race was very undramatic. Sutil (somehow unpenalised for that) livened it up.

Hamilton did a good job to overcome the lead he lost with the safety car, but it's clear the other cars were cruising, trying to make the end.

Perez and Vergne (particularly) made impressive jobs of slicing through the slower cars.

gav schrieb:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > rosberg will be stunned if he finds out that he
> caused the problem himself.
>
>
> That's not what he meant. They changed some
> things on the wheel (likely just display options
> and a couple of button remaps). What he's
> referring to is whether the wires connecting it
> all up weren't plugged in correctly to reflect the
> changes they made.
>

thanks Gav. The way I interpreted it initially was that nico himself had changed some settings on the dashboard (e.g. on the install lap) and eventually the problems occured. I would have loved to see how he does through the field tbh. What you say makes much more sense, though.

on another note, after watching British or German f1-coverages for the past few years, I switched to American coverage and must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it - on CBSN TV or something like that. It was really cool to listen to UNBIASED, professional commentators (David Hobbs and another guy from the former SPEED TV). Although you would inevitably expect that a German/ British coverage will have sympathy for their own drivers, it kind of gets annoying at one point - unless you are a hamilton, button, rosberg or vettel fanatic.

Unfortunately, the American coverage had a huge drawback, namely, ad breaks every 5-7 laps. And the whole SC-period was filled with a huge ad break.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/22/2014 11:13AM by mitadumapaga.

When the problem is the wiring, as it was found to be, there isn't much Rosberg could have done. And it is hard to see how he could have caused that. It's the team that has problems with quality control, just as Hamilton has felt it on his car earlier in the season.


mitadumapaga Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Although you would
> inevitably expect that a German/ British coverage
> will have sympathy for their own drivers, it kind
> of gets annoying at one point - unless you are a
> hamilton, button, rosberg or vettel fanatic.

It gets pretty annoying in Danish too. The non-racing driver commentator that interrupts veteran John Nielsen to expressed agitated excitement when Magnussen clocks the fastest lap 15 minutes into FP is pretty vexing. But I do enjoy the priority access they have to him. Speaking of which, Magnussen had to be treated for minor burn wounds as well. Damn that car must have been running hot!

> Unfortunately, the American coverage had a huge
> drawback, namely, ad breaks every 5-7 laps. And
> the whole SC-period was filled with a huge ad
> break.

That would sum up Danish broadcasting too, although there are a few less ad breaks, and they try to pick good spots for them.

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

OMG. and all this for a mere 1 point. guy has balls, no doubt about that.

btw. Rsoberg's retirements this season have all been so agonizing, that I thought itwould be awesome to have a youtube clip which shows highlights of them. I mean, in silvestone the guy was driving for minutes before turning the engine off. He even parked aside and tried to get repushed. This scene is so stucked in my memory - the unmovable mercedes in the field, with low reving engine and the agony of rosberg inside.

then, singapore - i guess there is no need to explain here. from the lack of inforamtion on the wheel, to the standstill on the formation lap and push to the pit exit (imagine how that must have felt), to the jumping gears, to the radio problems, to the agonizing drive withouth ERS DRS etc. and finally to the "nico, you will have no pit limiter in the pits" and finally to his desperate look at lewis during lewis's final stop.

American coverage? Well very occasionally they interrupt the adverts for a couple of minutes of racing but not very often.

J i m Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> American coverage? Well very occasionally they
> interrupt the adverts for a couple of minutes of
> racing but not very often.

LoL, true!

In sports like American football and baseball, they fix it by putting all sorts of breaks into the action, so you don't miss that many plays. Perhaps this could be a new idea for Bernie? Oh right, standing restarts on full course yellows....

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.

To be fair, I don't think the standing start will cause that much of a delay. They shouldn't need all the gizmos brought onto the grid - just instead of dropping back and getting a gap to the safety car, they'll line up on the grid, get the lights and go.

If they do the whole tyre warmers, brake warmers, formation lap, etc, then it's utterly retarded. Otherwise I'm not too fussed.

Somewhat amusingly (for now) it is less safe than a safety car restart though.

i talked to a friend (who is also kinda pro-rosberg for the title) and we discussed how probably hamilton will walk over because he is simply the faster driver and in a calm place now. And my friend added that also the only people cheering for rosberg are me, my friend, and rosberg's girlfirend :DDD

although exaggerated, this statement kinda feels pretty close to reality. on saturday the crowd cheered for ricciardo when he snatched pole, then it was fairly quiet once nico crossed the line, and a HUUGE cheer for hamilton.

Despite never having been there, I get the impression Singapore is quite popular with the Brits, so I'm not reading too much into the crowd here. And Ricciardo is just popular full stop (partly his personality, partly fans enjoying him beating Vettel - despite the two of them having quite a similar jovial demeanor before Vettel started winning everything).

Still, I think the world is against Rosberg at the moment, and somewhat unfairly. He messed up at Spa, but even before the admission to not let Hamilton stamp all over him on track, the crowd were booing him, and I thought that was unfair. It was a calamity for the team, but are we really going to boo a driver for misjudging a situation now? It just so happens they're at the front, but Vettel wasn't booed at all for wiping Button out at Spa in far worse circumstances.

It's fair to say Rosberg hasn't coped well with the pressure this season though somehow I can only recall him losing 7 points out of it (finishing 2nd at Spa, which he might well have done ultimately anyway). He's looked faster and should have overtaken Hamilton at 2 races (Bahrain and the first couple of laps at Spa - he had DRS the next lap too) but took Hamilton out in one and was perhaps unfairly pushed off by Hamilton in the other - either way, in neither did Rosberg come off well.

(Spain doesn't count as equal cars on a similar pace generally can't overtake there, even with DRS).

Monaco was weird. I think he locked his rear wheels and genuinely made a mistake (and apparently his data backs this up), but his actions afterwards were odd. In qualifying, knowing you're on your last lap, would you really immediately select reverse and make your way back on track into the path of your peers? The yellows would have been waving anyway, but it was still an odd action. He's an extremely intelligent guy - that is indisputable - but either he's utterly rubbish at thinking on his feet and panicked or he tried to ensure he salvaged something from the situation by spoiling Hamilton's lap.

Ultimately I think Rosberg is being hated for having better reliability than Hamilton thus far, and the fickle Brits still thinking he's being favoured by the team. Where's the rolleyes smiley?

gav Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To be fair, I don't think the standing start will
> cause that much of a delay. They shouldn't need
> all the gizmos brought onto the grid - just
> instead of dropping back and getting a gap to the
> safety car, they'll line up on the grid, get the
> lights and go.
>
> If they do the whole tyre warmers, brake warmers,
> formation lap, etc, then it's utterly retarded.
> Otherwise I'm not too fussed.
>
> Somewhat amusingly (for now) it is less safe than
> a safety car restart though.

I don't think that they would put all the gear onto the grid either, making the process only about a minute longer (slow approach to the line, waiting for everyone to slot in and then lights) than the rolling restart. But the standing start is the situation of the entire race, that is most likely to spawn contact and the need for another safety car, as it is a mad scramble until the grid settles into places that they can reasonably defend. Thus, the reasoning, standing restarts will tend to spawn more standing restarts = more room for ad breaks.

As to Rosberg, you are right that the crowd at Spa didn't know of him saying that he wanted to prove a point. But the later crowds do, and there is no way to erase that. I find it entirely possible, that a lot of people think that he did prove a point at Spa, but that he did so with his comment. So he ended up proving an entirely different point than he intended, and that is a major cause for his lack of popularity now.

---

It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2014 06:23PM by Morbid.

i know that there are many other drivers and interesting topics around f1, but since no one else starts them, i will keep going on with the one that is most interesting for me.

[www.youtube.com]

"there is much worse than that that can happen".................well it did.

rosebrg has always been disliked. i can remember how no one even assumed that NOT schumacher was a complete turtle on the track, but rather nico was faster. When you think how easily the media praises drivers, well, beating MS in the same car for 3 years running, should had given the media and fans something else to talk about rather than keep pounding how mihcael was past it. I still cannot explain myself how is it possible to praise hulkenberg and perez and even DI RESTA at one point for finishing 4th and fifths and not to praise how good a job rosberg was doing, especially in 2010. Same goes to daniil kvyat. what is all the fuzz around him? he has three times fewer points than jev, and still, will be kept at the team and jev trashed. And btw. vergne outscored ricciardo in 2012 too. I am respecting the team decision, maybe they know something we do not, but still, looking how good ricciardo is now, must praise jev a little bit. plus, the French drivers who have raced in f1 lately have all been good ( grosjean, JEV)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/2014 07:57PM by mitadumapaga.