Official 2014 Russian Grand Prix Thread ***Spoilers***

I think the venue idea is quite neat.. but the actual layout seems to be a mishmash of Abu Dhabi and Valenica. But at least some of the corners present an off camber challenge.

Kyvat did a very good job, top red bull sponsored driver and a strong P5.

But Bottas had me out of my seat... Damn but that was exciting, he came within a hairs breadth of taking that pole. It didn't come off, but Williams loves a driver who gives it a go and he gave it a DAMNED good go. It was almost Montoyaesque.

I really thought Bottas had that one in the bag. Would have been good on him.

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

Awesome performance by Kyvat on a very non-Renault track.

Hamilton laid down a very firm marker on Rosberg, who looked in a decent enough place until it started mattering.

Bottas look very decent and with the low tyre wear here they might, just might, give Rosberg a headache tomorrow. I think Hamilton is beyond him though. Shame for Massa, but he should give us some entertainment coming through.

The run down to turn 2 will be interesting. Possibly only Monza and Barcelona with a longer run from lights to brakes?

Good for Lewis, gutted for Bottas who was almost for the first F1 pole to take these Mercs out, and yeah I've seen Massa also gutted while he had some problems and also Vettel really good suprise to see him out of Q2 because of poor performance that he was expected to be better in Q3. Unfortunately he gets beaten by Toro Rossos.

Vettel, such a team player... as long as it is to the benefit of team Vettel!

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

That was all horribly amateurish from Rosberg (again). Did very nicely to recover so well while keeping his tyres alive (even if they were made out of rocks).

First few laps were chaos and very close.

Other than that I could just keep my finger on the Z key.

An almost typical 'flap' by Rosberg into turn 1, but a genuinely impressive recovery drive. However, on win count alone Hamilton deserves the championship more now.

Nice to see Bottas back on the podium again, you can sense the frustration in him that the Mercs are just too far ahead, and the last lap fastest lap was a small glory to take away from them. Seeing him power slide over the line reminded me of his qualify lap.

Decent weekend by Mclaren, at one stage it even looked like Button was going to hang onto Bottas. Also the cleanest race I've seen from Magussen for a while.

Massa was disappointing, the strategy was a gamble but he really should have been able to score points with the car he has even from the lowly starting position. He was doing well for a while but then got stuck behind Perez and simply didn't have an answer for it.

As for Perez, given he was constantly being harassed by his engineer to save fuel, he did well to keep Massa at bay.. so a feather in his cap there.

J i m Wrote:
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> Decent weekend by Mclaren, at one stage it even
> looked like Button was going to hang onto Bottas.
> Also the cleanest race I've seen from Magussen for
> a while.

Might have been due to the fact, that he was in fuel saving mode after the initial skirmishes had been dealt with. That left him without opportunity to advance, and with enough from the car to keep distance from those behind. This aggressive early fuel consumption was needed to compensate for the gearbox penalty. He had a small fuel feed problem in qualifying, and that was the cause of him setting a slower lap in Q3 than he did in Q2. If that little problem hadn't been there, he would have qualified in front of Button.

Also, did anyone else notice how Rosberg pushed Bottas off the track at the end of the start/finish straight, and Vergne and Kvyat had a similar episode? Surely, he cannot complain about the Bahrain incident after that. And it's kind of weird that no investigations took place, when that was priced at 5 seconds in Monza.

And speaking of Rosberg, how the hell did he go so fast on those mediums? It looked like he could have done a zero stop race on those and still be competitive!

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



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/2014 07:17PM by Morbid.

They shouldn't have bothered painting those white lines on the edge of the track, nobody took any notice of them. Pretty much every driver had all 4 wheels off the track at some point. Vettel, Vergne and Kimi seemed to be doing it a lot (as in every lap), but the others weren't far behind. They need to do something about that. Back in the day that would have cost you a lot of time or maybe even a retirement. Now everybody does it and nothing happens. Its happening more and more, but was much more obvious today.

The race itself wasn't anything special, didn't like the fact they made such a big deal of Putin being there, and having him in the drivers room at the end was totally unnecessary.

To end on a positive note, Bo77as was awesome, he could be championship contender material next year if Williams can squeeze a bit more out that car.

As expected boring race once the first few laps were over.

Nico made a stupid error he should have waited.

Great recovery drive however but the merc really has got a huge advantage.

Not really much to add as not much happened.

Lewis deserves this title nico is good but he's a good number two like dc and Rubens were.

Comment of the race for me: "Surely Rosberg, with his square front tyres, needs to give that place back."
I've generally built up a tolerance to Martin Brundle's deadpan sarcasm and just smile at most of his comments, but that got a big LOL. :D
I also liked his description of Nico's need to "coerce and massage" his 2nd set of tyres if he was going to make them last the distance. As it turned out, he obviously massaged that 2nd set as if they were a pair of boobs.

Nico was at his best on that recovery drive through the field, and at his worst for the reason he was doing one in the first place.

Immaculate drive from Lewis, even if he was never pushed, and dream race for him - as well as winning, he got to have a cruisey afternoon and put minimal stress on his power unit at a critical stage of the season. Perfect.

All in all, this track has proved to be surprisingly decent compared with what I expected. Several of the corners were surprisingly tricky and races were less boring than I was thinking they'd be.

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a bit late i know, but it's annnoyed me how the media and many people (here and people i've met in person) have said what a good "recovery" drive Nico did. he had no disadvanrage whatsoever when he pitted, he was literally right behind Lewis as he entered the pits. it's not as if he span, lost a wing, got a puncture or otherwise, and dropped to the back of the field with a huge time loss, then had to fight back. his car was so fast he didn't have to push the tyres, therefore easily being able to manage their life to the end, while still catching and passing all the other cars. Pirelli's conservatism really helped him here.

all in all Lewis surely deserves the title with more than double Nico's wins at this stage, hopefully the double points won't mess it up and give Nico the title. Lewis has mostly outdriven Nico and Nico's cracked a couple of times.

and while it was a relatively dull race, some of those fast corners looked awesome with the low camera angles from the rear of the cars.

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RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2014 06:58PM by Muks_C.

Hamilton's cracked a few times too, but I can't remember him doing it in a race, and he's generally recovered well. Rosberg's errors have been more cringeworthy, while Hamilton's have been more "dude, WTF?".

But you're right, Hamilton has undoubtedly been better than Rosberg this season. Rosberg has made a good fist of it, but when it ultimately came down to it, he's cracked trying.

Let's keep in mind that Hamilton's been here before a few times himself though (and indeed he cracked trying too), and if they've both got the clear car advantage again next year, then it might be a harder, cleaner battle.

I would love it if Rosberg snatched the title...just because it would piss so many people off. Which is as good a reason as any.

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

Incident 2k9 Wrote:
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> I would love it if Rosberg snatched the
> title...just because it would piss so many people
> off. Which is as good a reason as any.


Indeed. But on win count... And wheel to wheel combat Hamilton has earned this year over Rosberg now.

The tracks coming up now really have been Lewis tracks in the past and last year when Nico was his team mate.

Lewis has never had the best of luck in Brazil, well apart from the year he won the title, but hes always been fast there. The Merc engine should have a big advantage there though.

I actually have a feeling it could near enough be over before the final race tbh.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/2014 03:13PM by marcl.

Quote
Incident 2k9
just because it would piss so many people off

It would be hilarious watching the British-biased forums (and media to a lesser extent) explode, but it would be a shame if either of them snatched it because of the double-points rules. While it's the same rules for everyone in one way, it would mean that Bernie had won, which nobody wants!

Double points or not, Rosberg could win all the remaining races and he would still have fewer wins than Hamilton this year. Since Monza onwards Hamilton has regained the momentum. Rosberg was unlucky at Singapore but at Monza, Suzuka and Sochi he rolled over onto his back and wilted too easily.

I'd like it very much if Rosberg won the championship but over the balance of the year Hamilton has been better.

Had we used the orig system Bernie wanted of gold medals etc Lewis would be champ already!

Nico has impressed me this year thats for sure but he has only finshed ahead in races where Lewis has either had a problem in quali or the race he has not once passed him and kept the place.

Muks_C Wrote:
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> a bit late i know, but it's annnoyed me how the
> media and many people (here and people i've met in
> person) have said what a good "recovery" drive
> Nico did.

What's with the inverted commas? It WAS a recovery drive. 21st to 2nd is a good recovery IMO, regardless of what car you're driving. And badly-flatspotted front tyres are a pretty major disadvantage too. Just because he pitted before the disadvantage had a chance to show, didn't mean he didn't have one. (Admittedly a self-inflicted disadvantage, but a disadvantage nevertheless.)
So, necessary pit stop, meaning he had to climb back up through the field.

And yeah, on balance Lewis has done more to deserve the title so far, but if Nico can dig deep and find another gear in these last 3 races coming up, to the extent where he can snatch it, he'd be a worthy Champion too.

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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/2014 07:19PM by EC83.