The 2015 Formula One Season

Looking at the top speeds yesterday, power-wise Ferrari look much stronger than last year - not far from on par with Mercedes, but Mercedes are whipping them on the track. Rosberg earlier overtook Vettel and gapped him by the length of the S/F straight... in five laps. Fuel loads unknown of course, but unless there were a sprinkling of constant speed runs for Vettel, there's no way they're within a second of Mercedes.

Edit: Looks like Manor will be confirmed on the entry list later today. If they've passed all the crash tests and got a car ready for Melbourne they need a trophy of their own. That's a remarkable effort. They didn't even have a factory nor tools (or staff?) at one point.

I still think they'll struggle to make the 107% mark, but irrespective I think they're done wonders just to turn up.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2015 11:57AM by gav.

Yeah I cannot see them making the 107% but that does not mean much tbh as long as they are not miles away from it. Interested to know who the second driver will be, you could say any driver going there will be mad. I always thought they done a good job with the budget they had.

Ferrari also had an engine that used a lot more fuel and this could still be what is holding them back.

Quote
marcl
Interested to know who the second driver will be, you could say any driver going there will be mad.

Bianchi's stock just kept on rising, Alonso was clearly a star in the Minardi and sitting in the HRT didn't do Ricciardo any harm .

That said, I didn't think he was especially impressive at HRT, hence why I'm not yet convinced he's as good as some feel, and why I think it was more Vettel having a poor season than Ricciardo simply just pummelling him.

Looks like all Force India have done is make changes to last years car like Manor are having to do.

Wow Nico R put on softs 1:22.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2015 05:22PM by marcl.

marcl Wrote:
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> Looks like all Force India have done is make
> changes to last years car like Manor are having to
> do.

I didn't know you had x-ray vision...tell me all about how they kept everything under the skin the same...

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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

I was talking about the outside of the car, from the pictures I saw it did not look much different apart from the front.

They have said it will change a lot when they get back to the Europe races.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/27/2015 06:52PM by marcl.

Time to add Manor Marussia to the OP [www.fia.com]

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GPGSL -
GPGSL-3 - Pizza Party Racing manager and driver
Nations Cup - Team Scotland manager

gav Wrote:
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> Edit: Looks like Manor will be confirmed on the
> entry list later today. If they've passed all the
> crash tests and got a car ready for Melbourne they
> need a trophy of their own. That's a remarkable
> effort. They didn't even have a factory nor tools
> (or staff?) at one point.
>
> I still think they'll struggle to make the 107%
> mark, but irrespective I think they're done
> wonders just to turn up.

There's still a few hurdles to clear, but it's clear that it will be a fully 2015 spec car as following Force India's spanner in the works they've been denied permission to run the 2014 car with it being a condition that they run a fully 2015 legal car from the start.

They've booked the crash test one day before having to freight the car out to Melbourne which at this stage is cutting things incredibly fine, but considering that effectively did not have a team at all for a few weeks, and that they've using Manor's facilities across Dinington and Silverstone it's remarkable that they think they'll get the car put together and pass the crash test in time for Melbourne.

It's been an heroic effort. Assuming they make it they're definitely my favourite team after Williams.

I don't know if they'll manage to get the car fired up before freighting off to Melbourne, and FP1 is likely to be the first time the car runs if they get it put together in time (shades of Hispania in 2010). But they'll be using last year's Ferrari powertrain, so at least that part ought to be reliable.

Heck if it qualifies it could out last the McLaren

I think they can afford to miss 2 or 3 races without penalty if needs be.

Quote
J i m
Heck if it qualifies it could out last the McLaren

I think if they get there they'll out last McLaren in qualifying.

They can miss up to 3 races. So, they could possibly afford up to 6 more weeks before they have to be ready.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2015 10:12PM by EC83.

It seems Manor can certainly be added to the list now. They say they're racing in Australia, so have presumably passed the crash tests.

Manor Marussia F1 Team added to P1

Two of my colleagues are in Australia already and the Manor freight arrived in Melbourne late last night.

Chuffed to see Manor/Marussia back on the grid.

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions

Spain's Roberto Merhi named as second driver for Manor Marussia F1 Team!

Stevens and Merhi have chosen #28 and #98 respectively.

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GPGSL -
GPGSL-3 - Pizza Party Racing manager and driver
Nations Cup - Team Scotland manager

Giedo van der Garde has won his legal case against Sauber and the court has ruled he must drive in Australia

[richlandf1.com]

Edit: Sauber has launched an appeal to be heard this afternoon (Oz)

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Races: 163 - Wins: 23 - Pole Positions: 24 - Fastest Laps: 22
Season 9: Constructors' Champions



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2015 02:52AM by Ferrari2007.

smoglessbutton4 Wrote:
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> Stevens and Merhi have chosen #28 and #98
> respectively.

What are the odds of Hulkenberg and Stevens being teammates at Ferrari?

Regarding the van der Garde thing, its clear that Sauber didnt do their homework good. Im assuming they wont put in Melbourne a 2-seater car so either Nasr or Ericsson will be kicked out, and given this antecedent they will probabky sue sauber too. Monisha should step down I think, its a serious mistake, and an awful way to attract sponsors...





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2015 05:12AM by Frantic.

I assume Monisha did what she had to do to ensure/prolong the survival of the team. As a team boss, you don't take pay drivers unless you have to, and while van der Garde did bring some, I guess Ericsson brought more (clearly Nasr did).

It must be a horrible situation there and while it's a nasty way of doing things, I can't help but feel for every party involved.

Gav, whilst I mostly agree with you, Sauber should not be in this situation. It's bad man management to have 4 drivers thinking they have deals, when only two of them do. Sauber should have took the necessary steps to cancel (legally) Sutil's and Van der Garde's contract, before signing two new drivers. Now they are in an even worse situation through all the bad publicity and loss of money that they don't have. Unfortunately Monisha, as the decision maker, is to blame so she should go. She clearly is not competent enough for the role.

It's quite ironic really, Monish is supposed to be the legal expert... but Sauber has now found itself in the mother of all legal screw ups.