The 2014 Formula One Season

The other option Maldonado has is Sauber. He is said to have visited their factory. That could say something about the health of the Russian deal...

Indeed ... And it's not so fancible a notion that Sauber could field a Perez - Gutierrez line-up next year.

What's clear is that two worthy talents face being shuffled out of F1 by drivers with money and teams without it, and it also seems that I'm not the only one to have put Indycar, Ganassi, Franchitti retirement and Di Resta in the same sentence.

At any rate, silly season just got real.

So what's being said at the moment...?

Eddie Jordan is getting closer to being able to re-engage smug mode because it seems very likely that the Hulk will return to Force India alongside (it is now strongly rumored) Perez which would push the already pointlessly smug Sutil out... possibly to Sauber of all places where Sirotkin may or may not still make his F1 debut.

Meanwhile, Kovalainen's chances are said to have all but completely flopped, with his "nil point" at Lotus practically removing him from the running there and perhapps even from Caterham as well who are said to have signed up Ericsson who's apparently had a rummage beneath his sofa cushions and found some money.

Meanwhile Maldonaldo's "$$'$$$'$$$" are evermore likely to secure him the Lotus drive and Marussia's most consistently reliable (yet slowest) rookie ever Max Chilton might actually be out on his ear if McLaren manage to shoehorn Vandoorne into his seat though they didn't manage that for Magnussen so probably won't for Vandoorne either.

Vandoorne's likely to be headed towards GP2...

---

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

Word on the street is that Sauber may be selling the team due to a lack of rubles to an American group.

The driver market news has gone all quiet whilst Maldonaldo and Lotus look for the pen...

But there have been a flurry of Engineering moves..

Tom McCullough is leaving Sauber to go to Force India (perhaps with the Hulk).

Xevi Pujolar is leaving Williams to go to Toro Rosso.

Jakob Andreasen is leaving Force India to go to Williams.

It also said that Rob Smedley is leaving Ferrari to go to Williams, not as Felipe Baby's race engineer but as the new "factory based" Chief Engineer.

It seems I posted that minutes before the Lotus-Maldonaldo linkup was confirmed.

Quote

Lotus Team Principal Eric Boullier said: "It is clear that Pastor has pace and potential - demonstrated by his 2010 GP2 Series title success and then through strong races throughout his career at Williams F1 Team - and we are convinced that he will be able to provide the full financial investment to enable Romain to flourish regularly on track."

He added: "It is with great relief that we can formally confirm that Romain Grosjean will continue with Lotus F1 Team next season."

* I may have edited that quote tiny bit, but it probably rings true :P

I mentioned the news to one of my friends.

His reaction: "Anyone got a rope?"

---

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

That's the second time Maldonado's money has kept Hulkenberg from getting a seat. They must be the greatest friends.

Quote
Nickv
That's the second time Maldonado's money has kept Hulkenberg from getting a seat. They must be the greatest friends.

I'd be willing to spend a cheeky fiver betting that Force India, and Hulkenberg, finish ahead of Lotus in the constructors next year.

This, according to another forum, is supposedly a test unit of the Ferrari V6 1.6L turbo engine in a LaFerrari.





Now this is bad, very bad, as I'm expecting to need a drip to stay conscious for an entire race, as if the turbo engines sound even a little bit like that, I'm going to have several fluids seeping from my body every time a driver accelerates.

If you haven't reached for the hankies before 1:30, get them ready.

That sound is epic. Epic.

Not only that, Pirelli said they expect wheelspin up to 5th gear. @#$%& yeah.

wow, i didn't expect something like that. great

---

used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld

Hehehehehehehehehe

---

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

Amazing. That's everything we could've ever hoped for from this new engine. When it was first announced, I genuinely believed for that they would sound good, but I guess everyone else's negativity got to me and I resigned myself to thinking that it would sound feeble. Thanks for sharing that, Gav. Nice to be proven wrong.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You know you want to. [judgegrudge.mybrute.com]




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2013 12:21AM by flat tyre.

Lotus drivers confirmed! Romain and Pastor

for the sake of Lotus, i hope they don't do a 2011, lol

flat tyre Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Amazing. That's everything we could've ever hoped
> for from this new engine. When it was first
> announced, I genuinely believed for that they
> would sound good, but I guess everyone else's
> negativity got to me and I resigned myself to
> thinking that it would sound feeble. Thanks for
> sharing that, Gav. Nice to be proven wrong.

Yeah, outside of the inevitable Internetz stupidity, I seem to be one of the very few who actually seem to be looking forward to the new engine formula.

I've been able to look past the "1.6? Pffft I have one of those in my car" thing because having a 1.6 V6 Turbo in a Honda Civic (or whatever it is) really isn't the same thing at all as a F1 1.6 V6 Turbo.

People who are judging the sound from clips released by Renault and Mercedes are again being far too presumptuous and premature in their "LOLZ sounds like a vacuum cleaner" because a engine rig/dyno - computer simulator generated sound is REALLY not the same thing as the sound generated by the actual complete car on the track where a whole host of other factors affect the overall sound (i.e. vibration of the engine in relation to it's installation in the car, the atmosphere and environment of the circuit, reverb.. the Doppler effect etc etc).

People forget that we've had 1.6 litre turbo charged engines in F1 before and those sounded pretty damn terrific actually. Ok granted.. The whole ERS thing is new in F1 terms but the point stands.

I view the new engine formula a engineering challenge which is exactly what F1 is all about, the potential technology transfer to the motor industry is beneficial and certainly substantially more relevant than aerodynamics.

The only real downside I can see is the actual financial cost.

I'm totally with you on that Jim. The dyno sounds were indeed a bit Dyson, but we all knew it wasn't going to sound like that. People are moaning that F1 will no longer be the pinnacle of technology and motorsport. I dare those who say that to convince me that getting 600+ BHP out of a 1.6L V6 isn't a great technological achievement. Using a 4L V12 to get to 800BHP, which is what these people prefer, isn't exactly a great feat today.

So, what are people's thoughts on the idea for the introduction of MotoGP style numbers, two mandatory pitstops and a pole position award?

All three seem pretty pointless to me.

Personally, I really dislike the number idea. Either keep it the way it is or go back to the old system, don't go for the messy, confusing system used by MotoGP and Nascar.

The idea for two mandatory pitstops seems to me to be ignoring the actual issue of tyres that we've seen this year.

And a pole position award just seems like another trophy created to hand out to Seb at the end of every season.

---

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