The 2014 Formula One Season

J i m Wrote:
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> IWE Wrote:
>
> > Williams used to be one of my favourites till
> they
> > made BMW and all proper drivers go away (I
> can't
> > stand "characters" like Nico and Bruno)..
>
> It was a failed relationship, both sides played
> their part. BMW wanted more say and perhaps and
> bugger slice of the pie, Williams didn't want to
> relinquish it. Retrospectively looking back and
> seeing where BMW (when they decided they didn't
> want to be in F1 anymore) left Sauber for example,
> you could argue that Williams made the correct
> decision overall.


Well the story I heard was that BMW was unhappy with Williams' results, now that they provided them with the most powerful engine. Finally they decided that they could do a better job than Williams at building a car, thus significantly upping the chances of success. That's why they took over Sauber. Didn't turn out to be so easy as they thought after all.

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

Actually the 2008 BMW Sauber was one of my favourite cars ever. And bloody fast in the hands of a young Kubica. In the right hands....

In fairness BMW did do a good job, they developed the Sauber team very nearly into winners. With the exception of 2009 they improved each year. BUT they really kind of left the team for dead in a way when they pulled out of F1. It took a rescue package by Peter Sauber to buy the team back and keep it going. They're still struggling now.

At least when Honda pulled the plug they effectively bank rolled the team's year as Brawn.

That was what I was referring to by saying that ultimately Williams made the correct decision. I have no doubts that given greater ownership and control BMW would won more races and probably a championship for Williams. But they'd have also left them in a bigger state on pulling out. At least Williams have remained independent through out.

Williams love reviving old livieries. They tried that with the Rothmans livery a couple of years ago but it didn't really work. Hopefully this will stick better.

Again back to 2008 - that was an odd-year out for Williams livery-wise. I quite liked it. Actually it was 2007.

Will Buxton has tweeted that apparently the Martini stripes are considered branding on the car, not as livery, so Willy are planning several variations throughout the year. AWESOME!!!!

[www.f1colours.com]

what are the actual regs about the nosetip? the front edge of the ferrari and mercedes nosetip is quite far back, about half way across the depth of the front wing, yet everyone else has the appendage that hangs far forward of the front edge of the front wing. i understand the banana on everyone else's car is the crash structure as dictated by the rules, so where is ferrari and mercedes' crash structure? is it the pylons that attach the nose to the frontwing?

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RIP Jules, never to be forgotten. #KeepFightingMichael

J i m Wrote:
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> In fairness BMW did do a good job, they developed
> the Sauber team very nearly into winners.

Which is exactly what Williams could say about the BMW days. It was only because the Michelin mold was banned after Hockenheim that JPM didn't become World Champion. BMW never came as close alone as they did with Williams.

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

BMW might well have done if they hadn't started to focus on the 2009 disaster of a season from very early on. If they had pulled off an unlikely win in 2008, it would have been more down to Hamilton and Massa cocking up at every given opportunity (much in the way Hakkinen and Irvine were in 1999, letting Frentzen in).

Still, that may never have happened and it's an equally easy argument to say it was BMW who cost BMW any chance of the 2008 title by shifting focus anyway.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/01/2014 08:31AM by gav.

Yeah, BMW could well have sneaked a win in 2008 - certainly in the Drivers' Championship(They even would've stood a chance in the Constructors' - they actually led the Championship going into the 2008 Spanish GP, and Heidfeld was excellent at collecting points). When Kubica won in Canada they were on the crest of a wave, and he was driving better than any of the other title contenders did that season, if only he'd had a quicker car in the 2nd half of it.
Their decision to focus on 2009 early didn't seem smart at the time, and in retrospect it looks ridiculous.

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Domenicali resigns as Ferrari team boss

[www.gpupdate.net]


" Perfection is not a gift ....... it comes with practice."

Member of R.S.C.T Group

Meh. He was too much of a media man a bit like Chris Horner.

Ferrari need their blood-red scheme back, too as well as getting shot of that hideous nose. And they need to start winning instead of bitching about the regulations.

This new guy looks a bit pompous though, will be interesting to see how it goes down.

In other news... Maldonado is up to his old tricks again in FP1 and FP2, the latter being a crash into the pit entry gravel, where Hamilton beached his MP4-22 in 2007!

And amazingly he accepted 100% blame for it! didn't even try blaming it on sabotaged tyre pressures.

The FP1 spin was an absolute classic. Looking down at the wheel and not noticing he was driving off the track. I'm sure it's very easy to do (especially on such circuits with vast areas of grey) and it's probably down to a new car and pretty much zero testing, but it was still brilliant. :D

It was hilarious and I'm also amazed he actually accepted it was his fault this time!

Just wait until he sees the team's reaction on Sky F1...

It's as if that one guy's finally realised "why on earth did we hire him?"

alexf1man Wrote:
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>
> It's as if that one guy's finally realised "why on
> earth did we hire him?"


...because the masses of PDVSA logos didn't give it away at all...

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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

...and CHILTON goes fastest in the post race test?! Has the world turned upside down? I'm not normally one to take notice of unusual testing times, but this has just come out of the blue. He was three seconds faster than his qualifying time from must just a couple of days ago.

If this is legitimate, I'm stunned. I was thinking he might have been running an illegal car, but I thought the car had to be race legal in the test?

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




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/13/2014 07:02PM by flat tyre.

flat tyre Wrote:
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>He
> was three seconds faster than his qualifying time
> from must just a couple of days ago.

He was on Super-soft tyres, whereas he qualified on Mediums for the race at the weekend

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

Yeah, as a matter of comparison he was on the super-softs, whereas Pic was on the soft and Lewis, in third, was on the medium Pirelli's.

Still, when it happened it was taken a bit aback. Didn't think if ever have to write a headline like that.

One of our guys was in the media centre at Barcelona this afternoon and he said there was a stunned silence when it happened, with people joking that he must have cut the final chicane.

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

We'll be having a tug 'o war soon - better looking cars vs better sounding cars. :D

Personally couldn't give a damn either way (I'm happy enjoying sounds that aren't a horribly screechy V8 engine). Hopefully it will improve it for the trackside spectators though, as these directional exhausts mean you can only really hear it when the car is accelerating away from you.