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

10, 11, 12 October 2014Sochi AutodromCircuit Length: 5.853 kmLaps: 53

The Real Story of the Race was that the Renault's fell apart and the Ferrari's didn't.
Rosberg headed for the sliproad and retired, probably because of Nicotin starvation they have still not given him a helmet with a little hole in it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2014 12:02PM by Toki.

Not sure I am going to watch this yet as Russia is totally against my way of life. Its a race I dont think should be taking place.

I'll be watching it as I watched the winter olympics. I don't exactly agree with their rule (particularly their attitude to sexualitites) but the political situation evidently isn't so bad as to cancel the race.

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

Not looking forward to this one at all. Aside from Bianchi being on everyone's minds, the track is meant to be rubbish and has "no distinctive corners", and it certainly looks like they just lifted Valencia, chopped it up and put the corners in a different order.

It's also one of those utterly pointless/bordering-on-unsafe tracks in that it's a road course layout but with walls a metre from the track. What is the point? Either open it up into a true track or slow it down and make it a proper street track.

I do have to admit right now my mind is back to 1994, with the crash in Japan and then the death of an ex f1 driver I just feel something will happen this weekend.

No idea how this track was ever passed safe, the walls are way to close on fast corners.

Marussia have pulled their GP3 team out of the race due to budgets and there is every chance we might not see the F1 team. They were meant to run with one car but this is now at risk as well. There is every chance F1 could lose 3 teams at the end of the year.

I'll be interested. I'm always keen to check out a new venue, even if it's a Tilke track and therefore likely to be @#$%&.
The politics of the country a race is held in makes no difference at all to me. I want to see F1, simple as that.
It is sad circumstances with Jules having just had his accident, and my enjoyment will be muted to an extent by that, but I don't think we should be too down - I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want us to be, he's such a positive guy.

It's heading into the final stages of the Championship battle as well, so this race will be one of the most significant.

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It doesn't look like a particularly dangerous track to me - certainly no more dangerous than Monaco or Valencia. The walls beside the track remind me of Korea, although it probably won't be as good, since it's as flat as a pancake.

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smoglessbutton4 Wrote:
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> I'll be watching it as I watched the winter
> olympics. I don't exactly agree with their rule
> (particularly their attitude to sexualitites) but
> the political situation evidently isn't so bad as
> to cancel the race.

Lawl. And how often do you think about people's attitude to sexualitites when you watch F1 races in Abu-Dhabi, Singapore, Bahrain, Malaysia, India? Do you like their political condition? Ah, nevermind. Ofc nobody cares about people in United Arab Emirates or in some African god forsaken countries, cos they're means nothing in global media's coverage. So the leaders of these countries can treat their people like sh*t. Sorry if it sounds a bit offensive. But that guy's logic who is unsure if he will be watching this round since "Russia is against the way of life" is just an excellent example of how media and politics overshadows people's mind. I highly doubt that he thinking the same during F1 races in China, India or Arab Emirates. Who knows, maybe he just likes their way of life

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For a list of EVERY download for GP4, look here:[docs.google.com]

A journo in the paddock (can't remember who; sorry) tweeted earlier that Marussia are indeed present, and are prepping two cars. I should think Alex Rossi will stand in for Jules.

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Soutsen Wrote:
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> smoglessbutton4 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I'll be watching it as I watched the winter
> > olympics. I don't exactly agree with their rule
> > (particularly their attitude to sexualitites)
> but
> > the political situation evidently isn't so bad
> as
> > to cancel the race.
>
> Lawl. And how often do you think about people's
> attitude to sexualitites when you watch F1 races
> in Abu-Dhabi, Singapore, Bahrain, Malaysia,
> India?

Way to get called out The point is that, whilst their attitudes might not agree with mine, they have no effect on whether I watch a thing in their country - evidently that wasn't conveyed well enough in my original post.

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



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2014 08:16PM by smoglessbutton4.

senninho Wrote:
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> A journo in the paddock (can't remember who;
> sorry) tweeted earlier that Marussia are indeed
> present, and are prepping two cars. I should think
> Alex Rossi will stand in for Jules.

That's great news glad the stories were not true.

Yay ! CO4N !

It's a shame turn 3 is easily flat out for the top cars. Hopefully with full tanks in the race they'll be struggling a lot more.

It's far too flat. Far too billiard smooth. Far too bland. I realise it's been built around the Winter Olympic park so there's little you can do in that respect, but there is zero character. As expected, it's just Valencia with the corners in a different order and the colours changed.

gav Wrote:
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> It's a shame turn 3 is easily flat out for the top
> cars. Hopefully with full tanks in the race
> they'll be struggling a lot more.
>
> It's far too flat. Far too billiard smooth. Far
> too bland. I realise it's been built around the
> Winter Olympic park so there's little you can do
> in that respect, but there is zero character. As
> expected, it's just Valencia with the corners in a
> different order and the colours changed.

Last race in Valencia was epic though. Tbh I think it is an usual story with all these modern circuits aka Tilkedroms. Only Sepang and maybe Bahrain has some its own spirit, all others like Valencia, Buddh, Yeonam, Yas Marina and sadly even Hockenheim are all more or less the same

___________________________________________________________________________
For a list of EVERY download for GP4, look here:[docs.google.com]

Quote
Soutsen
Last race in Valencia was epic though.

The last was the exception to the rule. The previous four races were boring to the point that I can't remember who won or any noteable incidents. All I do remember is Badoer making his F1 return and Webber's plunge down the field and ultimate crash.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2014 03:07PM by gav.

The last race at Valencia was only good due to drs and tyres that lasted 2 laps.

Saw the sessions this morning and this is one of the most boring tracks I have seen in a long time. Valencia had some nice corners but this just has nothing really.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2014 03:16PM by marcl.

Yeah, it does look painfully bland. It doesn't have the hairpins Valencia does, but apart from that, yeah, there's a definite similarity(Not that I disliked Valencia, I've got to say).

One thing that could help it as an event would be to make it a twilight race, as the organisers apparently want. The problem of the sun setting towards the drivers into turn 2 could be sorted with tinted tear-offs on a clear visor, IMO.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2014 07:37PM by EC83.

Quote
EC83
The problem of the sun setting towards the drivers into turn 2 could be sorted with tinted tear-offs on a clear visor, IMO.

That works in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain due to the sand masking the worst of the sun, but it's horrible looking into a setting sun through a visor, as the tiniest, most invisible of scratches (and I'm guessing you'll get plenty of micro-scratches at 200mph) only seem to amplify the rays. It's not good in a normal road car, but in a car you instinctively move your head to adjust - you can't do that with a visor.

I do remember Rosberg claiming he couldn't see at Melbourne back in 2009 or so (whenever it was moved to a later start time), but perhaps he didn't have the necessary visor set up as it did seem to catch them off guard.

It's the issue I had when Singapore was announced, thinking we'd have all sorts of issues if it rained, as the drivers wouldn't be able to see through all the reflections. As it is we've only had a mild dampness that evaporated as quickly as it fell, so we've no idea how the drivers would have coped. I always found it utterly horrible in the rain when I had my bikes, and that was just with standard streetlights and the rare traffic of a rural location, though my visor would seldom be in as good a condition as theirs!

Anyway, it's something I'd have reservations about from a safety aspect, but probably not to the extent where it couldn't happen. I would certainly expect a few complaints at least though!

See,s a fairly nothing circuit - nothing to distinguish it and a track that'll simply allow the good cars to be good and the crap cars...well...

Looking forward to qualy in any case, it's going to be Nico vs Lewis: Round 459

gav Wrote:
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> I do remember Rosberg claiming he couldn't see at
> Melbourne back in 2009 or so (whenever it was
> moved to a later start time)

2009, yeah. I remember him having stunning pace earlier on in that race too.

Yeah, I guess scratches do magnify the dazzle factor. Never had a visor myself, but naturally I've looked out of plenty of car and bus windscreens. #ShelteredLife

At least several corners on the track are proving to be surprisingly tricky, especially turn 17!

Excellent Pole by Lewis, but I would've loved to see what Bottas could've done if he hadn't gotten ragged and gone off at the end.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2014 02:16PM by EC83.