241 replies to this topic

[Goosenka]

Brian is quality entertainment.

[techieboy]

Lots of not so subtle digs at Ferrari from Mercedes management.

[Tony VXR 56]

Straight talking from Lauda - lazenby is rubbish!

[Andy_VX]

Wow that was incredible, heart in my mouth after the safety car! What a drive by Lewis, get in!!!

[CHILL Gone DUTCH]

Best race I've ever seen

[Scuffers]

I know f1 is complex, But who thinks ecclestone is a tw&t

never under-estimate Berni...

 

never take what he says at face value.

 

Nobody has ever got one over Berni ever, I don't see that changing...

[Claws]

Be fcuking great to be an f1 driver

Got to be one of the greatest jobs ever. Well, apart from a porn star I spose.

Surely the same thing, though ruling out the odd Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon

Edited by Claws, 06 April 2014 - 10:45 PM.

[jameso]

Anyone who has not got money on merc for the constructors should do so asap. This will be done by half way.

[siztenboots]

bit of a gap now between the races, then really looking forward to the classic circuits

[badgerade]

Not sure there's much point in that?  Odds I've seen have been around the 1/14 area for Merc to win the Constructors Championship

[jameso]

Needed to get the money on before race one like I did

[siztenboots]

betfair, £10000 returns £1100 , better than a bank

[jameso]

it's still a good bet if you can get it at somethign like 1/5 or 1/7 I think - was 5/6  at start of season when I took it

[Scuffers]

Anyone who has not got money on merc for the constructors should do so asap. This will be done by half way.

disagree...

 

yes they are fast now, but realistically, the red bull looks a better car except for the powertrain.

 

give Renault time (and FIA leaniancy) so they can make up some of their power deficits, they will be right up there, and their drivers do not appear to be muppets either...

[fezzasus]

 

Anyone who has not got money on merc for the constructors should do so asap. This will be done by half way.

disagree...

 

yes they are fast now, but realistically, the red bull looks a better car except for the powertrain.

 

give Renault time (and FIA leaniancy) so they can make up some of their power deficits, they will be right up there, and their drivers do not appear to be muppets either...

 

 

They're completely able to make improvements to the engine on reliability grounds. They don't need any leniency. Next engine is due for China which will have upgrades over the current power unit (for anyone who hasn't had to replace their engine already)

[siztenboots]

I thought engines were homologated , so its just software mapping and system integration improvements.

[jameso]

Merc is a second a lap quicker. RBR won't make that up in time I think Scuffers. Would say there's now about a 90-95% chance of merc winning constructors and if the bookies are at 1/14 that is about right and their opinion marries up with mine.

[techieboy]

Even with some permitted "small changes for reliability", I can't see how Renault can possibly make up the power deficit without the FiA binning the current fuel restrictions. Even then, an increased fuel allowance would presumably benefit Mercedes as much as it does anyone else. It's not like they'll be able to copy the Mercedes split turbo (cracking idea by the way) and call that a minor reliability change. There's no getting away from the fact the Merc engine produces considerably more power whilst being more efficient.

 

Will be interesting to see how any changes play out, given that they require the review and approval of the other teams according to the 2014 sporting regs.

 

[Scuffers]

Merc is a second a lap quicker. RBR won't make that up in time I think Scuffers. Would say there's now about a 90-95% chance of merc winning constructors and if the bookies are at 1/14 that is about right and their opinion marries up with mine.

not so sure about that, Bahrain is very much a point and squirt cct, which exaggerates the difference in engines 

 

the red bull is clearly faster in mid and high speed corners, by some way, they only need to reduce the power deficit and they will be right up there, they have been on the front row of the grid already.

 

Even with some permitted "small changes for reliability", I can't see how Renault can possibly make up the power deficit without the FiA binning the current fuel restrictions. Even then, an increased fuel allowance would presumably benefit Mercedes as much as it does anyone else. It's not like they'll be able to copy the Mercedes split turbo (cracking idea by the way) and call that a minor reliability change. There's no getting away from the fact the Merc engine produces considerably more power whilst being more efficient.

 

Will be interesting to see how any changes play out, given that they require the review and approval of the other teams according to the 2014 sporting regs.

 

see above.. they don't have to, just half way would probably cut it.

 

biggest problem they have right now is reliability - or lack of, they cannot yet run the MGU's flat out without cooking the controller/batteries, get that sorted and they will be more consistently faster.

 

their biggest hurdle later in the year will be the 5 engine limit, Renault runners are already into this pretty hard by race 3

[siztenboots]

I tried to google the teams usage of spares but had no luck.   Best I can find , 2 races in ICE Internal Combustion Engine, TC Turbo Charger, MGU-K Motor Generator Unit Kinetic, MGU-H Motor Generator Unit Heat, ES Energy Store, CE Control Electronics Team Driver ICE TC MGU-K MGU-H ES CE Red Bull Vettel 1 1 1 1 1 3 Red Bull Ricciardo 1 1 2 1 1 1 Mercedes Hamilton 1 1 1 1 1 1 Mercedes Rosberg 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ferrari Alonso 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ferrari Raikkonen 1 1 1 1 1 1 Lotus Grosjean 1 1 1 1 1 1 Lotus Maldonado 2 2 2 2 2 2 McLaren Button 1 1 1 1 1 1 McLaren Magnussen 1 1 1 1 1 1 F India Hulkenberg 1 1 1 1 1 1 F India Mendoza 1 1 1 1 1 1 Sauber Sutil 1 1 1 1 1 1 Sauber Guitierrez 1 1 1 1 1 2 T Rosso JEV 1 1 2 1 1 1 T Rosso Kvyat 1 1 2 1 1 1 Williams Massa 1 1 1 1 2 2 Williams Bottas 1 1 1 1 1 1 Marussia Bianchi 1 1 1 1 1 2 Marussia Chilton 1 1 1 1 1 2 Caterham Kobayashi 1 1 1 1 3 4 Caterham Ericsson 1 1 1 1 2 3