The F1 Thread 2014 Season

Leg-End said:
Barrichello was very much the Mark Webber of teammates, on his day he would challenge but for the majority of the season its a B talent driver backing up an A* talent. That's the one thing I wish Schumacher had dealt with in his prime, go head to head at Ferrari with a talent atleast comparable to himself which to be fair in the early 00's I'm not sure anyone was up for other than perhaps Kimi from 2002 onwards.
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Exactly. The only drivers Schumacher ever raced against that could get near him in talent were Hakinnen and Alonso... both of whom beat him.

He was brilliant, maybe not the best ever but certainly right up there in the top 5, but he wasn't this unassailable genius that was light years ahead of absolutely everyone and could never lose.

Anyway, my only point was about the custom-made tyres. It's a well-known piece of trivia. I've heard it mentioned on F1 coverage by the experts, too, though that's harder to reference.
 
Also, apparently, Schumacher was awful at setting the car up. An amazing driver, and great for development, but in terms of actually getting the car set up for the circuit (wing angles etc.) he was pretty inept. Probably because he just drove around whatever was given to him without realising it wasn't "perfect" because he was so good it didn't matter.

And that claim comes from Eddie Irvine, who was his team-mate, so I'm counting it as a primary source. It's why Schumacher got much more dominant when Barichello joined, because apparently Rubens was brilliant for setting the car up, so he used to do all the work in that department.
 
Amir said:
Not if it means we're getting an all-Mercedes season.
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I doubt anyone wants that. Even as a Hamilton fan I don't. But if it does stay this way yesterday showed were gonna get a battle up front with the 2 Mercs, even though most would agree Lewis is the better driver at least they can fight it out. With Red Bull, Vettel was that much better then Webber and even when Webber got close he was told to stay behind so it was never fair.
 
Rooney1987 said:
I doubt anyone wants that. Even as a Hamilton fan I don't. But if it does stay this way yesterday showed were gonna get a battle up front with the 2 Mercs, even though most would agree Lewis is the better driver at least they can fight it out. With Red Bull, Vettel was that much better then Webber and even when Webber got close he was told to stay behind so it was never fair.
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Hamilton-Rosberg can certainly be a nice duel, but there's something about two drivers from the same team that always makes you think that they are just holding out a little bit. Would be great if there's someone there from another team.
 
Dante said:
Raikkonen fanboys don't like the fact that Hamilton usurped their man as Senna's heir apparent.

Schumacher fanboys are desperate to paint Rosberg as a world class driver so that Schumi's indifferent run in the Merc doesn't seem so shit by comparison.
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Count Orduck said:
Exactly. The only drivers Schumacher ever raced against that could get near him in talent were Hakinnen and Alonso... both of whom beat him.

He was brilliant, maybe not the best ever but certainly right up there in the top 5, but he wasn't this unassailable genius that was light years ahead of absolutely everyone and could never lose.

Anyway, my only point was about the custom-made tyres. It's a well-known piece of trivia. I've heard it mentioned on F1 coverage by the experts, too, though that's harder to reference.
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Both Hakkinen and Alonso only beat him in much better cars. Schumacher's battles in weaker cars in 1997-98 and his final year before his first retirement were some of his best stuff IMO.. That showed his talent more than anything he did while winning the driver's titles.
 
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In fairness, the second half of 2006 the Ferrari was much better than Alonso's Renault.

His drive on his final race in Brazil in 2006 was everything you needed to see to remove doubt about how good Schumi was though.
 
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Absolutely mental.

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I think he's still in hospital from that. Does anybody remember Maldonado being in a serious crash like that himself? If not then perhaps he should experience one for himself to show how fecking dangerous it is, because he doesn't seem to realize right now
 
Red Shorts said:
I think he's still in hospital from that. Does anybody remember Maldonado being in a serious crash like that himself? If not then perhaps he should experience one for himself to show how fecking dangerous it is, because he doesn't seem to realize right now
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Seems like he's fine. Astonishing as it is.
 
It's as if Maldonado is playing a racing game with damage switched off and you just smash into the side of the car in front rather than braking, you know you've all done it
 
Marco Mattiacci stepping in, who is currently the CEO of Ferrari North America.

Not sure how this is going to change anything for them.
 
Seems like a strange appointment, felt like they needed a motorsport guy in there more than anything.

Can almost feel Ferrari slipping back into the shitty 90's versions of themselves.
 
I reckon Luca needs to take a step back from the racing team, stop insisting on having an Italian in every management position and let the motorsport people bring in the right faces.

As soon as Brawn left Mercedes they should have been offering him whatever role and money he wanted.
 
F-Red said:
Footage of Domenicali's resignation

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The mounting frustration of Fernando Alonso is believed to have been critical in the departure of Stefano Domenicali from Ferrari.

Domenicali's exit from the Scuderia was announced on Monday, but the writing has been on the wall since last Sunday when the team's tepid performance in the Bahrain GP prompted President Luca di Montezemolo to leave the arena long before the chequered flag had fallen.
 
Where's that from? I read elsewhere that Luca wanted him to stay but Stefano decided by himself that he should go.
 
Not surprised the appeal was rejected, the rules were pretty clear and they were warned about it but Red Bull chose to not do anything about it.
 
To be fair he's wasted Alonso for years now, and wasting arguably the two most talented drivers in F1 is borderline criminal. I never have understood the Ferrari obsession with having Italians in key positions, especially the time they employed Luca Badoer as a mobile chicane at Spa following the Massa injury.
There always was gonna be a drop off from the perfect storm of talent they had with Schumi, Todt, Brawn and Byre though. Probably the greatest driver and backroom talent ever assembled in one place.
 
No real surprise that the appeal got rejected. Sucks for Riccardo, but in the end Red Bull basically just tried to apply the rules when they wanted
 
Taken from the BBC F1 page.

The United States is to have a team on the Formula 1 starting grid from 2015 after the FIA accepted an entry from Nascar's Gene Haas.

It follows an indication from chief executive Bernie Ecclestoneearlier this month that two new teams are likely to start next season.

Haas has been accepted following a period of due diligence.

"Obviously, we're extremely pleased. It's an exciting time. Now, the really hard work begins," he said.

"It's a challenge we embrace as we work to put cars on the grid."

Haas forms one half of the Stewart-Haas Racing team based in Kannapolis, North Carolina.

He also owns factory facilities in Brussels, which are likely to be key for a European base.

The US last tried to get a team on the grid in 2010 at a time when F1 was seeking significant expansion, only for the plans to fail to come to fruition.
 
Interesting. I wonder whose engine they are going to use: Ford? Chevrolet? Chrysler? Pontiac?

The last two were a joke, but wouldn't surprise me if they are successful sports teams in Nascar.
 
Along with Haas there's another team from Romania who could feature as well, Forza Rossa. Colin Kolles is behind it, ex-HRT boss which should tell you everything you want to know.
 
F-Red said:
Along with Haas there's another team from Romania who could feature as well, Forza Rossa. Colin Kolles is behind it, ex-HRT boss which should tell you everything you want to know.
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Don't forget Midland and Spyker, too!
 
Just saw Jack Nicholls is doing the BBC F1 commentary for this weekends race (its not live but highlights and radio), thats pretty cool. I actually raced against him online for a full season as his teammate a few years back and he started out doing commentary on online races I believe.
 
pauldyson1uk said:
Taken from the BBC F1 page.

The United States is to have a team on the Formula 1 starting grid from 2015 after the FIA accepted an entry from Nascar's Gene Haas.

It follows an indication from chief executive Bernie Ecclestoneearlier this month that two new teams are likely to start next season.

Haas has been accepted following a period of due diligence.

"Obviously, we're extremely pleased. It's an exciting time. Now, the really hard work begins," he said.

"It's a challenge we embrace as we work to put cars on the grid."

Haas forms one half of the Stewart-Haas Racing team based in Kannapolis, North Carolina.

He also owns factory facilities in Brussels, which are likely to be key for a European base.

The US last tried to get a team on the grid in 2010 at a time when F1 was seeking significant expansion, only for the plans to fail to come to fruition.
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I read that he's aiming to get Dallara to make the chassis. It's going to be a mobile chicane for the most part.
 
Gene Haas could postpone debuting his planned American Formula One team until the 2016 season, with a final decision to be made “within weeks”. The NASCAR team owner had an application to enter the F1 world championship accepted by governing body the FIA last week.

“The FIA has told us we have to elect which year we want to participate,” Haas explained, “with a timetable around June.

“I think 2015 is too close and 2016 is too far. If we wait we’ll end up spending even more money because we’ll just be in a neutral position. We need to come up with a plan where we can arrive with a car, based on our partners’ technology, within the rules of the FIA.”
 
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