windoesnot Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 So we are just a week away from the first race weekend of the new season in what could be the most open championship in recent years.  Teams & drivers:  Red Bull Renault Sebastian Vettel Daniel Ricciardo  Mercedes F1 Lewis Hamilton Nico Rosberg  Ferrari Fernando Alonso Kimi Raikonnen  Lotus Renault Romain Grosjean Pastor Maldonado  McLaren Mercedes Jenson Button Kevin Magnussen  Force India Mercedes Sergio Perez Niko Hulkenberg  Sauber Ferrari Adrian Sutil Estenab Gutierrez  Toro Rosso Renault Jean-Eric Vergne Danii Kvyat  Williams Mercedes Filipe Massa Veltteri Bottas  Marussia Ferrari Jules Bianchi Max Chilton  Caterham Renault Kamui Kobayashi Marcus Ericsson  The calendar  16th March - Australian GP 30th March - Malaysian GP 6th April - Bahrain GP (Night race) 20th April - Chinese GP 11th May - Spanish GP 25th May - Monaco GP 8th June - Canadian GP 22th June - Austrian GP 6th July - British GP 20th July - German GP 27th July - Hungarian GP 24th August - Belgian GP 7th September - Italian GP 21st September - Singapore GP (Night race) 5th October - Japanese GP 12th October - Russian GP 2nd November - American GP 9th November - Brazilian GP 23rd November - Abu Dhabi GP  What Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted March 7, 2014 Share Posted March 7, 2014 I am picking Lewis, but Rosberg proved he could match Lewis in 2013. In races finished ahead when both finished, they tied 8-8. Lewis also only scored 19 points more over the season. Â I think both Mercedes drivers have a good chance. Â Williams looked good in testing, but I am not 100% impressed with their driver line up. Despite Bottas shining in Canada and America last year, in race trim Pastor was the stronger driver, when both finished Pastor finished ahead 9 times, while Bottas could only manage 5 times. Massa might be a shopworn driver after being battered by Alonso for 4 years. Maybe Alonso made him look worse than he actually is, but time is not on Massa's side. Â D.R will present Vettel with a new challenge, and could give Seb a hard time in qualifying. I hope Renault do not solve their problems, as the prospect of another Vettel/R.B domination does not exactly fill me with excitement. I do like Vettel, but it would be nice for a change. Â We also found out how good Kimi and Alonso are in relation to each other. That is one mouth-watering teammate head to head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Healys Chutney Spoon Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 What happened to Paul DiResta? Seemed to be 'hot property' for some time, but now seems to have disappeared entirely (Unless I'm being blind!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted March 8, 2014 Share Posted March 8, 2014 What happened to Paul DiResta? Seemed to be 'hot property' for some time, but now seems to have disappeared entirely (Unless I'm being blind!) He lacked sponsorship money, whereas the likes of Sutil and Pastor bring in the cash. Â Also, the rumor is he had a bad attitude. He is racing in DTM for Mercedes this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LariatTom Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 di Resta suffered from a combination of having been found out a little bit, some poor team strategy, not having any/enough personal sponsors and not being very PR-friendly. Honestly, I think he'll be better off in DTM. The series is much stronger than it has been in recent years with the introduction of the new models. Anyway, that's for a different thread... Â We might be looking at the most interesting season for a while. The first year after major regulation changes always throws up something interesting, and we're now looking at a formula where the engines are going to be the most important thing. A car could be incredibly aerodynamic and have all sorts of amazing bits, but they'll be nowhere with the wrong engine. At the moment, that "wrong" engine looks to be wearing a Renault badge. Â They've admitted themselves that they got the calculations a bit wrong with their heating estimates. So when they passed on those calculations to Newey's team at Red Bull, Newey did his usual thing of designing a very tightly packed car with very little margin for error. The result looks to be that whenever they try and push that car, it breaks down. I have no doubt that they'll sort this out by the end of the season through a combination of continued development of both car and engine, though there are some suggestions that they may need to build a B-spec car with a virtually new rear end to combat the cooling issues. As many have said, it's a massive season for Vettel. It's time to see how he copes with a poor car and not being at the front all of the time, though I think this will be the season where he silences a lot of his critics and does some very good things with a car that doesn't look to be giving him championship #5. Â Hamilton has looked quick and starts the season as favourite for the championship...but I'd be putting my money on Rosberg. Something just tells me that he might be the one to spring a few surprises and beat Hamilton. Keep an eye out for Williams (and oh my, how beautiful is that car??) since they've been looking strong in testing. Â Until the circus gets back to Europe, I think we'll be looking at races of attrition where if you finish, you will be scoring points. Marussia may not be looking quick, but they're looking reliable...and that might get them to the finish and into the points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Excited by the possibility of a rejuvenated Williams. It's a gorgeous car. Â I do think Mercedes will provide the strongest competition to Red Bull this year. I imagine Seb will piss and moan until Red Bull sort out the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members martyngnr Posted March 9, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted March 9, 2014 Excited by the possibility of a rejuvenated Williams. It's a gorgeous car. I do think Mercedes will provide the strongest competition to Red Bull this year. I imagine Seb will piss and moan until Red Bull sort out the car. Luckily Bernie has installed his double points nonsense to help Red Bull at the tail end of the season. Not that I'm suggesting any sort of conspiracy. Not at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members WWFChilli Posted March 9, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted March 9, 2014 Excited by the possibility of a rejuvenated Williams. It's a gorgeous car. I do think Mercedes will provide the strongest competition to Red Bull this year. I imagine Seb will piss and moan until Red Bull sort out the car. Luckily Bernie has installed his double points nonsense to help Red Bull at the tail end of the season. Not that I'm suggesting any sort of conspiracy. Not at all.  What's this like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 I imagine Seb will piss and moan until Red Bull sort out the car. I have missed your Vettel bile  Other than Perez, none of the drivers or teams have said anything positive about the "double points" rule. Most polls I have seen on forums have indicated a 90% disapproval rating for it, and several casual fans I have spoken to dislike the rule.  In short, its too artificial. I get that Bernie want to increase the probability of a last race decider in the interest of TV ratings, but I still hate the rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members martyngnr Posted March 9, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted March 9, 2014 Excited by the possibility of a rejuvenated Williams. It's a gorgeous car. I do think Mercedes will provide the strongest competition to Red Bull this year. I imagine Seb will piss and moan until Red Bull sort out the car. Luckily Bernie has installed his double points nonsense to help Red Bull at the tail end of the season. Not that I'm suggesting any sort of conspiracy. Not at all.  What's this like? The final race of the season will be for double points. Bernie wanted it extended to the final three races. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Monkee Posted March 10, 2014 Paid Members Share Posted March 10, 2014 The Williams is indeed looking hot this year. However, I'm behind Raikkonen all the way. Will be rooting for both Ferrari drivers though as Alonso's been on my list for a while. After losing passion for the sport last year, I'm more optimistic this year and hoping for a boost to the entertainment of it all. Plus, I'm going to Monaco in May so I'll be highly disappointed if it becomes a bloody Vettel-fest again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windoesnot Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 It's always good to see Williams doing well, hopefully they might pick up some podiums or even a win this year, certainly more chance of it than last year. Â Their 2014 Martini livery also looks really nice too: Â Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LariatTom Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Regarding the double points rule for the final race...yes, it's stupid. I would hope it doesn't make a difference to the final result at the top of the championship, though you never know. If a driver/team loses out on the title because of the double points, I can see it being ditched. Might be slightly more difficult for the teams to push that through since FOTA no longer exists, but you never know. Â Also, a really fun suggestion I've seen. If they want double points...fine. But double the distance and have a 600km race. You'd have to open it up to include a single fuel pitstop and have more tyres available, but I'd accept a double points thing if there was double distance alongside it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 They should make it a tag race - you do 20 laps, then your teammate jumps in the car, does the next 20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted March 10, 2014 Share Posted March 10, 2014 Also, a really fun suggestion I've seen. If they want double points...fine. But double the distance and have a 600km race. You'd have to open it up to include a single fuel pitstop and have more tyres available, but I'd accept a double points thing if there was double distance alongside it. Â That was exactly my thoughts on the matter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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