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  • ronin

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no_snacks, did you see Ricciardo in last week's Top Gear? He absolutely shredded Hamilton's lap time !

No mate, didn't see the episode but saw the Ricciardo segment on youtube.

The young fella is seriously quick.  Hopefully he's the real deal.  Very likeable guy too.

 

 

Vettel was made to look ordinary last year, either Ricciardo is unbelievably quick or Vettel isn't as good as people think. I never rated Webber as a driver, he was just a journeyman racer who was lucky to be in the right team when Red Bull took over. I don't think Webber was ever told he couldn't win, he just didn't have the ability to take the fight to Vettel.

 

From what I've heard, Vettel's driving style was more suited to the exhaust blown diffusers (EBD) than Mark Webber's.

If you look back to 2011/12, Webber was often ahead of Vettel in qualifying & the races. (don't forget about Webber's outstanding performances in the Williams & Jaguar when they were well off the pace)

As the EBD were developed over the years, the gap between Vettel & Webber got bigger & bigger.

Last year the EBD was made redundant with the new exhaust position & it took Vettel nearly the whole year to get up to speed.

 

It'll be interesting to see how Vettel & Kimi match up this year.  

Like Ronin said earlier, they seem to require cars that are more suited to their driving style before we see their true pace.

Edited by no_snacks
  • Like 1

Alonso just got released from hospital today. He won't take part in the testing this weekend.  Magnussen will do the honors.

 

On other news:

Will Stevens is now official driver for Manor GP

Ferrari has prety much confirmed that they're ok with supplying 2014 engines to Manor

No Danica Patrick in F1

 

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@ Squirrel,

 

looks like the F1 gods must have seen your gif. Carmen Jorda just signed up at Lotus as test driver. She's the daughter of. By the looks of it, her racing results so far have been rather underwhelming. On the other hand ... erm, well just google image ;)  On a more serious note, F1 is becoming a bit of a faf with all these paydrivers.

 

Some Belgian, German and Italian sites (not the most reliable tbh) are linking Vandoorne to the second Manor seat. Apparently one of the conditions imposed by Dennis with regards to the new contractual terms with Manor, is to put Stoffel in the second seat. Think Rossi has a better chance (bigger bag of money), but hey, there is a shimmer of hope !

 

News:

The FI 2015 car is supposed to arrive shortly and they expect to already put in some runs tmrow pm

McLaren keeps struggling, this time a hydraulic leak

Merc had a failing MGUK

Williams look like they will be able to take up the fight with Merc, very interesting

 

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Carmen Jorda has been looking at the rear of the GP3 grid for a few seasons. I wouldn't mind spending time looking at her rear.

 

I would like to see female F1 drivers but for the right reasons. Not only do they need the talent and speed but they also need the poster girl looks. If they don't fit within a sponsors image then they will never get the funding they need. It's not something that applies to the men in F1, Take Mr Maldonado as a prime example. 

 

There's a young British girl called Alice Powell, while she isn't the next big thing she was usually a lot quicker compared to Carmen Jorda when they were competing against each other. Both girls are a similar age and race at the same level. 

 

Can anyone tell me why the more talented of the two drivers hasn't been given the F1 role? 

 

AlicePowellCarmenJorda.jpg

Powell is most definitely the better driver and so is Beitske Visser. But, despite some massive cleaning up in the past few years, Lotus is still in dire need of funds. It's just a case of daddy's connections + cute face + sponsorship deals and events + a team in need of money, unfortunately. Why did Vandergarde, Pic or Ericsson get a seat at Caterham and not an absolute uebertalent like Frijns? WTF was Chilton doing at Marussia? Money, money, money.

 

F1 is in a pretty bad shape and if they're not gonna start sorting things out real fast, it's only going to go further downhill. Expenses are too high, the distribution of money across the teams is completely off, too much politics, too many different bodies taking decisions, F1 broadcast is moving from public to paid and losing millions of viewers ... If even the German GP is under threat (seriously?!), we can only conclude that something smelly has hit the proverbial fan.

 

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More good news from Manor:

 

They're on the FIA's entry list for the 2015 season. The car is pretty much ready, quite the challenge considering it had to adhere to all of the 2015 regs including the front end crash structure. Crash test is scheduled for next Tuesday, one day before the shipping deadline for Melbourne ! Fingers crossed.

 

Stevens is the confirmed driver, pending his super license. That I find very weird given his track record and the fact he already completed a GP with Caterham last year. Hope he makes it. He may not be the best qualifier, but the guy definitely has racecraft.

 

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One of the investors behind Manors revival is Justin King. He was one of the people shortlisted to take over Bernie if he ever retires/dies/gets assassinated.

 

Justins son Jordan has been racing in GP3 and is set to make his debut in GP2 this season. 

 

Money talks and if your dad is a part owner in a team I'm pretty sure you've got a good chance of a race seat.

That's the thing I don't get about King's involvement. According to some sites, he won't become a shareholder or invest money, but he still will be involved in the management. Fitzpatrick seems to be the one caughing up the money (50 mil of his private funds). I really hope it's not Jordan King or Mehri or some other rich kid with connections getting that second seat.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

The season is about to kick off and tons of things have happened in the meantime:

 

- Manor is saved !! Second seat could still change as Mehri is only signed for the first few races

- Sauber is ... erm, NOT! What a mess is that? How can a team sign four drivers for just two seats? We could actually see Sauber's equipment being seized and the team prinicple being arrested this weekend. Van der Garde has a strong case and Sauber's defense was utterly patethic. Rumor is that him and daddy-in-law might even buy the team now that it is in such difficulties.

- the Alonso accident is getting weirder by the day

- Lewis has now two bulldogs

- Kimi baked an egg

  • Like 1

 

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I'm also a close follower and fan of F1 since the Schumacher glory days. However, I only watch all the main races every season; don't really keep my eyes on the qualifications and free practices. Favourite driver is and has been Lewis Hamilton ever since he first entered the F1 stage. He drives with great passion and when he's trailing other great drivers, races get very interesting - I absolutely love that. That being said... last season was quite wank in the sense that it was basically a two-horse race, even if it was tense between the Merc teammates. Ricciardo and Bottas surprised positively, though, and I'm hoping for a more exciting season this year, with more title challengers. Would still prefer to see Hamilton lift the trophy, though. B)

 

Some recently introduced regulations and changes have - I agree - had questionable effects on the sport as well.

  • Like 2

What a let down. At least Ferrari have gained some ground. Old Alonso left at the wrong time, although Honda reckon they have a better engine and will be competitive. We'll see, but that race was a joke. 11 cars finished pfffffffft.

To be expected...

 

Merc was dominant once again. Ferrari did look good though. They clearly made some good progress over the winter, even the Saubers were doing quite well with those engines.

 

McLaren has finally completed a race distance without failures. I guess we can call that a little success. Wonder how they will approach the season now that Alonso's car is already one engine down. Hopefully they take a more aggressive apprach from now on. No use trying to save engines. Three isn't gonna cut it till the end of the season anyways.

 

As for the rookies, very pleasantly surprised. Nasr was fantastic and Sainz and Verstappen also did a solid job.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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