The 2014 F1 season

Today Caterham confirmed its driver line-up for the season. Rookie Marcus Ericsson is joined by the popular Kamui Kobayashi, the later having spent 2013 endurance racing for Ferrari. This completed the F1 grid for the new season and most car launches are scheduled for this week, ahead of the first test in Jerez.

Only Mercedes and Marussia are maintaining the same driver pairings from last season. Significant moves include Kimi Raikkonen going from cash strapped Lotus back to Ferrari, who sacked him at the end of 2009. Daniel Ricciardo takes arguably the hottest seat available, replacing the retired Mark Webber at Red Bull. Kevin Magnussen appears to be the best placed rookie on the grid, replacing Sergio Perez alongside Button at Mclaren. The third and final rookie is Russian Daniel Kyvat. The 19 year old won the GP3 championship and replaces Ricciardo at Toro Rosso, becoming the youngest driver on the grid.

3 rookies and the returning Kobayashi means there is no space on the grid for Paul Di Resta, who returns to DTM with Mercedes or the two 2013 Caterhm drivers, Geido Van der Garde and Charles Pic.

There are also significant changes to the calendar. The season starts with the traditional curtain raiser in Melbourne but will go on to feature the brand new Sochi circuit for the Russian GP in October. The Austrian GP returns to the calendar after an 11 year gap at the A1 Ring, now refurbished by owners Red Bull. As usual however, I will be sacrificing small animals to Satan in exchange for a trip to the Belgin GP at Spa.

Custom driver numbers will also return to the sport, with drivers taking a number for their whole career. The reigning champion has the option of using #1 in favour of his personal number. Vetted has taken this option. Other numbers of interest are 22 for Button, the number he won the championship with in 2009 and 44 for Hamilton, a favourite he used in karting.

McLaren will be the first to launch their car, on Friday. After ending their partnership with Vodafone it is suspected they will return to a chrome and black livery, without the red from previous seasons. It will be their last season running Mercedes engines before a return to the partnership with Honda, which brought them multiple championships with the likes Senna and Prost in the 80s.

The new cars are going to be ugly b*stards. Scarbs is usually spot on with his sketches.

And don't get me started on the double points thing. The sport is becoming a joke, a shadow of the spectacle that captivated me when younger.

I can sort of see the logic behind double points but it does sort of make a mockery of the system when the Abu Dhabi race is worth double the others, for no reason other than being the last. It will be a bit silly if a driver builds up a deserved lead over the course of the year, then his engine fails in UAE and somebody overhauls him with a 50 point race win. Reminds me of Top Gear when the final challenge makes the points earned in previous challenges entirely redundant.

Not sure how the noses will look. I've seen some of those sketches with the elephant noses and others with vanity panels. I doubt we will see exactly what teams are running until Melbourne. The official car launches often have parts of an airfix kit glued on to the side to throw other teams off. Secret aero parts are seldom revealed until the last minute.

Whatever happens, I doubt the cars will be uglier than the stepped noses of 2012.

Let's hope the designers have taken inspiration from some of history's beautiful low nosed cars, like the MP4-20 or the FW16

The new Force India

The new Force India

 

wow.....

And now for something a little bit vomit inducing. The new Williams in interim livery (Martini rumoured to be the new title sponsor)

The new McLaren. About as pretty as Steve

The Lotus, which I sort of like

Why do the teams let ecclestone shaft them all the time by doing things we are told that they don't want ???

He now wants the last 3 races to be double points.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/25955560

Hope it's ok to post in Lighthouse's private thread

I've been waiting for Lighthouse to post pictures and comment on the remaining cars. I thought the Ferrari was fugly, until I saw the Caterham...

I've been waiting for Lighthouse to post pictures and comment on the remaining cars. I thought the Ferrari was fugly, until I saw the Caterham...

Yep, she's not pretty! A very bulbous arse too, can't see it being too fast.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/01/30/marussia-mr03-first-pictures/

I've been waiting for Lighthouse to post pictures and comment on the remaining cars. I thought the Ferrari was fugly, until I saw the Caterham...

I thought nobody else was bothered so I gave up

Agree though, the Caterham is butt ugly. The Force India is also a creature only a mother could love.

Will be difficult not to laugh the first time we have contact at the first corner and end up with a couple of carbon dildos lying in the middle of the track.

Was seriously underwhelmed with last season and the seemingly invulnerability of Vettel and his car.

Looking forward to this season though, it's looking like Red Bull won't be competitive until at least Silverstone from what people have been saying in testing which is great news for me, would love to see one of the Brits win it again, preferably Button as I think Lewis is a bit of a moody git sometimes.

As a sport/spectacle., it is a shadow of it's former self, and having been an avid watcher (not follower) I can't be bothered these days. If it's on then I might watch it if I haven't got anything better to do. Seems that I usually have, so watch very few. For me, I think the final nail was DRS. Having races decided by who could fill up with fuel and change their tyres the quickest seemed very strange, but to give the car behind you a complete advantage with DRS is just nonsensical.

That would seem to be that for testing. Here's a few conclusions I look forward to being stripped apart:

1) Renault have severely dropped the ball.

A cut in budget over long period's of regulation stability has resulted in Renault not developing as competitive/reliable a package as Mercedes and Ferrari. Red Bull have done themselves no favours by tightly packaging the rear of the car which is exaggerating the overheating/relaibility issues that the over Renault teams have been suffering but even without this there would appear to be a lack of ultimate grunt in the new french hybrid power-train.

2) Williams have had an excellent off-season

Fast and reliable, there is talk of Williams being one of the teams to watch. The new Mercedes power units have worked almost seamlessly with the new Williams' chassis. Felipe Massa and Valteria Bottas have adapted well to their new car and should be in the hunt for a god haul of points in Australia.

3) Marussia have a real chance of points.

Of the two back-markers, Caterham and Marussia, the Russian owned team appears to have made by far the better fist of things. Times in testing have occasionally put them securely in midfield, only 3 seconds behind the front of the pack with both Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi having the measure of their car. With unreliability almost a given in Australia they should have a real chance of being the first of the newcomers to finally finish inside the top ten and secure a world championship point. Caterham on the other hand seem to have unveiled a bulky and mostly conservative car that has performed as badly as it looks.

4) Mercedes is the Engine to have.

McLaren, Force India, Williams and of course Mercedes themselves have been the consistent lap time leaders. The engine is the common denominator. Ferrari have shown flashes of promise and Red Bull, despite their issues will no doubt have a fast if initially unreliable/underpowered car but the German engine seems to be a definite advantage.

My prediction for a team running order in Australia.

1) Mercedes

2) McLaren

3) Williams

4) Force India

5) Ferrari

6) Red Bull

7) Sauber

8.) Marussia

9) Lotus

10) Toro Rosso

11) Caterham

Well it seems Mercedes have overtaken Red Bull as the dominant force in F1 for the time being, and while today's race is yet more evidence that this doesn't necessarily make the racing any more exciting per se, this may be a case of a change being as good as a rest I suppose. However years of following this sport has taught me that F1 seasons are more often about how a team finishes a season, rather than how they start it. So it will be interesting to see who ultimately wins this season's 'development battle'.

On a much more important note, observing the state of Lewis Hamilton's (and indeed Wayne Rooney's) new hair it seems that mankind has at last conquered the threat of male pattern baldness - science marches on!

hahahahaha I thought the same about his hair, I think I read somewhere that they encourage you to grow it out after treatment.

He is slowly morphing into that dude with the soul glow in coming to america

Thought Massa was a little ***** today, instigating team orders at the beginning when Bottas was trying to overtake and then ignoring them and then complaining afterwards when he was told to move over when he had overtaken 0 people all day.

Force India were great with Hulk, Riccardo just can't get a break and Lewis won by 12 secs whilst not getting anywhere near his full fuel consumption so was coasting.

Will take a lot for any team to catch them before it is too late.

Thought Massa was a little ***** today, instigating team orders at the beginning when Bottas was trying to overtake and then ignoring them and then complaining afterwards when he was told to move over when he had overtaken 0 people all day.

 

Force India were great with Hulk, Riccardo just can't get a break and Lewis won by 12 secs whilst not getting anywhere near his full fuel consumption so was coasting.

 

Will take a lot for any team to catch them before it is too late.

He often is. After Melbourne he was interviewed on Sky demanding Kobayashi be banned for the accident, when it was in fact cased by a rear brakes failure.

Mercedes to throw away this season IMO, unless Newey pulls something out of the bag again mid-season.

Bottas is class. Hoping Williams finally get their mojo back.

It has been fairly crap so far but today's race has been excellent. Battles everywhere. More of the same please!

It has been fairly crap so far but today's race has been excellent. Battles everywhere. More of the same please!

Yeah, if you discount the two Mercs running away at the front, it's been a decent, entertaining race.

Maldonado = c\/nt

Gutierrez's car would not have rolled if the new lower noses hadn't been introduced.

I wonder who Maldonado has to kill before he loses his license. Complete Muppet.

Gutierrez's car would not have rolled if the new lower noses hadn't been introduced.

It flipped off of the wing, not the nose.

I think that was one of the best GPs I have ever seen in terms of racing, overtaking and interest up to the final lap. Great battles throughout the field, nothing was certain until the flag. Shame for Jenson on his 250th race, but a potentially season defining win for Lewis. Very good to see Mercedes not play the team orders card like they did in Malaysia last year. Ferrari would never have done that and it made for a much more interesting final 10 laps. Maldonado needs to calm down a bit. He's made a bad choice of team for this season and it seems to be affecting him.

Was a great race yesterday.

Yes, we have a team far out in front, but at least it looks like we have a good battle within that team, as well as plenty of overtaking and battles down the field.

It flipped off of the wing, not the nose.

Looked like his wheel rolled over either the other chaps wheel or wing. Certainly nothing to do the nose though as you say.

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The Bahrain GP was one of the best races I've seen in recent years.

Definitely up there with 2011 Canadian and 2012 European for me.

Looked at the Spanish GP a bit yesterday, what a boring procession it was.

Looked at the Spanish GP a bit yesterday, what a boring procession it was.

It always is though.

It always is though.

Expect more of the same at Monaco! Its the tracks fault, not the new cars.

Great race today!

Wonder how much fallout there'll be from Hamilton ignoring team orders...

Great race today!

 

Wonder how much fallout there'll be from Hamilton ignoring team orders...

Would have been stupid team orders anyway, Rosberg was nowhere near him and didn't look much faster. Just more German whining I expect.

As Rosberg was 2 or 3 seconds quicker with the new tyres could Hamilton have done better if he 'd chaged his tyres again?

As Rosberg was 2 or 3 seconds quicker with the new tyres could Hamilton have done better if he 'd chaged his tyres again?

Depends really, pit stop sets you back about 25-30 seconds I think, so at 2.5 seconds a lap faster you need 10 laps to make up the difference, then you have to get past your rivals which Alonso even with his totally dead ,33 lap soft tyres showed that it isn't as easy as all that.

Would have been stupid team orders anyway, Rosberg was nowhere near him and didn't look much faster. Just more German whining I expect.

Ah yes the blind support for Lewis Hamilton, where it's believed that virtually every team-mate of his is either a 'moaner' or 'whiner' and incidents like him throwing his toys out of the pram in Monaco are glossed over.

Neither of them are 'moaning' or 'whining', they're both politicking to try and get an advantage within the team.

It's Rosberg's consistency vs Hamilton's raw speed, and they'll be 'whining' as much as each other from here on in

Woah.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/28921431

This just got a whole lot bigger.

Woah.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/28921431

 

This just got a whole lot bigger.

unacceptable. f-ing dangerous

The Englishman had already claimed that Rosberg would escape any kind of punishment from Mercedes.

But Wolff indicated that he could face action.

"If Lewis has said that it's going to be a slap on the wrist and that there's going to be no consequence,

then he's not aware of what consequences we can implement," said the Mercedes chief."

Big difference between "can" and "will"

Yeah Rite the German team will really punish the German driver

I suppose they might fine him a few quid at the end of the season but I expect the usual

"lessons will be learned" etc will spout out from Merc.

This is assuming that Hamilton's claim that Rosberg told him he did it on purpose is genuine. It may well be but making allegations like that is also classic politicking. Regardless of whether Rosberg did it on purpose or not he'll always deny it, and Lewis knows that. The team are hardly going to come out and call either of their drivers dishonest.

Looking at the on-board footage Rosberg clearly steers slightly to the left just before they make contact, and as the stewards took no action they must have seen it as a racing incident as well. If Rosberg did do it on purpose he disguised it very well.

There's as much internal politicking going on as there is racing on the track, because the fact is lies get halfway round the world before the truth rears its head.

Well this is really punishing Rosberg extremely hard :lol:

" Championship leader Rosberg accepted responsibility for the collision, calling it an "error of judgement".

The team handed out an undisclosed punishment to Rosberg, likely to be a fine, while agreeing to let them

continue racing for the world title.

They have been warned another similar incident "will not be tolerated".

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/28984082

Perhaps this should be in the jokes thread rather than the F1 thread

Depends. They might have fined him four sets of tyres, or two gearboxes.

Jesting aside, I suspect Lewis will benefit from this.

Great drive from hamilton today

As a rule I don't much like Aussie sportsmen because they're a cocky bunch from a cocky nation and that can soon get on your nerves. But try as I might I just can't find anything objectionable about Daniel Ricciardo. How often do you see F1 drivers being interviewed and they come across as super serious young men with little time for abstract concepts such as enjoying their lives or comprehending just how exceptionally well life has treated them?

But I can't remember seeing this driver interviewed without seeing a huge smile on his face, a smile that leaves you with the distinct impression that not only is he having the time of his young life - but that Daniel is also quite wise enough to know it. Add in the fact that he's driving rings around Sebastian Vettal - a x4 Formula One champion - and it all adds up to a remarkable story. They do say that: 'nice guys don't win' and looking back on some F1 champions I can quite believe it. However I suspect that Daniel may well prove to be a exception to that rule because methinks we are looking at a future F1 champion in the making.

So super talented, wise beyond his years, and the type of naturally likeable lad that any man would be proud to call his son ... perhaps I am starting to dislike him afterall.

Japanese GP stopped early due to an accident.

Sutil went off at the Dunlop curve and hit the barrier. As the marshalls were clearig his car away it looks like Bianchi has gone off at the same place. It's not been captured on camera but there are big concerns over Bianchi, who has been taken to the medical centre.

Looks like the incident is almost exactly what happened to Brundle in '94. Hope Bianchi's ok.

In a truly sh*t day for motor sport, Andrea De Cesaris has been killed in a motor cycle accident.

This is assuming that Hamilton's claim that Rosberg told him he did it on purpose is genuine. It may well be but making allegations like that is also classic politicking. Regardless of whether Rosberg did it on purpose or not he'll always deny it, and Lewis knows that. The team are hardly going to come out and call either of their drivers dishonest.

 

There's as much internal politicking going on as there is racing on the track, because the fact is lies get halfway round the world before the truth rears its head.

LOL

Just now Brundle & Hill on Sky's build-up practically stated that Lewis was talking absolute BS when he claimed that Rosberg told him he punctured his tyre on purpose.

Congratulations to Mercedes GP and above all to Lewis Hamilton - I literally could not be more pleased to see you back where you belong.

After a long (and sometimes tedious frankly) period of domination by Vettel and Red Bull you and Nico have served us up a season that will live long in the memory. Although motorsport fans in this country may well be prejudiced I suspect that few F1 fans anywhere would question that you truly deserve this championship and that you are indeed the fastest thing on four wheels.

I can't help but think that by this stage in your career you probably should have been F1 Champion more than twice - but a combination of McLaren's consistent failure to provide you with a adequate car, Adrian Newey's utter genius, and perhaps a few signs of Human weakness on your part have conspired to deny you. But that's all in the past now and the chances are that another championship next year is a distinct possibility.

I can hardly wait.

Very pleased to see two Williams on the podium, i hope their resurgence continues.