Formula 1 2013

This race was so much better. Not spectacular perhaps and not many overtakes away from the DRS zones, but at least some excitement going on including the top 3. Painful to watch as a Lotus fan though.

Also, a marshal died :( Got run over by the recovery vehicle as they moved Gutierrez car out.
 
Yeah I heard that - that's such a horrible accident >_<

I missed the middle chunk of the race but it seemed pretty straight forward for SV. Him getting booed at the podium was kind of weird. I guess it's kind of a testament of how he went from beloved to douchenugget in 2 short seasons.

Lotus did suck quite a bit - do you think they're losing out on the development of the car or just the track? Montreal is kind of special.
 
Well, it seems others have caught up with the tyre deg a lot. Both Merc and RBR, and they're still faster outright than Lotus who seem to want to stick to their belief that they can stop one time less and still go as fast. Though from what I've read they apparently can't go fast enough if they do more stops. I also read somewhere that it might be due to the colder weather in Monaco and Montreal, the tyres don't go off as bad on RBR/Merc and the Lotus can't switch them on as well as when it's hotter, so they lose their advantage.

But I do fear they'll fall behind in the development. That head engineer guy left them and Boullier doesn't seem to know what he's doing to me, still spending resources to try to help an ailing Grosjean when they've got a driver in the title hunt. Guess we'll sort of find out at Silverstone which should be a very different circuit, unless it rains of course... I hope Kimi goes to RBR next year, and I hope, but don't really think, that he'll beat Vettel there. If his driving style is very different it'd be hard since the team are bound to develop for Seb.

One more points finish and he's beaten the consecutive record, though! I'll take what I can get :p
 
Ah that tyre test thing... I think the tribunal was pretty lenient, but then again what were they going to do? Surely not strip them of points or anything like that. Would've been better to give ll the other teams an equal test at Silverstone with their racing drivers to try to even it out at least. Shady shit anyway, they'd be bound to know people would be pissed.

And so today or yesterday Webber announced his retirement! Going to Porsche LMP1 endurance racing and shit.

It's a bit sad to see Webbo go because he's kind of entertaining in interviews, but I'm happy there'll be an open spot in a top team again. These samey driver line-ups are getting boring with several teams sticking to the same drivers for like 5 years in a row. Teams are so scared of having two roosters in the hen house now.

But boy do I hope someone else than Ricciardo or Vergne gets that seat, those guys are pretty boring.

Dream scenario: Kimi to RBR and Bianchi to Lotus for an all-French squad! Or well, dream scenario they'd replace Grosjean too :p
 
Hahah, I can't imagine anyone other than Ricciardo after what he did at Silverstone. I don't like him, but I'm sure that's their most likely option, since they won't want to upset their little baby. I'm pretty sure Massa will be gone from Ferrari as well. Time will tell. Sad to see Webber too, but these last 2 years have been pretty meh for him so I suppose it is time to go
 
So it looks like Mercedes didn't really gain that much from that tyre test, but were perhaps just lucky with the weather the last few races. Now that it's hot again, their tyres degrade when there's fuel in the car. Conversely, Lotus looked like they did in Bahrain/Spain again when the temperature suited them better.

So, how many potentially 'cold' races are left? Hungary, usually pretty hot in southern Europe in late July! Spa, probably 50/50, the temperature swung incredibly much during just one day the year I was there, I was freezing and two hours later I had to take some clothes off and was sweating hehe. The weather in that valley is crazy. Monza, probably hot. The only one that could be kind of cold I'd guess is Korea?

And Massa's spin, man, how do you bin it in that corner like that? Doesn't even happen to van der Garde. He said it was his own error, too.
 
Seriously, I feel bad for Massa. That's just so damn terrible. Ferrari would be 2nd if it wasn't for his terrible luck and inconsistencies.

I didn't think Merc was going to gain that much, still insanely quick over one lap though. That lap Hamilton put up was nuts. I thought Kimi was going to be able to pass Vettel, and Fernando Grosjean.

Vettel is the new Hamilton, the cheering even from the Germans wasn't as much as the Spanish cheer for Fernando.
 
So apparently three big Russian investors are backing Sauber, who were getting close to crashing economically apparently.

Part of the deal is that this 17 year old Formula Renault 3.5 will drive for them, next year even if he gets a super license. His dad is the head of one of those partners. The ultimate pay driver?

I mean, sure, he could be really talented, but there are loads of people I'd rather see from GP2, F3 and even others in FR3.5. Vandoorne, Magnussen, Frijns, Marciello, Rosenqvist (because he's Swedish :p, but he actually looks quick, too), Da Costa, Valsecchi.

If Alguersuari got into F1 too early for his own good, this guy will be in trouble.

Just discovered Euro F3 series puts up entire races on their official site. That's hella cool. Soothes my abstinence during these damn 3 week breaks.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_z8G7sHkpo&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
 
Alguersari was quicker than the other nugget they had him agaisnt. I forget his name now. I've never even heard of this kid either, and when other drivers were approached about him, they seemed so indifferent towards the idea of him getting a drive. They didn't really know who he was either.

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Looks like the Merc fixed its tyres issue. Hamilton drove a hell of a race. Imagine an Alonso fan saying that, lol. Nice to see Seb in 3rd, with Kimi in second. I feel like that penalty they gave Grosjean was most in part to his reputation. That was the most exciting part of that race, and they ruined his chance to win. He was insanely fast. Ferrari on the backfoot some more, surprise. Boring race overall.
 
I agree completely. Massa even said the penalty was totally wrong, so. If they guy getting passed doesn't even have a problem with it, then what the hell. Gro made a ballsy but controlled move for once, ok if they'd punished him for the Button thing though I can't remember if I thought he was totally at fault there either. Pretty boring strategic race though, I think it might've been more fun if Seb and RoGro hadn't gotten stuck behind Button after the first stops. Hungaroring looks like hella fun to drive but not very good for racing.

It is pretty surprising how well the Merc worked, they'll be pretty damn dangerous if they can keep that up on other tyres and tracks. Ferrari seem to have problems keeping up with development mid-season again. I think Alonso said again this year that they brought new parts that didn't work so they've gone back to spec from several races ago. Not good at all.

Can't wait for Spa.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcOmBuS597c[/youtube]
 
I really want to see that RBR flat out on Blanchimont. That car is freaking glued to the track.
 
RBR sure had an extremely slim rear wing this weekend, and it didn't seem to compromise their lap times through the downforce dependent sector 2, while affording them the highest speed trap speed by some 5 kph.

I wonder what that means for Monza. Seems like they should be very strong there if they can run such a small wing on a track that requires much more downforce. Maybe other teams were betting on a wet Sunday and have the same capability for straight line speed and downforce if they set up for it. I sure hope Mercedes did, they're usually good on the straights but here they got destroyed by both Vettel and Alonso in that regard.

My predictions have been rather shit recently though, which I guess is pretty great actually hehe. Reasonable unpredictability is good. I guess it's gonna be some time before we can tell whether RBR have made their usual post summer break leap in development, but if they produce enough downforce for Spa with such a small wing, how good are they gonna be around Singapore and Suzuka when the rear wing gives them even more downforce? It's probably not that simple.
 
Yeah it was weird, the RBR isn't generally that fast in straight line, that has been a Ferrari strength for a while now.

It's not the size of the wing, it's the angle it's run at. If it was slim, I just guess that it's a new stronger one while reducing weight at the rear allowing for greater ballast use. I presume that it'll be even thinner and flatter for Monza, those things are damn near horizontal at that track.

Alonso seemed somewhat on par with Vettel in qualifying and practice sessions so I'm assuming something has gone right for them. Vettel has this thing pretty much locked down though, I don't think Ferrari will be able to push the car much further.
 
Kimi back to Ferrari for 2014 finally confirmed, that's one hell of a line up. Hope they manage to make a car that suits them both and that Kimi can manage a few more wins per year than in Lotus. If the car isn't very good (or doesn't suit Kimi's oversteery grip into corners style) I think Alonso will have more of an upper hand since he seems to be able to adjust to the car more rather than adjust the car to his style.

2014 is shaping up to be really interesting anyway, hope Hulkenberg goes to Lotus or something.
 
I was hoping you'd post so I didn't have to double post!

Next year sounds like it'll be fun. Kimi back in Red will be awesome, we'll see if it ends up paying off for them. If it works and doesn't end up being all 2007, then Ferrari would have seemed the geniuses.
 
Looks like the season is all but over with Seb taking his second grand slam in a row. One more race win and he's beaten his points total of 2012, with 4 races to go. That car is sick right now, and he doesn't squander the chance.

Fun to see Sauber coming back up the field at this stage of the season, Hulkenberg did well to hold on to 4th ahead of the big boys. Would be a shame if he doesn't go to Macca or Lotus next year. He's been in the midfield for so long.

Poor Grosjean caught napping after the safety car. It's kind of funny how Lotus are bigging him up as their future team leader, though he has clearly improved this year. Could've scored big in Singapore too.

Korea is really such a shit venue though, the only fun section is the turns after the second straight, only place for any kind of interesting racing. The surroundings look terrible, it's like a freaking swamp around the track, very few spectators and it seemed like the drivers didn't even bother to celebrate in parc ferme after qualy and race because of that.

And what the hell is Di Resta doing right now? Binning and spinning and DNFing for 4-5 races in a row?

Also weird how suddenly the tires are going bananas again with graining, and Merc (at least Ham) again not being able to conserve them in the race like early in the season, after they seemed to have understood them around Hungary.
 
Everything is weird right now. It's kind of shit that this race just pretty much confirms that Seb is going to win 4 in a row. It's boring. I doubt we'll see much difference next year, as the news has hit that Ferrari's engine is lacking HP compared to the Renault. I don't even care that Fernando has lost out three times now, it's just boring watching one dude dominate (schumy in early 2000's much)

I feel like a moron for even suggesting Di Resta should have gone to Ferrari instead of the Hulk. Way to ruin his chances landing a top seat in the near future.
 
Not much excitement left now obviously, which is a shame because I really like Austin and Interlagos, perhaps there'll be some good racing at least. With Kimi out for surgery, bleeeh. Only thing I'm interested in now is whether Vettel can break the consecutive wins record, more or less. Even though it's the ultimate sign of lack of excitement, at least it's history being made or something.

My boss got me a gift for finishing my PhD, since I quoted Kimi's radio message in my book, she got me that T-shirt with "Leave me alone I know what I'm doing" on it hehe.

At least the silly season is progressing a bit. Massa to Williams, hope they can improve both for Felipe's sake but also for Bottas, I want to see what he can do with better equipment, since he's been matching Maldo overall I'd say, with less crashtor tendencies.

Strong rumors putting Kevin Magnussen in the Macca next year, probably instead of Perez. I think it's great if they're bringing in someone from FR3.5 straight into a top team, hope he'll pull a Hamilton as unlikely as that is. But it's unfortunate for Checo. OK perhaps he's not been amazing but that car has been shit the entire season, he's good enough to stay in F1 for much longer.

So the kind of open seats remaining are one at Sauber providing they take Sirotkin, one at Lotus I would assume, and both Force India drives.

And the guys competing for those seats, Maldo, Hulk, Di Resta, Sutil, Perez and I guess some newbies. I've heard rumors about van der Garde having big sponsorship... Calado has done some testing, not been overly impressive I guess. The GP2 guys don't seem to be that interesting this year either and Valsecchi seems to be out of luck, with reports saying Lotus won't even use him in the coming 2 races in place of Kimi. I was really hoping Hulkenberg would get that Lotus seat, but now with their ultra weird economical situation I don't know, it's really hard to predict where they'll be next year.
 
sennaprost.jpg


[spoiler:a36ce11b21]Senna vs Prost...some of the greatest races of all time. F1 was a true spectacle in those days. Nowadays less so. :cry: [/spoiler:a36ce11b21]
 
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