Decided to start a thread for the 2014 season since the Australian and Malaysian discussions were rolling into one...

The way the clouds looked, I thought it was going to rain like crazy in Malaysia and destroy everyone's strategy for the race. That might've been the help RBR needed to push past Merc.

Nico Rosberg has proved so far what some of us suspected last year - that he's definitely going to be someone to keep an eye on for the future. Impressive start to the year!

What about the Massa/Bottas drama? I definitely think that this early in the season, he should've been a team player and let Bottas pass. That late in the race, and knowing he would not make it to 6th, he blocked his team from the opportunity at 6th and 8th instead of 7th and 8th. Every point is valuable.

That Massa/Boatas deal is going to be one to watch for sure. Interestingly, the team claimed they wanted to give Boatas a chance at Button and if he couldn't get around they would let Massa go in front for the finish. I wonder how well that was communicated or if it was just after race bs intended to quell the storm. Massa did have a point in that if Boatas couldn't pass him with the supposed faster car how was he going to pass Button anyway.

Rosberg looked excellent again.

Hammy though was otherworldly. Look at his fuel usage. He was consistently a couple of percentage points under the rest of the top runners and he was pulling away the entire time.

Could we be seeing a more mature smart racing Hammy? I don't want him to lose the fire that made him my favorite racer, but I do want to see him take home the crown again.

I watched yesterday's practice round and the commentators mentioned that Bernie said it is looking good for Gene Haas' proposal for a USA based F1 team in 2015. Of course, the FIA has to approve, but it is a good sign for Bernie to be optimistic.

Commentators had a good point about how much money it takes to run a team and that Marussia and Caterham have been in the field for four years without a single point earned.

I'm excited at the potential for the USA to be represented by a team...but I'd almost rather just see a driver from the U.S. on the track!

Vettel out in Q2, Mercedes absolutely wrecking shop. Wild day in qualifying.

What a race!

Now THAT was a race!

Dp

[This message has been edited by StaffRat (edited 4/6/2014 11:49a).]

Hammy!!!! What an incredible drive to hold on to the lead after a bad bit of luck with safety car coming on to the track. His feint around lap 54 where he briefly let Nico by who ended up overcooking the turn only to snake back on the other side was perfection.

oh and a fast track, there is no one that can touch Merc outside of a reliability problem.

9 laps took the Mercs out 23 seconds ahead of the field. holy sheeet.

That race was so much fun to watch with some exciting intra-team battles. The driving by Hamilton and Rosberg was phenomenal - they truly have the best cars this year.

How about the Gutierrez/Maldonado collision? It was remarkable to see Gutierrez get out of the car on his own after that flip. The view from the onboard camera was crazy!

yep. it also lends credence to the drivers and teams voicing concerns that the new nose requirements would turn the cars into shovels and dive under another car. that's exactly what happened. glad Gutierrez was able to walk away.

In addition to the 10 second stop/go penalty during the race, Maldonado will also have a 5 spot grid penalty in China for the accident.

Ricciardo received a 10 spot penalty today because RBR retired his car before he served his 10 second stop/go penalty for "unsafe pit lane release" in Malaysia.

Why is potentially causing an accident punished more severely than actually causing a major accident?

Fantastic race. Really glad Merc let their guys battle it out, trusting them both to be smart, and they didn't dissapoint. Great driving by both, but Hamilton was other-worldly, defending against an equal car on better tires driven by a damn good driver in Rosberg. Mercedes may run away with the Championship (nothing in certain in F1, though), but if they do, hopefully we're treated to more racing like this between the two.

wolfman,

it is because of this.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/from-the-marbles/f1-cameraman-injured-being-hit-tire-mark-webber-160832616.html

the FIA has said they will absolutely not tolerate unsafe releases. unsafe releases are a danger to personnel, drivers and fans.

gutierrez wasn't entirely blameless in that crash with maldonado. he closed down way too tight after maldonado was into the inside corner. i'm in agreement with the FIA handling of these 2 issues.

Haas officially in for 2015.

When their car rolls onto the starting grid, I'll believe it.

They're apparently in talks with Dallara for a chassis. I'm with you though, I won't believe it until I see the car on the grid in Oz next year.

Great win for Lewis. Great drive from Alonso also.

Great drive by Alonso for sure. He's still one of the best there is.

Hammy did exactly what he needed to. He had the fastest car. Got himself on the pole. Jumped out ahead and stayed in clean air which let him go easy on his tires and save fuel. Dominant driving and team work.

Hamilton + this year's Mercedes is incredible. 3 straight wins, 2 were completely dominating, and the 3rd probably would have been if not for a safety car that brought him back to the field.

Overall, I thought it was a little bit of a boring race. Other than the two opening corner collisions and Seb's mid-race "tough luck" childishness*, not much really happened.

Alonso again proves that he just might be the best driver on the grid, to get a podium from that car.

*I don't really care for team orders, I'd rather teams let them race, like Mercedes did in Bahrain, but Vettell can't have it both ways. How many times have we heard him in the past complain about Mark being slower and wanting through?

agreed on all points Kyle.

i don't hate Seb like a lot of people. i don't root for him though. this season is going to be very interesting for his legacy. if Ricciardo continues to be faster, it will put a small blemish in his resume of domination.

on another note, Jenson Button is effectively done as a top racer in this series if F1 keeps the current weight limits. he's too big to keep his weight down enough to compete.

I don't necessarily "hate" Seb either, but like you, I don't root for him. You don't get to be 4-time WDC without being a damn good driver, I don't care how dominant your car is.

On Button, it's not helping the the McLaren is a pretty bad car this year, it seems. Apart from the firt race of the year, they've both been pretty slow, and that's with the Mercedes engine!

I really wish that McLaren and Ferarri would start putting out top cars again. I would love to see a three-way battle between those two and Mercedes for both championships. I left out Red Bull because I will admit I'm a little tired of them after their recent run, and I have a very strong dislike for Christian Horner. He rubs me wrong for some reason.

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I don't necessarily "hate" Seb either, but like you, I don't root for him. You don't get to be 4-time WDC without being a damn good driver, I don't care how dominant your car is.

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absolutely this is true. but, he has benefited from team orders that made him the flat out number 1 driver. everything in the race and in testing was geared towards him winning. that's changed now. now we get to see what a little adversity does to him.

i'd love to see Merc, Ferrari and Mclaren going at it as well. Mclaren's car definitely blows. but, i don't think you can discount the change in weight regulations. look what happened to Jean-Eric Vergne early in the season. he ended up hospitalized trying to get his weight down.

quote:

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absolutely this is true. but, he has benefited from team orders that made him the flat out number 1 driver. everything in the race and in testing was geared towards him winning. that's changed now. now we get to see what a little adversity does to him.

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Can't argue with that.

quote:

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i'd love to see Merc, Ferrari and Mclaren going at it as well. Mclaren's car definitely blows. but, i don't think you can discount the change in weight regulations. look what happened to Jean-Eric Vergne early in the season. he ended up hospitalized trying to get his weight down.

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Very true as well. We'll see if McLaren's touted downforce updates do anything to help them out come Spain in just under 3 weeks. And Kvyat is proving that lighter is better in the Toro Rosso. I don't think he a better driver than JEV, but he certainly looks the part right now.


[This message has been edited by Kyle98 (edited 4/23/2014 12:20p).]

Surprise surprise.....Hamilton fastest in FP1 and FP2 today at Barcelona. Rosberg was a half second slower in FP2 with Ricciardo another half second back of that.

Vettell didn't run FP2 because of an electrical issue with his new chassis during FP1 after just 4 laps.

its going to take some more DNFs for Hammy not to win the championship this year. he and that car are just flying.

I think Hamilton is a whiny little beach but dude can drive. He was 3/10 behind Nico in Q 1&2 and then goes out and sticks it on pole.
I am still astounded at just how good MB is and how bad everyone else is. What an awful car RBR has put under Vettel.
His star has lost some of its luster for me. Even when the car doesn't give up he's not beating the 2nd seat on that team.
Oh well, it's Hamilton's season to loose.
It will be interesting to see if any of these teams can mount a defense.

It is strange to see MB's domination so far this year after RBR's domination last season. MB has built a fantastic car for Hamilton and Rosberg to drive.

RBR should have a small fortune from last year's season to put into the design and adjustment of the new car. It really is unacceptable for Vettel's car to continue to have so many issues. I'm not saying he would be #1, 2, or even 3 (Ricciardo is better so far this year) - but he should be giving them a run for their money.

Louis is in Nico's head now. Nico had the tire strategy to win in Bahrain and here at Catalunya and couldn't get it done.
Vettel finally showed up and Ricciardo got on the box. Maybe RBR is tired of getting sand kicked in their face.
Why is it taking so long for Kimi to come to terms with that car? Ferrari was pretty good this race.

The silver arrows lapping a 6th place raikkonen driven Ferrari is hard to contemplate.

Lewis is absolutely driving like a bat out off hell.

Another Hamilton win!
Good drive from Vettel
Maldonado is out of control

"Dominance is an understatement."

I agree with that statement. MB was flying around the track today.

It was also nice to see RBR in 3 and 4. Ricciardo earned his spot and Vettel did a good job climbing up to #4.

That was a thorough spanking.

MB total dominance makes for boring racing.

While there's still some good racing going on, I would like to see the Ferraris and the McLarens back at the top of the grid, challenging the Mercs.