Crown

After what feels like ages, it's time to race again 

The new rules have changed things a lot and it looks like the Mercedes powered teams have the advantage, with Ferrari powered teams after that and Renault powered teams struggling for reliability.

The result will still be a lottery - even faster cars may struggle with reliability over race distance ... and driver error could spoil the result for a good car ... at least the weather is forecast to be fine.

RIP John Button.

Hope Schumacher's condition improves ...

Thank goodness F1 is back 

James Allen's strategy report:

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/03/a-trip-into-the-unknown-how-the-f1-teams-will-approach-the-australian-grand-prix/

997.1 C2S GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red

easy_rider911:

Thank goodness F1 is back 

 

+ 1

Gladstone:

easy_rider911:

Thank goodness F1 is back 

 

+ 1

+1   Go Kimi!

It will be entertaining just to see the number of cars still running at the end of the race.  Some have speculated no one car will go the entire distance.  

RBR put out an amazing 3D digital video breaking down all the rule changes. its on youtube, everyone check it out! 

1991 BMW 535i Granitsilber/White Leather

Ex: '91 BMW 318i, '89 BMW 525i, '74 Mercedes-Benz 280E, '87 BMW 325is, '86 BMW 325e, '05 Ford Focus ZX4 S, '85.5 Porsche 944

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFHmYFlbFn8

Porsche 911 GT3 - Guards Red 997 MKII Clubsport

Okay - I just watched first and second practice.  I must be going deaf or the TV sound is not working.  I could not hear the engines at all!  Horrible muted little mumbles.  Need to create an app for F1 fans to simulate the sound of the old Ferrari V12! 

All those guys banking on selling ear protection at the F1 races just qualified for Free Obama care due to loss of income.

Leawood911:

Okay - I just watched first and second practice.  I must be going deaf or the TV sound is not working.  I could not hear the engines at all!  Horrible muted little mumbles.  Need to create an app for F1 fans to simulate the sound of the old Ferrari V12! 

All those guys banking on selling ear protection at the F1 races just qualified for Free Obama care due to loss of income.

Here's something to make up for the bad sounding F1 cars... 

http://youtu.be/M1InrgZiv30

i think I was 6 or 7 when my dad took me and my brother to the Belgian grand prix at Spa-Francorchamps. That Ferrari V12 was unlike anything else. Spine tingling!

Suzy

2013 Porsche Boxster S (MT) | Basalt black metallic
2014 Audi A6 Avant 3.0 BiTDI Quattro | Moonshine blue metallic
 

Leawood911:

Okay - I just watched first and second practice.  I must be going deaf or the TV sound is not working.  I could not hear the engines at all!  Horrible muted little mumbles.  Need to create an app for F1 fans to simulate the sound of the old Ferrari V12! 

All those guys banking on selling ear protection at the F1 races just qualified for Free Obama care due to loss of income.

That's the sound of the future! I wonder how long before the NASCAR boys, and woman, are forced to adopt hybrid power plants too.

The sound of the 2014 F1 cars IMO is just awful.

I want to hear cars screaming at the rev limiter. Instead, today's F1 cars sound like turbo charged sports cars rather than race cars at the pinnacle of motorsport.

In response to a question about the underwhelming sound of today's F1 cars, Williams's Deputy Team Principal (Clare Williams) patronisingly said in today's Team Principals' Press Conference that (I paraphrase) she loves F1 and loves watching cars going round the track i.e. if you love F1, you will get used to the sound and look beyond it ... utter hogwash. As if those who question the sound of today's cars aren't F1 purists?

The on-track action may provide excitement but it will never be a substitute for the missing element of sound.

--

997.1 C2S GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red

When it comes to F1 escpecially for races that I cannot attend in person, I am prettly much limited to sight and sound. Since they have now stripped me of one, the other needs to be pretty spectacular!

However, for the first race of the season; my wife and daughter will have to move to the living room so that I can have the family room where the screen is bigger and the sound is wired to my about 20 year old stereo system with a nice subwoofer. If that doesn't provide enough sound, I predict that Bernie will change this situation real soon!

Oh and as far as getting used to the sound, I will once I change channels

The damp qualifying was a treat to watch. 

Low traction is a great equalizer among the different cars, it will boils down to car control driving skills, especially with the increase low end torque of the new cars, drivers really needs to watch how and where they put down the power.

The new addition to Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo is very impressive in the new car.

Also quite a new feeling watching F1 while muting the TV. 

Oh God, the sound is so underwhelming in real life.
Though I really enjoyed quali, didn't think it was going to be that exciting.

Impressive debut by Magnussen, Ricciardo is quite a surprise, but my guy Rosberg got the win :)

I ma looking at the sponsors, seems like I am already a customer to quite a few of those.

Rolex, title sponsor and Pirelli tires.

From Mercedes, Mercedes the car, UBS the bank, IWC watches, Monster energy drinks, Puma shoes and Starwood hotels.

From Red Bull, Red Bull drinks, Casio G-SHock watches, Siemens home phones, GEOX shoes, Singha beer.

From McLaren, McLaren car, SAP software, Mobil 1 oil, Tag Heuer watches, Boss clothing, Hilton hotels, Johnny Walker whiskey, Gillette razors. Maybe Enkei too, as I heard Enkei is the OEM to McLaren's wheels and I think they are also OEM to Honda. 

22 out of 54 sponsors.

Another useless stat.

Amazing debut for Magnussen. Qualifying 4th and finishing 3rd as a rookie.

Great drives from Rosberg, Ricciardo ... Superb recovery drives from Bottas and Button ...

Bad luck for Hamilton, Vettel ...

First round goes to Alonso ... Raikkonen outqualified and outpaced in the race ... how will Raikkonen respond? Outpacing Grosjean last year was one thing, beating Alonso will be much tougher ...

Happy to see Williams are back ... pity for Massa to be taken out by Kobayashi ... whose rear brakes failed due to a MGU-K problem ... looking forward to see how this season unfolds ...

997.1 C2S GT Silver/Cocoa, -20mm/LSD, PSE, short shifter, SportDesign rims, Zuffenhausen pickup, BMW Z4 2.5i Roadster Sterling Grey/Red

Gosh i was really something was wrong with the TV. It is just so not F1 :(

996C4, Artic silver (gone) 997C2S, Seal/black, -20mm LSD, PSE (gone) 986S, Arctic Silver (gone)

Well this is not F1, drive slow to preserve fuel!!!! That is what my granma is doing sometimes!!!!!!!

sooooooo boring, if it was not for the money i guess there is so many other categories that are soooo much more exiting, than watching those taxi drivers!!!

rally sad!!!

993 c2

easy_rider911:

First round goes to Alonso ... Raikkonen outqualified and outpaced in the race ... how will Raikkonen respond? Outpacing Grosjean last year was one thing, beating Alonso will be much tougher ...

Happy to see Williams are back ... pity for Massa to be taken out by Kobayashi ... whose rear brakes failed due to a MGU-K problem ... looking forward to see how this season unfolds ...

Wasn't Raikkonen involved in this collision as well? He was having brake problems throughout the race.

I just read that Ricciardo was disqualified for excessive fuel consumption, moving the McLaren drivers up to 2nd and 3rd

What an embarrasement to F1 to have cars that sound like souped up 4 cilinder sedans...

What a drive from Bottas, the only excictement in the race with his overtakes. And the other hero of the race for me is Ricciardo, amazing qualy and 2nd place finish. Congrats to Rosberg but not as impressive since had a much superior car and had an easy win. 

Clearly the teams with the Mercedes engine have a clear upper hand at least at the start of the seaon. 

And congratulations to Ferrari, they have done it again, rules may change year after year but they still manage to develop the slowest car of the top ten, that is some consistency. Massa was a mediocre pilot, but Kimi is not and the weekend he had shows how slow the Ferrari is, even with DRS they could not catch up to the Force India, let alone the Mac and Mercs... Kimi seemed to be pushing so hard that he made a hand full of mistakes during the race and the one in qualifying. And just shows how Alonso has been driving the Ferrari to 120% of its potential all these years placing it in a higher position that it really deserves, and did it again this weekend. And Alonso had on off problems with the ERS as well during the race so it wasn't at least 100% realible either.

Anyway, lets just hope that there is some more mechanical equality this year so drivers can fight and Mercedes won't be the new RBR this season. Malaysia will be interesting to se in this sense.

Carlos from Spain:

... And just shows how Alonso has been driving the Ferrari to 120% of its potential all these years placing it in a higher position that it really deserves...

Yes, it's very unfortunate for Alonso that he hasn't had a better ride of late.

Whoopsy:

I ma looking at the sponsors, seems like I am already a customer to quite a few of those.

Rolex, title sponsor and Pirelli tires.

From Mercedes, Mercedes the car, UBS the bank, IWC watches, Monster energy drinks, Puma shoes and Starwood hotels.

From Red Bull, Red Bull drinks, Casio G-SHock watches, Siemens home phones, GEOX shoes, Singha beer.

From McLaren, McLaren car, SAP software, Mobil 1 oil, Tag Heuer watches, Boss clothing, Hilton hotels, Johnny Walker whiskey, Gillette razors. Maybe Enkei too, as I heard Enkei is the OEM to McLaren's wheels and I think they are also OEM to Honda. 

22 out of 54 sponsors.

Another useless stat.

Finally a Danish driver who can actually deliver in F1!
As I understand it, his 2nd place is the best result ever achieved by a rookie driver.
Truly amazing result! 

I hope he can keep it up, and it doesn´t just fizzle out or ends up being a fluke 

Looks like RBR was caught with the hand in the cookie jar 

I feel sorry for Ricciardo, he has to pay the price for Horner's tactics.

 

Ricciardo excluded from Australia race results

According to the stewards’ report, Red Bull used a different fuel sensor on Saturday after they found the one used on Friday had produced unreliable readings. However, when the sensor used on Saturday failed to provide results that were satisfactory to them or the FIA, they were instructed to change back to the original sensor within parc ferme on Saturday night. 

Considering this sensor unreliable, Red Bull chose to rely on their own internal fuel flow model, something that the stewards say is in violation of the procedure outlined in the technical regulations. 

Furthermore, Red Bull were warned by the FIA’s technical representative during the race that the fuel flow on Ricciardo’s car was too high. The team were given the opportunity to correct this, but according to the stewards’ report, they chose not to make any changes.

--

That fuel controversy is more complicated than it needs to be.

Simplest solution would be to ration the fuel. Gives each team a standard sized fuel container for the race and if they ran the damn thing dry before the end of race then they don't finish. No need for complicated fuel flow sensors. 

SuzyF:

Leawood911:

Okay - I just watched first and second practice.  I must be going deaf or the TV sound is not working.  I could not hear the engines at all!  Horrible muted little mumbles.  Need to create an app for F1 fans to simulate the sound of the old Ferrari V12! 

All those guys banking on selling ear protection at the F1 races just qualified for Free Obama care due to loss of income.

Here's something to make up for the bad sounding F1 cars... 

http://youtu.be/M1InrgZiv30

i think I was 6 or 7 when my dad took me and my brother to the Belgian grand prix at Spa-Francorchamps. That Ferrari V12 was unlike anything else. Spine tingling!

What a painful comparison, you tend to forget the way F1 sounded in the not so distant past. The difference with today's cars could not be bigger, to top it off, they're ugly as hell.

Praying for an exciting season nonetheless.

--

2003 BMW M3 CSL / 2007 Porsche 911 GT3 RS / 2013 MINI John Cooper Works GP / 2014 BMW Alpina D3 biturbo Touring

Whoopsy:

That fuel controversy is more complicated than it needs to be.

Simplest solution would be to ration the fuel. Gives each team a standard sized fuel container for the race and if they ran the damn thing dry before the end of race then they don't finish. No need for complicated fuel flow sensors. 

The total amount of fuel is rationed too, as well as the flow rate, the idea being, I think, to keep them from gambling on safety cars to meet the required "fuel economy standards" but actually having an engine that can generate the power required legitimately.

So - let me get this straight - just so I can process the BS from the FIA - he did not use MORE than the ration???  The team did not use the correct device to measure AND perhaps at times during the race his fuel flow was too great?

That is like the Goverment spying in the bedroom and penalizing us for using the wrong condom based the volume of ejaculate - ahem.  There are just so many things that should not be penalized because intrusion results.  Just give them the right amount of gas (or the key to a PRIVATE room) and see who wins.

F1 is simply no more fun with such BS rules.  These guys are RISKING their friggin lives - so unfair to diminish that.  I would love for Riccardo to give one of these rules wizards a ride in the rain in an F1 car.

And Kimi better get with the F program. 

Nice to see my buddy Ron is back  (Pardon the quality - my favorite picture - he smiled!)

apias:

Whoopsy:

That fuel controversy is more complicated than it needs to be.

Simplest solution would be to ration the fuel. Gives each team a standard sized fuel container for the race and if they ran the damn thing dry before the end of race then they don't finish. No need for complicated fuel flow sensors. 

The total amount of fuel is rationed too, as well as the flow rate, the idea being, I think, to keep them from gambling on safety cars to meet the required "fuel economy standards" but actually having an engine that can generate the power required legitimately.

I say let them gamble, makes the races more exciting when we know a few might not have enough fuel to finish if there was no safety car events haha. Or the leaders might have to slow down to conserve fuel and someone else can pass them for the lead.

Dr. Phil:

Finally a Danish driver who can actually deliver in F1!
As I understand it, his 2nd place is the best result ever achieved by a rookie driver.
Truly amazing result! 

I hope he can keep it up, and it doesn´t just fizzle out or ends up being a fluke 

He finished in third, Phil.. Awesome though..

throt

"I Have Done It!".

GT3 pick up?, when P find a fix..