The Formula One Discussion Thread

[Eruption]

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With the new season about to start (qualifying in Melbourne tomorrow), I figured now would be a good time to try and start some discussion about F1 as I seem to remember an old thread on this being fairly popular for at least a small duration of time. Hopefully this one can last a reasonable amount of time too.

Anyway, are you interested in F1? Do you like a specific team or driver? What have been your favourite/least favourite races ever? Who will win the championship this season? Just a few general questions to get the ball rolling.

To answer some of those questions myself, obviously I'm interested hence the thread, my favourite driver is Kimi Raikkonen and favourite team is Ferrari (dream reunion this season). My favourite race was the 2007 Brazil GP because the title went down to the wire with Kimi eventually winning and also I watched it in a cinema which elevated the experience a fair bit. My least favourite was the 2005 US GP for obvious reasons. Hopefully one of the Ferrari drivers will win the champ this season, but as long as Vettel doesn't I'm happy.

Discuss away. (or leave the thread to die, either way)

Also if there's some reasonable response then hopefully we can set up a Prediction League for the season.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

Used to love the the sport but it has lost it's sparkle for me over the last decade.

For what it's worth Mika Hakkinen was my favourite driver, his rivalry with Schumacher was always great to watch.

 

[Eruption]

Is there any reason for that in particular? Obviously the whole Vettel dominance has kind of ruined the last three years or so, but before that we had some of the best seasons (in my opinion).

Hakkinen gets respect from me too, I didn't see much of his career because I started watching in his retirement year (plus I was six at the time so probably still didn't understand much), but he's Finnish so he's automatically one of my favoured drivers especially since in some ways he was Raikkonen's predecessor, plus to win back to back championships with Schumacher around you have to be a special driver (like Alonso).

 

[Weeaboo Name]

The rules and regulations just got too obnoxious for me. If it were about going around the track as fast as humanly possible it would be great but it has shifted to a strategy game where the aim is to manage tires and engines better than rival teams.

There is still an almost inhuman level of skill required but I just can't seem to enjoy it as much as back then.

That being said I'll watch the first couple of races, like I do every season, to see how it goes.

 

[Eruption]

I suppose that's pretty fair, I've lost a bit of interest over the years due to artificial overtaking, Vettel and Sky getting the coverage combined but as soon as some of that is resolved I should be able to be as addicted as I used to be. I don't mind the strategy element too much myself though.

This season promises to be a bit more unexpected so hopefully it delivers.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

Also the fact that the cars are becoming more and more like spaceships every year isn't a good thing. That could be said back when I was a hardcore fan as well though tbh.

I haven't read up about the coming season. Anything I should look out for?

 

[Eruption]

I think people seem to get too caught up in aesthetics and other seemingly irrelevant things, Martin Brundle says noses and noise are the too things that need to be fixed for 2015. Somehow I doubt they're really that necessary.

Things to look out for, I guess there are rule changes you might not be aware of which will impact a lot on the races. Engines have been changed from V8s to turbo V6s. The Energy Recovery System now allows for more power to be used over a greater amount of time (offsetting the power loss from the engine switch). Fuel is now limited again. There are a few other smaller changes, but if I went through every change I'd be going on forever.

Other than that, the interesting storylines for the season are going to be how Alonso & Kimi work together, whether Williams will finally return as a strong team after showing some form in pre-season testing and whether Red Bull will finally be toppled. Though I'm sure more will occur during the season. How well McLaren fare after last season's disaster might be interesting too.

 

[Banz]

Yaay! I was thinking of creating a Formula One thread myself.
I really hope someone other than Vettel wins it this time. I didn't watch most of the end of last season because he was winning everything and it was getting predictable and boring.

Btw turbos will be used for the first time since the mid 80's. Nelson Piquet won the 1983 Championship with with the turbocharged BMW M12, and it remains the most powerful F1 engine of all time.

 

[Ivysaur]

-> Vettel P13
-> Massive cheering roar from the stands

Yeah, he's quite the loved hero.

Anyway, Ricciardo's P2 is massively unexpected, compared to how Seb has been struggling all weekend. Did they get Seb and Mark's cars swapped? Mercedes is just as expected, a 1-3, with Magnussen in a surprising 4th, Alonso in a more-or-less expected 5th and the Williams disappointing massively. All in all, it's a fun rookie/underdog mix... plus Mercedes.

Now the question is: who will make it to the goal? And, most importantly, how many combined laps will the Lotuses clock in? Three? Four?

 

[Eruption]

Yaay! I was thinking of creating a Formula One thread myself.
I really hope someone other than Vettel wins it this time. I didn't watch most of the end of last season because he was winning everything and it was getting predictable and boring.

I pretty much did the same and it left a huge gap in my sporting events to watch, we really need a good season this year.

Now the question is: who will make it to the goal? And, most importantly, how many combined laps will the Lotuses clock in? Three? Four?

I think it's amazing you can get greater odds on Grosjean/Maldonado finishing the race than not finishing it. How can a car be that unreliable? They barely even did anything in free practice.

I'll set up a gppredictor league after the first race if you're all interested, but obviously we'll be missing the points from the first race.

 

[Ivysaur]

From the Spanish forums I haunt:

Obviously missed the pole, but I'm very confident on my fastest lap (VR) and my first retirement (KO) bets. Bottas was just a brain fart there but hey, I like the dude and the Williams looked like capable- that is, before their horrible qualy.

 

[Eruption]

Well that was a very interesting start to the season.

Spoiler:

Both of the drivers I dislike out early (Vettel, Hamilton) = great.
Rookies looking promising (Kyvat, Magnussen) = great.
Red Bull not scoring any points at all (subject to Riccardio's disqualification potentially being overturned) = great.

Kimi seemed to struggle, but it was still an acceptable start to the season for my two Finnish drivers.

Riccardio's disqualification was so weird because when I watching the podium and him smiling so much I was just thinking how quickly that could turn around over the course of the season. Quicker than I thought I guess...

 

[Ivysaur]

When I went to bed, Red Bull had done a decent race. When I woke up, Ricciardo was disqualified and RB had had their first 0-pt weekend in years. I can live with that.

A good side-effect of all these reliability shenanigans is that drivers can get KO'ed more easily and unexpectedly, which will hopefully make things more interesting. Also, Magnussen 2nd, great job guy. Oh, and Sauber were the most disappointing team... after Mastercard Lotus, of course. Bookies weren't wrong in their odds for finishing the race.

 

[Mario The World Champion]

There's a Formula One thread here? I happen to watch the race this weekend and the whole Riccardo disqualification was a real curve ball.

 

[Eruption]

There is now. I was surprised at the Ricciardo thing myself especially since I watched a repeat broadcast and they neglected to mention it.

Some of the stories filling the gap between the two races are odd, the first one is the continuation of the engine noise debate (which imo is stupid) and the second is the technical director of Ferrari saying they were too uncompetitive in the Australian GP. I mean sure they weren't challenging for the win and Raikkonen had a few handling problems, but I don't think it warrants a news story.

 

[Ivysaur]

Not to mention Alonso could have realisitcally got a podium here if he had managed to use the engine at full power in the early laps to fend off Hulkenberg, because it was clear by mid-race that he was faster than him, and getting stuck behind the Hulk was what costed him being overtaken by Button in the second pit stop. So yeah, for an uncompetitive team, the results were certainly not terrible by far.

 

[Cerberus87]

People are complaining about engine sound... I personally don't mind. I hated the V8s.

The rules for equipment this year are really complicated and Ricciardo's DSQ was just the first of many that will come considering the cars aren't completely reliable.

 

[Mario The World Champion]

I still prefer the high pitch scream of the V10s during their era. I don't mind the V6 engine tune. We might as well get used to it.

Back to the whole Red Bull/FIA thing for a second. What are the chances the team will win their appeal and get those 18 points back?

 

[Ivysaur]

Well other people have got away with similar cases of disqualifications. But the problem is that they changed their sensor without asking the FIA for permission and even after the FIA had specifically told them to put their sensor back, so that's a lot to explain.

 

[Banz]

It's a Mercedes 1-2 at Sepang. Vettel 3rd.
Alonso overtakes Hulkenberg with 4 laps to go.
Massa doesn't let Bottas overtake him despite team orders.