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Old 2014.01.30, 11:40 AM   #1
cowboysir
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Formula One: 2014

Thought I'd start this off since pre season testing has begun and we are 6weeks away from The Australian GP.

2014 is bringing a host of new changes to the Formula and good or bad it will hopefully shake up the status quo of runaway races.

First reg change that deserves mentioning is the powerplant:

1.6L Turbo V6 with ERS unit with a combined power output of a approximate 850bhp. Personally I'm not a big fan of the idea but I also didn't like the change from V10 to V8 so I'll have to hold judgement until the opening race. My concern is that the drama of the noise of F1 will be lost....

The ERS units are something to discuss but at this point I don't know much other than it harvests brake and exhaust heat energy to make a stored 250bhp and the ability for more usage during a lap. I'll be reading more at Racecar Engineering or F1tech soon....

I will have more to discuss about the new regs (especially about the butt ugly front ends of certain manufacturers) but as a teaser I can report that RedBull has only been able to get 13 laps over 3 days of preseason testing. They have been having serious issues with overheating and ERS storage failures...
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Old 2014.01.30, 12:16 PM   #2
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I'll certainly be watching this season but if I had my way there would be in race refueling, at least two tire suppliers and a "run anything you like" as long it fit in a virtual box and met required safety regs.

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Old 2014.01.30, 12:34 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSteve View Post
I'll certainly be watching this season but if I had my way there would be in race refueling, at least two tire suppliers and a "run anything you like" as long it fit in a virtual box and met required safety regs.
What...and bring real strategy back to the Formula?!

a 2014 race regulation brings new fuel load requirements: cars will have a new maximum of 100KG of fuel (instead of 140KG from previous formula).

Think the old races were about fuel saving and driving to a lap delta? You ain't seen nothing yet....
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Old 2014.01.30, 01:12 PM   #4
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It might just be all kinds of lame. Pretty sure even the drivers would like to race using speed and skill, perhaps some day it will be re-introduced to the sport.
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Old 2014.01.30, 05:50 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheSteve View Post
"run anything you like" as long it fit in a virtual box and met required safety regs.
Bing Bing Bing!!!

And there we have a winner!!!

I understand that there is great risk involved in racing but when I think back to the spirit of the old days of racing, and how those guys pushed themselves to the near edge to produce their wins... it was just incredible!

I saw an in-car video of an old race from the 70s with a guy driving some monster old F1 type car, in the rain, on a very tight road course... and to watch the guy push it out to every wall, sideways most of the time and standing on the throttle like death wasn't mere inches away from that flimsy fiberglass chassis just had me smiling ear to ear thinking of how advanced that guy's mindset must have been to stay in control of of his universe and not die from a panic attack everytime the thing slipped out at those speeds... man!

I do not want to see drivers smashed up all over the track and meat wagons doing cleanup all the time, but I just think it goes against advancement to keep everything in a safe little box. Chaos is the best educator in my opinion.


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Old 2014.01.30, 08:57 PM   #6
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I don't so much mind the change in motor, and understand the change in aero package... to try to reduce the dirty air behind the car to allow another car to follow more closely.

Installing the exhaust on the rear top side to prevent any blown diffusors...

Adrian Newey is by far the best aerodynamics engineer in F1! But Red Bull have had quite some electronic gremlins in the past with KERS, and with ERS being more substantial, if they have similar issues, it will mean that they wont win the race... or even podium... since there is a considerably larger percentage of power from ERS, and you can use it longer. All moving more to hybrid technology...

F1 is at a point where it is trying to showcase technology, rather than have racers take the gloves off and really duke it out on the track. Pretty soon they may just stagger the starts and have everyone race against the clock as not to have them anywhere near anyone else, and a pass for position will be virtual, so if they come up behind the car ahead, the blue flag will get them by.

Drivers like Alonso, Hamilton and Raikonnen have been struggling, because they are FAST drivers. They want to drive as fast as they can as long as the tires can last. In general, since the fueling was taken out of racing, these drivers have been replaced at the front with the ones that are more efficient.

Whether Vettels speed is from the car, or from his driving... He is efficient, and fast, at the same time. That cannot be doubted. He is THE driver of this style of racing. If refueling were still in effect, he may still be able to win against the fast guys at their fastest as well... He has shown the speed and pace to be at the front in all sorts of situations. Because of this, I want to see Red Bull continue with their ERS troubles... at least for the first few races to see if he can rise to win instead of running away from the start of the season with nobody in his rear view. Im all about the underdog in racing, at least most of the time.

I do like the loss in aero, I feel that it will lead to better racing, and more risk required to push the car to the absolute limit. I am sure that the top teams will adjust quickly, but there will be a few less complex tricks that they can do, so the gap between midfield and the front may shrink. At least in the beginning of the season.

Maldonado on Lotus is a big disappointment for me. Massa would have been a MUCH better option, despite his struggles with Ferrari. I just don't see Maldonado being much of a setup driver, which is something that Lotus needs. Kimi wasn't either, but he was always fast regardless what the setup is... Grosjean I feel is a decent setup driver, and he showed that when they started to setup the car for him, he kept it on the podium.

Alonso will lead setup on Ferrari, but Kimi may be just as fast if not faster??? That is probably what I want to see most. Which will lead the team on the track. This could lead to another McLaren incident when Alonso and Hamilton were teammates.

Its good to see that Williams picked up Massa. His experience alone will add depth to the team. And the reduction in pressure by not being on Ferrari will have to be seen whether it helps or hurts his on track performance.

I felt that it was a little too soon for such big changes in the regs, but if your going to change the motor, might as well change everything at the same time. Sure is cost saving
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Old 2014.01.31, 02:09 AM   #7
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as always, I'm looking forward to the F1 season.
I just think it's to much politics and money involved in it to ever become what is was.
To much fancy helping tools to drive the car. But I love racing so.
And all of them are doing it.
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Old 2014.01.31, 12:05 PM   #8
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EMU, I have to agree with you on some of your driver assessments:

Lotus has dropped the driver ball by focussing entirely too much on sponsorship money. In my view Maldonado is not a good enough driver for what is a top 4 team but the focus on budgets has made them choose the best of a tough situation. I wonder if maldonado's money helped them pay their outstanding payroll issues with Kimi Raikkonnen.

I agree entirely with your view of Felipe Massa. I've always had a bias for the "almost champ 2008" and I'm happy to see Williams were able to look past the treatment Ferrari gave their "#2" and hired a driver that had enough ability to be spotted by Schumacher and chosen to be his rear gunner once Rubens moved on. I'm happy to report that today in Jerez testing Massa posted most laps and fastest time in mixed weather conditions.

I will look forward to the Alonso/Raikonnen teaming...contrary to popular belief it wasn't the friction between Alonso and Hamilton that was McLaren's issue but the friction between Alonso and Ron Dennis (principal of McLaren) that was at core of the issue. alonso's view of being hired as #1 was shattered by Dennis' promotion/favoritism of a rookie (however good that rookie was)was a huge slap in the face. I believe that Ferrari can manage 2 supreme drivers better and the proof will come during the season. My hope that as the season will progress we will see an understanding by professionals on who to focus on for the drivers championship and keeping both drivers scoring for the constructors.

Now for a bit of a laugh...the designs of the F1 2014 nose/front wing configuration:

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/25946895

So the goal of the FIA with the new reg was to introduce less chance of wind scooping under the car in an accident and having a aero induced "flyaway flip" like Webber had in 2012(?) in a crash with Kovaleinen. They introduced a new front of nose height to avoid this "wind scoop" type of reaction.

Quite a few of the teams noticed that there mustnt have been any nose width reg so have found an interesting way of maintaining under air (thereby maintaining positive airflow under the car and keeping a slight floor "ground effect")

Two things have happened due to this reg:

1. A lot of the cars look completely ridiculous! F1 Journalists have introduced some seriously hilarious nicknames/monikers for some F1 teams chassis and I can't repeat some of them in polite company. Kudo's to Ferrari and Mercedes for starting the season with a relatively "normal" looking nose and the "female sex toy" award is won by McLaren....seeing that one gave me the best laugh of all!

2. While the possibility of an aero induced "flip" might be reduced (by how much since some of the noses are reallllyyyy narrow rmains to be seen) I think the danger of a rear end collision resulting the rear car to drive under the front car is highly likely.

I'll have some other interesting aero discussions in the near future...

One quick edit: How awesome is that Marussia's new car is labeled "MR03"?!
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Old 2014.01.31, 12:21 PM   #9
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I just noticed that the Marussia is called the MR03... That is great!!!

This season will be an interesting one to watch Especially if anyone rear ends another car. It would be interesting to see what happens. I think the regs for nose height were changed to prevent cars from driving over other cars as easily... since the nose could easily have taken a drivers head off. The lower nose should contact the body of the car, and not lift the front end as much. We will see.
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Old 2014.02.01, 12:44 AM   #10
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Ferrari is now going after Dyson's business now and this was the best way they could advertise their new dustbuster...



As far as the new noses go, best comment I've seen yet is:

"Is that an F1 car in your garage or are you just happy to see me?"



Not my pics above...
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Old 2014.02.18, 09:41 AM   #11
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Test #2 in Bahrain begins this week:

1. It sounds like RB may have figured out their cooling issue. Whether or not the car is fast will be interesting to see.

2. Cooling issues will be foremost in every teams focus...Bahrain should have daytime temps matching normal European summer.

3. Keep an eye out for Williams F1...they're hopefully unveiling their main sponsor and livery colors. Martini have returned to F1 and some computer mock ups look classicly Martini beautiful.

Stay tuned for the days results starting tomorrow I think.
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Old 2014.02.19, 09:14 PM   #12
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I wanted to post a full debrief of Day 1 here but my phone doesn't want to cooperate today:

Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) tops the afternoon session.
Kevin Magnussen (McLaren) topped morning session.

This has shown that Mercedes may have come up with a great powerplant for their teams.

RedBull had different overheating issues today and only posted 11 laps

Ferrari had minor issues with an oil leak that cut testing for them as well

Two more days to go and less than 3 weeks to the season start.
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Old 2014.02.20, 03:27 AM   #13
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are you on site watching?

I like the new sounds in F1.
But the new nose is not as good to watch, but I probably get used to it soon.
Looking forward to this season.

I'm not a fan of a car, person or team, so this season will be exciting to see what happens.
I like F1, but hope the regulations and tires won't ruin the sport.
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Old 2014.02.20, 09:13 AM   #14
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Martini is coming back to F1. I always loved the Martini cars. Too bad the nose keeps getting weird every year. They should have a rule saying, if it doesn't look good, it's not allowed
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Old 2014.02.20, 06:13 PM   #15
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So I don't have a full results sheet from today's test session but a few important tidbits of info:

RBR were able to post a race distance today (59 laps) with no major issues.

Williams out in 116 laps today. Almost 2 full race distance with no major concerns.

Ferrari were able to get some key systems checks and ERS/rear brake balance symbiosis...59 laps.

McLaren posted fastest lap today showing again that the Merc powerplant will be a tough rival again this year.

Force India/Mercedes posted second fastest (which was 1.5sec back from Magnussen).

Sauber has had troubles with their rear brake by wire and its interface with the ERS system. As it stands the brake feel isn't as balanced due to the various stages of harvesting. Time will tell how they will resolve it in car before the Aus GP.

One more day to go....
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