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The Formula 1 2013-2014 Off-Season |OT| Powered by 1.6L V6 Turbo

ElTorro

I wanted to dominate the living room. Then I took an ESRAM in the knee.
I'm talking about changing the rules (engine power/mappings/fuel consumption etc.) or letting Renault improve the power unit in such a way that it will close a performance gap.

It's impossible to tell the Renault's true performance, though. The current performance problems might all be related to the reliability and integration issues.
 
It's impossible to tell the Renault's true performance, though. The current performance problems might all be related to the reliability and integration issues.

We know to almost 100% certainty that they're not running at full power because they simply can't (it destroys part of the engine). Thing is, it's not looking like they'll be able to fix that in time.
 
Vergne points finger at engine being the weak link...

"We had a major problem today," Vergne told reporters in the Bahrain paddock immediately after the session, before adding the issue was on the "engine side".

"We all know there are some problems from the beginning so there is nothing new," he added.

"I will not talk negative because I don't feel like it and everybody knows it so I don't need to say anything else."

"I'm positive. We still had major problems but they were able to fix some of them. I know it's going to take time.

"I've been really pleased with the car behaviour," he said. "We've got a good package.

"When the engine will be there I think we will look more or less OK. The team has done a good job to give me a chassis that I like."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112615
 
These Formula 1 cars are so complex and advanced, but I love how there's almost nothing some tape can't fix.

Wrocefv.jpg
 

DrM

Redmond's Baby
Mercedes very pleased with their progress, Hamilton even said that they are in much better form than they thought.
 
1 - Rosberg (Mercedes) - 1m33.283s
2 - Hamilton (Mercedes) - 1m34.263s
3 - Magnussen (McLaren) - 1m34.910s
4 - Button (McLaren) - 1m34.957s
5 - Hulkenberg (Force India) - 1m36.445s
6 - Alonso (Ferrari) - 1m36.516s
7 - Raikkonen (Ferrari) - 1m36.718s
8 - Massa (Williams) - 1m37.066s
9 - Gutierrez (Sauber) - 1m37.180s
10 - Bottas (Williams) - 1m37.328s
11 - Perez (Force India) - 1m37.367s
12 - Nasr (Williams) - 1m37.569s
13 - Maldonado (Lotus) - 1m38.707s
14 - Kvyat (Toro Rosso) - 1m38.974s
15 - Ricciardo (Red Bull) - 1m39.837s
16 - Kobayashi (Caterham) - 1m39.855s
17 - Vettel (Red Bull) - 1m40.224s
18 - Sutil (Sauber) - 1m40.443s
19 - Vergne (Toro Rosso) - 1m40.472s
20 - Gutierrez (Sauber) - 1m40.717s
21 - Grosjean (Lotus) - 1m41.670s
22 - Ericsson (Caterham) - 1m42.130s
23 - Chilton (Marussia) - 1m42.511s
24 - Frijns (Caterham) - 1m42.534s


Combined lap counts – Driver:

1. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 174 laps
2. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes 171 laps
3. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 169 laps
4. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 160 laps
5. Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 151 laps
6. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes-Mercedes 141 laps
7. Nico Hulkenberg German Force India-Mercedes 137 laps
8. Kevin Magnussen Denmark McLaren-Mercedes 127 laps
9. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 125 laps
10. Marcus Ericsson Sweden Caterham-Renault 102 laps
11. Adrian Sutil German Sauber-Ferrari 89 laps
12. Felipe Nasr Brazil Williams-Mercedes 87 laps
13. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Lotus-Renault 85 laps
14. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Caterham-Renault 83 laps
15. Jean-Eric Vergne Russia STR-Renault 77 laps
16. Sergio Perez Mexico Force India-Mercedes 76 laps
17. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 73 laps
18. Robin Frijns Netherlands Caterham-Renault 68 laps
19. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes 65 laps
20. Daniil Kvyat Russia STR-Renault 62 laps
21. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Red Bull-Renault 43 laps
22. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 26 laps
23. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Ferrari 21 laps
24. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Ferrari 6 laps


Combined lap counts – Team:

1. Williams 323 laps
2. Mercedes 315 laps
3. McLaren 296 laps
4. Ferrari 285 laps
5. Caterham 253 laps
6. Sauber 240 laps
7. Force India 213 laps
8. Toro Rosso 139 laps
9. Red Bull Racing 116 laps
10. Lotus 111 laps
11. Marussia 27 laps


Combined lap counts – Engine:

1. Mercedes 1147 (286.75 laps per team average) - 4 cars (Williams 28%, Mercedes 27%, McLaren 26%, Force India 19%)
3. Renault 619 (154.75 laps per team average) - 4 cars (Caterham 41%, STRR 22%, RBR 19%, Lotus 18%)
2. Ferrari 552 (184 laps per team average) - 3 cars (Ferrari 52%, Sauber 43%, Marussia 5%)
 
I seem to remember hearing that 28th Feb is the lockdown date. They have one week.

The lockdown is way overblown. There are all sorts of reasons they can claim for needing to change things, including financial. With this being the first year of new regs I'm sure FIA will be more lenient than they would otherwise as well.
 
Mercedes is gonna dominate, Red Bull will fight back and make it close.

Ferrari will dangle in 3rd place. Fuckers

Ferrari are a wild card. The Mercedes teams, especially Mercedes and McLaren, have shown more of their hand, while the Renault teams are clearly in big trouble.

With Ferrari, nobody knows how hard they have been pushing. They may have 3-4 seconds improvement by simply "turning up" the engines. On the other hand, doing so may make the cars as unreliable as the Renaults. There is no way for us to know until the next test, or even the first race weekend.

I fully expect the other teams to get much closer to Mercedes by the end of testing, simply because Mercedes have far less room for improvement. If Mercedes have a good week, their aero changes are good, and they find an even better setup; how much do we expect them to improve? Maybe a second?
 

DrM

Redmond's Baby
Mercedes (team) had several spotters with special sound recorders around the track - apparently they were recording other cars for guessing revs of their engines through the sound of the passing car.

Mercedes powered cars did several race simulations this week, so they are swimming in the data. I wonder if their gentleman's agreement is still in place :)
 

Krilekk

Banned
I seem to remember hearing that 28th Feb is the lockdown date. They have one week.

They have one week unless they have severe stability issues. They just want to be able to make adjustments later, Renault is playing everyone else. They will be perfectly fine in Melbourne. If the situation was as bad as it looks heads would've already rolled.
 
Renault is playing everyone else. They will be perfectly fine in Melbourne. If the situation was as bad as it looks heads would've already rolled.

Insiders are saying otherwise... and you don't make your teams test with 30kph less than the car is capable of.
 

Juicy Bob

Member
Susie Wolff will participate in two practice sessions this season for Williams.

I'm very happy for her. I met her once and she was really lovely - very friendly and cheerful.

Now obviously, she's not got the credentials to really deserve a race seat on merit, but I think having her take part in a couple of practice sessions would be a really postive thing for Formula 1 and for women in motorsport in general. Another step along the way to hopefully seeing a truly competitive female driver racing in Formula 1 at some stage.
 

Jibbed

Member
Honda had better nail their new engine for 2015 or McLaren will implode haha, looking vey strong for the coming season!

If Magnussen keeps up the good work, then I wouldn't be surprised to see him take his first win before we get into the second half of the year.
 

Lach

Member
Susie Wolff will participate in two practice sessions this season for Williams.

I'm very happy for her. I met her once and she was really lovely - very friendly and cheerful.

Now obviously, she's not got the credentials to really deserve a race seat on merit, but I think having her take part in a couple of practice sessions would be a really postive thing for Formula 1 and for women in motorsport in general. Another step along the way to hopefully seeing a truly competitive female driver racing in Formula 1 at some stage.

Sauber signed Simona De Silvestro (IndyCar) a few weaks ago as an Affiliate Driver (alongside Sirotkin and Van der Garde) and her goal is to fight for a seat....
 

Krilekk

Banned
Honda had better nail their new engine for 2015 or McLaren will implode haha, looking vey strong for the coming season!

If Magnussen keeps up the good work, then I wouldn't be surprised to see him take his first win before we get into the second half of the year.

So is Honda allowed to work on that engine until 2015 or do they have the same set date of 2/28 for the major design?
 
All of them will continue to develop their engines so it doesn't matter, every car will have a 2015 spec engine. Book it! Honda will reign supreme.


Doctors treating stricken F1 motor racing legend Michael Schumacher have abandoned their attempts to bring him out of his artificial coma following setbacks, it is reported today.

Germany's news magazine Focus - which enjoys a close relationship with the 45-year-old inner circle - claims the slow waking-up process for the seven-times world champion was put on hold last week.

Schumacher has lain in an artificially induced coma since December 29 in the University Hospital of Grenoble in France after seriously injuring his head during a low-speed ski accident the same day.
 

Nicktendo86

Member
Read today that there was a faulty transponder which gave a false reading of Ferrari speed trap last week, they did 309kph not 336kph. Oh dear...
 
Ferrari is bringing their first major upgrade to the next test, where they finally want to run some race simulations. Up until now it's basically been all reliability tests. Mercedes seems far ahead at this point.
 

DBT85

Member
there's nothing stopping them from testing it at Suzuka

What stopped Renault testing theirs before Jerez then?

By the start of next season Mercedes, just for example, are going to have 8 cars of data for 19 races, qualifying sessions, 57 practice sessions and who knows how many tests and filming days.

Real cars on multiple tracks in every possible kind of scenario.
 
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