Disappointments of the '14 F1 season

JRS

JRS

JRS

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Rather than a happy, 'hey-wasn't-it-all-marvellous' kind of season review I thought I might go the other way and post about how utterly **** the year was and how horrible the future seems to be for the sport.

And I then I thought some more, and actually there were far more things to like about this season than I could say for last year. I posted with some optimism in the Australian race weekend thread, and that optimism wasn't entirely misplaced. But there were things that disappointed me, and I honestly think disappointment in this respect is worse than hate. I hate reality TV, but it's existence doesn't necessarily have to affect me. My disappointment in parts of the F1 world does affect me, because at the end of the day I am still a Formula One fan.

So, things that disappointed me this year:

1) Sebastian Vettel. Oh dear. Lamest. Title defence. Ever. And it's not as if the car was that bad. Yes, the Renault engine is undergunned compared to the Merc unit but Daniel Ricciardo won three times and scored another five podiums with that RB10. And Vettel only gets it on the podium four times? 5th place in the championship flattered his year.
2) Caterham, mostly because I expected/hoped LOLtus-Genii-Renault-whoever would fold before they did.
3) Ferrari. Hoo boy, Ferrari. First winless season since 1993. At least we'll never have to see the F14 T at another F1 race. Not Maranello's finest piece of design work.
4) The BBC. The coverage last year was fairly poor. And yet they somehow managed to make it worse. They'd be better off dropping it entirely rather than subjecting the world to Coulthard, Jordan et al.
5) Sauber. 57 points last year, none this year. Still couldn't get ahead of Marussia even with an extra two races (2½ if you take into account Marussia only running one car at Sochi). And the signs aren't exactly great for next year - Ericsson-Nasr doesn't seem like a particularly strong line-up. I'll really miss Sauber :/
 
McLaren only being the third best Mercedes team.
Sauber not continuing their good form. Agree there.
Ferrari struggling.
Kimi Struggling.

Don't know about BBC coverage, don't watch it anymore.
 
Main 2 things that stick out for me are..

Williams - only getting 3rd in WCC despite having by far the second best car on the grid. Massa's inconsistency was frustrating.

Vettel - 4 championships in a row then he pulls in this stellar season. Can see why he's leaving Red Bull. Getting shown up horribly by the rookie must have been annoying for him.
 
Only 3 disappointments with this season for me.

1) Rosberg besmirching his reputation. I liked Rosberg before. He has driven well this season, taking one of the widely regarded best drivers on the grid down to the final race and beating him in qualifying. It would have been a better achievement to have done it without parking his car at Monaco or clipping Lewis at Spa.

2) A lot of good people lost their jobs.

3) Sad to see a driver's career cut short through injury.
 
The back runners not only failing to close the gap on mid field, but then pretty much folding.

That crash! First time I've personally witnessed an accident as life changing in F1 as it un-folds. So easily avoided but not really expected.
 
I think my biggest disappointment was the lack of competition at the front.

It was great to see someone other than Vettel and RBR winning and it was even better that it was Hamilton who got the WDC.

However, if we're going to get another four years on a single team/driver dominating it's going to get really dull, really fast, even if it is Lewis breaking records instead of Seb.
 
I'd be happy to watch Lewis win the next 3 championships in a row like this one. Not just because he's British. There were ups and downs, moments you'd think he couldn't do it and then some epic battles at the front. A whole different thing to the yawnworthy lights to flags victories Vettel did each week.

Very disappointed in McLaren and Ferrari this year, really hope they improve things for next year. Was great to see Williams do so well though :)
 
Disappointed with
The V6 hybrid engine and the sound of it.
The loss of two teams
Bernie not sharing the money all the way down the pit lane.

The top teams not helping the lower teams.
Force India falling behind.
And the stupid mistakes by the FIA.
 
Good things

Another of LH's team mates showing him up ( Cant see Rosberg beating LH next season though, unless Lewis actually pays for his big mistakes that he got away with this year)

Bottas and the Williams in general

Vettel being obliterated by his new team mate ( and not winning a single race). Ricciardo was fantastic in his own right, but this was even better.

RBR Finally being found out ( twice, incl Aus)


BAD things

Jules of course

McLaren not even being close to Williams (let alone Merc)

The ***** way the team have treated both JB and Km in the last month or so especially

The incompetance of the FIA ( this would probably have been true for most years though)

The utter domination of Merc
 
I would go those FrankJH, though for good I would add Merc allowing Hamilton and Rosberg to race. Just imagine how boring it would have been had they pulled a McLaren and said their drivers can't race after the pitstops.
 
The treatment of Jenson is just ridiculous, but it's F1 and Ron Dennis, so pretty much anything can happen.

Disappointed with Sauber this year.
Happy that Force India have improved...
Great to see Williams at the front end again:D.
Jules :( hope he recovers 100% and can get back behind the wheel.

I actually feel a little disappointed to for RBR and Vettel, so dominant for so long only to have it all full apart coinciding with Newey's decision to call it a day on F1, but everybody has ups and downs in F1.

Actually happy for Hammy, not a big fan of him but he has worked hard to change his childish ways and proved that he can help bring a team to the forefront and win races again.

Almost forgot Ricciardo :D stunning performance year long.

and of course losing teams is never good :(
 
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Greboth said:
I would go those FrankJH, though for good I would add Merc allowing Hamilton and Rosberg to race. Just imagine how boring it would have been had they pulled a McLaren and said their drivers can't race after the pitstops.
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Good point - s


edit - Im undecided about the lower end teams. Its Never a good thing to have so few cars on the grid - but marussia and Caterham are SO bad that they are not really proving that they deserve the places in the first place. Admittedly this is somewhat down to the finances (that should be shared more evenly) but even allowing for that they would be still way at the back. Im not entirely convinced any deserved added "prize" money would push them further up the grid
 
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I don't understand what everyone is getting so upset about JB situation for, yes it sucks but that's life. If they haven't signed the deal with Alonso, then they can't physically do anything. JB will know what the situation is.

This season overall has been great. Merc have allowed them to fight, the rest of the pack has had amazing racing and fights.

Massive shame about caterham and marrusia, really hope we see them both back next year.
Obviously massive down was Jules' crash.

The engine formula is great, moving away from crappy aero, no one understands or cares about. Just need more aero restrictions (would like them to limit it to one element on the front wing for example) and further relax ers rules.

Massa still showing why he doesn't deserve that seat.
Magnussen also massive disappointment this year, and mclaren in general, though they have pulled it back massively thanks to JB.

And lol worthy drive from Vet.
And Ric has to be driver of the year.
 
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Glaucus said:
I don't understand what everyone is getting so upset about JB situation for, yes it sucks but that's life. If they haven't signed the deal with Alonso, then they can't physically do anything. JB will know what the situation is.
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The fact is that Alonso definitely isn't with Ferrari anymore (which has been known for weeks) and he isn't with Merc.....and seeing as he was never likely to take the year off

Its also widely believed that McLaren signed him weeks if not month(s) ago
 
They won't off as it hasn't been announced and the rumours are they are still fighting over the T&Cs, which is a far cry from being signed months ago.
 
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FrankJH said:
source?
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Entire race weekend on TV.

Until pen is put to paper and signed and sealed, then mclaren aren't going to announce anything, and why should they. If JB/KM aren't happy about waiting they can leave, obviously that's not going to happen. But Mclaren can't do anything else, they said they want the best driver.
 
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