British Grand Prix 2014, Silverstone - Race 9/19

How does Massa know if Mercedes were going slowly at the front of the grid?

There was 15 or so cars between them. It could have been any one of them.
 
What is the rationale for bigger wheels? Will it improve the racing?

It's hoped the lower profile tyres will encourage more blacks and asians to become F1 drivers. j/k

Or just be more useful for translating across to road cars. I like them, I thought they would look hideous but they don't. I think they look better personally :)
 
Yeah it really is heading to single spec

If that happens that really is it for me. I support teams not drivers.
They always artificially stop front running teams. It reminds me of the mass dampener which almost lost Renault the championship

Without this tampering and vastly differing budgets it's hard to keep the field competitive without it being artificial.

On the wheels
I like the 18in rims. I think they look amazing. But i do like spokes/rims to be quite showy long as the brakes are a fitting size) I don't want 20 in on a Nissan Micra look!)
18 is big enough tho. Wonder what suspension system modifications will be needed

I've lost count the amount of times I've read this across so many forums for so many years. Yet they keep coming back.
 
It's hoped the lower profile tyres will encourage more blacks and asians to become F1 drivers. j/k

Or just be more useful for translating across to road cars. I like them, I thought they would look hideous but they don't. I think they look better personally :)

Lol!

But yeah it's all about relevance. Do Pirelli make 13" road tyres? To keep manufacturers interested F1 needs to be relevant to their other interests. Michelin has said they would like to come back to F1, but only if the wheels are bigger. Formula E is using an 18" tyre that will be used in both wet and dry races, and I think is road legal too.
 
I've lost count the amount of times I've read this across so many forums for so many years. Yet they keep coming back.

To be honest I've lost count of the number of times that al4x has said that, let alone anyone else.

My take on this ERS advantage that Mercedes has is that they are able to harvest more energy than other teams, perhaps even the other Mercedes powered teams, and therefore have more power available to them on their mapping, hence the advantage.

I believe that the Renault's early season woes were generally around harvesting and Ferrari's deployment of the extra power seems to be lacking in prowess, so there could also be an efficiency of use argument.

I'm sure I remember at a few races this year that the battery wasn't getting charged enough in one lap to replenish the energy used; if one was to use the full lap's allowance, whereas this wasn't such a problem for the Mercs.
 
For the ERS alone to account for a ~110bhp advantage it would mean the Renault and Ferrari solutions are next to useless, and performing well below the old KERS, given that the system is limited to 160bhp.

The whole accusation is full of dodgy claims that don't really add up, which makes me think its just more sour grapes from someone being beaten.
 
I hope all the teams lose the 'illegal' suspension and merc are even further ahead.

5.5 years to decide its illegal is ridiculous.

It didn't take the fia 5 years to decide... they werent the ones sniffing around the fric system wondering whether it was illegal - one of the other teams suspected it was illegal and put it forward to the fia, the fia then looked into it recently and have decided that they, whoever they are, may well be right.

I dont think it'd change the pecking order of the grid anyway so it's a bit of a non story, regardless as to whether mercedes run a more efficient fric system than anyone else, they'd probably lose a few tenths whereas the other teams may lose a one or two tenths so it'd hardly be to merc's detriment.
 
To be honest I've lost count of the number of times that al4x has said that, let alone anyone else.

My take on this ERS advantage that Mercedes has is that they are able to harvest more energy than other teams, perhaps even the other Mercedes powered teams, and therefore have more power available to them on their mapping, hence the advantage.

I believe that the Renault's early season woes were generally around harvesting and Ferrari's deployment of the extra power seems to be lacking in prowess, so there could also be an efficiency of use argument.

I'm sure I remember at a few races this year that the battery wasn't getting charged enough in one lap to replenish the energy used; if one was to use the full lap's allowance, whereas this wasn't such a problem for the Mercs.

I haven't watched so many live this year
A1gp format would be it tho. I'd still watch the odd classic but one of the fundamental things for me is team difference. I've never supported a driver

Been getting into btcc more recently with is much more entertaining to watch. Just a shame it's not me popular to tall about etc
 
FRIC ban: yet more FIA fail. 5 and a half years to decide something is illegal, and then 2 weeks notice that they ban it. It doesn't sound like any decision will be made until the German F1 weekend either, so presumably everyone will turn up without FRIC rather than risk having a car that is deemed illegal with no time to alter it? If they decide it's illegal and ban it, fair enough. The issue here is the way the FIA go about applying their rules.

Can the teams actually take it out that easily? Surely its an intrinsic part of the chassis?

In most cases teams seem to leave x in and fight the rule, rather than taking it would straight away. (eg double defuser, Im sure there are many more recent examples, I just cant think of one lol)

totally agree its another way of backwards thinking by the FIA though.


Mercedes power advantage: I don't get this? Apparently the V6s are on a par, but the ERS in the Mercedes gives them 110-130bhp more? How can that be possible with the output of the MGUK so tightly regulated? The motor can put out 120kw, or 160bhp. For Mercedes to have a 110bhp advantage either they are massively breaking the rules, or everyone else only has a 50bhp motor, which seems unlikely. I expect the reality is that the V6s performance is enhanced by the ERS better in the Mercedes. The difference can't be in the ERS alone, it's so tightly regulated the output of all 3 systems will be pretty much identical. Plus the whole thing whiffs of sour grapes that Mercedes are winning, just like the attention RBR got in recent years, and Ferrari before that, etc. F1 wouldn't be F1 if someone wasn't complaining that the team winning was cheating or somehow getting an advantage.

For right or wrong the thing (for me anyway) that made RBR so untrustworthy is that everyone could see the questionable firmness of the front-wing

While everyone can see the speed differential between the Merc and every other car, thats not necessarily illegal (of course it could well be, but no one can tell that just from looking at the car like with the RBR)

As with everything in F1 its probably a bit of both, other teams needing to suggest there is something dodgy as well as Merc possibly being in a grey zone in the rules in one or two areas which is really benefitting them currently.

Massas "Mercedes go to slow on the formation lap" rant: lol, wut?.

A driver comes out with this every year or so, its nothing that new (although Massa was worth an hearty laugh admittedly).

Massa has always been and will always be a No2 driver, yes he was unlucky not to win the CWC in 2008, and it was terrible about the Brawn spring hitting him so severely, but he has always been a bit of a "meh" driver to me.

I love Williams as a team, ever since the early 90's when I started following f1 but my heart sank slightly when they hired him.

Exhausts: have we had any feedback from the Ferrari twin exhaust test? The FIA seem keen to keep trying, but I expect it will be like the big wings and stepped noses, and most people will stop caring before the FIA find a solution, making their efforts pointless.

Its too late now imo - everyone will know its fake and so it will never be the same.

IF they had done something over the winter and "hidden" it in the regs - yes people would have known, but this imo would have been forgotten quicker than "no noise" followed (possibly) by "oohh look we have found it again".
 
Yep, we camped there. We had the foil wrapped Clio, Jazz and Civic and blue gazebo down on the far right edge of the first field.

Cant quite remember seeing those was it in the first field as you entered from the shop? we were quite near the entrance to that field in these little beastys (the green and blue tent on the far left)
29o0qqq.jpg


Wasn't a bad crack at that campsite aside from the phantom poo'er in the shower block on raceday.... was only me and my buddy would have been great with more people though!

this was the pic I got anyway (host took it down on the first post)
2vdmgk7.jpg
 
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Just a quick video, youtube butchered the video quality as usual, sound is good though, just as well as the cars sound fantastic :) headphones on and sound up.
 
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