The F1 2014 season

JeditOjanen · 11 Dec 2013 at 12:43

Skeeter said:
Rumors are Vettel has chosen 21 as his number.

Rumour also has it he's going to be a father. He's kept having a girlfriend on the down low, to say the least.

JRS · 11 Dec 2013 at 12:48

Nismo said:
Wow, those crazy guys in the Lotus F1 PR department never stop.

They'll be desperately going on a charm offensive now that they've got that Venezuelan prat driving for them. Got to try and get people back on-side somehow.

***edit***

JeditOjanen said:
Rumour also has it he's going to be a father. He's kept having a girlfriend on the down low, to say the least.

Well, God forbid that his private life should remain private

this_is_gav · 11 Dec 2013 at 13:14

JeditOjanen said:
He's kept having a girlfriend on the down low, to say the least.

I've never heard him talking about anyone, but I've heard various reporters (sort of thing Susie Perry would babble on about I suppose) mentioning a childhood sweetheart. Might have been Ted dropping it into one of his notebooks actually.

Nismo · 11 Dec 2013 at 13:21

this_is_gav said:
I've never heard him talking about anyone, but I've heard various reporters (sort of thing Susie Perry would babble on about I suppose) mentioning a childhood sweetheart. Might have been Ted dropping it into one of his notebooks actually.

He's definitely got a long-term GF, she is just extremely well-hidden from the public circus. Fair play to him for protecting his private life so much.

Crowze · 11 Dec 2013 at 13:26

EVH said:
Personally I think they should deploy the "get out of the car and run around it 3 times during the pit stop" technique, as a punishment.

Worked well on my stag do when we went karting. Hilarity ensued

Has it been confirmed the drivers will be able to start the engine themselves? Would be great to see Lemans-style foot races at starts

.

Spunky said:
Lotus have published their suggested regulation amendments

http://i.imgur.com/Q7aiTeb.jpg

Massa would get beaten to death after a press conference.

Skeeter · 11 Dec 2013 at 13:27

Weren't Lotus in the meeting on Monday that decided on the retard rules (there was reprisentatives from the top 6 teams)?

A bit too faced to take a humorous view on rules they were involved in implementing :rolleyes:

Skeeter · 11 Dec 2013 at 13:28

Crowze said:
Has it been confirmed the drivers will be able to start the engine themselves? Would be great to see Lemans-style foot races at starts .

I think that rule is still in the regulations, yes. Have a Le Mans start, with each driver being placed a distance away from his car equal to the number of WDC points he has. If Vettel has a good first few races of the season, he will end up having to start from outside the gates

.

deuse · 11 Dec 2013 at 13:37

Does anyone else think that big ron will get the money to take over McLaren and be back in F1 very soon? I do.

And I also think he will go back after Lewis

you heard it here first

~Mike~ · 11 Dec 2013 at 13:41

Nismo said:
He's definitely got a long-term GF, she is just extremely well-hidden from the public circus. Fair play to him for protecting his private life so much.

Agree.

It's confirmed they are having a baby. http://www.bild.de/sport/motorsport/sebastian-vettel/formel-1-weltmeister-vater-33791788.bild.html

MooMoo444 · 11 Dec 2013 at 13:42

Crowze said:
Massa would get beaten to death after a press conference.

For sure.

Skeeter · 11 Dec 2013 at 13:54

deuse said:
Does anyone else think that big ron will get the money to take over McLaren and be back in F1 very soon? I do.

Ownership, yes. But I don't know if he will go back into a role in the team. The McLaren road car side is expanding rapidly.

And I also think he will go back after Lewis you heard it here first

Not really, people have been suggesting Hamilton would return to McLaren since the moment he signed for Mercedes. But you have to expect Hamilton to be on McLarens wish list for as long as he's a top driver, surely.

Do you think he would go back?

PinkFloyd · 11 Dec 2013 at 13:54

Liking some of Lotus' suggestions there! Better than the FIA ideas.

FrankJH · 11 Dec 2013 at 15:00

Skeeter said:
Ownership, yes. But I don't know if he will go back into a role in the team. The McLaren road car side is expanding rapidly.

I thought there was something about Spygate which stopped him being in the pitlane in a certain manner ?

(this might have been time limited but I thought it was permanent).

Skeeter said:
Not really, people have been suggesting Hamilton would return to McLaren since the moment he signed for Mercedes. But you have to expect Hamilton to be on McLarens wish list for as long as he's a top driver, surely.

Do you think he would go back?

hmmm I dont think so - its rare that "going back" works out well in any way of life (one reason why Im not sure Alonso will ever go back to McLaren, and in one sense there is even more "bad blood" there than with LH)

Skeeter · 11 Dec 2013 at 15:09

The public line was that Ron basically sacrificed his position willingly. But there may have been some pushing from within. There have been suggestions that the whole thing was blown up so much simply because some people in positions of power wanted to get rid of Ron.

He clearly wants his team back, but I'm not sure he wants his old job back? Anyone is better than Whitmarsh though!

MooMoo444 · 11 Dec 2013 at 15:11

Skeeter said:
Anyone is better than Whitmarsh though!

Definitely. McLaren has struggled massively since he took over.

Nismo · 11 Dec 2013 at 15:30

I'd love to see Ron back in charge of the F1 team, can't see it happening though even if he does buy a load of shares back.

It must absolutely do his nut though to see the mistakes and poor performances that have happened in recent years.

JRS · 11 Dec 2013 at 15:57

Nismo said:
It must absolutely do his nut though to see the mistakes and poor performances that have happened in recent years.

They made more than a few of those on his watch as well....

Greboth · 11 Dec 2013 at 16:19

JRS said:
They made more than a few of those on his watch as well....

Ofcourse, no one is perfect. I would say there has been more mistakes and **** up's under Whitmarsh than Ron. It could simply be that the mistakes under Ron were years ago now so I have forgotten them but it does seem there are more these days.

If Ron is to come back, maybe for 2015 when Honda get involved could be interesting.

Marvin · 11 Dec 2013 at 16:51

Sniff Petrol's list:

Sniff Petrol said:
- Loud music played in heavily branded room to cover stilted conversations amongst top three finishers.

- Post-race watches limited to diameter of no more than 60 centimetres.

- One championship point deducted every time a driver uses the words ‘for sure’ in a TV interview.

- Five championship points for any driver who passes Maldonado without sustaining bodywork damage.

- Stefano Domenicali limited to 100 TV appearances per race weekend.

- Christian Horner banned from starting the answer to any question by saying ‘Yea no’.

- Raikkonen awarded one point for every time he manages to speak.

- di Resta awarded one point for every time he manages not to.

- Jenson Button to clear his throat.

- Drivers permitted to have sponsors’ logos tattooed onto face and tongue.

- Racing to take place on interesting tracks that allow overtaking.

Sniff Petrol

Sounds much better to me. The double-points is just ridiculous - two races would have been a much better idea...

MooMoo444 · 11 Dec 2013 at 16:57

Two races would actually be interesting. Maybe one long race and one shorter sprint race at qualifying similar pace.