2014 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix
- Thread starter SVT Cobra GT
- 624 comments
- 18,341 views
- 13,733
- Adelaide
- Neomone
No short memory at all. That's exactly what I was thinking of I wrote "and the safety risk is minimal at pit lane speeds with everyone aware that they're in a danger zone."
A cameraman does not have the spacial awareness to be operating in a zone like the pit lane.
Certainly, there should be punishments for unsafe releases. I'm not sure how adding a grid penalty to the end of an already substantial punishment helps. It's not like the teams are doing it on purpose, quite apart from the danger factor it's almost always a race ending mistake.
Historically a team with a huge lead at the start of the season tends to stay there, and Mercedes have a huge advantage.They were coasting in the race and turned the engines down mid race yet were STILL the fastest out there. They have a huge advantage and just remember where most of that advantage is, the power unit. The homologated, cannot make major changes mid season powerplants. Renault are going to have a hard time convincing the FIA that any upgrades to their engine are for reliabilty reasons only, and not performance.
To me it seems very ominous that Mercedes could win every race this season, barring a double DNF or getting taken out, etc.
I appreciate it, but it's not exciting. It should be an aside to the main feature, an extra, not the main focus.
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- 3,035
- Kingston, Jamaica
- pj-gm
- PJwasHere876
Mercwinslol imminent.
Ok, probably not, but I watched up to about 20 laps in, then allowed myself to fall asleep, because I knew that bar any reliability issues, the current nature of F1 where it's all about fuel saving, meant that little was going to change.
I'm gonna hate this season if the drivers aren't able to really fight and push each other hard out on the track due to the extremely limited amount of fuel they have. The overuse of that new fuel graphic didn't really help either.
Ok, probably not, but I watched up to about 20 laps in, then allowed myself to fall asleep, because I knew that bar any reliability issues, the current nature of F1 where it's all about fuel saving, meant that little was going to change.
I'm gonna hate this season if the drivers aren't able to really fight and push each other hard out on the track due to the extremely limited amount of fuel they have. The overuse of that new fuel graphic didn't really help either.
- 2,121
- Chicago
- mustang622006
- 22,549
- Arizona
- HamiltonMP427
Just noticed Hamilton's best lap was 1.1seconds better than anyone not in a Mercedes. Red Bull never had that big an advantage, and it was done on the hard tyres! In Australia Rosberg set the fastest lap on lap 19, then cruised the rest of the race. Everyone else was a tenth or more behind, 40 laps later.
They're way ahead.
They're way ahead.
- 276
- Belo Horizonte
Carlos
Premium
- 6,453
- Netherlands
I've watched the whole race but I didn't see it. Those gaps are too big and after a few laps it was already clear who was going to win. To me the point of racing is winning, why wait 50 laps for the result when we already knew at lap 5.
So what I'm paying for the see is: Stupid sounding cars who are as ugly as ever. Even my gf comments on how ugly they are and how boring they sound. If that would be just that, I could live with it. But ofcourse not, noooo. Everything has to be written down somewhere these days, there has to be a rule for everything.
For example, the fuel limiter. I really don't get it. They have 100kilos, why put a limiter on? Screw limiters! 100kilos fuel is enough, why would they care? Probably because of qualifying, they can't control how much fuel per hour there is being used and so teams could increase BHP. Well that actually sounds like a good idea. Let the teams find out if their engines can handle 1000 BHP on Saturday and still finish the race on Sunday.
Double points for the last (or more) race? HA! Seriously? This is a knife in the back for the true fans. I'm done with you, F1.
- 3,035
- Kingston, Jamaica
- pj-gm
- PJwasHere876
If Raikkonen fighting for position with Caterhams is good racing, then yes, there was plenty good racing.
The practice and qualifying sessions are more exciting now. At least the drivers can actually push in those sessions.
This year looks like it's going to have 2004 levels of on track action after the first few laps. At least the cars were fast and sounded good then.
- 2,170
- Sydney
- Inferno_251
Well merc just got a 1/2
It's also been a long time between drinks. The last time that occurred was way back in 1955
I really would like to see Mercedes finally get over the 'do well in qualifying, but suffer in the races' problems that they had over the past couple of years-that could give them the chance when it comes to the constructor's championship (it would also be nice to see it won by teammates that are more 'respectful' towards one another)
The other issue I have is that the cars just don't look fast (because they're not). Yes relatively speaking they're still very fast but for F1 i'm used to them looking and sounding fast in an exciting way, like nothing else. The dull, undramatic sounds combined with cars running a whopping 8-10 seconds slower than a decade ago just ain't exciting.
Combine all that with single team domination and I'm getting less interested than ever.
Combine all that with single team domination and I'm getting less interested than ever.
ExigeEvan
Premium
- 17,192
The major manufacturers are not interested in making V10 engines as there's no carry-over to their road-going business. Smaller displacements with turbos is how all engine design is heading at the moment.
- 23,800
- Philippines
Whatever the rules are, there is always going to be one team that does it better.
One team having a big advantage over the rest, that's often the rule, rather than the exception. I pretty much expected Mercedes to dominate this season given what we knew about the engine situation at the end of the year. I just expected the McLaren boys to put up more of a fight. I guess this ends McLaren's streak of championship capable hotshoes... unless Magnusson comes up with consistent results this season, I don't see how they're going to challenge.
They must really miss Hamilton now. KM seems quick in qualifying... ignoring issues with qualifying conditions, seems he is faster than Button. I don't know if he's as much faster than Button in quali as Lewis was, however. Mercedes arguably doesn't need Lewis. While he is arguably faster than Rosberg, the car is good enough that Rosberg could claim the title.
The car should stay dominant as long as they don't fall behind on development. And I don't expect them to, since it appears they've got the tire issue sorted. (Or is that because every else is having trouble putting the power down now, too...
)
The boys are the ones we'll be pulling out of the gravel traps. The men are the ones we'll be peeling off the walls.
One team having a big advantage over the rest, that's often the rule, rather than the exception. I pretty much expected Mercedes to dominate this season given what we knew about the engine situation at the end of the year. I just expected the McLaren boys to put up more of a fight. I guess this ends McLaren's streak of championship capable hotshoes... unless Magnusson comes up with consistent results this season, I don't see how they're going to challenge.
They must really miss Hamilton now. KM seems quick in qualifying... ignoring issues with qualifying conditions, seems he is faster than Button. I don't know if he's as much faster than Button in quali as Lewis was, however. Mercedes arguably doesn't need Lewis. While he is arguably faster than Rosberg, the car is good enough that Rosberg could claim the title.
The car should stay dominant as long as they don't fall behind on development. And I don't expect them to, since it appears they've got the tire issue sorted. (Or is that because every else is having trouble putting the power down now, too...
) The boys are the ones we'll be pulling out of the gravel traps. The men are the ones we'll be peeling off the walls.
- 15,529
- Cairo, Egypt
- GTP_SEMS
The plus side is, Lotus, Ferrari and Mclaren have been utter crap so hopefully there is more to come from atleast one of them.
- 80
- Columbus, OH
- Bakemono36
Great race. Those silver arrows were flying! I actually havent watched F1 for a number of years and its nice to see Ferrari not dominating for a change.
- 23,800
- Philippines
The downside is that most of that (except for McLaren of course) is down to the power unit and they're homologated and locked down now. Renault and Ferrari can't just tweak their unit and come up with more power unless they can convince the FIA the main reason for doing it is reliability, not performance.
- 15,529
- Cairo, Egypt
- GTP_SEMS
I'm still hoping the FIA would allow it, but engines aside Ferrari and Mclaren's cars are still hitting below their budget (granted they have been doing so for a few seasons) but Ferrari's pace is on par with Force India and Mclaren are middle pack-ish pace so maybe future packages will see them become more competitive.
- 12,618
- United Kingdom
If they could run unlimited fuel flow, it would be worse. At least in Malaysia there was a chance that the Red Bull's could get ahead of Rosberg during the pit window. If they could run anything, what are the chances that Merc would just go to a really high fuel flow and get something ridiculous like a 20 second lead after 5 laps or something? We'd all complain a lot more.
On the argument about the cars being about 8 seconds a lap slower. The cars have less downforce now, but a much higher top speed. The 2014 speed trap figures from Malaysia 10-15 km/h faster. Wait until we get to somewhere like Montreal, Spa or Monza; the lap times there could be much higher.
- 2,938
- Shrewsbury
- pezzarinho17
I don't understand a lot of the negativity shown towards modern F1, are people really that opposed to change? The cars are quieter, but have you actually listened to them? They sound much better in 2014 than the "swarm of bees attacking a jet engine", and you get to hear everything actually going on now. The cars are slower over a single lap- yes, so? Downforce is much less than before so the drivers are having to drive the car much more. Wasn't that what we asked for when claiming F1 was too much about the car and not the drivers skill? The engineers could produce cars that smash all the lap records and nobody would care, because the racing would be processional once more. The road cars development would be stunted by Formula 1's dependence on aerodynamic gains, something very few consumer cars require beyond a drag efficient shape.
Maybe I give Formula 1 too much credit, but I would rather we had silent cars lapping over 2 minutes but producing brilliant racing, over loud wasps running in order start - finish at 1 minute lap times.
Maybe I give Formula 1 too much credit, but I would rather we had silent cars lapping over 2 minutes but producing brilliant racing, over loud wasps running in order start - finish at 1 minute lap times.
- 3,033
Yeah it helps Mercedes have two lightweight drivers too.... Button is probably at 0.2 sec a lap handicap with his weight. Weight Adds up on those rear tires a touch I imagine too. Dont know Mag's weight but I imagine he's a little guy.the McLaren boys to put up more of a fight. I guess this ends McLaren's streak of championship capable hotshoes... unless Magnusson comes up with consistent results this season, I don't see how they're going to challenge.
They must really miss Hamilton now. KM seems quick in qualifying... ignoring issues with qualifying conditions, seems he is faster than Button. I don't know if he's as much faster than Button in quali as Lewis was, however. Mercedes arguably doesn't need Lewis. While he is arguably faster than Rosberg, the car is good enough that Rosberg could claim the title.
The car should stay dominant as long as they don't fall behind on development. And I don't expect them to, since it appears they've got the tire issue sorted. (Or is that because every else is having trouble putting the power down now, too...
The boys are the ones we'll be pulling out of the gravel traps. The men are the ones we'll be peeling off the walls.
The result I was really surprised was Hulkenberg, he's the heaviest driver in the field and was keeping up with the Mercedes cars that are more powerful, more downforce...! That Force India is better car than in the past but he's really proven to possibly be the best or nearly the best driver.
- 2,121
- Chicago
- mustang622006
We could go with a spec car if what you want is total parity, oh wait, people just love spec series, just look how popular Indycar is. One team "getting it" sooner than the others and dominating is pretty much the pattern for F1, has been for a long time. As for the sounds I like them much better, never cared for the ultra high pitch scream from the past. You can hear what the drivers and the cars are doing with the new systems. I agree, these cars are much more driver dependent then aero dependent.
- 2,726
- England
- ECGadget
- Eh???
This. I was properly miffed about this. I didn't realise it during the race, because I didn't check but the cars seemed much slower. Then I checked and not only were they about 9-10s off the pace of a decade ago, they were also about 3-4 seconds off the pace of last year!
Tired Tyres
Premium
- 12,258
- West Yorkshire
- Tired_Tyres
- Tired Tyres
That is one of the primary reasons for new rules. To slow the cars down so things don't get silly.
You have to do that every now and again or keep building new tracks to replace the existing tracks because they suddenly don't have anywhere enough run off to keeps their FIA status as F1 suitable tracks.
So that means slower cars and Spa or faster cars and bulldoze Spa. No contest really.
You have to do that every now and again or keep building new tracks to replace the existing tracks because they suddenly don't have anywhere enough run off to keeps their FIA status as F1 suitable tracks.
So that means slower cars and Spa or faster cars and bulldoze Spa. No contest really.
