F1 new season

[Idlenorth1]

With testing for the new season almost upon us and all the regulation changes (new engines, aero rules on wings, lack of exhaust downforce etc) are we going to finally see a break in the red bulls domination of the sport?
I am a big fan of F1 and enjoy going to Silverstone for the Britsh gp and always try and watch each race live on sky but just got fed up with the result being a foregone conclusion, especially at the back end of last year
Vettel is not everyone's cup of tea but the guy is just relentless and you can't take away what he has done for his age

I am personally loving all the uncertainty and just hope that we have a season that throws up all types of drama and some of the midfield teams challenging the bigs boys, can even see a marussia or caterham scoring a point or 2 this year

Also as a hamilton fan for his driving style, I hope that his move to Mercedes proves him right as he did move with this year in mind
Any thoughts on F1 from the forum?

 

[medwayjon]

Yup

No time for Hamilton

I hope Button wins

Great to see Ron Dennis back in charge at McLaren, a nice guy but a man driven hugely by success, sad to see the MB relationship coming to an end there, my old man designed and built the machinery that built some of their most succesful engines.

Ref Vettel, he is the 2nd best driver behind Alonso, hopefully he gets a decent car

Still grates on me that ££££££££ matters more than talent when trying to secure a drive as a newbie

 

[Khamelion]

I used to enjoy F1, but in recent years it's just become a procession, lets play follow the leader, with teams hoping to make their pit stops and better times to try and jump their driver up the field.

Apart from the start, F1 has all the excitement of standing on a bridge over the M1 and watching the cars go by.

I sit to be corrected this season, the changes may offer some excitement this season but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[cookelad]

I used to enjoy F1, but in recent years it's just become a procession, lets play follow the leader, with teams hoping to make their pit stops and better times to try and jump their driver up the field.

Apart from the start, F1 has all the excitement of standing on a bridge over the M1 and watching the cars go by.

I sit to be corrected this season, the changes may offer some excitement this season but I'm not holding my breath.

Pretty much agree with this 100%

Used to watch F1 religiously now it's been too much of a foregone conclusion - as I said on another thread previously the easiest way to make F1 interesting is to ban Adrian Newey, even with the new regulations Red Bull still have the best designer the sport has ever known so it won't change an awful lot!

As with Khamelion I hope I'm wrong and the sport becomes interesting again!

 

[Fyldewhite]

Looking forward to it. My take.....

Lotus could have all sorts of problems or be playing their cards close to their chest. Will be interesting seeing how that pans out especially with Maldonardo and Grosjean who for me was easily the most improved driver last season. Developments at McLaren are interesting. Will be a year of change in in readiness for the switch back to Honda in 2015. Ross Braun's name being floated too. Hope they have a competitive car this season though for Jensen's sake. Alonso/Kimi will also create many column inches and a few fireworks I'm sure. Mercedes will be dark horses to win the championship this time round and Hamilton is sure to be a contender in the drivers, but, Red Bull still have the budget, the design team and the driver so still can't see beyond them new rules or not.

In general terms though I hope the RB domination is over as it did get rediculous last season after the tyres reverted and this season "should" be better than the last. The "double points" idea is absolute nonsense though and a knee jerk reaction of the worst kind. All in all it is a circus and money does talk but it is entertaining if you take in the big picture (the politics, the cars, the characters etc) rather than just the front of the grid on race day. Bring it on.

 

[Alex1975]

Lots of sadness for me in the winter break with Michael and Jenson`s Dad.

Much is going on with Bernie going to court and Ron Dennis coming back to the CEO job at McLaren.

The other teams are clearing all the staff they can out of Red Bull, if they cant beat them on track they will find another way!

Really looking forward to testing starting. I share the OPs thoughts. I have not missed a race in 25 years but last year was tough as I really dislike Vettel... Hate.... Na hate is bad for one, really dislike....

 

[guest100718]

While the winner of the F1 title was pretty certain after not to long a time, there have still been some great races and overall 2013 was an ejoyable season.

It will be interesting to see how the new engines etc shake things up this year.

 

[Idlenorth1]

I think if it becomes another procession it will turn away so many more viewers, a much as I am looking forward to the new regs the FIA do also seem to be doing there best to stop the Bulls with double points which is ridiculous if not surprising, when they brought in kers and especially DRS their was lots of complaining as artificial overtaking etc etc but still here.

A change at the top may not be a bad idea, Bernie is looking on his way out one way or another and need F1 to get back to being the pinnacle of motor sport in my opinion.

Interesting yesterday that Ron Dennis is back as CEO coupled with Mcalrens poor form under Whitmarsh, odds on Ross Brawn being back sooner rather than later ?

 

[One Planer]

F1 used to be about drivers pushing the cars right to the limit of what was technically and physically possible. Everything was so highly strung and finely tuned they really were pushing the car to limit.

Now, there are so many restrictions.

Engine, tyres, wing size, gearboxes lasting a set no of races, same with engines. I even heard that there is a rule coming in on saving fuel

It's ridiculous.

They only put the restrictions in place to level the playing field. Ferrari, Mclaren, Mercedes have £££ in the billions to throw at the sport, where as the likes of Minardi, Torro Rosso don't.

It's a complete joke of a spectacle now.

It's like saying to Usain Bolt - "Becuase you are so much faster than the slowest member of the field, you're not allowed to have laces in your track spikes"

In F1 as long as I can remember, there have always been dominant teams and 'lesser' teams. All they are doing with the current regulations is making the sport less appealing.

 

[CMAC]

I used to enjoy F1, but in recent years it's just become a procession, lets play follow the leader, with teams hoping to make their pit stops and better times to try and jump their driver up the field.

Apart from the start, F1 has all the excitement of standing on a bridge over the M1 and watching the cars go by.

I sit to be corrected this season, the changes may offer some excitement this season but I'm not holding my breath.

agree with this :thup:


Do they realise it's actually a race


Snoozeville now and a waste of time and ludicrous amounts of money

 

[harpo_72]

Honestly speaking the red bulls will be the pick of the bunch even though they will have a customer renault engine. The ferraris are going to have a driver issue, Alonso will not like kimi, he doesn't give a ..... he was signed the first time when Michael was driving, this helped Michael make his decision about retiring from Ferrari.
I have also heard there are some differences in packages for cooling, withe majority of teams heading in one direction and one going in another. So we will see the cooling mechanism will make or break the cars performance and affect its aero capability, i think the car going in that direction may struggle aerodynamically.
As for Alonso being the best driver, nah sorry he's good but Hamilton wound him up and Hamilton is a one trick pony ( a talented one trick pony but a one trick pony all the same). Vettel is the real deal, he is clever as well, which you cannot say for most drivers.
The rear end teams will never get anywhere, they are clueless and this wont change. Williams is where Ross is rummoured to be heading but will he make any difference, who knows if that team will sober up and race.

 

[D4RK1]

I can't wait for the new season to kick off. I loved last year, some amazing races with great drives. I guess I'm in the minority here when I say I'm a fan of vettel. He has made everyone else look average in his wake. How he consistently pulls 2 seconds a lap faster than the rest in the 1st laps is ridiculous.
Its funny how divided as a nation we are over button and Hamilton. I'm a Hamilton fan, purely for the reason that he's a racer. Not a robot. Where Jensen is more calculated and plays the waiting game. His race seems to be planned more than instinctive. For me less exciting to watch.

Any of you watch the BTCC? That's where the action is :thup:

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Not a huge fan. Much prefer touring cars if I'm honest. F1 too governed by the money and the richer constructors getting huge advantages over the field. Hasn't really done much for me in a decade. Vettel is a class act though

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Agree with that last two - BTCC is much more exciting to watch - F1 is dull with zero overtaking and all about the designers and the biggest budget

 

[Andy]

F1 is utter gash!

It also died when Senna died, he was a proper racer who didn't want all the electronic nonsense you see now.

There is more overtaking in 1 lap of MotoGP than a season of F1.

Complete tripe!!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

F1 is utter gash!

It also died when Senna died, he was a proper racer who didn't want all the electronic nonsense you see now.

There is more overtaking in 1 lap of MotoGP than a season of F1.

Complete tripe!!

So what do you really think of F1

 

[Smiffy]

It also died when Senna died, he was a proper racer who didn't want all the electronic nonsense you see now.

Errrr..........Senna went to Williams because of the technology they had at the time as he knew it would help him win another title.
It was banned/removed just after he joined, which pissed him off.
He was a great racer though, agreed.

 

[Idlenorth1]

F1 used to be about innovation and pushing the boundaries that would that eventually make it down to our humble road cars, now it's about what the car manufactures are doing and the FIA following suit to try and entice more engine manufactures back into the sport - seems to worked for Honda though

 

[Aztecs27]

Went off it last season as it had turned back into a precession. But having watched "Rush" the other day (which I cannot recommend enough!), I am now right in the mood for a new season of F1!

 

[Idlenorth1]

Looking forward to seeing Rush when out on DVD next week, heard some very good reviews if the film and just in time to get the juices flowing for new season