The F1 2014 thread

[EauRouge]

Since the last one was about last season, here's a shiny new one! I haven't even seen quali yet, I've been so busy today Who's getting up in the middle of the night?

Style - I read your post in haste - see what you meant now!

Maldanado is a waste of space - and he looks like a James Bond villain!

Can't link as I'm on my phone but have a look at Lotus' s tweet this morning about Maldonado testing. The replies are fairly unanimous

Sad thing is, even this years rookies drive better than Maldonado.
Suspect that had Lotus not been strapped for cash, he would have been the one left without a seat in the driver merry-go-round. I cant see how the Venezuelan government can spend that much money on someone who is hardly a glowing advert for their country or that Lotus can risk damaging their fan base/alienating possible investors by his being in the team. I think it is the attitude more than anything that gets me - he is never wrong, has a vastly deluded opinion of his skills and once the red mist decends, its game over for him or some other poor driver.

Williams couldn't wait to get rid of him could they? Bet they are really enjoying the fact that their car is better than Lotus's at this stage.

Looks as if the Hulk made a very wise move in going to Force India as yet again, they have turned out a fantastic car considering their relatively modest (by F1 standards) budget. Think he had the deal sewn up early last season, as he said that they have made a lightweight chassis for him to compensate for him being one of the taller, heavier drivers. So, that begs the question of why other teams didn't do the same? If they knew their line-up - looking at Torro Rosso in particular - (as JEV was the driver who fainted and ended up in hospital because of losing too much weight) why couldn't other teams do the same?

It's probably expensive to make a lightweight chassis. They should just review the stupid weight rules- why not have a separate one for drivers and say that those below the weight limit have to carry ballast so that all drivers basically weigh the same. Then there would be no fainting or restricting fluids before races.

I think slagging off Maldonado is becoming one of my favourite things to do in between races. I haven't seen much in the news about Guitierrez- presumably he's OK? Aside from probably still shaking. Of course, the accident was his fault and poor, innocent Maldonado has been hit with unfair penalties

Have you seen this?

I still cringe when I see that footage from Spa, think that will haunt Grosjean to the end of his days and unless he wins a WDC will become the thing he is best known for. Thank god modern cars are built as they are - had it happened in the 70's it would have been absolute carnage.

Have just recently bought the new Life on the Limit dvd, which is a sort of compilation of interviews/history of F1 in the style of the Senna film where it uses actual footage from the era. We got about half way through last night and will hopefully watch the rest tonight if the DCs settle down early enough..... School holidays can be a bit of a pain from that point of view as getting up in the morning and bedtimes get later. Makes you realise how many of the old circuits have dropped off the calendar like Watkins Glen, Kyalami and Zandvoort.

China next - not one of my favourite races, it has to be said, but better than nothing. Thought Bahrain worked really well as a night race and it sort of gave it an atmosphere it lacks in the daytime. One of the better facilities in terms of pit lanes/hospitality with the nice palm tree walkways etc that really worked well with the strings of lights giving it a soft glow.

Still waiting to see what special programmes sky are doing for their Senna week.

Have now found out the programme of events for Senna week, which include:

• F1 Legends Senna programme
• The Last Team Mate (with Damon Hill)
• Teds Notebook Senna Special, from the MTC
• 7 classic Senna GP Highlight races
• programme about Roland Ratzenberger (pleased to see he hasn't been overlooked),
• Echoes from the Past (with Nigel Roebuck) this has been on before,
• Senna Journalist Special (with Murray Walker, David Tremayne, Maurice Hamilton and presented by Simon Lazenby)
• Prost on Senna (supposed to be a previously unseen interview - possibly didn't make the cut for the F1 Legends programme on Prost
• A Winning Partnership (no details given)
• F1 Show special

Looking forward to it, but still miss him........ would have loved to see him reminiscing on the F1 Legends series and to hear his comments on todays F1 as a guest pundit.

Ciao, Stefano. I think it was inevitable but surprised that it's come so suddenly, I thought he would stick it out until the end of the season. Mind you, with the driver line-up they have they really should be on the podium at the very least.

Wonder what this Marco fella will be able to do.... From what I've read he's basically a car salesman (albeit a very fancy-pantsy one), has he any experience in racing?

Ricciardo loses appeal. No surprises there then.

Where did you go, SOS? I'm talking to myself

So, is Bernie going to jail?. No comment, obviously. Bernie's lawyers are watching.

Where is everyone?

Pretty eventful Monaco weekend. Do you think the rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg will start turning nasty? I don't think Hamilton believes that the qualifying incident wasn't on purpose....

Didn't get to see the whole race but I saw the last 30 laps and loved seeing Ricciardo win, I like him. Bet Vettel is seriously pissed off. ..

Wow had to come looking for this...

Not necessarily to do with this season but I am incredibly happy to hear that Schuey is out of his coma and on the road to recovery.

Yes, I was reading that last night. I don't think he'll ever be racing again but it must be such a relief for his family that he's out of the coma. Go Schumi!

Such good news re Schumi. Hope he recovers well now. Just what an incredible relief for his family.

Has been an interesting season so far. Am looking forward to Austria. Should be a good challenge for all the drivers.

Also: hello.

Hello Grouchy. Looking forward to the Austrian GP makes me feel like I'm in a timewarp I wonder what the A1 Ring looks like now.

Anyone want to start guessing at who's going to be WDC yet? I think I'm going to back Rosberg. He might not be as quick as Hamilton but he's a lot more consistent.

I think Hamilton will take it, unless his bad luck continues. Without those two car failures he'd likely be ahead of Rosberg now. So I think if his car holds up he'll be WDC by the end of the season.

It is such a great battle. I wonder how long Mercedes will let it continue, though. They're fine right now, but if the other teams continue to improve then they'll have to make a decision about which driver will get the chances and that's going to be tough. Unless they're dumb like McLaren always seems to be.

I've not seen a race in Austria before (races weren't shown in NZ so I've only been watching properly since I moved here 7+ years ago).

The Austrian race that sticks out for me was 2001 (or maybe 2002?) where there were very, very obvious team orders at Ferrari and Barrichello had to let Schumacher past practically at the finish line. It was pretty controversial and team orders were banned after that.

I remember reading about that/seeing it on the news. I'm glad they're being open about team orders having given up the pretence, but I do wish they weren't there.

I'm sorry to rain on your parade about Schumi (I've been a huge fan of his since 2004, so this really, genuinely breaks my heart), but this 'he's out his coma' business is a red herring. 45-year-olds who've suffered massive traumatic brain injuries and who've been in comas for six months don't just recover. He is apparently responding to stimuli, but so do patients in a persistent vegetative state - they can open their eyes and look at you, for instance - they're not permanently 'asleep'. The point is that Schumi is stable now and can breathe on his own for short periods of time, so he doesn't need to be in the ICU any more. He can be cared for in a long-term rehab facility where he can receive physio and personal care, etc. Sadly, that doesn't mean he will ever speak or walk or laugh or drive a car again.

I know a lot of people feel that Gary Hartstein (former F1 medical director), is being pessimistic and unnecessarily gloomy and we all WANT Schumi to recover - but it would truly take a miracle for him to get up from his bed and walk. If he was going to do that he'd have woken from his coma within 2-3 weeks - and that would've been back in January. The fact that Sabine Kehm says she's not going to make any further comments speaks volumes - neither she nor his family expect that there will ever be significant 'good news'. This news is as good as it gets. I feel so devastated for them all

Yes, I read all the articles so I know about as much as the family is letting on. I don't think anyone expected him to be skipping out of the hospital, but being able to breath on his own is a pretty big deal. Most people would be dead by now.

Sorry, that sounded a bit snappy, not enough coffee yet this morning. I think the main aim is to get him off the machines so he can go home, whether he ever wakes up or not. I've been a fan since the early 90s so also pretty heartbroken. :(

This is a good article for anyone who is interested: www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/michael-schumacher/10906259/Michael-Schumacher-in-and-out-of-consciousness-and-unable-to-speak.html

My gut feeling is that Corinna, Michael's wife, is still holding onto the hope that he will recover, and that's why press reports have been sporadic and slightly misleading. She's known to be religious and completely devoted to him, so it wouldn't surprise me if she simply doesn't accept what the doctors are saying and prefers to believe that if anyone can overcome such terrible injuries, he can.

I guess if you don't know much about acquired brain injury then the statement released seems very encouraging...so sad that their lives will never be the same again after such a traumatic time for the whole family

So. Austria. A pretty good race all in all. Glad we watched it in real time.

Won't post anything spoilery yet, just in case, but I am pleased to have Austria back in the calendar. It's a great track.