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?

Finally being dragged into being interested in F1 after years of putting up with DH's obsession. The grid girls REALLY annoy me. They are placed like objects around the place just to be looked at - they aren't allowed to interact or talk to people unless spoken to! Makes me so mad. Such #everydaysexism. Why is it allowed to continue?

Yeah, it pisses me off too. Believe it or not, it's got worse recently. They never used to have the lines of women just clapping and wearing logos. I'm sure they never used to have them on the podium getting sprayed with champagne either. They just used to be on the grid. I don't know why it's got worse but when the DDs are watching with me I just watch the racing and then switch straight off as soon as they cross the finish line.

But on the plus side, there are more women working behind the scenes now- not just in PR, but also in technical roles and in the driving seat. There are two women team bosses as well. Everyone keeps going on about more women getting into the sport but it's hard for girls to get inspired when the majority of visible women in F1 are just employed to stand there and fucking clap.

The FIA are running a campaign to get more women into motorsport but they really need to ditch the grid girls and podium girls if they want more women to get interested.

Shall we start a twitter thing?

The grid girls really annoy me too. That and Eddie's shirts

It's not the shirts that bother me, it's the tight trousers!

What are the thoughts on Nico going off course in the same please TWICE?

an odd, odd, odd.....turn of events.

Glad Lewis won, I can't be doing with cheats and felt really sorry for Lewis after Spa.

Not sure I would describe Nico as a cheat Dunno why he went off twice at the same corner, I guess it's a tricky one and the pressure was getting to him.

well it was the way it looked to me as he accidentally pipped Lewis off at Spa

Well, you wouldn't be able to give someone a puncture on purpose and Nico screwed up his own race too. It looked like a racing incident (with a large dollop of stupidity) to me. If the same thing had happened in the midfield between two drivers from different teams then no one would have cared. But because of their rivalry, we are treated to all this drama I do like a bit of drama, but I hope it doesn't overshadow the actual racing too much.

Lewis reckons Nico admitted he did it on purpose - that's on the official F1 page.

Yes Eau the trousers! Dc's are a bit snug too.

The ciccane was a bit odd it seemed quite a few got caught out.

Yes, that was Lewis' interpretation of what Nico said. I think what actually happened is that both of them said that they weren't moving and it was really Lewis' line, rather than Nico saying he drove into him on purpose to take him out of the race. So a racing incident/cock up, not a deliberate attempt to take Lewis out.Not that I don't trust Lewis or anything

There are conspiracy theories flying around that Merc did something to Nico's car to make him miss the chicane. I think they're all bollocks though, it was just the pressure that made him make a mistake.

Funny, I don't mind DC's tight trousers nearly as much....

Me neither Eau, but I got shot down in flames on another thread for admitting such a thing. I've lusted after DC for years - all the drivers are too young now for me to fancy, they are too close in age to DS.

I don't fancy him, not really my type, but skinny jeans suit his shape better so it's not so... in your face.

Half the drivers look like they're from a boy band and I'm not even that old.

I am old & half the drivers look as if they should be my grandchild!

PS - I still lust after Fernando!

Toto didn't smile at Rosberg's mistake, and the radio messages were edited. Prost reckons Rosberg and Hamilton could be teammates for 3 years, which is almost as long as the 'forever' that Lewis suggested and Nico didn't seem too keen on .

Nico doesn't like being booed, but who does. I remember when I went to Spa and a lot of the drunken British fans were booing Alonso- very unsporting, I thought.

Having seen the clip again, I think that Nico just didn't deal well with the pressure that Lewis was applying and mis-timed his braking.

I also can't imaging for a second that Mercedes would want to deliberately handicap one of their cars, it just doesn't make any sense for a team to do that. I think Toto and the team are finding the situation between the drivers hard to manage, but then it's tough at the top .

My DM thinks that Merc made him do it as part of his penalty

Hooooly shit, di Montezemolo's gone. All change at Ferrari then. I wonder what will happen next? Alonso's quite close to di Montezemolo, I believe.

I suppose it's possible!

di Montezemolo leaving makes me wonder if there really is any truth in the rumours of Alonso going to McLaren. This time of year in F1 is always like a game of musical chairs .

I'm going to have a good read of the latest copy of F1 Racing to see if I can find any clues in the Alonso interview. I love silly season and all the mad speculation. The big downside this year is that there's no rumours about Schumacher coming back :(

True enough, though I heard on the news that he's been able to leave hospital and will continue his recovery at home :)

New enforcement of regulations about pit-to-car radio use. I have to say the wording does look a bit "catch all" and could easily have unintended consequences. Obviously the regulation itself isn't new but I'm supposing it hasn't been enforced because it's so vague.

Cue loads of "Fernando is faster than you" coded messages. How are they going to enforce this fairly?

I have no idea at all, and it's a forgone conclusion that teams will develop a "code". Surely the drivers have to discuss telemetry data with their teams, and tyre strategies etc. It seems a bit silly to me! I'm guessing the FIA might end up back-tracking on this

On an unrelated note, why do so many people object to EJ's shirts? I've generally considered him to be quite a stylish dresser!

I can understand why they're doing it. I get a bit when the drivers are told where to brake, etc. But they've made it far too restrictive.

I like EJ's shirts too. Just not his jeans (or DC's).