sbewers

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  • #302986
    sbewers
    Participant

    Nice. Hope that both Senna and Mahindra can make a step forward in season 2 and be fighting for the podium. Think they were one of the few teams not to make it up there last season.

    Most shocking FE news of the day for me though is that Jacques Villeneuve will replace Nick Heidfeld at Venturi next season. Seems crazy, given Heidfeld’s performances relative to Sarrazin last season (and relative to Villeneuve at BMW-Sauber back in 2006 as well come to think of it!). I can only think this is to generate headlines about a former F1 World Champion racing in Formula E. Hope that Nick can secure a drive elsewhere.

    #297707
    sbewers
    Participant

    Chistijan Albers – raced in 2005/06/07 for Minardi, Midland and Spyker. Last seen briefly in 2014 as Caterham’s Team Principal.

    He was the man who outperformed Tiago Monteiro as team-mates in 2006 after the latter had impressed in the 2005 Jordan; only to be dropped himself half way through the 2007 season due to a lack of sponsor money (which of course made room for Markus Winkelhock’s 15 minutes of fame at the Nurburgring and Sakon Yamamoto’s 2nd of 3 forgettable spells).

    Tedious link – all of the above named have been mentioned at various points in this thread, linked by this man.

    #294014
    sbewers
    Participant

    @jackysteeg – Spot on! Your turn.

    #293842
    sbewers
    Participant

    Ok, let’s go with another!

    Two McLaren drivers won the same race exactly 6 years apart, having both started from 7th position. In both races, their McLaren team mate failed to finish having been involved in a controversial incident. Both winners were followed home by the reigning World Champion, with the reigning World Champion’s team mate finishing 3rd. But what is the date?

    #293839
    sbewers
    Participant

    @walsh-f1 – Very cryptic, but I’m going to take a stab at 27th August.

    – Michael Schumacher’s comeback in changeable conditions in the 1995 Belgian GP at Spa.
    – Mika Hakkinen’s comeback in changeable conditions in the 2000 Belgian GP at Spa.
    – And Felipe Massa being the new talent winning the 2006 Turkish GP in an exotic land.

    #293723
    sbewers
    Participant

    @blockwall2 – That was incredibly quick!

    Yep, 30th August is correct.

    1992 Belgian GP – the new winner was Michael Schumacher
    1998 Belgian GP – as you said, Damon Hill took his last win for Jordan
    2009 Belgian GP – again you nailed it, Kimi took his last win for Ferrari and Force India were back on the podium

    Over to you.

    #286891
    sbewers
    Participant

    One thing I didn’t understand was Trulli’s penalty at the half-way point: what was that handed out for? Something about a power issue?

    I wondered the same. Apparently an incorrect map setting was to blame, which caused him to exceed the 150kW limit.

    #272535
    sbewers
    Participant

    Ok, how about this for silly season…

    The Mercedes team drama escalates and results in Lewis leaving (Alonso 2007-style). Mercedes poach Vettel to fill the spot (all-German team, potentially 5 WC’s between the two drivers).

    McLaren successfully convince Alonso to join.

    Red Bull feel that Kvyat isn’t ready yet and needs another year at Toro Rosso. They’re not interested in Lewis or Jenson, and are more interested in fresh new talent so sign Bottas.

    Ferrari promote Bianchi after Hulkenberg has a poor run of form the second half of the season.

    Leaving two spots at Williams for the choice of Jenson, Lewis or Massa (ideally Jenson and Lewis for a final reunion as Jenson sees out his career at the team where it all began).

    Which would leave a grid looking like this:

    Mercedes:
    1. Sebastian Vettel
    2. Nico Rosberg

    Red Bull:
    1. Daniel Ricciardo
    2. Valtteri Bottas

    Williams:
    1. Lewis Hamilton
    2. Jenson Button

    Ferrari:
    1. Kimi Raikkonen
    2. Jules Bianchi

    McLaren:
    1. Fernando Alonso
    2. Kevin Magnussen

    Force India:
    1. Nico Hulkenberg
    2. Sergio Perez

    Toro Rosso:
    1. Daniil Kvyat
    2. Max Verstappen

    Lotus:
    1. Pastor Maldonado
    2. Romain Grosjean

    Sauber:
    1. Giedo van der Garde
    2. Simona de Silvestro

    Marussia:
    1. Jolyon Palmer ??
    2. Max Chilton, Felipe Nasr, Alex Rossi ??

    Caterham:
    1. Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren paying for this)
    2. [highest bidder]

    #247663
    sbewers
    Participant

    I’ve been a fan since 1998 so mine are as follows:

    1998: Belgian GP, Spa-Francorchamps – Winner: Damon Hill
    1999: European GP, Nurburgring – Winner: Johnny Herbert
    2000: German GP, Hockenheim – Winner: Rubens Barrichello
    2001: Brazilian GP, Interlagos – Winner: David Coulthard
    2002: Australian GP, Melbourne – Winner: Michael Schumacher
    2003: Brazilian GP, Interlagos – Winner: Giancarlo Fisichella
    2004: Monaco GP, Monte Carlo – Winner: Jarno Trulli
    2005: Japanese GP, Suzuka – Winner: Kimi Raikkonen
    2006: Hungarian GP, Hungaroring – Winner: Jenson Button
    2007: Canadian GP, Montreal – Winner: Lewis Hamilton
    2008: Brazilian GP, Interlagos – Winner: Felipe Massa
    2009: Malaysian GP, Sepang – Winner: Jenson Button (I know this was only half a race, but the half we got was fantastic!)
    2010: Belgian GP, Spa-Francorchamps – Winner: Lewis Hamilton
    2011: Canadian GP, Montreal – Winner: Jenson Button
    2012: European GP, Valencia – Winner: Fernando Alonso
    2013: British GP, Silverstone – Winner: Nico Rosberg

    Just some interesting things I’ve noticed about my favourite races from each season:
    – 10 of the 16 races were rain-affected.
    – From 16 races, there were 13 different winners from 8 different teams.
    – Jenson Button has won my favourite race of the season the most, 3 times. (Lewis Hamilton next on 2).
    – McLaren have won my favourite race of the season the most, 5 times. (Ferrari next on 4).
    – 8 of the 16 races were won by a British driver.

    I find this interesting as I did not pick these races based upon results, but based upon which races I found to be most exciting and/or enjoyable and/or interesting. And yet, maybe subconciously the results DID play a small part in which races I enjoy the most since my favourite driver IS Jenson Button, my favourite team IS McLaren and I AM a Brit!

    #245463
    sbewers
    Participant
    #245340
    sbewers
    Participant

    My predictions for the remaining seats (what I think will happen rather than what I would like to happen):

    LOTUS: GROSJEAN and PEREZ – Lotus are taking their time, but I believe Grosjean is confirmed. I think the Maldonado-Force India deal is also done so that leaves Hulkenberg. If this was going to happen I think it would have by now, but it heavily relies on the Quantam deal. That leaves the choice between Kovalainen and Perez if that doesn’t happen, and I think Perez would get the nod due to his backing.

    SAUBER: HULKENBERG and GUTIERREZ – Hulkenberg will stay with Sauber I think. Lotus have messed around too long with their decision and better to confirm his current seat than hold out and miss out on a seat altogether. Gutierrez will also be retained. He’s improved over the second half of the season and I feel there is more to come from him next year. Will also give Sirotkin the chance to run FP’s next season before getting the race drive for 2015.

    FORCE INDIA: SUTIL and MALDONADO – I think both of these seats are done deals and just waiting to be announced. Di Resta to move to Indycar?

    CATERHAM: PIC and VAN DER GARDE – Pic is apparently quite highly rated in the team and I think he will therefore be retained. Van der Garde has impressed me this season with a few stand-out moments and I see no reason not to keep him. Has performed well.

    MARUSSIA: BIANCHI and CHILTON – Bianchi is confirmed and I think Chilton’s family shares will keep him in a drive. Not to mention he has done a pretty decent job this year, finished every race and is improving recently in comparison with Jules. Safe pair of hands and not costing Marussia lots of expensive repairs. Will retain his seat.

    #243945
    sbewers
    Participant

    @john-h I find myself in a very similar situation. I’ve been an F1 Fanatic since 1998, but I agree that since 2011 everything has gone downhill and I’m losing my passion and enjoyment of the sport. For me DRS is very much the culprit. There is no such thing as defending anymore – the driver behind can just breeze past and that is hugely detrimental to the racing. In fact, not taking anything away from the fantastic job Vettel and Red Bull are doing at the moment, but I’m sure they wouldn’t be able to dominate in quite the same way if it wasn’t for DRS giving easy passes to the front of the field. Today is a great example – Vettel should have found himself in the pack and having to fight to overtake cars to make his strategy work (and I’ve no dobubt that he would have been able to do this). Instead, he found that he could press the button, open the flap, and breeze through without a fight, leaving no question as to whether his strategy would pay off at all. And that’s what has been taken away and is sorely missing from the sport right now – the uncertainty and the tension. These days you just know that if the faster guy is behind, he can get within a second and open the DRS to get through.

    Some of the most exciting moments I remember have been when the pass was not actually completed, such as Imola 2005 between Schumacher and Alonso. There was tension, uncertainty, excitement, but no pass. DRS has taken away the first three of those things and left us with the pass, but there is no satisfaction in that for me because of it’s inevitability.

    I’m also in the minority of people that miss refueling, again for this reason. I am quite happy to not see who is genuinely fastest in qualifying as long as it provides an interesting race and I used to love that about the refueling era. Again, there was the uncertainty, the not knowing who would prevail. That said, this tension also existed in 2010 and I really enjoyed the 2010 season even without the refueling. Therefore, for me that something went missing in 2011 and it hasn’t been there since and I have to believe that DRS is the root of the problem.

    #243724
    sbewers
    Participant

    This was the same trick that Giancarlo Fisichella perfected at Sepang.

    Firstly in 2001 driving for Benetton:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EzAA_4XNiA

    And again in 2003 driving for Jordan:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DuErg_p4nY

    #243087
    sbewers
    Participant

    Lewis Hamilton: 2007
    Kimi Raikkonen: 2005
    Fernando Alonso: 2012
    Jenson Button: 2011
    Sebastian Vettel: 2013

    #229948
    sbewers
    Participant

    Crofty and Johnny Herbert have tipped the following moves on Twitter today:

    Alonso to McLaren, Hulkenberg to Ferrari, Massa to Lotus, Chilton to Force India, Magnussen to Marussia

    Wouldn’t leave much space on the grid for Perez and whichever Force India driver gets the boot if it did happen.

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 20 total)