F1 Fanatic’s must-read articles of 2014

2014 F1 season review

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Did you miss out on any of these articles during 2014? Catch up on some of F1 Fanatic’s best and most popular offerings this year.

Technology and rules

McLaren MP4-29H/1X1 (2014) pictures

McLaren’s interim Honda test car.

Ferrari reveal telemetry lap of the Hungaroring

A rare look at genuine F1 telemetry data.

Why ‘full throttle’ doesn’t mean ‘full power’ any more

Getting to grips with Formula One’s radical new engines.

Why we hear more drivers disobeying team orders

Hamilton was just the latest driver to shrug off a call to let his team mate past.

Who will gain – and lose – from radio rule change?

Severe new radio restriction were proposed but they were later relaxed.

More car makers choosing WEC and Le Mans over F1

The World Endurance Championship isn’t just attracting drivers like Nico Hulkenberg – Nissan became the latest manufacturer to commit to a factory effort.

What F1 spectators say about the engine noise debate

Not everyone thought the new engines were too quiet – many fans who visited races said they preferred them.

How teams are clawing back rear-end downforce

A less-heralded aspect of the 2014 regulations saw a reduction in rear-end downforce – but teams worked hard to get it back.

Talking points of 2014

Max Verstappen: The first of F1’s ‘super-young’ drivers?

Verstappen’s forthcoming F1 debut was announced when he was just 16 years old, and the FIA later introduced a new age limit on F1 drivers.

How Mercedes ended up in a team orders crisis

Mercedes strived to put their drivers on an equal footing, but in Hungary they ended up ordering one to let the other past.

Hamilton vs Rosberg: Did unreliability decide the title?

Rosberg’s car trouble in the final race was just the last in a string of failures to affect the championship contenders.

Red Bull put faith in youth as Vettel flees the nest

Vettel’s decision to leave Red Bull led to the team promoting Daniil Kvyat.

Thoughts on the cars after an hour at turn two

A first glimpse of the 2014 cars in action.

Alonso and Ferrari at a crossroads in 2014

“If the cracks which developed in the relationship between Alonso and Ferrari last year continue to spread, it could be a different chapter from 2005 which is replayed: Alonso announcing a surprise change of teams – perhaps even a return to McLaren.”

1994 F1 season flashback

This in-depth review of the 1994 championship, covering every round of the season, proved one of the most popular running features on the site this year.

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More F1 history

“It was hard to distinguish one bit of awesome from another”: Ron Dennis on Ayrton Senna

Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the death of Ayrton Senna, his former McLaren team principal Ron Dennis shared some fascinating stories about his time at the team.

Sir Jack Brabham, 1926-2014

Sir Jack Brabham, a three-times world champion and the only driver to win the title in a car of his own construction, passed away in May.

25 years ago today: Prost hits Senna to win 1989 title

Remembering one of F1’s most notorious controversies.

How reliability decided team mates’ title battles

This became a major talking point during the season as technical problems interfered with the rivalry between Rosberg and Hamilton.

The rise and fall of F1’s last turbo era in pictures

Turbo power returned to Formula One in 2014.

How McLaren conquered F1’s last turbo era

McLaren will reunite with Honda next year and dominated F1 with the Japanese manufacturer at the end of the previous turbo era.

The first 900 world championship races in stats

The Bahrain Grand Prix was the 900th round of the world championship.

The remarkable tale of F1’s only race-winning woman

Desire Wilson tells the story of the challenges she faced getting into Formula One.

Points of view

Hope and despair as F1’s new era begins

Formula One changed for the better – and worse – in 2014.

Why Ferrari’s ‘fans poll’ findings can’t be trusted

Some dubious data from Ferrari.

The strange snobbery about short tracks

The Red Bull Ring showed not all F1 tracks need to be the same length.

Why Mercedes should block F1’s engine ‘unfreeze’

Formula One’s engine rules aren’t “frozen” and they don’t need to be relaxed.

Favourite features

Top ten: Driver-team reunions

Kimi Raikkonen returned to Ferrari and Nico Hulkenberg was reunited with Force India, in a bid to emulate some of their successful predecessors.

Top ten: Worst rules ever seen in F1

The derided double points rule – which was scrapped after the end of the season – certainly deserved a place among this ‘obttom ten’.

New additions

Eliminate double points and more with the updated F1 Points Calculator

A revised version of the Points Calculator proved a popular addition to F1 Fanatic.

Sponsor watch: 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

This new series by @Bbudna looked at which teams were succeeding at bringing new sponsors to the fold.

Route to F1

Another popular addition to the site during 2014, regularly penned by @AnthonyFrench:

Looking ahead

Videos reveal planned changes to Mexico’s F1 track

The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez returns to the F1 calendar in 2015 – but it’s getting the Hermann Tilke treatment.

New Tilke images reveal Baku track’s narrow corners

The 2016 season will see the addition of another new race in Azerbaijan.

Three key changes expected on next year’s F1 cars

Small but significant tweaks are expected next year following the revolution in the Formula One regulations in 2014.

How the 2015 rules aim to fix ugly F1 noses

The FIA continues to solve the problem of F1’s unattractive noses.

First pictures: Pirelli and Lotus begin 18-inch wheel test

F1 cars could soon have much larger wheel rims.

Give Formula E a chance – but not Fanboost

A new rival to Formula One emerged in 2014, but while Formula E had some interesting new ideas it also had one unwelcome aspect.

Big debates

These articles attracted more comments than any other in 2014.

Rate the race: 2014 Bahrain Grand Prix

A brilliant race in Bahrain followed days of criticism of the new rules by the likes of Bernie Ecclestone and Luca di Montezemolo. However the previous round in Malaysia also provoked a lot of discussion as it had seemed we were in for a less than exciting championship.

2014 F1 Driver Rankings #3: Lewis Hamilton

Certainly the most surprising response to any article in 2014.

Stewards detail reasons for Ricciardo’s disqualification

Daniel Ricciardo lost what would have been a remarkable second place finish in his first race for Red Bull after his car was found to have regularly exceeded the 100kg/hour fuel flow limit.

Rosberg on pole, Hamilton to start from back after fire

Incredibly, Hamilton was struck by misfortune in two consecutive qualifying sessions.

How can Mercedes defuse the Hamilton-Rosberg row?

The on- and off-track events at Spa-Francorchamps left Mercedes with a external public relations nightmare and an internal diplomatic crisis. Rosberg’s response to the collision prompted even more debate.

The 2014 F1 season in 20 questions

Two wins for Raikkonen? Lots of penalty points for Massa? I hope your pre-season predictions were better than mine.

2014 F1 season review

Browse all 2014 F1 season review articles

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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8 comments on “F1 Fanatic’s must-read articles of 2014”

  1. Amazing work overall. I know I’ve said it a bunch of times but again, the 1994 articles were simply awesome. A true history book, never uninteresting and always filled with curiosities.
    Congratulations on another successful year. It’s been 5 years since I stumbled upon this site and I don’t regret it, nor I think I’ll ever do.
    Happy 2015 mate :D

  2. I’ll second that. Another fantastic year of coverage, thanks Keith. I’ve been coming here for a good few years myself and it is now the only place I go for my F1 news, especially since Autosport went all subscriptiony.

    Thanks to the whole community for the mature and constructive discussion. You really don’t get these standards anywhere else.

    I’m cycling around the world for charity for the whole of 2015, so I won’t have access to many races (Although I look forward to using the handy forum threads to find TV channels in obscure countries!) but I know I won’t be short of updates on this site every time I have wifi! So here’s to 2015 at F1Fanatic.co.uk!

    1. Good luck on the ride! Which charity are you riding for?

  3. Great reads all through the year. I loved the 1994 season review, any plans to do another season next year?

    Out of that list, I particularly loved Ron Dennis’ thoughts on Senna. Terrific article. Also, the debates on the comments with the engine noise, our surprise to the horrible noses this year, and the fall of 2 teams while others are struggling to survive. It was fantastic chatting with all you, guys ! Huge respect in the discussions too !

    I hope everyone enjoys a much better 2015 ! Happy New Year to everyone, specially @keithcollantine ! Thanks for everything !

    1. @fer-no65

      any plans to do another season next year?

      There’ll be selected grand prix flashbacks but I’m not planning to do a whole season’s worth of them again next year. It took a lot of time to research and write and although I love writing that kind of thing, I have to strike a balance between writing for pleasure and all the other work that goes in to F1 Fanatic. I’m really glad it was so well-received, though.

  4. What a great year for F1Fanatic! Huge congratulations Keith!

    Have a happy new year, and can’t wait for the new season!

  5. Two wins for Raikkonen? Lots of penalty points for Massa? I hope your pre-season predictions were better than mine.

    Come on Keith! Maldonado is always a safe bet :D

  6. Really interesting reading back the Jerez test write-up, and the subsequent comments.

Comments are closed.