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sleeper

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Posted: March 02 2014 at 16:40

Sandbagging wasn't an option this year for any team, the new engines, they're cooling and control systems were just too complex to allow for any of that. Red Bull will be fast, but unless there's a big change soon they won't be making it to the end of races just yet.

Williams are definitely fast this year, Massa ended up with the fastest time of all this week in the final test and beat Rosbergs time from last week which we know was a low fuel qualy run (which he and Hamilton matched yesterday and today). If I had to guess, this is how I'd rate the teams at the moment.

Mercedes
Williams
McLaren
Ferrari
Force India
Sauber
Red Bull
Torro Rosso
Lotus
Marussia
Caterham

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JJLehto

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Posted: March 05 2014 at 12:54

Ha! Imagine a Massa return to form...on Williams!

MillsLayne View Drop Down

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Posted: March 06 2014 at 22:01

Might be an interesting year in F1! Finally!

JJLehto

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Posted: March 09 2014 at 17:14

I thought we've had some really great years for a while now (hell going back to 2005 pretty much) but the rise of Vettel has kind of put a damper on that yeah

sleeper

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Posted: March 14 2014 at 06:23

Practice times from Melbourne.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car              Time       Gap      Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m29.625s           37
 2.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m29.782s  +0.157s  31
 3.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m30.132s  +0.507s  28
 4.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m30.381s  +0.756s  41
 5.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m30.510s  +0.885s  33
 6.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m30.538s  +0.913s  38
 7.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m30.898s  +1.273s  32
 8.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m30.920s  +1.295s  38
 9.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m31.031s  +1.406s  34
10.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m31.054s  +1.429s  33
11.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m31.060s  +1.435s  35
12.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m31.119s  +1.494s  31
13.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m31.283s  +1.658s  36
14.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m32.355s  +2.730s  36
15.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m32.468s  +2.843s  26
16.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m32.495s  +2.870s  36
17.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m33.486s  +3.861s  29
18.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         1m33.646s  +4.021s  12
19.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m34.757s  +5.132s  29
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault                          1
21.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault
22.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault

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JJLehto

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Posted: March 14 2014 at 11:41

So stoked!

Interested to see how Ricciardo does at RBR

Man With Hat View Drop Down

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Posted: March 15 2014 at 02:24

A fun, wet qualifying session.

Good to see the cars on track again.

Dig me...But don't...Bury me
I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive
Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.

sleeper

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Posted: March 15 2014 at 11:29

Excellent qualy, those cars are definitely entertaining to watch on a fast lap. Bottas and Gutierrez both get 5 place penalties for Gearbox changes, Raikkonen crashed on an in lap and Vettel and Button were both caught out by the resultant yellows.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car              Time       Gap
 1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m44.231s
 2.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m44.548s  +0.317s
 3.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m44.595s  +0.364s
 4.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m45.745s  +1.514s
 5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m45.819s  +1.588s
 6.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m45.864s  +1.633s
 7.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m46.030s  +1.799s
 8.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m47.360s  +3.129s
 9.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m48.079s  +3.848s
10.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m48.147s  +3.916s
                   Q3 cut-off:           1m44.331s       **
11.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m44.437s  +2.173s
12.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m44.494s  +2.230s
13.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m44.668s  +2.404s
14.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m45.655s  +3.391s
15.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault      1m45.867s  +3.603s
16.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m47.293s  +5.029s
                   Q2 cut-off:           1m34.274s       ***
17.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m34.293s  +4.118s
18.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m34.794s  +4.619s
19.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m35.117s  +4.942s
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault      1m35.157s  +4.982s
21.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         1m36.993s  +6.818s
22.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault

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JJLehto

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Posted: March 15 2014 at 13:25

So far so good on your prediction Merc would be the class of the field (I know, just one race in haha)

It was a rainy quali? Guess that explains it, I was gunna say look at Ricciardo and Magnussen up there!

sleeper

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Posted: March 15 2014 at 14:28

Yeah, rained towards the end of Q1 and stayed wet. Williams were much faster in the dry than wet so they're actually kind of out of position, should be higher up.

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JJLehto

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Posted: March 15 2014 at 17:37

Massive lolz to be had if Massa wins a title with Wiliams this year.

MillsLayne View Drop Down

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Posted: March 15 2014 at 21:19

I'm hoping for a more competitive McLaren this year. Or a more competitive JB.

Man With Hat View Drop Down

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Posted: March 16 2014 at 01:21

What a mad start!

Good thing to see Marussia is a nice constant to last year though.

Dig me...But don't...Bury me
I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive
Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.

JJLehto

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Posted: March 16 2014 at 04:43

Missed the race due to drinking, but TY technology!

DVR'd that sh*t, and watched it later, and with the ability to skip commercials.

What a race! Craziness before it even started, classic lap 1 crash, both Lewis and Vettel having to retire due to lacking power. Nutty stuff, and what an awesome top 10.

Congrats to Rosberg on the dominant win. Huge congrats Ricciardo and Magnussen, brilliant drives. Bottas scores a career high, and Hulk, Vergne and Kvyat all sneaking in there. Nice job all.

Lackluster from Ferrari, but I guess that's not unexpected...though Kimi was locking up like it was in fashion.

sleeper

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Posted: March 16 2014 at 11:48

Excellent race, was pleasantly surprised that they ran most of the race without fuel saving, even with the safety car and aborted start. Given that Melbourne is one of the toughest races for fuel consumption thats pretty good for the rest of the season.

However, it wouldn't be F1 without some controversy. Ricciardo has been excluded for his engine regularly exceeding the 100kg/h fuel flow rate maximum, though Red Bull has appealed. A real shame because he drove brilliantly and I never thought that either Red Bull would get to the finish, let alone on the podium. From what I gather from reading the stewards explanation, RB didn't trust the sensor and implemented their own measurement system, which isn't allowed without the FIA's say so anyway, and refused to turn down the flow rate when the FIA told them they were exceeding the maximum during the race. I can't see them winning this appeal at all. That raises the brilliant Magnussen to 2nd and Button to 3rd.

Bottas was entertaining, and he scored more points today than Williams had in all of last year! Bring on Malaysia.

Also watched the Sebring 12 hours yesterday, entertaining race but some of the LMPC amateurs need their licenses revoked, Tagliani could have been seriously injured when Kearby spin-turned right infront of him and caused a huge accident.

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JJLehto

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Posted: March 16 2014 at 12:34

Just saw the Ricciardo DQ, damn that's rough.
It was indeed a great race. LOTS of season to go, and I expect RBR and Ferrari to keep slogging it out, but right now certainy Merc and McLaren seem to be the tops.

sleeper

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Posted: March 16 2014 at 12:54

Don't count out Williams, certainly Bottas race pace was a match for the McLarens and Red Bulls.

Turns out Kobayashi's crash at the start with Massa wasn't a mistake but rear brake failure.

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JJLehto

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Posted: March 16 2014 at 13:00

Indeed, gotta give it to you there as well, Williams was on a good pace.

I'm sure things will sort out, but for a while this may be a crazy year.

MillsLayne View Drop Down

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Posted: March 16 2014 at 13:42

sleeper wrote:

Don't count out Williams, certainly Bottas race pace was a match for the McLarens and Red Bulls.

Turns out Kobayashi's crash at the start with Massa wasn't a mistake but rear brake failure.

Good. I feel like Kobayashi already gets a bad enough rap for some of his antics (a lot he brought on himself, sure).

Also happy to see McLaren have a damn near flawless race and really happy to see Button jump up towards the front and really impressed with Magnussen. That kid is going to be pretty good, I'd think.

BTW, I just ordered this bad ass shirt:

Edited by MillsLayne - March 16 2014 at 13:54

sleeper

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Posted: March 16 2014 at 17:29

Nice shirt!

Yeah, Kevin's done better in one race than Jan did in his entire time in F1.

I think Kamui gets a lot of stick because of previous Japanese drivers, several of which were quick but crashed quite often. Kobayashi crashing is actually quite rare.

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