The Motorsport Thread 2014

Darlington and Martinsville are tracks that unfortunately are becoming extinct, but are arguably the best in NASCAR. 

I've never been a fan of street circuits, other than Long Beach and Monaco.  I don't know what it is, but I've just never been a fan.

MillsLayne wrote: Darlington and Martinsville are tracks that unfortunately are becoming extinct, but are arguably the best in NASCAR.  I've never been a fan of street circuits, other than Long Beach and Monaco.  I don't know what it is, but I've just never been a fan.

Edited by JJLehto - April 13 2014 at 16:24

This is a great race so far! 

Damn, sounds like it was a stunning race. Really wish I could watch it live but paying for a subscription channel (ESPN) on top of a subscription package is taking the piss so I'll have to wait until someone uploads it onto youtube.

No, it was another concussion he got from the crash rather than full on brain damage. The Docs said that 1 more could kill him though as he's had a few big knocks to the head over the years. Pretty much the same situation for his back as well.

I gather Justin Wilson is rather irate with Dixon.

Yeah glad it was upheld. We all know the FIA decisions can be questionable at times, but he violated the fuel rule and there's really not much way around that. Ya know? I don't see how there can be a grey area, and even if there was...probably good to air on the side of caution, otherwise everyone would clamor to bend the rules. 

Practice times from China, looks closer than the last 3 races, though I still doubt anyone will beat Mercedes. First race for Ferrari's new boss Marco Mattiacci after Dominicali stepped down earlier in the week.

Pos  Driver             Team/Car              Time       Gap      Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m38.315s           25
 2.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m38.456s  +0.141s  28
 3.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m38.726s  +0.411s  30
 4.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m38.811s  +0.496s  30
 5.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m39.015s  +0.700s  31
 6.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m39.118s  +0.803s  25
 7.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m39.283s  +0.968s  25
 8.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m39.491s  +1.176s  29
 9.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         1m39.537s  +1.222s  36
10.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m39.648s  +1.333s  26
11.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m39.736s  +1.421s  30
12.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m39.744s  +1.429s  29
13.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m39.759s  +1.444s  28
14.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m39.830s  +1.515s  25
15.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m40.124s  +1.809s  32
16.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m40.359s  +2.044s  32
17.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m40.395s  +2.080s  30
18.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault         1m40.455s  +2.140s  12
19.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m42.327s  +4.012s  27
20.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m43.473s  +5.158s  30
21.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault      1m43.530s  +5.215s  32
22.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault      1m43.679s  +5.364s  32

 
Finally got a chance to watch Long Beach GP, very entertaining. I 
can't believe Will Power didn't get a penalty for punting Pagenaud into 
the barriers, or Dixon for pushing Wilson into the wall, they were 
certainly more deserving incidents than Rahals. 

  

JJLehto wrote: Would love to see Nico win a title (hypothetical, not getting toooo crazy here...Vettel will still mount some comeback)

It's still pretty early, but I just don't know if anyone will catch up to Hamilton, including Nico.  Everything seems to be dialed in perfectly for him.

At the moment Ricciardo is looking the stronger of the Red Bull drivers (didn't expect to be saying that after 3 races!) and Merc had as much as 2s per lap over everyone at Bahrain so I seriously doubt anyone outside of the Silver Arrows is going to be challenging for this title. I don't think I've seen a car that dominant since the Williams FW-14 of '92, it's certainly surpassed the Ferrari F-2004 in that regard.

First round of the WEC this weekend as well, will be interesting to see how Webber and Porsche get on at Silverstone.

Edited by sleeper - April 18 2014 at 18:06

4th pole for Merc, still early but hard to dispute they will be untouchable. I reckon even if other team make headway the gap will be too great anyway. Yikes, comparing it the 92 Williams!? That is a bold statement. 

Edited by JJLehto - April 20 2014 at 00:37