So, now that the race is done...

"BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion" (pbs) 03/16/2014 at 03:51 • Filed to: None

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Spoiler safety line

What did you guys think? What were your highlights? For me it was definitely the "battle of the rookies", Ricciardo, who's not actually a rookie, and Magnussen, puling off a podium finish on his very first outing after an impressively clean and steady race, as well as Botta's recovery, finishing in the top half of the field even after ripping a wheel clear off. I'm a little bummed both McLaren and Red Bull played it so safe though, Magnussen could really have threatened P2 if the direction had made its godamn mind sooner, instead of getting him to sit there until the last two laps.

Also, Ricciardo and Magnussen could make some pretty decent rivals, assuming Formula One is still into that sort of thing.

TheStraightSixKid > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 03/16/2014 at 04:03

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Ricciardo saying "Tripping Balls"

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 03/16/2014 at 04:03

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The storyline for me is going to be the teams where only one (or neither) car finished. Hopefully Hamilton's luck just ran out at the start line. I agree with Jackie Stewart during the pre-race show - 5 races. We'll have a good feeling by then of what goes on. I feel that any team which only consistently has one driver finishing has more to worry about than just points. You heard the frustration form Vettel and Hamilton. Are you really going to get their best when they strap into a machine that has a coin filp's chance of being competitive ?

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/16/2014 at 04:12

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That's true, though I think it's also important to differentiate between cars failing to launch and cars failing along the race. Hamilton and Vettel both took to the field with cars that were faulty from the start, while their teamates ran the full race without any issues. Lotus, I think, is in a much worse situation, where both cars failed along the race. Marussia too, with both cars failing at the start, then Bianchi retiring towards the end.

promoted by the color red > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 03/16/2014 at 04:24

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idon'treallyidonreallynowthingshappenedidon'treallyknowit'sbeenadifficultweekandthewholeweekendwegothitinthefirstcornerbysomeonethenthecarwasrunningwellandthendoublepitstopsomethinglostpositionthecarwasokatsomepoint,theonlypositivethingwerunthewholething...we'll see.

-Kimi Raikkonen

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > promoted by the color red 03/16/2014 at 04:25

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Haha, I was watching that as well, didn't catch a word of what he said : ]

otapunk > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 03/16/2014 at 06:37

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Mercedes obviously has the best car right now if they can get it moving, with both McLaren and Williams looking incredibly impressive compared to last season. Redbull doesn't look anywhere near as weak as some thought it would, Ferrari still has lots of issues with the car, Lotus looks like it has fallen straight from competing for championship last season to trying to beat Caterham and Marussia..

This season looks really interesting already. I think it's might be a bit like 82 when Turbos were first introduced to F1, nobody won more than two races and Nico's dad won the championship after winning just one race. I honestly want to see Rosberg win the championship this year, last year showed he's no worse than Hamilton on the track.

Magnussen did great work, Bottas showed he could be the next champion racing under finnish flag (Rosberg has dual-citizenship), Kobayashi fucked up, but maybe he'll redeem himself, and Kvyat was surprisingly good as well. Too bad about Ericsson, but it's nice to see some of our nordic and russian neighbors in F1.

I think Nico deserves his own version of this soon enough.

doodon2whls > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 03/16/2014 at 08:47

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I'm really excited by the 'disruption in the force' that the new rules have brought about. This will undoubtedly impact the constructors' and drivers' championships, and should be fun to watch. Who the hell is Kevin Magnussen ? I think we'll learn a lot more about this Dane in the coming months.

That being said, it irks me a bit that the teams only spent a portion of the race actually racing... Despite what it looks and sounds like, many of the teams are forced to 'just maintain position' for a good portion of the race and only 'go for it' in short spurts... This is due to several factors, but is dominated by the unproven reliability of the cars (which I am OK with) and fuel consumption regulations (this is the piece i have some heartburn with). Back in the day, the drivers drove the cars within an inch of their life flag-to-flag, car and fuel consumption be damned. I know that teams have had to make strategic decisions to 'just maintain position' in the past, but it has become more and more commonplace.

Now, with THAT being said, I see the good that can come of the fuel consumption regulations (instantaneous fuel flow of 100kg/h and the total fuel volume on board) - it forces the teams to conform not only to engine displacement, configuration, and other specifications/regulations, but also pay very close attention to the efficiency of the engine design. The drastic reduction in fuel on board in 2014 brings a whole new set of challenges to the teams to develop new solutions and technologies that may, _just may_ make their way into production some day and improve powertrain efficiency... Hey, an enthusiast can dream, right ? Here is an interesting piece on SomersF1 that addresses KERS & TERS and fuel consumption effectively limiting engine RPM.

I'd really like to see TERS-like systems in production hybrid cars - eliminating waste gates/vanes and improving powertrain efficiency, but the truth is that street cars have the turbo on full boil for very short spurts and the energy recovered during that period is not significant enough for manufacturers to expend resources to develop these costly complex systems. Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems are already in wide use in hybrid vehicle systems and even that has marginal energy recovery as the foundation brakes are still used as the primary stopping mechanism - KERS are only used largely as a 'coast-down' powertrain braking solution. The next leap will be brake-by-wire systems with very small foundation brakes and large KERS systems...

I digress... It was fun to see some new names at the front of the F1 pack, including a few we might not have heard of before the race @ Melbourne.

Nerd-Vol > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 03/16/2014 at 08:50

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I turned off the tv after lap 5. No Lewis in the race killed any interest for me.

JEM > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 03/16/2014 at 09:37

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I think this was a pretty damn exciting race. Sure, the beginning was the most exciting (every season opener is) and the middle may get a little boring (see pretty much ever race ever) but the end had some good fights, even if the top 3 places looked sewed up halfway into the race.

Glad I called Magnussen coming in 3rd. Kid shows amazing promise, as does Kvytal. Couldn't believe how composed both were after the race, maybe they were just stunned.

Also, Bottas should get an MVP award for that race. Cannot wait to see what he does the rest of the season.

PushToStart > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 03/16/2014 at 10:59

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I'm really impressed with Magnussen, Bottas, and Ricciardo, all for obvious reasons. It's a damn shame that Massa got crashed out, because I think he seriously had a chance at doing well and bringing points back, and nothing about what happened to him is really his fault. Also, I was surprised that Kimi was off the pace so much, I'm sure most of that is due to getting them locked up in pretty much every corner... Good race though over all, it was definitely exciting and I'm looking forward to seeing what Bottas and Magnussen can do this season.

BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion > PushToStart 03/16/2014 at 13:03

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Massa had no part of guilt whatsoever in most of the crap that's been happening to him, and that's what makes me mad. It could literally be any other driver, but it's always him that's standing at the wrong place in the wrong time...

PushToStart > BlazinAce - Doctor of Internal Combustion 03/16/2014 at 15:08

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Yeah, and it's a real shame now more than ever since he can finally race however he wants without having to worry about helping Alonso in whatever way Ferrari wants him to, so he could've potentially done better than Bottas did, assuming they had the same pace, because he could've kept going and not lost time like Bottas did when his tire fell off. Hopefully that doesn't haunt them later, sometimes getting taken out by someone else alters the championship... (* cough * 2012 Spa Grosjean taking out Alonso * cough *) (yes I'm still upset about that, although I actually like Grosjean now since he got his shit together.) And that brings me to my next thing- I feel horrible for Lotus and Grosjean. I really like that team (except for Maldonado...) and I really wish Grosjean was in better form to still be fighting at the front like he was doing in the back part of last season, so hopefully there's an improvement of form there as well.