sport Formula One - 2014 Season

[Dudley]

Pretty much, the only remotely recent exception to that I know of is Bruno Senna, for fairly obvious reasons.

[Sidewaysbob]

Janns been in Australia and new Zealand I believe, learning his single seater race craft. He was at Le Mans last year as part of a Nissan LMP2 effort and aquited himself well.

Hopefully its not just some PR stunt cos the lads got some talent.

[Sidewaysbob]

Testing starts again tomorrow in Bahrain, how many laps will Renault engines complete this time ?

[mexos]

I still think they will be a bit fucked. Better than last time, but while everyone else is doing set up work the Renault teams will still be doing basic shakedown tests. Trying to get the systems to just plain work for some miles.

The thing I'm REALLY interested to see is if RB have solved their issues. I wonder if the back end of the car will look like someone's taken a hack saw to it. No way repackage all that kit perfectly and manufacture all the bits in a matter of weeks. It will be a hatchet job just to get them some miles for now.

I would guess that the redesign of the rear end we won't see until Melbourne.

Other things..? I think we'll see Kevin pop in some times. I think JB is going to have a hard time with him.

I think we could see Macca and Mercedes fighting this championship out. Just a feeling. Ferrari I can see doing something similar to last year and getting a handful of wins, allowing them to be in the mix.

[Sidewaysbob]

I really like the Ferrari and i think kimi and Teflonso will be at each others throats within a week of the season starting. Fireworks ahoy

If McLaren can push on with Kev then yes they could be in with a shout.

But remember last season when the Merc's did a gazillion miles in pre-season and were still behind Lotus and Redbull come Australia. Winning the winter war is never a garantee of summer victory

As for Lotus, i think the wheels have well and truly come off that wagoon. Its going to be a car crash season with no direction, no money, no development and a buisness man trying to run the thing from the wall.

should be fun

[mexos]

As for Lotus, i think the wheels have well and truly come off that wagoon. Its going to be a car crash season

[Sidewaysbob]

thank god he's not at Williams now

[Nick_L]

I'm surprised that video is so short.

thank god he's not at Williams now

Me too Really want them to do well this season

[wev]

Mercedes power, apparently a decent sponsor, Bottas and Massa, its looking very positive at Williams for 2014

[Bacon Horsemeat]

Petrobas + Martini. Williams looking good 8)

the cool emoticon doesn't work!

[layten]

Still no sign of the Red Bull.

[mexos]

In other news, the Lotus looks nice. And it's engine is running...

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/9172390/lotus-have-become-the-final-f1-team-to-formally-unveil-their-2014-chassis

[Sidewaysbob]

apprently they are still cutting holes in the back of the Redbull .... but it's not a problem says the team

[kiroquai]

This is pretty fun - similar thing to a vid Red Bull did a while ago.

Mercedes W05 360 video.

EDIT: In other news, the Torro Rosso broke down after a few laps. It now looks like the Red Bull has just done the same...

[kiroquai]

Oh, and also:

[wev]

Thats lovely looking but no Petrobras on there?

[kiroquai]

I noticed that too - presumed it would be on the rear wing or the top of the nose.

No-one's 100% if it's genuine or not at the moment; it's allegedly a sneaky shot obtained during a filming day.

[Sidewaysbob]

And day one of the second test ends with a Redbull stopped on the circuit. It doesn't look like they've fixed anything to me !

[wev]

Really strong smell of burning when it was transported back to the pits too apparently.

[mexos]

[SeanR]

[Sidewaysbob]

You know what, if they do turn this around they will truly deserve the championship. They've done what 20 odd laps so far, have no idea if it'll do a race distance or even how it'll handle at full chat. I wouldn't be surprised if they started tomorrow by running it with no rear body work just to get the laps.

[Sidewaysbob]

[Dudley]

A full 50+ for Red Bull today, no speed yet but that's a problem they can solve.

Question is, how much has going back on the packaging cost them speedwise?

[JohnC]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/feb/20/f1-bernie-ecclestone-wins-high-court-case-constantin-medien

Bernie's London court case with Constantin Medien is over, with Bernie winning because there was no loss to Constantin shown. But the judge did rule he paid a bribe and entered into a corrupt agreement with Gerhard Gribkowsky.

[Bacon Horsemeat]

Day 2 over, the Renaults have now proven their package works, but still a few seconds behind the others

Bahrain Test 1 Day Two Times

1. Kevin Magnussen McLaren 1:34.910s 46 laps

2. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:36.445s +1.535s 59 laps

3. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:36.516s +1.606s 97 laps

4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.965s +2.055s 85 laps

5. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:37.328s +2.418s 116 laps

6. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:39.855s +4.945s 66 laps

7. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:40.340s +5.430s 59 laps

8. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:40.609s +5.699s 58 laps

9. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 1:40.717s +5.807s 55 laps

10. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:41.670s +6.760s 18 laps

11. Max Chilton Marussia 1:42.511s +7.601s 17 laps

Kobayashi the fastest Renault!

[wev]

The Caterhams have had the most mileage out of the Renaults too I think

[Sidewaysbob]

Built to finish, not necessarily to win

[mexos]

Not a bad strategy. Make the car bulletproof while all the others are falling apart. Caterham could pick up some juicy points in the early races.

[reani_]

Has there been any word on Martin Whitmarsh? Is he joining Ross Brawn in the fishing boat?