Formula One - 2015 Season

[mexos]

I would put money on Mclaren nabbing a cheeky Danny Ric style win at the end of the year over Ferrari winning at any point in the first half of the year.

Ferrari are not suddenly amazing. Don't get suckered.

[OneDvBmbr]

Has anyone ever been to a testing day?

Work takes me to Barcelona at the end of the month and the way that flights have worked out, I'm staying an extra day and coming back on the Saturday afternoon. There's testing on the Saturday and I was thinking I could go along, at least for the morning as it's only €15-€20.

Would anyone recommend it?

[mexos]

Hell yeah, do it. There will be plenty of people there for some atmosphere, just look at the crowds at Jerez.

[Dudley]

We answered this a couple of pages back.

The key thing you have to realise is you're paying 20 euro but you're not guaranteed to see a single car do a single lap.

So your risk there.

[OneDvBmbr]

We answered this a couple of pages back.

The key thing you have to realise is you're paying 20 euro but you're not guaranteed to see a single car do a single lap.

So your risk there.

Was the thread split from last season? Checked this thread (what little of it there is) and didn't see anyone talking about testing.

Problem is, I've got a 2pm flight so would probably need to head off around midday anyway. Maybe not worth the gamble if I'm only going to be there for 2-3 hours?

I'll have a think about it.

[Blue]

We answered this a couple of pages back.

The key thing you have to realise is you're paying 20 euro but you're not guaranteed to see a single car do a single lap.

So your risk there.

How high would you estimate the chances of not a single car doing a single lap are in one of the Barcelona test days this year?

[Sidewaysbob]

Last day of the last test ... hmmm I don't think you'll see a lot of action. Lots of teams will be packing up to go home.

[Shimmyhill]

Honda may have a working engine by then, no way are teams that are struggling now going to miss out on a whole days testing?

[OneDvBmbr]

It's not quite the last day when I'd be there, it'd be the penultimate day.

Might give it a miss though if it's likely to be quiet.

[MrPogo]

I've had a look at the last few years of testing results and they've almost all had most of the teams doing shitloads of laps in the last couple of days of the final pre-season test (the one exception seems to be the very last day in 2011. Presumably it rained or something). Based on that I'd say you're almost guaranteed some action as long as it's dry.

[Dudley]

So long as it's dry is basically the key there.

Basically if this is the only way you're going to see F1 cars live, do it.

[mexos]

Basically if this is the only way you're going to see F1 cars live, do it.

[Dudley]

And try and view the entrance to a fast corner at some point.

Everything I explained to my friends about F1 cars was appreciated but I don't think they got it until they stood at the fence on the old main straight at Silverstone one Renault World Series Demo day and saw Roman Grosjean chuck the thing into Copse at a billion miles an hour.

The way an F1 car changes direction at 160mph is mindblowing.

[mexos]

Dudley is spot on. On the outside of slow corners you don't really get the crazyness of the change of direction, which is where a lot of grandstands seem to be. It's why I sit at Becketts when I go to the British GP.

I'd also just for 5 mins get as close as you can on a straight (but for no more than that) just to see how incredibly fast they are in a straight line. I used to have a wander down hanger straight at Silverstone just for that. You could only stay there for a few minutes as the sights and sounds of the v10's were brutal.

[Bacon Horsemeat]

The engines sound much better, more "angry" this year. Although not sure why the Honda is stuttering when its on a straight

[layten]

The Honda sounds rough as shit.

[MrPogo]

I've never been able to figure out how you're supposed to embed a video, but I think my work from a couple of years back still stands as the best fan-shot testing footage ever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMfQxllrQLY

[SeanR]

I've never been able to figure out how you're supposed to embed a video, but I think my work from a couple of years back still stands as the best fan-shot testing footage ever:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMfQxllrQLY

You want to paste this version of the url

in the plain-text editor, like this

Otherwise it gets b0rked.

[Sidewaysbob]

Whilst the Honda/McLaren situation is amusing, it is worth remembering that last year most of the teams (apart from Mercedes) were having the same sort of problems that Honda are now facing. Getting the KERS and and Turbo and engine and electrical system to work effectively together is not the work of an afternoon.

But you would think Honda had been taking notes during 2014 wouldn't you

[Nick_L]

Checkout this PRO footage I shot in Montreal in 2005.

V10's sounded so good.

[SMD]

Force India block Marussia using 2014 cars.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/31158612

Reckon that's that for them and Caterham in any guise.

[mexos]

Then I won't cry if they go belly up too. In a word, cunts.

[Sidewaysbob]

Oh come off it ! the 2014 car would have struggled to make the 107% rule every week. This was just a cynical money making opportunity to get the £35 million they're owed for the 1 point they got last year.

Even if they had scrapped in because everyone felt sorry for them, who would they be racing ? they'd have just trundled round at the back, getting in the way and being a nuisance. this is supposed to be the pinacle of racing, not a charity event for teams that pissed what little money they had up the wall.

They failed, the best thing to do is take the shuddering corpse outside and put it out of its misery.

Besides which Max is off to Indy cars i hear,

by the by this weekend is the Bathurst 12hr endurance race for GT cars and the like. Its all free online at ...

http://www.bathurst12hour.com.au/

Its one of the top 5 circuits of the world, so worth a look see.

[kiroquai]

Autosport reporting that the way Marussia applied gave no concrete details on ownership, finances and the like and was on a single sheet of paper. Force India have said they will accept their application if those details are given in a proper re-application.

[Bacon Horsemeat]

why would they do that, other than being cunts?

[Blue]

Money.

[mexos]

This was just a cynical money making opportunity to get the £35 million they're owed for the 1 point they got last year.

Even if they had scrapped in because everyone felt sorry for them, who would they be racing ? they'd have just trundled round at the back, getting in the way and being a nuisance. this is supposed to be the pinacle of racing, not a charity event for teams that pissed what little money they had up the wall.

They failed, the best thing to do is take the shuddering corpse outside and put it out of its misery.

Or maybe, just maybe they were trying to get the thing they've put the last four years of their lives and a lot of blood sweat and tears into back on the grid so they can rebuild and come back stronger.

Who gives a crap if the car would be at the back. There is always someone at the back. They would still be faster than the backmakers of the 80's and 90's. Actually no tell you what let's just fuck them. And since FI are on the verge let's fuck them too when they run into trouble. 16 car grid? Yeah why not...

I'm not a fan of where that leads us.

3 car teams are all but guaranteed if FI go bust and Manor are not let in. Hass? As far as I am concerned Haas is vaporware until I see a car on a track. Loosing Manor is madness if they can be saved.

[mexos]

Force India have confirmed that it is unlikely their 2015 Formula One car will be ready in time for the second pre-season test in Spain on February 19-22.

"Although everybody is working towards getting the VJM08 to the next test session in Barcelona, it's more likely the new car will appear at the final Barcelona test," the team said in a statement. "So, that would mean running the 2014 car at the first Barcelona test."

Pretty sure any cars testing have to be 100% legal to 2015 specs.

[SMD]

I've read that Force India were the first to vote and since it was a veto that meant no one else had to bother.

To be honest I think the governing bodies need to be addressing these issues of ownership because it takes the piss that Marussia and Caterham get fucked over off the track so badly and hundreds don't know if they're coming or going weeks before the start of the season.

[Sidewaysbob]

Or maybe, just maybe they were trying to get the thing they've put the last four years of their lives and a lot of blood sweat and tears into back on the grid so they can rebuild and come back stronger.

Who gives a crap if the car would be at the back. There is always someone at the back. They would still be faster than the backmakers of the 80's and 90's. Actually no tell you what let's just fuck them. And since FI are on the verge let's fuck them too when they run into trouble. 16 car grid? Yeah why not...

I'm not a fan of where that leads us.

3 car teams are all but guaranteed if FI go bust and Manor are not let in. Hass? As far as I am concerned Haas is vaporware until I see a car on a track. Loosing Manor is madness if they can be saved.

But they weren't trying to resurrect the team to fly phoenix like to the heights of two points in Monaco. They were after the money, and not to pay the hundreds of little creditors they shafted when it all failed. Yes fuck them, this was cynical and if force India hand't done it then Ferrari would have nailed them for the engine money they're owed.

Don't get caught up in the romance of a little under dog team sticking to the big guns, It was purely about the money.

Now i agree that its a shame that they went, they were an interesting little team that achieved a lot and provided a lot of new engineers an opportunity to get some work experience. But the writing was on the wall when the FIA didn't enforce the cost cap. All the back of the grid teams never stood a chance, and the FIA is going to fuck over at least Force India and Sauber too I imagine. I think the HASS car is vapourware because there isn't enough money out there for a new team.

There was a rumour that McLaren would buy Marussia with Honda money and run a test and development team though the back door. That, I think is where the sport should go, Redbull do it with Torro Rosso and that's work beautifully, it bloods new drivers and team personnel in as well as cutting development time. Third cars are a logistical nightmare from a championship points perspective, but a second team team championship would make sense. the whole customer car teams in their own championship could work.

But the Marussia and to a large extent Caterham concepts were never going to fly, they were never on an even footing with the manufacture teams or the financial might of Redbull. they are a failed experiment and we need to move on, not animate a rotting corpse.