F1 thread

[odypilots]

I almost started this thread a couple of times, but the boys forced me to post this race. Bahrain had a typical season's worth (for F1) of wheel to wheel action. I was going to point out some of the match ups that went on during race, but there were just too many of them. I've seen team cars grouped together during a race before, but never going at each other so aggressively. The team usually puts an end to it. Highly recommended!

[Xbird]

Great race. real down to the wire for several teams, and what a strange season so far to boot. I almost always have to tape them because of work, got VHS going back to the late 80s. (had to buy another 4-pack of tape yesterday, getting hard to find!)

Despite the commentary, i think Guiterrez's flip was caused by his rear wheel and maldanado's front wheel coming together at the angle they did. car was airborne before M's nose got to near the sidepod. Still, first thought that did cross my mind was that the new nose did it. side angle replay showed different.

I now have yet another place to have to be wary of spoilers!

[Bullnerd]

Was this the one under the lights? Looked cool.

X-bird thanks for posting the rally vids also. They're some of the best.

[bdkw1]

Did they fix the exhaust sound yet?

[Xbird]

I think engine sound is going to be something that won't really get fixed unless they scrap the turbos and up the rev limits. I'll bet those are some pretty tiny turbos and the exhaust systems are absolutely maxed out efficiency/power-wise. More noise would likely equal less power. More revs would definitely equal more of Hobbs' "Kablammmos!" during the first half of the season.

Several years back i was among those vocal on the old speedtv boards for going to fixed total fuel load when they nixed refueling. Hamilton just proved out that you can race with managed fuel use and still be competitive against an equal car with a better tire set. It's not quite "push to pass" with the boost management indycars used, but i'm sure he had more fuel flow to use than rosberg did on those last laps.

All in all, despite those who contend the changes of the past 4-5 years have created "artificial" action/passing, I feel this is some of the best racing yet from the series and to see Force India and Sauber really giving top teams fits is awesome ... says an old Minardi, Jordan et al underdog fan.

Live and stored video feed, works nice, you just have to login through your cable service provider.
http://stream.nbcsports.com/f1/

[Xbird]

2x .... bugs ....

[dunerocket]

Fantastic racing throughout, although it would have been nice to see the strategies played out without the safety car. I wonder what rules they will change mid season to help the non Mercedes powered cars catch up. Hamilton's switch is looking even better now.

As far as noise, I don't quite understand the volume complaint. I read one team comment that the noise level dropped from 150dB to 97 dB. I sat in the main grandstands at COTA the first year, for a couple minutes during one of the practice sessions. Even with ear protection is was painful, I couldn't imagine that for an entire race.

I don't care for the blow off noise and the exhaust tone/note, but I don't mind the drop in noise level at all.

[odypilots]

The engine sound is starting to grow on me. They'll never sound as good as the last generation engines, though.

I agree that this is some of the best racing going back many years. I think the rules changes have removed an artificial inability to pass due to the turbulence over the car attempting a pass.

The announcer mentioned that Bernie and Luca were unhappy with the rules (mainly because Ferrari is sucking so bad, I think), so as dunerocket said, there will be changes!

[Xbird]

here's one for Bull, good to see RK in action ... his wreck in the williams was a heartstopper, was sure he'd punched his ticket on that deal.

ONBOARD Robert Kubica/ Rally México 2014 - YouTube

[K-fab]

I'm getting used to the sound also. I noticed last night, while watching the race, I was actually thinking "It's growing on me". They still sound like the big bore V-twin super bikes, but eh, what the heck. It's the racing I'm interested in. Rumors have it that they new powerplants are putting down close to 1000 hp while the last generation of engines were only (only...) making 750-790.

Man, Bahrain was one hell of a good race! I wanted to see Rossberg beat Hamilton, though. Lewis has such an arrogant attitude that I'm not a fan - don't get me wrong, he's an amazing driver, but his personality just rubs me the wrong way. I do realize that this sort of drive and arrogance is what makes champions, though. They all have that "I will kick your ass" attitude on one level or another.

GO Williams!!! It's really good to see the second most winning team in F1 history fighting it's way back to the front of the pack. Same for Force India - I like the underdog aspect.

I wonder what it's going to be like with Honda coming back into the mix as a power plant provider next year. They were untouchable in the late 80's through the 90's. MB's set an extremely high bar, though, so their first year back may not be what we're expecting from Honda... (can't be any worse that Renault, though)