Formula 1 2015: General Discussion Thread

Sterling Archer

astrofluff wrote: »

The only way I see Vettel winning a race this year is with rain and a ton of luck.

In all seriousness, I think Vettel will struggle again this year, last year was not good for him, no wins, finished behind his team-mate, and struggled to be in contention all season long.. It's hard to come back from a big knock like that.

F1 fanatic

Nurburgring now dropped as german GP for the moment. Hockenheim appears to be the new permanent home for the German GP

Charlie-Bravo

Any word on broadcasters for this year? Need to see if it is worthwhile keeping UPC.

veganrun

astrofluff wrote: »

Any word on broadcasters for this year? Need to see if it is worthwhile keeping UPC.

Not sure if this is what you are looking for but here's a list of the races the BBC are covering live, the rest are highlights. Sky are showing them all live.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/30704154

BBC television's 10 live races in 2015
29 March - Malaysia
23 August - Belgium
19 April - Bahrain
27 September - Japan
7 June - Canada
11 October - Russia
5 July - Great Britain
15 November - Brazil
26 July - Hungary
29 November - Abu Dhabi

Charlie-Bravo

Well it's the Setanta coverage I'm interested in. It's a toss up at the moment whether I drop UPC TV and go for Freesat and Saorview to save a few quid or stay put (negotiating a new contract with UPC). I would not likely sign up to Sky, so if UPC can't carry all races with Setanta, I might just drop UPC, go Freesat and catch the races on a Now TV day pass or stream.

Jordan 199

Wider tyres to return to F1?

Wide tyres on this Brabham BT45:

Ghost Train

What happened to moving closer to something relative to road tyre?
they tested 18" wheels last season and then talked about 19" for 2016
a second tyre supplier might be good for competition

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114907

GarIT

Ghost Train wrote: »

a second tyre supplier might be good for competition

I'm still confused as to why none of the teams want to do any work developing one of the most crucial part of the car, the tyres. If I was any of the bigger teams I'd be wanting to bring my own tyres.

counterlock

GarIT wrote: »

I'm still confused as to why none of the teams want to do any work developing one of the most crucial part of the car, the tyres. If I was any of the bigger teams I'd be wanting to bring my own tyres.

FIA wouldn't allow it. I doubt we'll see another tyre war in f1, it brings too much bad press to the worse off the two manufacturers. And nobody wants a repeat of usa 2005

GarIT

counterlock wrote: »

FIA wouldn't allow it. I doubt we'll see another tyre war in f1, it brings too much bad press to the worse off the two manufacturers. And nobody wants a repeat of usa 2005

I know the FIA won't allow it but the Perilli contract is up soon, you'd think teams would be saying they want it. You don't necessarily need tyre manufacturers, teams could make their own tyres.

Theoretically tyres should be lasting 5-ish races at this stage or providing much more grip. Yet we have Perilli artificially worsening the tyres (by order of the FIA) to increase the spectacle but not caring at all about technological advancement.

counterlock

GarIT wrote: »

I know the FIA won't allow it but the Perilli contract is up soon, you'd think teams would be saying they want it. You don't necessarily need tyre manufacturers, teams could make their own tyres.

Theoretically tyres should be lasting 5-ish races at this stage or providing much more grip. Yet we have Perilli artificially worsening the tyres (by order of the FIA) to increase the spectacle but not caring at all about technological advancement.

The gap between the rich and poor teams would be massive. Any slight improvement in performance could be worth half a second over a lap. Personally, I think that it would great for the sport for another tyre manufacturer. Remember the Prost's in 97 on the Bridgestones flying up the grid, or the Williams on the Michelins providing a little excitement to the 2001 season.

GarIT

counterlock wrote: »

The gap between the rich and poor teams would be massive. Any slight improvement in performance could be worth half a second over a lap. Personally, I think that it would great for the sport for another tyre manufacturer. Remember the Prost's in 97 on the Bridgestones flying up the grid, or the Williams on the Michelins providing a little excitement to the 2001 season.

It would, but there would be no gap if they all drove the same cars. A rule could always be brought in like the tyres must come in a package with an engine. the at least we could have Four tyres manufacturers all from the big teams that can afford the R&D.

Frank Bullitt

Ghost Train wrote: »

What happened to moving closer to something relative to road tyre?
they tested 18" wheels last season and then talked about 19" for 2016
a second tyre supplier might be good for competition

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114907

I often wonder about this though. When you see a road car with 18" wheels on it, its a high end model. Everyday cars do not have wheels like that on them.

Great to see common sense has prevailed, and Honda can develop through the season.

Was beginning to think Alonso was cursed!

Ghost Train

Gintonious wrote: »

I often wonder about this though. When you see a road car with 18" wheels on it, its a high end model. Everyday cars do not have wheels like that on them.

I guess 13" f1 tyre doesn't share many design characteristics at all to road tyre, different breed of tyre completely

where as 18" or 19" low profile f1 tyre mighn't be the the same family of tyre but might be a close enough relative that the technology is some what transferable.


I think now they're talking about big tyres maybe they've figured out that low profile tyres would be a step back in performance or not the right image for the top level of open wheel racing

PopePalpatine

Basil3 wrote: »

Great to see common sense has prevailed, and Honda can develop through the season.

Was beginning to think Alonso was cursed!

Well ****, I just bet €10 each way on Bottas @ 28/1.

ScumLord

GarIT wrote: »

I know the FIA won't allow it but the Perilli contract is up soon, you'd think teams would be saying they want it. You don't necessarily need tyre manufacturers, teams could make their own tyres.

It would be a massive cost to put on the teams. It's much better to buy tyres off a company that has loads of experience rather than try and millions developing your own tyre and manufacturing it yourself, then testing it before putting it on a car.

Theoretically tyres should be lasting 5-ish races at this stage or providing much more grip. Yet we have Perilli artificially worsening the tyres (by order of the FIA) to increase the spectacle but not caring at all about technological advancement.

The tyres are specifically engineered to be like that. They could probably make a tyre that lasted the entire race at close to optimum performance but then pit stops would be gone. The tyre is designed to wear at a specific rate so that teams are forced to have a pit stop strategy.

That could change if they brought in 1000bhp engines. They might have some difficulty making a tyre that can handle that power although they do have some experience making tyres for hyper road cars.

Jordan 199

Key rule changes for F1 this season.

Cookie_Monster

tyre blankets to remain

Myrddin

Basil3 wrote: »

Great to see common sense has prevailed, and Honda can develop through the season.

Was beginning to think Alonso was cursed!

From the link

With the exception of Honda – which has to homologate its power unit by February 28 – the other engine manufacturers can introduce updates to their power units at any time throughout the season

PopePalpatine

That Crash.net article was written on 16 January, the same day the BBC revealed that Honda could upgrade their engines throughout the season, although the BBC article was written at about 11pm GMT.

Charlie-Bravo

And in other news....New hope for Marussia as auction cancelled

The administrators at Marussia have confirmed that an auction planned for this week has been cancelled due to ongoing talks to save the team.

An auction of the team's assets – including race day equipment and the 2014 cars – was planned for Wednesday, with sporting director Graeme Lowdon admitting it would make saving the team “difficult” if it were to go ahead. However, administrators at FRP Advisory confirmed that the planned auction has been halted.

Zcott

No preseason testing outside of Europe, which I assume is for cost saving.

Top Dog

Still no testing during the season meaning less developments and improvements.

4 power units per season - so cars running even further from the limit in order to keep the units alive.

Choose your gear ratios at the start of the season and thats your lot.

This is the pinnacle of motor-racing? Seriously?!

Zcott

I don't think anyone disagrees with the fact that F1 is too expensive, especially as we've lost two teams this year. Trimming the most expensive parts makes sense, so I'm ok with all those.

LEIN

Top Dog wrote: »

Still no testing during the season meaning less developments and improvements.

4 power units per season - so cars running even further from the limit in order to keep the units alive.

Choose your gear ratios at the start of the season and thats your lot.

This is the pinnacle of motor-racing? Seriously?!

I have to agree, I'm losing interest with every new season.

I'm watching an endurance rather than a flat out race.

Vegeta

Top Dog wrote: »

4 power units per season - so cars running even further from the limit in order to keep the units alive.

Can anyone confirm this? I thought that because Korea was on the official proposed race calender that they could have 5 engines (all the while knowing Korea would never happen)

frostie500

Zcott wrote: »

I don't think anyone disagrees with the fact that F1 is too expensive, especially as we've lost two teams this year. Trimming the most expensive parts makes sense, so I'm ok with all those.

I don't agree with F1 being too expensive at all. The way that I look at it is that if you can't raise the budgets needed than you shouldn't be on the grid in the first place. Losing Caterham and Marussia was bad for their employees but Caterham were a disaster of an F1 team that made the sport look silly because of their ineptitude and mismanagement. Marussia is slightly different because they at least made an effort to move up the grid and become more competitive.

dloob

Have to get up an hour earlier for some races this year.
Start times of Oz, Malaysia, China, Japan and Russia moved up an hour.

recyclebin

dloob wrote: »

Have to get up an hour earlier for some races this year.
Start times of Oz, Malaysia, China, Japan and Russia moved up an hour.

Well at least they saw some sense. Running the races when it was getting dark was ridiculous.