2014 FIA Formula 1 World Championship

Starting to worry for RedBull now. ALL of the Renault powered cars seem to be really struggling and the RedBull is having a lot of problems having spent most of the first two days in the Garage broken and still yet to emerge this morning

Mclaren, Mercedies, Ferrari and Williams seem to be the pace setter

Read nothing from the past couple of days. I wouldn't even read too much into testing at Bahrain to be honest, we're going to have to wait for Australia to make accurate judgements on how teams are doing.

on a somewhat related not
Doctors are slowly bring Shumacher out of his induced coma, they've had positive responses so far but are not rushing the process which is great news

Oh Bernie...

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone wants to extend his controversial double-points scheme to the last three races of the season.

The new format, criticised by fans, teams and drivers, has been introduced for the final grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi.

“Now we're all sitting here saying it sucks, but maybe by the last race it keeps things exciting”

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg

Now Ecclestone has written to the teams saying he wants to extend it to the two preceding races, in the USA and Brazil.

He needs unanimous approval for his proposal to go ahead.

A number of teams have already expressed reservations about applying double points to the last race, never mind the final three.

Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo and Mercedes co-team boss Toto Wolff have both made it clear that F1 needs to think carefully before increasing the number of points on offer in Abu Dhabi.

Ecclestone wants to ensure the battle for the title lasts as long as possible - and thus maintain television audience figures - following Sebastian Vettel's recent dominance

Bernie go home your drunk

Really all he wants is for Sebastian Vettel to win by 3x as much.

MYLES PR0WER wrote:Bernie go home your drunk

Bernie go home to jail your drunk

Great to see Kevin - in his McLaren debut - 4th after only 19 laps and only 1.3s behind Jenson. Great start for McLaren.

Oh, and 19 laps? That's more in one day than RBR has managed in three!!! Sounds like MASSIVE issues with the Renault engine so far.
Great to see Williams there or there abouts as well

I wouldn't take lap times too seriously until Australia, they aren't even running the engines at full RPMs yet.

While the unsightly noses on this year's cars have been a topic of much discussion, the rear of McLaren's innovative new MP4-29 has been the talk of the paddock in Jerez this week.

In what has been labeled an 'ingenious trick' by German publication Auto Motor und Sport, the Woking team has mimicked the now-banned wing profiles beneath the main wing with a unique design of their rear suspension.

While the official Formula One website suggested that the design "is considered legal by the FIA", Auto Motor und Sport suggested in its report that its legality remains debatable for the time being, at least.

"It will be interesting to see if Charlie Whiting is responsive," the report said.

"If he does not object, the competition will have to catch up quickly."

Since re-designing the entire rear suspension layout is an arduous task, it comes as no surprise that Red Bull's technical wizard believes McLaren's solution is illegal.

"I have not seen the photos," he said, "but as it is described, it sounds as though there are eight suspension elements, where only six are allowed.

"Moreover, there are clear rules for the width of the suspension."

Newey's Ferrari counterpart James Allison stopped short of claiming that the design was illegal, but admitted that he would like to study it closer.

"All I've seen are some blurry pictures," Allison said.

"I would like to know more about it because it does interest me."

According to the Auto Motor und Sport report, FIA gave the McLaren "the green light" to continue with their design at some point last season.

Marussia MR03...not bad.

was it a regulation to have those things sticking out???
you'd think they would have just made like a 90's F1 nose

This might seem stupid but a lot of these cars would look fine without the stupid pointy bit at the end. Why are they there? Is it a regulation to have one?

It’s all down to the new aerodynamic regulations for the 2014 season that means that the nose tip is 365mm lower than last year. The rule was introduced as a safety measure to prevent cars from launching over the top of one another, as happened with Mark Webber when he hit Heikki at Valencia in 2010. Because only the very front section of the nose needs to conform to the new regulations, teams don’t have to mess around with a complete redesign of the suspension, which would happen if the entire front end of the monocoque had to be lowered.

Big problems for Renault, and especially RBR.

http://thejudge13.com/2014/01/30/f1-testing-jerez-day-3/


"Whilst each of the Renault customer teams have worries of their own which do not relate to the engine, TJ13 has discovered that the French F1 engine manufacturer now requires around 20 weeks to rectify the problems they are currently experiencing. This takes us up to the British Grand Prix.

Adrian Newey and Christian Horner are reportedly on their way back to Milton Keynes tonight as the scale of the crisis is becoming apparent to the F1 world. As Daniel Ricciardo commented, their guru car designer is literally returning to “the drawing board”.

Simply put, there are components in the Renault engine which will fail should it be pushed beyond around 75%. On top of this, the RB10 has cooling issues for the energy recovery systems, the engine and various other associated components.

It appears tonight as though the might and utter dominance of Red Bull for the past 4 years is over as they are 6 weeks from Melbourne with a car design unable to accommodate the necessary cooling requirements and a power train unable to complete the race in Melbourne"

Or... is it a ruse?

I'm always sceptical of reports like these. I just have this nagging feeling that come Melbourne, Vettel will pull it out of the bag.

i kinda hope it's true
just for someone else to win the WDC and WCC

This is news to me and I'd love to see williams running a martini livery!

http://grandprix247.com/2014/01/23/williams-on-brink-of-announcing-martini-racing-deal-for-2014-and-beyond/

https://twitter.com/karunchandhok/status/422994524332236801

Must admit the masterstroke of 2014 so far is Williams switching to Mercedes from Renault.

Some encouraging hints coming from Williams.

I'll reserve judgement til we get to Albert Park in March. Also, I'm glad everyone is over the noses, it was just getting annoying.

The Marrussia just looks odd. It's the packaging around the airbox.





Anyway, loving the shots of Felipe in the Williams!



...With it's very tightly packaged rear end