Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Mar 19, 2014 18:07:32 GMT 1
Really good to see a shake up of the grid. The noise I don't understand, the growl sounds a lot more racier.
Since v8's were supporting thought I'd mention that Volvo have entered aussie v8's and are causing a storm, Their young NZ driver is consistently performing but the Swede they brought in isn't quite so good. The liveries of v8's look amazing too. Youtube has several uploaders, with clipsal 500 taken place and aussie gp support. They have brought in a A-Z acceleration zone for safety car restarts which is farcical but might get better.
BTCC media day was yesterday at donny, Brands hatch is opening round next month with a 31 car grid and several different makes and models on the grid.
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Post by paulgilb on Mar 30, 2014 0:06:32 GMT 1
Grid for Malaysia:
1 Hamilton 2 Vettel 3 Rosberg 4 Alonso 5 Ricciardo 6 Raikkonen 7 Hulkenberg 8 Magnussen 9 Vergne 10 Button 11 Kvyat 12 Gutierrez 13 Massa 14 Perez 15 Grosjean 16 Maldonado 17 Sutil 18 Bottas (3-place drop for impeding, also receives 2 penalty points) 19 Bianchi 20 Kobayashi 21 Chilton 22 Ericsson
The rule about Gutierrez having to serve the rest of his grid penalty from Australia appears not to have been applied - perhaps the FIA decided against including it after all?
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Post by paulgilb on Apr 1, 2014 23:01:40 GMT 1
Penalty Points after Malaysia (stay on driver's licence for 12 months, 12 points = race ban):
2 - Bottas 2 - Bianchi 2 - Magnussen
Some stats from Malaysia that I discovered/read elsewhere:
First circuit at which Rosberg has been on the podium twice without winning.
First time Vettel has scored but not won in Malaysia.
4 DNFs from 4 starts for Maldonado in Malaysia (although he was classified in 2012).
First time since Abu Dhabi 2012 that no German driver officially led a lap (Hulkenberg did lead briefly but did not cross the start line in the lead).
Hamilton keeps alive his record of at least 1 win every year since his debut, and is the only driver to have taken at least 1 pole and at least 1 win in every season in which he has competed.
The last time that a team other than Red Bull managed a 1-2 was another race in which Massa was told that his team-mate was faster than him.
Kvyat is the first Toro Rosso driver to score points in both the first 2 races of a season.
6th time that Hamilton has won a race having failed to finish the previous one (after Singapore 2009, Belgium 2010, Hungary 2012, Italy 2012, and USA 2012; in addition Hungary 2007, Britain 2008, China 2008, and Hungary 2009 were preceded by no-scores).
In his first 2 races, Kevin Magnussen has outqualified his team-mate as many times as his father did in his entire career.
Both Alonso and Button have qualified in every position from 1st to 22nd with the exception of their car number.
First circuit at which Rosberg has been on the podium twice without winning.
First time Vettel has scored but not won in Malaysia.
First time since Abu Dhabi 2012 that no German driver officially led a lap. 21st time that Hamilton & Vettel have shared the front row – same as Mansell & Senna.
Ferrari have gone 12 months without a front-row start.
First time 2 Mercedes have finished on the podium since Italy 1955, and the first time they have managed back-to-back wins since then.
The last 3 races have all had all their laps led by a different single driver (Vettel in Brazil, Rosberg in Australia, Hamilton in Malaysia – curiously none of them actually led the whole race). This also happened in Japan 1977 – Brazil 1978 and Australia 1987 – San Marino 1988.
First time since 2006 that the first 2 races were won by team-mates.
Mercedes have managed both poles, both wins, both fastest laps, and every lap in the lead in the first 2 races of 2014. Last team to manage this: McLaren in 1998 (a season in which a certain multiple world champion from Germany helped ensure that the team didn’t run away with the title).
First time that Hamilton, Rosberg, and Vettel have shared the podium.
4 years since Alonso last had a mechanical retirement.
All drivers on the podium had their national anthems played – first time since Hungary 1999 (Hakkinen won for McLaren ahead of 2 Brits).
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Post by Shireblogger on Apr 2, 2014 7:42:48 GMT 1
Both Alonso and Button have qualified in every position from 1st to 22nd with the exception of their car number. Fact of the day. Thank you.
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Post by paulgilb on Apr 5, 2014 22:57:59 GMT 1
Grid for Bahrain: 1 Rosberg 2 Hamilton 3 Bottas 4 Perez 5 Raikkonen 6 Button 7 Massa 8 Magnussen 9 Alonso 10 Vettel 11 Hulkenberg 12 Kvyat 13 Ricciardo (penalty from Malaysia) 14 Vergne 15 Gutierrez 16 Grosjean 17 Maldonado 18 Kobayashi 19 Bianchi 20 Ericsson 21 Chilton 22 Sutil (penalty for forcing Grosjean off track, also receives 2 penalty points)
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Post by Shireblogger on Apr 6, 2014 11:54:56 GMT 1
Grid for Bahrain: 22 Sutil (penalty for forcing Grosjean off track, also receives 2 penalty points) Should have received more than 2 penalty points. A dreadful display from a driver who has no right to be on the F1 grid.
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Post by Robin on Apr 7, 2014 10:34:11 GMT 1
Bahrain was one of the most exciting races I have seen in years, good to see there is still some life in Formula One! Great to see so many team mates battling it out throughout the field as well.
Well done to Hamilton, a truly deserved and hard fought win!
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Post by paulgilb on Apr 7, 2014 23:38:32 GMT 1
A great race indeed, however the BBC highlights programme was sub-standard, especially during the first round of pitstops. There was hardly any mention of the stops, or footage shown, which made it quite confusing. For instance, when Bottas, Massa, Hulkenberg, and Perez were battling for 3rd, I had no idea whether or not Hulkenberg had stopped (in fact he had).
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Post by paulgilb on Apr 8, 2014 23:12:17 GMT 1
Penalty points after Bahrain:
4 - Bianchi 3 - Maldonado 2 - Bottas 2 - Sutil
Some stats/facts that I discovered/read:
First time that the top 4 on the grid were all Mercedes-powered. First time since Europe 2009 that there was no Renault-powered car on the front 2 rows.
19th race in a row in which only Red Bull and Mercedes have started on the front row (last other was Raikkonen in China 2013). Equals McLaren & Williams' domination from Britain 1988 to Belgium 1989.
3rd race in a row that Mercedes have managed pole, win, fastest lap, and every lap led. Last team to do this was Williams in 1993 (Damon's 3 wins). First team to do this in the first 3 races of a season (Berger managed fastest lap in Brazil 1988).
First time that 1 team has led every lap of the first 3 races since Williams in 1992 (they led the first 5 races and most of the 6th).
First time since France 2008 that a team locked out the front row, led every lap, finished 1-2, and set the 2 fastest laps.
First team to manage back-to-back 1-2s since McLaren in 2010 (which were also Hamilton's last back-to-back wins). Amazingly Red Bull have not managed this since 2009.
2nd race in a row that Massa and Bottas have finished 7th and 8th separated by less than a second.
First time car #13 has finished a race.
Longest Ferrari victory drought since 1995-96.
First time since Belgium last year that either of the Red Bulls finished the race outside the podium positions (although Webber was classified in Singapore).
First time since Brazil 2012 that one of the McLarens was not classified.
First time since Europe 2004 that both McLarens retired due to mechanical failures.
First back-to-back double DNFs for Sauber since Malaysia & China 2010, first as an independent constructor since Monaco & Spain 1999.
In his 22 GP's Valtteri Bottas has scored 22 points, driven with 2 different engines, had 2 team mates, and retired 2 times.
Only current tracks at which Hamilton has not won are Barcelona, Suzuka, and Interlagos.
Perez has never been on the podium without Hamilton being there as well.
The last time Vettel finished 6th was Brazil 2012 - another race in which his team-mate finished 4th and Hulkenberg finished 5th.
First time since Britain 2010 that neither Ferrari finished in the top 8. First time since Singapore 2009 that no Ferrari-powered car finished in the top 8.
The last 7 races have seen 7 different drivers finish 3rd. This will still be valid even if Ricciardo is re-instated.
First time that Vettel has gone 3 races without running in the top 2 since he joined Red Bull.
First time since Germany 2010 that only 5 teams scored points.
First time since Japan & Brazil 2004 that Williams got both cars into the points 2 races in a row.
Mercedes have taken as many podiums in the last two races as Williams have in the 150 races since they split with BMW at the end of 2005.
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Post by Shireblogger on Apr 9, 2014 7:18:20 GMT 1
The stats above underline how dominant Mercedes have been so far this season. Who thinks they'll maintain this sort of lead versus the rest of the field, and who thinks the others (especially Red Bull and McLaren) will catch up quickly ?
I think it could be another season like Mansell & Patrese enjoyed in the early 90s.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on Apr 14, 2014 20:22:59 GMT 1
indy car big crash
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Post by paulgilb on Apr 20, 2014 0:36:10 GMT 1
Grid for China:
1 Hamilton 2 Ricciardo 3 Vettel 4 Rosberg 5 Alonso 6 Massa 7 Bottas 8 Hulkenberg 9 Vergne 10 Grosjean 11 Raikkonen 12 Button 13 Kvyat 14 Sutil 15 Magnussen 16 Perez 17 Gutierrez 18 Kobayashi 19 Bianchi 20 Ericsson 21 Chilton 22 Maldonado (no time in Q1)
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Post by paulgilb on Apr 24, 2014 20:16:32 GMT 1
Some stats/facts that I discovered/read elsewhere:
Alonso is the only driver to have completed every lap at every Chinese GP to date (he also completed the 2 that didn't count towards last weekend's result).
First time since Britain 2013 that the race winner has stood on the podium alongside the 2 drivers who had won the race in the previous 2 years.
Same drivers on the podium as in Singapore 2008 - another race where Massa had a catastrophic pitstop.
First time that a driver who has won 3 of the first 4 races isn’t leading the championship after 4 races.
Since the start of 2013 - 9 wet qualifying sessions, 1 wet race (and that was only for ~10 laps).
First Chinese GP in which Ricciardo has finished in a different position to which he started in.
First time since 2004 that an independent Sauber (i.e. not BMW Sauber) has competed in the Chinese GP and not finished 10th.
Alonso keeps alive his run of at least 1 podium every year since 2003, and keeps alive Ferrari’s run of at least 1 podium every year since 1981 (a record).
3rd race in a row that the Marussias have started 19th and 21st (Bianchi higher in each case).
Rosberg and Vettel are both ahead of their team-mates in the championship despite having only outscored their team-mates once this season.
3rd year in a row that Vettel has missed the podium at China – first time he has managed this at any circuit since joining Red Bull.
First team to manage 3 consecutive 1-2s since Ferrari in Europe-Canada-USA 2004.
Only 1 team has led laps in the first 4 races – this time last year we had had 11 leaders from 7 teams.
First time Alonso has finished ahead of Vettel in a race where both have finished since Spain 2013.
First time since Germany-Hungary 2012 that Vettel has gone 2 races in a row without an official podium finish. First time since Canada-Europe 2012 that Vettel has gone 2 races in a row without standing on the podium.
3rd race in a row that the higher-classified Williams has finished in 7th.
Despite Mercedes’ domination, we have had 5 different teams on the podium this year – 1 more than in the whole of 2013.
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Paddy
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Post by Paddy on May 2, 2014 21:51:23 GMT 1
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/27262470Nigel Stepney, the former Ferrari mechanic at the heart of the 2007 "spy-gate" scandal, has died in a road accident, aged 56. Stepney was sentenced in Italy to 20 months in prison after being found guilty of sabotage, industrial espionage and sporting fraud. He was run over by a lorry after stopping on the hard shoulder of the M20 in Kent and getting out of his van. The accident happened at about 01:30 BST on Friday, Kent Police said. "For reasons yet to be established, the man appears to have entered the carriageway and was then in collision with an articulated goods vehicle," police said in a statement. "He was pronounced deceased at the scene." Continue reading the main story “ Nigel was an intense and fierce competitor and always strived for excellence ” JRM team Stepney had leaked nearly 800 pages of confidential Ferrari information to McLaren ahead of the 2007 season. He passed information to his friend Mike Coughlan, then McLaren's chief designer. Ferrari said they only found out when Coughlan's wife tried to make copies of the documents at a local shop, whose owner telephoned them to reveal his suspicions. McLaren were initially cleared of any wrongdoing, but after a second hearing by governing body the FIA were fined 100m euros and disqualified from the 2007 constructors' championship, which they otherwise would have won. McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso tied on points in the drivers' championship, one behind eventual winner Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari. The team insist they never benefited from the information. Though Stepney did not serve his sentence, he never worked in Formula 1 again. The affair was reinvestigated by the FIA after Alonso threatened to reveal incriminating information during a row with team principal Ron Dennis over his treatment by McLaren. The Spaniard left the team at the end of the season, one year into a three-year contract. Stepney was also found guilty of trying to sabotage Raikkonen's car at the 2007 Monaco Grand Prix. He and Coughlan were initially banned from taking part in F1. Coughlan returned as Williams technical director in 2011, but left last summer. Stepney made a comeback to motorsport, running teams in the World Endurance Championship. JRM, for whom he worked in sportscars, said in a statement that Stepney had "a level of technical experience that was unrivalled". The team added: "Nigel was an intense and fierce competitor and always strived for excellence." Stepney had a long career in F1, starting at Shadow in 1977 before moving to Lotus, where he worked with the late Ayrton Senna, and then to Benetton and Ferrari, where he was chief mechanic and later technical manager in their dominant era with Michael Schumacher in the early 2000s. He fell out with Ferrari after he failed to get the job he desired in a reshuffle of the technical department following the departure of technical director Ross Brawn ahead of the 2007 season. He leaves his partner Ash and daughter Sabine. Truly awful circumstances, feel sorry for the lorry driver too.
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rewardman
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Post by rewardman on May 3, 2014 16:19:04 GMT 1
Do we know if his vehicle was experiencing mechanical difficulties. If it was not then it appears very suspicious that he would stop his vehicle there. There may be a more tragic explanation of his death perhaps.
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Post by paulgilb on May 10, 2014 22:50:35 GMT 1
Grid for Spain:
1 Hamilton 2 Rosberg 3 Ricciardo 4 Bottas 5 Grosjean 6 Raikkonen 7 Alonso 8 Button 9 Massa 10 Hulkenberg 11 Perez 12 Kvyat 13 Gutierrez 14 Magnussen (no time in Q2) 15 Vettel (no time in Q3 + gearbox change) 16 Sutil 17 Chilton 18 Bianchi 19 Ericsson 20 Kobayashi 21 Vergne (no time in Q2 + 10-place drop for unsafe release in practice) 22 Maldonado (no time in Q1) Mercedes thus lock out the front row just as they did at this track last year. They will be hoping to do better than the 6th and 12th that they managed in the race last year. Hamilton's first pole in a dry qualifying session in 2014.
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Post by paulgilb on May 13, 2014 22:31:58 GMT 1
Spain stats (from various sources):
Mercedes are the first team to led every lap of the first 5 races of a season since Williams in 1992 (and their streak ended in round 6 in Monaco).
12 months since Ferrari last won a race - their longest winless streak since waiting over 3 years for a win in the early 1990s. It is also the first time since 1988 that we have had a 12-month period with only 3 drivers winning races.
6 different drivers have been awarded 3rd place in the first 5 races of this season.
First time since 2009 that McLaren have gone 3 races without scoring.
Maldonado is the first driver for a team other than Caterham, Marussia or HRT (including their previous names) to have started 2 races in the same season from last place on the grid since those 3 teams entered in 2010.
In every race so far this season, Chilton has both started and finished in an odd-numbered position.
Every driver has outqualified their team-mate at least once this season, and Raikkonen is the only driver not to have finished ahead of his team-mate at least once this season.
If Hamilton fails to win the championship, he will be the first driver to do so despite winning 4 consecutive races during the season.
Only tracks at which Hamilton has raced but not started on pole: Sakhir, Magny-Cours, Greater Noida, Monte-Carlo, Suzuka, Istanbul, Austin.
Only tracks at which Hamilton has raced but not won: Interlagos, Valencia, Magny-Cours, Greater Noida, Suzuka, Yeongam.
Slowest pole lap at Catalunya.
First time since Turkey – Britain 2010 that Hamilton has managed 4 consecutive podiums.
No non-Mercedes driver has finished within 20 seconds of the winner this year.
First time since Hungary 2010 that the pole-sitter was more than a second ahead of anyone other than his team-mate in Q3.
First time ever that the same 2 drivers have finished in the top 2 in the same order for 4 consecutive races.
First time since 2008 that Button has gone 3 races without scoring (on that occasion he went 14 races without scoring).
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Post by Shireblogger on May 14, 2014 5:42:57 GMT 1
I don't envy the job of Hamilton's race engineer. Some races he is frequently told on the radio to shut up, and stop bothering Hamilton with information. And then, a couple of races later, he is regularly told that he isn't telling Hamilton enough. It's almost as if Hamilton is getting his excuses ready, in case he doesn't end up as winner.
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Post by -Big Dan- on May 19, 2014 0:53:48 GMT 1
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Post by Shireblogger on May 19, 2014 7:44:13 GMT 1
Before my time, but any motor racing driver from the 1950s and 1960s earns my admiration, given how to tough and dangerous the sport was in those days. To have designed, built and driven your own car to the World Championship is astonishing now, but was still an incredible feat back then, given competition came from the likes of Ferrari and Lotus.
RIP Sir Jack
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