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SteveG
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 11 2014
Location: Kyiv In Spirit
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Points: 20617
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Posted: March 09 2015 at 17:41 |
JJLehto wrote:
I hope you mean Sleeper, he is the expert! Are you a fan? Alonso is neutral to disliked in this thread, I'm the only person that likes him here  I think he's a top tier driver, up there with the best, and I still lament he's spent a few years in lackluster cars, and is still a collective handful of points away from being a 5 time champ, but I guess that's always the case with "what if"
It is a shame with Magnussen he really impressed. Still say, cold as it would've been, Button should've gotten the thank you for your time card, but Kevin is young so plenty of time you're right. Guess it happens, I really was a fan of Di Resta and Hulkenberg but neither got top rides, or in Di Resta's case any ride! Oh and yeah, Max Verstappen 17 years old?? My god I was still nervous to drive the highway at that age!
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Alonso really impressed me in 2014. He just put his head down and drove for every point like it was for a win, in a car that was absolute crap. I have nothing but respect for him and I hope the McLaren is up to the challenge this year.
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JJLehto
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 05 2006
Location: Tallahassee, FL
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Points: 34550
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Posted: March 10 2015 at 02:17 |
Yeah it's a shame he has "only" 2 titles because I think he's one of the top 3 drivers of his time with Schumi and Kimi. Having my fav driver going to Ferrari was like a dream but it ended up a nightmare  How badly he outdid Kimi really impressed me in addition.
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SteveG
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 11 2014
Location: Kyiv In Spirit
Status: Offline
Points: 20617
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Posted: March 10 2015 at 10:09 |
^That too. I know that some drivers just don't click with certain cars like Vettel with RB last year, so I'm a bit leery of knocking their performance. But Kimi never seemed to have one good day with the Ferrari and that says a lot.
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sleeper
Prog Reviewer
Joined: October 09 2005
Location: Entropia
Status: Offline
Points: 16449
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Posted: March 12 2015 at 08:03 |
So, we've had our first major controversy of the year. Seems Sauber had originally signed Geido va der Garde to partner Jules Bianchi for this year, van der Garde brings lots of cash, and paid up front as part of being their test driver last year while Bianchi brought heavily subsidesed engines from Ferrari. Bianchi's accident forced a reworking of the plan, with Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr both being signed up to race and bringing more money than van der Garde does, and also paying some of it upfront which got them through the winter.
As you'd expect, van der Garde was rather pissed as he had a valid race contract and had payed a lot of money up front for the privalige of driving for them (some reports put it as much as $24 million) so when the contract was broken he took them to arbitration in Switzerland and last Monday they sided with him and ordered Sauber to put him back in a race seat. Sauber ignored the ruling so he's taken them to court in Australia where the Supreme Court in Victoria State also upheld the arbitration ruling on Tuesday and this morning an appeal from Sauber, largely based on the incredibly disingenuous position that it would be dangerous to put him in the car, has been thrown out. As it stand Sauber now has 3 drivers signed for 2 cars, not sure how that one's going to work out but the fallout wont be pretty might even force the team under.
Sutil also had a valid contract for this year but apparentley a few things weren't met on his side so he's only suing for damages and not pushing to be reinstated in the race team since he's not in such a strong legal position.
I have a lot of sympathy for Sauber's financial plight as BMW left them in trouble and the commercial climate makes it damned difficult to get any kind of money but this is pretty much fraud and a terrible mess of their own making. I also detest the amaeturish way they've gone about this, their lawyer seemed to know nothing about F1, like what day of the week practice starts on, and Kaltenborne has treated everybody like idiots.
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SteveG
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 11 2014
Location: Kyiv In Spirit
Status: Offline
Points: 20617
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Posted: March 12 2015 at 09:11 |
^Who's Sauber? Just kidding. Thanks for the great update.
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sleeper
Prog Reviewer
Joined: October 09 2005
Location: Entropia
Status: Offline
Points: 16449
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Posted: March 13 2015 at 06:58 |
PRACTICE TWO TIMES:Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
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1 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m27.697s | - | 29 | 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m27.797s | 0.100s | 25 | 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m28.412s | 0.715s | 33 | 4 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m28.842s | 1.145s | 33 | 5 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m29.265s | 1.568s | 32 | 6 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/Renault | 1m30.016s | 2.319s | 27 | 7 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m30.071s | 2.374s | 41 | 8 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus/Mercedes | 1m30.104s | 2.407s | 11 | 9 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus/Mercedes | 1m30.205s | 2.508s | 37 | 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m30.473s | 2.776s | 30 | 11 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m30.755s | 3.058s | 33 | 12 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m30.980s | 3.283s | 32 | 13 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m31.387s | 3.690s | 21 | 14 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m31.395s | 3.698s | 6 | 15 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m32.303s | 4.606s | 14 | 16 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren/Honda | 1m33.289s | 5.592s | 4 |
Ricciardo had an engine change and Massa a water leak so neither ran in the second session, and Manor are still trying to finish their cars. I understand Van der Garde started contempt of court proceedings against Sauber yesterday but it was adjourned until Saturday morning but it looked like they were actually making progress in communicating with each other to sort out this mess.
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sleeper
Prog Reviewer
Joined: October 09 2005
Location: Entropia
Status: Offline
Points: 16449
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Posted: March 14 2015 at 09:11 |
Qualy results, Mercedes look even more dominant this year than last. Honda are running their engines detuned due to reliability concerns, they are veryslow down the straights which is why they're on the back row. Red Bull are not looking good, Ricciardo really had to pull that lap out of the bag and he's only a tenth quicker than Sainz in the Torro Rosso, which looks like it might be a better car! Ferrari and Williams in a massive scrap for 3rd that looks interesting but it seems Bottas hurt his back in that last lap, we'll see if he starts tomorrow. Pos | Driver | Car | Time | Gap |
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1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1m26.327s | - | 2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m26.921s | 0.594s | 3 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m27.718s | 1.391s | 4 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1m27.757s | 1.430s | 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 1m27.790s | 1.463s | 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m28.087s | 1.760s | 7 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/Renault | 1m28.329s | 2.002s | 8 | Carlos Sainz Jr. | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m28.510s | 2.183s | 9 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus/Mercedes | 1m28.560s | 2.233s | 10 | Pastor Maldonado | Lotus/Mercedes | 1m29.480s | 3.153s | 11 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m28.800s | - | 12 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Renault | 1m28.868s | - | 13 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/Renault | 1m29.070s | - | 14 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m29.208s | - | 15 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m29.209s | - | 16 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m31.376s | - | 17 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m31.422s | - | 18 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren/Honda | 1m32.037s | - |
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SteveG
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 11 2014
Location: Kyiv In Spirit
Status: Offline
Points: 20617
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Posted: March 14 2015 at 09:28 |
Who wants to bet that Alonso won't return? Enjoy your 2015 ride Mags!
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sleeper
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Joined: October 09 2005
Location: Entropia
Status: Offline
Points: 16449
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Posted: March 14 2015 at 09:57 |
Interestingly Jenson said the cars very nice to drive and the onboards show it to be very nicely balanced. You could just get out and puch faster down the straights unfortunately.
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SteveG
Forum Senior Member
Joined: April 11 2014
Location: Kyiv In Spirit
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Posted: March 14 2015 at 13:09 |
^Kind of like last season's Ferrari. Sweet.
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Man With Hat
Collaborator
Jazz-Rock/Fusion/Canterbury Team
Joined: March 12 2005
Location: Neurotica
Status: Offline
Points: 166183
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Posted: March 14 2015 at 16:31 |
Yay F1 return!
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Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.
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Gerinski
Prog Reviewer
Joined: February 10 2010
Location: Barcelona Spain
Status: Offline
Points: 5154
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Posted: March 14 2015 at 16:35 |
Perhaps Alonso crashed on purpose in order to avoid having to debut with that coffee-maker
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Man With Hat
Collaborator
Jazz-Rock/Fusion/Canterbury Team
Joined: March 12 2005
Location: Neurotica
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Points: 166183
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Posted: March 15 2015 at 01:50 |
Vettel looks weird in Red.
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Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect.
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JJLehto
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 05 2006
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Status: Offline
Points: 34550
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Posted: March 18 2015 at 00:52 |
Man With Hat wrote:
Vettel looks weird in Red. |
Oh god it's almost wrong.
It was pretty shocking how poorly Kimi fared last year compared to Alonso, he always struck me as someone who could do a lot with a little and handle a bad car. That said, Ferrari off the a good start so far. Well...maybe not so for Kimi 
Cool to see Nasr and Sainz in the points already! 
Edited by JJLehto - March 18 2015 at 00:53
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JJLehto
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 05 2006
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Status: Offline
Points: 34550
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Posted: March 18 2015 at 12:01 |
Still mad Alonso didn't go to Red Bull
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sleeper
Prog Reviewer
Joined: October 09 2005
Location: Entropia
Status: Offline
Points: 16449
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Posted: March 18 2015 at 13:32 |
Given how far both Kvyat and Magnussen got on Sunday I don't think it would have mattered!
Really surprised at how badly a job Red Bull and Renault have done this year, both seem to have gone backwards and the RB11 seems to be only very slightly faster than the Torro Rosso.
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JJLehto
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 05 2006
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Status: Offline
Points: 34550
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Posted: March 18 2015 at 19:43 |
sleeper wrote:
Given how far both Kvyat and Magnussen got on Sunday I don't think it would have mattered!
Really surprised at how badly a job Red Bull and Renault have done this year, both seem to have gone backwards and the RB11 seems to be only very slightly faster than the Torro Rosso.
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Well, true  I'm giving them botd (or assuming) that long term they will be quite fine but I guess we shall see! Also, is it safe to assume this is another merc battle year? Well, maybe I'll finally get my wish of seeing a Senna/Prost-esque battle of my time, except with less hate and probably gunna be more one sided 
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sleeper
Prog Reviewer
Joined: October 09 2005
Location: Entropia
Status: Offline
Points: 16449
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Posted: March 18 2015 at 20:20 |
If anything Merc are even further ahead, and Hamilton seems to have Rosberg completely covered, though it's only been one race. Also, looks like we wont get a German GP this year, Nurburgring is financial dificulty and Hockenheim has been unable to come to an agreement with Bernie for this year and have said no.
Sebring 12 hours this weekend.
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JJLehto
Prog Reviewer
Joined: April 05 2006
Location: Tallahassee, FL
Status: Offline
Points: 34550
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Posted: March 20 2015 at 14:32 |
Excellent, I have nothing planned this weekend and need a break from studying, I'll check out much as I can.
Lewis was always the better driver, Nico held tight till near-ish the end and had a completely legit chance to win the title BUT he failed to step up when needed. I think perhaps Nico was a bit "smoother" and had some better luck which is what kept him alive, but while I greatly value smooth/managing driving it can't beat skill.
Long as Merc is strong Lewis will have quite a tear, unless he was to get Alonso as a teammate in the future 
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sleeper
Prog Reviewer
Joined: October 09 2005
Location: Entropia
Status: Offline
Points: 16449
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Posted: March 20 2015 at 16:38 |
Suprisingly Lewis was actually the smoother driver last year, Nico was the one hanging it out on the ragged edge. It's thought that thats why he got more poles but Hamilton had the wins. It's also the complete oposite of what everybody was expecting.
Edited by sleeper - March 20 2015 at 16:38
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