The Motorsport Thread 2014

Thought we could do with a new one for the new year, and I'll start by saying "Get well soon Michael Schumacher" as it's now a week since his horrific skiing accident.

Kubica's had a good start to the year winning the ERC opening Janner Rally in Austria  today. He's doing the full WRC with an M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC car entered under his own name, he used Janner as a test run for Monte Carlo later this month. 

I also echo the statements about Schumi. Crazy that it's been a week already. Best of luck to him.


Can't wait for the 24 hours of Daytona. I missed it the last two years...I certainly won't this year. (If they still show it without Speed existing anymore that is.)

Indeed, best of luck Schumi.

Here's to a good 2014 season.
Maybe the next new aero package for F1 that will work for 1/3 or maybe 1/2 half the season before Vettel dominates again?

Crazy start to Rally Monte Carlo today, lots of mud and snow on the stages, at one point we had the front wheel drive WRC3 class Citroen of Sebastian Chardonnet in 4th overall (there's something about that name Sebastian)! Kubica's ending the day 3rd overall, 0.7s off 2nd place Kris Meeke, Colin McRae's former protege, after leading the first two stages. Bryan Bouffier leads by 40s on what is probably a one off drive.

Caterham have announced their line up today to complete the grid, surprisingly it's Kobayashi and GP2 racer Marcus Ericsson.

Red Bull-Renault      Sebastian Vettel  Daniel Ricciardo
Mercedes              Lewis Hamilton    Nico Rosberg
Ferrari               Fernando Alonso   Kimi Raikkonen
Lotus-Renault         Romain Grosjean   Pastor Maldonado
McLaren-Mercedes      Jenson Button     Kevin Magnussen
Force India-Mercedes  Nico Hulkenberg   Sergio Perez
Sauber-Ferrari        Adrian Sutil      Esteban Gutierrez
Toro Rosso-Renault    Jean-Eric Vergne  Daniil Kvyat
Williams-Mercedes     Felipe Massa      Valtteri Bottas
Marussia-Ferrari      Jules Bianchi     Max Chilton
Caterham-Renault      Kamui Kobayashi   Marcus Ericsson

I love seeing Kobayashi having a ride again, no matter who it's with.  I love that guy.

First new car launch, the McLaren MP4-29. That anteater nose (to put it politely, you should see some of the names people have been calling it) will be on almost all cars this year due to yet more poorly thought out rules. Lotus seem to be the exception as a 3D render they've released shows them with a walrus type nose. There's been a bit of upheaval at the team recently, Ron Dennis successfully got himself back in as McLaren Group CEO and it seems Martin Whitmarsh has been sacked to be replaced with Lotus Eric Boullier. It's not been announced yet but Eric has definitely left Lotus.

There's no shortage of them now!

Great to see Kam back!! Crap team but better than nothing. Also I read doctors are starting the process of lifting Schumacher's coma.

^ I was just going to post about the Nascar news. What a terrible move IMO.

For those interested in the details (which I imagine is just me and Millsy): http://t.foxsports.msn.com/nascar/done-deal-nascar-announces-overhaul-to-chase-format