Legend2TL

Not Ferrari but I could see Honda providing RBR with power plants.

Legend2TL

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns27668.html

McD's should capitalize on this

00TL-P3.2

Can you switch engine suppliers mid-season? Or would they have to wait until 2015?

F-C

I don't think there are any rules prohibiting this, but there might be contracts in place to prevent this. Also, the cars are built with the engine in mind, so it would need a drastic redesign of the whole car. This is really just motivational speak from RB to Renault.

It would be funny if we saw a "Infiniti Red Bull-Honda" next year. There was a rumor that Infiniti might leave Red Bull though.

Edward'TLS

Switching engine supplier mid-season is a big no-no for prominent teams, because without any pre-season test session for integration, testing, tuning, and troubleshooting; it is virtually impossible to get everything right, let alone competitive enough, on the 1st debut in the middle of a race season.

Aman

To be fair, RB didn't have much pre-season testing to begin with.

StreetKA

iTrader: (8)

rb is doing pretty damn good for what it looked in testing... they are looking like they are right behind mercedes

and situation with Ricciardo just remind me last season for Webber...

icy2

RB aero might be decent but Renault are miles away from matching Mercedes right now. Red Bull might get caught out in the desert this week (no rain to close time gap in quals & lack of HP) on this circuit may show where Red Bull really is in the competitive order

F-C

Bahrain FP1:

POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
1. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes GP 1:37.502
2. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:37.733
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 1:37.953
4. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:38.122
5. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.636
6. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari 1:38.783
7. Kevin Magnussen Denmark McLaren-Mercedes 1:38.949
8. Daniil Kvyat Russia Toro Rosso-Renault 1:39.056
9. Sergio Perez Mexico Force India-Mercedes 1:39.102
10. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:39.389
11. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes 1:39.533
12. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Renault 1:39.862
13. Felipe Nasr Brazil Williams-Mercedes 1:40.078
14. Daniel Ricciardo Autralian Red Bull-Renault 1:40.406
15. Adrian Sutil Germany Sauber-Ferrari 1:40.652
16. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Lotus-Renault 1:40.793
17. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Ferrari 1:40.889
18. Giedo van der Garde Netherlands Sauber-Ferrari 1:40.913
19. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 1:41.036
20. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Ferrari 1:41.794
21. Robin Frijns Netherlands Caterham-Renault 1:42.417
22. Marcus Ericsson Sweden Caterham-Renault 1:42.711

F-C

Bahrain FP2:

POS DRIVER NATIONALITY ENTRANT TIME
1. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes GP 1:34.325
2. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:34.690
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari 1:35.360
4. Daniel Ricciardo Autralian Red Bull-Renault 1:35.433
5. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes 1:35.442
6. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.528
7. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1:35.606
8. Daniil Kvyat Russia Toro Rosso-Renault 1:35.640
9. Kevin Magnussen Denmark McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.662
10. Sergio Perez Mexico Force India-Mercedes 1:35.802
11. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes 1:35.920
12. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Renault 1:35.972
13. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:35.998
14. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari 1:36.366
15. Adrian Sutil Germany Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.962
16. Esteban Gutierrez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.975
17. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Lotus-Renault 1:37.259
18. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault 1:37.599
19. Jules Bianchi France Marussia-Ferrari 1:37.800
20. Max Chilton Britain Marussia-Ferrari 1:38.247
21. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Caterham-Renault 1:38.257
22. Marcus Ericsson Sweden Caterham-Renault 1:39.136

Chief F1 Fan

Excellent point and very true, also will point to the effectiveness or lack thereof, for Ferrari's power unit.

Chief F1 Fan

Newey has some good points here in yesterday's FIA interview

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2014/0...brid-f1-rules/

But so did the reporter who said "why are the ones who make the most money in this sport so vehemently criticizing it?"

Chief F1 Fan

pretty cool

BBC Sport's chief F1 writer Andrew Benson in Bahrain:
"During Friday practice we explained why the Mercedes car is so fast, because of a clever layout of the engine, with the compressor at the front and the turbine at the back, which reduces throttle lag, improves weight and packaging and frees up the electrical parts of the power unit to produce more power at the wheels. We have a bit more info now on the detail behind that. The key is the better airflow into the compressor, because the air has less far to travel from the inlet. Less pressure loss at the compressor leads to more power than is available from the Ferrari and Renault engines. The interesting thing is that apparently the idea initially came from the chassis team, aware of the potential packaging, weight and weight distribution advantages of splitting the turbine and compressor. The engine team realised it was an enormous technical challenge and were not initially sure whether they could pull it off. But they have, and the results are spectacular."

icy2

Thanks for sharing Chief, I'm with Newey on a few things, but honestly lets face it, Renault played around and now have been caught with their pants down. Ferrari for that matter isn't in much better shape than Renault is. Mercedes was well perpared for this switch to the new turbo era and its paying dividends to the teams using them. Not having the roar on the engine was different when I watched the first race in Austraila, but their was still some decent racing in the field. I honestly wish the FIA would do away with the fuel limit of 100kg during the race so the drivers could drive the cars harder during the races. Would that make this more interesting? Maybe? Maybe not? Beyond being a Hamilton/Mercedes fan, the new regs with reduced downforce, more torque, "better" tires from Pirelli, along with the new power units thrown together have shaken up the the running order of the teams, and has made them put together a total package to be competative and not be strong in one thing and lackluster in another. This IMO has been interesting and I like it.

Mugen.Justice

Very exciting race. But ugggh...McLaren...what happened?!

Chief F1 Fan

Gotta watch what you post^^^ People don't watch the races live all the time!

Legend2TL

http://f1broadcasting.wordpress.com/...ormula-1-team/

Really a shame, Anderson was very good at getting technical info in the past few years. Great insight into the cars and technology

Chief F1 Fan

maybe NBC can snag him

Legend2TL

Not sure, but Perez must happy being on the podium in a Force India instead of a McLaren.

West6MT

Legend2TL

Chief F1 Fan

^^^ isn't it ironic such a high tech machine has a "plank" attached to the underside that is anything but high tech??

Chief F1 Fan

You know what makes me happy? Seeing that Frankenstein-mouth Maldonado sucking hind tit in a Lotus and the team he defected from is doing great.

icy2

Man that was one of the best races in some time! Guess the people who say F1 is boring this year will be quiet for a few weeks now

F-C

I would disagree that the wood plank is not high tech. It's a composite wood plank manufactured using high pressure. Just because it is made out of wood doesn't mean it isn't a high tech product.

Legend2TL

, I was annoyed that Maldonado only got a 5 grid place penalty for next race while Ricciardo got a 10 place penalty for a unsafe release from the pits in the previous race

Legend2TL

Should also point out some of the reg's of the bottom.

1) notice how the diffuser now starts at the rear axle center, it used to be at the front of the rear tires.

2) The bottom of the car must be flat from the rear of the front tires to the rear axle center. The nose can be raised but the plank must go up to rear of the front tires.

3) The stepped rear floor is also regulated, there is a minimum distance that the side pods must be above the plank.

4) IIRC there is a max. width of the center section, but the flare in/out at the front/rear is allowed to manage the airflow.

5) You can also see only one rear diffuser height and the multiple vanes allowed to direct the airflow. Not sure how many vanes are allowed.

Doesn't look like much, but alot of black magic and aero engineering there.

Chief F1 Fan

Oh, you mean just like press board. Y'know, the crap they build houses out of.






j/k

StreetKA

iTrader: (8)

well 5 grid place penalty is pathetic for what he did...

in 2006 in San Marino Yuji Ide said good bye to F1 after he flipped Christijan Albers,

he was banned from F1 forever

Chief F1 Fan

How come I have no memory of this?? I don't even remember either of those drivers' names.

F-C

Legend2TL

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/26947246

pretty good commentary

StreetKA

iTrader: (8)

thats a quote from a die hard f1 fan on facebook today made me laugh

F-C

He's no Massa.

fsttyms1

Something tells me after Luca got back to Ferrari hearing Alonso say "We don’t have the power to keep him behind" no one has gotten any sleep in that company.

Chief F1 Fan

^^^ or worse, seeing the company head leave the race while it's in progress with a pissed-off look on his face would be enough to scare any management-type shitless.

fsttyms1

Every dept is working overtime to give the team a better car.

Legend2TL

http://www.formula1.com/news/intervi...4/4/15713.html

Chief F1 Fan

Domenicali, done like din-din big shock!:

http://www.planetf1.com/news/3213/92...rari-s-Failure

F-C

Not a big surprise. Unfortunately, it won't solve the problem that Ferrari has.