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You have to admit RBR could not have done things more spectacularly wrong than they did by divorcing Renault and then looking for a new (necessary) partner. Ferrari have even denied they would supply RBR with a year old PU due to expected competition from such a strong team. Mateschitz needs to take his head out of his ass.
JA articles are always good. about RBR colossally screwing shit up.
Old story of even earlier tale but interesting inside look on how in 1985 Piquet was taken for granted at Brabham by Bernie. Then he left for Williams for ~2X the salary.
Wish the resolution was better, but still nice poster
Very nice. You can see that prior to the mid 90's, the cars changed quite a lot every few years. However, since the mid 90s, the cars have stayed relatively the same. Is that due to tighter regulations, or because the basic design is now completely mature?
There are other motivations. The words of one Tony Montana come to mind...
PS. A couple of posts up, Susie Wolff is an nice girl and I am sure Toto is very happy. I however think anyone could be even happier with Inessa Tushkanova (google her, I don't even dare post pics LOL).
Very nice. You can see that prior to the mid 90's, the cars changed quite a lot every few years. However, since the mid 90s, the cars have stayed relatively the same. Is that due to tighter regulations, or because the basic design is now completely mature?
I could discuss this topic for at least a few beers
I think the answer is a little of both, the regulations have become so restictive that it's really hard to find some new revolutionary idea.
On car evolution here's a very brief summary F1 cars that had major visual innovation
Cooper T51, mid-engine design that revolutionized F1 since all cars from the early 60's have been mid-engined.
Lotus 49, successful monocouque chassis with the Cosworth DFV as a stressed member. Also first car to use wings, mounted to the suspension no less to not load up the chassis.
Lotus 72, wedge shaped aerodynamic shape and first use of sidepods, still seen on 2015
Lotus 78/79, ground effects cars with skirts. "Free" downforce made 3+G cornering possible. Although sidepods are flat under neigh today however rear diffusers are still seen on 2015 which are very much part of the ground effect cars.
McLaren MP4/1C introduced the "wasp" tail that allowed high pressure air in front of the rear tires to be blown across the tail diffuser top to create downforce. Still seen on 2015 F1 cars.
Tyrell 019 introduced the "high nose" to allow clean air under the floor tray to increase ground effects. Still seen in 2015.
Like you point out there has only been small incremental changes in the car's overall physical design. Some may point out the barge board (first seen on Lotus 98T) or Adrian Newey's exhaust blown diffuser of the mroe recent RebBulls, but Gérard Ducarouge and others were using exhaust for diffusers in the 80's to get more downforce but on the bottom to accelerate away the underdiffuser flow.
I could discuss this topic for at least a few beers
I think the answer is a little of both, the regulations have become so restictive that it's really hard to find some new revolutionary idea.
On car evolution here's a very brief summary F1 cars that had major visual innovation
Cooper T51, mid-engine design that revolutionized F1 since all cars from the early 60's have been mid-engined.
Lotus 49, successful monocouque chassis with the Cosworth DFV as a stressed member. Also first car to use wings, mounted to the suspension no less to not load up the chassis.
Lotus 72, wedge shaped aerodynamic shape and first use of sidepods, still seen on 2015
Lotus 78/79, ground effects cars with skirts. "Free" downforce made 3+G cornering possible. Although sidepods are flat under neigh today however rear diffusers are still seen on 2015 which are very much part of the ground effect cars.
McLaren MP4/1C introduced the "wasp" tail that allowed high pressure air in front of the rear tires to be blown across the tail diffuser top to create downforce. Still seen on 2015 F1 cars.
Tyrell 019 introduced the "high nose" to allow clean air under the floor tray to increase ground effects. Still seen in 2015.
Like you point out there has only been small incremental changes in the car's overall physical design. Some may point out the barge board (first seen on Lotus 98T) or Adrian Newey's exhaust blown diffuser of the mroe recent RebBulls, but Gérard Ducarouge and others were using exhaust for diffusers in the 80's to get more downforce but on the bottom to accelerate away the underdiffuser flow.
I could babble away on this for hours
It's a great topic. I wonder what the cars would look like now if the regulations didn't stop all those winlets that sprouted on the cars about teen years ago.
great recapitulation Legend! I couldn't agree more, this kind of topic is what is so cool to me about F1. I have zero engineering experience but a strong scientific mind and enjoy the sport because of the technical prowess its engineers bring to the pinnacle of motorsport. I remember a conversation I had with Derrick Walker at Mid-Ohio, c. 1993 (?) about carbon fiber tubs in Indy. Even though as proved later, CF would make vast improvements in driver safety, the other teams voted to disallow the Porsche Indycar entry because of its vast use of it. Walker was utterly confounded to understand why this occurred as it totally destroyed Porsche's chances of racing competitively. I'll never forget that conversation, I had his undivided attention for at least 20 minutes.
1. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes GP 1:53.989
2. Daniil Kvyat Russia Red Bull-Renault 1:55.224
3. Daniel Ricciardo Autralian Red Bull-Renault 1:55.592
4. Carlos Sainz Spain Toro Rosso-Renault 1:55.667
5. Lewis Hamilton Britain Mercedes GP 1:55.693
6. Sebastian Vettel Germany Ferrari 1:55.710
7. Max Verstappen Netherlands Toro Rosso-Renault 1:55.969
8. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari 1:56.326
9. Fernando Alonso Spain McLaren-Honda 1:56.839
10. Valtteri Bottas Finland Williams-Mercedes 1:56.866
11. Felipe Massa Brazil Williams-Mercedes 1:57.081
12. Sergio Perez Mexico Force India-Mercedes 1:57.139
13. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Honda 1:57.495
14. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes 1:57.518
15. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Mercedes 1:58.319
16. Raffaele Marciello Italy Sauber-Ferrari 1:59.431
17. Marcus Ericsson Sweden Sauber-Ferrari 1:59.743
18. Alexander Rossi United States Marussia-Ferrari 2:01.154
19. Will Stevens Britain Marussia-Ferrari 2:01.907
20. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Lotus-Mercedes No Time
rain. torrential rain. Hurricane Patricia is set to slam Mexico and Texas. On another note, Alonso's McHonda in FP1 was 3rd fastest through the traps after the 2 MBZ's. Maybe now he won't be getting passed on the straights.
rain. torrential rain. Hurricane Patricia is set to slam Mexico and Texas. On another note, Alonso's McHonda in FP1 was 3rd fastest through the traps after the 2 MBZ's. Maybe now he won't be getting passed on the straights.
So, you're saying that there is a chance the race will be cancelled.
Sunday weather for Austin, some light rain in the morning and thats about it. However tomorrow, Saturday, Noah is putting the final touches on his ark...
I won't be surprised if they also have the quali on Sunday before the race.
Very interested to hear about your experience in Austin kurtatx. I didn't go because of the stories about 3 hour commutes from downtown to the track and the distance of the seats to the track.
Awesome race. Did you get to visit the pits on Saturday?
I did not. I wisely decided to skip. In reality, that worked out because my Saturday ticket got my friend entrance into qualifying (and the race)
Originally Posted by Chief F1 Fan
Very interested to hear about your experience in Austin kurtatx. I didn't go because of the stories about 3 hour commutes from downtown to the track and the distance of the seats to the track.
We honestly played our times right. From the start (at like 9 downtown) the whole experience felt pretty miserable. Lines for busses were long as there really wasn't anywhere to park around the track, and two of COTA's parking lots were closed and purchasers asked to park downtown.
I had GA tickets, so my friend and I went straight to the hill at turn 19. From there, you can see turn 19, the pit entry, and turn one in the distance (but close enough you can see any activity). This is the second year we have sat up there mostly due to the fact it is reasonably easy to leave at the end.
The race was spectacular. The safety cars and VSC's got a little annoying, but in reality the action in between was worth it. Kviat wrecked right in front of us and Vettel was a maniac towards the end of the race seeing his chance at a World Championship dissolve.
I wish I could have seen the podiums, but getting out would have been a mess if we had stayed. After Hamilton crossed, we peaced. I love F1 and am a big fan, but we made the right choice leaving when we did. We waited about 40 minutes trudging through mud to get to the bus and the bus took about 30 minutes to get back to the Austin Convention Center. At that point, you're far enough away from the traffic, it's just a regular Sunday downtown.
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My experience, however, was significantly better than my boss's. Getting to downtown later than us, he got totally hosed and paid $25 a person to spend three hours waiting for the shuttle in downtown Austin. He showed up planning to buy food (I snuck in snacks), so he spent like $20 on turkey legs. He stayed for Elton John but left a half hour into it. He left COTA at 6:30 and got back to his house in northwest Austin at 9:30.
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In general, COTA has improved every year in terms of planning for this massive event, however no one reasonably anticipated this amount of rain and there were places where it showed. Anywhere with regular foot traffic was mud before too long. The number of people working transportation in and out of the track was sufficient for good weather, but the whole thing was made worse by the wet ground. My concern is I just got lucky and had an awesome time. I go into these things not too worried about standing around and waiting in line.
Outside logistics, I was really pleased with how many people were sporting Manor Rossi hats and apparel, as outside of the big three, Manor had a nice representation on Rossi's "home track". Also abuzz was the feeling of excitement regarding the American Haas F1 team's arrival next season. Haas wisely started marketing (I got a pretty neat complementary COTA Haas F1 hat for free) early on and will try to adopt COTA as its home as well.
Overall, it had it's ups and downs, but another great experience all around and a fantastic and exciting race. Can't wait for next year.
That was the best race of the season in my opinion. So much excitement.
It was truly unbelievable. From the Mercedes antics to Vettel just laying waste to the field, it was truly special. I'm no Mercedes fan, but watching a driver compete for the world championship was special..
Rosberg should be pissed---at HIMSELF. He had that race and threw it away. The title was a long-shot but after the 1st corner incident with Hamilton, I'm sure Rosberg would've loved him some retribution in the form of a win over his team mate. Oh well, tough titties.
10-15-2015, 02:55 PM
about RBR colossally screwing shit up.
Legend
