2014 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix

[mike the snake]

Are you not posting all the fabulous pics any more? I always look forward to the many wonderful pictures posted in the F1 thread here.

[954Stealth]

I just read this, sounds pretty interesting:

Formula 1 is testing a 'virtual safety car'
By Jon Fingas posted Nov 02, 2014 at 6:59 AM

Safety vehicles are sometimes as dangerous to racing drivers as actual competition -- Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi recently crashed into a recovery tractor sent out for an earlier accident, for instance. They may be less of an unintentional threat if a virtual safety car (VSC) trial at the US Grand Prix pans out. Instead of using a lead car to slow things down during yellow flags, the system relies on dashboard displays that tell racers to stay under a given speed limit; they face penalties if they go over. The technology is only being used in practice sessions this weekend, but the FIA is working with teams to determine just when VSC is viable for honest-to-goodness races.



That may take some time. While VSC is tentatively a success, some drivers are complaining that it's too difficult. They spend a lot of time staring at their dashboards rather than the road ahead, and they have to manage speed very carefully if they want to keep up when race organizers give the all-clear. Even so, the dash-based limit might be worth the hassles if it prevents one collision from leading to another.

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by mike the snake

Are you not posting all the fabulous pics any more? I always look forward to the many wonderful pictures posted in the F1 thread here.

+2!!!!

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

+2!!!!

Let's rekindle the tradition with the Austin/USGP Paddock Girls and females of the circuit










This is the door to my house:

[954Stealth]

[SonnyJack]

Does the guy have a spine??!! Talk about rolling over! That was pretty pathetic. I know LH is a better driver but NR looked like he couldn't even begin to put up a fight.

[escobar929]

The race was awesome, not sure how it was on tv but in person it was spectacular, can't wait for next year

[E90SLAM]

Originally Posted by escobar929

The race was awesome, not sure how it was on tv but in person it was spectacular, can't wait for next year

It was pretty good racing up and down the field.
On race day, LH just have NR covered all the time. This season NR has never won over LH on wheel to wheel battle. If my memory serves me right, When Nico won 1-2 or 1-3 over Hamilton, Lewis was either starts at P6 or behind, or even from the pitlane and had to salvage the race from mistakes or problems during qualifying.

Now both they got two DNFs during race, but Hamilton got more problems during qualifying and had to salvage the race weekend.

Can't wait to see LH win the championship this season. There's no "but", "what if", or it was because of other's unfortunates. So far Hamilton got all the obstacles in front and he handled "alright". He made his talking on the track and very convincing IMO so far.

Today, I think star of the race will be Daniel Riccairdo. That was great overtaking on Alonso and Massa or Bottas i forgot. And the Red Bull plus the Williams kept the mercedes honest. Even force Nico and Lewis to slightly alter their second pit stop and final stint strategy.

[escobar929]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

It was pretty good racing up and down the field.
On race day, LH just have NR covered all the time. This season NR has never won over LH on wheel to wheel battle. If my memory serves me right, When Nico won 1-2 or 1-3 over Hamilton, Lewis was either starts at P6 or behind, or even from the pitlane and had to salvage the race from mistakes or problems during qualifying.

Now both they got two DNFs during race, but Hamilton got more problems during qualifying and had to salvage the race weekend.

Can't wait to see LH win the championship this season. There's no "but", "what if", or it was because of other's unfortunates. So far Hamilton got all the obstacles in front and he handled "alright". He made his talking on the track and very convincing IMO so far.

Today, I think star of the race will be Daniel Riccairdo. That was great overtaking on Alonso and Massa or Bottas i forgot. And the Red Bull plus the Williams kept the mercedes honest. Even force Nico and Lewis to slightly alter their second pit stop and final stint strategy.

Yea RIC pass over Massa was great, he is a star in the making. Just don't know about the facial hair he chose for this weekend

Alonso had some great battles as well

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

Let's rekindle the tradition with the Austin/USGP Paddock Girls and females of the circuit

Perfect shot from the right angle...
Again THX for sharing my friend !

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Perfect shot from the right angle...
Again THX for sharing my friend !

LOL here's more just for you

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

LOL here's more just for you

You are the man !

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

You are the man !

So, as we know, Marussia and Caterham were out for COTA and it was the intention for them to be out for the rest of the year.
Apparently Sauber, Lotus, Force India were also complaining a LOT and threatened to not race as well.
According to Gerard Lopez from Lotus, the smaller teams are set to receive a "base payment" to help alleviate some of the issue around finances.

I don't think this will solve the issue but perhaps it's a step in the right direction. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this development!

Whatever they do, please please no 3-car teams!

[E90SLAM]

As far as I can remember, teams are allowed to be absent up to three races one season.
But back in the days when there's more than 15 teams and 30+ cars for qualifying and even "pre-qualifying". If you kinda tight on wallet, you're out immediately.

How times have changed.

[954Stealth]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

As far as I can remember, teams are allowed to be absent up to three races one season.
But back in the days when there's more than 15 teams and 30+ cars for qualifying and even "pre-qualifying". If you kinda tight on wallet, you're out immediately.

How times have changed.

There is a clause that allows for up to 3 races that can be missed, 100% agree with that.

[954Stealth]

FIA declares Perez 'reckless,' hands him a 7-Place grid penalty for Brazil.

FIA; " "The driver of car No. 11 (Perez) could not reasonably have expected to complete the manoeuvre. His collision with car No. 99 (Sutil) was reckless."

[onatuesday]

Originally Posted by 954Stealth

FIA declares Perez 'reckless,' hands him a 7-Place grid penalty for Brazil.

FIA; " "The driver of car No. 11 (Perez) could not reasonably have expected to complete the manoeuvre. His collision with car No. 99 (Sutil) was reckless."

What a shame by Perez. He had so much support from the Mexican fans this week. During the Fan Forum, every time someone would ask question, the Mexican fans would start chanting "Checo, checo, checo"

And poor Sutil. He's actually a good driver, but he just has the worse luck. Still will never forget when the Ferrari crashed into him at Monaco a few years ago after he had such an outstanding drive. His gf is pretty cute too

[JeffM-Houston]

The actual F1 race was pretty boring and went something like this.

Green flag drops
Mercedes factory cars drive away into the sunset
Other drivers don't even see the Merc's until the trophy presentation

Actually there was decent racing going on in the 6-10 spots, but nothing too exciting up front, just a couple of Merc's driving on their own.

The Ferrari challenge race Sunday was a complete waste, not a single lap completed. A wreck on the first lap, the pitiful cleanup time wasted about 4 laps, then another spin on the next fast lap. More really slow cleanup and finished under caution. So out of the total 25 minute/10 lap race perhaps 1 1/2-minutes were with the cars at racing speed. The 458's do sound really good though, even when they are just parading around the track. I was in a suite on turn 2 where both accidents happened.

[Exist]

http://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/com..._usgp_drivers/

[Terry989]

Originally Posted by JeffM-Houston

The actual F1 race was pretty boring - - -

That's been my feeling all season. The best season in recent years was 2012 when we had seven different winners in the first seven races of the season representing five different constructors.

The changes this year were to suppose to mix things up again (and introduce some new technology), but it has had the opposite effect. The Mercedes team consistently pulls out 1 sec per lap faster than the next fastest cars. Even the TV coverage usually focuses more on the mid-pack where all of the real racing is taking place since it is no longer at the front of the race.

[NickyC]

Another snoozefest. Thank goodness for fast forward so I can watch the "race" in under 15 minutes. F1 is horribad, I can't see myself sitting through a full race ever again with this format.

[SenorFunkyPants]

At least Perez got a well deserved grid penalty for that stupid move, while all Vergne got a measly 5 sec time penalty for barging Roman off the track (damaging his steering apparently), A shame for Roman who was having a great race but even worse for the Sauber driver Sutil who had hopes of their first point this season - which would have been worth $Millions to them.
The Renault guys seemed to have gained ground on the Mercedes, Ricciardo only 25 secs behind and even the Loti seemed to be looking a bit frisky.