The Official 2015 F1 thread

[scammy]

They are running it at 150hp less than the rest just watching trackside live and Jonny Herbet, Damon Hill and Martin Brundle discussing the issues ith McLaren. I dont know when they started on the engine but they are behind by a long way

Magnussens engine just exploded so it gets better with 20min to go and a Red Bull stuck on track so grid down to 15

 

[fastaussie]

I'm sure they won't be racing for a podium (hope I'm wrong) but I think a reasonable expectation would be for them both to finish.

wow, that didn't take long for that hope to be blown away. they'll be lucky to have one car finish? this is shocking...

 

[Hugh]

 

[scammy]

Hell in this article they say the McLaren was down by 250hp just to make it home
http://www.grandprix247.com/2015/03/15/honda-needs-alonso-more-than-ever-says-salo/

 

[fastaussie]

a very inauspicious return to Formula 1. it's not looking good at all, really hard to believe. I didn't expect McLaren/Honda to be fighting for the podium, but I certainly didn't expect that embarrassing result. dead last...

 

[Ric]

They have nowhere to go but up. How far up is another story.

 

[Sandro]

Button said they are preatty good in curves but there is still lot to do.What I heard (in our race transmission)they run 150 hp less.

 

[Midnight_Raven]

It's obvious they were going to be in the back starting this year considering how little they ran in testing and practice. On a positive note Jenson mentioned that in terms of cornering speed the car was actually able to corner just as fast as some of the other teams so if they every get the engines to full power I wonder how it will stack in respect to the other teams. If they really ran 250hp less today they could be actually running up their with the rest of them by the end of the year once all the issues are resolved. Hopefully they get some of this reliability issue resolve so they can bump up the power output of their PU sooner than later. Now to look forward to Malaysia.

 

[Ponyboy]

Who is the man that said, "Success is 99% failure."?

 

[Hugh]

I know you guys are currently watching the NASCAR race at Phoenix right now and telling yourselves "why can't F1 be as exciting to watch?" :biggrin:
F1 used to be exciting and competitive. Now it's nothing more than a traveling R&D roadshow for testing emerging automotive technologies. A shame really. And those trophies they gave out in Australia! Serioiusly now, how cheap can you get. They looked like stainless steel salad bowls from Walmart. LOL. At least show a little imagination like these guys.

 

[Ponyboy]

Go start a NASCAR thread. I'm sure you'll enjoy posting in it.

 

[solidol]

They looked like stainless steel salad bowls from Walmart. LOL.

Go start a NASCAR thread. I'm sure you'll enjoy posting in it.

So much irony here. Salad bowl for trophies versus whole sport around the idea of racing in the bowl :biggrin:

 

[liftnot]

McLaren is not the only one.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/118081

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has warned that the Austrian firm could pull out of Formula 1, claiming that the current regulations "will kill the sport".
Four-time world championship-winning outfit Red Bull endured a tough weekend in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with Daniel Ricciardo coming home a distant sixthand Daniil Kvyat's car failing before the start.
Its team boss Christian Horner claimed after the race that F1 chiefs should consider taking action to equalise the performance of the current engines, and Marko said that Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz could lose interest in the sport.
"We will evaluate the situation again [in the summer] as every year and look into costs and revenues," Marko told Austrian media in Melbourne.
"If we are totally dissatisfied we could contemplate an F1 exit.
"Yes, the danger is there that Mr Mateschitz loses his passion for F1."
Marko hit out at the state of the current regulations, which Mercedes has dominated since they were introduced for 2014.
"These power units are the wrong solution for F1, and we would say this even if [Red Bull supplier] Renault were in the lead," he added.
"The technical rules are not understandable, much too complicated, and too expensive.
"We are governed by an engineers' formula. We wanted cost reduction too, but it is not happening like this.
"A designer like Adrian Newey [who is stepping back from F1] is castrated by this engine formula. These rules will kill the sport."
Red Bull's exit would have serious ramifications for F1 as Mateschitz owns the Toro Rosso team as well.
However, the Austrian firm has a contract with the sport's bosses that commits it to the world championship until at least 2020.

 

[SFNSXguy]

Happy to see LH win another GP. Too bad everyone else doesn't do their homework as well as MB.

 

[Hugh]

Go start a NASCAR thread. I'm sure you'll enjoy posting in it.

Not nearly as much fun as ruffling F1 fanboy feathers in here.

 

[Bram]

The Merc`s are way ahead of everyone....The F cars seem to have gain the most of all the other teams on the Grid. With McLaren-Honda down on Power, I sure hope they will be competitive soon, but they have a mighty hill to climb.

Like your quote Sean....Sucess is 99% failure. Mr Honda himself

Bram

 

[JD Cross]

Not nearly as much fun as ruffling F1 fanboy feathers in here.

Easy to be critical of F1 at the moment.

However consider Honda.
Have entered the highest profile and most complicated engine formula on the planet.
They've made every part in the power unit.
Their performance deficit is on display for the world to see.
For a proud company this must be extraordinarily difficult and take enormous courage.
The power unit competition is this very rare air between Fiat/Chrysler, Mercedes, Renault/Nissan, and Honda is alone worth the price of admission.

NASCAR on the other hand runs pushrod engines, generic body shapes and in a "Chevrolet" Team there is not a single part in the car made by GM.
And the commentators describe events not by manufacturer, not by team name, not by driver, but by car number.
Can't figure out why any manufacturer would put money into NASCAR.

Better to have a flawed F1 but get to watch as each power unit manufacturer and race car constructor put their best efforts into making gains or losses in the full view of the world.
It's the major leagues.

 

[Ponyboy]

Some reports list McHonda as tuning down the engine at 150hp to aid in reliability. If that's true, once they figure out reliability issues and get to tune the engine up, they should be able to fight with Williams and Ferrari on power alone.

By the end of the season, dare I say, the McHonda should be pretty good. Of course, that's if they don't implode from team strife on the way there.

 

[Miner]

Interesting race. The usual group of first race of the season failures. Honda is a dog. Renault is a dog too.
The cars look better this year. Sauber really changed the livery, and McLaren cars not as distinctive as they used to be.
Good to see Ferrari on the podium.

 

[fastaussie]

I know you guys are currently watching the NASCAR race at Phoenix right now and telling yourselves "why can't F1 be as exciting to watch?"

HA! I seriously hope that was a joke? seriously.

from this forum, i reckon you'd be the only one watching NASCAR mate.

as a professional member of/in the center of the zombie apocalypse and a former professional road racer, I don't consider NASCAR to be racing. a series where you drive around in a large circle (or oval if you prefer?) turning in only one direction (in a car set up to turn only that direction), rarely changing gears, hardly using the brakes, and bumping everyone out of the way to pass, I personally just can't compare a proper international road course racing series with top tier cutting edge technology to pushrod engines and 4000 lbs. cars.

don't get me wrong, I preferred the wail of the stratospheric revving normally aspirated engines of old, and there certainly have been better years for competitive racing in F1. but as someone who has personally been around Daytona (the entire track, infield and banking) at speeds of 200 mph, and knowing that theoretically a banked oval is a straight road, my own personal theory on the reason for so many crashes in NASCAR is as follows. I don’t remember where I found this, but I'm absolutely certain this is a verbatim excerpt taken directly from the NASCAR sanctioning body's rulebook:

Each driver, and spotter, of each NASCAR team must consume no less than one (1) full six pack (per stated individual) of their car's personal beer sponsor immediately prior to the start of each race. If said team's sponsor is a "light beer" then the driver must consume no less than 9 full beers, while the spotter may still consume the mandatory minimum 6 beers of either full, medium, or light strength. If the team sponsor is a liquor or wine company, then aforementioned driver and spotter must each consume the same minimum 6 quantities of full strength alcoholic beverage. Same rules apply whether alcoholic sponsor is a primary or minor sponsor of said team. Personal driver alcoholic sponsorship must also abide by these rules and volume consumption.

All consumption must be finished within 15 minutes of the beginning of race warm-up lap, otherwise driver and car will be subject to disqualification from said event. Further fines and disqualification from future events may also be assessed. Any violations, infractions, infringements or breaches of rules outlined by any team members, active or reserve, will therefor be grounds for immediate suspension from racing. Immediate suspension from racing for driver and/or spotter will occur if either team members pass their pre-race breathalyser test.

p.s. if you want to see really competitive and non-antiquated stock car racing, check out the Aussie V8 Supercar series :wink:

 

[Hugh]

Of course I was fooling around fastaussie. To an extent however. Aussie V8 series rocks as does any form of IMSA/Rolex sports car road racing. my favorite racing to watch is the Japanese JGTC now called Super GT of course. All of the aforementioned series (including NASCAR) are much more entertaining than F1. The only time they "race" in a F1 event is at the start and 80% of the time they can't even get that right. After the start, there is virtually no passing and the boredom quickly sets in. It really is nothing more than a showcase for cutting edge technologies. That, I am dead serious about.

 

[fastaussie]

I wouldn't say "virtually no passing". a hell of a lot of passing still happens, your memory is short if you can't recall. even last year there were still good battles and heaps of passing throughout a lot of races. if you go back to the last few years of the non-hybrid engines there was a lot of passing also.

as for NASCAR, I really can't understand how anyone can watch it.

unfortunately the Red Bull era of domination transitioned right into the Mercedes era of domination. that definitely sucks...

 

[sadlerau]

There have always been periods of domination by certain teams. Recently Red Bull, before that it was Ferrari, before that Benetton, before that McLaren/Honda, but that one was OK, even a little short as it only lasted 4 or 5 years

 

[Ponyboy]

I'm sure I'm alone in this…but I don't mind watching NASCAR at all. Particularly the road races. Those guys have phenomenal car control and there's a huge amount of engineering involved. Dated engine tech but the engineering is still there in the engine and in other places.

Super GT is a joke with the weight ballast punishment processes that affect the race results. Great cars but you never know what their true performance capability is because of the weight system. It feels gimmicky.

 

[fastaussie]

don't the ex-open wheel racing guys and Marcos Ambrose usually smash the regular NASCAR field on the road courses?