The 2014 Spanish Grand Prix Thread

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 11 May 2014, 12:19

Oh lovely stuff from Seb

GerhardTalger · Post by **GerhardTalger** » 11 May 2014, 12:21

Wow. This is extremely boring. And I don't see this going to be any more interesting.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 11 May 2014, 12:23

GerhardTalger wrote:Wow. This is extremely boring. And I don't see this going to be any more interesting.

Wow the Mercs are a pitstop clear after just 12 laps. We need a 3 team battle at least

rachel1990 · Post by **rachel1990** » 11 May 2014, 12:23

very early stop for Vettel- Red Bull wanted to release him to the back runners???

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 11 May 2014, 12:43

Bo77as must be 2-stopping. Hopefully, if Ricciardo is 3-stopping, the Finn can get on the podium!

rachel1990 · Post by **rachel1990** » 11 May 2014, 12:56

Not exactly a lose lose today - Bottas Podium Very Happy. Riccardo Podium- Very Happy.

SgtPepper · Post by **SgtPepper** » 11 May 2014, 13:04

Very interesting radio reply from Hamilton.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 11 May 2014, 13:05

Some good overtaking from Seb. I hope this shows everyone his traffic skills aren't that bad

Gerudo Dragon · Post by **Gerudo Dragon** » 11 May 2014, 13:49

Most likeable driver 4th

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 11 May 2014, 13:57

First time all year a team other than Mercedes has come 1st in something (Vettel scored fastest lap).

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 11 May 2014, 18:35

An impressive performance from Roman Grosjean, dragging that car up to 5th in qualifying and holding on for some points in the race. I'm a little disappointed for Rosberg - I really expected him to take Hamilton at the end.

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 11 May 2014, 18:58

I have to get Sky Sports ASAP after the return of EJ. Isn't it odd how the BBC have shown no podium interviews whatsoever this year except for today's?

Obviously I have to get Sky Sports now anyway to see the Monaco GP, but the BBC coverage has driven me insane. 25 minutes of post-race coverage? (including all the podium business)

Dan B · Post by **Dan B** » 11 May 2014, 19:36

Massa says the obvious

Post by **Londoner** » 11 May 2014, 19:50

Can I remind people Maldonado still has more wins than Grosjean and Hulkenberg combined? :mrgreen:

Still, it's getting frustrating seeing him waste chance after chance. It's making it difficult to be a Maldonado supporter at the moment.

Very meh race, apart from the the final few laps. Still, I'd take Mercedes domination over Vettel domination any day of the week...

watka · Post by **watka** » 11 May 2014, 22:49

Great to see Dan Ricciardo finally get his first podium. That will be a weight off his back and I think Red Bull might actually fancy their chances in Monaco. Weird stuff can happen and its all about the low speed cornering there. Red Bull won't have to worry so much about their engine deficit.

Rusujuur · Post by **Rusujuur** » 12 May 2014, 02:44

East Londoner wrote:Can I remind people Maldonado still has more wins than Grosjean and Hulkenberg combined?

Hmm.. Never saw it this way. Oh the pain.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 12 May 2014, 06:11

Bit disappointed Bianchi got the better of Chilton, especially as, I think, Chiltons fastest lap was the quickest. Never mind, at least they both finished. Shame for Caterham, I thought they'd beat Marussia.

wsrgo · Post by **wsrgo** » 12 May 2014, 07:52

CoopsII wrote:Bit disappointed Bianchi got the better of Chilton, especially as, I think, Chiltons fastest lap was the quickest. Never mind, at least they both finished. Shame for Caterham, I thought they'd beat Marussia.

According to this Chilton did a three stop strategy as opposed to a two-stop for Bianchi, so that's expected.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 12 May 2014, 07:59

wsrgo wrote:
CoopsII wrote:Bit disappointed Bianchi got the better of Chilton, especially as, I think, Chiltons fastest lap was the quickest. Never mind, at least they both finished. Shame for Caterham, I thought they'd beat Marussia.

According to this Chilton did a three stop strategy as opposed to a two-stop for Bianchi, so that's expected.

Thanks for that, maybe it was mentioned but I missed it in any case

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 12 May 2014, 10:21

pasta_maldonado wrote:
dr-baker wrote:
tristan1117 wrote:I wasn't able to watch qualifying because of a track meet.
That's no excuse. I was at Brands Hatch today for a Mini Festival and I watched qualifying - 2 TVs, one showing Sky, the other showing BBC, and I had BBC R5 Live in my ear. Plus one of the racers in his racesuit was following the TV coverage as well...

Surprised you wasn't on uni placement, baker.

Nah, that won't be until July and August... But it was worth going to the Mini Festival in my Mini. I had the opportunity to drive 3 laps of the Indy configuration in a Mini parade. Limited to max. 50 mph, but first time that I've been onto a dedicated race track. Driving the Manx TT track and the Col de Turini rally stage were great, but this was something else. Really want to go and do a proper track day now...

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 12 May 2014, 13:33

Hamilton's statements that he's 'struggling' sound somewhat familiar...

dragonsteincole · Post by **dragonsteincole** » 12 May 2014, 15:06

Salamander wrote:Hamilton's statements that he's 'struggling' sound somewhat familiar...

I wish he would get punched by an onlooker, every single radio message from him was moaning about one thing or the other or just moaning at his race engineer. For someone who's doing pretty bloody well this year he looks like a miserable sod most of the time.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 12 May 2014, 15:12

Benson wrote this pearl of F1 knowledge based on what I can only call as 'facts':

Andrew Benson wrote:And then as now, the out-and-out fastest driver of the era was in one of the cars, and quickly established himself as the championship favourite.
Hamilton finds himself in the Senna role; Rosberg the Prost, a driver not as exceptionally gifted but who, on the occasions he can get the car set-up to his liking, is able to challenge and sometimes beat his opponent.

This was to draw parallelism with Senna and Prost in the 80s. The only educated comment I can make is that we were lucky. Imagine if Prost was actually 'exceptionally gifted'. He would have probably won all the titles whenever his car was remotely competitive. Even in 91. Because 4 titles is certainly the maximum achievable by someone who can only get the set-up on occ... Sorry, I refuse to further commentate on this.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 12 May 2014, 15:30

dragonsteincole wrote:
Salamandein men wrote:Hamilton's statements that he's 'struggling' sound somewhat familiar...

I wish he would get punched by an onlooker, every single radio message from him was moaning about one thing or the other or just moaning at his race engineer. For someone who's doing pretty bloody well this year he looks like a miserable sod most of the time.

Yeah, what was that all about? The cynic in me wonders if that was to downplay the dominance that the Mercs have clearly got. Perhaps they're wary of the negativity Red Bull attracted by being very good at Formula 1 (how very dare they!).

Post by **Londoner** » 12 May 2014, 15:45

Can't believe no-one's mentioned it until now, but we have our third unrejectification of the season. Congrats to Valtteri Bottas, whose 5th place moved him out of Reject status. Good on the lad.

Post by **mario** » 12 May 2014, 17:31

DanielPT wrote:Benson wrote this pearl of F1 knowledge based on what I can only call as 'facts':

Andrew Benson wrote:And then as now, the out-and-out fastest driver of the era was in one of the cars, and quickly established himself as the championship favourite.
Hamilton finds himself in the Senna role; Rosberg the Prost, a driver not as exceptionally gifted but who, on the occasions he can get the car set-up to his liking, is able to challenge and sometimes beat his opponent.

This was to draw parallelism with Senna and Prost in the 80s. The only educated comment I can make is that we were lucky. Imagine if Prost was actually 'exceptionally gifted'. He would have probably won all the titles whenever his car was remotely competitive. Even in 91. Because 4 titles is certainly the maximum achievable by someone who can only get the set-up on occ... Sorry, I refuse to further commentate on this.

Whilst I think that the comment was meant to imply that Rosberg does not have the raw performance capacity of Hamilton, I do agree that Benson's comment undercuts the ability of both Prost and Rosberg (for what it is worth, I don't think that Rosberg is that much slower than Hamilton).

Furthermore, to be honest the relationship between Hamilton and Rosberg, plus between those drivers and the team, is rather different to Prost and Senna - for a start, Rosberg and Hamilton have spent a large chunk of their junior careers competing with, and working with, each other, leading to a (currently) much more cordial relationship than Prost and Senna seemed to have had during their time together. I know that, with Senna's legacy being so high profile this year, that the temptation to recall that old clash - particularly given Hamilton's public wish to try to match what Senna achieved - is considerable, but the dynamics are just not the same as in the 1980's.

SgtPepper · Post by **SgtPepper** » 12 May 2014, 17:33

DanielPT wrote:Benson wrote this pearl of F1 knowledge based on what I can only call as 'facts':

Andrew Benson wrote:And then as now, the out-and-out fastest driver of the era was in one of the cars, and quickly established himself as the championship favourite.
Hamilton finds himself in the Senna role; Rosberg the Prost, a driver not as exceptionally gifted but who, on the occasions he can get the car set-up to his liking, is able to challenge and sometimes beat his opponent.

lgaquino · Post by **lgaquino** » 13 May 2014, 11:37

dragonsteincole wrote:
Salamander wrote:Hamilton's statements that he's 'struggling' sound somewhat familiar...

I wish he would get punched by an onlooker, every single radio message from him was moaning about one thing or the other or just moaning at his race engineer. For someone who's doing pretty bloody well this year he looks like a miserable sod most of the time.

I see this as mind games, frankly. "If he's able to win while struggling with the car, imagine what he can do when he's totally confortable with it!" -- is what he probably wants Rosberg to think

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 13 May 2014, 11:51

DanielPT wrote:Benson wrote this pearl of F1 knowledge based on what I can only call as 'facts':

Andrew Benson wrote:And then as now, the out-and-out fastest driver of the era was in one of the cars, and quickly established himself as the championship favourite.
Hamilton finds himself in the Senna role; Rosberg the Prost, a driver not as exceptionally gifted but who, on the occasions he can get the car set-up to his liking, is able to challenge and sometimes beat his opponent.

This was to draw parallelism with Senna and Prost in the 80s. The only educated comment I can make is that we were lucky. Imagine if Prost was actually 'exceptionally gifted'. He would have probably won all the titles whenever his car was remotely competitive. Even in 91. Because 4 titles is certainly the maximum achievable by someone who can only get the set-up on occ... Sorry, I refuse to further commentate on this.

[Editor's Note: The post of the user Klon responding to the quote in DanielPT's post has been removed due to being an incoherent clutter of rage and death threats]

watka · Post by **watka** » 13 May 2014, 12:24

East Londoner wrote:Can't believe no-one's mentioned it until now, but we have our third unrejectification of the season. Congrats to Valtteri Bottas, whose 5th place moved him out of Reject status. Good on the lad.

I find it pretty difficult to follow whose been unrejectified these days due to the points system being different. There are lots of drivers that are still in reject status that I don't see as rejects because they get points every now and then; Vergne is probably the one that springs to mind first. Given the current age of reliability it is pretty difficult to judge rejectdom between eras, it is that much harder to get a 4th/5th/6th now than it was in the 1990s and previous

Andrew Benson wrote:And then as now, the out-and-out fastest driver of the era was in one of the cars, and quickly established himself as the championship favourite.
Hamilton finds himself in the Senna role; Rosberg the Prost, a driver not as exceptionally gifted but who, on the occasions he can get the car set-up to his liking, is able to challenge and sometimes beat his opponent.

How lazy is this journalism? Yes, Hamilton has more raw speed than Rosberg but that is where the similarities end. If you're going to compare anyone to Prost, make it Button. As for "sometimes" beating his opponent, Prost never failed to outscore his teammates over the course of his career (if no results are dropped). 1991 is the only season where he was comprehensively beaten by Senna.

lgaquino · Post by **lgaquino** » 14 May 2014, 11:48

watka wrote:1991 is the only season where he was comprehensively beaten by Senna.

Which is no surprise given that the ferrari wasn't even close to the mclarens. And prost left before the season's end (missed two races?..or just one)

Bleu · Post by **Bleu** » 14 May 2014, 17:45

lgaquino wrote:
watka wrote:1991 is the only season where he was comprehensively beaten by Senna.

Which is no surprise given that the ferrari wasn't even close to the mclarens. And prost left before the season's end (missed two races?..or just one)

He was sacked with one race to go. However, he had DNS in Imola. His most rejectworthy event of his career:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREfjN-BbAM

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 14 May 2014, 20:15

Kvyat's good.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 14 May 2014, 20:42

Bleu wrote:
lgaquino wrote:
watka wrote:1991 is the only season where he was comprehensively beaten by Senna.

Which is no surprise given that the ferrari wasn't even close to the mclarens. And prost left before the season's end (missed two races?..or just one)

He was sacked with one race to go. However, he had DNS in Imola. His most rejectworthy event of his career:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cREfjN-BbAM

That's one of only 2 times i've ever seen footage of him losing control of a car, the other being Monaco '82.

The guy was phenomenal behind the wheel.

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 14 May 2014, 20:47

FullMetalJack wrote:That's one of only 2 times i've ever seen footage of him losing control of a car, the other being Monaco '82.

The guy was phenomenal behind the wheel.

He also lost control in Brazil '93, although he was on the wrong tyres in heavy rain. Then again, it was almost as bad as at Imola. Checking his DNF record, he crashed in the wet in Estoril '85.

TomPryce wrote:Kvyat deserves a top drive more than others right now.

Then again, we probably would have said the same about Van de God... the Algesaurus...

I've been recording the fastest lap progression in every race so far and in both Malaysia and Bahrain, Kyvat set the provisional fastest lap just after pitting for new tyres. Given that he was driving the 7th/8th best car in the field at that, it suggests he's one of the fastest if not the fastest on the grid on new tyres. Some drivers such as the Force India drivers have done the same, but in faster cars and not as often. That might be Kvyat's greatest strength as a driver.

TomPryce · Post by **TomPryce** » 14 May 2014, 20:48

shinji wrote:Kvyat's good.

Kvyat deserves a top drive more than others right now.

Then again, we probably would have said the same about Van de God... the Algesaurus...

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 16 May 2014, 02:14

shinji wrote:Kvyat's good.

That proves:

1) Kvyat is a boss at the wheel of an F1 car. Calm and collected. Which means he's on equal points with JEV.

2) Just how bad the Sauber is. Not much to say there.

Post by **mario** » 16 May 2014, 05:34

go_Rubens wrote:
shinji wrote:Kvyat's good.

That proves:

1) Kvyat is a boss at the wheel of an F1 car. Calm and collected. Which means he's on equal points with JEV.

2) Just how bad the Sauber is. Not much to say there.

True - whilst it is a bold move to have pulled off, it's also a sign of how Sauber are struggling if Kvyat could drive right around the outside of Gutierrez.

watka · Post by **watka** » 16 May 2014, 12:38

go_Rubens wrote:
shinji wrote:Kvyat's good.

That proves:

1) Kvyat is a boss at the wheel of an F1 car. Calm and collected. Which means he's on equal points with JEV.

2) Just how bad the Sauber is. Not much to say there.

Funny that you should say Kvyat is calm and collected at the wheel because there were plenty of reports in the early races that he was panicking to do all of his pre-race checks and wasn't comfortable with the complexity of an F1 steering wheel. It's true to say that he seems to have really good racing instinct though.