2014 Austrian Grand Prix Discussion Thread

SgtPepper · Post by **SgtPepper** » 22 Jun 2014, 14:06

good_Ralf wrote:
DonTirri wrote:Has Nico finally gotten the upper hand on Lewis? Seems so, atleast on the mental side of things.

When he shouted to the crowd in German in a very enthusiastic manner, I feel as though Nico was trying to psychologically bury Lewis, since Hamilton can't speak German (as far as I know!).

I'd have to disagree. Even when he comes second, Nico seems to absolutely love playing up to the crowds on the podium.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 22 Jun 2014, 14:19

good_Ralf wrote: When he shouted to the crowd in German in a very enthusiastic manner, I feel as though Nico was trying to psychologically bury Lewis, since Hamilton can't speak German (as far as I know!).

I kind of agree with you in that Nico might be playing the card of
"Look at me, I had a priviliged upbringing growing up in Monaco and on luxurious yachts and I am very sophisticated, educated and
an accomplished linguist to boot."

Nico did the same in Canada. But in French that time;
http://youtu.be/rf_qFydZg3A

Also I tried to find information on the podium trophies but came up short.
What do they represent? It's the first time I've seen those in Austria, in '97-'03 they looked like any
other generic trophies. These were quite different.

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 22 Jun 2014, 16:00

A moment I've waited to see for about a year.

lgaquino · Post by **lgaquino** » 22 Jun 2014, 16:54

According to Ted's Notebook, Williams never really tried to fight the mercs for the win, but rather raced their own race to score the biggest point haul they could.
That would explain why they didn't counter mercs' pitstops on the 1st stint. 8-)

...but then again, that also something very easy to say after you've lost the race. :lol:

Still, happy for Bottas!

I'm a bit concerned for the Hulk. Wonder if it's that time again in the season where he disappear, only to find MEGA pace in the end ..

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 22 Jun 2014, 17:14

Did anybody else notice that there appeared to be ladies with actual flags just above and behind the podium today? I noticed as the camera panned out after the podium interviews.

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 22 Jun 2014, 17:17

A month ago it looked like Hamilton would run away with the title. Now it's the other way around. I love it!

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 22 Jun 2014, 17:32

A shame Williams couldn't hold on to the win, although that always seemed unlikely. I'm glad they held on for a good haul of points and a podium, though, and that Rosberg extended his championship lead.

Post by **Londoner** » 22 Jun 2014, 18:48

Someone's a bit frustrated with Renault...

Post by **mario** » 22 Jun 2014, 19:52

lgaquino wrote:According to Ted's Notebook, Williams never really tried to fight the mercs for the win, but rather raced their own race to score the biggest point haul they could.
That would explain why they didn't counter mercs' pitstops on the 1st stint.
...but then again, that also something very easy to say after you've lost the race.

Still, happy for Bottas!

I'm a bit concerned for the Hulk. Wonder if it's that time again in the season where he disappear, only to find MEGA pace in the end ..

Hulkenberg has dipped a bit in recent races, and that slight drop in form could potentially be costing him - there was a report going round in the German press suggesting that Hulkenberg had been offering his services to McLaren for 2015, only to be rebuffed once again. It always seems to be the case that Hlukenberg puts in his best performances at just the wrong times of the season to impress the larger teams; that said, right now you would have to wonder if going to McLaren would be a step up or a step down given their recent form (if you'd asked me the same question a few years ago, I wouldn't have thought that I'd be saying this).

East Londoner wrote:Someone's a bit frustrated with Renault...

I can understand some frustration creeping in given that Red Bull, and Vettel in particular, have been having serious reliability issues.

Renault have basically admitted that, with Vettel having already used his full allocation for the energy recovery system control units, he will either have to re-use earlier units - which will potentially leave him slightly down on power and with slightly worse drivability - or he will have to take grid penalties in the later stages of the season. Neither option is exactly ideal for Vettel, and whilst Ricciardo is a little better off right now, he's also gone through his allocation more rapidly than the team would like and may start paying for that later in the year.

However, lashing out at Renault in such a public manner is not a good way of addressing those matter - it's not exactly good for the relationship between the two parties, and not all of the issues seem to be solely down to Renault either (to a certain extent, it does seem as if some of the issues with the electronics are self inflicted).
You could also argue that, to a certain extent, it's a risky strategy for Red Bull to take right now - if Renault are sufficiently antagonised to pull the plug, you can bet that neither Ferrari nor Mercedes will be rushing to fill the gap. With Honda the only other possible alternative - and a rather unproven one - Renault to a certain extent have the better negotiating position, so you wouldn't want to provoke them too much.

FMecha · Post by **FMecha** » 22 Jun 2014, 19:56

I always thought that FIA should have allowed Renault to make changes to the engine early in the season IIRC.

LellaLombardi · Post by **LellaLombardi** » 22 Jun 2014, 20:44

The Hulk can't afford a mid season slump this time, Di Resta and Gutierrez were never that much of a threat to his status, but Perez will be.

I'm really enjoying the midfield battles and it's nice to see Force India and Williams outshining McLaren and Ferrari. If only we had the 2012 edition Sauber in the mix too. What I really want to see next though is one of these teams consistently running near the front.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 23 Jun 2014, 06:06

A great race at a great venue, it'll probably be canned and replaced with a Tilkedrome very soon.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 23 Jun 2014, 06:39

CoopsII wrote:A great race at a great venue, it'll probably be canned and replaced with a Tilkedrome very soon.

Umm, the A1 Ring redesign in 1995-96 was done by Tilke :lol:

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 23 Jun 2014, 06:42

AustralianStig wrote:
CoopsII wrote:A great race at a great venue, it'll probably be canned and replaced with a Tilkedrome very soon.

Umm, the A1 Ring redesign in 1995-96 was done by Tilke

Sod off, you know what I mean

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 23 Jun 2014, 12:05

CoopsII wrote:
AustralianStig wrote:
CoopsII wrote:A great race at a great venue, it'll probably be canned and replaced with a Tilkedrome very soon.

Umm, the A1 Ring redesign in 1995-96 was done by Tilke

Sod off, you know what I mean

You'd be forgiven for not realising it's a Tilkedrome, simply because it's actually good.

Fetzie · Post by **Fetzie** » 23 Jun 2014, 12:19

FMecha wrote:I always thought that FIA should have allowed Renault to make changes to the engine early in the season IIRC.

If they allowed Renault to make performance-increasing changes to the engine specification, then they would have had to allow Mercedes and Ferrari to do the same.

Also, while the other Renault teams are down on power compared to Mercedes powered cars, if it were all down to the engine then surely every team with a Renault enginge would be dropping out of Grand Prix at the same rate that Red Bull has been, but that isn't the case.

Eifelland · Post by **Eifelland** » 23 Jun 2014, 12:38

FullMetalJack wrote:You'd be forgiven for not realising it's a Tilkedrome, simply because it's actually good.

This, and Canada are my two favourite simulator tracks by a long way.

Post by **mario** » 23 Jun 2014, 17:48

Fetzie wrote:
FMecha wrote:I always thought that FIA should have allowed Renault to make changes to the engine early in the season IIRC.

If they allowed Renault to make performance-increasing changes to the engine specification, then they would have had to allow Mercedes and Ferrari to do the same.

Also, while the other Renault teams are down on power compared to Mercedes powered cars, if it were all down to the engine then surely every team with a Renault enginge would be dropping out of Grand Prix at the same rate that Red Bull has been, but that isn't the case.

I believe that Renault were allowed to make some software changes and modify some of the control unit electronics for their energy recovery system earlier in the season. It's one of those things where the change was made on genuine reliability grounds, but has the side effect of increasing the power of their powertrain through allowing the Renault teams to run with a slightly more aggressive setting for the motor generator unit.

LionZoo · Post by **LionZoo** » 23 Jun 2014, 21:24

Interesting that people thought the race was a great race. I thought it was rather boring compared to what we had previously. In my opinion, it was more tense than exciting, always promising action right around the corner, but never delivering.

watka · Post by **watka** » 23 Jun 2014, 23:09

Great to see Williams in the mix but a shame they went conservative on the tyres to get points over glory. They should have split the strategies and bought one car in early and left the other out. At least if the early stopper ran into trouble they could have held up the Mercedes to give the second car a chance.

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 23 Jun 2014, 23:48

LionZoo wrote:Interesting that people thought the race was a great race. I thought it was rather boring compared to what we had previously. In my opinion, it was more tense than exciting, always promising action right around the corner, but never delivering.

I thought this race was abysmal, honestly. I think if people remove their rose-colored glasses and get over the excitement of the Red Bull Ring being a "classic track", they'll realize this race was craptastic. If I was sitting on my couch watching this race, I probably would have fallen asleep. I had the urge to fall asleep, too, not even Ben Edwards could make this one exciting.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 24 Jun 2014, 00:11

Agreed, once it was clear that Williams weren't going to challenge for the win there wasn't much that was interesting about the race except for Hamilton's battle through the field, which was made pretty easy with the Mercedes' pace.

Having said that, I'm still really enjoying this season - dominance doesn't always equal boring in my opinion.

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 24 Jun 2014, 00:44

The first half of the race was actually pretty good. But once it appeared that Williams weren't going for all out victory, and Mercedes took control of the front of the field, the race quickly became dull and was only livened by Vettel being an idiot, Pérez's charge (which the TV director seemed not to care much about), Hamilton's charge, and the hilariously awful CGI graphic. :lol:

Mark Webber wasn't that good with the podium interviews, but then again, who is? :lol:

Nice to see him up there though.

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 24 Jun 2014, 05:38

Was this the first race where another team with both it's drivers we're genuinely fighting the Mercs? It was so nice to see the two Williams cars leading the field just ahead of the two Mercs at the beginning with everyone else floundering. It was like F1 went: 'Ok Williams. For this race, your going to be a second quicker than normal. Have fun!'.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 24 Jun 2014, 06:29

Cynon wrote:
LionZoo wrote:Interesting that people thought the race was a great race. I thought it was rather boring compared to what we had previously. In my opinion, it was more tense than exciting, always promising action right around the corner, but never delivering.

I thought this race was abysmal, honestly. I think if people remove their rose-colored glasses and get over the excitement of the Red Bull Ring being a "classic track", they'll realize this race was craptastic. If I was sitting on my couch watching this race, I probably would have fallen asleep. I had the urge to fall asleep, too, not even Ben Edwards could make this one exciting.

Well that's just, like, your opinion, man. There were three on-track battles at the end of the race, and two of them ended in an overtake - sure, the final stint had little else going on before that, but it was slowly building up to it.

Post by **Londoner** » 24 Jun 2014, 08:12

Cynon wrote:
LionZoo wrote:Interesting that people thought the race was a great race. I thought it was rather boring compared to what we had previously. In my opinion, it was more tense than exciting, always promising action right around the corner, but never delivering.

I thought this race was abysmal, honestly. I think if people remove their rose-colored glasses and get over the excitement of the Red Bull Ring being a "classic track", they'll realize this race was craptastic. If I was sitting on my couch watching this race, I probably would have fallen asleep. I had the urge to fall asleep, too, not even Ben Edwards could make this one exciting.

Whilst it wasn't the best race this season, it was still much better than the vast majority of the races from last season. There was enough intrigue and action to keep me interested.

Post by **tommykl** » 24 Jun 2014, 08:50

East Londoner wrote:
Cynon wrote:
LionZoo wrote:Interesting that people thought the race was a great race. I thought it was rather boring compared to what we had previously. In my opinion, it was more tense than exciting, always promising action right around the corner, but never delivering.

I thought this race was abysmal, honestly. I think if people remove their rose-colored glasses and get over the excitement of the Red Bull Ring being a "classic track", they'll realize this race was craptastic. If I was sitting on my couch watching this race, I probably would have fallen asleep. I had the urge to fall asleep, too, not even Ben Edwards could make this one exciting.

Whilst it wasn't the best race this season, it was still much better than the vast majority of the races from last season. There was enough intrigue and action to keep me interested.

Indeed. On any track, two cars with similar performance and similar strategy won't result in an overtake, simply because you won't have a big enough gap in speed. It has nothing to do with the circuit.

razta · Post by **razta** » 27 Jun 2014, 05:33

Jocke1 wrote:
good_Ralf wrote: When he shouted to the crowd in German in a very enthusiastic manner, I feel as though Nico was trying to psychologically bury Lewis, since Hamilton can't speak German (as far as I know!).

I kind of agree with you in that Nico might be playing the card of
"Look at me, I had a priviliged upbringing growing up in Monaco and on luxurious yachts and I am very sophisticated, educated and
an accomplished linguist to boot."

Nico did the same in Canada. But in French that time;
http://youtu.be/rf_qFydZg3A

Also I tried to find information on the podium trophies but came up short.
What do they represent? It's the first time I've seen those in Austria, in '97-'03 they looked like any
other generic trophies. These were quite different.

How many languages does he speak?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzoTelEmSkI this cracked me up :lol:

"LEWIS?!" that face

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 27 Jun 2014, 05:59

razta wrote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzoTelEmSkI this cracked me up "LEWIS?!" that face

Apologies for the HWNSNBM-language subtitles and the retarded shake fix on the video

Here, have a proper quality version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo2HhUlKmH8

Here is the exact script of their conversation:

Reporter: Lewis, arrivi qui con...
Nico: Lewis?! Porca troia!
Reporter: Scusa!
Nico: Vacca boia, lewis...?! Cazzo no. Come facciamo?
Reporter: Posso ricominciare?
Nico: Ma siamo così simili?
Reporter: No
Nico Lewis..?! Come ti chiamo a te, per avere un effetto simile?
Reporter: Non so vuoi chiamarmi Antonio?
Nico: Antonio?? ahahha

Reporter: Lewis, you came here with...
Nico: Lewis?! Holy shite!
Reporter: Sorry!!
Nico: Holy shite, lewis...?! bathplug no. How we do?
Reporter: Can i start again?
Nico: But we are so similar?
Reporter: No
Nico Lewis..?! How do i call you, to have a similar effect?
Reporter: I don't know, would you call me Antonio?

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 27 Jun 2014, 15:29

razta wrote: How many languages does he speak?

English (obviously)
German - http://youtu.be/C4krRjr_rMw?t=8s
Italian - http://youtu.be/7HcmkOh2c4c?t=7s
Spanish - http://youtu.be/2zigegQNE5g?t=29s http://youtu.be/ai97qW_v31w?t=11s
French - http://youtu.be/rf_qFydZg3A?t=11s

Finnish? Couldn't find any.

It's http://youtu.be/uvUL28Skt6E

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 27 Jun 2014, 16:05

It's been explicitly mentioned several times, by himself and by commentators in quiet parts of practice sessions, that he does not speak Finnish.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 27 Jun 2014, 16:11

According to someone;

Rosberg speaks fluent German, English, Italian, Spanish and French but only a little Finnish, though he is learning the language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_Rosberg

LellaLombardi · Post by **LellaLombardi** » 27 Jun 2014, 20:43

Jocke1 wrote:According to someone;
Rosberg speaks fluent German, English, Italian, Spanish and French but only a little Finnish, though he is learning the language.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_Rosberg

This speaks volumes, as it were. I very much doubt Hamilton has the capacity to learn six languages even if he wanted to.

girry · Post by **girry** » 28 Jun 2014, 09:23

Rosberg was born in an environment where he had to learn three languages, and his dad made him learn Italian, too; as opposed to Hamilton who's ever only really needed English. Tbh, I don't think that speaks much about Hamilton - or do the likes of Ricciardo, di Resta, Button, Chilton, Webber, etc. speak more than one language?

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 28 Jun 2014, 09:43

Hamilton speaks two languages, though. English and Bling-Bling.

Post by **mario** » 28 Jun 2014, 11:27

giraurd wrote:Rosberg was born in an environment where he had to learn three languages, and his dad made him learn Italian, too; as opposed to Hamilton who's ever only really needed English. Tbh, I don't think that speaks much about Hamilton - or do the likes of Ricciardo, di Resta, Button, Chilton, Webber, etc. speak more than one language?

Rosberg is also a little unusual in that he actively considered becoming an engineer - he applied for, and was offered, a place at Imperial College London to study aeronautical engineering, but turned that down to focus on his racing career instead. To a certain extent, he therefore has a more developed academic background that a number of drivers on the grid, which is probably also reflected in the way he has been able to learn multiple languages.

In the case of Button, I believe that he speaks a little bit of Japanese (which he has learnt from his partner) - as for the others, I believe di Resta speaks some Italian as a consequence of his family connections, but apart from that I do not know what languages the other drivers you listed might speak.

SgtPepper · Post by **SgtPepper** » 28 Jun 2014, 12:18

mario wrote:In the case of Button, I believe that he speaks a little bit of Japanese (which he has learnt from his partner).

Jenson's Japanese skills.

DonTirri · Post by **DonTirri** » 30 Jun 2014, 10:07

SgtPepper wrote:
mario wrote:In the case of Button, I believe that he speaks a little bit of Japanese (which he has learnt from his partner).

Jenson's Japanese skills.

Japanese is an odd language, where there is a CRAPLOAD of imported words that have NO japanese equialent whatsoever. I mean, they have a complete set of alphabet meant exclusively for imported words (Katakana)

Really. Speaking and understanding Japan. Thats easy. Writing and reading? Now THAT's hard.
(Studied japan for 3 years. Gave up when we started focusing on the goddamn Kanji... :E)

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 05 Jul 2014, 07:58

So, it turns out that the titanium skid plates are actually being introduced for a good reason and not just to make F1 more "spectacular". I don't understand why the FIA didn't state this in the first place, it would've saved them a lot of grief.

Post by **mario** » 05 Jul 2014, 10:19

Salamander wrote:So, it turns out that the titanium skid plates are actually being introduced for a good reason and not just to make F1 more "spectacular". I don't understand why the FIA didn't state this in the first place, it would've saved them a lot of grief.

I have to agree that, if they had announced that the intention of using titanium skid plates was actually to prevent teams from running the cars too low to the ground and to reduce the risk of the skid blocks detatching from the car, then there probably would have been very little public criticism (in fact, it probably would have received public support if it was pointed out that it had been the cause of punctures). Instead, as you say, they went about announcing the change in the most foolish manner possible by concentrating on the most ephemeral aspect - the sparks - which made most of us reject the change as patronising.

Incidentally, it is interesting that only one team appears to have complained about the change because it bit into their advantage in running the car low to the ground. Now, although Will doesn't name the team, I would not be surprised if it was possibly Red Bull - there was a lot of speculation over the design of their front splitter in 2013 after the front mounted thermal cameras suggested that the car floor was heating up in a very unusual manner...