Your opinion on 2014

Post by **Miguel98** » 23 Nov 2014, 19:37

Well, this topic is for people to give their opinion (without beeing RoTY nominations) for the 2014 Formula One World Champioship. Who surprised you the most? Who was the best driver? What are the expectations for 2015? All these question can be answered here. Discuss. Also, post your driver and team ratings too here, since there isn't a topic for it, and it fits with the topic.

noiceinmydrink · Post by **noiceinmydrink** » 23 Nov 2014, 19:47

The most frustrating, annoying season in F1 history. The racing has been stellar, but Lewisteria, Bernie Ecclestone, FIA, stupid rules and regs, financial crises, Marrusia and possibly/almost Caterham's demise, Jules Bianchi's crash and a shitton of other things have ruined the season for me and it's turned a lot of people off F1; I for one am certainly not going to follow the sport as closely next year.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 23 Nov 2014, 19:54

Yeah, Lewisteria really killed it for me (long before anything else like Bianchi's accident or the cost crisis). Especially when Mercedes started listening to it and let it decide their driver management policy.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 23 Nov 2014, 19:56

On-track: Great racing. Off-track: Continuing to lose my faith in the sport.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 23 Nov 2014, 19:58

My opinion on 2014? DANIEL RICCIARDO. That is all.

DonTirri · Post by **DonTirri** » 23 Nov 2014, 20:01

Salamander wrote:My opinion on 2014? VALTTERI BOTTAS. That is all.

Fix'd it for you.

On a personal note... despite the rise of BO77AS, this has to be the worst season for a LONG time. The racing has been decent, but Merc domination ruined even that, the politics, the financial problems, the regulation stupidities... Yeah. I'm half tempted to just give up on F1. I'll give the next season 2 races before I decide what I do.

LellaLombardi · Post by **LellaLombardi** » 23 Nov 2014, 20:18

I only had a passing interest in things this year, and I think this will be the case next year. I find drivers like Magnussen, Perez, Hulkenberg, Kvyat, Grosjean and Bottas are still worth watching - the second tier is more interesting than the top tier at the moment where one team is completely dominant because they are the only ones that can produce a decent car. (I still don't quite count Williams in the top tier but hopefully I will after another year like this one).

Bianchi and Schumacher's injuries have cast a long shadow over the year for me too.

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 23 Nov 2014, 20:30

Simtek wrote:On-track: Great racing. Off-track: Continuing to lose my faith in the sport.

Couldn't have summed it up better.

I suppose work life and having moved home to live with my girlfriend and soon-to-be wife hasn't done any wonders for my interest in the sport, though.

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 23 Nov 2014, 20:31

An great season of F1 following the awfully predictable 2013. I really enjoyed most of the races, even Spain and Russia weren't too bad.
For me, the most surprising and best driver was Ricciardo, nuff said. But I paid more attention to Bottas since his results seemed a lot more unlikely after the back of last year. The best race was a tie between Bahrain, Canada and Hungary, closely followed by Monaco.
Personally I have no idea what the pecking order will be next year, I'm guaranteeing to myself that the Mercs will not be the leading team in 2015. And as much as I enjoyed Williams do well, I can only see them slide back towards doom, because that has been their nature of late. The rest... not sure really.
As for the very broad crisis that threatens the very existence of the sport, I'm trying not to think about it, the action on track is what I'm after thanks very much. Also I am concerned about Bianchi and Schumacher's conditions, best wishes to them.

I might do a full driver ranking later but it would go something like:

1) Daniel Ricciardo
2) Valtteri Bottas
3) Nico Rosberg
4) Lewis Hamilton
...

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 23 Nov 2014, 20:39

My opinion on 2014 is that it's now patently obvious that whatever the sport/teams/drivers now do, journalists and fans will find a way to moan about it. Far too much negativity I'm afraid. Can't understand why so many people still insist on spending their Sunday afternoons watching the sport when they spend every other moment of their life moaning about how crap it is!

So rather than focusing on the negatives, here's what I enjoyed!

I enjoyed this season. I enjoyed Mercedes as a fresh face at the front, and I enjoyed Williams' return to form. I also liked seeing Rosberg get the opportunity to prove himself in a great car and a close title battle, and I was happy for Hamilton that he's been able to win another title after many tricky years finding himself. It was great to see the future of the sport in Bottas and Ricciardo, and also see old faces like Button get good results in a poor car, and Massa enjoy something of a renaissance. It was also really good to see Marussia score their first points, and fitting for Bianchi to get them, when later in the year he had his terrible accident. And finally it was brilliant to be at the British GP once again, and this time witness a British winner too. What a great weekend that was.

So even though Marussia are probably finished and one of my favourite drivers Button may be retiring, I'm already looking forward to 2015, despite what the rulemakers might concoct or what the teams end up doing to themselves. It's still F1 and when all the bullsh*t stops, with all of its history, prestige, technology and characters, it's the most exciting, enthralling racing on the planet. You just can't beat it!

girry · Post by **girry** » 23 Nov 2014, 20:50

Enjoyed many things including the quality of racing, and Mercedes domination didn't necessarily put me off as occasional dominance is a part of motor racing - but the major downside of the season is I'm now fearing that the politics will turn out be very, very detrimental to the sport.

Dan Ricciardo's wheel to wheel competence is the best thing I've ever seen.

top 10 drivers:

1 - Ricciardo
2 - Hamilton
3 - Alonso
4 - Rosberg
5 - Bottas
6 - Button
7 - Bianchi

8 - Massa
9 - Vettel
10 - Hülkenberg

pi314159 · Post by **pi314159** » 23 Nov 2014, 20:51

On track, it was a great season, at least for the first three quarters of the season. Much moreon-track action than last year, and the always close championship battle between Rosberg and Hamilton made it a lot more interesting than 2014, although it would have been nice to have another team matching the pace of the Mercedes. I really enjoyed the on-track action, and there were some good races with Bahrain, Monaco, Canada and Hungary, to name only a few. There was the return of Williams, and the rise of Bottas and Ricciardo, and the late-season return of Felipe Massa to his 2008 form. André Lotterer finally made his Formula 1 debut. Marussia scored points.

Well, that was the positive. Now the negative parts. We had the whiny background noise of the sound debate early in the year, and other endless discussions about the new engines. There were the double points, which ultimately had little impact on the results, but highlighted how far F1 would go in their desperate attempts to "improve the show". The Ecclestone corruption case, which brought the sport into more disrepute than Andrea Moda ever could have managed. Even more confusing rule changes, with the planned introduction of standing restarts (are they going to be a thing or not?) and the team radio clampdown (which mostly had the effect of confusing the RTL commentators).

But none of these factors are relevant compared to the two things that turned great start and middle of the season into a tragic and depressing end of the year. First, there was the Bianchi accident. I was born in 1995, over a year after the fatal accidents of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger. I have grown up with a Formula 1 where drivers would walk away from the most horrendous looking accidents with none or minor injuries. The accident made me wonder if I still wanted to follow this sport. All the sporting aspects of this season seem irrelevant compared to the tragic events at Suzuka.

The other thing was the escalating financial crisis, with the end of Marussia and likely Caterham as well, and also Lotus, Sauber and Marussia in trouble. Formula 1 isn't working. It generates so much revenue, and yet appears unable to sustain more than the top 6 teams. It is paradox, that on the one hand, you have the glamourous image of Formula 1, and on the other hand, teams are resorting to pay drivers, shady investors, or crowdfunding campaigns, just to keep the team alive for another few weeks. And the big teams are simply ignoring it, despite the fact that a failing Formula 1 will hurt them as well at some point.

2014 was a season which had great, exciting races, but also a season which like none before highlighted the continuing decline of Formula 1. It was the season when the struggle of the new teams ultimately came to nothing. It was full of self-destructive politic maneovres from everyone involved in running the sport. And it was a tragic season, which overshadows everything else.

Eifelland · Post by **Eifelland** » 23 Nov 2014, 21:10

Ultimately, the politics in F1 are created by the media and perpetuated by the fans. I thought it was quite an interesting season - Rejects scoring points in Marussia, a new WCC in Mercedes, Hamilton ending his dry spell and finally getting back to the top 6 years after his last title not to mention surprise packages like Ricciardo and Bottas giving us all things to cheer for. Even if we'd been spared double points, the title battle would have gone down to Brazil, so the racing was close all the way through the season.

Ultimately, Bernie won't be around forever - It surely won't be too long before CVC give him the boot - and whoever follows will almost certainly be less of a megalomaniac. The demise of Marussia and (almost certainly) Caterham have been sad, but with new teams coming in, it won't be too long before people stop missing them (harsh, but you know deep down it's true). Cost cutting will come into it at the end of the day, because there is zero incentive for the big teams to kill the sport, and by extension, commit suicide.

As I mentioned earlier in the season, I can see Sauber going under in the next couple of years, and when they do, it will prove to the Boulliers and the Horners that something needs to be done - it wasn't so long ago they were a very comfortable midfield team.

2014 has actually been quite interesting, if we decide not to engage in the stupid mind games the teams are busy playing with each other - sure, we've had some tragedy, and as with Kubica, F1 has been denied a star of the future, but it's been one of the more interesting years in terms of racing, especially post-Schumacher and post-Vettel.

2015 ought to be quite good. We've got Mclaren-Honda, Ferrari and Vettel, Alonso and Mclaren and the continuation of the Hamilton-Rosberg intra-team battle to look forward to. We could see Ricciardo in with a decent shout at the title, and Bottas could well stake his claim to move to a larger team in 2016, which would be nice to see. I'm feeling quite optimistic. Now we just need to get the winter out of the way...

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 23 Nov 2014, 21:14

DonTirri wrote:
Salamander wrote:My opinion on 2014? DANIEL RICCIARDO. That is all.

Fix'd it for you.

Nope. Ricciardo mopped the floor with everyone this year, and that includes Bottas. His season was comparable to Alonso's 2012. At several points he was the only reason I was watching races. He is the hero F1 needs.

Driver rankings
1) Daniel Ricciardo - 10/10
2) Fernando Alonso - 9.5/10
3) Valtteri Bottas - 9/10
4) Lewis Hamilton - 8.5/10
5) Nico Rosberg - 8.5/10
6) Jenson Button - 8/10
7) Sebastian Vettel - 7.5/10
8) Nico Hulkenberg - 7.5/10
9) Kevin Magnussen - 7/10
10) Sergio Perez - 7/10
11) Jean-Eric Vergne - 7/10
12) Felipe Massa - 6.5/10
13) Jules Bianchi - 6.5/10
14) Romain Grosjean - 6/10
15) Kamui Kobayashi - 6/10
16) Daniil Kvyat - 6/10
17) Pastor Maldonado - 6/10
18) Max Chilton - 5.5/10
19) Esteban Gutierrez - 4.5/10
20) Marcus Ericsson - 4.5/10
21) Kimi Raikkonen - 4/10
22) Adrian Sutil - 0/10

Team rankings
1) Mercedes - 9/10
2) Red Bull - 8.5/10
3) Williams - 8/10
4) Force India - 7/10
5) Marussia - 7/10
6) Toro Rosso - 6.5/10
7) McLaren - 5/10
8) Caterham - 4.5/10
9) Lotus - 3/10
10) Sauber - 1/10
11) Ferrari - 0/10

Post by **Nuppiz** » 23 Nov 2014, 21:15

Well, after almost 18 years of watching F1™ closely (apart from missing 2011 almost entirely), I think I'm going to call it quits. The racing has not been too bad, apart from the Merc domination, but things outside of it are what are ruining what little interest I still had in this.

Bernie and his comments are getting worse every year, and CVC will continue to take more and more money as pure profit instead of helping to keep the sport alive until the whole thing collapses. Which, at this rate, won't take too long to happen. The FIA, or more likely their head honcho Jean Todt couldn't care less what's going on, while the big teams continue to act as if there's no problems at all. Technical rules are changed every year to ensure the sport stays expensive, while racing has hardly improved.

Even after ignoring all of this the races are becoming unwatchable, not only because one team is probably going to dominate for a couple of more seasons to come, but also because of the cheesy CGI effects they now use at seemingly every race. Yes FOM, I knew for the entire race that Lewis was leading the championship. no need to remind me of it by plasting his picture on the Turn 17 wall every few laps.

The final part, well, I think a lot of people are going to disagree with me as I know it just sounds like me being a grumpy old man memorising the "good old days". I just don't find the modern GPs and cars as appealing as they used to be. While there's a small ongoing resurrection of old venues with A1-Ring this year and Hermanos Rodriguez next year, they're all balanced out by races in dictatorships like China and Russia or races which only exist because too many rich folks were bored and thought a F1 race would be nice like Bahrain, Singapore and Abu Dhabi (not to mention India returning and Azerbaijan in 2016). All being held on Tilke-designed parking lots, of course. Meanwhile the cars are becoming more like computers than vehicles, and too much relies on whether or not the driver knows how to put setting XYB into setting 76 while maintaining the ZYX value between 34 and 36.

So I'm bowing out from following F1. I just spoke with my parents and they agreed to cancel their (very expensive) pay-TV subscriptions which were mainly bought for F1, but have also started to feel that it's just not worth it anymore. So yeah Bernie, congratulations you now you have one less young fan... and also lost some you wanted to sell your sponsors' products to.

P.S. This does not mean I'm leaving F1 Rejects - I'm way too attached to the PMMF to just vanish. Although knowing the problems the site is facing (whether or not they are FOM-related), it's uncertain just how long this forum is still kicking around...

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 23 Nov 2014, 21:17

...but you're staying on with us here aren't you?

Post by **Nuppiz** » 23 Nov 2014, 21:19

CoopsII wrote:...but you're staying on with us here aren't you?

Yes I am. Just not going to frequent the Paul Stoddart Memorial Forum anymore (although I hardly paid a visit here to begin with anyway).

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 23 Nov 2014, 21:21

Good.

I havent decided how I feel about this season yet. I need to weigh it up properly.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 23 Nov 2014, 22:53

F1 desperately needed a change after 2013 but instead problems have been mounting up than ever. The unfortunate crash for Jules Bianchi and the financial woes of Marussia and Caterham and all the other political shenanigans have pushed me away from F1 this season too. I'd actually prefer watching 2013 over 2014 because at least in the first half of the season we had Red Bull Mercedes Ferrari and Lotus all in contention for the win and Force India could have made the podium if everything came together. After Hungary the top 5 was Vettel leading on 172, Raikkonen 2nd on 134, Alonso 3rd on 133, Hamilton 4th on 124 and Webber 5th on 105. It was only when the Pirelli's went back to 2012 style that Vettel dominated so who knows what might have happened had those changes not been made. But right from the start of 2014 it's been clear that the Mercedes has been a rocketship from the off and only by either tripping up or being tripped up has that allowed someone else to win. How else can you explain that world champions like Alonso and Vettel plus surprise packages like Massa and Bottas didn't achieve a win this season? because Mercedes was too dominant.

Still many drivers deserve a place on the grid. I still think Ricciardo can impress me further though now he's a team leader expectations will rise and Newey won't have as much input as he used to which can bring even more out of Ricky. Bottas and Massa can still fly the flag if Williams keep up their work and what can Grosjean and Maldonado do with Mercedes engines?

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 23 Nov 2014, 22:55

Good points

Points for Marussia
A good title race
Wins for Ricciardo
The best season for Williams since 2003
André Lotterer and Will Stevens making debuts
First podium for Force India since 2009

Bad points

Marussia and Caterham going bust
No points for Sauber
Double points
bathplug ugly cars
Russian Grand Prix and the Putin toadying
Small teams are going bust, and Bernie doesn't give a shite
Jenson Button probably being unceremoniously let go
Bianchi's accident

Driver Ratings

Lewis Hamilton - 10/10
Can't really ask more of a driver than winning the title, and he raced for it.
Nico Rosberg - 9/10
Made it closer than I thought he would, pole champion too, and cruelly denied his chance to make a battle of it at Abu Dhabi.
Daniel Ricciardo - 10/10
I really wouldn't have predicted that Daniel Ricciardo would win a grand prix in a season when Sebastian Vettel failed to win. And winning 3 grands prix in a season when Mercedes were dominant was very impressive.
Valtteri Bottas - 8/10
A solid season, with promising signs. He never really looked like challenging for a win though, but he should keep getting better. Hopefully Williams can deliver a good chassis next season so that Bottas can take his first win.
Sebastian Vettel - 5/10
Outclassed by his team-mate, and didn't look like he had the fire he used to. Can't see the move to Ferrari working for him in the short-term either.
Fernando Alonso - 6/10
Hard to say objectively how much of a dog the Ferrari was, but he looked uninterested in being in F1 at times. Good Hungarian Grand Prix though.
Felipe Massa - 7/10
At times, great (Abu Dhabi, Austria qualifying), but at others unable to respond to Bottas. Still, the perfect answer to his later Ferrari years.
Jenson Button - 8/10
The McLaren was a dog. Despite that, Button performed admirably. If this was his last season in Formula One, it's a testament to the dignity and talent of the man, and it's a shame how McLaren have treated him.
Nico Hülkenberg - 7/10
Incredibly reliable, but entirely unspectacular.
Segio Pérez - 7/10
Not as reliable as Hülkenberg, but secured Force India's first podium since 2009.
Kevin Magnussen - 6/10
Apart from a good Australian Grand Prix, the rookie Dane had a difficult debut season, and did not look as good as Button. Definitely has talent, and probably deserves another season at McLaren, but could do better.
Kimi Räikkönen - 4/10
Aside from his usual excellence at Spa, he looked anonymous all year. Yes, the Ferrari was probably a bad car, but Alonso showed that it wasn't as bad as he made it look. Do you remember why you sacked him, Ferrari?
Jean-Éric Vergne - 7/10
Came into the season in a no-win situation. If he beat Kvyat it was expected, if Kvyat beat him, it was game over. He was a lot better than Kvyat, he's the only driver at Toro Rosso to finish in the top six since Vettel (which he did for the second time this season), and he's been overlooked again for the big seat.
Romain Grosjean - 6/10
He beat Maldonado, but a season to forget for the man without vowels.
Daniil Kvyat - 4/10
Dominated by Vergne, no points since Belgium, best result was 9th, and he gets rewarded with a seat at Red Bull.
Pastor Maldonado - 3/10
Some of his usual race crashes (Bahrain, Spain, Silverstone), and also managed to get some crashes in during free practice and qualifying, which was...impressive. But mainly anonymous, and lucky to score points.
Jules Bianchi - 10/10
Did the impossible and scored, not one, but two points for Marussia. Forza Jules.
Adrian Sutil - 1/10
Who? Didn't even glass anyone.
Marcus Ericsson - 5/10
Not the worst performance, especially given he was in a Caterham, but not the best, and wouldn't be in Formula One without his massive wallet.
Esteban Gutiérrez - 1/10
Meh. Apparently even his money couldn't save him for 2015.
Max Chilton - 4/10
Continued his run of reliability at least. But otherwise a dullard with a lot of money. I'm not bothered that this was probably his last season in F1
Kamui Kobayashi - 3/10
Sure, Caterham are bad, but he should have beaten Marcus Ericsson. Still, it's a shame that he won't be back next season.
Will Stevens - 6/10
Even finishing for Caterham was a result. And the record books will always show Will Stevens has raced in one grand prix.
André Lotterer - 5/10
Better late than never, and even managed to out-qualify Marcus Ericsson. A shame that he didn't manage to finish the race, and not his fault.

Jan Magnussen · Post by **Rob Dylan** » 24 Nov 2014, 00:12

2014 was a fresh page for the first three quarters in my eyes. The championship was still exciting, regardless of the team dominance, and it's had everyone talking to the last lap. However, throughout there's been underlying negativity in various forms. At the beginning of the year when double points were announced, people (including me) assumed the FIA would listen to the incredible backlash against terrible ideas such as this and the standing restarts and remove them before they happened. But it became more apparent the closer we got to today's race that the money is talking more than ever, and this time it's talking administration, redundancies, and inescapable underhand plans.

I would probably locate it back to the moment Rosberg's car gave up on the grid in Singapore. That I'd say was the moment when all the underlying negative things suddenly started creeping in. It became clear Hamilton was now at the advantage and was likely to wrap up the championship (at least in my eyes), removing much of the excitement for the championship battle, and shortly after this Caterham's parts were being confiscated by the local sheriffs. When Bianchi had his accident two weeks later there was a very sour taste in the mouths of me and everyone I knew who followed F1, that in fact a great year of racing that was supposed to bring a change for the good, was being ruined by the harsh reality that F1 is slowly but surely imploding in on itself in so many ways. There was a period of about a month on this website where there was simply no positive news on anything, and everyone was miserable to the point where we really were running out of things to talk about. And let us not ignore the elephant in the room, that the main site hasn't been available for quite a while, and our entire purpose of supporting rejects might as well be redundant without our small teams. So much negativity in the last two months, and we were even robbed of a decent fight on the final day.

And I can't even say "well that's racing, these things happen", because it's not the racing that's the problem. The racing's been fantastic! It's the current system that surrounds the sport that is taking a fine formula (pun intended) and tweaking it to take as much money out of it as possible, leaving those who actually care about it in the deep end. And that includes us fans as well. We're literally paying to watch the cars and get some of them onto the grid. We have no idea what's going to happen to groups such as Caterham, and groups such as the FIA who have the power to do something good to reverse this downward spiral have no interest in doing such a thing.

But then again, that's just my opinion.

EDIT: This probably belongs in the Rantbox, but that's currently closed so I'm going to rant here.

Gerudo Dragon · Post by **Gerudo Dragon** » 24 Nov 2014, 00:33

[redacted]

watka · Post by **watka** » 24 Nov 2014, 00:46

For me, I can't help but think that Bianchi's incident has cast a massive shadow over the season. Not since Senna has Formula 1 seen such a horrible incident, and given the 20 year gap, F1 has now moved on to a new generation who don't expect to see this kind of thing in motorsport any more. They expect it to be 100% safe. A freak incident it was, but in hindsight the whole accident would have been avoided had a clearer procedure been in place for the use of cranes.

The subsequent loss of Marussia and also Caterham from the sport, as well as double points and all sorts of gimmicks made it a bad year off track. But on-track, the action was reasonable. Bahrain, Spain and Ricciardo's wins aside, we didn't see too many races with battles for the lead near the end, but there were battles throughout the field. Ricciardo in particular was superb to watch as well as the McLarens. Seeing a title fight go to the wire between two teammates hasn't been seen since 2010. A variety of winners would have been nice but overall the racing was close with strategies varying wildly from race to race.

Driver rankings:
1. Daniel Ricciardo - spectacular performances throughout the year. Overtaking king and there to pounce on any mistakes the Mercedes made. Made Vettel look average. Probably would have won the title if he had a Merc at his disposal.
2. Lewis Hamilton - always seemed to have race pace in his pocket. Had a few psychological wobbles but often completely dominated races and deserves the title.
3. Nico Rosberg - proved that he had more speed than most knew and took the title battle to the wire. Was frequently faster than Hamilton in qualifying on merit, never thought I'd say that.
4. Valtteri Bottas - 6 podiums and in normal circumstances was usually the biggest threat to the Mercedes. Massive leap in performance from what we saw last year and was very composed at the wheel.
5. Fernando Alonso - start of the year was typical Alonso, pretty much always finishing in the top 6 despite having the 4th or sometimes 5th/6th best car in the field. To get 2 podiums was seriously impressive. But the lack of motivation at the end of the year was obvious.
6. Jenson Button - consistently in the points and you still get the impression he could win a race in the right car. A fighter and a good strategist.
7. Felipe Massa - easy to forget he was the guy who got the only non-Mercedes pole of the entire season. Points total would have been far higher had he not been an accident magnet in the early part of the season.
8. Daniil Kyvat - showed definite potential (bit early for a Red Bull seat in my eyes) and star quality. Like Bottas, composed at the wheel and looked like he'd been in F1 for years
9. Sergio Perez - up so high because he always has the potential to pull a big result out of the bag (something Hulkenberg lacks) and can make any strategy work
10. Jules Bianchi - 2 points in a Marussia is an outstanding performance. Horrible that his life won't ever be the same again.
11. Nico Hulkenberg - early season performances must have had the big teams wondering why they didn't take a punt on him but he faded badly just when Force India needed him to help them to fight McLaren.
12. Kamui Kobayashi - driving that crapbox Caterham around at the pace he did took some effort and commitment.
13. Sebastian Vettel - he wasn't awful but you certainly wouldn't have picked him out as the 4-time world champion of the grid. Lacked the X-Factor that Ricciardo was able to display in abundance.
14. Jean-Eric Vergne - much the same as last year (i.e. good) and would probably be a regular points scorer in a better car. Shame he has no money to stay in F1.
15. Kevin Magnussen - 2nd place of debut promised much but didn't seem to be the superstar that McLaren had him down as. Comfortably beaten by Button in the end and has a lot to learn about race management.
16. Andre Lotterer - for an old geezer, he was pretty damn fast!
17. Max Chilton - noticeable improvement in speed from last season. Albeit he got a little clumsier.
18. Romain Grosjean - banked some important points for Lotus early on in the season that helped them avoid being in the same position as Lotus. However his fierce attitude was clear for everyone to see at the end of the year.
19. Pastor Maldonado - calmer out of the car and quite often faster than Romain, but did exactly what the team needed him not to do by writing off millions of pounds of car parts.
20. Will Stevens - did very well for someone with such little experience.
21. Esteban Gutierrez - the car let him down on several occasions but it doesn't escape the fact that fundamental driver error ruined his only real chance of points.
22. Adrian Sutil - Was not the leader that the team needed. Actually outperformed by the unrated Gutierrez. Very nothing-y season.
23. Marcus Ericsson - Looked downright unprofessional at times, which is inexcusable given that he's raced at GP2 level. Didn't learn quickly.
24. Kimi Raikkonen - Never looked comfortable at the wheel. Never a threat to Alonso. Qualified averagely, raced very poorly.

Team ratings:
1. Mercedes - utterly dominant. Aside from reliability, couldn't have had a better car.
2. Red Bull - given that they had a terrible engine and so many problems pre-season, to be a comfortable 2nd in the WCC with 3 wins in the bag was a good achievement.
3. Williams - massive step forward and were Mercedes closest challengers once they'd hit their stride.
4. Force India - continue to do well given the level of their resources.
5. Toro Rosso - still managed to finish in their usual spot despite the terrible Renault engine.
6. McLaren - much the same as last year, but can be excused as a "transition year".
7. Marussia - points on the board were fantastic but ultimately didn't last the season.
8. Lotus - suffered from all the problems we expected
9. Ferrari - 2 podiums all season. Crap
10. Caterham - warzone.
11. Sauber - awful, awful car that didn't work at any track. Had the facilities to do much, much better. Zero points is inexcusable.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 24 Nov 2014, 01:45

The racing was fantastic, loved almost every race, even Bahrain was superb. Ricciardo was a very welcome addition at the front, as was Williams being competitive.

The off track politics and other bullshit cast a dark cloud over what was a very enjoyable season.

If we're giving driver rankings, here it goes:

1. Daniel Ricciardo - 9.5 - A very welcome and deserving frontrunner, long may it continue.
2. Valtteri Botttas - 9.0 - Similar to Ricciardo, really came into his own. Future race winner.
3. Lewis Hamilton - 9.0 - Deserves the championship, had that little edge over Nico.
4. Nico Rosberg - 8.5 - Disappointment of losing the title aside, he brought the fight to Lewis.
5. Jenson Button - 8.0 - Really started to perform towards the end of the season. Hopefully not the last we see of him.
6. Fernando Alonso - 8.0 - When will this man get a car worthy of his ability? Outperformed the car yet again, although less noticeable this year.
7. Jean-Eric Vergne - 7.0 - Should have been promoted to the main Red Bull team, but will leave F1 a reject. At least we get to remember him for that.
8. Jules Bianchi - 7.0 - Finally scored Marussia's first points and often threatened Q2. Hopefully he can recover.
9. Felipe Massa - 6.5 - Failed to lead the team like expected, but was less fortunate than Bottas.
10. Nico Hulkenberg - 6.5 - A lot of promise early on, late season slump cost him a higher spot.
11. Sebastian Vettel - 6.5 - Overshadowed by Ricciardo, but only this low down because of extremely high expectations after four consecutive championships.
12. Kevin Magnussen - 6.0 - Promise early on, but faded after that. Deserving of another season.
13. Daniil Kvyat - 6.0 - Showed potential, but promoted to the main team too early.
14. Sergio Perez - 6.0 - Inconsistent, but deserving of a second season at Force India.
15. Romain Grosean - 5.5 - Fairly anonymous most of the time. Outshined Maldonado.
16. Kamui Kobayashi - 5.5 - Done what he could, nothing more could be asked of him in that Caterham.
17. Max Chilton - 5.0 - Still reliable most of the time, and outshone Bianchi early on, but nothing more.
18. Marcus Ericsson - 4.5 - Pretty crap to begin with, steadily improved in his last few races.
19. Pastor Maldonado - 4.5 - Outraced by Grosjean, but had a few highlights.
20. Esteban Gutierrez - 3.5 - Ranks higher than Sutil simply because of lower expectations.
21. Adrian Sutil - 3.5 - Offered nothing to Sauber, failed to lead the team.
22. Kimi Raikkonen - 3.0 - Oh boy, what happened to him?

Unfair to judge Andre Lotterer and Will Stevens on one race, although I will say that both were very solid and deserve credit for their efforts.

1. Mercedes - 9.5 - Wanted to put Williams first, but Mercedes were too dominant to not go top.
2. Williams - 9.0 - Finally back at the front, long may it continue.
3. Red Bull - 7.5 - Done well regardless of pre-season troubles.
4. Toro Rosso - 7.0 - Mixed it with the big teams, even if the results don't show that.
5. Marussia - 6.5 - Maiden points were welcome, tragedy overshadowed their season.
6. McLaren - 6.5 - Not quite the ending McLaren and Mercedes were hoping for.
7. Force India - 6.0 - Only capable of being competitive for half of any given season. Business as usual.
8. Ferrari - 5.0 - High expectations, let Alonso down more than ever.
9. Lotus - 3.5 - A huge drop in performance, a shame to see.
10. Caterham - 3.0 - The team was a shambles. Can't add much else.
11. Sauber - 2.0 - Disgraceful season, even with what was probably the weakest driver line-up.

SgtPepper · Post by **SgtPepper** » 24 Nov 2014, 03:51

It's been a year of stark contrasts - we've had great racing on track, and great sadness and tension off it. I really lost my taste for the sport after Jules crashed out in Japan, and I'll confess I've struggled to get it back fully since then. There's also some really big questions about how the sport is run that need to be asked, teams struggling or failing completely to finish the season is a bad state of affairs to be in.

Not going to bother with driver rankings, but just wanted to register my three biggest surprises of the year;

Hulkenberg - last year he was absolutely brilliant, so what happened? He still beat Perez, but it was Perez who got the podium this year. Maybe I overrated him last year, or maybe he just didn't like this year's car as much, but I genuinely expected more from him.

Kimi - Thought he would be matching Alonso, at least in qualifying, but was absolutely nowhere. He's not the Kimi he once was a decade ago, and it's actually quite sad. He's just tainting a well earned reputation at this point.

Rosberg - My biggest surprise of the season - most fans (myself included) expected Hamilton to walk the title, but Rosberg kept the fight going to the last race, and was with him in qualifying as well - against the driver generally considered the fastest in terms of raw pace on the grid. Obviously Rosberg had better reliability, but I've always believed reliability is in part from how hard someone drives a car, as well as sheer luck. In Canada he was able to limp the car home, while Hamilton was forced to retire. Either way, it was great to see so many races for the lead in so many races through the year - something we've obviously been starved of of late.

pablo_h · Post by **pablo_h** » 24 Nov 2014, 04:44

The only good thing about the season was the resurgence of Williams, and the performance of Daniel Ricciardo in the Red Bull.
Too many negatives to list and typing them out will leave a bad taste in my mouth but backmarker covered many:

Backmarker wrote:Bad points

Marussia and Caterham going bust
No points for Sauber
Double points
bathplug ugly cars
Russian Grand Prix and the Putin toadying
Small teams are going bust, and Bernie doesn't give a shite
Jenson Button probably being unceremoniously let go
Bianchi's accident

Leyton House · Post by **Leyton House** » 24 Nov 2014, 06:18

Overall I enjoyed the season.
I don't buy into the Mercedes domination = boredom argument at all as the drivers were allowed to race. Like Senna and Prost before them it was an exciting and interesting fight for the title.
The resurgence of Williams was great to see and provided a year long feel good story. A win would have capped it off but I hope they can build on this.
Daniel Ricciardo soundly knocking the stuffing out of Seb was a nice surprise, proves you can put together an awesome season without getting all pouty and behaving like a child.
On track action was great, with the exception of Sochi every GP was thoroughly enjoyable.
Andre Lotterer.
Lewis a deserving champion, still a bit P. Diddy for my taste but deserved his title.
The dignified sportsmanship of Nico Rosberg. Despite all his troubles during the race sought out Lewis for congratulations, big man.
Lotus for turning real financial trouble and the loss of their star driver and team principal into (relative) financial security and scoring the best engines for 2015. Very good management.

Strangely since I really did enjoy the season my list of negatives is fairly substantial.
Poor Jules Bianchi. I can't really properly explain how I feel about this, in the season where Marussia finally nailed a points finish. It's just a terrible shame on so many levels.
Seeing Alonso's awesome talent wasted dragging that willfully awful pile of misery around the world's circuits for another year.
The financial state of play, and the stupidity of allowing competitors to run the sport. Enough has been said about this already so I won't go on.
The continued efforts by FOM to trade sporting competition for entertainment, wooing the casual idiot while ignoring the passionate fan. After all, the passionate fan will watch regardless.
Kimi Raikonnen, occasionally entertaining but always a bit of a jerk. Also slow.
Sauber for finding out painting your car like an HRT will make it go like one.
Cars sound crap.
The word 'harvesting'.
The way McLaren have treated it's drivers regarding 2015.

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 24 Nov 2014, 07:45

It was great that yes one team dominated but the two drivers properly raced each other and made a proper battle for the drivers championship. Imagine how bad it would have been if it had been (say) Schumi and Rubens driving those Mercs.....

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 24 Nov 2014, 09:29

Overall I think this season has been OK despite being told all year it was a classic. In a nutshell, that's been my problem. I think the racing has been fine but I'm told it's been legendary. Hamilton and Rosberg fell out a bit but I'm told it's been the bitterest fracture of a relationship since Cain and Abel. The way F1 appears to be run seems shambolic and short-sighted but I'm told I'm not in the demographic anyway so who cares what I think. So with nearly all of my perceptions of F1 in 2014 appearing wide of the mark I'm left with a sense of disconnection to it. Some years ago if F1 had imploded (or gone strictly pay-per-view) I think I would've felt gutted but now I doubt I would mourn it as we've already said our goodbyes and F1 has made it clear it has no feelings for me anymore anyway.

Sublime_FA11C · Post by **Sublime_FA11C** » 24 Nov 2014, 10:17

Don't want to be negative but instead of enjoying a season full of great races (along with stinkers, but they were rare), i am instead wondering what kind of pigheaded madness the FIA will come up with in 2015 to kill my interest in watching. They wont allow another good year in F1, surely...

As for 2014, the racing was great, some times "management phases" got in the way, other times the races were simply dull (China, Sochi, even Yabba Dabba), but many times it was really really worth watching and for me, it's one of the best seasons in a long time.

Vettel and Alonso.
Ricciardo and everybody.
Perez vs. Button.
Bottas coming back through the field in the quick Williams.
Engines blowing.
Cars pulling aside to retire, and again, and again...
Massa "totally" very frustrating because car was really competitive today...
Force India sticking it to McLaren.
Williams trouncing the Lazy Horse.
Bianchi's banzai on Kobayashi and points in Monaco.
Kimi in Deletraz mode.
Hamilton managing not to come across as a git on multiple occasions this year.
Hamilton vs. Rosberg resolved with dignity despite reliability.
Lotterer.
Di Resta not being in F1.
Di Montezemolo not being in F1 any more. Since midway through Bahrain i think ^^
V6 engines power and sound.

Good times.

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 24 Nov 2014, 11:01

Well the "racing" has been good, but whether you can call having to drive a car slower than it is capable of for periods of time during a race, racing, is debatable but its what we have now and looks to remain that way.... I do wonder something but that is for ponderbox, what was less exciting was the fact that one team again dominated (ok it was a different one from last year) and there is still a shadow of safety during yellow flag periods/ wet races and a driver still injured following a crash with a recovery vehicle...

Financially its a bit bathplug at the moment and Mr Ecclestone is still being a buffoon... I will still be watching in 2015 :roll:

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 24 Nov 2014, 12:01

I think that in the track 2014 was a really good year. We had a decent title fight unlike the last couple of years. But it still wasn't epic like 2010. Still, politics sullied the floor and each passing year things get even more idiotic and farcical than ever before. I still haven't forgiven F1 in general to let two teams disappear like they weren't there in first place. Let's see how I feel next year before the first race before deciding to follow F1 as close as I have lately. I will still come here and make life miserable to some members though...

Eifelland · Post by **Eifelland** » 24 Nov 2014, 12:26

DanielPT wrote: Still, politics sullied the floor and each passing year things get even more idiotic and farcical than ever before. I still haven't forgiven F1 in general to let two teams disappear like they weren't there in first place.

IIRC the head of CVC recently said something to the effect of reining in Bernie? I think the guy knows he's on the way out, so he's trying to make things as dazzling as possible to delays that - he must surely have less than 10 years of his life left, not to mention the fact that without F1, which has been in his life pretty much forever, what is he going to do? even though he's a billionaire and could do pretty much whatever he wanted...

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 24 Nov 2014, 13:01

Eifelland wrote:
DanielPT wrote: Still, politics sullied the floor and each passing year things get even more idiotic and farcical than ever before. I still haven't forgiven F1 in general to let two teams disappear like they weren't there in first place.

IIRC the head of CVC recently said something to the effect of reining in Bernie? I think the guy knows he's on the way out, so he's trying to make things as dazzling as possible to delays that - he must surely have less than 10 years of his life left, not to mention the fact that without F1, which has been in his life pretty much forever, what is he going to do? even though he's a billionaire and could do pretty much whatever he wanted...

I don't know if that was just due to the court case in Germany or not but I have been wondering lately if Bernie is purposely reducing the value of the sport. And if all this has anything to do with CVC plans of doing an IPO which have been scuppered by some strangely ill-timed controversy. I can perfectly see Ecclestone being against the IPO for some reasons. Even ones behind his personal interests.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 24 Nov 2014, 14:31

Simtek wrote:On-track: Great racing. Off-track: Continuing to lose my faith in the sport.

Could not have put it better myself.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 26 Nov 2014, 18:23

As usual, Sniff Petrol puts it best.

MorbidelliObese · Post by **MorbidelliObese** » 27 Nov 2014, 18:01

Good points for me:

-New engines for the first time in 8 years.
-Bianchi's 9th in Monaco.
-Being able to tell the cars apart easily (the particular aesthetics of the noses that enabled this didn't really bother me)
-Williams' revival
-Less Pirellis falling to pieces

Bad points:

-Bianchi's accident
-Stupid driver numbers
-Double points
-Marussia/Caterham financial difficulties

But if I'm blunt, summing up 2014 in a sentence I'd say that watching the full WEC season - not F1 - reminded me why I fell in love with the sport in the first place.

Jeroen Krautmeir · Post by **Jeroen Krautmeir** » 29 Nov 2014, 04:59

Well it's been a rather topsy-turvy year personally, and sadly it's seen me become more and more distant from F1 and motorsport as a whole.

I looked forward to the start of the season as much as anybody, I mean who wouldn't have? Apart from garbage double points (which ultimately didn't account for much), the year seemed promising. I for one thought the new engines sounded great, although my dad wouldn't shut up about how it sounded and reminded him of giant toy cars. Perhaps he had a point. Bottas' excellent showing in Australia, RBR's rather torrid start, McLaren 2-3 and Hamilton's bad luck made me think that finally, what I'd loved about the sport in the first place was back; unpredictability and all-round competition. Of course, I'd be proven wrong about that.Still, that Mercedes ultimately proved to be rather untouchable didn't take away the fact that this year we saw some pretty great races, it's the best since 2012 in my opinion.

Williams was definitely a pleasant surprise, and it was quite frustrating seeing them throw away their chances and building up a decent points total early in the season when they could have been challenging RBR for second come Abu Dhabi. Ricciardo was another very enjoyable shock, although perhaps the way Vettel faded was the bigger upset. It was nice to see Massa finally regain his oomph towards the end of the year, and well ultimately hats off to Lewis. He had his fair share of bad luck early on in the year and well good job to him for not buckling when it mattered.

But something was missing. After the first flyaways, I suddenly felt 'forced' into watching F1. Race weekends were no longer something I looked forward to, rather it seemed like a chore. By the time the European races had come up, I'd stopped reading about the sport, only tuning in for quali and the races. By the time the final flyaways had come about, I'd stopped giving a damn. I missed Singapore, turned off prematurely (perhaps for the best, considering what would occur) at Japan, watched the first few laps of Russia and skipped Austin, tuning in for short highlights of Interlagos. The worst part is probably that I felt nothing. Missing an F1 weekend used to be horror for me, unacceptable. I'd be in a fit for the week to come. Yet here I was just happily wasting my life away cursing at my physics textbook.

Politics probably played a big part in the apathy that took over me, the folding of Marussia and Caterham (more so Marussia) kinda put a dent on everything. These are the teams that we whackos at F1R come for, and to see them go so unceremoniously, and especially with a sense of apathy from the governing parties simply felt like a smack in the face. But when I think about it, I honestly do not know if I would have stuck with the sport throughout the season even if none of the madness that eventually overwhelmed the sport had taken place. Something is missing, and for me, it isn't the racing, which as I said, has been pretty fantastic. I think it summed it up for me when my uncle asked me the other day why I watched F1 and what I see in it. Now this guy spends his weekends racing BMW's in his tuned up Lancer. Logically he should be attracted to the sport, no? Yet I guess that kinda shows how F1 is perceived by the 'outside world' that Bernie has done so well to create. It's a sport, and I use that word very lightly, for grown men who like to go around in circles for some reason with no particular aim. That's always been the case, but there used to be something about F1 that kept bringing us back for more. I honestly do not know if I'm still going to follow it next season, although as always there are newspoints that should keep me glued, but one thing's for sure; racing, real world racing anyway, simply does not excite me anymore.

I've missed this place quite frankly, although I cannot for the life of me recognize nearly half the members here who I think may or may not be people I know but have different usernames. :lol:

A shame to see what's been going on with the main site, here's hoping it's up and running again soon, because that place is a real treasure.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 29 Nov 2014, 09:17

Welcome back Jeroen

And I agree with your post, it's definitely not looking good for F1 at the moment

Aguaman · Post by **Aguaman** » 04 Dec 2014, 12:23

It was okay but it was overshadowed by other sports.

FIFA WC, some great tennis GS, Australia South Africa test series and others. This season had its moments with the young drivers doing well (K-Mag, Kyvat, Ricciardo, Bottas, Bianchi and yeah

Some great racing.

Some average seasons from Lotus, Raikkonen, Sauber, Vettel (Still did great but not his standard) and Jense to a certain degree. Also just that it was just okay, like it should have been an amazing season but it just wasnt.