The Lucas di Grassi Formula E Thread

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 09 Dec 2014, 11:52

Barbazza wrote:
dinizintheoven wrote:Top banana.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, especially with the future of the parent site hanging in the balance: who plans to go to the race, and should we have a Formula One Rejects meet-up (or whatever becomes of F1 Rejects in the future)?

I think I'd be well up for that!

Same here if I can persuade my parents.

MorbidelliObese · Post by **MorbidelliObese** » 10 Dec 2014, 15:12

I'm one of those that hopes the series can gain some sort of interesting development battles and designs that are lacking in most other forms of single seater racing outside F1, but for the short-term I have to say FE is making a good contribution in keeping those talented drivers who would have been on a 1989-size F1 entry, in gainful employment.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 10 Dec 2014, 15:17

dinizintheoven wrote:Top banana.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, especially with the future of the parent site hanging in the balance: who plans to go to the race, and should we have a Formula One Rejects meet-up (or whatever becomes of F1 Rejects in the future)?

I too am planning to go if all goes well. I am thinking of doing a trip around the centre of Europe finishing precisely in London just in time for the Formula E round.

LolLola · Post by **LolLola** » 13 Dec 2014, 15:16

YEAH YOU ARE LEGEND

Dj_bereta · Post by **Dj_bereta** » 13 Dec 2014, 15:26

Vergne in the pole in his debut!? Impressive. ROTQ for Red Bull. See? You wasted a talent.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 13 Dec 2014, 15:51

Dj_bereta wrote:Vergne in the pole in his debut!? Impressive. ROTQ for Red Bull. See? You wasted a talent.

Yeah, apparently he hadn't even driven the car before today, on a day where several drivers hit the wall, including Sam Bird. Can you imagine if he goes on to win later?

AdrianBelmonte_ · Post by **AdrianBelmonte_** » 13 Dec 2014, 18:23

The race in Punta Del Este is underway

Post by **Londoner** » 13 Dec 2014, 18:30

Formula E is running wild, brother! This is fantastic stuff yet again.

Heidfeld leads! :mrgreen:

EDIT: Ah ballcocks. I don't think we're ever gonna see Heidfeld win a race in our lifetimes at this rate. :cry:

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 13 Dec 2014, 18:43

All these penalties yo

Post by **Londoner** » 13 Dec 2014, 18:45

This sort of shite is gonna kill the series. Far, far too many penalties, when the only one that can be justified is Cerutti's.

EDIT: Sausage kerbs are the spawn of Beelzebub himself.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 13 Dec 2014, 18:54

A win for dinizintheoven's prophecised team... assuming no more penalties

Post by **Londoner** » 13 Dec 2014, 18:54

The curse of the FanBoost strikes again. Poor JEV.

All in all, that was frenetic action from start to flag. This is really turning into a great little series. Now, if they could stop dishing out penalties for every little infraction, that would quite dandy.

LolLola · Post by **LolLola** » 13 Dec 2014, 18:56

*insert every possible swear words here*

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 13 Dec 2014, 19:05

What are they meant to do to stop all the penalties? The rules exist for a reason, mostly safety, and the teams know what happens if you break them.

Zergon · Post by **Zergon** » 13 Dec 2014, 19:11

Another nice race, I´m really loving this series.

Bit too many penalties but at least those are harsh enough to mean something (unlike those pointless 5 second penalties in F1) so I guess it´s ok. After all the rules are same to everyone and if you broke them then you should suffer. That said, I´m not really sure why there need to be minumum time on pits nor to I really understand why they just can´t use all the energy they got on the car. My best guess is that those are both for safety reasons (in which case I won´t argue against them) but it does sounds a bit stupit.

Nice debut for Vergne and if Andetti´s web page is to be trusted, he and Montagny are the default driver line-up for them so that´s a strong pair. Of course, Andretti have had different driver line-up in all three races so far so not sure how often they would actually have that "default" line-up. :lol:

And poor Heidfeld, again he had the speed only for something to go wrong. At least this time it was his own fault (more or less).

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 13 Dec 2014, 19:15

andrew2209 wrote:What are they meant to do to stop all the penalties? The rules exist for a reason, mostly safety, and the teams know what happens if you break them.

Even if they are justified, there has to be an inherent problem with something if half the drivers in the race are taking penalties. The officials need to sit down with the teams and get to the bottom of this ASAP. This can't be allowed to happen again.

girry · Post by **girry** » 13 Dec 2014, 19:18

Perfect cure for winter racing deprivation has spawned onto earth. Thank you Formula E.

As for the complaints about penalties - it's totally not the series' fault that the rules get broken.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 13 Dec 2014, 19:28

Zergon wrote:I´m not really sure why there need to be minumum time on pits nor to I really understand why they just can´t use all the energy they got on the car. My best guess is that those are both for safety reasons (in which case I won´t argue against them) but it does sounds a bit stupit.

The energy limit is so a car doesn't suddenly lose power when it's right in front of another. At least that's what commentator guy on ITV said.

giraurd wrote:Perfect cure for winter racing deprivation has spawned onto earth. Thank you Formula E.

As for the complaints about penalties - it's totally not the series' fault that the rules get broken.

I agree about it being the cure. Well, treatment, anyway. And I agree with both you and Salamander; everyone knew the rules and it's not the organisers' fault they were broken so much, but there is a problem the series needs to look into and talk to people about. Not mutually exclusive.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 13 Dec 2014, 19:31

I enjoyed that race and unpredictable results help. And as soon as Cerruti got to 11th, I anticipated that something would stop her from scoring. Sadly it came true, but here's hoping for later in the season!

Is the 'eJ' supposed to be a part of the TV coverage, or is that purely for the trackside audience? It wasn't much used at testing at Donington.

Post by **Ataxia** » 13 Dec 2014, 20:30

Gotta feel bad for JEV, he did so well...

Look at D'Ambrosio up to 6th in the championship through sheer consistency. The Dragon cars aren't the quickest by any stretch, but they know how to get to the end...

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 13 Dec 2014, 21:18

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:A win for dinizintheoven's prophecised team... assuming no more penalties

Wait, what? I don't remember looking into a crystal ball like Mystic Meg and predicting anything...

Something I thought of just before this race was how Formula E might evolve in the future, and the changing of cars will most likely remain the most obvious point that the series' detractors will pick up on. Here's a video of James May riding an electric motorbike powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, in which the fuel cell is completely removable. While I think I once said that there should be another series, "Formula H" for fuel cell cars, what is there to stop the batteries in Formula E cars from being as removable as the fuel cell in this bike? Many will say "duh, it's because they're heavy" - but F1 tyres are very heavy and the teams are so well drilled they can be changed in 2.5 seconds. I foresee a future in which the battery packs are designed to sit just under what would be the engine cover if there was an engine. The car comes into the pits. Cover off, battery pack out, new batter pack in, cover on, go - and soon enough, if the restriction on a minimum time spent in the pits is lifted, I reckon the cars will be stationary for no longer than an F1 car was in the days of refeulling. And should the teams choose to bring three battery packs per car, there could be more than one pit stop, races could be longer (and hence more fitting for a World Championship that the FIA wants Formula E to become).

Of course, after today's race, Bruno Senna will most likely have something to say to this...

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 13 Dec 2014, 21:58

dinizintheoven wrote:
UgncreativeUsergname wrote:A win for dinizintheoven's prophecised team... assuming no more penalties

Wait, what? I don't remember looking into a crystal ball like Mystic Meg and predicting anything...

Here

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 13 Dec 2014, 22:27

dinizintheoven wrote:
UgncreativeUsergname wrote:A win for dinizintheoven's prophecised team... assuming no more penalties

Wait, what? I don't remember looking into a crystal ball like Mystic Meg and predicting anything...

Something I thought of just before this race was how Formula E might evolve in the future, and the changing of cars will most likely remain the most obvious point that the series' detractors will pick up on. Here's a video of James May riding an electric motorbike powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, in which the fuel cell is completely removable. While I think I once said that there should be another series, "Formula H" for fuel cell cars, what is there to stop the batteries in Formula E cars from being as removable as the fuel cell in this bike? Many will say "duh, it's because they're heavy" - but F1 tyres are very heavy and the teams are so well drilled they can be changed in 2.5 seconds. I foresee a future in which the battery packs are designed to sit just under what would be the engine cover if there was an engine. The car comes into the pits. Cover off, battery pack out, new batter pack in, cover on, go - and soon enough, if the restriction on a minimum time spent in the pits is lifted, I reckon the cars will be stationary for no longer than an F1 car was in the days of refeulling. And should the teams choose to bring three battery packs per car, there could be more than one pit stop, races could be longer (and hence more fitting for a World Championship that the FIA wants Formula E to become).

Of course, after today's race, Bruno Senna will most likely have something to say to this...

It will happen one day, but as i have a little bit experience changing batteries of forklift trucks, i can assure you that it needs an incredible amount of training to be able to do that fast and safe.

WaffleCat · Post by **WaffleCat** » 14 Dec 2014, 00:45

Wow, Andretti had a miserable final few laps, and I can't help but feel for both Vergne and Brabham, with the former set for a race win and the latter having driven out of his skin.

Apart from that, great race overall still, Formula E is still my favourite racing series to watch.

Zergon · Post by **Zergon** » 14 Dec 2014, 09:09

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
Zergon wrote:I´m not really sure why there need to be minumum time on pits nor to I really understand why they just can´t use all the energy they got on the car. My best guess is that those are both for safety reasons (in which case I won´t argue against them) but it does sounds a bit stupit.

The energy limit is so a car doesn't suddenly lose power when it's right in front of another. At least that's what commentator guy on ITV said.

Ah, ok, I guess I somehow managed to miss that bit on the commentary. Thanks for the info.

Post by **Miguel98** » 14 Dec 2014, 09:21

It was another fine race. Such a shame that JEV's car died on him, could have been a pole and win in his first ever race. Though, he did prove Red Bull they shouldn't have dumped him. Also, the penalties. I think they need to get rid of the "minimum pit stop time", or have a meeting with all the teams to clarify this, since it's already happen that teams violate this rule. Thus, Heidfeld's race was ruined, which is another race he hasn't won, and could have.

girry · Post by **girry** » 14 Dec 2014, 11:10

Minimum stop time is there so that the teams dont rush with the pitstops too much and neglect safety (like seatbelts).

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 14 Dec 2014, 12:16

Gutted for JEV but it was nice to see the safety car play a prominent role...

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 14 Dec 2014, 13:04

Rather than take the pit stop time from the entry to exit of the pit lane, could they use the time the cars are in the garage. Start the timer when the first car stops, and wait until the minimum time for the second car to drive off

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 14 Dec 2014, 20:01

The latest thing not to work is the team radio - there didn't seem to be any graphic telling us who was speaking when? It was all very muddled. Another entertaining race, though.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 14 Dec 2014, 20:37

Paul Hayes wrote:The latest thing not to work is the team radio - there didn't seem to be any graphic telling us who was speaking when? It was all very muddled. Another entertaining race, though.

At one point it sounded like there were about five different team radios being played at once.

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 14 Dec 2014, 20:56

Some of the penalties I get, although the minimum pit stop time one is constantly being broken, how hard can that be to get right?

However, the 'exceeding maximum power' one is a bit daft as that must be very easy to get wrong. Here's an idea - put a limiter on the cars?!

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 14 Dec 2014, 23:05

Simtek wrote:
Paul Hayes wrote:The latest thing not to work is the team radio - there didn't seem to be any graphic telling us who was speaking when? It was all very muddled. Another entertaining race, though.

At one point it sounded like there were about five different team radios being played at once.

And the commentators had no idea who was talking, and when the radio might suddenly spark into life. The graphic in F1 works perfectly in that sense, it gives the commentators a couple of seconds notice to shut up and listen. Copying that for FE would go a long way to help I think.

watka · Post by **watka** » 14 Dec 2014, 23:56

AndreaModa wrote:
Simtek wrote:
Paul Hayes wrote:The latest thing not to work is the team radio - there didn't seem to be any graphic telling us who was speaking when? It was all very muddled. Another entertaining race, though.

At one point it sounded like there were about five different team radios being played at once.

And the commentators had no idea who was talking, and when the radio might suddenly spark into life. The graphic in F1 works perfectly in that sense, it gives the commentators a couple of seconds notice to shut up and listen. Copying that for FE would go a long way to help I think.

The bit with loads of team radios at once was just plain weird, what's a viewer going to get out of that?

JEV was seriously unlucky, was clearly the fastest guy out there. First, starting on the dirty side of the grid from pole. Second, fan boost not working. Third, retirement.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 15 Dec 2014, 11:28

Does anybody else wish the E Dams team would change their name to something a bit less, well, cheesy?

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 15 Dec 2014, 11:53

CoopsII wrote:Does anybody else wish the E Dams team would change their name to something a bit less, well, cheesy?

And I suppose next, you will be asking the Formula E Teams' Association (FETA) to also change their name to something less cheesy...? :roll:

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 15 Dec 2014, 12:17

dr-baker wrote:
CoopsII wrote:Does anybody else wish the E Dams team would change their name to something a bit less, well, cheesy?

And I suppose next, you will be asking the Formula E Teams' Association (FETA) to also change their name to something less cheesy...?

Ha! I'm still looking forward to the races stilton come!

dinizintheoven · Post by **dinizintheoven** » 15 Dec 2014, 12:36

I have suddenly come over all peckish. Esurient. I BEEN RIGHT HUNGRY, LIKE!

watka · Post by **watka** » 15 Dec 2014, 13:07

dr-baker wrote:
CoopsII wrote:Does anybody else wish the E Dams team would change their name to something a bit less, well, cheesy?

And I suppose next, you will be asking the Formula E Teams' Association (FETA) to also change their name to something less cheesy...?

I'd love to see Bertrand Baguette team up with e.dams.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 15 Dec 2014, 16:50

That just made my day.