[SonnyJack]

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

Thats a bit harsh....Rosberg was offline, at a poor angle to take the corner and traveling at around 300 feet/sec....if he had hit the brakes a tenth of a second earlier he might have made a great pass.
I think Lewis placed his car very shrewdly to force Nico onto that part of the track and Nicos misjudgment played out perfectly for him.

That's kinda my point. At that point in the race he needed to be positioned better in order to make the pass stick. He over committed way too soon and cost himself a possible victory. LH seems more than willing to pressure NR into making mistakes. NR should be just as capable, but he just is not. Only way NR wins the championship is if LH has mechanical failures. I don't think he's capable of beating him on the track.

[SonnyJack]

Originally Posted by trinim3

Maybe my memory is incorrect but was there even one race where Rosberg beat LH in a head to head race? Meaning that if LH lost it was because of mechanical problems or self inflicted problems...not bc NR best him fair and square.

I was a party with Rosberg and many of the other drivers a few years ago and all the drivers were friendly and having a good time except for Rosberg. He was standing by himself with the douchiest look on his face and literally nobody talked to him the whole night. I really dislike his personality.

My memory might be just as bad as yours because I can't remember one instance either. I'm thinking it must have happened at some point but I can't seem to recall.

[hellrotm]

Originally Posted by Petros

If you would have bothered to pay attention in Grade 1 and actually learned how to read, then you'd have realized that the politics started by some idiot americans calling for a boycott of the Russian GP.

And then some idiot canadian egged them on.

[escobar929]

Pretty straight forward race but at least now it's on to COTA, see you guys there!

[Petros]

Originally Posted by BlackJetE90

And then some idiot canadian egged them on.

looks like you're one of those idiot americans who are butthurt. or maybe you're one of their foolish sympathizers. i don't remember you arguing against a boycott of the race.

i swear in 3 weeks when we have a thread about the US GP I'm gonna hijack it and highlight america's history of human rights abuses, military aggression, massacres of innocent civilians, war mongering, slavery, racism, terrorism, use of weapons of mass destruction, ethnic cleansing, and tell people to boycott the race.

And by the way, it was great to have the FIA snub all those hypocritical pro-boycott a-holes and let Putin onto the podium to hand the trophies.

[Petros]

Originally Posted by SonnyJack

My memory might be just as bad as yours because I can't remember one instance either. I'm thinking it must have happened at some point but I can't seem to recall.

Well he did pass Lewis once, in Belgium. Sure, he did it by crashing into Lewis, but it still counts, right?

[E90SLAM]

Originally Posted by NickyC

Yet another in the long line of F1 snooze fest races. After I took in the wonderful sights of the new track for the first few laps, it was 4x fast mode through the rest of the race. Yawn, what a bore. Like I said I was going through at 4x speed, but was there ever even a caution flag?

The only entertainment for me was watching Putin finally show up for the race at lap 39 like a boss. I guess he was too busy taking Barry to the woodshed all morning to show up on time. Then he stands up there on the podium with no tie on, looking like a real life Bond villian. Haha.

YES!!!! ONCE!!!!
When Grosjean tagged Sutil and caused the Sauber to spun out. There was a yellow flag for 3-5 seconds!!!!

[Petros]

Originally Posted by E90SLAM

YES!!!! ONCE!!!!
When Grosjean tagged Sutil and caused the Sauber to spun out. There was a yellow flag for 3-5 seconds!!!!

i'm quite surprised at how smooth the circuit was today. Rosberg pretty much did the entire race on one set of tires. Tire degradation was pretty much nonexistent today. I don't think something like this has happened since Pirelli came aboard as the sole tire supplier.

[onatuesday]

Originally Posted by Petros

Well he did pass Lewis once, in Belgium. Sure, he did it by crashing into Lewis, but it still counts, right?

Muahaha exactly

Seriously see you guys at COTA.

F1 + Halloween in Austin is going to be nutz. Hope y'all ready for the insanity

[Jenya B]

Originally Posted by BlackJetE90

And then some idiot canadian egged them on.

just liberalize yourself

[jbraslins]

Originally Posted by NickyC

The only entertainment for me was watching Putin finally show up for the race at lap 39 like a boss. I guess he was too busy taking Barry to the woodshed all morning to show up on time. Then he stands up there on the podium with no tie on, looking like a real life Bond villian. Haha.

Hehe, guy definitely has some swagger. Don't think we'll see Obama doing parade laps in F1 car any time soon.

Was fun watching Lewis snub Putin of the handshake in the weigh-in room.

Originally Posted by Valery.BMW

To my opinion, you are partially correct ...

I grew up in Latvia (former USSR republic) but moved to USA in 1997 when I turned 18. My dad was Latvian and my mom is Russian. Half my extended family are Latvians, with pretty strong political views, other side is Russian's, so I get to hear opinions on both sides.

I remember how suppressed Latvian culture and language were during the soviet times. While by no means I approve of any discrimination against ethnic Russian populace in either Latvia or Ukraine, I think politics of the pre-90s USSR have a lot to do with current affairs.

I watch Russian news on satellite TV as well as western media. It's amazing how polarized and contradictory media coverage from both sides is. I would not be surprised if both sides distribute decent amount of deliberate disinformation.

It's beyond sad that regular decent people are caught in the cross-fire of this geo-political battle. Both sides are equally responsible for this mess and there will not be any long-term winners.

That said, I'll take US Government over Russian government any day. The disregard for human rights and government suppression of political opinions and free speech in Russia is beyond alarming. While Putin has major balls and is rather charismatic with his bravado, he's a lying, power abusing dictator if I ever saw one.

P.S. If only our president had some balls ...

[SenorFunkyPants]

The place for this bollocks is
http://www.m3post.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56

[jbraslins]

Originally Posted by SenorFunkyPants

The place for this bollocks is
http://www.m3post.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=56

Sorry, point taken.

[dim635csi]

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by dim635csi

NICE! hahahahaha

[E90SLAM]

LMFAO!!!

[valbmw]

Well guys, I admit this is actually looking true.
In reality, all those guys driving F1 cars behind the corners would be security.

[spencers]

What a boring race that was

[CDM3DCT]

Boring race!!! Mercedes is to much of a power house- even when NR falls all the way to last place, he manages to come in second and I DONT credit his driving.

[valbmw]

IMO the previous four years were boring the same way with Red Bull team and Seb Vettel winning almost everything everywhere.
Race is made by circle, weather and pilots. Here it was the first time the pilots touched the brand new circle, and weather was OK. Maybe after years as rubber goes in the surface and if rainy weather comes, it would be better.

[solstice]

Originally Posted by Valery.BMW

IMO the previous four years were boring the same way with Red Bull team and Seb Vettel winning almost everything everywhere.

That was incredibly boring since Vettel pulled out of the DRS zone at lap one in every race, or almost. His team mate could not launch a car and was no threat. This year has been different, lot of drama between the Benz drivers and shift in the lead of the WC. Also drama in the other teams with rookies and youngsters outpacing the seasoned drivers in RBR, Williams and McLaren ( to somewhat lessser extent ). This was just a snooze event/track on an otherwise rather fun season. Though Benz need competition next year or it will become a bit boring down the line.

[valbmw]

Originally Posted by solstice

That was incredibly boring since Vettel pulled out of the DRS zone at lap one in every race, or almost. His team mate could not launch a car and was no threat. This year has been different, lot of drama between the Benz drivers and shift in the lead of the WC. Also drama in the other teams with rookies and youngsters outracing the seasoned drivers in RBR, Williams and McLaren ( to somewhat lesser extent ). This was just a snooze event/track on an otherwise rather fun season. Though Benz need competition next year or it will become a bit boring down the line.

I believe, the point that the Sochi race is somehow "boring" is not linked to absence of heavy collisions, no red or black flags, no cracked bones, etc. The cars, the pilots are as is, and the new circle was designed by the Formula 1 Chief Architect Herman Tilke who designed also the circles in Malaysia, Bahrain, China, Singapore, UAE, Turkey, Spain, South Korea, India, USA.



However the F1 teams have different background and budget, so it often happens that one or another (richest) team adopts itself the best to the current Technical and Competition regulations and became dominant.

This is unwanted situation when you know the name of the champion and best constructor long before the final race, if no serious accident happens. Let's see, how the FIA is trying to solve such long domination issue and make the GP not so boring as it could be. In 2014, the rules of Formula 1 have undergone massive changes.



Tires

Before: pilots got to the third stage of qualifying start the race on the same tires on which they showed the best result during the third stage of qualifying.

After: pilots got to the third stage of qualifying start the race on the same tires on which they showed the best result during the second stage of qualifying.

Reason for change: this point is introduced to stimulate the pilots to participate in the third stage of qualification, and not to sit in boxes in the hope to save their strength for the race. Public does not really like to watch on Saturday the cars are in the pits and do not compete for the best score.



Nose cones

Before: the distance from the lower edge of the nose cone to the road surface should not exceed 550 mm (so-called "raised nose").

After: the distance from the lower edge of the nose cone to the road surface shall not exceed 185 mm (so-called "lowered nose")

Reason for change: security. It is assumed that the "lowered nose" reduces the jump of the car, as it happened with the car of Mark Webber at the Europe Grand Prix in 2010. The lowered nose cone will prevent air updraft under the front cone of the car. This explains the decision of many engineers to increase the length of nose and minimize its cross section. Hence, the new names for such noses like "anteater", " proboscis " etc.

Need to comply with this rule combined with the requirement that the minimum surface area of the bow shall be 9,000 square millimeters and the desire to leave the chassis and the nose cone as high as possible to maximize the air flow under the car will lead to the fact that most teams sacrifice aesthetics.



Front wing

The width of the front wing is reduced by 150 millimeters - from 1800 to 1650 mm.

Rear wing

Profile of the rear wing surface will be more "flat", but the main change - no lower wing element, which generated a significant portion of downforce.

Engines

Before: naturally-aspirated engine of 2.4 liters. 90 ° V8 standard injection.

After: 1.6-liter turbocharged engine. 90 ° V6 with direct injection.

Reason for change: the turbocharged petrol engine of reduced volume with direct fuel injection is more economical. So Formula 1 wants to be attractive to the grandees of the automotive industry and obtain their engines at a discounted price.



Transmission

Next year the transmission will be 8-speed. The teams need to pre-select a few options gear ratios of all 8 forward gears, which will be fixed for the entire season before the first race. In 2013, the teams had 30 different gear ratios.

Side pontoons

Cooling requirements of the engine will increase significantly. It would request bigger radiators, which will affect the size of the side pontoons. Furthermore, the pontoons will need to carry new security structures for protection against lateral collisions.

Weight of the car

Minimum weight including the weight of the rider increased by 49 kg compared with 2013 - up to 691 kg. In 2015, the year the minimum weight will increase by another 10 kg.

Before: minimum dry weight of the car plus pilot was 642 kg.

After: minimum dry weight of the car plus pilot is 691 kg.

Reason for change: a new engine – it is HEAVY! Much heavier than the approved added 49 kg. At the same time, everybody understands each saved kilogram means greater speed on track. Therefore, teams try to reduce the weight of cars in all possible ways.

Chassis height

Maximum height of the chassis has been reduced from 550 to 525 millimeters.

Hybrid system

Before: 60-kilowatt KERS system allowed the use of an additional acceleration of the car to 6.6 seconds per lap.

After: additional 120-kilowatt system MGU-K allows you to use an additional acceleration of the car up to 33 seconds per lap.

Reason for change: the organizers of the Formula championship want the new cars to have the same power as the cars with V8 engines. However the smaller engines need more recuperation to overcome the lack of power. New cars are equipped with two energy recovery system (ERS) or recuperation systems; each of them is able to compensate the loss of power tenfold compared with the old system.

The first ERS one is like the modern KERS: it collects energy released during braking which is then reused by the motor-generator (MGUK). The second ERS (MGUH) accumulates thermal energy of the exhaust gases which are used in the turbine. For 33 seconds per lap ERS system will release an additional total capacity of 163 hp. However because the engine power halved, hybrid systems are able to compensate the power only fivefold.



Exhaust system

Before: Upward exhaust tips located on both sides of the rear of the car

After: Exhaust tips are located in the lower center of the rear of the car

Reason for change: the teams used exhaust stream to increase downforce. FIA has decided to prevent this and demanded to move exhaust tips. The engineers remembered the "Coanda effect" and began to use the car’s body structure and place the pipes that way as the downforce increased by body construction. When the FIA realized that engineers and intend to continue to bypass the restrictions, it was decided to move the pipes to the center of the car, so that the exhaust stream is coming out under the rear wing - in such conditions the effect of downforce is reduced considerably.

Fuel limit

Before: it was possible to fill in as much fuel as the team wants, and fuel consumption was not restricted.

After: consumption limit of 100 kg of fuel per race is introduced, or fuel consumption rate of 100 kg per hour per engine.

Reason for change: the new limits are introduced for reasons of efficiency. In compliance with the new limits the cars will spend two-thirds less fuel. On the other hand, this limit will restrict also the violent fantasy of Formula 1 teams’ engineers.

Scoring system

Before: Points were awarded on "25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1."

After: Points are awarded the same way except for the last GP in Abu Dhabi, where it will be on "50, 36, 30, 24, 20, 16, 12, 8, 4, 2."

Reason for change: when the name of a future champion is clear already in the middle of season, public no longer looks after each race. Doubling of points in the final race allows to keep the audience interested.