As the sun sets on the penultimate Grand Prix of 2014, how would you rate the race? Please use the comments section to tell us why you voted the way you did.
thejudge13
F1: Daily International News roundup, inside whispers and insight together with thoughts and opinion
9 out of 10. Oh boy did I enjoy this one. It’s going to be hard to chose a driver of the weekend…
With you on this one Bruznic – cracking race up and down the grid. Bring on Abu Dhabi!
Hamilton not happy on podium…
Little bit pissed at himself, I geuss. It’s only because of his mistake that he didn’t win…
def.. that spin cost him
Sure did, did well to bridge the gap and get back in with a chance. Hats off to Nico, he was on it from the get go.
Hamilton not happy on podium…
You can’t really blame him, as he had the race in his grasp, and let it slip… and then made a huge effort to get it back, to no avail.
Made a compelling race, though. Gave it an eight, but could easily have been a 9.
Rosberg definitely driver of the weekend for me, despite several other fine performances.
And Piquet gets a 1.
Piquet gets a -1
Sums up both why I am a Lewis fan, and the pitfalls. That pre-first stop lap was awesome, but with that amazing speed came and not stopping came the spin, which kinda screwed it, but again the speed to close up the time again was awesome to watch…. I don’t believe Nico wanted him to catch that much, you think he’d have halted it at 4-5ish. The highs and lows of Hamifosi-dom.
Shows again that the classic, natural, non tilke tracks are the best…
And yet someone gave it a four and a five… what do those people need more?
Brilliant race, i was literally sitting on the edge of my seat. Lewis let that one slip today with that spin, clearly had the pace over Nico today, just couldn’t get close enough in that second sector for that climb up the hill, but well done to Nico for keeping his head under such intense pressure.
And at the start of the season, Bernie and the now departed Luca, was quick to criticize about ‘taxi driving’, oh how wrong have they’ve been.
Very good race. Solid 8 out of 10. Hamilton had his chance but took much out of his tyres and ultimately that lies squarely in his jurisdiction. He let that win go away today.
Arguably, going into the last race, he probably realizes that he doesn’t beat to beat Rosberg in Abu Dhabi but simply all the others. If he can qualify on pole and then just control the race from there, great, but I hope that he will not go for 1st place at all costs, something he has been guilty of doing in the past.
Hats off to Rosberg for his win, he was the man to beat all weekend. Hamilton came close but ultimately failed to make Hammertime count this time around. Just hope that Hamilton has scored the wins that truly matter by now.
Anyone catch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5p04pehjDI&feature=youtu.be
Seems pissed about something, is he saying ‘F**king Piquet’ because he came back to Lewis not Nico and messed up the podium interviews (that was one of the worst I’ve seen)
It was a family Sunday today, together with my sister’s family. When I heard Nelson Piquet’s name being announced, I immediately said to them all “this could be interesting, he’s not known for being politically correct”… (I was, erm, being polite as there were young children in the room).
And right on cue…
All in all i would say it was a good race, though I have not given it a rating yet.
I do think that this was further evidence that the FIA should have forced Pirelli into some kind of testing at both Sochi and Brazil, in order to get a better idea of what the new track surfaces were going to do to the tyres.
If they could not have figured out a fair way to test in advance, Pirelli should have brought 3 grades of tyres and made a decision after Friday practice.
It also raises an interesting question that I had not thought of before.
The FIA obviously has say over how racetracks are designed in terms of corners, runoffs, location of pit entrances, exits, etc…
But does the FIA have any say/control over the design of the track surface?
Both Sochi and Interlagos were new surfaces, yet they seemed to have the opposite effect on the tyres. In Sochi the tyres lasted forever, in Brazil they seemed to degrade too fast.
I have not looked through all of the FIA regulations, but one would have to assume that there is some sort of standard set in the rules? or is that asking too much of the FIA…
@ Tourdog. I could certainly be wrong, but I seem to remember several detailed and specific articles re: your very point when Charlie and his team had to give the final OK on an FIA (required) and very specific and expensive asphalt compound prior to COTA getting the FIA track approval. anybody else remember these or have additional input??
should the articles and my memory be correct, it could lend some more credence to our thoughts on the Jokers in Paris …
Could it be the vast difference in track temperature affected the tire deg?
I understand that FIA is quite specific on the precise compound used to pave F1 approved tracks.
Temperatures for sure played a part, but we have had some pretty hot races already this year, and I do not remember there being as much blistering as we saw today.
I would argue that the temperatures were higher because the surface was new, and therefore very dark.
As asphalt ages, it goes from black to a greyish white. The lighter the color, the less temperature it would hold. So the new, black asphalt kept the track temperatures higher than they would be, in compared to the same air temperatures with an older surface.
So the higher track temperatures are actually a direct result of the new surface.
While I would like to believe that the FIA has got control of the surface compound, how would this work with the street tracks?
I am no expert on asphalt, but it seems to me the compound needed for day to day street use (ala monaco and Sochi) would not be very suitable for racing.
And the flip side, if Monaco was forced to lay racing compound for their streets, would it stand up to daily use by your average cars and trucks?
I don’t have an answer, just raising some more questions really.
The cars looked proper fast on track today and I’m certain drivers where pushing pretty much all race long.
Who said these new cars are under-powered and over weight???
Did not find this race that compelling, but i also made mistake of watching it on NBC so that I could see it in hi-def for once, instead of watching a cruddy stream of SKYSportsF1, which of course has commentary and pre and post race that’s 1,000,000x better than the embarrassingly bad NBC crap.