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Autumnpuma

Impressions Of 2014

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2014. My back hurts each morning. My hands look old and I've a new-found fear of heights. Despite these irritants, my impression of 2014 is rather good. My impression of the racing is even better. Through sheer luck, the FIA have managed to string together a hodge-podge of rules that actually place a premium on a driver's skill. Glory be. I actually giggled after qualy.

I had an enjoyable time watching the race and seeing all the 'nobodies' from previous years shine a bit and outperform their more experienced teammates. They might have had a bit of an edge, though. The general lack of grip probably seemed to them a bit familiar; they knew how to cope with it. The older guys, more used to having downforce spoon-fed to them, seemed to have a tougher time coming to ...er...grips.. with the new cars. Give them a few races and they'll adjust. And pardon my sweeping generalities. I've always been prone to them and as I get older it's getting worse, generally speaking...

Hamilton. Dear Lord how that tattooed, hip-hop wannabe gangsta can drive a car. Of course it's lucky for Merc that a Brit didn't win the 100th race for them. A bit of a problem with the engine software? Excellent luck for the publicity machine that is Mercedes. Anyway, brilliant drive by Nico as well, but damn, Hamilton sure lit up qualy. I suppose folks that remember me won't be surprised I'm praising Hammy.

But.

One gent out there made me forget Hamilton was out of the race. This driver looks like the boy my daughter brought home last week, but when he's in that silver car all I can see is Mika Hakkinen. Don't get me wrong, I'm still the founder of the First Church of Hamilton. Amen. But perhaps there's room for a Danish with my coffee before the sermon.

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I found it fantastic tbh. I was a major skeptic, the sound is crap, that needs to be sorted but then again we'll forget about it in a few months. Much slower,which I thought was a shame, but in terms of entertainment, what a show, how good is it to finally see drivers really fighting the car and earning the money for a change? Much more entertaining than point and stab style of yesteryear, these cars sort then men from the boys especially in the wet, takes big balls to push these bullies to the limit as the torque is much larger than last year and with Mercedes apparently getting 900bhp from the engine, even when regulated, that's a hell of alot of torque and that IMO is where drivers like Vettel MAY suffer as his aggressive yet smooth driving style won't be tolerated in these cars.

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Great post mr puma and I think we're in for one hell of a season. It ultimately may be a 2-way battle between the Merc drivers, and with Hamilton most likely to get more poles and wins, it's good that Rosberg has a 25-point headstart.

But Melbourne showed that mclaren, williams and red bull are all going to at least be putting up a fight to the silver arrows. The much-hyped Ferrari battle may be one huge anticlimax if Kimi is going to be as invisible as he was at the first race.

The fuel limit didnt seem to impact on the racing too much which is good, but clearly lots of safety cars is what we'll hope for, because this means the drivers can spend the rest of the laps racing hard, having saved fuel.

As the first person to turn up every sunday at the church of Button, it was a shame for me that the yellow flag in quali messed up his lap, meaning we couldnt see what he would've done in Q3 and then meant in the race he was stuck behind a line of traffic until he finally got clean air and unsurprisingly blasted his way up to 4th place, right behind his team-mate. Can't wait to see what JB does in the next few races with what appears to be a good machine.

Sound = no. But it's not gonna change so no point crying. All in all, yes 2014 bring on more!

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Just for the record, I think Ricciardo shod have his points and second position reinstated and Resbull loose the constructors points, not fair in Daniel who drove a blinder to loose out, he simply was driving and doing as he was told, if anyone should cop it, it should be Redbull and Redbull alone, as dan was just doing his job, wasn't mercedes also under some investigation over the same issue? What happened to that?

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Well, well, well...spank me pink and call me Max, Mr.Mike is back! A few days ago it was Russ...is this the return of the living dead? Was it a zombie Russ and now a zombie Mike? Are you both hungry for brainssss? Nah, in that case you came to the wrong place. :D

F1 2014. Impressions:

1) The race. I didn't like it. Of course, it was held at 3 a.m. my time and by then I had been awake for more than 24 hours, that didn't help. As I said, I love strategic races but this one didn't look like that so much. It looked like a couple of cars in a league of their own and a bunch of cars too scared or with ttoo many failures to attack each other. I didn't like two top drivers being out so soon in the race, although that gave me an early 80s vibe.

2) The drivers. Here's my problem: when all you have to say about a driver is "he drove flawlessly, establishing a gap and never looking back" you are basically saying that the guy did 57 laps of testing. No overtakes, no strategic driving (of course there is some, we just can't see it), no dramatic catch up with the guy in front, no tense moments when encountering back markers...no nothing. Merely driving a fast car without making mistakes in mostly clean air. I know it's not easy, I know I can't do it, but it's something most F1 drivers can do. This time it was Rosberg, Danny the three mile wide smile, and Kev. Those traits are the same that people used to praise Vettel. Yet those were the ones that Jenson had with the BGP, the same that Schumi had in the dark ages...All three did good, but they didn't throw any good punches, they merely avoided being hit. You watch Alonso, Kimi or Lewis and you can easily recall titanic charges from the back, and even if it is also easy to overtake 10 cars when you have a fast car and start from the back, it needs a lot more skills, and to overtake the front runners even more so. I've seen great battles from these 3 (of course Alonso comes on top of my preferences). I've seen Vettel do that, albeit a lot less (because his car was too good to put him in that position, I know). Kev and Danny did good for a rookie and a debutante in a major team, but I am not too carried away yet. In two or three more races I might have an opinion on them. As for Nico? Yeah, he won, yeah he beat Schumi and Lewis, yeah he "didn't put a foot wrong", he "built a gap again after the SC", he "displayed a dominant drive". But...I can't help but feel that he is great at putting the car where it belongs. He rarely makes mistakes at that so if the car is good for 5th he will be 5th, if the car is good for first he will win...but that's it. I recall some ballsy overtaking from him at Singapore, but I struggle to recall any electrifying drive from him.

3) The sound: I love it. I already said it, it is not heavy metal, it is prog rock. It is complex, it is subtle, it let's you be aware of so much more than the old deafening noise. I loved the sound of V12 and V10, but I have no problems with this one. And watching F1 for the noise is like watch boxing for the ring girls...wait, that's exactly why I watch it :eusa_think:

4) The cars: love them. They are complex, they are touchy, they are needy, it takes a steady hand, scientist's brains and balls of steel to drive them. These are not traction controlled, active suspension era cars where technology made life easier for the drivers. This is an engineering nightmare for drivers.

5) Kev: I said most about him above. He does seem fast, he adapted immediately so those are definitely pluses. Still...there is something I don't like about him. It's lombrosian, I know, but I don't like the shape of his cranium. There, I said it! :P

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5) Kev: I said most about him above. He does seem fast, he adapted immediately so those are definitely pluses. Still...there is something I don't like about him. It's lombrosian, I know, but I don't like the shape of his cranium. There, I said it! tongue.png

Is it because he has hair?

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Seriously....

Jury's out for me. Australia is never a seat of the pants race for me. I like that some mechanical unreliability is back in - made it more interesting in the past when things changed up front unexpectedly.

The sound - odd but I'll get used to it - prefer to be able to hear the pit-to-car communication.

The cars, they behave like Miley Cyrus in a cheap night club... (OK, not sure that was the best metaphor)....

But, let's see how the first few go.

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I basically agree with Andrés and Mr. Grabatheham smile.png but I agree with most of the comments in this thread. The race wasn't great but we got some fresh air watching young drivers doing so well in apparently undriveable cars. I don't mind the sound, it has pros and cons. It was just the first GP and things should get better in the coming races.

The best about the 2014 season is seeing people back to the forums after watching a GP having interesting things to say and being able to enjoy the reading. tiphat.gif

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Very much enjoyed the race, seeing cars going flatout halfway through a corner bored me to tears, see cars squirming around hallway down a straight is far more entertaining, the engine note could do with being a little louder but we seem to have a set of regs that may actually work(for the moment)

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Some of you are curmudgeon cynics. Cynicism is bad for the liver, you know. :)

The battle for the lead of this race was indeed boring, due mostly to the lack of said battle. Years ago we would have been treated to lap after lap of Nico at the front, but thankfully we're beyond that. We saw really great racing, really sad racing, funny Japanese antics and a whining Brazilian. Aside from the non-existent battle for 1st, this race was darned good!

Andres, I don't need brains, I have some of my own. Trouble is, I can never remember where I put them. I used to keep my brains safely in my pants, but they aren't there anymore. I think I might have put them on a shelf somewhere. Oh, yeah, I agree about Nico. And the Danish face is a bit...odd-looking...maybe from all the fumes his father has breathed in over the years.

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Lol he is a splitting image of his father, sure it isn't jan? I mean he still doesn't look a day older than he was 10yrs ago.

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Hard to make an impression of 2014 when it's only March :P I enjoyed the race. Certainly a big role reversal from last year. Vettel struggling, Rosberg dominating a race & Magnussen finishing 2nd on his debut race. Obviously some things remain. Marussia are still crap, there's another very unlucky Aussie driving a Red Bull & Maldonado still can't finish a race although that's probably down to the heap of sh*t Lotus he has to try crawl around the track in.

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I quite enjoyed the race. It was pity Lewis wasn't in the race long enough to keep Rosberg honest, but aside from that it was pretty decent.

I liked the low down grumble of the engines. I like the fact that you could hear pit radio to driver much easier and the pit must be thankful for that too. I really enjoyed hearing the tyres squealing in protest under lock up.

It was good to see a rookies grab their chance by the scruff of the neck, even if it is only the first race.

I enjoyed seeing the drivers fight with the car, especially when in a straight-ish line where they never used to break away, or haven't done for a long time.

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Hard to make an impression of 2014 when it's only March tongue.png

You're right. Dear me. Now y'all will be subjected to my drivel on a monthly basis, in an effort to have a more complete impression!

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Reminded me of my Mrs when I had left the toilet seat up, not turned my socks the right way around in the laundry, etc, etc :D

Is that it? I get in trouble for coming home from work lol.

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Is that it? I get in trouble for coming home from work lol.

Glad I'm not the only one. B*tches be crazy

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Ohh yeah cop it right away, "tell these kids of,why don't you listen to me, blah blah blah". You know the drill.

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