2014 Silly Season Thread

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 21 Jan 2014, 11:30

Dartanian wrote:Well Caterham's line-up has finally been announced!
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112208

KOBAYASHI and Ericsson!!!!
Well, I know who I am supporting this year

Caterham, you are forgiven from all your sins!

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 21 Jan 2014, 12:12

DanielPT wrote:
Dartanian wrote:Well Caterham's line-up has finally been announced!
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112208

KOBAYASHI and Ericsson!!!!
Well, I know who I am supporting this year

Caterham, you are forgiven from all your sins!

The internet is full of love for the Cowboy today. Only our old friend Captain Hammer wouldn't be happy with this news

Collieafc · Post by **Collieafc** » 21 Jan 2014, 12:27

Now I have a driver to support again!

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 21 Jan 2014, 12:44

Joy.

Post by **tommykl** » 21 Jan 2014, 12:48

Unless I'm forgetting someone, this is the first time a Swede competes in something other than a Friday practice session since 1991

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 21 Jan 2014, 12:49

GwilymJJames wrote:Kobayashi / Ericsson / T: Rossi, Frijns at Caterham confirmed.

Frijns going for a pointless reserve driver seat for the 2nd year in a row. What a waste of a driver:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112209

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 21 Jan 2014, 12:50

kowalski wrote:
And who's to say Caterham and Marussia will be at the back this year ...

Me...

And me. I'm so confident about it that I'm willing to put money on it.

Basetornado · Post by **Basetornado** » 21 Jan 2014, 12:52

Faustus wrote:
GwilymJJames wrote:Kobayashi / Ericsson / T: Rossi, Frijns at Caterham confirmed.

Frijns going for a pointless reserve driver seat for the 2nd year in a row. What a waste of a driver:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112209

Considering Frijns cant afford GP2. This is proberly the best thing he can do. Sure its not racing but its better then not being anywhere.

girry · Post by **girry** » 21 Jan 2014, 13:00

Ha, I knew all the way people would soon re-enter Caterham's ship from the pitiful Marussia boat.....

A little shame they ditched VDG though, but can't really be disappointed after today's news!

Next season's most important battle seems to be more interesting than ever:

Caterham: Kobayashi-Ericsson
Marussia: Bianchi-Chilton

Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen..

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 21 Jan 2014, 13:04

Basetornado wrote:
Faustus wrote:
GwilymJJames wrote:Kobayashi / Ericsson / T: Rossi, Frijns at Caterham confirmed.

Frijns going for a pointless reserve driver seat for the 2nd year in a row. What a waste of a driver:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112209

Considering Frijns cant afford GP2. This is proberly the best thing he can do. Sure its not racing but its better then not being anywhere.

I meant that it is a waste of a very talented driver that by all rights should be given a shot at a race drive, but yes, this is the closest that he can get to Formula 1.

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 21 Jan 2014, 13:13

And GP2 Champs Valsecchi and Primer are nowhere to be seen....

Glad Kobayashi has a seat again. Who knows, he might finally be able to get Caterham's monkey off their back by scoring some points.

watka · Post by **watka** » 21 Jan 2014, 13:45

KOBAYASHI vs CHILTON - A battle I will be watching with great intent. Unstoppable force vs immovable object. By that I mean the force of Kobayashi's crashes and the pace of Chilton in the Marussia.

Post by **Ataxia** » 21 Jan 2014, 14:16

With regards to numbers, it appears Kobayashi will have the #10 (the number he made his F1 debut with), and Ericsson will have #9.

sswishbone · Post by **sswishbone** » 21 Jan 2014, 14:17

Awesome, kamui is the best driver in japan! Really excited to see him back, shame it is with a low level team but fernandes has said that japanese businesses have already been approaching in excitement so hopefully this will be a stepping stone for investment in the team!

Zetec · Post by **Zetec** » 21 Jan 2014, 14:29

sswishbone wrote:Awesome, kamui is the best driver in japan! Really excited to see him back, shame it is with a low level team but fernandes has said that japanese businesses have already been approaching in excitement so hopefully this will be a stepping stone for investment in the team!

All the money in the world won't turn this Caterham-bathtub into a pointscoring car. Keep in mind that the new car is already designed.
Even with big money it will still take 2 to 3 years to turn the team around, just look at Red Bull.

And I bet big money, that Kobayashi won't be in F1 in 2015. He's there for the money he brings in. Would it be about "talent" only, they could have hired Kovalainen, who knows the cars and the team which can be a big plus.
Just like they said Pic has a multiyear contract. Multiyear my ass...

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 21 Jan 2014, 15:06

My nipples have exploded with delight at this news.

wsrgo · Post by **wsrgo** » 21 Jan 2014, 15:12

roblomas52 wrote:My nipples have exploded with delight at this news.

pasta looks on at the bloodbath greedily.

Okay, I apologize.

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 21 Jan 2014, 15:25

Delighted for Kamui to be racing in F1 again. But a little disappointed to see Giedo now a third driver. But he's got backing and is moving up the grid at least so if Gutierrez x2 fails again this season, the seat may be his in 2015.

And talking of Caterham, GP2/3 commentator Will Buxton has said the Caterham cars are liveried with a dark green, light green and white combo. Should be interesting...

Basetornado · Post by **Basetornado** » 21 Jan 2014, 15:52

AdrianSutil wrote:Delighted for Kamui to be racing in F1 again. But a little disappointed to see Giedo now a third driver. But he's got backing and is moving up the grid at least so if Gutierrez x2 fails again this season, the seat may be his in 2015.

And talking of Caterham, GP2/3 commentator Will Buxton has said the Caterham cars are liveried with a dark green, light green and white combo. Should be interesting...

Considering that Caterhams new logo seems to be a Green Union Jack, id say we could see something similiar to that.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 21 Jan 2014, 16:37

Glad to see Caterham pick two drivers deserving of F1 seats, even if it was still financially motivated. Sure, Ericsson came 6th in GP2, but it was quite close and I heard he had way worse luck than most.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 21 Jan 2014, 16:50

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:Glad to see Caterham pick two drivers deserving of F1 seats, even if it was still financially motivated. Sure, Ericsson came 6th in GP2, but it was quite close and I heard he had way worse luck than most.

>Deserving of F1 seats
>Was in GP2 last year

Ha, as if.

wsrgo · Post by **wsrgo** » 21 Jan 2014, 16:55

Salamander wrote:
UgncreativeUsergname wrote:Glad to see Caterham pick two drivers deserving of F1 seats, even if it was still financially motivated. Sure, Ericsson came 6th in GP2, but it was quite close and I heard he had way worse luck than most.

>Deserving of F1 seats
>Was in GP2 last year

Ha, as if.

Care to expound, Mr Amphibian?

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 21 Jan 2014, 16:59

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:Glad to see Caterham pick two drivers deserving of F1 seats, even if it was still financially motivated. Sure, Ericsson came 6th in GP2, but it was quite close and I heard he had way worse luck than most.

6th in GP2.

6th.

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 21 Jan 2014, 17:06

Am I the only one that kinda wishes Ericsson has a wallet-malfunction or something, allowing Frijns into the race seat?

Not to wish anything bad on Ericsson though, he's a genuinely nice guy, having met him mooching around at the mudbath that was Donington Park 2007

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 21 Jan 2014, 17:17

takagi_for_the_win wrote:Am I the only one that kinda wishes Chilton has a wallet-malfunction or something, allowing Frijns into the race seat?

No, you aren't.

Salamander wrote:
>Deserving of F1 seats
>Was in GP2 last year

Ha, as if.

AdrianSutil wrote:6th in GP2.

6th.

I will explain further.

You see, Ericsson came eighty points off the GP2 title with some atrocious luck. I remembered it being a lot less than eighty.

So I was wrong the whole time.

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 21 Jan 2014, 17:21

tommykl wrote:Unless I'm forgetting someone, this is the first time a Swede competes in something other than a Friday practice session since 1991

I thought Bjorn Wirdheim (this sums him up) was Jaguar's Friday driver in 2004.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 21 Jan 2014, 17:37

wsrgo wrote:
Salamander wrote:
UgncreativeUsergname wrote:Glad to see Caterham pick two drivers deserving of F1 seats, even if it was still financially motivated. Sure, Ericsson came 6th in GP2, but it was quite close and I heard he had way worse luck than most.

>Deserving of F1 seats
>Was in GP2 last year

Ha, as if.

Care to expound, Mr Amphibian?

Nobody in GP2 in 2013 deserves to be in F1 this year. Not after the field collectively allowed Stefano Coletti to lead the points all the way up to Monza despite not scoring in 7 of the previous 8 races. None of them. The only driver that showed a sufficient amount of talent in 2013 to warrant an F1 seat on merit was Sam Bird, but he was far too inconsistent, especially given his extensive experience.

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 21 Jan 2014, 17:49

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112217

They'll need another team next year at this rate.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 21 Jan 2014, 18:09

Salamander wrote:
Nobody in GP2 in 2013 deserves to be in F1 this year. Not after the field collectively allowed Stefano Coletti to lead the points all the way up to Monza despite not scoring in 7 of the previous 8 races. None of them. The only driver that showed a sufficient amount of talent in 2013 to warrant an F1 seat on merit was Sam Bird, but he was far too inconsistent, especially given his extensive experience.

You ever thought of becoming a schoolteacher Salamander?

Anyway give Ericsson a chance everyone. Who knows he might just stand up to Kobayashi this season

Post by **Nuppiz** » 21 Jan 2014, 18:11

good_Ralf wrote:
tommykl wrote:Unless I'm forgetting someone, this is the first time a Swede competes in something other than a Friday practice session since 1991

I thought Bjorn Wirdheim (this sums him up) was Jaguar's Friday driver in 2004.

The key point here is that he was never entered for the race.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 21 Jan 2014, 18:28

Ataxia wrote:With regards to numbers, it appears Ericsson will have #9.

Some say that the first time Ericsson went 100+ mph in a single-seater, he was 9 years old.

AdrianSutil wrote:Delighted for Kamui to be racing in F1 again.

Don't you mean derighted?

good_Ralf wrote:I thought Bjorn Wirdheim was Jaguar's Friday driver in 2004.

He was.

Post by **Ataxia** » 21 Jan 2014, 18:36

Sneak peek of the Caterham GP2 car; the F1 car should apparently have a similar livery.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 21 Jan 2014, 18:38

Ataxia wrote:Sneak peek of the Caterham GP2 car; the F1 car should apparently have a similar livery.

Wow I would love to drive that car. This Caterham Livery properly reminds me of Jaguar

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 21 Jan 2014, 18:40

Ataxia wrote:Sneak peek of the Caterham GP2 car; the F1 car should apparently have a similar livery.

Removing the yellow may have been an odd move, but that's a damn good livery, from what I can see.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 21 Jan 2014, 18:59

Ataxia wrote:Sneak peek of the Caterham GP2 car; the F1 car should apparently have a similar livery.

We can see their F1 car on the right.

Post by **mario** » 21 Jan 2014, 19:07

Basetornado wrote:
Faustus wrote:
GwilymJJames wrote:Kobayashi / Ericsson / T: Rossi, Frijns at Caterham confirmed.

Frijns going for a pointless reserve driver seat for the 2nd year in a row. What a waste of a driver:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112209

Considering Frijns cant afford GP2. This is proberly the best thing he can do. Sure its not racing but its better then not being anywhere.

It makes you wonder if Frijns will come to regret turning down an opportunity to join the Red Bull Young Driver program when they came knocking (and which he rebuffed quite forcefully).

Either way, this is going to be a hugely popular move by Fernandes (I can't help but feel that the publicity aspect might be one reason why Kobayashi got the seat - I doubt that as many people would have cared if Kovalainen got the seat instead) - let us hope that, with Fernandes threatening to withdraw from the sport at the end of the season, that he hasn't joined the team at the wrong time.

kowalski wrote:
Ferrim wrote:KOBAYASHI KAMUI TO SCORE CATERHAM'S FIRST EVER POINT IN AUSTRALIA!

...

Okay, I'm slightly overjoyed at the moment

Maybe not in Australia but i can see him scoring the first ever "New team Point" at some stage.

Go Bad reliability!!

Well, the Australian GP, being the opening round, does tend to have a higher attrition rate than usual - added to that, the performance gap between the backmarkers and the midfield will probably be at its smallest given that there will have been fairly limited development work up until that point. If Kamui is to finish in the points for Caterham, the Australian GP is probably one of the more likely races for that to happen in.
The next two races in Malaysia and Bahrain are probably reasonably likely to have higher than normal retirements too - Lauda has indicated that the turbo engines are quite sensitive to small fluctuations in oil and water temperature, so the hot temperatures in those races will probably increase the chances of mechanical failures.

Meatwad · Post by **Meatwad** » 21 Jan 2014, 19:35

Salamander wrote:Nobody in GP2 in 2013 deserves to be in F1 this year. Not after the field collectively allowed Stefano Coletti to lead the points all the way up to Monza despite not scoring in 7 of the previous 8 races. None of them. The only driver that showed a sufficient amount of talent in 2013 to warrant an F1 seat on merit was Sam Bird, but he was far too inconsistent, especially given his extensive experience.

I think Nasr and Calado did a decent job considering that it was just their second season in the series (although Nasr dropped the ball in the last few races). Coletti was lucky to lead, anyway, as he had his best results in sprint races.

The Caterham line-up is one of my favorites. Happy to see Ericsson and especially Kobayashi in F1 next year!

SgtPepper · Post by **SgtPepper** » 21 Jan 2014, 20:32

Dartanian wrote:Well Caterham's line-up has finally been announced!
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112208

KOBAYASHI and Ericsson!!!!
Well, I know who I am supporting this year

Benetton · Post by **Benetton** » 21 Jan 2014, 20:58

Really nice that out of 22 drivers four are from the Nordic countries!

Divina_Galica · Post by **Divina_Galica** » 21 Jan 2014, 21:18

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
Ataxia wrote:Sneak peek of the Caterham GP2 car; the F1 car should apparently have a similar livery.

We can see their F1 car on the right.

No, it isn't, but it would be quicker than their 2013 car...