2014 GP of the USSR, aka Russia

solarcold · Post by **solarcold** » 11 Oct 2014, 10:00

Marussia fined 500 €: overspeeding by Max.

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 11 Oct 2014, 10:06

Magnussen gets a grid penalty for changing his gearbox. Coupled to McLaren's poor FP3 form, it looks as though its going downhill for them already.

Post by **mario** » 11 Oct 2014, 10:21

good_Ralf wrote:Magnussen gets a grid penalty for changing his gearbox. Coupled to McLaren's poor FP3 form, it looks as though its going downhill for them already.

Button was certainly not happy with the car in the final session, suggesting that McLaren have perhaps ended up making a poor set up change that they are regretting now.

Speaking of set up issues, it sounds as if there are a number of drivers being caught out by the conditions and not being sure where to go - Rosberg has admitted that he went for a major set up change in FP2 that worked out badly and seems to have put him on the back foot, and a lot of drivers have been struggling to bring their tyres up to temperature over a single lap (some drivers set their best times after six or seven laps in FP3). With the way that Rosberg has been struggling with his tyres, I wouldn't be surprised if he comes under heavy pressure from Bottas in qualifying given that Bottas seems to be able to bring his tyres into their working range more rapidly than Rosberg.

I wouldn't also be surprised if we start seeing a few drivers gambling on a one stop race - with tyre wear being relatively low and the tyres taking several laps to get to their working range, it looks as if stopping early might not necessarily be advantageous and drivers might want to hold off on tyre stops for as long as possible.

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 11 Oct 2014, 11:18

Massa's engine is dying on him. Uh oh.

EDIT: Massa is out and Ericsson yet again outpaces Kobayashi. Engine advantage, perhaps? Maldonado, oh my.

hootie · Post by **hootie** » 11 Oct 2014, 11:22

massa's negativity from the press conference
is biting him back in quali 1

oh dear
hootie

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 11 Oct 2014, 11:42

Wow Kvyat P5!

EDIT: I was so sad when I saw the timing screens to see Bottas still P3. That last corner.

Post by **Miguel98** » 11 Oct 2014, 12:02

Valtteri

That could be his pole position. What an amazing lap. A small lock up over heated the tyres, and after that, the lap was done.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 11 Oct 2014, 12:02

Bottas chokes. Kyvat 5th

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 11 Oct 2014, 12:03

Oh Bottas so close to snatching pole. Right no one say anything about his chances tomorrow (I'm looking at you East Londoner)

solarcold · Post by **solarcold** » 11 Oct 2014, 12:08

Bottas is amazing. Kvyat is amazing. Ericsson is amazing. What is happening to this guy? I mean, he's getting fast, no?

Paul Hayes · Post by **Paul Hayes** » 11 Oct 2014, 12:13

So disappointing to see that mistake at the end from Bottas - I really thought for a moment, after his second sector time, that he might snatch the pole!

Still, the main event is yet to come. I wonder whether he can take the right to Mercedes tomorrow?

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 11 Oct 2014, 12:14

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Oh Bottas so close to snatching pole. Right no one say anything about his chances tomorrow (I'm looking at you East Londoner)

Bottas can get a podium tomorrow. Easily.

Post by **mario** » 11 Oct 2014, 12:31

good_Ralf wrote:Massa's engine is dying on him. Uh oh.

EDIT: Massa is out and Ericsson yet again outpaces Kobayashi. Engine advantage, perhaps? Maldonado, oh my.

It's a component issue, but not engine related - Kobayashi unfortunately broke the new front wing that the team had brought out to Japan, and as the Russian customs authorities won't allow the teams to bring in anything that hasn't come from Japan, he is therefore stuck with an older specification front wing.

Ericsson, by contrast, has the new front wing, and according to Caterham the new front wing is a significant improvement over the older specification (several tenths of a second per lap) - it's notable that he was only around a tenth behind Grosjean in that session.

Miguel98 wrote:Valtteri

That could be his pole position. What an amazing lap. A small lock up over heated the tyres, and after that, the lap was done.

It looks like several drivers had similar problems - if you look at the sector times, Bottas, Rosberg and Hamilton were all gaining time in the first two sectors but then beginning to lose time in the third sector compared to their earlier runs. Only Hamilton managed to improve on his final run, and even then his final sector time was actually slightly slower than his previous best lap (he simply lost less time in the final sector than his rivals did).

In fact, oddly only Button actually managed a significant improvement between his Q2 and Q3 times (going about 0.26s faster) - Rosberg, Hamilton, Vergne and Magnussen were slower (the last of those losing a lot of time), and the rest were within a few hundredths of a second of their Q2 times.

Paul Hayes wrote:So disappointing to see that mistake at the end from Bottas - I really thought for a moment, after his second sector time, that he might snatch the pole!

Still, the main event is yet to come. I wonder whether he can take the right to Mercedes tomorrow?

It looks like it is reasonably close between Rosberg and Bottas, so the latter might put Rosberg under a little pressure - then again, Mercedes have tended to look more comfortable in race trim than Williams have.

As for Hamilton, he's generally looked very comfortable in the practise sessions and just that bit too quick for Bottas, but we can't rule out either driver error (the car has looked unusually nervous on braking and it has occasionally caught Hamilton out) or mechanical issues giving Bottas a chance. He might have a chance to split the two Mercedes drivers, but it will depend if he can keep the same sort of pace up over a longer stint that Williams have shown in shorter bursts - and it has been the case that Williams have sometimes slipped back in race trim relative to their qualifying performance.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 11 Oct 2014, 12:33

I am sure Bottas fell into the maximum grip in the first part and then overheating tyres in the second part trap like Brundle said, but I still can't shake the feeling he chocked and overdrove it.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 11 Oct 2014, 15:43

Alonso is expecting a processional race because of "a lack of strategic opportunities", which I'm taking to mean "crap, we're two seconds off the pace".

Post by **mario** » 11 Oct 2014, 19:30

Captain Hammer wrote:Alonso is expecting a processional race because of "a lack of strategic opportunities", which I'm taking to mean "crap, we're two seconds off the pace".

Not to mention being about 10kph slower in a straight line...

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 11 Oct 2014, 20:57

DanielPT wrote:I am sure Bottas fell into the maximum grip in the first part and then overheating tyres in the second part trap like Brundle said, but I still can't shake the feeling he chocked and overdrove it.

I think you're right and it's a shame for him and the team but I can't help but feel impressed at how he threw all caution to the wind and went for it.

andrew · Post by **andrew** » 11 Oct 2014, 21:39

Bottas said he would not have got pole, second maybe. Hopefully he can use his power at the start tomorrow c'mon Bo77as

watka · Post by **watka** » 11 Oct 2014, 22:21

andrew wrote:Bottas said he would not have got pole, second maybe. Hopefully he can use his power at the start tomorrow c'mon Bo77as

Yep, Bottas admitted that the tyres were gone by the end of the lap, or at least that's his excuse: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29542207
He was so on the limit and I wasn't surprised to see him lose it, but its really good to see someone trying so hard rather than just settling for being slower than the Mercs.

Kvyat's performance was also outstanding, beating both Red Bulls and Alonso. He's pretty much answered the doubts I had over his basic pace.

It was also nice to see the computer images on the track being used for something good, namely wishing Jules a good recovery.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 12 Oct 2014, 01:40

Have to say I'm really enjoying the revised Sauber livery. Might be my favourite now after the Williams. The red rear wing and white front wing seem to work quite nicely together.

mrfakeboullier · Post by **mrfakeboullier** » 12 Oct 2014, 10:05

Just remember in Soviet Russia, you no race F1 car, F1 car race you.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 12 Oct 2014, 10:44

mrfakeboullier wrote:Just remember in Soviet Russia, you no race F1 car, F1 car race you.

Russian reversal goes down a treat, every time!

apple2009 · Post by **apple2009** » 12 Oct 2014, 11:06

Exciting start.

apple2009 · Post by **apple2009** » 12 Oct 2014, 11:10

Ericsson P15

Waris · Post by **Waris** » 12 Oct 2014, 11:13

Ah, but I wonder, will hey use the Olympic medal plaza for the podium ceremony? And will the trophies be shaped like medals? Giant medals, maybe?

hootie · Post by **hootie** » 12 Oct 2014, 11:20

i want to hear christian horner over the team radio
"seb, daniel is faster than you. you need to let him pass"

hootie

Post by **Londoner** » 12 Oct 2014, 11:24

Chilton retires with a suspension problem. Heartbreaking for the team after the week they've had. :cry:

pablo_h · Post by **pablo_h** » 12 Oct 2014, 11:50

Boring race so far. I Always viewed the track as a widened maintenance road around buildings...

Sky commentators begging for a safety car to make it interesting LOL.

Does anyone remember Tilke's comment about the track? I think Brundle said to him it's just a road around buildings and Tilke confirmed that's what he was stuck with. I know Tilke said he only had control of a couple of corners, but can't remember if he said he had design of the camber of most corners, or whether he didn't even have control of that either?

E: When I say boring, I'm fine with Hamilton absolutely owning this track, good on him, but it's still boring...

pablo_h · Post by **pablo_h** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:01

Aww Kamui retired for no known reason

went · Post by **went** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:12

What's with Guti- oh, nevermind.

mrfakeboullier · Post by **mrfakeboullier** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:12

PLEASE CUT TO TWO EVIL DESPOTS FOM THANK YOU YES!

pablo_h · Post by **pablo_h** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:19

^ Ha, yeah saw the Putin and Ecclestone meet.

Almost can't be bothered the rest of the race any more.
Will soldier on just for reject and IIDOTR race nominees

AxelP800 · Post by **AxelP800** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:31

Not even Vettel's domination have successfully bored me to death like this

Post by **Londoner** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:32

I could've been watching Ginetta Juniors at Brands Hatch instead of this.

AxelP800 · Post by **AxelP800** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:35

White flag. Rosberg did something of 52 laps of Pirelli tires. Mercedes is the constructor champion for 2014 ( I think)

Very interesting race for the 1st F1 race in Russia

went · Post by **went** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:38

So Rosberg posted a fastest lap with 51-lap-old primes.

This is a thing that happened.

Post by **Miguel98** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:39

That.Was.Interesting. Not.

Very dull race. There's a reason Putin came so late, he didn't want to fall asleep watching this. :lol:

Post by **mario** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:48

pablo_h wrote:Boring race so far. I Always viewed the track as a widened maintenance road around buildings...

Sky commentators begging for a safety car to make it interesting LOL.

Does anyone remember Tilke's comment about the track? I think Brundle said to him it's just a road around buildings and Tilke confirmed that's what he was stuck with. I know Tilke said he only had control of a couple of corners, but can't remember if he said he had design of the camber of most corners, or whether he didn't even have control of that either?

E: When I say boring, I'm fine with Hamilton absolutely owning this track, good on him, but it's still boring...

Probably only the camber, but no more than that - given the threats of legal action from the IOC if there was any disruption to the Olympic facilities, Tilke was certainly under tight restrictions when it came to designing the outline of the track.

went wrote:So Rosberg posted a fastest lap with 51-lap-old primes.

This is a thing that happened.

Well, the track is very, very smooth compared to most other venues - couple that to Pirelli being quite conservative and somewhat cool track conditions, and the tyres seem to have lasted much, much longer than normal.

Jan Magnussen · Post by **Rob Dylan** » 12 Oct 2014, 12:59

I feel like Joey eating Rachel's trifle. "I liked it!"

Aguaman · Post by **Aguaman** » 12 Oct 2014, 13:10

What is worse than this race? The people whining about the track. Geez