Kyle T
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What can possibly beat the dethroning of Sebastian Vettel, the rise of the Williams F1 team, the glory of a second WDC for Lewis Hamilton or my trip to Austin?
It's time for the 2015 Formula One Season so let's find out! 
Notable team changes
McLaren are reunited with Honda as an engine supplier. McLaren and Honda have shared great success in the past, can this iconic duo find any glory in 2015?
Marussia and Caterham both share uncertain futures, with Manor involvement at Marussia and buyers "on the horizon" for Caterham we may see one, both or neither in the winter tests.
Lotus F1 switch from the troubled Renault power unit to the Mercedes unit, will this turn their fortunes around?
Driver changes
Sebastian Vettel moves to Scuderia Ferrari after 15 years in the Red Bull driver program. Seb will be alongside Kimi Raikkonen who has had a very troubled 2014 against Fernando Alonso. How will this new duo fare?
Max Verstappen joins Scuderia Torro Rosso to become the youngest ever F1 driver. Max will join a currently unknown driver as Jean-Eric Vergne would appear to have expired in the Red Bull driver program. [UPDATE] - Carlos Sainz Jr confirmed in the second Torro Rosso seat
Daniil Kvyat has been promoted into Red Bull Racing to drive alongside Daniel Ricciardo who has just completed a complete surprise season, comfortably beating the 4x WDC.
Marcus Erricson moves from the troubled Caterham to the slightly less troubled Sauber. He will drive alongside ex-GP2 driver Felipe Nasr which leaves both Sutil and Gutierrez without a seat at time of writing.
McLaren have yet to announce anything, leaving the careers of Alonso, Button and Magnussen in the unknown.
Calendar changes
It's the Nurburgring's turn to host the German Grand Prix
We return to Mexico for the first time in over a decade
The season will begin on March 15th and end on the 29th November.
Notable technical changes
Four power units allowed down from five.
Engine development progress allowance is halved from 2014.
Cock-Noses are banned.
Winter Testing
The first winter test at Jerez is slated to begin on the 1st February, with further tests at Barcelona. Bahrain will not host a test in 2015.
Season Calendar
15/03 Australia
29/03 Malaysia
05/04 Bahrain
19/04 China
10/05 Spain
24/05 Monaco
07/06 Canada
21/06 Austria
05/07 Britain
19/07 Germany
26/07 Hungary
23/08 Belgium
06/09 Italy
20/09 Singapore
27/09 Japan
11/10 Russia
25/10 USA
01/11 Mexico
15/11 Brazil
29/11 Abu Dhabi
Discussion points for the pre-season
- Can Nico retain his qualifying advantage over Lewis, the perceived "fastest over one lap" driver of pre-2014?
- Who the hell will drive for McLaren?
- Can Mercedes really maintain their pace advantage over the grid?
- Will Williams fall back, or make the next step and claim a victory? For the record, I think they've thrown away wins in 2014.
- How will the fortunes of Lotus change with a new power unit?
- Will Pharrell Williams be driving for Marussia reporting to team boss Fernando Alonso?
- Can Kyle get more TV time at the Hungary Grand Prix than he did in Austin 2014?
[Edited on 01-12-2014 by Kyle T]
Lotus Elise 111R
Impreza WRX STi
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JonnyJ
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Better However
***SPOILER ALERT***
In the end Lewis becomes a 3 time WDC
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nibnob21
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Cock-Nose bit made me chuckle. Have the BBC released which races they're televising yet?
Also, funny story (but not really), my phone tries to autocorrect cock to dick lol.
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Ben G
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Cracking start to the official thread! Top work, Kyle.
Here's hoping Lewis can make it 2 title's.
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JonnyJ
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To put my thoughts on some of the questions posed.
I think Lotus will be miles better next season, not quite where they were in 2013 but hopefully in the mix with the Ferrari's/FI etc
No reason to see why Williams cant push on, they could do with a bit of work on tyre deg and strategy but they should still be near the front
Mclaren are the biggest question, both in who will be driving for them and where they'll be finishing. I think its clear Alonso is going there and will most likely partner one of Vandoorne/Magnusson. JB will have to settle for the WEC, which, given the end to his season is probably slightly harsh. Its a shame Williams retained Massa because he could've done a job there.
Very intrigued to see how the change goes to Honda. Certainly testing at Abu Dhabi went to tits. Problems were always going to happen but im sure they wanted to do more than 5 laps over 2 days. Still, thats not to say the engine will be a bad one but i think they'll struggle, especially with reliability, more than the others and now we're down to 4 PU's it will be extra tricky for them, seeing how many of this years teams struggled to make it without going over. One thing that should be decent is their aero, given that Prodromu is going to be doing a copy/pasta job from RB.
Probably Alonso's last roll of the dice too. He didnt have much options, he had to leave Ferrari, they arent going anywhere fast and given the restrictions Merc place on their customer teams, realistically the only team with a Merc engine thats going to be going for the title is the works teams and there no room at the inn there. Im sure he'll have some performance related break options in his contract but if Mclaren dont challenge Merc then its difficult to see who will, at least until the engine regs get opened up.
Cant see anything other than another Merc dominated, Hamilton/Britney slogfest. I think a few teams might get closer and in the right races may even take a few poles/wins from them, but ultimately they should still be clear of the field. Be interesting to see how the inter team battle goes. I think Lewis, now with his 2nd title under his belt and that monkey of "should be a multi WDC" off his back, could step it up a gear. He knows he can do it, he knows how to bounceback and at least, even if does go wrong, it will be an easier pill to swallow than if he'd have lost it this year. Rosberg is the man under pressure, hes let one chance of a WDC pass him by, how long can Merc continue to have this advantage? He had the car this year and he'll probably have it next but can he step it up and actually beat Lewis in a race? I think, probably not, he'll need some luck to come out on top.
Another interesting battle with be the "who is the most overrated driver in F1" one at Ferrari. Vettel or Kimi? I'll go with Vettel beating Kimi on this one, given a new team might just give him a fresh leash of life, whilst Kimi looks disillusioned and will probably retire at the end of the year.
Really excited about the new season already, i thought 2014 was mint. Cars looked a handful, some epic racing and overtaking. Hopefully Lewis gets a shot at his 3rd title and if he makes it, instead of Harry getting on the radio to him and can be Queenie herself, telling him to get down to the palace for a Knighting. Now that really would wind the haters up 
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nibnob21
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Didn't think of say it but I hope Red Bull pick things up again. Woold love to see Ricciardo in the mix more and I'm interested to see how Kvyat will get on, he's certainly looked good this year.
Do we know who is the number one driver at Ferrari? It's no secret the car that was developed around Alonso didn't suit Raikkonen.
MX5 Project Thread
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p
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Already did a thread 
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Rick Draper
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Lotus will be average at best, renault power drove Red Bull to race wins this year, the lotus was a dog, I don't see that changing. They have one pretty decent driver and one thats utterly shit so that won't help either.
I can see Mclaren having Alonso and Button, the delay I think is due to seeing how much money having Alonso in the team will bring in and if they can secure a title sponsor. Running without one this year will have hurt the wallet and without a race win will have reduced the chance of them getting the ££££ RD probably expects. If they cannot secure one then I see a young cheap driver fitting in alongside Alonso sadly.
Williams were fast and given a more clinical driver I agree they would likely have won a few races this season. I hope they can push on but the last time they had a season like this they produced a dog of a car the following year. Hopefully with Pat Symonds he will help keep them focused.
Mclaren Honda is a interesting one, you would like to hope they have got a bloody lot of development in on the engine but car/engine integration on the test car has been appalling. You would have thought they would have been on top of that and learnt a lot with regards PU and car integration. Sadly it seems they have not learnt much at all. I have no idea if they ran a full Merc PU/Battery package this season or a Merc/Mclaren package?.
Ferrari will be terrible again, lack of direction and leadership, loads of top designers all wanting to pull in there direction. Its a recipe for disaster as we keep seeing time and time again.
Hard to see past Merc again, they have the momentum and a superior engine package to anything out there.
[Edited on 26-11-2014 by Rick Draper]
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JonnyJ
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https://f1metrics.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/2014-model-based-driver-rankings/
Awesome article here on driver/team performance using mathematical models. Well worth a read.
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Jambo
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quote:
Originally posted by JonnyJ
https://f1metrics.wordpress.com/2014/11/26/2014-model-based-driver-rankings/
Awesome article here on driver/team performance using mathematical models. Well worth a read.
Cracking read thanks JJ.
Props to Kyle for an excellent thread opener, I shall hit subscribe for another year.
Sadly as a Ferrari fan (sigh) this year I expect similar four wheeled donkey performance now the big man has left and there is too much emphasis on the team being 100% Italian, rather than actually any good. F14T was a piece of doggy doo doo, that was overweight, crap chassis and terrible power delivery that also munched tyres. If the rumours of spying on Mercedes are true it would seem they haven't the foggiest on how to design a good one themselves. Which leads me to heartbreak as Kimi mentioned he will never drive for another team he would rather drive for Ferrari (Lotus upset him that much?!) So looks pretty much set up to be his last season in F1  Given his 2013 performance, the return to glory was but a whisker away.
It must have been the reverse for LH fans this year, as I understand your pain last year. F1 is more exciting than ever (IMO) and I have loved almost every minute of this season, but an absence of my driver doing very well at all. So nobody to cheer on to victory. Feeling the pain of the Alonso favouritism with Pit Stops etc, all painful stuff. Looks like next year will be action packed, but a sad one for me as Kimi is the oldest on the grid... And sure to leave (even if he wants to stay) at the end of next season.
I don't think Kimi is disillusioned at all, he joined Ferrari as #2 instead of his previous #1 to which was all focus on Alonso. One of the Ferrari techs was explaining they simply scrub tyres if they play chase up too much and looks to be Kimi struggled with this more than Alonso, which is why you can see a really strong start for Ferrari in a few races (Monaco for e.g.) then they just fall off the radar. I also think they need to sort their strategy out, seems to be reactive and not proactive and in some cases plain stupid. In interviews he seemed sombre, but positive and more to the point realistic. He's not one for BS so we can take it thats the truth.
Anyone heard the Grosjean/McLaren rumours?!
[Edited on 27-11-2014 by Jambo]
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nibnob21
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Grosjean to McLaren? Sounds like Shits to me, he's only just agreed to stay on with Lotus.
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Rick Draper
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quote:
Originally posted by JamboAnyone heard the Grosjean/McLaren rumours?!
[Edited on 27-11-2014 by Jambo]
Thought he had been confirmed at Renault?
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Jambo
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Allegedly he Tweeted that he was staying at Lotus, then deleted it immediately. People have been touting that the 4th driver that Dennis mentioned is Grosjean, because of the Boullier connection (and his public dislike of Jenson).
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JonnyJ
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quote:
Originally posted by Jambo
Allegedly he Tweeted that he was staying at Lotus, then deleted it immediately. People have been touting that the 4th driver that Dennis mentioned is Grosjean, because of the Boullier connection (and his public dislike of Jenson).
That was a week or so he did that but has since confirmed hes staying at Lotus
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nibnob21
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Susie Wolff has been promoted from Development Driver to Test Driver:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/30234094
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nibnob21
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Also, Helmut Marko has said TR will announce their second driver on Monday.
And albeit a very brief article, some may find this interesting:
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/2015-marussia-f1-design-revealed/?
Does this mean that Manor definitely won't be happening for 2015 then?
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JonnyJ
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I see Horner has been whingeing away again, saying he wants standard ERS units for the whole grid "to bring down costs". Aye sure Christian, costs, im sure Red Bull has always been worried about costs More like Renault have fudged this big time, we're fucked. Got to admire him, he'll making a cracking replacement for Bernie.
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JonnyJ
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Torro Rosso confirm Carlos Sainz Jnr as the driver alongside Max Verstappen. Thats a young team!
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Ben G
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Just had my first ever Karting experience. 4th out of 12. I reckon I have what it takes to be a Nico or a Lewis. only guys who beat me had done it many times before.
Watch this space mo'fo's!
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JonnyJ
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I'd beat you.
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Ben G
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Have you karted (is that even a word?) before? If so, it's quite possible you will.
Well happy with myself though. My hands were fucked after 20 minutes! Amazing how these drivers can perform at the level they're at for almost 2 hours!
Can see why Lewis was resting his hands after that Bahrain pit stop now!
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nibnob21
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I went karting earlier this year with friends and lapped every single one of them. True story.
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Ben G
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This track is the longest in the UK (capital karts) 1:18 average lap! Was very technical with lots of corners and a few bendy straights. You'd do well to lap anyone in the 20 minute time limit.
Absolutely loved sliding the back end round, even though it was slower, it was so fun!
[Edited on 28-11-2014 by Ben G]
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Dave
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The weirdest feeling in the world is driving a normal car after going karting. Even back when I had my Corsa on super stiff coilovers it still felt like I was driving a bouncy castle.
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Ben G
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Mine wasn't too bad but I know what you mean. You can go flying into corners on the Karts and they just stick. It doesn't seem possible in your mind
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