The Formula 1 2014 Thread

[harrybarracuda]

Safety Car again on 26.

[harrybarracuda]

Bit of a Mercedes procession, this time with Rosberg leading unless Lewis takes some risks.

[palexxxx]

Lewis is a bit of a sook isn't he?

[Norton]

Boo fokin hoo. Lewis got something in his eye.
Ricardo is class of the field. Need more like him in F1.

[VocalNeal]

Boo fokin hoo. Lewis got something in his eye.

Yes the view of the back of Rosberg's car. Can't win, so whines. Rosberg doesn't whine when he comes second.

[cyrille]

I've seen more exciting trolley manoeuvres in Tesco.

What a colossal waste of time Monaco is.

[harrybarracuda]

What should have been a two car race turned into an interesting one when things started falling apart for Mercedes. Hamilton's rear brakes ended up completely shot, but because of a slightly different configuration, Rosberg was able to put more into the front ones and almost pulled off an unlikely win, but for Ricciardo who had other ideas and nicked his first, and a very popular, win with a couple of laps to go.

There was still time for Massa and Perez to have an almightly shunt near the end, from which they both walked away. Vettel did amazingly to avoid getting taken out by it.

All in all a good race, and it's back to the drawing board for a few teams that seemed to have trouble with their new energy recovery/braking systems.

[peterpan]

It was good to see, the new boy Riccardo do so well, it must me so satisfying for Weber to see the 1 fingered German getting so thoroughly trounced by Riccardo.

[bobo746]

Riciardo good young kid

me three months ago,havent changed my opinion.

[VocalNeal]

Hamilton's season is fecked. He only has one spare ERS electronics unit left he's used 3 already this season. He only has one more left without incurring grid penalties.

[harrybarracuda]

Hamilton's season is fecked. He only has one spare ERS electronics unit left he's used 3 already this season. He only has one more left without incurring grid penalties.

Forget about the grid penalties, he's not going to finish many races if they keep failing!

Canadian GP F1 technical analysis: What went wrong for Mercedes
By Craig Scarborough Sunday, June 8th 2014, 22:35 GMT

Mercedes was denied a sixth consecutive Formula 1 one-two finish by the failure of the kinetic energy recovery system (ERS-K) on both of its cars in the Canadian Grand Prix.

Halfway through the race, both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg reported a loss of power. Their top speeds dropped and, as a result, so did their laptimes.

Hamilton soon retired with smoke pouring from the rear brakes, while Rosberg managed to hold on to the lead by Daniel Ricciardo on the penultimate lap.

Mercedes has confirmed that a high-voltage control electronics failure led to the permanent loss of MGU-K driver on both cars.

In simpler terms, the electronic units that switch the power from the battery to the kinetic motor generator unit (MGU-K) failed.

This would result in the drivers losing some 160bhp from the power unit, leaving only the conventional turbocharged internal combustion engine to propel the cars, with just over 600bhp.

Having to switch hundreds of volts between the MGU-K and the battery, the control electronics hardware has to run with high electrical loads and at high temperatures.

Control electronics have proven to be the most unreliable of the six modules of the new 2014 power units.

Mercedes has enjoyed better reliability with these components than its rivals, although Hamilton had replaced his control electronics after Saturday morning practice. That was the third unit he has used this year, compared to Rosberg's two.

With this failure, Hamilton will have to use his fourth set of control electronics, meaning he has just one more set to use for the balance of the season without incurring grid penalties.

As both units failed on the same lap and just after pitstops, it is likely that excessive heat may be a factor in the problems.

Mercedes blames overheating systems

With high ambient temperatures in Montreal and a spike in temperature, the car being stationary at a pitstop appears to have overcome the electronics.

Compounding the loss of the ERS-K, there is the impact this has on the brakes.

As the ERS-K harvests its energy, it also creates drag on the rear axle and acts as part of the car's braking system.

Without it, the car therefore loses a proportion of the rear braking effort.

To save weight, teams have downsized the rear brake disc and caliper for 2014. This in turn leaves the rear brakes unable to cope with delivering the entire braking effort alone.

With Montreal being one of the hardest tracks for braking, is not surprising that Hamilton's rear brakes failed soon after the MGU-K problem hit. That said, Paddy Lowe did suggest to Sky TV that the two were not related.

Rosberg adjusted his brake bias and, with a lack of braking effort and the absence of 160hp, still managed to finish second.

His early fuel consumption problems would have been exacerbated by having only the internal combustion engine to power the car for the balance of the race.

[aging one]

Thanks Harry a very good read. Hybrids racing. I am very happy for Nico though. Lewis I am sure is fuming. But was much more gracious this time...

[harrybarracuda]

It's funny, because Hamilton made a comment on the radio before the start along the lines of "track temperature is rising"... maybe they were already aware of this.

He didn't sound that surprised when he radio'd in "Brakes have failed".

[Norton]

Williams 1, 2. Massa, Botas. Well done. A pleasant change.

[palexxxx]

haha, Hamilton didn't set a time in Q3

[Johnny Farang]

"Fernado... Felipe.is.faster.than.you..."

[peterpan]

Along with many I would have retired Felipe out of the scene, but to his credit he hung in there, found a drive and had returned to stardom, good for the man.
life in the old dog yet.

[rickschoppers]

One of the keys is to find a driver that is comfortable in the team's car. Felipe was not in the Ferrari, while Alonso is. Raikkonen is not and he may wind up being without a ride at the end of the year.

Felepe has settled into the Williams car and I am glad to see the team coming back. Bottas is not doing all that bad either.

[peterpan]

True enough rick, Chris Amon is was a family friend (Farming) and was also for some reason found favor with the old boy (Enzo Ferrari) but he could never, make it in the team, he wasn't Italian or even European, and therefore no one wanted to work with/for him, I suspect Raikkonen is having the same problem.
out of the italian family.

[rickschoppers]

PP, I would think you need the team working with and for you to succeed. Raikkonen does not seem to be the easiest fellow to work with, IMO. He knows his stuff, but he needs the engineers and team members help to win and he may not have 100% right now and it is showing in his performance.

The other possibility is that he just can't get a handle on the car. He may or may not figure it out by the end of the season, but it may just be too late by then.

[Norton]

Good to see Masa's persistance pay off.

Masa, Kimi or any other Alonso team mate is going to come out second best. Alonso is the best driver in the field. Put him in a bad car, he will get the best out of it. Put him in a good car, he will be numbero uno.

[Norton]

Looking forward to today's race. Would be great to see a Williams win. Not so far fetched. They are competitive on this track.

[harrybarracuda]

Major shunt on the first lap at Silverstone. Medics out on track attending Kimi. Race red flagged.

Added: Going to the medical centre in the medical car so hopefully OK.

The Ferrari was going everywhere!

So they go back to the grid and start again....

They're apparently going to restart behind the safety car, which is a relief for Button and Hamilton, who both went up from the start.

[chassamui]

Rosberg out with gearbox problem. About time too. Hamilton leads from Botas.

[taxexile]

..... and Hamilton wins.