I like some of the new stuff:

1) the engines are cool
2) the fuel limit per race is not. limiting the fuel flow is probably fine though. I suspect you will see some significant differences in qual vs. race laptimes since races last more than an hour.
4) Don't really like how they are dropping the RPM limit. seems much more like a normal car now. especially since early speculation indicated they don't make much power up top and are probably early shifting a lot.
5) I don't like the double points.


I don't care about vettel, but I suspect Red Bull is going to be one of the front runners by mid-year. Ferrari will be interesting to watch, just because Fernando vs. Kimi. They may even get challenged by FI and the other mid-field merc. teams if the pace they have showed so far is close. With that said, Ferrari is a couple or days behind in the testing schedule vs. Merc.

If Renault doesn't get an extension on the engine spec. lock, I suspect a good number of those cars won't finish Australia.

1. Agreed. The TERS is a really cool idea. ScarbsF1 has a good video explaining the basics.
2. Agreed.
4. With the fuel flow limit, it wouldn't really matter anyway. They can still theoretically have a 15,000 rpm rev limit, but I don't think the fuel limit supports that amount of air flow through the engine at that engine speed.
5. It's beyond ridiculous.

They are not gp2 slow. Rosberg was only 1 sec off his pole time from last year. Give them done time to sort out the bugs and they will be faster than the v8s

Here is some comparisons between last years race laptimes and Rosberg's Race Sim from Bahrain. The graph is very helpful.
2014 Testing - Bahrain 19-22 Feb - Forum - F1technical.net

It looks good so far. Rosberg's laps look a little slower, at the very least there is larger difference from one lap to the next. a bit difficult to analyze really because I am sure traffic is worse during testing and Vettel generally maintains a gap (plus I don't remember the race).

Anyways, end of Rosberg's testing has him doing extremely slow laps compared to Vettel (2-3s slower) and his earlier laps too (~1s). Hard to really compare his previous laps as they have big gaps...anyway, I suspect that is fuel saving on Merc's part just to finish the sim.

Yep, sorry about that. I accidentally wrapped in Kobash's comments with something else. Caterham are another 5 or so seconds off of Rosberg's pace.

I wasn't a huge Vettel fan in the past, but now I kinda root for him just to say I got to watch the GOAT (I didn't follow F1 when Schumacher was winning). Sort of like why I sometimes root for Tiger Woods.

And who needs high RPM when you have boost.

DOUBLE POINTS!!!???

Whoever thought up that idea (let's hope it came directly from Bernie's warped mind) needs to be drawn, quartered, shot, and then shot again. That's the dumbest idea since grooved tires.

Yes Double Points is complete rubbish

they are actually supposed to vote on double points for the last 3 races...can't remember if they have already or not.

I know nothing about Formula 1, but I am curious, why all the hate for red bull racing?

Because no one likes it when one smug ass team dominates.

Yep, Vettel won every race after the break last year. He's a great driver, it's just getting boring.

...sorta like "the Schumacher Era".

Christian Horner tries to be humble and (a tiny bit) respectful of other teams and drivers, but Vettel is just an arrogant a$$ - easy NOT to like. If you saw what he did in Malaysia last year you would understand.

Even when McLaren dominated, there was always Senna vs Prost. One driver on one team dominating is just plain boring.

Webber was constantly dicked around by the team, Silverstone 2010? I'll actually be watching some endurance racing this year because of his switch.

See I don't see Vettel as arrogant, just honest. He doesn't use $0.02 platitudes or suck the media's dick in interviews. I prefer the honesty to making everyone try to like him.

That said if the RBR cars are a bit slower than everyone else this year to keep it interesting you won't see me complaining. Unfortunately based on Seb's performances in the past where he took a car that is a couple of hundredths faster in Q3 and ran the first lap of the race 2 seconds faster than everyone else, they'll have to be a lot worse. That shit still blows my mind.

No doubt Vettel is a good (great?) driver, and I respect him for that. I even respect his honesty about the car / other drivers / the team / F1 in general. Maybe it's just a "German thing" (and I'm not casting stones), but he just rubs me the wrong way.

Alonso is just a vocal (even criticizing the team!!), doesn't kiss a$$ with the press, whines and cries when he doesn't get his way...but I can tolerate that from him. I can even get over my anti-Ferrari-bias (yeah, I said it) when/if he and Vettel or Hamilton are battling on the track.

What's really pissing me off about the double points is that it's now aimed in Red Bull's favor. They'll suck at the beginning and a swear to christ if Vettel wins the championship at the last race because of the fucking double points I'm going to shoot him and then myself.

Lets stop the Vettel/RBR shitting and have a few laughs with Kimi:

1. Martin Brundle: “Kimi, you missed the presentation by Pele.”
Kimi : “Yeah.”
Martin: “Will you get over it?”
Kimi: “Yeah. I was having a shit.”

13. Interviewer: “The helmet has a special meaning for many drivers. How important is it to you?”
Kimi: “It protects my head.”

20. Interviewer: ”Do you have any special rituals when the helmet is concerned like many have?”
Kimi: “I wipe it so that I can see better.”

19. Interviewer: “The most exciting moment during the race weekend?”
Kimi: “I think so it’s the race start, always.”
Interviewer: “The most boring?”
Kimi: “Now.”

And they left out, "Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing"...

Seeing how teams keep FI engines together with the fuel restrictions will be fun. Lean burn characteristics are even more important now.

It's been explained to me (not sure it actually true) that at high RPM, its possible to a certain extent to 'out-run knock' where yeah you do get a explosion rather than an orderly flame front but in the time it takes to get the conditions in the cylinder ripe for that the piston is already moving downward, limiting the damage. With a short stroke engine and an RPM limit its probably going to be tough to do that. But hooray for direct injection to make it possible.

In for spectacular catastrophic engine failures. They probably wont be as cool as the 80s ones but still.