2014 Silly Season Thread

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 25 Feb 2014, 09:53

Rob Smedley to Williams (but not as Massa's radio engineer)

madmark1974 · Post by **madmark1974** » 25 Feb 2014, 10:04

Just before we lay the Susie Wolff topic to rest, I thought I'd share part of Orange's F1 page's report on the story :

The 31-year-old Scot has played an integral part in the development of the last three Williams cars, including the FW36 that will take to the track in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix in less than three weeks' time.

Er ...

Turbogirl · Post by **Turbogirl** » 25 Feb 2014, 11:53

wsrgo wrote:Interlude...

Beitske Visser to test for AV Formula in Formula Renault 3.5 pre-season testing today.

That's one female driver who could make it to F1 on talent alone.

I really hope, she can make her way to F1, especially now that her fruitless Red-Bull-Intermezzo is over and done.

LeytonHouse · Post by **LeytonHouse** » 25 Feb 2014, 12:14

I'm wondering, if one of the Williams drivers gets injured during Silverstone FP2, would Suzie be allowed to qualify and race??

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 25 Feb 2014, 12:19

LeytonHouse wrote:I'm wondering, if one of the Williams drivers gets injured during Silverstone FP2, would Suzie be allowed to qualify and race??

I am guessing that Felipe Nasr would be there too despite not participating in FPs. And would probably get the nod too...

pi314159 · Post by **pi314159** » 25 Feb 2014, 12:20

LeytonHouse wrote:I'm wondering, if one of the Williams drivers gets injured during Silverstone FP2, would Suzie be allowed to qualify and race??

No, Nasr is their reserve driver. According to his uncle and manager Amir Nasr, Felipe Nasr will be present at all Grand Prix weekends, and the first choice as a replacement in case one of the Williams drivers is not able to race.

LeytonHouse · Post by **LeytonHouse** » 25 Feb 2014, 12:23

Ah ok, makes sense.

watka · Post by **watka** » 25 Feb 2014, 13:20

good_Ralf wrote:Rob Smedley to Williams (but not as Massa's radio engineer)

Least surprising news of the year so far! Obviously makes sense not to rattle Massa with a new race engineer, could you imagine him working with the humourless Guillaume Roquelin?

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 25 Feb 2014, 13:48

pi314159 wrote:
LeytonHouse wrote:I'm wondering, if one of the Williams drivers gets injured during Silverstone FP2, would Suzie be allowed to qualify and race??

No, Nasr is their reserve driver. According to his uncle and manager Amir Nasr, Felipe Nasr will be present at all Grand Prix weekends, and the first choice as a replacement in case one of the Williams drivers is not able to race.

If he's doing GP2 he'll be at all Grand Prix weekends as a GP2 driver. Given how little teams have liked to use rookie drivers as replacements in recent years (Heikki Kovalainen at Enstone 2013 over Davide Valsecchi, Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber 2011 over Esteban Gutiérrez) I wouldn't be too surprised if Williams used a non-contracted driver such as Paul di Resta. Unless Nasr's contract does specify that Williams have to use him in the event of the unavailability of Valtteri Bottas or Felipe Massa.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 25 Feb 2014, 13:59

Backmarker wrote:I wouldn't be too surprised if Williams used a non-contracted driver such as Luca Badoer.

correctedededed.

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 25 Feb 2014, 16:38

LeytonHouse wrote:I'm wondering, if one of the Williams drivers gets injured during Silverstone FP2, would Suzie be allowed to qualify and race??

From here:http://www.formula1.com/inside_f1/rules_and_regulations/sporting_regulations/8694/

Teams may use up to four drivers during a season, all of whom may score points in the championship. A driver change may be made with the permission of the stewards any time before the start of qualifying. The new driver must use the engine and tyres allocated to the original driver.

If she has a Superlicence, then the answer is yes. In reality, it'd depend on whether or not Williams fell she'd be competitive enough compared to Nasr, and their expected pace.

Post by **mario** » 25 Feb 2014, 18:35

Backmarker wrote:
pi314159 wrote:
LeytonHouse wrote:I'm wondering, if one of the Williams drivers gets injured during Silverstone FP2, would Suzie be allowed to qualify and race??

No, Nasr is their reserve driver. According to his uncle and manager Amir Nasr, Felipe Nasr will be present at all Grand Prix weekends, and the first choice as a replacement in case one of the Williams drivers is not able to race.

If he's doing GP2 he'll be at all Grand Prix weekends as a GP2 driver. Given how little teams have liked to use rookie drivers as replacements in recent years (Heikki Kovalainen at Enstone 2013 over Davide Valsecchi, Pedro de la Rosa at Sauber 2011 over Esteban Gutiérrez) I wouldn't be too surprised if Williams used a non-contracted driver such as Paul di Resta. Unless Nasr's contract does specify that Williams have to use him in the event of the unavailability of Valtteri Bottas or Felipe Massa.

Given that Williams are planning to hand over five Friday morning practise sessions to Nasr, as well as letting him participate in three of the mid season testing sessions (plus he also drove for a day in the first Bahrain test session), it would suggest that they are putting a reasonable amount of effort into training him up. It's a similar approach to what they did with Bottas, and Bottas was the nominated reserve driver for Williams in 2012 when he was driving in the practise sessions, so I expect that Williams would perhaps be more willing to gamble on putting Bottas into the seat if the situation arose.

It'd probably also depend on how long the driver in question was expected to be out of action for, as well as how much of a lead up Williams had to find a replacement. It could be a bit like when Badoer drove for Ferrari in 2009, and Nasr might be called up as a short term replacement whilst the team negotiated terms for a longer term replacement.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 25 Feb 2014, 19:09

Here's a thought...

Could we end up in the interesting situation of Bottas moving on in 2015, to be replaced by Nasr so Williams would have a line-up of two drivers with almost identical names, in an attempted imitation of an early 90s Ligier with Japanese commentators all simultaneously face-palming at the prospect of dealing with another teammate pronunciation headache? :lol:

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 25 Feb 2014, 19:44

AndreaModa wrote:Here's a thought...

Could we end up in the interesting situation of Bottas moving on in 2015, to be replaced by Nasr so Williams would have a line-up of two drivers with almost identical names, in an attempted imitation of an early 90s Ligier with Japanese commentators all simultaneously face-palming at the prospect of dealing with another teammate pronunciation headache?

Only if Bottas goes to a better team such as Sauber.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 25 Feb 2014, 19:50

Aerospeed wrote:
AndreaModa wrote:Here's a thought...

Could we end up in the interesting situation of Bottas moving on in 2015, to be replaced by Nasr so Williams would have a line-up of two drivers with almost identical names, in an attempted imitation of an early 90s Ligier with Japanese commentators all simultaneously face-palming at the prospect of dealing with another teammate pronunciation headache?

Only if Bottas goes to a better team such as Sauber.

I don't see your point.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 25 Feb 2014, 19:51

AndreaModa wrote:Here's a thought...

Could we end up in the interesting situation of Bottas moving on in 2015, to be replaced by Nasr so Williams would have a line-up of two drivers with almost identical names, in an attempted imitation of an early 90s Ligier with Japanese commentators all simultaneously face-palming at the prospect of dealing with another teammate pronunciation headache?

IIRC, that was Mark Blundell and Martin Brundle!

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 25 Feb 2014, 21:54

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
Aerospeed wrote:
AndreaModa wrote:Here's a thought...

Could we end up in the interesting situation of Bottas moving on in 2015, to be replaced by Nasr so Williams would have a line-up of two drivers with almost identical names, in an attempted imitation of an early 90s Ligier with Japanese commentators all simultaneously face-palming at the prospect of dealing with another teammate pronunciation headache?

Only if Bottas goes to a better team such as Sauber.

I don't see your point.

Well, Bottas goes to a more consistent team (since Williams seem to have a roller-coaster development, given their good 2010, their crappy 2011, their good 2012, and their crappy 2013), and Andrea's theory on having Nasr and Massa race together on Williams...

Plus Bottas has the potential of having F1 experience and having shown pace. His debut season was masked by the inconsistency of the car.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 25 Feb 2014, 22:02

Aerospeed wrote:
UgncreativeUsergname wrote:I don't see your point.

Well, Bottas goes to a more consistent team (since Williams seem to have a roller-coaster development, given their good 2010, their crappy 2011, their good 2012, and their crappy 2013), and Andrea's theory on having Nasr and Massa race together on Williams...

Plus Bottas has the potential of having F1 experience and having shown pace. His debut season was masked by the inconsistency of the car.

Not about Sauber being better or worse than Williams, just that you seemed to be saying the situation that'll only happen if Bottas moves... will only happen if Bottas moves. I couldn't tell what you were trying to add.

LellaLombardi · Post by **LellaLombardi** » 25 Feb 2014, 22:31

watka wrote:
good_Ralf wrote:Rob Smedley to Williams (but not as Massa's radio engineer)

Least surprising news of the year so far! Obviously makes sense not to rattle Massa with a new race engineer, could you imagine Smedley working with the humourless Kimi Raikkonen?

Fixed.

Backmarker · Post by **Backmarker** » 26 Feb 2014, 17:38

Various sites are reporting a possible return for Cosworth in 2015, potentially with Ford Ecoboost.

andrew2209 · Post by **andrew2209** » 26 Feb 2014, 19:07

roblomas52 wrote:
AndreaModa wrote:Here's a thought...

Could we end up in the interesting situation of Bottas moving on in 2015, to be replaced by Nasr so Williams would have a line-up of two drivers with almost identical names, in an attempted imitation of an early 90s Ligier with Japanese commentators all simultaneously face-palming at the prospect of dealing with another teammate pronunciation headache?

IIRC, that was Mark Blundell and Martin Brundle!

Yes, it was. The problem was exaggerated by the Japanese pronunciation of "r" and "l"

wsrgo · Post by **wsrgo** » 27 Feb 2014, 04:16

andrew2209 wrote:
roblomas52 wrote:
AndreaModa wrote:Here's a thought...

Could we end up in the interesting situation of Bottas moving on in 2015, to be replaced by Nasr so Williams would have a line-up of two drivers with almost identical names, in an attempted imitation of an early 90s Ligier with Japanese commentators all simultaneously face-palming at the prospect of dealing with another teammate pronunciation headache?

IIRC, that was Mark Blundell and Martin Brundle!

Yes, it was. The problem was exaggerated by the Japanese pronunciation of "r" and "l"

Oh look! The Blunder brothers!! :lol:

Samster · Post by **Samster** » 27 Feb 2014, 15:03

andrew2209 wrote:
roblomas52 wrote:
AndreaModa wrote:Here's a thought...

Could we end up in the interesting situation of Bottas moving on in 2015, to be replaced by Nasr so Williams would have a line-up of two drivers with almost identical names, in an attempted imitation of an early 90s Ligier with Japanese commentators all simultaneously face-palming at the prospect of dealing with another teammate pronunciation headache?

IIRC, that was Mark Blundell and Martin Brundle!

Yes, it was. The problem was exaggerated by the Japanese pronunciation of "r" and "l"

Made even worse when they were both at Brabham. '''Blundell and Blundle at Blabham'' :lol:

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 27 Feb 2014, 18:35

Samster wrote:
andrew2209 wrote:
roblomas52 wrote:IIRC, that was Mark Blundell and Martin Brundle!

Yes, it was. The problem was exaggerated by the Japanese pronunciation of "r" and "l"

Made even worse when they were both at Brabham. '''Blundell and Blundle at Blabham''

I remember reading that in Martin's biography, Working The Wheel.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 27 Feb 2014, 18:37

I always thought it was the other way around, that Japanese struggle with the letter "l".

So Blundell and Brundle would be BrundEW and BrUNdew (caps for emphasis on the different vowel).

good_Ralf · Post by **good_Ralf** » 28 Feb 2014, 14:03

Guess what!

The BBC wrote:Formula 1's bosses decide against extending the controversial double points scheme to the final three races of the season. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone wanted to extend the double points scheme from just the final race of the season. But after a meeting of the strategy group - which comprises Ecclestone, FIA president Jean Todt and six of the teams - the proposal was rejected.

The meeting also decided to make no changes to the engine homologation rules after some of the teams supplied by Renault raised the idea of amendments. Full story coming soon.

roblo97 · Post by **roblo97** » 28 Feb 2014, 19:28

good_Ralf wrote:Guess what!
The BBC wrote:Formula 1's bosses decide against extending the controversial double points scheme to the final three races of the season. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone wanted to extend the double points scheme from just the final race of the season. But after a meeting of the strategy group - which comprises Ecclestone, FIA president Jean Todt and six of the teams - the proposal was rejected.

The meeting also decided to make no changes to the engine homologation rules after some of the teams supplied by Renault raised the idea of amendments. Full story coming soon.

I am not surprised one bit by this latest decision because it seems the teams have actually listened to what the fans want!

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 01 Mar 2014, 11:28

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112707

I don't know, 50-50 on this one. It's nowhere near as bad as double points though.

watka · Post by **watka** » 01 Mar 2014, 17:44

go_Rubens wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112707

I don't know, 50-50 on this one. It's nowhere near as bad as double points though.

I think they are reasonable suggestions. I think qualifying, even more so than the race, should be about pure speed, so the closer we can get to that (i.e. fresh rubber and running on fumes) the better.

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 01 Mar 2014, 17:53

watka wrote:
go_Rubens wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112707

I don't know, 50-50 on this one. It's nowhere near as bad as double points though.

I think they are reasonable suggestions. I think qualifying, even more so than the race, should be about pure speed, so the closer we can get to that (i.e. fresh rubber and running on fumes) the better.

I just wish they did away with starting on X tyres and just gave them qualifying tyres. Here, 15,000 rpm, qualifying tyres, and let's go. Sure, more expensive for Pirelli, but I'd like to see it hapoen.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 01 Mar 2014, 17:56

watka wrote:
go_Rubens wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112707

I don't know, 50-50 on this one. It's nowhere near as bad as double points though.

I think they are reasonable suggestions. I think qualifying, even more so than the race, should be about pure speed, so the closer we can get to that (i.e. fresh rubber and running on fumes) the better.

It is not all wrong coming from the FIA there. They had to stop the farce that was Q3, as we were having with always two or three, sometimes half of the drivers not bothering to post a time or posting a time in an harder compound just to make sure they started the race in that compound. One extra tyre assures people will go out at least once. About the Q2 starting tyre thing, I think that renders the rule mute. It was supposed to allow more flexibility to drivers beyond top 10 when choosing their strategy. That way they allowed the chance to threaten top-10 guys in the race. While this still presents an advantage to those beyond top-18, the truth is that, for points scoring position, I am afraid that it is a bit irrelevant.

go_Rubens · Post by **go_Rubens** » 01 Mar 2014, 18:03

DanielPT wrote:
watka wrote:
go_Rubens wrote:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/112707

I don't know, 50-50 on this one. It's nowhere near as bad as double points though.

I think they are reasonable suggestions. I think qualifying, even more so than the race, should be about pure speed, so the closer we can get to that (i.e. fresh rubber and running on fumes) the better.

It is not all wrong coming from the FIA there. They had to stop the farce that was Q3, as we were having with always two or three, sometimes half of the drivers not bothering to post a time or posting a time in an harder compound just to make sure they started the race in that compound. One extra tyre assures people will go out at least once. About the Q2 starting tyre thing, I think that renders the rule mute. It was supposed to allow more flexibility to drivers beyond top 10 when choosing their strategy. That way they allowed the chance to threaten top-10 guys in the race. While this still presents an advantage to those beyond top-18, the truth is that, for points scoring position, I am afraid that it is a bit irrelevant.

I thought it was only the top 10 that started on Q2 tyres?

If not, and the top 17 have to start on Q2 tyres, they may as well scrap the rule alltogether for reasons you've pointed out.

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 01 Mar 2014, 18:10

go_Rubens wrote:
I thought it was only the top 10 that started on Q2 tyres?

If not, and the top 17 have to start on Q2 tyres, they may as well scrap the rule alltogether for reasons you've pointed out.

Yes, you are absolutely right. I missed that in the text from Autosport. Eurosport says that it is like you said. I then backtrack all I said about it. And I fully agree with this review of qualifying.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 01 Mar 2014, 19:09

roblomas52 wrote:
good_Ralf wrote:Guess what!
The BBC wrote:Formula 1's bosses decide against extending the controversial double points scheme to the final three races of the season. F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone wanted to extend the double points scheme from just the final race of the season. But after a meeting of the strategy group - which comprises Ecclestone, FIA president Jean Todt and six of the teams - the proposal was rejected.

The meeting also decided to make no changes to the engine homologation rules after some of the teams supplied by Renault raised the idea of amendments. Full story coming soon.

I am not surprised one bit by this latest decision because it seems the teams have actually listened to what the fans want!

Not really, if they were listening to what the fans want, there wouldn't be any double points at all.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 11 Apr 2014, 18:44

Breaking news
Sauber's female driver to make F1 test debut
Simona de Silvestro will drive a few-year-old Ferrari at the Italian marque's Fiorano test track.
Added: 9 hours ago

Apr.11 (GMM) Simona de Silvestro will shortly make her Formula One test debut.
The 25-year-old female Swiss driver, best known for her Indycar exploits, recently became "affiliated" with the Ferrari-powered Sauber team.
It emerged early this week that she underwent a seat fitting at Sauber's Hinwil factory, and Speed Week now reports that she will make her test debut at the end of this month.
The report said de Silvestro will drive a few-year-old Ferrari at the Italian marque's Fiorano test track.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 12 Apr 2014, 14:24

Jocke1 wrote:
Breaking news
Sauber's female driver to make F1 test debut
Simona de Silvestro will drive a few-year-old Ferrari at the Italian marque's Fiorano test track.
Added: 9 hours ago

Apr.11 (GMM) Simona de Silvestro will shortly make her Formula One test debut.
The 25-year-old female Swiss driver, best known for her Indycar exploits, recently became "affiliated" with the Ferrari-powered Sauber team.
It emerged early this week that she underwent a seat fitting at Sauber's Hinwil factory, and Speed Week now reports that she will make her test debut at the end of this month.
The report said de Silvestro will drive a few-year-old Ferrari at the Italian marque's Fiorano test track.

I am not sad or disappointed by this. One more step along the world she goes...

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 12 Apr 2014, 22:51

CoopsII wrote:
Ross Prawn wrote:I'd be interested in a double points last GP, if the grid was formed up in reverse championship order. That might be fun.

Shush damn you! Bernie's probably got his own PRISM program sifting through these threads for ideas as we speak.

In fact, if you have the time, I'm sure this double-points-for-the-last-race-because-we-want-to-look-like-knobheads idea could be found archived somewhere. I'm sure the Hemogoblin came up with it (god rest his/her internet soul).

I finally found it! Remember? The 2012 F1RWRS Indy 500 was worth double points!
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3654&p=85731#p85731

AxelP800 · Post by **AxelP800** » 13 Apr 2014, 04:27

UgncreativeUsergname wrote:
CoopsII wrote:
Ross Prawn wrote:I'd be interested in a double points last GP, if the grid was formed up in reverse championship order. That might be fun.

Shush damn you! Bernie's probably got his own PRISM program sifting through these threads for ideas as we speak.

In fact, if you have the time, I'm sure this double-points-for-the-last-race-because-we-want-to-look-like-knobheads idea could be found archived somewhere. I'm sure the Hemogoblin came up with it (god rest his/her internet soul).

I finally found it! Remember? The 2012 F1RWRS Indy 500 was worth double points!
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=3654&p=85731#p85731

......This year's Indycar triple crown races are worth double points, because the races are longer...

If F1 wants double points they should make the race longer like to 500 km

But I don't want it on Abu Dhabi, I'm fine if the 500-km-double-points are held on Interlagos

Post by **mario** » 13 Apr 2014, 07:17

dr-baker wrote:
Jocke1 wrote:
Breaking news
Sauber's female driver to make F1 test debut
Simona de Silvestro will drive a few-year-old Ferrari at the Italian marque's Fiorano test track.
Added: 9 hours ago

Apr.11 (GMM) Simona de Silvestro will shortly make her Formula One test debut.
The 25-year-old female Swiss driver, best known for her Indycar exploits, recently became "affiliated" with the Ferrari-powered Sauber team.
It emerged early this week that she underwent a seat fitting at Sauber's Hinwil factory, and Speed Week now reports that she will make her test debut at the end of this month.
The report said de Silvestro will drive a few-year-old Ferrari at the Italian marque's Fiorano test track.

I am not sad or disappointed by this. One more step along the world she goes...

Well, it is a positive step as it looks like Sauber are hoping she can earn a superlicence through testing a recent car (I believe that they went down a similar route for Sirotkin). However, given that Sauber are currently in very poor form right now, actually getting to drive one of Sauber's cars could prove to be something of a poisoned chalice - it is going to be hard to stand out and easy to look like a poor driver.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 13 Apr 2014, 07:21

mario wrote:However, given that Sauber are currently in very poor form right now, actually getting to drive one of Sauber's cars could prove to be something of a poisoned chalice - it is going to be hard to stand out and easy to look like a poor driver.

That is why her target should be to finish ahead one or two third drivers. If she can keep herself in front of Caterham and Marussia, that'd be mission complete.