2014 Austrian GP ROTR

Dan B · Post by **Dan B** » 22 Jun 2014, 22:03

3rd: That infographic shown by FOM: While I am genuinely happy that the A1 Ring did come back to F1, and while I know that Mr. Mateschitz was involved in bringing back the track, that infograph was useless and all it did was amount to brown-nosing. Hell, I thought it was something that either NBC did or that it was something actually displayed on the track (didn't IRL do that a few times for drivers? Or was that TV only? I'm too naive about those things); plus the graphic designer in me thought it was ugly. Leave the Impact font for image macros, FOM!

2nd: Tie between Esteban Gutierrez and Kimi Raikkonen: First, Gutierrez: he was driving like a jackass. I don't know what he was thinking when he pulled in front of Vettel, but it just reinforces in my mind that he is only in the car for money; reminds me of a certain Brazilian. Having Van de Garde, di Silvestro, or Bianchi in the car would work wonders, and even Sirotkin might be a better choice at this point.

As far as Raikkonen goes, he really needs to start caring more. I know Ferrari paid a boatload for him, but I do get the feeling that he will either leave at the end of the season or leave before the season is over, though by his own accord or him being canned is unknown. That being said, he needs to start improving; if Alonso can get the same crapbox into 5th, he can do similar.

1st: Both Red Bull teams: This is not a fault of the drivers mind you. Vettel's car died and then he was caught unawares by a wandering Sauber. Kyvat's suspension failed, and Vergne's brakes failed, and the best finish any car could muster was 8th. For what really is Red Bull's home race, it was embarrassing.

Honorable Mentions:
Sauber: It isn't like Gutierrez was the only person at the team to screw up; that pitstop was awful and I really do hope they get penalized for it. Sutil also drove pretty poorly and was otherwise anonymous - in fact the only time I noticed him was because he locked the brakes so loudly that I could actually hear them on TV. Another dismal, pointless showing for what is probably their worst year on record.

Jenson Button: He was anonymous; not much more to be said.

Lotus: Though that drift from Grosjean was pretty spectacular, they were mired in the lower midfield. Again.

Alextrax52 · Post by **Alextrax52** » 22 Jun 2014, 22:04

No contest RBR for me. All 3 retirements were their cars and I don't remember the 4th being in the race at all because it was that quiet. Poor all round

pablo_h · Post by **pablo_h** » 22 Jun 2014, 22:28

dr-baker wrote:Before reading this thread, my thought for ROTR was Bernie's message to Dietrich via the world feed (as per photo above). Is that how Bernie thinks Twitter/social media works?!

ha, love that and had a good laugh.

dr-baker wrote: I wouldn't say Williams because they finally managed to get to best of the rest with both cars behind the two Mercs, despite the strategy.

They're like red bull pre 2010, even with a decent car they stuff it up.
So for that reason williams strategy, because even though they have a good car, they can't play with it very well.

And for obvious reason, redbull/toro rosso.

More_Blue_Flags · Post by **More_Blue_Flags** » 22 Jun 2014, 23:37

Miguel98 wrote:Red Bull/Toro Rosso:
Lol. Awful. At your own track, retiring 3 cars and finishing with your only one in 8th? Awful. Vettel will be jumping ship at the end of the season, by seeing this luck.

The graphic:
The pic that pasta posted.

Nailed it. As for other worthy contenders, I'm going to give the Williams strategy a pass - given the fumbles they have had this season, staying safe was probably a prudent choice (although I would have liked to have seen one of the Williams undercut the Mercs at the first stop). Kimi is starting to look good for DBTMOTS.

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 22 Jun 2014, 23:49

Given this piece of useful info...

I change my nomination to Sauber for calling the wrong guy to the stop-go penalty, and for causing the penalty in the first place.

Jan Magnussen · Post by **Rob Dylan** » 23 Jun 2014, 00:22

Red Bull definitely should get it for this race. All the hype of their home race and they have a complete disaster. Their only driver on the podium was Mark Webber who must have had a quiet laugh once again when he reflects at some of his misfortune at the team.

At the same time though Kimi Raikkonen has magically avoided a reject status this year (if my memory serves me) for all his awfulness... During the race my dad was talking about football and how John Barnes was kept past his prime and kept playing for top teams even though he was completely past it in terms of ability later in his career. Our conversation slowly but surely moved to Raikkonen at Ferrari this year. I mean, man! I can only hope that Ferrari do a repeat of 2009 and sign one of the Force India drivers mid-season to replace Raikkonen. He's just failed in race after race after race. Under the 2003-2009 points system he'd have 5 points and before that he'd have absolutely none. Dump him Ferrari - The time has surely come and gone for the guy.

Post by **tommykl** » 23 Jun 2014, 05:23

Dan B wrote:2nd: Tie between Esteban Gutierrez and Kimi Raikkonen: First, Gutierrez: he was driving like a jackass. I don't know what he was thinking when he pulled in front of Vettel, but it just reinforces in my mind that he is only in the car for money; reminds me of a certain Brazilian. Having Van de Garde, di Silvestro, or Bianchi in the car would work wonders, and even Sirotkin might be a better choice at this point.

I have to stop you there, because as much as I think that Esteban is a hopelessly incompetent hack, he wasn't at fault for any of his incidents. He obviously didn't leave the pits recklessly, that was the fault of his mechanics, and the accident with Vettel was solely Vettel's fault in my mind...

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 23 Jun 2014, 06:00

1 - See above, although after the race the Red Bull cars had if you read it again with a tonne of sarcasm then it's actually pretty funny.

2 - Ferrari. For asking Raikkonen to slow down and cool his brakes. On lap 2.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 23 Jun 2014, 09:45

Reading/seeing this again, I have a funny suspicion that Bernie will not be thanking the BRDC for 50 GPs at Silverstone, despite the fact that he himself is a member of the BRDC!

DonTirri · Post by **DonTirri** » 23 Jun 2014, 11:21

LellaLombardi wrote:Honourable mention to Kimi. I almost feel like he conned his way into that Ferrari drive to get another big payout when they have to again sever his contract early. More fool them for signing him. I really hate seeing drivers not giving a crap, when there are many that would make great use of that seat.

In all fairness, Kimi has been pretty honest about the fact that if the car isn't capable of winning, he loses his ability to give a crap. So in a way, nobody should be surprised at his lack of f*ck-giving.

Vassago · Post by **Vassago** » 23 Jun 2014, 15:30

Has to be Red Bull who had a truly wonderful afternoon on home soil. All three retirements came from Mateschitz's payroll and the other that finished was fighting for minor points straight after winning a race. Horner's comments about this race being a defining point for his team sound pretty laughable now.

Post by **mario** » 23 Jun 2014, 17:42

DonTirri wrote:
LellaLombardi wrote:Honourable mention to Kimi. I almost feel like he conned his way into that Ferrari drive to get another big payout when they have to again sever his contract early. More fool them for signing him. I really hate seeing drivers not giving a crap, when there are many that would make great use of that seat.

In all fairness, Kimi has been pretty honest about the fact that if the car isn't capable of winning, he loses his ability to give a crap. So in a way, nobody should be surprised at his lack of f*ck-giving.

Sometimes Kimi can't be bothered even when the car is capable of winning though. He openly admitted to Turun Sanomat in early 2009 that he gave up on the 2008 season because he found the F2008 hard to set up, even though that car was arguably the fastest car in the field and despite leading the championship for several races.

DOSBoot · Post by **DOSBoot** » 23 Jun 2014, 18:08

1. Red Bull

2. Torro Rosso

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 23 Jun 2014, 19:19

Everything to do with Red Male Bovines.... dismal race at their home track....

watka · Post by **watka** » 23 Jun 2014, 23:19

Can't see Red Bull avoiding the ROTR award. It was pretty humiliating all round for them; reliability, lack of pace, that silly graphic; all whilst celebrating this as their home race (err no, I think you'll find all the staff work in Milton Keynes).

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 23 Jun 2014, 23:42

Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Ferrari, and anything else that is red (except Marussia) -- They all get too many benefits from the FIA and they all have too much money to be performing as badly as they did.
Whiny Nostalgics -- There are some tracks from the past that F1 should never visit again. This is one of them. I fast-forwarded this race quite a few times. Yaaaaaawn!
CGI -- Shite like this needs to go -- it was out of place when ESPN did it in NASCAR and the IRL 15 years ago:

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 24 Jun 2014, 05:21

My nomination goes to the 'RedBull company' rather than the team. Pretty dismal performance again...

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 24 Jun 2014, 11:18

LellaLombardi wrote:Honourable mention to Kimi. I almost feel like he conned his way into that Ferrari drive to get another big payout when they have to again sever his contract early. More fool them for signing him. I really hate seeing drivers not giving a crap, when there are many that would make great use of that seat.

Those who do not learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

Ferrari only have themselves to blame. Towards the end of his Lotus stint, you could see as the money troubles mounted, Kimi's form was dwindling, Grosjean was starting to impose himself as the #1 driver. Frankly, Ferrari hired the wrong Lotus driver. Romain is a little unlucky not to be a race winner already, he came so close at Austin last year.

Given what happened at the end of Kimi's last Ferrari contract, I'm not surprised at how things are going. He reminds me a bit of Didier Auriol, where he'd be very fast if the car was to his liking, but he'd struggle and complain and generally be quite slow if the car wasn't quite to his taste that weekend.

My ROTR though has to go to Red Bull, for having all four cars in their stable hit problems, with three of those problems being terminal, and at their home race no less. Honourable mention to Guti, who was rubbish as always.

SgtPepper · Post by **SgtPepper** » 24 Jun 2014, 17:45

Biscione wrote:Ferrari only have themselves to blame. Towards the end of his Lotus stint, you could see as the money troubles mounted, Kimi's form was dwindling, Grosjean was starting to impose himself as the #1 driver. Frankly, Ferrari hired the wrong Lotus driver. Romain is a little unlucky not to be a race winner already, he came so close at Austin last year.

Given what happened at the end of Kimi's last Ferrari contract, I'm not surprised at how things are going. He reminds me a bit of Didier Auriol, where he'd be very fast if the car was to his liking, but he'd struggle and complain and generally be quite slow if the car wasn't quite to his taste that weekend.

Don't forget Japan 2013 where RoGro was so formidable he was only stopped from beating the dominant RB9 by them pitting Webber twice to cover him off - that drive was genuinely incredible.

Obviously to have to be compared against Alonso of all people isn't exactly ideal, but as a Kimi fan I'm pained to agree with you. At first I presumed pay concerns were the issue at Lotus, but that certainly won't be a concern at Ferrari, yet he appears to remain indifferent and underperforming. I don't even think you could argue it's his age because he was still driving excellently for the most part in early 2012. He just doesn't seem to be the same driver he was before. It'll be sad if this is the way he ends his time in F1 after such an illustrious career.

Jan Magnussen · Post by **Rob Dylan** » 25 Jun 2014, 10:29

SgtPepper wrote:...It'll be sad if this is the way he ends his time in F1 after such an illustrious career.

The sad thing is that if there's one driver on the grid who would appear to care the least about their legacy, it'd be Raikkonen. The question you have to ask is why he ever came back? His motivation was there between 2012 and much of 2013. As you guys said, the money isn't an issue at Ferrari. So why does he care so little to the point of underperforming like mad?

Lotus were struggling financially but could tease him with wins. He gets himself picked up by Ferrari who shed boatloads of money but can't win. Raikkonen must think his work is done - a few wins and now a lot of money - and he won't have to perform until next year. It'd be sad to see him go but Ferrari definitely need to use their backbone and kick him out over Summer or something, and buy one of the Force India drivers out mid-season.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 25 Jun 2014, 12:21

Rob Dylan wrote:It'd be sad to see him go but Ferrari definitely need to use their backbone and kick him out over Summer or something, and buy one of the Force India drivers out mid-season.

Not too sure this is a great idea - I struggle to remember more than one or two times a mid-season driver change did a team any good in any way other than their bank balance. Fisichella in for Badoer was the last change that did any good, but that's a bit unique - Badoer was completely out of practise and understandably extremely rejectful. Which Raikkonen isn't being. The last mid-season change in F1 that really made a difference was 2007 - Scott Speed chucked out of Toro Rosso in favour of Sebastian Vettel. And I think it's pretty clear there is a pretty massive talent gap between those two...

Bringing in a driver with no experience of the Ferrari at this juncture won't help improve performances from the second car. The unfamiliarity with the car's behaviour, setups and quirks means anyone will struggle with it. Ferrari have two choices; continue with Raikkonen until the end of the year and terminate his contract then, or terminate his contract now and replace him with Pedro de La Rosa or Davide Rigon. Whichever has done more km's in the car and/or has proven to be faster in the car. Whether either of those will do better than Raikkonen is questionable, given their lack of recent (or any in the case of Rigon) experience in F1. But at least it'd save them a bit of cash by mutually terminating Kimi's contract. I'm sure if you offer him the right severance package he'd quit right away...

girry · Post by **girry** » 25 Jun 2014, 13:30

I'd wager a bet Ferrari would snap up Jules Bianchi, should Kimi/Ferrari/both of them call the partnership quits mid-season. After all, he's got a season and a half under his belt already, not to forget his existing Ferrari links.

....or then Caterham folds before that, and we have a free agent....

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 25 Jun 2014, 13:46

giraurd wrote:I'd wager a bet Ferrari would snap up Jules Bianchi, should Kimi/Ferrari/both of them call the partnership quits mid-season. After all, he's got a season and a half under his belt already, not to forget his existing Ferrari links.

....or then Caterham folds before that, and we have a free agent....

Marcus Ericsson? Can't see Ferrari wanting another Scandinavian

Jan Magnussen · Post by **Rob Dylan** » 25 Jun 2014, 14:57

Yeah I don't think anyone in F1 wants to have a mid-season change nowadays, but unfortunately it's actually one of the few ways to solve the "Raikkonen problem". The only real option I'd say currently would be to get a Force India driver. They both seem to able to adapt to changes well, as well as being good with mediocre cars. Plus they've both been linked with Ferrari in the past so I'm guessing they're on Ferrari's radar.

FullMetalJack · Post by **FullMetalJack** » 25 Jun 2014, 15:04

Rob Dylan wrote:Yeah I don't think anyone in F1 wants to have a mid-season change nowadays, but unfortunately it's actually one of the few ways to solve the "Raikkonen problem". The only real option I'd say currently would be to get a Force India driver. They both seem to able to adapt to changes well, as well as being good with mediocre cars. Plus they've both been linked with Ferrari in the past so I'm guessing they're on Ferrari's radar.

Problem is Ferrari would be at best a sideways step at the moment, not to mention having to learn the new car.

Post by **tommykl** » 25 Jun 2014, 16:56

Biscione wrote:Fisichella in for Badoer was the last change that did any good

I'm sorry, what? By "doing any good", do you mean "doing exactly sod all"? I don't recall Fisichella scoring any more points than Badoer, and in Formula One, it's all about the points. It didn't help Ferrari, and it didn't help Force India, who ended up stuck with Liuzzi.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 25 Jun 2014, 20:26

tommykl wrote:
Biscione wrote:Fisichella in for Badoer was the last change that did any good

I'm sorry, what? By "doing any good", do you mean "doing exactly sod all"? I don't recall Fisichella scoring any more points than Badoer, and in Formula One, it's all about the points. It didn't help Ferrari, and it didn't help Force India, who ended up stuck with Liuzzi.

Badoer was outright the slowest driver in the field. He finished last in both his appearances. At least Fisi got close to picking up points. The car was horrible, and he had no experience at all with it, but Fisi extracted more from it than Luca did. Under the current system he'd have scored 3pts.

Yes, he didn't score a point, but he was far more likely to, and almost did so.

wsrgo · Post by **wsrgo** » 26 Jun 2014, 06:01

Biscione wrote: Under the current system he'd have scored 3pts.

But then, in those five races, Raikkonen would have scored...36 points, instead of 13.

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 26 Jun 2014, 06:26

wsrgo wrote:
Biscione wrote: Under the current system he'd have scored 3pts.

But then, in those five races, Raikkonen would have scored...36 points, instead of 13.

And Badoer would've likely scored 0.

Post by **tommykl** » 26 Jun 2014, 07:53

Biscione wrote:
tommykl wrote:
Biscione wrote:Fisichella in for Badoer was the last change that did any good

I'm sorry, what? By "doing any good", do you mean "doing exactly sod all"? I don't recall Fisichella scoring any more points than Badoer, and in Formula One, it's all about the points. It didn't help Ferrari, and it didn't help Force India, who ended up stuck with Liuzzi.

Badoer was outright the slowest driver in the field. He finished last in both his appearances. At least Fisi got close to picking up points. The car was horrible, and he had no experience at all with it, but Fisi extracted more from it than Luca did. Under the current system he'd have scored 3pts.

Yes, he didn't score a point, but he was far more likely to, and almost did so.

Notice that I didn't say he didn't do better than Badoer, just that he didn't score. And in that respect, it didn't help Ferrari one bit. Yes, Fisichella would have scored three points under this system. So would have Kazuki Nakajima in the same timespan. Ferrari did not end up tied with anyone else on points, ergo the ninth place did not help the team.

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 26 Jun 2014, 10:21

tommykl wrote:Notice that I didn't say he didn't do better than Badoer, just that he didn't score. And in that respect, it didn't help Ferrari one bit. Yes, Fisichella would have scored three points under this system. So would have Kazuki Nakajima in the same timespan. Ferrari did not end up tied with anyone else on points, ergo the ninth place did not help the team.

Hindsight is 20/20. The point is you don't replace a driver unless they're a significant step up from the incumbent. Which Fisichella certainly was. You contrast Fisi's pace to Badoer's pace and you can see it's a good decision. He didn't score points? These things happen. But it was still the right decision.

Post by **tommykl** » 26 Jun 2014, 10:30

Biscione wrote:
tommykl wrote:Notice that I didn't say he didn't do better than Badoer, just that he didn't score. And in that respect, it didn't help Ferrari one bit. Yes, Fisichella would have scored three points under this system. So would have Kazuki Nakajima in the same timespan. Ferrari did not end up tied with anyone else on points, ergo the ninth place did not help the team.

Hindsight is 20/20. The point is you don't replace a driver unless they're a significant step up from the incumbent. Which Fisichella certainly was. You contrast Fisi's pace to Badoer's pace and you can see it's a good decision. He didn't score points? These things happen. But it was still the right decision.

My point is that while it was certainly the right decision at the time, it didn't turn out to be of particular benefit to Ferrari. Sure, the media stopped bothering Ferrari about Badoer, but in the long run, it didn't really have an impact on Ferrari. Had Fisichella scored those two points to get Ferrari ahead of McLaren, it would have been a different story. But he didn't. Ergo, Ferrari did not benefit from the driver change.

LellaLombardi · Post by **LellaLombardi** » 26 Jun 2014, 12:15

I seem to remember the only reason they gave Badoer a race drive was because they needed someone very quickly after Schumi had to pull out, and they felt it was a fitting thank you after his years of service. Then they saw how slow he actually was, plus we knew by this point that Massa would be out for a while, so they quite rightly went for the better prospect.

Yannick · Post by **Yannick** » 26 Jun 2014, 12:57

I decided to watch the comeback of Zeltweg/Spielberg on the F1 calendar last weekend because it's always great to see a race on a good circuit. The front row of the grid made things interesting, too. It was only the 2nd F1 race I have watched this season, the other being the Bah! Rain! Grand Prix.

I'm sorry to say but this race bored me to sleep. I fell asleep twice even (!) whilst watching it. The most interesting moment came fairly early on during the first round of pitstops when the Williamses got shuffled back, behind the Mercedes-powered cars from Brackley. Somehow, I had hopes Williams could turn this thing around during the 2nd round of pitstops but as that did not come to be, it was boring again.

Hence I nominate the race itself for the "Reject Of the Race Award" for the 2014 Austrian GP for a lack of on-track action.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 26 Jun 2014, 17:07

Yannick, my old flower, what exactly do you want? The "Good Old Days" of wheel-to-wheel racing, flat out from lights to flag? Because I'm sorry to say that whatever you might think, or what others might say, that era never existed.

As an aside, someone needs to tell the Strategy Group this as well!

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 26 Jun 2014, 18:43

AndreaModa wrote:Yannick, my old flower, what exactly do you want? The "Good Old Days" of wheel-to-wheel racing, flat out from lights to flag? Because I'm sorry to say that whatever you might think, or what others might say, that era never existed.

As an aside, someone needs to tell the Strategy Group this as well!

This.

The racing from 2010-2013 has been probably the best on record, at least, for such a sustained period. And now that things are dipping down to pre-2010 levels, you complain!? I guarantee you, if this race took place in the early-mid 2000s instead of 2014, it would be rated as one of the best of the era. Yet apparently this isn't good enough, but then DRS is making things too easy...

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 28 Jun 2014, 23:07

AdrianSutil wrote:My nomination goes to the 'RedBull company' rather than the team. Pretty dismal performance again...

Agree. Hence official ROTR goes to Red Bull GmbH, although I guess I could have given a joint award to Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso.

But for me the rationale is this. You may or may not like Red Bull's international strategy of sponsoring sporting teams/events and extreme sports in order to promote their sickly product. Nevertheless, you have to give Dietrich Mateschitz credit for splashing out the money to firstly save the old A1-Ring (and thereby to some extent save the legacy of the old Osterreichring), and then to bring Formula 1 back to it. And, by all accounts, putting on a fan-friendly event also featuring a nice nod to history with all remaining living Austrian F1 drivers parading a car they drove in F1.

And with Daniel Ricciardo having won (albeit somewhat fortuitously) the last GP and Toro Rosso having impressed so far this season, one could have expected a good showing by the "home" teams. I mean, remember the days of Ferrari coming up with a super-duper special Monza-spec engine. OK OK, so you can't do that any more, but Red Bull own the darn track and a fleet of racing cars, why not send one out to log data on every bump, every elevation change, likely effect of tyre compounds etc. etc. OK OK it's not as simple as that, but you get my point.

But no! The main team was largely uncompetitive, Vettel missed Q3, Dan had another dreadful start, again Seb had an early power unit failure (curious how his power unit issues have tended to hit very early in races), Vettel mysteriously got restarted but timed it perfectly to distract his team-mate and make him run wide at turn 3, his car was ultimately withdrawn, and the only two other DNFs were the two Toro Rossos. Ricciardo came home an anonymous 8th, there was that sycophantic graphic many of you have mentioned, and to top it off it was clear that having someone so recently-retired as Mark Webber do the podium interviews - albeit understandable in the circumstances - was a tad awkward especially for Rosberg and Hamilton. The only thing better would have been if Vettel was on the podium ...

If it weren't for all the money Red Bull spent for this humiliation, it would have been funny. Actually, it was rather amusing anyway. So ROTR goes to Red Bull GmbH, because this was not just about either Red Bull Racing or Scuderia Toro Rosso flunking badly, it was proof that all the money in the world doesn't necessarily buy success, or even the right kind of publicity.

AustralianStig · Post by **AustralianStig** » 28 Jun 2014, 23:32

eytl wrote:And to top it off it was clear that having someone so recently-retired as Mark Webber do the podium interviews - albeit understandable in the circumstances - was a tad awkward especially for Rosberg and Hamilton. The only thing better would have been if Vettel was on the podium ...

Oh I WISH Vettel had been on the podium...that would've been epic.
"So, how's multi-21 been treating you lately, Seb?"

Post by **mario** » 29 Jun 2014, 18:45

eytl wrote:But no! The main team was largely uncompetitive, Vettel missed Q3, Dan had another dreadful start, again Seb had an early power unit failure (curious how his power unit issues have tended to hit very early in races), Vettel mysteriously got restarted but timed it perfectly to distract his team-mate and make him run wide at turn 3, his car was ultimately withdrawn, and the only two other DNFs were the two Toro Rossos. Ricciardo came home an anonymous 8th, there was that sycophantic graphic many of you have mentioned, and to top it off it was clear that having someone so recently-retired as Mark Webber do the podium interviews - albeit understandable in the circumstances - was a tad awkward especially for Rosberg and Hamilton. The only thing better would have been if Vettel was on the podium ...

If it weren't for all the money Red Bull spent for this humiliation, it would have been funny. Actually, it was rather amusing anyway. So ROTR goes to Red Bull GmbH, because this was not just about either Red Bull Racing or Scuderia Toro Rosso flunking badly, it was proof that all the money in the world doesn't necessarily buy success, or even the right kind of publicity.

In the case of Vettel, the radio traffic seems to suggest that it was related to the use of the 'overtake' button in Austria at least - when he tried using that button, it seems that it forced the car into a 'fail safe' mode that left him without power, which is a problem that both Red Bull and Renault are trying to fix.

It could be that the engine problems are perhaps a consequence of the fact that, as Vettel is trying to regain positions in the opening laps due to his struggles in qualifying, he is having to run with the engine and electronics in a more aggressive manner than normal, placing additional strain on the powertrain and therefore increasing the risk of a premature failure.

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 30 Jun 2014, 00:23

AustralianStig wrote:
eytl wrote:And to top it off it was clear that having someone so recently-retired as Mark Webber do the podium interviews - albeit understandable in the circumstances - was a tad awkward especially for Rosberg and Hamilton. The only thing better would have been if Vettel was on the podium ...

Oh I WISH Vettel had been on the podium...that would've been epic.
"So, how's multi-21 been treating you lately, Seb?"

Yes, because Mark Webber acting like a passive-aggressive loser would sure be a joy to see, wouldn't it?