The Official 2013 F1 Thread. Spoilers possible!

[doyle]

Originally Posted by g®eg

some interesting stats compiled by F1 fan Jordan Irvine on McLaren:

With Hamilton gone and Button staying, it's clear who is the better driver....for McLaren. To McLaren, the driver is but a compromise in an otherwise symbiotic electro-mechanical system. The driver's title is a nice to have, but it's the constructor's championship that is by far, paramount to the team. Based on points and point making opportunities, Button is more valuable as a component to McLaren than Hamilton turned out to be.

[wxwax]

You really think the constructor's matters more to them? It's worth a lot of money. But the driver's title is what brings in the big sponsors, no?

At Force India, I'd like to see Sutil get a second chance.

Also, Ferrari drops the idea of a challenge. Here's why:

But the FIA has made it clear that Vettel did not begin his move until passing a green flag, indicating the end of the no-overtaking zone, which is not clearly visible on the video.

Vettel pulls off the pass on lap four of the race before he reaches a green flashing light indicating that the yellow caution zone has ended. And his dashboard display shows the yellow-flag warning sign throughout.

However, on-board videos of the incident seem to show a marshal waving a green flag on the inside of the track.

[g®eg]

From Ascari to Alonso. The drivers who made history.

[doyle]

Originally Posted by wxwax

You really think the constructor's matters more to them? It's worth a lot of money. But the driver's title is what brings in the big sponsors, no?

Well, not quite to the extent that Williams values the constructors title over any driver title, but various McLaren statements through the years have indicated their preference and that the see more "prestige" in the constructors championship than the drivers even though the drivers championship undoubtedly garners more attention and therefore sponsor attraction.

[wxwax]

HRT is dead. I can't remember a single distinctive thing about that team. Just regret that a bunch of people have lost their jobs.

[wannaklr]

Bummer for the HRT guys.

[wxwax]

Until now, cars could use DRS anywhere they pleased Friday through Sunday morning. Only the race itself applied DRS zones.

That's now changed. The FIA has ruled that DRS can now only be used in the specified zones even in practice and qualifying. Safety reasons.

Any thoughts on the consequences of this? Does anyone benefit or is anyone harmed more than anyone else by this change?

[Capz]

Originally Posted by wxwax

Until now, cars could use DRS anywhere they pleased Friday through Sunday morning. Only the race itself applied DRS zones.

That's now changed. The FIA has ruled that DRS can now only be used in the specified zones even in practice and qualifying. Safety reasons.

Any thoughts on the consequences of this? Does anyone benefit or is anyone harmed more than anyone else by this change?

That's worse for Mercedes than anyone else I think. Provided they're the ones with the DDRS thing. I think they're getting rid of that anyway though.

[anotherguy]

Honestly it depends on whose car best skirts the rules next season. We'll have to wait for that answer.

[g®eg]

Originally Posted by wxwax

Until now, cars could use DRS anywhere they pleased Friday through Sunday morning. Only the race itself applied DRS zones.

That's now changed. The FIA has ruled that DRS can now only be used in the specified zones even in practice and qualifying. Safety reasons.

Any thoughts on the consequences of this? Does anyone benefit or is anyone harmed more than anyone else by this change?

should (in general terms) be same/same I think
it may help less experienced drivers... as they may not have the skills (or balls) to open the DRS as soon as more skilled / experienced drivers did? I don't think it'll make a huge difference on qualifying times, as everyone is in the same boat.

The big development for next year, I think, will be the passive double DRS thing that Lotus and others were working on toward the mid to late season this year.

95 days until we find out...

[g®eg]

[g®eg]

Red Bull Humour

[g®eg]

the evolution of onboard....

pretty cool

[JNRobert]

Originally Posted by g®eg

the evolution of onboard....

pretty cool

They've figured out how to stop the camera bouncing around but nothing looks quite as terrifying as Senna at the begining. A narrow track like Australia also brings out the speed. Very cool.

[hockeygoon]

Watching that vid makes me wonder why TV directors even show shots of people in the pit lane looking at a monitor flashing up telemetry--which sometimes seems to happen during a critical part of the race.

I liked the earlier on-board more than the later stuff, felt more 'in the moment' somehow, even though I'll never see a F1 race car from the driver's seat.