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The Formula 1 Thread

Nick_L

By Nick_L
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kiroquai

kiroquai

Posted
Posted

Martin Brundle did some analysis on the BBC website here and it made me feel really sorry for Schumacher. He's as aggressive and competitive as he ever was, but the car's a bit of a shitbox at the moment. I guess if he is enjoying himself then he'll carry on, but I can't imagine him being too happy if this goes on much longer.

According to my Merc GP chum he's always perfectly pleasant when he comes into the factory too. Supposedly Rubens was like a bored kid when he turned up back in the Honda/Brawn days (playing golf in the car park once rather than going around and meeting the staff like he was supposed to) but Jenson, Schumacher and Rosberg are all supposedly really good guys and spend hours chatting things through and signing things for them.

Sadly my chum runs the simulator and neither Rosberg or Schumacher are particularly at ease with it (Schumi has used it once I think) so he has to deal with Ant Davidson instead most of the time.

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kiroquai

kiroquai

Posted
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He does a lot of sim work for Merc - he lives just up the road in Brackley and they've still got him on contract I believe from the old BAR/Honda days :).

He's supposedly quite sound though - quite unassuming and likes a bit of banter :). They rent their simulator out to young drivers as well, but it costs a hell of a lot.

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marsh

marsh

Posted
Posted

Martin Brundle did some analysis on the BBC website here and it made me feel really sorry for Schumacher. He's as aggressive and competitive as he ever was, but the car's a bit of a shitbox at the moment. I guess if he is enjoying himself then he'll carry on, but I can't imagine him being too happy if this goes on much longer.

According to my Merc GP chum he's always perfectly pleasant when he comes into the factory too. Supposedly Rubens was like a bored kid when he turned up back in the Honda/Brawn days (playing golf in the car park once rather than going around and meeting the staff like he was supposed to) but Jenson, Schumacher and Rosberg are all supposedly really good guys and spend hours chatting things through and signing things for them.

Sadly my chum runs the simulator and neither Rosberg or Schumacher are particularly at ease with it (Schumi has used it once I think) so he has to deal with Ant Davidson instead most of the time.

The cobbler did lead a bit of a charmed existence while at Ferrari, day upon day of testing and a second team throwing copious amounts of parts on the car as well as money. I think the thing is, the car in it's base form is a bit of a donkey, and exactly what he needs, days of track time, is the one thing he can't have. It would be sad to see him out of the sport, and good to see him trying as hard as ever, but it does very little for his legacy.

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mexos

mexos

Posted
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What difference does that make? The past world championships don't start disappearing like the brother in the photo in Back To the Future.

Nail on head. Anything he does now* has no baring on what he did in the past. No one can take that away from him.

Most of his peers are sitting on their arses getting fat while he's still driving near if not at the cutting edge. That in itself deserves respect.

*Apart from Barry/Hungary style incidents of course!

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marsh

marsh

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Who are his peers? Prost? Mansell? He started in an era where those names were still in the sport. Only Alonso is left who mounted a challenge to his domination, Hakkinen fucked off before he got too long in the tooth. Kimi is off to play with trucks and is slightly mental on a good day, montoya is allready there and didn't get a WDC. So that leaves Hill and Villeneuve who have been out of the sport for ages. Jacques would come back in a HRT if they'd have him, and I'm not really sre what that says.

I feel he's on his own, undoing 7 years worth of hard work. A 'cinderella child' momment the likes of which Luada and Prost managed seems unlikely.

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makkuwata

makkuwata

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Hakkinen fucked off because he was a double world champion with millions in the bank, had a young family, and didn't want another emergency track-side tracheotomy. I always respected that.

Though I was masturbating furiously at the rumours of him returning a couple of years back.

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marsh

marsh

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Hakkinen fucked off because he was a double world champion with millions in the bank, had a young family, and didn't want another emergency track-side tracheotomy. I always respected that.

Though I was masturbating furiously at the rumours of him returning a couple of years back.

True, that could so very nearly have killed him.

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morcs

morcs

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Just doesn't look right somehow, the advertising boards are so sharp in comparison to everything else. The sound is very different to what you hear onboard on tele too.

You'd also expect it to be far bumpier!

Maybe it's just because they're using a "bumper cam" with a wide FOV, like you tend to see in games. Also I guess if they have a really clever mount they could absorb some of the vibration.

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morcs

morcs

Posted
Posted

Yeah there are convincing spectator camera phone vids on YouTube.

Glad someone else doesn't think it looks right though - thought I was going mad!

To make matters worse - I searched YouTube for any other F1 vids using a "nose cam". What I got looked even more artificial! I thought my brain was broken, until I saw "GP4" in the video title.

The Brundle commentary, and presumably real audio, served to make it more confusing :lol:

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Cheeko

Cheeko

Posted
Posted

Schumacher's gonna put that damn car on the podium this season, I wouldn't put it past him to win a race with a bit of luck, either somewhere like Monaco or during rainy conditions, then it'll all have been worthwhile.

That Merc is taking a while to get together though, not sure what's missing from that team but they're not where they feel they should be.

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donkeyk

donkeyk

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Schumacher's gonna put that damn car on the podium this season, I wouldn't put it past him to win a race with a bit of luck, either somewhere like Monaco or during rainy conditions, then it'll all have been worthwhile.

That Merc is taking a while to get together though, not sure what's missing from that team but they're not where they feel they should be.

The more time goes on, the more 2009 was the team's one trick pony. BAR was a dismal failure to begin with, then Dave Richards took over and it started to pick up decent finishes. Then Honda came in, got rid of Prodrive and everything went to shit til they sold up.

They spent half of 2008 designing that Brawn car, which appears to be the main reason why they took the title. Even then, in the second half of the season, Red Bull was consistantly faster.

And of course, Mercedes hasn't really performed either. So except for half a season, this team has not been anything more than a midfield runner. So it appears that even with the success of Brawn, the infrastructure just isn't there yet like at Ferrari and Mclaren to consistantly challenge season after season. It could take years before the financial might of Mercedes moves it to the front of the grid, and even then, look at what Toyota acheived doing that...

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marsh

marsh

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You may not realise that marsh races a quad - he doesn't talk about it much :);)

I'd switch to cars in a heartbeat, but tarmac and noise in Cornwall are like fully functioning tin mines.

Is this the same Merc team that stuff merc engines in the back of the Mclarens? Or is it Illmor? it's a bit confusing before I start pointing the finger....

If it is then I'll imagine that somebody at Merc is thinking 'remind me, why are we spending all this money again?' the Mclaren boys get them good exposure for less outlay.

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SF-02

SF-02

Posted
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Yep it's a recent issue with BMW, Honda and Toyoto leaving after massive outlays and little success.

I've just started subscribing to Autosport. They should do a big in depth article on merc, and it's 10 year history as BAR, Honda, Brawn and now Mercedes, to look into why Brawn was a one off, and where the team is going from here.

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kiroquai

kiroquai

Posted
Posted

The DRS zone for China:

1302684520.jpg

What's the point in putting it there? The back straight is so long we get good overtaking there anyway as years gone by have proved; why not set it to either the start/finish or the straight between Turns 10 and 11 where the DRS could have actually given us another overtaking zone?

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