2014 is a classic season ;-)

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hollus
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Joined: 29 Mar 2009, 01:21
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2014 is a classic season ;-)

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Amazing the difference a team can make to perceptions. On march 1st Mercedes announced in a shock press conference that they would retire from F1 immediately, dismayed by perceptions of fuel saving and the inextistant noise from the engines. In case you missed that press conference, this is what happened since:

The Mercedes engines were clearly dominant in power, but a superior chassis produced by Red Bull as usual and Alonso's magic hands made up for that and somehow allowed us to enjoy battle after battle in which cars with radically different behaviour got to dice for each win, with 6 race winners so far, 4 of them for the first time.

These are some highlights of the 2014 season so far:

Australia
The season opener produced an unexpected dose of glory, a big controversy and then another dose of glory. Local hero Ricciardo produced an error free performance from pole to keep at bay the Mercedes engined cars and claim victory on local soil in its first race for Red Bull. The local crowd went crazy beyond measure before the bomb exploded: he would be stripped of his maiden victory after irregularities in its fuel flow sensor. The circus had to leave Australian soil protected by the army, but this meant that the victory went to rookie Magnussen in his first appearance with McLaren and in the sport, improving on Hamilton's debut race. McLaren, with a 1-2, appeared poised for a dominant season with permission of Red Bull.

Bahrain
After a familiar dominant victory by Vettel in Malaysia, Bahrain left us with yet another new race winner, this time Perez claiming also Force India's maiden win with two white, green and orange cars in the podium. After uncountable leaders during the race, a late safety car bunched the field and gave us the closest and most open battle for victory in recent memory with up to 8 cars shooting for the win. Ricciardo came close to legally claiming his first victory after charging from 5th to 2nd in the last 10 laps, but arrived too late at Perez's tail.

Spain
A dominant 1-2 by Red Bull finally gave Ricciardo the maiden victory he deserved and us our 5th race winner in 5 races so far. With Red Bull appearing somewhat superior, it is Alonso who leads the championship, with the Mercedes engined trio giving away too many points to keep up.

Canada
Ricciardo lapped the field up to 3rd position in Monaco while Marussia and Caterham got their first points. In Canada he got his third consecutive win in best Vettel style. A late tire thriller saw Massa chasing the leading trio and Perez hanging on to his lead and his fading tires. He lost his lead with 5 laps to go and everything in a last lap collision with Massa. After his initial disqualification and DNF, Ricciardo went 2-2-1-1-1 to claim the lead in the championship while Mercedes' engine advantage seemed not so dominant after all.

Austria to Germany
In Austria Williams finally capitalized on its perceived pace with a 1-2 in qualifying and in the race, delivering Bottas' maiden win. In Britain Bottas went from 12th on Saturday to victory. While in Germany he won from pole after a dominat Williams 1-2 in qualifying making him a surprise firm favorite for the title.

Who will prevail, the motor prowess and ridiculous straight line speed of the Williams, or the superior aero of the Red Bull? And will it really be their youngsters carrying the weight? Vettel is ready to pound. Will Alonso finally capitalize on always being there while the rest come and go? And will Hulkenberg break his duck or will he forever be remember as the very fast driver who coulda-shoulda-woulda have won a grand prix?. We can look forward to an exciting and open second half of the season.

This is points standing after Hockenheim:
D. Ricciardo 149
F. Alonso 144
V. Bottas 136
S. Vettel 118
N. Hulkenberg 105
J. Button 86
K. Magnussen 64
S. Pérez 58
F. Massa 48
K. Raikkonen 40
R. Grosjean 20
D. Kvyat 18
J. Vergne 13
J. Bianchi 6
M. Ericsson 2
P. Maldonado 2
A. Sutil 1
E. Gutiérrez 0
M. Chilton 0
K. Kobayashi 0
Rivals, not enemies.

Kingshark
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Joined: 26 May 2014, 05:41

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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What a season! ;)

Incredible when you think about it though, how much difference one team/driver can make.

For instance 2002 would have been a brilliant JPM vs Ralf vs DC season battle until the end, but the Ferrari F2002 turned it into one of the most boring seasons of all time.

Thankfully though, unlike in '02, in 2014 we have a proper teammate battle for the WDC.

j2004p
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Joined: 31 Mar 2010, 18:22

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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2004 would have been interesting if ferrari hadn't been involved. As I recall Button in a BAR would have won by a country mile.

As it was Ferrari won by a country mile instead

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SiLo
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Joined: 25 Jul 2010, 19:09

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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You could probably do the same with all of Vettel's championships and it would be fairly close behind. Fairly pointless exercise but it's always entertaining to read and dream!
Felipe Baby!

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SectorOne
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Joined: 26 May 2013, 09:51

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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Fun read! :)
Would have been cool to see Magnussen win the first race of his F1 career!
"If the only thing keeping a person decent is the expectation of divine reward, then brother that person is a piece of sh*t"

JimClarkFan
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Joined: 18 Mar 2012, 23:31

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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ALO has competition this season for the best driver, I can't separate him or RIC in terms of performance thus far.

stewilkinson
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Joined: 19 Sep 2012, 14:08

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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Cool post :)

Ironically, it also shows how fun this season is even though it's two tiered - you've got two guys at front with little between them duking it out each race and everyone behind them going balls-to-the-wall just to be best of the rest.

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hollus
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Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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OK, I think I owe it to completeness to update this thread.
The second half of the season turned out much less interesting than the first, you just can't stop Adrian!
This is what happened next in my Mercedes-less world:

Hungary:
The championship looked poised for a change of leader until the last three laps, when untypically for Hungary, Ricciardo passed championship 2nd Alonso for the lead.

Belgium:
Dominant victory for Ricciardo by half a minute. With this result in theoretically a power track, he looks set to start a domination in the best RedBullesque style. Oh yes, and Raikkonen finally stepped on the podium in the 12th race of the season.

Italy:
In Monza the power nature of the track tipped the balance in favor of Williams which delivered another dominant 1-2. Unexplainably, with only Bottas in the title hunt, team orders were not applied depriving him of 7 very needed points. According to rumors, the order to swap places by Massa losing 20 seconds was given with 10 laps to go, but the hysterical shout coming in response from the brasilian's car actually broke down the radios of all the team. With this we have now had 7 different winners in 13 races.

Singapore:
The many sharp corners of Singapore predictably led to a Red Bull 1-2, with Vettel winning the race almost lights to flag, but only with the help of a perfectly timed safety car as the fastest car of the day was red. Again team orders were not applied, but with Alonso chasing the leading duo in a much faster car for the last 20 laps, depriving Ricciardo of using his DRS defensively might have proven extremely dangerous. Not that it would have happened anyways, since Vettel is still within striking distance of the title. With Bottas finishing 10th after a failed tire gamble, this means that Ricciardo now enjoys a 47 points lead over Alonso, almost enough to be safe in the Abu-Double.

Japan:
In this parallel world I choose that Bianchi just hit Sutil's car, made a big mess, brought up the red flag, but for nothing more than a broken wrist sidelining him for two months. If only...
Anyways, Alonso's electrical glitch moved him out of striking range of the title while Reb Bull's dominance, leading to a clear 1-2, very nearly left the championship sentenced for Ricciardo, who was leading when the red flag stopped the race. But the rule saying that the result is to be taken from 2 laps before kicked in (this 14 points difference might be very hotly debated at the end of the season) and gave Vettel the win. This vindicated past decisions not to give Ricciardo the points andleaves Vettel in 2nd in the championship, crucially now less than 50 points away.
Only 4 drivers have a realistic shot at the title now: Ricciardo with 250 points, Vettel with 202, Bottas with 193 and Alonso with 185.

Russia:
A dominant and unchallenged win for Bottas in a very uneventful race without even any decent first corner drama. A highly improved McLaren duo filled up the rest of the podium. The only positive thing to say is that the table bunched up a bit and with Ricciardo only 5th, Bottas now looks like a realistic title prospect again.

USA:
OMG! We are down to 16 cars! Bernie's wet dreams are coming true!
As for the race, Ricciardo found himself third behind the williamses after an early safety car, and very patiently stayed there to pick Bottas in the first pit stop and Massa in the second, then he cruised to a win that should have decided the championship in his favor. As usual Massa did not make space for his team mate to pick up some valuable points, and that left Bottas more than 50 points behind the leader. Alonso came 4th to find himself exctly 76 points adrift and hence out of contention, while Vettel salvaged a valuable fifth after a very late pit stop left him temporarily out of the points but in much faster tires.

Brazil:
Ricciardo just needed to shadow Bottas to secure his championship, but a detached wheel hub left him out of the race to impotently see his rivals stay in the chase. Then Bottas and his team squandered this perfect chance. Probably a manifestation of the vertigo of seeing themselves this high in the championship: A defective seat belt made him lost 12 seconds in a pit stop when he was comfortably following Massa. Instead of being second on merit, then first after the Brazilian would have made way in the last straight (yeah, right!), Bottas limped home to a shocking 8th position, but still secured 4 points to stay 48 behind Ricciardo. With Massa (dominant home win with a very cool head after a very early first stop left him in traffic and some further pit lane drama) and Button taking the top podium stops; Vettel's third left him exactly 50 points behind Ricciardo, and with 3 wins to the Australian's 6, mathematically out of contention.


Standings after 18 races:
D. Ricciardo 285
V. Bottas 237
S. Vettel 235
F. Alonso 221
J. Button 160
F. Massa 155
N. Hulkenberg 129
K. Magnussen 100
K. Raikkonen 96
S. Pérez 90
J. Vergne 40
D. Kvyat 28
R. Grosjean 22
P. Maldonado 9
J. Bianchi 6
A. Sutil 3
M. Ericsson 2
E. Gutiérrez 0
M. Chilton 0
K. Kobayashi 0

As close as the season looked after the half point, Red Bull then out-developed everyone in a familiar sight to make Ricciardo run away and Vettel look like the prime candidate for second. Only Bernie's Abu Double kept the championship alive (the old rascal just always gets what he wants). And for the last two weeks of the season, the only talking point was how only this artificial measure kept the last race significant, and that when the main rivals clearly had no interest in picking up the fight after the N-th DNF for Ricciardo (its only his third, but they appear very big). Boooooo.
Rivals, not enemies.

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Shrieker
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Joined: 01 Mar 2010, 23:41

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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A worse situation in terms of WDC title fight without Mercedes...
Education is that which allows a nation free, independent, reputable life, and function as a high society; or it condemns it to captivity and poverty.
-Atatürk

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strad
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Joined: 02 Jan 2010, 01:57

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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You guys really think this was some fantastic season? Really, or because the talking heads tell you so?
To achieve anything, you must be prepared to dabble on the boundary of disaster.”
Sir Stirling Moss

TzeiTzei
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Joined: 09 Mar 2011, 21:19

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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strad wrote:You guys really think this was some fantastic season? Really, or because the talking heads tell you so?
Can you read?

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Hail22
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Joined: 08 Feb 2012, 07:22

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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Image

Dark blue highlights a guarantee for Rosberg to clinch the title.

Light blue highlights a guarantee for Hamilton to secure his 2nd WDC.
If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.

Gilles Villeneuve

prince
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Joined: 01 Mar 2012, 11:22

Re: 2014 is a classic season ;-)

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hollus wrote:OK, I think I owe it to completeness to update this thread.
The second half of the season turned out much less interesting than the first, you just can't stop Adrian!
This is what happened next in my Mercedes-less world:

Hungary:
The championship looked poised for a change of leader until the last three laps, when untypically for Hungary, Ricciardo passed championship 2nd Alonso for the lead.

Belgium:
Dominant victory for Ricciardo by half a minute. With this result in theoretically a power track, he looks set to start a domination in the best RedBullesque style. Oh yes, and Raikkonen finally stepped on the podium in the 12th race of the season.
.....
Wow! What a Mess for Seb. He lost, what could have been his straight 5th title, which could have brought him equals to his idol Schumacher. Ricciardo proving that anyone with good driving skills can win in a Newey designed Redbull. Hail Newey !!! 5th Straight Constructors to Red Bull. A BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO THEM. One more and they will level Ferrari for 6 consecutive constructors championships.

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