F1 Most liked posts in thread: F1 - 2013

Yeah, so when the easy-on-its-tires Lotus driven by Kimi on a two-stop is 19 seconds behind Seb's tire-eater* on lap 50 of 60....

Might make for some interesting final stints

*that's really not fair of me, Seb's great at getting good life from his tires, though Red Bull has been the loudest critic of this years' compounds wearing out faster.

 

Long read, but interesting.

Full article here

How do you drive a supercomputer round a Formula 1 track?

 

With only a few days to go to Hungary, it's time for the Wild Speculation Game!

Seb's not won at Hungary before, but the tire changes will probably be good for Red Bull. Look for a pole and maybe a win.

Lotus does well in the heat, and this weekend is supposed to be a scorcher. Expect Lotus to be a strong contender for this weekend.

Ferrari will also favor the new tires. Is there a chance at a podium? Possibly. Alonso is going to give it his all.

Mercedes is going to be the big loser this weekend. They might qualify well as usual, but will not have the pace to finish in the top 10. Heat is their enemy, and there's going to be a lot of it. Any points at all will be a challenge.

Look for Daniel Riccardo's Toro Rosso in the top ten. I'm guessing a 6 or 7 finish.

Force India will put in a strong showing, but can they make the top 5? It seems unlikely to me. More likely if they're in the points it'll be near the back.

Sauber... well... with any luck this won't be their last race this season, but there's a chance they may drop out after the summer factory shutdown that's happening after this race. I've read that there might be some financial salvation for them though.

McLaren is a non-issue for the rest of this season. They're stopping development on this years' cars and are putting all their efforts into the 2014 cars. If they score it will be by luck and drivers' skills. This is a miserable season for them.

Williams has also had a bad season, and has made some internal staffing changes. Don't expect too much from them this weekend though.

And the backmarkers - I think Caterham's going to maintain their slight edge over Marussia, though they both have some talented drivers. Pic and Bianchi might get some good wheel to wheel action that will never be shown on TV.

 

You think the 17 year old Russian will come to Sauber's rescue? What is the exchange rate for руб's these days? (edit - 310 / $) I think it would take a dumptruck full of them to help Sauber.......

I agree that absent something unusual like rain, retirements or crash, it will be business as usual.

I would not be surprised to see Kimi on the top step, and it he does, his signature will be on a Red Bull contract for next year before we come back from the summer break.

My 2¢.........

 

Not the kid, but the $500,000,000 they may have gotten with him. IF the deal gets finalized. I think half a billion dollars counts as a "dumptruck"

Marussia not upset by Sauber's Russian deal | News | Motorsport.com

 

Interesting note from practice. It was observed that the soft tires were throwing off rubber as they were spinning leaving the pit box. With the abrasive track that could make for a lot of stops.

 

Good thing Pirelli went with a harder compound choice than originally planned then. Hungary doesn't get used much during the year, and it should clean up a little by race day.

Though I've read that in the Silverstone testing it seemed teams had difficulty turning the Mediums on for front and back at the same time. Once they got the fronts working, the backs had past their prime. Should be interesting in a high-downforce circuit like Hungary.

Should be very frustrating for Mercedes, which is a car that theoretically loves high-downforce, but hates heat, especially on the rear. 50°C on the track they say. Gonna be a baaaad weekend for them.

 

Where does that line start.....?

 

Nowhere near you, or I. Now, if you had a miniature giraffe...:ihih:

 

Huh.

I won't spoil it.

 

Me neither, but it is shaping up to possibly be a very good race in the AM!!

 

****ALERT****

Race starts in just a bit @ 8:00 Eastern time!!!

 

Video contains race spoilers at the end.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPxP9I2kIRI"]F1 2013 Hungarian GP Highlights - Technical Analysis HD - YouTube[/ame]

 

Lot of stories in this one, but don't want to spoil it for anyone....

 

How's this for a story? Alonso's manager has had a one on one meeting with Red Bull........