The standouts and disappointments of 2014

Ricci for me was the man, best driver of the year....Kimi was crap, but i stoill think he's the best out there, just give him a car he can drive....Also many believed hamilton to be the fastest driver and Nico beated him fair and square in qualifyong...pretty impressive IMO.
Bottas had a good year, showing he is fast and consistent against a very good driver as felipe, although when massa misfortuned ended he satrted to struggle more to beat him.
I was also impressed by JEV, great year, great drives and great overtakings, he definitly deserved a decent drive, he's only sin was to get beaten in qualy by Kvyat...

 

Even with the drawbacks others have mentioned, I thought this was one of the most entertaining seasons in the last five years.

Also, for those of us in the US, one major let down was NBC Sports. Their coverage was not even close to the quality of BBC or Sky. The constant switching between different NBC channels, the incessant commercial breaks at the most inopportune times, Leigh Diffey, and the times when the camera would just pan empty parts of the track while good battles were happening elsewhere. Towards the end of the season, I stopped watching the races live and downloaded replays of the Sky broadcasts.

 

For me, the biggest standouts were Massa and Bottas. I certainly did not expect the Williams team to be the best of the rest, but loved that they were.

 

Agreed re really happy for Sir Frank and Claire.

However, in fairness, the Cans, with the 'crappy' Reanult PU were actually the best of the rest. Which given the debacle they experienced in pre season testing was pretty impressive.

Cheers,
Ian

 

Wolff Pillow talk...

 

Pushing what envelope? Turbo cars had 1200 Hp in the 80's.

F1 has become a combination of political correctness married with reducing costs. What's important is keeping the traveling show on the road, not what the cars or drivers do.

These new turbo cars are slower and less exciting to watch or listen too. The smaller teams actually have fallen farther off the pace and on the edge of bankruptcy. I would not be surprised if next year's attendances are down after being disappointed with the lack of drama coming out the tail pipes now.

Engine freezes and a lack of testing means whoever starts the season strong have a clear path to the end.

When I want entertainment, do I go to a rock concert and have my experience blown away in the excitement of the event, music, performances and visual aura or do I go to a lecture from a college professor telling us how sea slugs mate?

I think the first one, at least in my case.

 

In contention for what? Best of the rest? From the first race, the championship seemed decided in Mercedes favour, the rules preclude anyone being able to make up such a large margin in performance, and next year, they'll do it again. Are you really satisfied with a formula one where the results are guaranteed from the off?

I was bored stupid

 

Had the Red prancing horses car had been in Merc's position, would you say the same ..?

 

Absolutely not, as a merc fan you would be chuffed, just like a Ferrari fan would be if they were one and a half seconds ahead. However, as racing goes and f1 for anyone not following their favourite driver or team, there was no excitement in most of the races, it was a merc win, unless they dnf'd, and then it was either red bull early in the season, or Williams in the late season. Where was the excitement of a championship tussle, the teams developing and overtaking, then dropping back, that is a feature of the most exciting seasons? Nowhere.

Bored bored bored, and most people I talk to that aren't one-team men are just as bored with it as me, and that will kill f1 dead

 

TV viewing numbers agree with you. About 20% down

 

So what did we have prior to that, 4 years of a index fingered salute....ermm well, I know what I prefer, after all even if it was not a red car, it was a British driver ...but que sera sera.

 

Where is that stat from if you do not mind me asking,?

 

And I didn't like that either, but most of those seasons, at least initially, there was some racing, and some development, and different winners. Mostly other teams did have a chance to race with the cans. This year, who exactly was going to take the race to the cans? The pace car?

Same as when Michael dominated, there were other teams with chances most races, you wouldn't have bet your house on many of those 'dominating' races, but overall, Ferrari did win lots. Along the way though, montoya, raikonnen, hakkinen, Coulthard etc all took the fight to Ferrari, and sometimes we got a hiding, sometimes we won.

This year, nada for anyone unless the mercs dnf'd. You could bet your house on merc, and wouldn't break a sweat. Odds were so far on though, you would've won £1 for every £50 or more put on, that's the only reason you wouldn't bother

 

Article about RTL's numbers in Germany. I can dig it up once I'm back at a PC

 

And why should a drivers nationality matter. I didn't follow mansell, hill, Stewart, Coulthard or anyone else. I followed the drivers I felt were the best, Alonso, schumi, senna, I'm not nationalist like that. In fact, on the whole, I'm the same in any sport, I don't support England in football preferring Italy, Germany and Brazil, and when I visit the mosconi cup, I cheer on the US team, because they play nine ball the way it should be played, aggressive and fast, unlike the European team that rely on the bad behaviour of their crowd to destroy the concentration of the players

 

Yes I hear you, and yes it is somewhat the nature of the beast, so to speak, however this year we did have a title race albeit it between team mates, but that is to me was better than total domination by one driver, I used to go and mow the lawn when MS lead into the first corner back in the day...

 

First of all this certainly has something to do with the fact that less Germans are looking when Vettel does not win anymore. Just imagine him winning in a Ferrari next year and F1 seems to be interesting again according to the TV numbers of RTL.
Second the TV coverage of RTL was not very good this year. They made commercial breaks at the worst moments and they missed a lot of action on the track for other reasons. Furthermore if you have ever seen Kai Ebel doing interviews before and after the race you might go out with your dog for a walk on Sunday afternoon instead as well...

 

It's okay, no need, I think that answers my question.

 

I have seen Kai in person. In a Superman costume (him, not me ).

 

Danke.

 

Aber bitte mit Sahne.

 

Picking which of the same teams drivers will win isn't good for the sport in reality, several teams drivers challenging makes it interesting. In the most interesting seasons, the order after the first corner was rarely the finishing order, even when schumi was king. Many times, the strategy over the race was the interesting part, with strategy that differed even within the teams, now, it's the same number of stops, same amounts of fuel, same spare parts, even shared components for christsakes, it's not F1 anymore, it's just another race series with nothing special about it.

 

I would have understood that even without the backets
It might have been fun in the first years but by now it is just annoying...

 

Can we talk about coffee ...heehee

I had to google translate Sahne cream/top notch...

 

I am glad that you just googled "Sahne" and not the entire phrase, otherwise you might have an even stranger image of us Germans