2015 F1 News and Prediction Tournament

[PeteC]

The practices in Russia were just about a wash out, literally. Really useless to use any practice results when making picks for this race IMO. Pete

[PeteC]

Russia qualifying:

1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:37.113
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:37.433 +0.320
3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:37.912 0.799
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:37.965 0.852
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:38.348 1.235
6 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:38.659 1.546
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:38.691 1.578
8 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:38.787 1.674
9 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:38.924 1.811
10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:39.728 2.615
11 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:39.214
12 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:39.323
13 Jenson Button McLaren 1:39.763
14 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:39.811
15 Felipe Massa Williams 1:44.461
16 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:40.144
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:40.660
18 Will Stevens Manor 1:43.693
19 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:43.804
20 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso no time

[pharvey]

A fairly spectacular prang for Carlos Sainz Jr in resulted in FP 3 being brought to an early end yesterday. Thankfully, he's been passed fit to race today...



An interesting comment today from Toto Wolff of Mercedes - apparently they have 100 crew/staff at the Russian F1 and 1,200 in Germany/HQ (whether or not solely F1 or motor sport in general?). I wouldn't fancy that wage bill...

[pharvey]

And it seems Bernie has agreed a further 3 year deal with Pirelli......... Might just p!$$ a few people off!

[pharvey]

Certainly a great race and win for Hamilton and Mercedes - but also one of the races of the season IMO. He ties Vettel for race wins and more importantly for him heads his hero (Senna) by one.

3rd place for Force India and Perez - absolutely superb (although it stuffs my predictions up a little!!).

Some excitement with the "prangs" and some issues for penalties....

[PeteC]

Russia Results:

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 53 laps 1hr 37m 11.024s
2. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +05.9s
3. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +28.9s
4. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +38.8s
5. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault +47.5s
6. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +56.5s
7. Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes +1m 01.0s
8. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +1m 12.3s*
9. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +1m 19.4s
10. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault +1m 28.4s

11. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +1m 31.2s**
12. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
13. Roberto Merhi ESP Manor-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Will Stevens GBR Manor-Ferrari +1 lap

Rtd Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault 48 laps compelted
Rtd Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault 47 laps completed
Rtd Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes 12 laps completed
Rtd Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 7 laps completed
Rtd Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes 0 laps completed
Rtd Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 0 laps completed

[PeteC]

Pool results. Some big changes this week. More later...............

1 - lindosfan 226.50
2 ▲3 redzonerocker 220.50
3 - BigBoy 219.50
4 ▲3 mwbrown (Yellow Cap) 218.00
5 ▼1 pharvey 218.00
6 - Pete 217.00
7 ▼5 Vital Spark 214.50
8 ▲1 Parahandy 210.50
9 ▲1 Terry 209.00
10 ▼2 bsdk1960 208.50
11 - JJBones 98.00
12 - Richard 58.00
13 - buksida 20.50

[PeteC]

Hamilton inches closer and I think I briefly read Mercedes has clinched the Constructors?. It was good to see McLaren in the top 10, and even better to see Button beat Alonso. EDIT: Vettel had the fastest lap.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/live/formula1/32543293

http://planetf1.com/grand-prix/russia/

MWBrown had the best race with 15.5 points. Our top 3 are now Lindosfan, Redzonerocker and BigBoy.

Next up is USA on October 25. Good luck to all! Pete

USA GP

Qualifying

Saturday 24 Oct 13:00 (local)
Sunday 25 Oct 01:00 (Thai time)

Race
Sunday 25 Oct 14:00 (local)
Monday 26 Oct 02:00 (Thai time)

http://planetf1.com/grand-prix/united-s ... uit-guide/

[PeteC]

phph3dqiPPM.jpg (100.01 KiB) Viewed 297 times

[Pleng]

Say goodbye to any chance of decent racing in the next few years...
http://planetf1.com/news/pirelli-stays- ... e-supplier

[PeteC]

Read what this old fool has to say.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34552570

Blatter the right man - Ecclestone
By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone says Sepp Blatter should remain in charge of Fifa despite facing corruption charges.

Blatter, who is suspended, is under criminal investigation over a payment made to Uefa boss Michel Platini in 2011. Both men deny any wrongdoing.

Ecclestone said: "I don't think he should have ever stepped down. I don't think he should have been challenged.

"If people allegedly have been corrupted to make things happen in their country, it's good."

The 85-year-old added: "It's a tax football had to pay."

He also backed Russian President Vladimir Putin and said there was "no place for democracy".

Ecclestone, who was talking on Russian television, said the reason Blatter deserved support was "because of him we have a lot of countries around the world that are now playing football".

The 17-year Fifa reign of Swiss Blatter, who is suspended for 90 days, ends in February.

Ecclestone, who has become notorious for controversial comments in the past, said he thought Putin was "super", adding: "I'm his best supporter."

Vladimir Putin attended the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi last weekend

In the past, Ecclestone has referred to women as "domestic appliances" and praised Adolf Hitler as someone who "got things done".

Ecclestone has run the commercial side of F1 for nearly 40 years and last year faced two separate trials on corruption charges.

A civil case in the UK was dismissed and he paid a German court £60m to end a trial in which he was accused of paying a German banker £26m to ensure a company Ecclestone favoured could buy a stake in F1.

Ecclestone reiterated a view he has previously expressed that "Europe is a thing of the past" and said he was "not very enthusiastic about America".

About the US, he added: "The biggest problem with them is that they believe [that they are the] greatest sort of power in the world" and that "they are a big island, so they are a bit isolated; they are slowly starting to learn what other people in the world do".

The US Grand Prix is in Austin, Texas, next weekend with Ecclestone expected to attend.

[pharvey]

^ Poison Dwarf basically........

[PeteC]

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34549164

Magnussen 'told of exit on birthday'
By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer

McLaren reserve driver Kevin Magnussen says he was he was told the team were releasing him by email on his birthday.

Magnussen, who was 23 on 5 October, says he was informed by chairman Ron Dennis's personal assistant.

"It was a short paragraph explaining there would be nothing for me in the future. It arrived on my birthday, actually," he said.

The Dane raced for McLaren alongside Jenson Button in 2014 but was demoted after Fernando Alonso's arrival.

Dennis had initially chosen Magnussen to partner Alonso this season, but backed down when his fellow shareholder Mansour Ojjeh said he wanted to retain Button.

On Friday, McLaren put out a statement confirming their split with Magnussen.

In it, Dennis said Magnussen deserved a seat in F1 and said the team would do what they could "to help him successfully embark on the next chapter of his racing career".

Magnussen said he was not surprised to learn of his release, having told McLaren that he wanted to race next year, and realising there was no vacancy at McLaren with Alonso and Button staying.

The Dane, who finished second in his debut grand prix for McLaren in Australia in 2014, hopes to find a seat for next year and said he had had "good talks with a number of F1 teams and some of them are still going on".

His best chance is believed to be with the Lotus team, which is in the process of being taken over by French car giant Renault.

Among Magnussen's competition for that seat are former Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne and Lotus's British reserve driver Jolyon Palmer.

There could be vacancies at the new US-based Haas team and at Manor.

However, Haas have signed the Franco-Swiss Romain Grosjean for one car and are expected to confirm shortly the recruitment of Mexican former Sauber driver Esteban Gutierrez.

Manor are likely to need drivers to bring a budget for a seat.

Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne, the new champion of the GP2 feeder series, is likely to take Magnussen's position as McLaren's reserve driver.

Magnussen beat Vandoorne, who is one of the most highly-rated young drivers not yet in F1, to the Formula Renault 3.5 title in 2013.

[PeteC]

Once again Practice is not going to be very helpful in making picks for this weekend. Storms seem to be predicted for the entire weekend. Pete

United States GP practice cancelled after storm

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/formula1/34622733

EDIT: This monster storm is the reason why as winds and rain already into the Texas area.

ep201520_5day.gif (29.84 KiB) Viewed 215 times

[PeteC]

Well, I just made my picks...based upon nothing. There will be no practice #2 and Practice #1 was worthless in determining anything. Qualifying may be tomorrow USA time, may be on Sunday right before the race. If no qualifying, they'll select the grid based upon "something". All very uncertain at the moment. Pete