It depends on just how long engines become the dominant factor in car performance, and whether Red Bull have a chance to change suppliers. They've still got the best aero team, so once they've got a competitive engine they'll be competing again. Vettel will be more clued up than us on the engine situation, and no doubt use that to inform any decision.
So the rumours are Ross Brawn, Bob Bell and even Gerhard Berger... El_Bando has also been mooted for the role!
Ferrari have hired me, given me some tracing paper, and sent me off to Red Bull aero department and Mercedes engine department. Coincidence?
Oh... well this is awkward. Guess I'll throw away my drawings of the Red Bulls secret blown foot rest then.
It doesn't really change much. Domenicali was always Luca's bitch - the perfect yes man. What Ferrari need is someone like Todt, who can tell LDM to **** off when necessary. I don't think Mattiacci is that guy, but we'll see.
Andrew Benson ‏@andrewbensonf1 55s Nico Rosberg will discuss with Lewis Hamilton his concern their fight for victory in Bahrain went "over the line" http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/27056797 … Selective reporting 101 Full quoting: Rosberg said there was only one occasion in their dice when he had any complaints about Hamilton. "The only example which I thought was above the limits was where I came on the radio," he said. "All the other examples were really tough racing but with the necessary respect." Asked which incident he had taken exception to, Rosberg replied: "The rate at which he was pushing me out, because if the rate is too fast I will struggle to avoid the accident. "If you're on the inside you're the boss, it's your corner as long as you're in front." But he underlined that most of the battle had been fair. "Let's go for the majority at Bahrain, which was tough but respectful racing," said Rosberg. "Let's stick with that rather than picking out one minor example." He said it was still important for the team to dissect events at Sakhir. "It's completely normal that as a team, when there are situations or races where a lot has happened and which are intense battles, you are going to sit down and discuss," Rosberg said. "We make sure everybody knows everybody's opinions and we review and then completely put it behind us and push on full attack." Although Rosberg was defeated by Hamilton in the end, he said he was happy he had been sufficiently aggressive. "In hindsight I found that for me I attacked quite a lot and went for it," said Rosberg. "Even when I was not even close to being in a position I just dived down the inside and gave it a go, so I thought my attacking mode was pretty much there and anything more would have on more than one occasion meant we wouldn't finish the race."
Vettel to get a new Suzie according to 4xWDC, young development driver guru and Chief engineer Dr Bellend http://www.inautonews.com/struggling-vettel-to-get-new-suzie-marko
Yup it's the brake by wire which is the problem. “When downshifting, Sebastian needs a stable rear for his special style of driving. With all the new systems, he doesn’t have that yet,” the Red Bull director said. He might of damaged it as well in Bahrain, but I think this is to reset the pressure on him.
What if RBR can't make the car suit Vettel because the rear downforce simply isn't there anymore? As downforce can't be increased through the exhaust anymore, where will they get it back from to ensure the car is planted on the exit of the corners? Vettel may have no choice but to adapt to meet the restrictions the car now provides him with. If this is really the big difference with him from this year to previous years, he needs to get it sorted otherwise the issue of him only winning in the last few years becuase of the car become louder and louder. Who know, with the rumours of active suspension possibly coming back, after a few years of Mercedes domination, maybe the rules will be changed again just so one driver can win at the cost of all others, becuase of course we all know that happens
would Red bull change the car to suit Vettel or will they continue running on the strengths of Ricciardo which is currently working? It is a team sport more than a driver sport afterall
More red bull war talk. http://mobile.f1today.nl/en/news/red-bull-tells-mates-in-next-garage-to-shove-mercedes-star/
Not sure how they could change the car. Suspension will only do so much, but to optimise it for exits of corners will surely mean a compromise elsewhere? It sounds like the fundamental change in the rules is something that they can't claw back, unless clever-boy Newey can think of something.
I think it will really depend how much time lost/gained when he is happy with the brake by wire software being sorted and adapted more to his driving style. Considering Daniel's is said to be "a pretty smooth driver" and Vettel's quite aggressive under braking. Vettel I guess would need more demand from the brakes to slow him down when entering a corner with his fast in slow out approach to corners which is the same to Kimi's I heard, so I guess brake by wire "irregularities" would hurt them more than smoother drivers. If Vettel can't use the brakes properly, getting heat into tyres becomes impossible and tyre wear is higher for it. So the first hurdle for Seb to overcome has to be that brake by wire system, then he can worry what comes next with regards to no EBD if it has done anything at all. Not 100% sure ASC, but I'm sure I heard from a few tech experts in F1 that coke bottle chassis designs for sealing the diffuser are better compared to last year, so rear stability overall cant be that bad.....can it?
Interesting your point on Vettel being aggressive, as a certain Mercedes driver is also that way inclined, whereas his smoother team-mate seems to be slower than him, though to be fair Vettel's difference from 2013 to 2014 is greater exaggerated by how good RBR's system last year was. Even with the teams being able to seal the diffusers, I can't see how that would generate the same downforce lost through not being able to blow exhaust gases at it. Presume Seb is losing time in low/medium speed corners where less downforce is generated and cannot be made up with the gases, as opposed to high speed corners where the faster air will create enough downforce in its own right? A slow-in-fast-out approach was also favoured by one Nigel Mansell I believe.
Not sure if this has been covered but there is a story today suggesting that Honda will be exclusive to McLaren until at least 2017.
Good point on the medium to low corners, Malaysia doesn't have that many and he looked happier against Daniel compared to Bahrain and China. Low speed should be more reliant on the mechanical grip I would of thought rather than aero? So maybe it's the mapping of the Renault as well providing too much torque and applying a problem over a problem for Vettel? With the coke bottle chassis effect I guess since the single exhaust are placed more centrally I would gather the coke bottle effect in that area around where the exhausts used to be would allow it to become more aggressive? Well that's how I read it anyway. **True about both drivers on who is winning that battle, but the difference could be that the Mercedes drivers had very decent running through pre-season and their car is further developed to their drivers needs. Where as Red Bull and Renault were in big doo doo until about Malaysia when both cars could actually finish bar a pit crew brain fade. So at Spain RBR could be at the point where Mercedes were when they finished at the last pre-season and the car will act more like in the simulator maybe? Total 2014 test distance - by team (power unit, where different): 1. Mercedes, 4972.644 km 2. Williams (Mercedes), 4893.432 km 3. Ferrari, 4488.516 km 4. McLaren (Mercedes), 4153.464 km 5. Sauber (Ferrari), 4039.32 km 6. Force India (Mercedes), 3974.868 km 7. Caterham (Renault), 3313.128 km 8. Toro Rosso (Renault), 2436.384 km 9. Red Bull (Renault), 1705.764 km 10. Marussia (Ferrari), 1686.084 km 11. Lotus (Renault), 1288.056 km (Lotus missed opening Jerez test) Total 2014 test distance - by power unit: 1. Mercedes (4 teams), 17994.408 km 3. Ferrari (3 teams), 10213.92 km 2. Renault (4 teams), 8743.332 km So to estimate how much running both RBR drivers have had with the car to give their boffins: 320km per GP weekend x2 with each car, then x4 over the races minus 1 at Australian GP distance =2260km odd. So Red Bull have completed 3965km and with 1,000 still left to catch up on testing alone and to have the same sort of experience with their car as much as Mercedes and which I found amazing in that they (still) haven't surpassed yet. So after Monaco Red Bull would of finally had the same kind of knowledge about their car as Mercedes did, 6 races into the season WOW!
That's interesting. As other's have suggested before, these engines seem pretty difficult to get right, so it'd make sense for Honda to have multiple team running their engines, even if it was just Marussia (who have a tech partnership with Mclaren) and maybe Haas/Stefan. It's still three times the data. Perhaps teams that would be deemed suitable have existing engine deals that take them into 2015.
