80 replies to this topic

[Fastcake]

A three, but only because I save a one for a real farce like Indy, and two for a race I can't even remember happening when it's over. At least this one had a fair amount of racing on the opening laps, before settling down into much of nothingness.

 

Best Driver Hamilton. Peerless all race.
Worst Driver I'm aware the Toro Rosso set-up over-favoured qualifying, but Kvyat's drive was rather poor nonetheless.
Best Team Merc obviously. Though it's good to see McLaren contending for the big points again.
Best Overtake Haven't a clue.
Best Moment I suppose the Soviet anthem still sounds pretty good.
DRS + Tyres Neither seemed to fulfil their designated role.

[juandiego]

Best Driver: Hamiton ; majestic really, his concentration at turn one was epic - could've panicked, made it look like a Sunday drive.

Not to panic in that situation is quite basic racecraftship, I'd say. I disagree with that that could be deemed as hint of majesty or something epic, sorry. Rosberg overcooked the entry by a big margin, never was even close to Hamilton and this had to do nothing but to follow his regular line without dodging Rosberg's car or something. We've seen many much more remarkable dodging manoeuvers from him and other drivers.

[EthanM]

IMO this

 

2 6 N. ROSBERG GER Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 1:41.360 52 0.464 207.703 16:34:16

http://www.fia.com/s...estLaps_V01.pdf

 

tells the story ... a car that can run a 52 lap stint and post its fastest lap of the race (2nd fastest overall) on the 51st lap is quite let down by the terms "rocketship" "dominant" etc

 

Otherwise the race was dull, conservation galore. Guess some people hate it when drivers conserve tyres, they 'd much rather see them lift off 50 meters before the braking point and cost in to feel like they are "racy"

Edited by EthanM, 12 October 2014 - 23:29.

[Withnail]

Very dull.  Probably a 2.  I fell asleep for the last 10 laps or so - woke up and checked what I'd missed - absolutely nothing. 

 

I'll be honest though, after Japan, there was something quite reasurring/comforting about a dull race with no bad weather, nasty crashes, safety car or (on track) controversy).  In a strange way, it was what F1 needed.

[adumbo]

The only exciting part was the start where a frenzy of cars just was everywhere as compared to other tracks where ater the first corner was line astern. But that basically was it as far as racing goes.

[Nitropower]

Dull race.
Utter domination. Only the start had some amusing chaos.
New age horrible Tilke circuit, all flat, symmetric corners, Grey, extremely wide, full of run off areas, not challenging.
Only place were the sport has been perverted and put to the service of politics - embarrassing to see FOM allowing the anthem being played when it was supposed to be a minute for Bianchi - and finally having to see a creepy botox president time and time again and Bernie pulling down his pants to him.

Bring back circuits with ups downs natural corners hills trees green in places where people are interested in F1... Stop making crap circuits like Korea Delhi Sochi etc. Etc. Etc

[Dmitriy_Guller]

Rated it a 2.  The race itself wasn't a total disaster, which is the best thing you can say about it, but all those Putin photo-op shots took it down a notch.

[HeadFirst]

Rated it a generous 5/10.

Best Driver: Bottas was solid, but Rosberg takes setting 2nd fastest lap with 50 laps on his tires.
Worst Driver: Massa.  .
Best Team: Mercedes.
Best Overtake: Rosberg's pass on Perez.
Best Moment: That there were no safety cars. This track seemed destined to have a SC phase, but thankfully the race could play out as intended.
DRS + Tyres: Tires were interesting, in that they were not a factor.
And the race in a few words: Not bad. The issues were not the fault of the track.

[Dan333SP]

The highlight of the race was listening to the broadcasters on NBC discuss the relative abrasiveness of their kitchen countertops. That should tell you all you need to know.

Ha, I was literally going to post exactly the same thing. Miserable race, which is a shame because I actually like the track itself.

[pablo_a]

rubbish.

[SNiko]

Now we know what percent of Russians on this forum - 2%

 

(Just amazing. Could not take my eyes off the screen) -  Of course they could not take their eyes of the screen. They were looking for Putin. Unfortunately for them he came in the end of the race.

 

Edited by SNiko, 13 October 2014 - 01:53.

[Redback]

Dreadful, - with Putin applying the final polish to the turd.

 

I'm sure Bernie thought it was great though, - kindred spirits and all that...

 

 

[Brother Fox]

After last week, maybe a boring race was just what F1 needed.

I can't help but think that's influenced us all some way.

[lbennie]

turn 3 is bloody amazing. Watching the bunch race through there during the first part of the GP made me pregnant.

 

It such a shame the rest of the track is absolute dross.

[ollebompa]

The track is an abomination, who the hell drew it anyways? They must be out of their minds.

[Lee Nicolle]

As has happened too often I watched the start,, eg what track as everyone drove everywhere and Rosberg made square front tyres. Then I went to sleep and woke up for the chequer. Uninspiring venue with no real track containment. 

[whitewaterMkII]

I was on the edge of my seat wondering whether it would be a two stop race. The fuel saving by Hamilton was astounding.  The action on track was fantastic. Probably the best race I've ever seen.

[ardbeg]

4/10
Nothing really happened. Could maybe pick Rosberg as both the best driver and the worst since his flatspots was his own doing. Since the tires lasted the whole race, he did not lose much on his strategy. No, Hamilton and Bottas have to share that award, both of them was perfect.

Pirelli got nothing right, they must have had a chance to analyze the surface and circuit but got the result completely wrong.

No moment stands out really, maybe it was Bottas coming out sideways from the last corner and setting fastest lap.

Mercedes are just too good and on a track that has no overtaking possibilities there was not much to look for elsewhere on track.

Notable: Ericsson was at times faster than the Renaults in the first stint, pity their car did not work at all on the hard tires.

[HammyHamiltonFan]

Best Driver - Lewis Hamilton
Worst Driver - none really
Best Team - Mercedes
Best Overtake - Vergne on Magnussen
Best Moment - Rosberg having to give back the place & pit having fecked his own tyres
DRS + Tyres - DRS didn't do much, nor did the tyres

 

And the race in a few words - Lewis makes it 9 wins this season after Rosberg fluffs it on lap one.

[OO7]

The track is an abomination, who the hell drew it anyways? They must be out of their minds.

Oh come on!  Is that a serious question!

[Kraken]

Nice track for one of the new ones. Now they have the data the tyre choice for next year will be more aggressive. This one was boring (and people want to go back to the days of tyres that can last the entire race?) but I expect next years will be a different ball game entirely.

 

Fuel saving hopefully won't be as much as they get more grips to with the PU's over the next couple of seasons.

[Jimisgod]

Worst race race of the year, easy.

 

Japan was the worst event because, you know. 

[Jimisgod]

Worst race race of the year, easy.

 

Japan was the worst event because, you know. 

[thiscocks]

Thought track might be ok until I saw first practice then realised it was Valencia MKII. Tedious track, tedious race. Always go hand in hand.

[bushgold]

Even the so-called moderator is trolling now so a 10/10 just for the uninformed bigots. More Zerohedge less Daily Mail folks. Realistically a 5 or 6. Both Mercs were in it to the end so there was some suspense and the opening laps were excellent. There's potential for good racing on this circuit. Singapore was the biggest borefest of the year.

[scheivlak]

Thought track might be ok until I saw first practice then realised it was Valencia MKII. Tedious track, tedious race. Always go hand in hand.

I always felt that way about Valencia, but the 2012 F1 GP was fantastic. And the Sunday morning GP3 race in Sochi was pretty amazing in the end, kind of reminiscent of the great 2012 Valencia GP2 race that Razia won. 

 

But indeed, the F1 race had a promising start but rather petered out.

[Roonaldo]

How many who voted should have cut the lawn, did, or did you continue to watch the race.

If so should have been 10, wasn't most exciting race, but watched every minute, as I do with every race...

[BRG]

Couldn't cut the lawn as it was raining, but luckily I only watched the BBC highlights so it was only an hour or so.  Below average race, uninspiring track (Korea meets Valencia meets Singapore in daylight), track limits?  What track limits?

 

On the positive side, nice weather, nice mountains in the background, nice sea, nice to see Vettel beaten yet again by his team-mate, nice drives by Bottas & Button, nice to see Bernie has finally made a friend.

[Jamiednm]

The track is almost completely non-descript apart from that semi circle corner. It was like Korea in that I didn't know one part of the track from another. I hate that about races, not knowing where cars are even when you are looking at them. They really should at least make the walls a different colour for each sector.

 

As for the saturated coverage of El Presidenté and his little troll buddy (Putin and Bernie), that was awful, especially when you saw Bernie being given a gift.

 

I loved how Awkward Putin looked when Lewis walked straight past him without any acknowledgment in the pre-podium room.

[Sash1]

For personal reasons I fastforwarded it at 32x speed. Nothing worth mentioning besides Rosberg lockup and the prove that anyone can score a top 2 position with a Mercedes this year from the back of the field.

[MrMan]

I didn't mind the everlasting tyres, but the fuel economy GP ruined it for me.

It was a pretty disappointing race all in all.