Abu Dhabi SPOILERS

[rickb99]

BORING!

Except for Massa's drive

[cooleyjb]

I agree boring, but I don't get the Massa drive love.

He caught up to a guy who was driving off the pace to save the car for 30 laps. If he had Rosberg pushing him he would have been a minute clear of Massa.

Ricciardo had a pretty drive it would seem considering where he started.

[rickb99]

I agree boring, but I don't get the Massa drive love.....

You are right. But the chance that Massa might actually catch Hamilton was sort of an exciting thought compared to the rest of the race.

[Chris Livengood]

It was certainly one of the most boring races of the year. Kudos to Rosberg for giving it his all. I think many drivers, the newly crowned world champion included, would have given up much sooner.

[rickb99]

Kudos to Rosberg for giving it his all. I think many drivers, the newly crowned world champion included, would have given up much sooner.

I AGREE!

The best radio message of the race was when Mercedes told him to come in with about 4 laps left to go. Rosberg's response "Can't I make it to the end? I really want to finish." And they said okay.

The other good one was when he called the pits and asked what he needed to do to be in position to win the championship is Hamilton dropped out? Pit response...... "nothing, you can't do it" Very sad knowing your fight is over.

[Marshall Mauney]

The best radio message of the race was when Mercedes told him to come in with about 4 laps left to go. Rosberg's response "Can't I make it to the end? I really want to finish."

YES! Rosberg is the real deal, even if he couldn't quite beat Hamilton. Frankly, just being able to take Hamilton to the last race in equal hardware proves he's a seriously talented racer. Heck, he's proven he's faster over a single lap......11 poles and not winning the WDC is pretty astounding.

[Albatross]

B S,,,,The slightest hic-up by Hamilton and Massa would have won. Just a few years back, Massa was nearly killed by getting hit in the head by some object (spring ?) coming off a race car in preceding him. Certainly, nobody ever expected him to race again! His return is nothing less than "phenomenal". The best thing that could have happened...occurred. Not racing for Ferrari. He lost a world championship by just one point before the injury. Lets hope he continues with a successful exciting future. Just maybe he'll win a race or even more. He's as good a driver as the whole lot of them.

[dsmithwc04]

It was certainly one of the most boring races of the year. Kudos to Rosberg for giving it his all. I think many drivers, the newly crowned world champion included, would have given up much sooner.

Rosberg is indeed a talented driver. But I don't see how you think any other driver would not want to finish the last race. It is an issue of pride and all those drivers have it. Hamilton actually surprised me this year with his level of professionalism even while being dealt way more mechanical failures than Rosberg. And lets not forget Rosberg was at the very least overzealous when he took Hamilton out and then had the balls to publically tell him to have a clean race in. I thought that was mighty hypocritical of him.

YES! Rosberg is the real deal, even if he couldn't quite beat Hamilton. Frankly, just being able to take Hamilton to the last race in equal hardware proves he's a seriously talented racer. Heck, he's proven he's faster over a single lap......11 poles and not winning the WDC is pretty astounding.

Remember, Rosbergs accident during one of the qualies kept Hamilton from attempting his fast lap. Also, Hamilton couldn't finish 3 other qualify attempts due to mechanical failure which plagued him all year. When a driver with 10 wins goes into the last race and is only a couple points ahead of another driver with only 5 wins then its safe to say mechanical issues were Rosbergs only hope at competing with Hamilton. It atleast made it more interested to watch F1 this year since 2 drivers, instead of 1, were competing for the championship. I can't believe how RedBull fell this year...

[Ty_Handke_83]

... I can't believe how RedBull fell this year...

Red Bull didn't really fall that much, Renault (along with Ferrari) screwed up in their Power Unit design/development. When you finish 2nd in the constructors championship with a turd for propulsion, it shows the chassis itself is still good. Unfortunately the new rules make the PU the deciding factor in who wins or loses. A quick glance at the standings clearly shows that.

[rickb99]

.... Just a few years back, Massa was nearly killed by getting hit in the head by some object (spring ?) coming off a race car in preceding him.......

It was at Monze at the entrance to Varianti Ascari curve. spring flew up and hit him right in the visor. He went straight off the track and hit the barrier.

If you want to see it here it is. The hit occurs right at the yellow mark on the time line. It happens very fast, hard to see. Later in the replays it's easier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYwtp6M7nU4

[dsmithwc04]

Red Bull didn't really fall that much, Renault (along with Ferrari) screwed up in their Power Unit design/development. When you finish 2nd in the constructors championship with a turd for propulsion, it shows the chassis itself is still good. Unfortunately the new rules make the PU the deciding factor in who wins or loses. A quick glance at the standings clearly shows that.

No doubt on the PU issues. The fact that they were not really competitive as far as the constructors points is concerned is what I was most surprised at. The fact that they came into the season with a motor that was not competitive may be the reason, but I still figured they would have had that figured out with their level of performance the last 4 seasons, albeit on a completely different propulsion system. I was, however, curious if they would have issues with the arrival of the new engine rules as it appeared to me the new rule's existence was to assure a stop to their domination? I could be wrong and it could be coincidence but Bernie knows what he's doing and attempting to make the sport more exciting with more competition is in his best interest as it puts more $$$ in his pockets.

I did find it strange that Bernie made it publically known he didn't like the new V6 power plants when you and I know damn good and well nothing happens in F1 without his approval.

[mmi16]

I can't believe how RedBull fell this year...

Considering how Red Bull performed in the preseason testing and the condition of the Renault power unit during the preseason and the early part of the season, I find it amazing that Red Bull could recover to the extent they did.

[fitfan]

Unfortunately the new rules make the PU the deciding factor in who wins or loses. A quick glance at the standings clearly shows that.

and unfortunately it made it the deciding factor at the first race. F1 with "frozen" components, no development though out the year - 'run what you brung' for the rest of the year... how boring.

worst F1 season ever. drivers having little impact, its just the cars stacked 1and 2 all year. and nothing changed all year. yawn... nothing for the teams to do but try to keep the **** components running and slow the drivers down as much as possible because 1. tires sux and can't go more than 5 laps, fuel sux and can't use full throttle, engines sux and your not allowed to fix it, and gears sux because you can't change them.

rosberg is too nice - he should have run hamilton off the road more.... he moves over too easy.

[dsmithwc04]

and unfortunately it made it the deciding factor at the first race. F1 with "frozen" components, no development though out the year - 'run what you brung' for the rest of the year... how boring.

worst F1 season ever. drivers having little impact, its just the cars stacked 1and 2 all year. and nothing changed all year. yawn... nothing for the teams to do but try to keep the **** components running and slow the drivers down as much as possible because 1. tires sux and can't go more than 5 laps, fuel sux and can't use full throttle, engines sux and your not allowed to fix it, and gears sux because you can't change them.

rosberg is too nice - he should have run hamilton off the road more.... he moves over too easy.

Rosberg ran Hamilton out of a race so I'm not sure where you got the opinion that he is "too nice"

The "frozen" engine rules apparently were created to help with costs and was a direct result of going to the V6 turbo which was vastly more expensive than the previous V8. I believe the only rules that were "frozen" had to do with the engine and possibly other parts of the propulsion system. The chassis was free to evolve as necessary from my understanding.

They absolutely can use full throttle. The fuel consumption is regulated and prior to driver input although Hamilton was able to use less fuel than others by shifting a hundred RPM or so early. However, I don't understand how this is an advantage as they all have the same amount of fuel at the start so the more fuel they use while staying within the guidelines of the rules and are still able to pass weight inspection after the race then the faster they should be able to go.

You say the tires suck? Your talking about a car that can pull OVER 6 G's in lateral gforces. That's asking a lot out of rubber on a car traveling as fast as 200+mph with that much lateral G's not to mention it pulling over 3 G's while braking. It appears that the tires all have pros and cons to make strategy more a part of the winning although the engines obviously played more a part this year than anything else.

If the gear ratios are in fact not changeable that is news to me and must also be a new rule for this year?

[Rolling Stone]

and unfortunately it made it the deciding factor at the first race. F1 with "frozen" components, no development though out the year - 'run what you brung' for the rest of the year... how boring.

worst F1 season ever. drivers having little impact, its just the cars stacked 1and 2 all year. and nothing changed all year. yawn... nothing for the teams to do but try to keep the **** components running and slow the drivers down as much as possible because 1. tires sux and can't go more than 5 laps, fuel sux and can't use full throttle, engines sux and your not allowed to fix it, and gears sux because you can't change them.

rosberg is too nice - he should have run hamilton off the road more.... he moves over too easy.

Dont watch F1 anymore then...quite simple.

[Rolling Stone]

BORING!

Except for Massa's drive

Dont watch F1 in 2015 then.

[Tifosi]

If the gear ratios are in fact not changeable that is news to me and must also be a new rule for this year?

From FIA
Gearbox ratios are fixed for the season (for 2014 only teams may re-nominate ratios once).

[fitfan]

if a tire can't go 6 laps... IMO (which i may be wrong...) is that tire sux. also - the tires sux because you MUST run 2 compounds?? why? silly gimmicks. the tires have zero strategy, except to say since "the strategy is mandated as a sporting and technically regulations" you then have to work out how to best compromise the fake tire pit stops. make the pit stops ~30 seconds and give them a decent tire to race on... when i hear the announcers going ape crazy because "his tires are a whopping 3 laps fresher, that guy on the "old" tires is a sitting duck now!" i get up, go clip my toe nails, get the mail and hopefully the dreadful race is over by then. so in order to create an artificial environment of race strategy.... lets gimmick the tires! ...brilliant...

yes - the bulk of the season was determined by the PU, and the PU was frozen. so if you were anyone other than a Merc powered team, your chances of winning were? cut in 1/2 at best. and if you were a merc team, your chances of winning where 2-3x of last year. the shame here.... is that it 'could have' been a great season if the engine constructors were allowed to develop PU's and get the teams "on spec" so that there would be some actual racing this year. but, ...nope! you got it wrong at the first race so that your life for the rest of the season. oh its all to "save money" because we just blew 10x that with some stupid prescriptive engine spec why no rebranding to "Specification 1" is beyond me... not much of a formula. "feezing the PU throughout the year and keeping the season status quo start to finish the guise of "saving money" is a marketing scam of the highest caliber.

sure you can use the FIA mandated specification of full throttle, but you can only use that specification of what full throttle is for a little bit otherwise - you won't make it to the finish of the race... so all the drivers had to learn how to coast this year. woo hooo coasting f1 cars! oh hey, that introduces a safety issues since NO ONE expects someone to be coasting into a corner, better add a "coasting warning lamp" to the cars, in case the guy behind (don't know why the guy behind would? that sound like racing?) but maybe be "full throttle" and cause a collision..... wow.... if thats not an exclamation point on boring, i don't know what is?

yes, gears must be elected for the full season, i 'think' they got one window to change that election once for ratios for the remainder of the season... not sure about that.... but for sure - they can not gear the cars for the track anymore.

rant over

[fitfan]

Dont watch F1 anymore then...quite simple.

i hardly watched it is 2014... why would i watch it more not less in 2015? I'm giving my opinion on why i don't watch it.

[Ty_Handke_83]

It was at Monze at the entrance to Varianti Ascari curve. spring flew up and hit him right in the visor. He went straight off the track and hit the barrier.

If you want to see it here it is. The hit occurs right at the yellow mark on the time line. It happens very fast, hard to see. Later in the replays it's easier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYwtp6M7nU4

Monza?
I thought it was going up the hill at the Hungaroring...
Rear (3rd?)Spring off one of the Brawn cars.
I knew my memory was bad, but didn't think I was that bad.

[KodaBear]

Fewest winners in a season (3) since 1988. Then you had to go all the way back to 1963 to find another season with only 3 winners. Sad state of affairs. Glad I only watched a few races this year.

[Jnovak]

I am a big F1 fan and have been since the mid 1950s. However I have to say IMO that the racing is artificially contrived and the technical regulations are such that the drivers cannot have much of an impact during the race. I do not enjoy races where the only racing is between 2 drivers from the same team.

How often do you see any wheel to wheel racing? Most of the passing is done in the DRS zones. Is that contrived or what?

Please
More power
Less aero
Bigger tires
LET THE DRIVERS RACE.

[racerdad2]

I'm with Jay

[Roux]

And the new PU technology with a motor gen on the turbo! Will probably always watch/love F1. Seeing Ricciardo rise to the top. Wow. Then Bottas showing his stuff. Red Bull and Vettel struggling way more than anyone could have predicted. the only thing I did not care for is double points at year end, being too much of a dice roll for the championship outcome. Ham and Rosberg really being tested every weekend on every level and coming through most of the time. Pressure in Q3 was way higher than when Schui or Vettel had to beat his inferior team mate week after week.
The folks who hated it will likely stop watching. Among my office mates we have a lot more people tuning in to F1 than just a few years ago. Entertainment is subjective and it is after all a form of sports entertainment. Just to show how warped I am, I look forward to the Vegas Rugby Sevens more than the superbowl. Not saying I won't watch the big game, of course I will. But Rugby Sevens gets me stoked. Something about having to play several times a day for three straight days to get to the final. check it out!

[dsmithwc04]

From FIA
Gearbox ratios are fixed for the season (for 2014 only teams may re-nominate ratios once).

I wonder what the reason for this was? Can't possibly be for cost savings...

[Jim Garry]

I see DRS as making up for the loss of a part of racing that was traditional until the advent of modern aero. It used to be that in all forms of racing the following driver was able to draft past if he was close enough behind the leading car as they exited the corner leading onto a long straight. With DRS it's still the same. The following driver cannot use it unless he is within one second. And even so, use of DRS does not guarantee a pass, just like a traditional draft didn't.

And there has been a lot of great dicing over the past few years, even without DRS.

[dalz]

I just don't know how Hamilton can call hisself world champion if he never beat Junyeer at Talladoogie.

Always nice to see Nicole jumping around tho.

[JeffW]

OK I am not going on another rant about the anal technical regs that F1 finds itself in...and the need to pretend its more "green" Quite simply you can't control or contrive a good race with a myriad of rules - it just has to happen naturally and as freely as possible.

However, let me say how tiresome the three likely lads on NBC became with Diffey telling us how wonderful the racing was and how exciting the last race of the season was going to be. Well that landed with a colossal THUD when Rosberg's car was compromised. You could almost hear the air leave the NBC studio as they struggled to try to find something to say.

This is what happens with massive and expensive changes are made to the power units and one team gets it right and the others struggle. For the first time ever I fast forwarded through several races. And don't tell me not to watch it in future - I have followed F1 probably for more years than some of you have been on the planet. Not watching is not an option for me - but I will choose to FF if I see a boring procession develop between two team mates.

JeffW

[Tiago Santos]

I can barely remember the golden days of Senna, Schumacher, etc. But I clearly remember at least the last 5 or 6 seasons. Manufacturer's championship aside, this was by far some of the best racing I've seen in F1 (again - short term memory and all). Yes, there was little chance for anyone other than Hamilton or Rosberg to win, but the battles were intense and plentiful all the way down the field. There were a couple of boring races for sure - Abu Dhabi, Russia, etc - Was there EVER an F1 season without boring races? Was there ever a season without cars pulling off the track with reliability issues? All things considered, the cars were incredibly reliable all year.

There were some awesome races too - Spa comes to mind. Not so much racing for the win, but Vettel, Alonso, Button and a few others gave us an awesome show in the fight for points. How was this not better than the last few years where you could predict the finishing order of each team pretty much every weekend?

[dsmithwc04]

I can barely remember the golden days of Senna, Schumacher, etc. But I clearly remember at least the last 5 or 6 seasons. Manufacturer's championship aside, this was by far some of the best racing I've seen in F1 (again - short term memory and all). Yes, there was little chance for anyone other than Hamilton or Rosberg to win, but the battles were intense and plentiful all the way down the field. There were a couple of boring races for sure - Abu Dhabi, Russia, etc - Was there EVER an F1 season without boring races? Was there ever a season without cars pulling off the track with reliability issues? All things considered, the cars were incredibly reliable all year.

There were some awesome races too - Spa comes to mind. Not so much racing for the win, but Vettel, Alonso, Button and a few others gave us an awesome show in the fight for points. How was this not better than the last few years where you could predict the finishing order of each team pretty much every weekend?

Agree for the most part.

[fitfan]

10 rates schedule on a smaller and smaller curves never intersect.... artificially decay the rates... and they start to intersect.

the "racing" this past season was artificially generated by putting the cars on prescribed degrading rates. since everyone can't logically all pit on the same lap, and since they must pit, and the must use different tires.... the "variable" that is creating the racing is not the drivers and cars (which are all evenly stacked 1-2, next team 1-2, next team and so on...) so then, how is there passing and racing?! ahh... enter the artificial degrading rates to create the illusion of racing. so that the unequal curves, are artificially degraded and forced to intersect. visually maybe it "looks" like good racing on track. but i can't drink that cool-aid....

[Rolling Stone]

10 rates schedule on a smaller and smaller curves never intersect.... artificially decay the rates... and they start to intersect.

the "racing" this past season was artificially generated by putting the cars on prescribed degrading rates. since everyone can't logically all pit on the same lap, and since they must pit, and the must use different tires.... the "variable" that is creating the racing is not the drivers and cars (which are all evenly stacked 1-2, next team 1-2, next team and so on...) so then, how is there passing and racing?! ahh... enter the artificial degrading rates to create the illusion of racing. so that the unequal curves, are artificially degraded and forced to intersect. visually maybe it "looks" like good racing on track. but i can't drink that cool-aid....

I want what your taking with your

[dsmithwc04]

10 rates schedule on a smaller and smaller curves never intersect.... artificially decay the rates... and they start to intersect.

the "racing" this past season was artificially generated by putting the cars on prescribed degrading rates. since everyone can't logically all pit on the same lap, and since they must pit, and the must use different tires.... the "variable" that is creating the racing is not the drivers and cars (which are all evenly stacked 1-2, next team 1-2, next team and so on...) so then, how is there passing and racing?! ahh... enter the artificial degrading rates to create the illusion of racing. so that the unequal curves, are artificially degraded and forced to intersect. visually maybe it "looks" like good racing on track. but i can't drink that cool-aid....

I can't possibly see how you came up with this conclusion.

[Offcamber1]

Fitfan hit the nail square on the head. The racing is contrived as a result. Not as blatent as a "Nascar Yellow" but contrived to look "racy" just the same.