The 2014 Formula One non-WDC

I think when people first start watching F1 they have to have a hook to get them into it. I started in 1997/98 and liked DC because he was Scottish; then Mclaren because he drove for them. After that it was all about Mika though. Then Kimi was the man until he left. Since then I've not really had a favourite, although I like Hamilton because of his driving style. Nowadays I just appreciate a good race and title scrap.

And Valtteri, since he's Finnish (does that make me Bottasian?)
 
It's strange though. If we were talking football or rugby your team is your team and that's that. In F1, people seem to change their allegiance every couple of years. I've had drivers and teams since Lotus and Senna left the sport, that I have followed but never with the interest that got me into F1 in the first place.

I think that collision of the floating voter who's favorite driver has left the grid or who's team had folded or been bought out and the newer fan who normally fanatically supports a driver or team is the major part of the problem.
 
I think it was a hard fought title and I'll say (just like I did in the vettel years) the moaners should stop moaning at Merc for being so good and start moaning at the others for not pulling their finger out. I got increasingly more annoyed with Williams as the season went on for playing the safety net role as Merc B Team and not taking chances to put pressure on the A team.

Still a hard won and well deserved title though.

Oh and my favourite title year? 2003.
 
I am not sure how 2014 is classed boring because we got to see an intense inter team battle which is the least people want if one team was dominant NOT the No 2 driver being muzzled so No 1 driver can walkover the title in Schumacher or Vettel periods

People keep mentioning about 2009 Button dominating that was partly down to Toyota, Red Bull and Williams floudering when they all had the chance to win races and it was not the clear margins that Vettel and his Red Bull or Schumacher and his Ferrari were displaying by winning by 30 seconds each race
 
Were Webber and Barrichello really muzzled though? Seemed to me they were pretty much just not good enough. Anyone who suggests it was the team preventing the two winning titles is deluding themselves IMO.

I think we had a very interesting intense inter team rivalry for the title this year as it was the first time in donkeys years that we had two top class drivers as team mates in a dominant team. Simples.
 
They may not have been muzzled in the normal sense, but in close quarters battle side by side, one knew in the event of a impending collision who had to give way to avoid that collision, and who could drive on with impunity, as Weber found out when Vettel drove into him.
 
Its an interesting theory and one I could believe. I'd need more examples though and unfortunately Mark got nowhere near Seb for the majority of the time they were team mates so we didn't get them.

I stand by what I said. We got a great inter team rivalry this year because we got two top class drivers in the dominant cars. We didn't get it in the Schumacher/Vettel years because we that wasn't the case. The muzzle didn't come in to play.
 
Wouldn't dispute that Rasputin, but since that collision Weber unless he got the jump on Vettel and ran away as in Monaco, there was no point in getting near him as No 2 was his position despite team orders of holding station. Mercedes had one team order, don't crash, when it happened the team were fair and castigated the culprit, far different to Red Bull. Many things occurred under saving fuel, who knows who was short fueled.
 
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Austria 2001 - he actually got ahead through being fast in the race until being told to move over

Austria 2002 - he was faster all week so really did not deserve what happened at the end although maybe he should have refused out to prove a point

Generally though you pretty much knew that after the last round of pit stops the race was over

Rubens was stupid though to think it was only going to get better after 2 seasons of the same treatment
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Webber - some of the team orders / decisions that Red Bull made were ridiculous
 
There is no team, in the history of Formula One, who has enacted team orders to prevent their superior driver winning the championship. That's really not in the interests of anyone.
 
I am just saying that if people thought 2014 was boring just because of only 2 drivers from the same team can compete for wins .. Would they have preferred one driver from one team dominating everyone to boredom and usually because the other driver in the same team was handicapped.

Even Hamilton has said he was does not want to win easily in the future.

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When Schumacher signed for Ferrari - it was in Todt's and his own interest that only he wins the drivers championship
even when Irvine suddenly realised he had a better chance in 1999 but really was not gaining support from his team for going against his contract terms
 
Irvine scored 4 wins in his entire career, and 2 of them were team-order thefts in 1999. If the team didn't support him, they could have let Mika Salo (of all bloody people) win the German Grand Prix, and Schuey win in Malaysia. McLaren didn't show Hakkinen the same level of support when they let Coulthard beat him at Spa.

There is no way that Ferrari could do more to stop their second car winning the title than putting Eddie Irvine in it.
 
well that was only because MSc was out injured and Luca Di Montezemolo was probably making noises about Todt's management failure to help deliver the title

- Two races which was bizarre Ferrari decisions

- Brazil 99 when Irvine was mysteriously pulled into the pits because apparently he had debris in his radiator that had to be cleared

- France 99 - Schumacher had a problem and Irvine was just trailing him and that meant Ralf Schumacher overtook both who ended up 4th, Irvine 6th. Now had they let Irvine pass then he probably could have got a podium

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- Monza 99 - I know Salo was 3rd and Irvine was only 6th but it was strange given Hakkinen was out of the race not to maximise the scoring opportunity

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Hakkinen was at fault for giving up at Spa 99 so easily he did not bother trying and spent the race sulking
 
He just was not fast enough to win that title. Although Irvine lead the Championship into Brazil, he was 16 points off Hakkinen by France. It was only really McLaren incompetence that gave him a shot.
 
teabagyokel, the only driver I could make a case for being the superior but held back by the team is Gilles Villeneuve in 79. He was leading the championship in the first half of the season but was told it was to be Jody's year.
 
When you guys start describing specific details from races 10 or 20 years ago, I feel very stupid because I hardly remember those details from the last race :)
 
teabagyokel, the only driver I could make a case for being the superior but held back by the team is Gilles Villeneuve in 79. He was leading the championship in the first half of the season but was told it was to be Jody's year.

Damon Hill in 93? Prost is a true great but his bottle had gone by that last year and his return and Damon was given the job of nursing him to the title to satisfy Renault. Damon's reward of course was to be pluck from test driver obscurity to get the chance at the top that he got but its fair to say that given a level playing field in that 93 season Hill would have pushed Prost a lot more.
 
Andretti and Peterson in the Lotus, I remember a quote from Andretti, " you think I am going to work to set up a car and some young quick driver to disappear into the distance" or words to that effect. The season was a joke Peterson would close and drop back from Andretti at will, so obvious how quick he was.
 
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