very good
A fair bit of it going on further down the field as well
Lets hope it continues like this
Not sure the BS about "levelling the playing field" against Mercedes is on

 

Talking of BS....
http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227...-up-the-volume

This is utter nonsense IMHO. OK, the engine noise may not be anything like as sensational as an NA V8/V10/V12 (or flat 12) ....but it is what it is. As far as I am concerned things shouldn't be dicked about with just to make the cars sound better. The noise the cars make should be a direct product of the hardware they are running, no more, no less.

 

That article reads like something from sniffpetrol, tbh I think they should sound like pod racers from Starwars but that ain't ever gonna happen !

 

You need Formula E!
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/2...-in-star-wars/

 

I haven't read back far but Sky were going through a fairly interesting article on the merc engines I can post up if people want to see.
Big difference in the Turbo layout that has huge knock on effects to the rest of the car design.
Since engine design is now frozen means anyone not running a Merc power plant will be crippled for the rest of the season if what they're reporting is true

Was good to see Rosberg and Hamilton going hammer and tongs. There was a radio call about 3~4 laps from the end though where Hamiltons race engineer tells him he can go flat out now so I think he must have been nursing the fuel in the car or something. Once he got that call he pulled a gap to Rosberg.

Interesting in the room they go to before they go to the podium there was lots of back slapping between the two but then Hamilton says something and Rosberg properly put his head in his hands like he'd missed a trick or something. Couldn't hear what was said but did get the impression it was something like Hamilton saying he was sandbagging for a few laps. Have to see if of the news services have picked up on it and try and find out

 

Yes - having the compressor at the other end of the engine than the turbo, so it runs cooler and needing less intercooling and other gubbins. Clever.

What they weren't so clear on is why this benefits the Mercedes-Mercedes team more than the other Mercedes teams, which they seemed to be suggesting. Yes they would have had a head start, but surely Williams, Force India and McLaren would all have known well in advance.

It's clear neither the Renault or Ferrari power units have the power, but you can see the way Red Bull were managing to race with all the non factory Mercedes teams they're clearly able to make the difference in other ways (i.e. downforce), and that was at a circuit where power is more important.

 

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing - how come McLaren aren't looking like they have more power than the rest of the field ? Granted they wouldn't have had as much development time but surely they knew about the layout. Do they use the whole Merc package - I wonder if they (each team) plug their own ERS to it ?

 

this close racing and a competitive red bull....and proper noise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3vTjhu35hk

 

It was a design feature requested by the chassis team to fit their aerodynamic concept. The other teams can't simply copy the part of the aero and bodywork that benefits without compromising their own core concept.

The other teams have basically built their concepts around what was given, and without knowing 100% the details until long after they'd started work on their basic package.

Mercedes chassis team has given the engine team requirements that fit their concept from scratch. In itself it's a small advantage, and isn't solely responsible for the W05 advantage over other Merc powered teams, but this car is probably the most highly developed car since the BGP 001.

The way the engine delivers it's power is incredibly complicated to calibrate. From what I understand the calibration of which part of the unit gives or harvests power isn't just different track to track but corner to corner. This is Merc's baby and they know it inside out. The other teams are still learning how to get the most out of it and Mercedes will only share as much as they need to with them.

The trick this year isn't just going to be showing up on circuit, trying the new wings the wind tunnel tells you should be faster and tweaking the suspension. They've a whole host of engine settings to test, in conjunction with their aero settings because low drag reduces fuel consumption, so if more time can be made up through engine power than cornering speed teams that find those sweet spots will shine. Merc from their dyno tests probably already have all the circuits dialled in well.

That's another thing as well. Computer simulations are ok for aero but it still needs a good wind tunnel and aero dynamic visionary in the first place. Engine settings simulations I suspect will be a lot more accurate so teams with limited aero resources like Force India can probably really challenge Mclaren, Ferrari and Redbull if they focus on where they know they can find speed.

 

What Lewis said was 'I thought you were going to do to me what I did to you back in our karting days and over take me with one or two laps to go' .. the back slapping was very much started by Nico, and was almost a slap of 'bastard i couldn't get past you' to which to his credit Lewis responded with a backslap of equal aggression, Nico knew from the end of that race that he cannot beat Hamilton in the future barring mechanical or other interference, hence the physical 'slapping'. I also heard cheko ask Lewis in a surprising tone 'you weren't on primes?' .. underlining the point Hamilton had just made to Nico on track, namely that he can't beat Hamilton even with a 0.5 second advantage ... that was an immense showing of driver skill that Nico knows he cannot match.