Formula 1, 2014 season ***May contain spoilers***

[rich83]

Am I alone in thinking that even the drivers have no idea what's going on with F1 as a whole? Rumours of 3 car teams next year but seems loads of drivers have no idea where they're going, or even staying. Thinking the super money days of F1 are over and the sport is going down.

Look at the BTCC this year, 31 cars on the grid but only a few factory teams with almost 2/3 of the grid being independent low-budget teams. Think F1 needs to go that sort of way and seriously lower manufacturing costs.

Never gonna happen...  You cant make a 800bhp car that does 200mph on a shoe string.

[th3_f15t]

Bet Hurdy could...

Probably not an ideal comparison, but listening to the interview with Christian Horner on the BBC coverage, it's clear that even the big teams are starting to struggle to justify the cost of engines and parts. Interesting that only Mercedes don't seem to complain about engine costs... Who won the manufacturer's championship again?

[dansmith180]

Its almost like F1 has had super inflation, engines were supposed to cost £5million and ended up costing £15million, front wings cost £150,000+ its mental. Running a team costs from 100million up to 200million that's insane I'm guessing a whole year of WRC costs 10million tops.

Its turned an expensive but popular sport into Bernie's personal cash cow and he's going to milk it dry before he's dead. Tickets cost silly money too.

The pinnacle of motor racing is always going to be expensive but Bernie sits on his throne of money while the lower teams bleed money and wither away.

As someone said earlier, on the track its fantastic to watch but all the BS deals that go on are appauling.

[Frenzy]

Well done Lewis, great season which shows he's put the at times frustrating and silly behaviour behind him and shown that he now has a true racer's brain both on (never in doubt) and off the track 

Turns out i was wrong for even thinking about a hint of conspiracy at the mid point of the season.  I think Mercedes conducted themselves superbly and gave great support to both drivers in one of the most trying situations any team has gone through for many a season - Red Bull always clearly favoured Vettel and never gave Webber the chance of a fair battle.

Mercedes' philosophy from start to end of the season has been that their drivers go out there and battle one another and the best driver wins, no-one other than Lewis or Nico has had an influence or determined who has won any given race this season - hats off to Mercedes i say 

[DDM]

chuffed to hear jenson button got his drive for next year, lets hope mclaren can build a decent competative car.

[MC71]

Reviving this thread.

A great race today, really enjoyed that and had just about everything. Hamilton some how finished ahead of Rosberg after contriving 2, 3 or was it 4 times not to.

[hlcst]

Reviving this thread.

A great race today, really enjoyed that and had just about everything. Hamilton some how finished ahead of Rosberg after contriving 2, 3 or was it 4 times not to.

Agreed best race of the calendar so far. Got to feel for Raikkonen

[rdfcpete]

Watching Maldonado is always pure theatre. It's like he's in a BTCC race amongst a pack of Formula one drivers.

Another 'bash and stash' effort from him today 

[Adam0604]

So annoyed I've missed the last two races! Been the best ones from the highlights I've seen.

Missed Silverstone because I was at GTi International
Missed Hungary because I was on holiday


Hoping next race is going to be just as eventful!

[JasonNorin]

Well, so far, this season's F1 is being dominated by the Mercedes boys until the recently concluded Hungarian Grand Prix. It has ben a kick start win for Sebastian Vettel who surpassed Hamilton and Rosberg who didn't even make it to the top 3 spots. Let's see how this season will progress.

[MC71]

Thread revival....

Great result for Hamilton at the Monaco GP. Tough luck for Ricciardo and glad the ze German Rosberg came down the field. All adds up to a great start to the season and hopefully some good battles ahead between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

 

[Adam0604]

Yeah cracking race, I thought it would be a close one with the Mercs not being able to utilise their superior pace round the track.

Hamilton drove brilliantly, looked after the tyres well and picked up the pace when Ricciardo was getting too close.

Sucks for Ricciardo though, no wonders he didn't want to talk much in the interview. I'd be seething with the team over that failed pit stop.

Really happy that Alonso finished P5 though! I'm a big fan of Alonso, think he is one of the best F1 drivers to grace the scene and is a great sportsman. Hoping the Mercs can find themselves in similar positions this season with a few more upgrades still to come.