Formula 1

[ACE01]

Perhaps. I just want Button to beat Hamilton

Sooo much yes! Button is much better than where he's finishing right now, and deserves a better drive. Consummate professional.

Oddly -as a Ferrari fan - I strangely feel myself cheering for Webber lately, just willing him to beat Vettel (about the head, if necessary!)

[Wolfshade]

BBC's guide to the F1 changes for 2014:

[url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/25069959[/url]

[energongoodie]

Double points for the last race of the season!?!??!?!??!?! WTF?

[Wolfshade]

I know right?!

Though I think it might encourage constructors to continue to develope till the end of the season, some teams get half/three-quarters of the way through realise they are less than competative and just work on next years car.

Also, mandatory 2 stops, so glad that didn't work out.

What are your thoughts re; Formula E>?

[Deadlift]

I know why they have made the changes, but I don't like them. I'm more inclined to beleive that spending caps will be better and I would like to see more than 1 tire brand too.

I like the driver number assignment, I hope a Brit gets Nigel Mansells red 5.

Interesting to see that the 1st driver to speak out against the double points was Seb.

[energongoodie]

RE: Formula E. I really like the idea of it. It's the only way we are gonna make Wipeout a reality

I'm completely torn. I agree spending caps would be good to help level the playing field, then I really like the idea of Formula E where it's the best of the best with honours. A showcase for the best tech there is with money flowing like water.

Seb is right. You might as well start giving them question mark plates on the floor to drive over to give them banana skins and red shells to throw at their fellow racers!

[Deadlift]

Formula E does sound rather cool, especially if they are given free reign to do what they want with the cars, as long as they are safe. I don't know about you guys, but part of the attraction of motor sports is the symphony of engine music, F1 cars sound fantastic and there's nothing like the growl of a v-twin Ducati in Moto GP.

As an example, I go to Goodwood festival of speed every year. The last 3 years Nissan in particular and a few others have entered some electric cars. When you stand and watch the big V8 nascars roaring up the hill doing huge burn outs along the way, everybody's grinning from ear to ear despite nearly being made deaf.
When the electric cars go up virtually silent, people generally laugh.

I did see an idea that engineers could fit speakers to the rear of an electric car that would pump out mimicked engine noise. It's not the same.

[Wolfshade]

Yes I do agree with Seb, considering how much "glory" he has had, he still seems firmly routed in what the motorsport should be about.

I am very excited about formula-e one only has to look at what improvements from formula 1 to normal cars (and other areas [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19696830[/url] and [url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7934857.stm[/url]) so what advances that FE can provide is exciting.

Of course I find idea of formula e is a bit of a gimmick, after all the electric cars while they don't produce emissions through the tail pipe, the power plant that generates the electricity does. Though one can only imagine the improvements in battery range, recharge technology motor efficiency et al.

As DL says the weird part will be the noise from the cars not being there, though having said that noise from rolling rubber is quite loud.

[Wolfshade]

Well now just a few days/weeks until we get to see those new 2014 machines.

In the interim, FIA have allowed the drivers to be given their own numbers which they keep for life.

The full 2014 F1 entry list is as follows, with the drivers' race number listed first:

1* Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull-Renault - After 2014 he will revert to #5
3 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
44 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes
6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes
14 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari - The number he used in karting
7 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari - "it's the number I already had last year and I saw no reason to change it".
8 Romain Grosjean (Fra) Lotus-Renault
13 Pastor Maldonado (Ven) Lotus-Renault
22 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren-Mercedes - Number he had when he won the world title
20 Kevin Magnussen (Den) McLaren-Mercedes
27 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India-Mercedes
11 Sergio Perez (Mex) Force India-Mercedes
99 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Sauber-Ferrari
21 Esteban Gutierrez (Mex) Sauber-Ferrari
25 Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra) Toro Rosso-Renault
26 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Toro Rosso-Renault
19 Felipe Massa (Bra) Williams-Mercedes
77 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Williams-Mercedes
17 Jules Bianchi (Fra) Marussia-Ferrari
TBA Max Chilton (GB) Marussia-Ferrari
TBC Caterham-Renault
TBC Caterham-Renault

[SotonShades]

Can't understand why they'd do that, but fair enough. I wonder in what order they got to pick their numbers.

Getting excited to see what the new turbos are like.