Formula One ( F1 )

^ This.

Looks like the wheel rotation flipped him

One of the angles did make it look like it could have been the nose.

Some more replays of the crash. Was wheel to wheel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFfKPPozv68&feature=youtu.be

Looks like Maldonados poor decision making and then the wheel contact that flipped the other car. Glad the Gutierrez was OK, must be scary to get flipped like that out of nowhere.

Lotus must be painfully reliant on Maldonado's sponsors for them to put up with his crazy driving seemingly without imposing consequences.

It is true Lotus signed him 'cos they were desperate for cash. No other reason. Simple as that.

Not really sure how this can be interpreted as settling for second...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/26914127

“Esteban seemed to be off his line coming into turn one - maybe he missed his braking point, I don't know – and by then I was in the corner with nowhere to go. For sure it's difficult to understand and I was coming out from the pits and with cold tyres.”

Pathetic.

Gutierrez on his radio after doing a 40mph kickflip: "What was that?".
Isn't that why they have radios, so the team can let the drivers know if there's someone right on their arse?

I didn't expect much of a race yesterday so was pleasantly surprised to see such a good one. There's clearly a very healthy atmosphere at Mercedes - letting the drivers race like that and being clear that they are there to race each other, albeit responsibly is a good move and basically makes doing a vettel a non-issue.

Ferrari have their work cut out, but then so do mclaren. Will be interesting if this does just turn in to a battle between Mercedes, Red Bull and ForceIndia.

^^ Indeed. 'Oooops, sorry, my bad', and I'd have a tiny bit of respect for his honesty - if a continued contempt for his driving standards.

^ Given that the team would have had about a second to tell him he was about to be rammed amidships by a twat, and given that the team would have no way of knowing that Pastor Maldonado was once again going to simply drive into someone (other than knowing its Pastor Maldonado) I think saying the team was at fault is a bit harsh.

Agreed, plus he saw Maldonado come out of the pits, I don't think having the team tell him what he's seeing would do much good.

For me a highlight of the race was when Vettel was told to let Ricciardo pass. "Ricciardo is faster than you, let him through please." Brilliant.

Excellent work by the Force India boys too.

At least he recognised that was the case and made sure neither of them lost any time.

Mercedes - letting the drivers race like that and being clear that they are there to race each other, albeit responsibly

Two drivers who are frequently interacting are likely to be covered extensively by the official broadcast streams. Two drivers in the same team frequently interacting suggest impending drama and/or politics and increase sponsor exposure.

F1 drivers will maximise their exposure as it strengthens their hand with personal sponsors and helps their team offer good value-for-money for major team sponsors. More exposure => More money => More Performance => More exposure.

"Ricciardo is faster than you, let him through please."

Rob Smedley, forever remembered, for a brilliantly wrong reason.

Given that the team would have had about a second to tell him he was about to be rammed amidships by a twat, and given that the team would have no way of knowing that Pastor Maldonado was once again going to simply drive into someone (other than knowing its Pastor Maldonado) I think saying the team was at fault is a bit harsh.

Yeah, you're right. Looking at it again, there wasn't really any time for him to move. It must have scared the shit out of him though.

^ Of course drama = money. It just looked like they both had a lot of fun.

Maldonado's sponsors will be loving the extended coverage of him smashing Esteban off the track then.
Probably earned Lotus a lot of extra cash.

Couldn't they just put a red light on the dashboard of every car other than Maldonado's, that flashed when he was nearby?

Like putting a bell on a bird-killing cat.

Getting some practice in.

Pastor Maldonado in the Simulator - YouTube

https://twitter.com/FakeRonDennis_/status/452875409311678464/photo/1

Pastor drops by at the hospital to check up on Esteban Gutiérrez

Lotus announced on Twitter they're testing in Bahrain with Maldonado today, cue stream of accident-related jibes.

Video is a great explanation of Mercedes' pace.

http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12472/9243875/revealed-how-mercedes-packaging-of-their-turbo-engine-has-given-them-the-edge

^ Yep. Not just the turbo design but also the exhaust.

The Merc engines have very short exhaust primaries, basically straight into a simple collector that runs down the side of the engine and into the turbo charger. Smaller, much lighter, requiring less heat insulation which is in turn again lighter and much more streamlined aerodynamically whilst putting more heat into the ERS-H.
Renault, and Ferrari have really lost the ball here. They seem to think you needed tuned, equal length (long) primaries, before going into the turbo charger. You don't really need the pulse effect if the turbo is sucking out the exhaust gasses from the cylinders.
For the small benefit in tuned exhaust there is a much costlier drawback of weight, aerodynamics and heat management.

The Merc is an excellent solution, with plenty in reserve and why the works team will easily run away with the championship this year. It's basically going to be Hamilton vs Rosberg for the WDC. The rest will fight amongst themselves in the also rans but this will make for some great driving and entertainment.

Ah, so that must be the explanation as to why Ferrari has such a struggling power plant. It seems that only the actual handling of the car is note-worthy, because they appear to have no top speed and no power to talk about.

Ferrari have such a pedigree in engine design, who would have thought that this new format would not suit them at all eh?