2014 United States Grand Prix - Austin

[turbof1]

I do not understand this starting in the pitlane idea.

Pastor M changed an engine and served penalties at 2 races and started last on the grid, could he have avoided this by starting from the pitlane? was lotus not reading the rule book?

I think it'll mean Vettel will have to start from the back in the next race too.

Extract from the FIA regulations:

(http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/ ... -06-29.pdf )

Should a driver use more than four of any one of the elements during a Championship season, a grid place penalty will be imposed upon him at the first Event during which each additional element is used. Penalties will be applied according to the following table and will be cumulative :
Replacement of a complete power unit - The driver concerned must start the race from the back of the grid.
The first time a 5th of any of the elements is used - Ten grid place penalty.

Which means Maldonado did not get a completely new PU.

No he didn't, but Vettel would still be accumulating 10+5x5=25 grid penalty (the first element is 10 places back and after that each extra element is 5. The PU consists out of 6 elements.) AND START from the back. So the previous rule that he gets a grid penalty would still be in place. The second rule is an addition if you change everything.

In short, Vettel will take a 25 penalty to Interlagos, where he also will not bother to qualify since he'll start from the back in any case.

Lotus probably weren't in the position to swap all the parts. Say Maldonado had at the point of taking the 6th engine, used up 5 engines but like 4 EC's, 4 MGU-K's , 4 MGU-H's, 4 TC's and 5 ES's. That means he'll not be putting in a completely 6th power unit, since he still can take regulatory 1 EC, 1 MGUK, 1 MGUH and 1 TC.

[PlatinumZealot]

I do not understand this starting in the pitlane idea.

Pastor M changed an engine and served penalties at 2 races and started last on the grid, could he have avoided this by starting from the pitlane? was lotus not reading the rule book?

Vettel is changing the entire of his fifth PU all at once to have a totally new sixth unit i think. Maybe when you start from the pit lane you can do that without carrying over grid drops?

[pob]

That would be a bad oversight if you can get a smaller penalty if you change the whole PU. I think the penalty for starting from the back of the grid for replacing a whole PU is intended to stop qualifying-only PUs.

If Alonso and Vettel both change complete engine units to start from the pit lane - how do they decide who starts ahead on the pit lane?

Does it depend on Q3/Q2/Q1 set time?

We are assuming that since VET will start from the pitlane and skip qualifying (as Richard has mentioned in the post above), there will be no qualifying time for him at all. Assuming ALO does the same, wouldn't they start based on the current championship position? I.e., VET ahead of ALO.

So if they both planned to start from the pit lane, but then ALO set a timed lap in Q3 and VET didn't - would that put ALO ahead of VET. If so it could turn into a cat and mouse game between the two and could force them to actually qualify.

If more than one driver starts from the pitlane, it is at the stewards' discretion as to who starts ahead, but it's usually done on who gets their paperwork to the stewards the fastest

[dren]

I don't see anyone beating Hamilton here. He has gone well the last two years and now he has the best car by a mile. I think Williams will beat out Red Bull due to the long back straight. It'll be hard for Red Bull to pass even though they will likely be fast through the esses. I'm curious to see how well Mclaren does.

[langwadt]

Strictly speaking the FIA could avoid this by applying the 107% rule more strictly, excluding Vettel from the race if they don't set a qualy time.

I think this rule would not be fair to Vettel. What about other drivers having genuine technical problems and unable to set a Q1 time? These drivers would certainly be permitted in the race based on their practice times. Does the fact that some driver wants to miss qualifying voluntarily justify forcing him to take part in qualifying?

realistically I don't see a way to force someone to run in qualifying if they have nothing to gain and still allow those with technical problems, you can always "invent" a technical problem

[langwadt]

Extract from the FIA regulations:

(http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/ ... -06-29.pdf )

Should a driver use more than four of any one of the elements during a Championship season, a grid place penalty will be imposed upon him at the first Event during which each additional element is used. Penalties will be applied according to the following table and will be cumulative :
Replacement of a complete power unit - The driver concerned must start the race from the back of the grid.
The first time a 5th of any of the elements is used - Ten grid place penalty.

Which means Maldonado did not get a completely new PU.

No he didn't, but Vettel would still be accumulating 10+5x5=25 grid penalty (the first element is 10 places back and after that each extra element is 5. The PU consists out of 6 elements.) AND START from the back. So the previous rule that he gets a grid penalty would still be in place. The second rule is an addition if you change everything.

In short, Vettel will take a 25 penalty to Interlagos, where he also will not bother to qualify since he'll start from the back in any case.

Lotus probably weren't in the position to swap all the parts. Say Maldonado had at the point of taking the 6th engine, used up 5 engines but like 4 EC's, 4 MGU-K's , 4 MGU-H's, 4 TC's and 5 ES's. That means he'll not be putting in a completely 6th power unit, since he still can take regulatory 1 EC, 1 MGUK, 1 MGUH and 1 TC.

The rules is odd in that as soon as you change more that a few parts you might as well change it all and get the penalty
over with, and even if you didn't have the parts I would assume taking old one apart "renovating" and write a new serial number would do

[MrBigglesworth]

RICs got engine problems - does anyone know if he was using a practice engine or if its his race engine?

[dren]

Mclaren look to be in the hunt for a podium if their performance keeps up.

[MrBigglesworth]

Anyone got a link to how many engine parts used by each driver?

Actually found it - http://www.pitpass.com/52813/United-Sta ... t-elements

RIC looks like its an ERS issue, and he's at the limit for two of the four ERS components... penalty??

[mikeerfol]

Did Button say "Shut up!" earlier?

[Phillyred]

Reliability gremlins could be popping up again for Mercedes AMG... Hamilton with gearbox issues at the end of FP2. Rosberg mentioned some shifting issues too only seconds before Hamilton mentioned it over the radio.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

Oh oh Mercedes, a trouble free weekend in Abu Dhabi? Forget it.

[mikeerfol]

Ted said it was actually ERS issues for Hamilton...

[SiLo]

Hopefully issues that can be fixed as they have been identified early enough.

[mrluke]

would expect merc to be using power units right at the end of their lives in practice to keep some fresh for the last races / qualifying.