I'm with @Yogi.
Not a fan of F1 (or any sport for that matter), though I enjoy the technical aspect of it. It's a sport first, but also automotive R&D second.

What they meant by this is to use all power available. They got 100l of fuel to go full 1½h race. The fuel flow is limited to 100l/h. That means they need to use around 67l/h on average, this of course decreases during braking and is almost at max during acceleration. Also energy recovery and the release of that energy has some leeway to be used in different ratios, it is limited to 33s per lap. How that energy is divided, is up to the team.. So they will have the full boost of 160hp from ERS and full 100l/h fuel flow when using "push to pass" button but it's nowhere near the common definition of that function. Traditional push to pass is high boost, on 2014 F1 it means few percentages of power. The correct term would be "overtake mode".

RBR infringed fuel flow rule and no other team had been even warned, FIA has guidelines that teams should calibrate with enough margins to void minor differences between sensors. RBR refused to do this and counted on FIA not counting that marginal change. FIA had stated pre-season that in no case there will be extra fuel flow allowed, it's almost zero tolerance policy.

They've done this before, made a marginal rule infringement and got away with Charlie Whitings slap on the wrist:"change it to the next race".. Their camera mountings is already one of those little things that is technically legal and at the same is not.. It all depends if the TV crews can find a suitable camera. If they say "no", the rules are clear: they need unobstructed view.. That small hole hardly allow high quality picture, the only lens that could even remotely suffice is fisheye lens with a mask: it is not their standard equipment.. RBR most likely will have to change those too (imho, so should merc camera pods and mclaren parachutes too). Compare that to Williams 360 camera pod and it's pretty clear what FIA means by "enough room to fit camera" means.

Last year they had holes on the floor in monaco: ruling was, change them to the next race.. Then there was the TC scandal, RBR used illegal engine mappings.. They used them last year too when there was a ban of feeding fuel to exhaust during zero throttle to feed the blown diffuser: RBR chuckled and used them anyway.. They still have the duct inside the nose, it violates the intention of the rule but is legal technically. Of course the severity of the punishment is a clear sign: FIA just showed that no more of that bullshit, RBR has to start respecting rules.

Well you know what cheating mongrels us Aussies can be when there's a sporting competition involved... like the infamous underarm ball - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_FnSfVSG6c

It's really the team and not the driver though. This year each car is required to be fitted with an FIA fuel sensor to ensure that they don't exceed the maximum 100kg/hr fuel flow. In this case, the team found that the sensor was reading a bit high, so complying with it would mean a loss of power... so they changed the ECU settings to ignore it and go with their calculated values instead. They had been told to use the readings from the sensor, but with an offset applied, but chose not to because they felt it was still inaccurate.

The basis for the steward's decision to exclude the car was that "it is not within their discretion to run a different fuel flow measurement method without the permission of the FIA"

I imagine that the basis of their appeal against this decision will be that they did not actually exceed the maximum, it was a sensor error that made it appear that they did so, and that they therefore gained no advantage.

My sources for this are mostly these two articles - http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ricciardo-excluded-from-melbourne-result/ and http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/red-bull-confident-of-winning-fuel-flow-appeal/

Inside the 2014 Renault F1 engine has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo.

Yes. The naturally aspirated v8 engines were increasingly irrelevant for road car technology, so the aims of the new engine rules were to introduce the types of technology that are relevant to road cars (turbo, regenerative braking, fuel efficiency).

Two less-intended side effects are that these are the most expensive engines ever (in an era when everybody is talking about cost reductions!) and that everyone is wondering whether anyone will finish the first race...

They actually had the battery packs last year, but this year have reduced the fuel allocation by a third but without reducing the power output of the power units.

*related=http://videosift.com/video/Inside-the-2014-Renault-F1-engine

Haha! Really??? I was not aware of that!

All of my out of date F1 knowledge is from the days that Michael Schumacher was still driving for Team Benetton...

Since 2010(?), there has been no refueling allowed in F1. They have to finish on what they start with.

Wow! That was a quick one!
Looks like there is no refueling going on though.
Seemed like "just" a fast tire change, maybe due to a change in weather.
Usually all planned stops are used to refuel as well.

If I recall it correctly one of those pressurized fuel hoses in the F1 pumps fuel at 16 litres a second (thats 4.2 Gallons for you imperial folks)

That's the wrong embed though. Rick Lubb's one was brilliant, and 3 mins 15s. Unfortunately the FOM hates F1 fans.

*dead

Your video, F1 Pit Stop Perfection, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

I think they're equally skillful, just in different ways. I don't much care for NASCAR, but I do know there's just as much sweat and skill in the top tier of stock car racing as there is in F1.

this is actually one of the things I like about NASCAR over F1. You cant have a hundred people out on the track during the pit. There are only 6 that can cross the wall. To me, that's is much more skillful than this.

If you mean when they aren't racing, in F1 they completely dis-assemble the car bolt by bolt and check every piece for micro cracks and wear, rebuild the engine and transaxle, replace any worn part, and basically rebuild the car from scratch...almost every time. They also do experimentation with new parts and designs to see if they are worth integrating into the car. With the stresses these parts see in F1 racing, they have to be insanely careful to not put a cracked or poorly made part on, it could easily kill someone if anything fails.
Most of what wins races happens OFF the race course. I was an off road/desert racer, and it was even truer there. Just finishing in off road racing is a victory, and it's mostly due to proper preparation of the car. Being a lone wolf 'team' (meaning I had no pit crew, it was all on me and whatever 'friend' I could rope into helping at the race) it was pretty self gratifying when I was able to drive into the pits at the end of a race (as opposed to being towed or dragged in).

Scarbs has been invaluable to us F1 fans, he along with Peter Windsor are both trusted all over the pitlane and gives us the small details that usually are not revealed. And both of them know how to keep confidentiality, good journalists.

I love F1, and love the quotes, but in the [arbitrary] post-Schumacher era, where safetly rightly rules, there's only one quote that I noticed, and that's Villeneuve.

The game has changed.

They're no longer pitting their lives against one another; they're now battling with engineers and focus. No mean feat, and I judge neither above the other, but it's not the same game.