You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
So that's Honda's 3rd season back in F1 and they still haven't a clue. Hard to see them getting out of the massive hole they are in.
No wonder Red Bull stuck with their existing engine supplier, despite the public grumping.
More importantly, you've got to consider the total engine mileage clocked by Merc, Renault and Ferrari. Remember, the only team that doesn't use one of these power units is McLaren - in terms of engine development, the exclusivity is going to hurt them badly.
They should have bought Manor as a junior team running Honda engines.
PJM1974 - Member
Okay, so continuing my theme of only popping up to post something McLaren related, would McLaren be able to swap to 2016's (relatively) reliable power unit?
Sounds like it's quite different from the previous version so I'm guessing not. They'd probably have done so to get aero/chassis data if they could.
Have they broken down twice now today?
And twice yesterday, same pattern each time - break down, flatbed back to the pits, virtually straight back out then break down immediately.
Why does Alonso carry on ?
I would have thought he is really only motivated by the chance to win - not the money.
Sure, we would carry on for the money, but I'd be surprised if he has to do it for the money. First year he probably thought it takes a while to get competitive, then the next year he could say that a bit more, but now ?
He wants to finish on a high. He'll be in a different car next year unless McLaren make huge strides this year
He wants to win another WDC, he wasn't happy with what Ferrari were doing and Whitmarsh sold him the 'works engine team is the only way to win' argument alongside the Honda dream, and a bucket load of cash of course. He can't go back to Ferrari, Red Bull is full and he was SOL on the timing of Rosberg's retirement.
He's on record as saying that if he's not winning he doesn't care if he's 2nd or last... though I think we can guess which one will apply this year.
Maybe he thinks there's a chance that Honda can deliver before he's no longer got the last 1% to be WDC, though if Stoff kicks his ass this season I think that'll make his decision easier.
Sad news the John Surtees has passed away...
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/john-surtees-dies-aged-83-881533/
Very sad news on Surtees.
Incredible claim to be the only person to win the WC on two wheels & four.
Extremely unlikely anyone will ever match that.
Bugger and arse! Sad news indeed. 😥
According to Crofty on Sky, McHonda issues due to vibration! Turn the wick up and the electrics get shaken to pieces. Shame on you Honda, school boy errors, how did you not see this on the dyno?
RIP JS.
I like the idea of Ferrari giving Merc a run for their money, but I really cba with another season of the pointy finger German.
Hopefully kimi will fist fritz
would McLaren be able to swap to 2016's (relatively) reliable power unit?
That would require a major car redesign and would be pointless anyway. Their goal this year will be to have a competitive engine by the end of the year, there was never any realistic hope that they would have caught Merc at the beginning of the year. Last year's engine was a long way behind on power and they needed to start with a clean sheet design to fix the major problems. It's impossible to say how major their testing problems are, reports are of electrical issues, so it's possible that the engine performed well on the dyno but the problems are fairly minor things related to the installation in the car. Even if the engine has a more fundamental problem, they are still best to learn as much as they can from the new engine then redesign it to fix the problems. They have much better technical resources to develop the aerodynamic package than other midfield teams so fourth in the constructors' championship is possible if they can sort out the engine quickly. If they went back to the old engine, they would be conceding any hope of beating the midfield teams.
Amazeballs!
Bastids.
You'll have to watch on YouTube.
Yep, they are definitely faster! 🙂
Yup, and that's a lap where he could've sent a postcard to the apex he was so far off some of them!
Exactly.
Can't wait to see how much faster they really are in a couple weeks.
Has Nigel Roebuck left [i]Motorsport[/i]? If so, is he writing anywhere else?
http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/f1/roebuck-and-brundles-christmas-lunch
Nice one! 🙂
Ah, paywall. Hrumph! 🙂
Shock news - Force India reveal new livery but deny reports that they will have a 'Powered by Fairy Dust' sticker on the rear wing
[img] 
[/img]
Same colour as a sunburnt Scotsman.
Just about to post this!
Thought it was a joke, but it's on their own Twitter feed - comment from the other teams are great...
https://twitter.com/ForceIndiaF1/status/841625595935117315
The race-suits are going to be interesting! 😀
Amazing! But which sponsor has those as their corporate colours?
Or are they just making sure that they match the colour of the ultra-softs during qualifying! 🙂
*checks date*
I saw the Force India and thought "that's is a really awful photoshop job..."
Seriously, it's a p***-take isn't it?
It seems BWT use pink in their packaging, so may not be a pi$$ take.
And the advertising works - I'd never heard of them!
[url= http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/10801578/force-india-reveal-striking-new-pink-livery-for-2017-formula-1-season ]Apparently[/url] it is the colours of their new primary sponsor, BWT. Which is weird as pink doesn't feature on the BWT website at all, but what do I know! 😉
http://www.bwt-group.com/en/Pages/default.aspx
And yes, this season Perez and Ocon will be proudly displaying their pink helmets lol 🙂
BWT missed a trick by not sponsoring the now defunct HRT team...
Ref Roebuck, Motorsport and Autosport are owned by the same company, which incidentally is chaired by Zak Brown of McL fame...
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/127127
Autosport and Motorsport seem to publish the same stories. In fact, often the paywall autosport stories just appear (free) in Motorsport.com...
And FWIW, FI in Pink is awesome 🙂 Makes a change form dull corporate colours (McL excepted...). Even the shark fin looks half decent in pink
Hope it's a decent sized deal for FI and that it allows them to continue their progress - they were always (right from Jordan days) a team that overperformed.
If pink is fine for the Stade Francais rugby team, then I see no issue with it for an F1 team.
BWT from 2015 DTM
[URL= http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp36/londonladliam/dtm.pn g" target="_blank">
http://i395.photobucket.com/albums/pp36/londonladliam/dtm.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
What's the "best" print publication for F1 and motor sport in general?
I feel like getting into motor sport more these days and want more than just a passing interest.
autosport for recent news, Motorsport Magazine (note, not the same as motorsport.com - see above) for more in depth.
http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/
IMO of course.
www.crash.net
is ok too
That not print though, is it?
my bad didnt read
Thanks for the suggestions,I'll try and hunt them down over here
For those who understand it, this could be a good read...
https://f1metrics.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/2017-preseason-analysis/
...I'll just see what happens at the first race! 😀
Proper geeky but really interesting 🙂 Thanks, muffin
Race car engineering is good tech stuff.
[url=
Horner[/url]
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39290908 ]Not really surprised at this.[/url]
Noting that mclaren have just re hired Hakkinen as a brand ambassador. Isn't That JB's role? Now, why might they need to free up JB's time? 😉
the-muffin-man - Member
For those who understand it, this could be a good read...https://f1metrics.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/2017-preseason-analysis/
...I'll just see what happens at the first race!
Thanks, that's interesting!
The BBC article is a total puff piece - no sources, no facts, just rumour. I expect Benson has been on the phone to Eddie Jordan, or maybe someone else who wants to destabilise the relationship further and cause McHonda more stress. <cough>Ron<cough>
McLaren desperately need sponsorship, wheeling out another brand ambassador with world champion credentials is a sensible move, particularly if they split acrimoniously with Honda (who fund some £100M plus half Alonso's salary).
Whatever happens, 2017 is going to be a disaster for the team. As I understand things, the Honda engine is weak because of vibration issues. To make such a fundamental mistake here is almost unheard of (note that BAR made an identical mistake in 1999 when it bought off the shelf Renault engines), it's clear that Honda's corporate culture is proving intransigent.
McLaren Honda will probably view the first races of the year as little more than an opportunity for development mileage - they will be forced to choose between conservative engine settings to get the car to the end of the race and potential world championship points singular, or to run at maximum in order to gain understanding of how the car will behave at the limit and to try to develop the aero package.
Being reported on motorsport.com and Autosport now and they don't usually run click-bait stories...
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mclaren-sounds-out-mercedes-about-f1-engine-supply-883240/
My guess is that Mclaren are extremely unhappy with Honda and hope to shock them into improving by publicly embarrassing them. Bit like Red Bull and Renault.
McLaren will be using the Merc link as a way of squeezing hondas balls and making them realise they need to get things sorted very very fast.
with mclaren it's not just the engine is it, over the last 2 yrs it seems like every time the car leaves the garage it has some kind of rookie technical issue, fully expect it to leave the garage with just three wheels!
Klunk - Member
with mclaren it's not just the engine is it, over the last 2 yrs it seems like every time the car leaves the garage it has some kind of rookie technical issue, fully expect it to leave the garage with just three wheels!
Longer than that! Hamilton made a superb decision to leave when he did.
Well that was quick!
[url= https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2017/03/f1-homecoming-paddy-lowe-re-joins-williams-as-chief-technical-officer/ ]Paddy Lowe starts at Williams[/url]
Maybe part of the Bottas deal was that Mercedes agreed to waive PL's gardening leave?
Hopefully he'll come up with something as devastating as active suspension again! 🙂
Thanks, that's interesting!
All those graphs and wordy paragraphs and he concludes that Ferarri are bit quicker than Red Bull, and it's too tight to call between Ferrari and Mercedes.
wow, insightful... 😆
I like graphs, shut up 😆
I though Pddy L was out of contract at the end of last year anyway, so there wasn't any gardening leave to be taken. AIUI the deal was effectively done late last year but there have been wranglings about how he fits into the overall corporate structure.
1 week until FP1 & 2 are done and we know what testing REALLY meant.
1 week until FP1 & 2 are done and we know what testing REALLY meant.
And Honda will put their proper engine in and be P1 and P2.
They're just messing with us all!!!
😀
Williams really are making some serious progress with their infrastructure. I'd love to see them win races again, especially in that livery.
I also have a crush on Claire Williams.
Wonder if this was intentional 😀
[img] 
[/img]
I see the Wolffwoman got a decent speed through the traps...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-39304047
Isn't That JB's role? Now, why might they need to free up JB's time?
As much as I would like to see Button back on the grid, I just can't see him racing an F1 car again, even if Alonso packs it in.
Interesting point that the Manor engine allocation is going begging...
The last time a Merc engine was shoehorned into the wrong car was Brawn; that went OK for them.
McLaren will need to perfect the oil tank design for use on flying laps 😀
I also have a crush on Claire Williams.
I know what you mean. In a sort of slightly strict headmistress sort of way?
Glad it's not just me.......
I have too!
But I think it's more of a 'only girl in the pub' type crush for me (my excuse).
And, I've just realised FP1 and FP2 are showing on my Sky planner 😀
Yep, def crush on Claire Williams, also Ruth Buscombe. Should prob get out more! 🙂
Hopefully he'll come up with something as devastating as active suspension again!
Lotus were running active long before Williams. #justsayin
[quote=pondo ]Hopefully he'll come up with something as devastating as active suspension again!
Lotus were running active long before Williams. #justsayin
Yeah but Lotus' system was slower than conventional springs and dampers. Williams innovation was that the system was programmable in advance rather than purely reactive.
Not saying it wasn't better, just saying Lowe didn't come up with active.
Lee McKenzie great reporter,good banter and gorgeous sexy smile although maybe needs to get out running and work on her legs but i do fancy her too
aw this thread has everything motors and a discussion of who we would do
BRILLIANT
Needs more Kylie.
Lee McKenzie great reporter,good banter and gorgeous sexy smile although maybe needs to get out running and work on her legs
You need some work on your people skills; no one's perfect.