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there was a rumour that Bridgestine were providing Ferrari tyres costing 100k each!
I'm pretty sure that it's more than a rumour. Ferrari were getting preferential treatment with tyres.
I was about to suggest a cost cap of £1k per tyre and to throw the doors open to several tyre manufacturers, but how would you police that cost cap?
Wide tyres would be good to some degree. Bigger wings? not so sure that'd help much in making racing better and you get back to the mid 90s reason aero started to get so restricted - cornering speeds and safety.
Loads of power is good. Loads of power with archaic technology isn't going to fly so it's a case of using what we've got which is hardly low powered, is it?
It's tyres and how hard they can be pushed that will sort out the current issues IMO.
The difference is the rule book getting thicker and thicker, and any innovation is almost always banned. Chuck way half the rules and the Formula will get broader and smarter.
This has merit.
Maybe issue a specification that a car must not exceed a given silhouette restriction in terms of size and shape and leave the manufacturers to it? Maybe make the silhouette a lot like a Ferrari 640 or a McLaren MP4/5 and presto - prettier cars.
but that's the issue, the brands can throw money at this - like merc, Ferrari, Honda to succeed. I accept this principal as F1 is about technology and pinnacle of Motorsport. Some want it to be a bit like banger / touring cars with artificial gimmicks to make it more exciting.So? No-one was forcing them to. They decided that was what worth it to raise the profile of the brand.
I have watched f1 since the early 80s, every era has had its up and downs, this one seems to be more in the spot light, not because of what's going on track side but more to do with politics in the sport.
For me, the sport needs to open it self up to a wider audience, not the middle aged yuppie / rich kid, more the techie kids. As for pit girls, scantily clad, waving flags, that has to go to promote gender equality.
I still think the hastily thought banning of active aids led to the death of two drivers
Really? Consequentially for Senna possibly as the Williams clearly didn't like going back to passive suspension (so was a handful which [u]could[/u] have lead to his crash but even then he was incredibly unlucky to be killed in that particular crash (eg the likelihood of a helmet being pierced by a suspension arm is incredibly low).
RR was killed because he damaged his wing the lap before without realising it and then hit a wall very hard when it broke. Nothing to do with banning of aids.
The Maldonator. 🙂
This had me laughing:
Force everyone to compete with the same fuel load and remove the fuel flow restriction.
Weight is no longer an issue, efficiency is controlled by the allotted fuel load for that race, speed is down to the efficiency of the engine/aeropackage and driver.
The more efficient your package, the less fuel your require to achieve a certain speed, leaving you more flexibility for turning up the wick.
The most efficient way to race would then be to dump a load of fuel into the engine (no flow restriction) get the car up to speed really fast and then coast down the straight. That would be awful IMO.
nemesis - Member
The most efficient way to race would then be to dump a load of fuel into the engine (no flow restriction) get the car up to speed really fast and then coast down the straight.
No, it wouldn't.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113141
"If you have no fuel flow limit, the fastest thing is to use a huge boost at the beginning of the straight and then lift off.
http://www.racecar-engineering.com/technology-explained/f1-2014-why-fuel-flow-is-limited/
“With a set amount of fuel for a race, you have a pointless economy run before a wasteful dash to the flag, a set rate of flow promotes flat-out racing throughout, because hoarding fuel means extra weight sloshing in your tank. It would be totally unsatisfactory to have racing based on so many gallons for the race distance, so the only sensible alternative was to limit the maximum instantaneous power
This. What kind of comercial director slags off his own product?!? The only other example I can think of is Gerald Ratner haha
Just seen the Esso Mclaren tv advert, the kid making car noises in the back seat sounds better than the actual Mclaren car 😀
I watched the Canadian GP. Needless to say it was an enjoyable snooze-fest. The technicalities are for F1 nerds (I mean this in a good way, really). The rest of us just want to see a race every now and again.
Great news about Patrick Head being knighted
Great mark of respect for a big player in F1 over the last 30 years
Hadn't heard that but fully endorse it, for what my opinion's worth. 🙂
this the same patrick head, technical cheif, that was accused of covering up that Williams had cut and welded Senna's steering column in a hurry and with no testing on it and no permission from C.Whiting, ultimatley causing the death of said driver...and repeatedly failed to appear at subsequent trial, did not return to Italy at all until trial was over, and only made a small written statement contradicting C.Whiting, and also that somehow the black box removed and was intact according to the FIA official that removed it and gave it to Williams somehow became damaged and data could not be recovered......all allegedly of course...
Yep, all [i]allegedly[/i] - driven by a frenzied Italian police investigation looking for anyone to pin the blame on
20 years later nothing has come out of the woodwork to support the allegations
On a more positive side of his contributions to the sport, two people who Patrick Head mentored early in their career have become legends in their own right
Ross Brawn & Adrian Newey
I reckon that there was quite possibly some underhand goings on to check that the steering column hadn't caused the crash (and I don't reckon it did) or anything else similar but that the actual cause was cold tyres, lack of ground clearance and bad luck in the suspension arm hitting his helmet.
But that's a whole different topic I guess.
i think whats interesting is how its not so clear cut when you read the official transcripts of the Court Case.... quite a few statements from Williams officials contradict other statements from FIA officials at the time - also I am not sure the Court should have taken official statements of the car's worthyness to drive after steering modifications/viewing the cockpit video of the crash from 2 drivers employed by williams at the time....
(also contradicted by another driver who was not in employment)
I get the point but I see that more as people not trusting the Italian legal system to be entirely fair and covering their arses rather than being as transparent as they may have been.
I don't suppose we'll ever know the full truth.
[i]I[/i] think it's interesting that you've managed to make some fairly hefty implications of wrongdoings without making a single specific allegation or offering a shred of evidence. Good going.
just search the net for "senna files" and read them all for yourself.
the accusations are not made by me, but in fact, the italian courts over the death of senna - hence the reason why he was prosecuted for manslaughter
Are you jhj? 🙂
Is that the Italian courts where the legal system requires someone to be found guilty in the case of accidental death, or something daft like that? I wouldn't particularly trust them to reach an accurate verdict - see Meredith Kercher, the Piazza Fontana bombings, etc etc etc
i've never mentioned whether i thought the verdict was wrong or right ... jeez pondo you need to read these posts a bit more!
lets face it, our judicial system aint too great either is it - just look at the 200 hour community service driver get here for killing cyclists in broad daylight while texting ....
It's all getting a bit heavy.
Here is a photo to cheer you all up:
[img] 
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i've never mentioned whether i thought the verdict was wrong or right ... jeez pondo you need to read these posts a bit more!
I know, I'm such a fool. There was me thinking that, in response to posts congratulating Patrick Head on receiving an honour from Her Majesty, when you said...
this the same patrick head, technical cheif, that was accused of covering up that Williams had cut and welded Senna's steering column in a hurry and with no testing on it and no permission from C.Whiting, ultimatley causing the death of said driver..
... There was me thinking the tone of your writing suggested that you somehow thought him culpable of Senna's death. Really, I shouldn't be allowed on the internet at all.
apologies from me, im just in a bored trolling mood, all good fun Pondo 🙂
can someone tell lewis that its not 1998?
He does come over as a bit of a prick doesn't he? If he was female, he'd be an air headed fashionista...
<edit> Hammy obviously, not you two up there ^ 😀
weren't those trainers on Back to the Future?
cloudy this weekend in Austria, not sure about rain - would be nice to see how things pan out if a full wet setup...
seems the McLaren-Honda drivers change thier tune every day swinging for utter dispair to "we are all doing great"....
Ron has been very quiet of late....
I wonder if Alonso, who is very fond of LeMans has seen what Nico H did at the weekend and thought "hmmmmmm.....lets look at my 'early exit' clause...."
seems RBR and Torro Rosso might both be back with Ferrari engines for 2016 (and in the case of RBR , maybe earlier!) despite 'B' spec engine - i think the crunch decision is coming for Renault - all in , or all out, because what they have at the moment just isnt good for marketing...
Alonso won't be quitting F1 yet. He needs that third championship to elevate his status for the long term.
Not sure I can see RBR with Ferrari regardless of the comments about Ferrari B being better than Renault A unless it's simply to ensure some competitive running for a year or two before, for example, Audi came in.
Kimi being Kimi!...
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119554
And as Autosport sometimes limits article viewing...
[i]Kimi Raikkonen has slammed Formula 1's media for speculating about his Ferrari future, following reports he could have to take a paycut to keep racing in 2016.
The Finn's future beyond the end of this season is unclear at the moment, with Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene saying earlier this year an extension to Raikkonen's deal "depends on his performance".
Raikkonen said during pre-season testing "there is an option in the contract", but he added at the time he wouldn't "worry about it".
When asked in Austria on Thursday about rumours of a paycut for 2016, Raikkonen criticised those in the media speculating on his future.
"I heard something about that - I'd be interested to know who wrote it," said the 2007 world champion.
"First of all you have no idea what my contract says. You never have.
"It's the bullshit nonsense you guys come up with all the time. It's fine with me.
"Have you seen my contract? So you just come up with bullshit - yes or no?
"You don't know the contract but you write stuff. You write stuff that's not true.
"Maybe you should start writing some things that make sense."
After admonishing the press, Raikkonen finished with: "Write what you want, I don't [/i]
Leave him alone, he knows what he's doing...
Bernie , Max and Totto all were at lunch - fly on the wall /tablecloth for what was talked about there?
A few years ago there was talk of a breakaway of F1 - nothing ever came of it, but i do wonder if Mad Max with all his talk of a "new generation" of F1 being required is positioning himself for something -having Bernie on his side might just help -
to be honest it would not be a big task with Bernie on your side,
all your doing is setting up a framework of new rules and regulations and if the entire grid ends up signing up to yours and leaving the FIA , then so be it - BERNIE is the one who holds the naming rights of F1 and all the commercial agreements with the circuit owners and the big TV money.....
the question would be who would be head of the this new rule making organisation - i suspect as a sweetner it would be a % of teams and % for bernie and a % for Max - errrr i mean - the new guy.....
😉
When was the last time F1 was in Austria?
There is a rumour that Kimi is looking to take over Moto X GP's from Youthstream. He has his own team Ice 1 Red Bull racing that lead the MXGP world championship with Max Nagl
that mclaren/honda is a real dog.... breaks down in pit lane heading for it's first practise lap !!!! brand new engine Alonso's 5th 😯
When was the last time F1 was in Austria?
Last year
Good on Kimi though!
Vettel's blown something
I wish this guy would take his money and sod off from F1 - a fair weather F1 team(s) if every there was one, and take Horner with him...
Rumours of Renault pulling out also. The way things are going only Merc, Ferrari and a Merc powered Willimas will be left in F1.
This weekend already looks a snooze fest and yet another nightmare for Mclaren-Honda.
I can't see RB just winding the team up - they are contracted to 2020 so their only way out currently is to sell, not to mention they'll want to get some money back on quitting.
Alonso's issue was systems rather than engine we're told. If so, (and I know...) then that shouldn't cause a problem for the weekend. Of course, the general lack of HP, driveability and fuel efficiency might...
[img] [/img]
/p>
Hami reminds me of a blind man dressed by some friends with a sick sense of humour.
LH seems to have got a fair bit of grief for that outfit.. still, he doesn't sound bovvered.
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/features/33135635
My taste for fashionWhen I was growing up, we never had money to have nice clothes. All our money went into my racing; not even my dad and step mum could afford to go out and buy good-looking clothes.
In fact, my dad still to this day wears the same stuff he did 20 years ago - it's hilarious to see him going around the house and wearing a sponsor's jacket from when I was 11 or something. I'm like, "Dude, seriously!"
When I got to F1 with McLaren, I was made to fit a square box. You can't show your personality, show any character. You can't do this, you can't do that.
Lewis Hamilton
Lewis attended the recent London premiere of the Minions movie
Once I got to Mercedes and really got my feet dug into F1, I felt like I could start coming out of my shell little by little over time.
Sometimes people don't seem to like the clothes I wear, judging from some of the messages I get told about. But I could show you pictures of me when I was 17 and you wouldn't see a huge difference.
I still wore big chains, and my clothes would have been even baggier than they are now.
But now I have got time to really pay attention to how I present myself.
I like to feel comfortable in what I'm wearing and to wear it the way I want to wear it, and I don't care what other people think about that.
Fashion is a great thing to get involved in, especially London men's fashion, because we have a lot of great British designers, many of whom I am avid fan of, and buy a lot of their merchandise. That's why I was at London Fashion Week in the break between the Canadian and Austrian Grands Prix.
It is cool to be a part of something that is inspiring up-and-coming people at college who want to be fashion designers.
I love creativity, in all parts of life, and I hope it will inspire me one day to do something creative, in one sphere or another.
It was a really cool time. Plus I got to try and wear so many different outfits, so that was great!
engine issues for Jenson now ! and Vettel fastest with Hami having trouble getting a quali lap hooked up.
The way things are going only Merc, Ferrari and a Merc powered Willimas will be left in F1.
And Honda.
And probably Audi/Skoda/Seat/VW
wonder if Vettel is going to get a 5 place gearbox penalty? Would be a real shame as he is showing some pace. Would be great if kimi could win it.
On a side not I think lewis is trying to be Pharrell
actually there is 2 clauses thats already been mentioned by RBR that they can get out of the 2020 contract - 1 is if their engine supplier leave and they cannot get what they consider "a competitive replacement" and b they pay a diminishing figure value of $$million based on the number of years to 2020.
Hami reminds me of a blind man dressed by some friends with a sick sense of humour
It never ceases to amaze me that some folk really really care about fashion and then dress they way they do.
I don't know who said it but I love "if fashion is so good why do they keep changing it?"
25 place grid penalty for button !
They'll soon be starting at the back of the grid of the race before...
alonso has blown his new engine now....
i have to say to RBR it could be worse.. they cpuld be running a honda. If they though their image is being tarnished what about mclaren and honda. Even the Manor Marussia finishes more races than the McHonda with the 2014 ferrari. If only Manor could get their 2015 spec car up and running and they could pass the Renaults and Mchonda.
Can mchonda get a 30 place penalty? whats the biggest penalty you can receive on the race weekend. Back in the day they just started from the pit lane. At this rate they may start a mile behind the start line
another mchonda engine goes bang ! lasted about 10 laps behind the safety car 😯
and Alonso parked up on lap 1 😉
Probably the most boring thing I've watched in a long time, where was the racing? Is this what F1 is like now?
McLaren woes are all about the gearbox this weekend - no sure thats anything to do with honda, although engine power delivery could effect the gearbox stresses - another disaster weekend as they really needed mileage on that new "upgraded" engine.
congrats to Nico - great race from him with no mistakes, just look at how much they have in hand of the williams even on such a short lap circuit.
its going to be a boring season i think....
not sure if kimi will last out the end of season - last 3 races might be a new driver for ferrari if things / luck / attitude continue as they are....
Fasinating and scary watching Pastor and what happens to modern F1 cars when you get close to the car in front! 😯
Hamilton proving he's every bit as gracious in defeat as Rosberg.
I did think it was a bit strange that hamilton didnt acknowledge Rosberg's win in the podium room. Also it was great to see a Brazilian and a German speaking Italian to each other.
I thought it was an ok race with a bit of potential that didnt really unfold. I wonder if Hamilton will rue that monaco result come the end of the season. On the basis of last year I still beilieve Hamilton will romp it after the summer break.
Is it just me that winces everytime Maldonado gets close to another car..
This weekend already looks a snooze fest and yet another nightmare for Mclaren-Honda.
Well predicted Dragon (Sky footage I watched), although 'Crofty' reckoned it was exciting so must've saw a different race from his commentary box.
why is Horner trying to wangle Brawn to step up to be some kind of F1 "sort-it-out-new-rules" leader - i'm not sure i get his angle,
for sure i think brawn could come up with a set of rules better than the current ones (a monkey could!) but why Horner is trying to push this i dont know.
perhaps because Brawn has not been running a team for a while and could be considered "neutral" - and perhaps he's already spoken to other Team leaders and they think its a good idea also.....but lets face it, even if they do think its a good idea right now, when it came down the nitty gritty of what Brawn's scope is, it will just be a pseudo-role for him, so they dont have to give up any real power so they can all keep creaming the money off for themselves...
Alonso managed a lap of the circuit after all...
[img] 
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I wonder if Horner will get the boot? Bet the rival team boss must be kicking his informant about putting his size 10s in.
The problem is I cant take anything RBR say at the moment because it just sounds like sour grapes as they arent winning at the moment. Every comment about honda is followed by renault. Its like Bob Fernley at force india moaning about dosh all the time.
it just sounds like sour grapes as they arent winning at the moment.
I think there is a bit of that, but equally from their point of view the position of Mercedes is now essentially locked in, as RBR and others have little chance of catching them up within the rules. That is the main problem of F1 right now, balancing 'reducing' costs while allowing enough development so that teams can close gaps between each other. Right now the rules achieve neither.
Simple fix for the fia would be to allow a second homologation during the year. The current tokens thing is a fudge for this year, so next year they'll officially be stuck with whatever they run at the first race. Allow a second homologation date just before the August shutdown, then that could allow development but not a spend frenzy.
Edit - weren't engines normalised in the last set of regs, IIRC merc had the lead then too but I think there was some equalisation. The problem then though was just power, not reliability and power and driveability
i also think the crackdown on engine development due to "reliablity" has hurt a lot of teams that would exploit this loop hole to catch up.
i think the key thing here is that do we really want a Formula championship where no one can make real gains in PU development during the season - if thats the case, then this is what we have, otherwise we have to free up the regs on the PU development but that would increase costs for teams, the gap between bigger and smaller teams in terms of performance would end up being huge - well -- bigger than it is now 🙂
especially as the introduction of all the hybrid stuff and technology in the gearbox and other areas have becomes so complex.
so, other option then is to totally restrict aero development and not spend millions on a new shaped carbon part under the car...
problem then is , if you have a team that went the wrong way with aero you cannot claw that back either, so we'd see complaints in that area too...
so the final option that gets kicked around is....custmoer cars... for smaller teams to buy "off the shelf" packages from teh bigger teams, even though they will be 'b' spec and let the bigger teams blow the budgets on whatever they want and it will trickle down...
yeah all of us who remember the good old days of a designer in a garage building and F1 car to take on the "big wigs" and winning think this is terrible... but those days are gone - and look at what the grid is now... 1 team winning, 2 teams whinning and 1 of the old guard teams unable to test/devlop and the rest struggling to pay for PUs gearbox's while building their own chassis....
would it not be better to at least have 30 car grids with 12 cars fighting at the front with unlimited costs/development and 18 cars in the middle having a B team dingdong battle?
i dunno - i kinda given up on the whole "where f1 should go thing" because everyone just cares about money
Isn't that exactly why Horner's idea is being proposed - the rules should be designed to produce a competitive formula free of the teams' self-interest. Of course, Horner wouldn't have been suggesting this when RB were dominant (and I reckon he'd be candid enough to admit it) but that kind of proves the point.
Aside from that, the rumours of CVC being bought out seem fairly strong and if that happens, I'm sure we'll see some changes.
To customer cars, the issue for the smaller teams is that it effectively completely destroys any intrinsic value their teams have - Force India for example is worth X millions. If they become just a customer team then they have no fundamental value so those X millions are wiped out. Not an attractive prospect for them and obviously it comes back to the question of what F1 is. For me, if they do go down the customer car route, it needs to be centrally run (as Bernie has proposed - 2013 RB car IIRC), with equivalency rules (which seems to work well at Le Mans) to make them right on the tail end of the big teams but with no customer rules to avoid them competing. Also allow some limited aero, etc tweaks so that the teams can keep some value.
Why not have in essence a second lower championship for lesser teams, all running a stock engine (PU). It happened previously when a lot of lower teams all ran Cosworths.
The head of Manor has some good points about F1 not having a strategy and not asking the right questions. Instead teams are cherry picking ideas that suit themselves.
I personally dont like the customer teams as it really just masquerades the problems, after all what if one of the manufacturers pulls out because they have a bad season. How will the money be shared out to the smaller teams . It all sounds a bit like motogp with satellite teams against yamaha, honda and possibly ducati.
The difference is that in Motogp they provided concessions and unlimited development for ducati and new entrants whilst frozen the the big boys. This at least provided Ducati with some success in getting parity.
Sauber highlighted how DTM allowed Mercedes to catch up whilst freezing dev for BMW and Audi to improve competition. I guess no one wants to see a 1 horse race except for the leading horse.
All the while Bernie sees it as a show to make money from sponsors nothing will really change. Hence his comments about drivers adding value and how Lewis is good for marketing F1.
bye bye kimi, Bottas will replace him even perhaps the last 3 races....
and perhaps sooner than we think its going to be bye bye bernie and CVC....
bye bye kimi, Bottas will replace him even perhaps the last 3 races....
Confirmed or speculation still?
Yes, this is pretty big news b2b. Have you got a link at all?
The discussions are almost certainly taking place but it's really speculation as to whether Williams will go for the cash over the driver - who else would they get? Hulkenberg maybe? Not sure he's considered as highly as Bottas.
Unless it's a lot more money, I reckon selling him would be a pretty negative statement from Williams on their road to recovery.
http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/ferrari-formula-one-team-courting-williams-valtteri-bottas
one more rumour not yet out there too much....hello williams to a spanish driver....
Yawn. Another rumour not out there at the moment is that Jean Eric vergne will be back in to replace ricciardo at Red bull. That's because I just made it up., but at least I admit it.
Somber reading. Idle control keeps revs at 4100 and prevented change down to first gear, you cannot engage the clutch when the steering wheel is at full lock. The car rammed itself into the truck despite de Villotas best efforts.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-33248493
Just read that Jambalaya, horrible 🙁