I remember Pierre Trudeau before he became an airport. He was Canada’s Prime Minister forever when I was growing up. Today his son Justin is the Prime Minister and Pierre is now an airport, known also as Dorval. Lots of airports are named after people, but few names actually stick. How many people say: ‘I’m flying to John Lennon’ or ‘What time is the flight to Omar Bongo?’ But if you say: ‘I’m flying from JFK to Charles de Gaulle’, people instantly know what you mean. There are only a few such airports in this category: Ataturk, Ben Gurion, Dulles and Reagan. In some ways, it is surprising that Britain has none of these and sticks with Heathrow and Gatwick, but some would say that this is because of the quality of British politicians rather than the philosophy of airport naming.
Our fly-away race weekends tend to begin and end at the same airport and so we get to know them over time. Trudeau is OK, even if the new lounge didn’t seem to have a licence for alcoholic beverages and had had to resort to alcohol-free booze. We pondered whether perhaps billions could be made in creating alcohol powder to add to alcohol-free drinks. But, like the toaster, the world has yet to find the right answer. We can put men on the moon, but we still cannot make toast instantly…
Anyway, when I left Dorval (alcohol-free) on Monday I was impressed by the level of involvement in F1 to be found in the terminal, including a simulator. It’s great when a city truly embraces F1…
When I arrived at Trudeau on the Thursday, things were rather more stressed because my plan to have an easy run to the track to interview Lance Stroll had been blown up by a late plane, inefficient immigration and slow-moving baggage. I jumped into a cab and explained to Sami the driver that I needed to be on the Ile de Notre Dame in under half an hour. The problem with this idea was not the distance involved, but rather the fact that the roads of Montreal are perpetually under construction. I don’t know why this is (maybe the weather), but it is a nightmare because there are always traffic jams. They have been for as long as I can remember. Sami asked if I minded trying something different and, with nothing to lose, we set off through side streets and suburbs and arrived on the island with a minute or two to spare. Stroll has probably never had a journalist arrive for an interview with his luggage in tow, but he handled it well…
The green notebook had a lot of notes about the calendar for 2018 but begins with a note about Williams sporting director Steve Nielsen departing to join Ross Brawn’s new crew at Formula One, where he will look after sporting and logistical matters and regulations. The word is that Brawn’s next appointee will be former Ferrari chief designer Nicholas Tombazis, who will work with the engineering team to figure out what best to with the cars to make sure that they look good, can overtake one another and can be as cheap as possible.
Cutting costs is important to the new owners of the Formula One group because they want to create a franchise system of sorts and that will need financial controls in place before it can be done.
The FIA needs to have a draft calendar this week (which means it will leak fairly soon) but at the moment the ideas are still a little fluid because of the FIFA World Cup Final. This will be on July 15, with the game being broadcast in western Europe at 3pm. This means that no Grand Prix is going to get a big audience, unless the race moves to a time zone that would allow it to be shown in the morning. Thus the plan is to avoid July 15 (which is also the Wimbledon Finals) and that means that there are problems getting all the races into the time available. Creating calendars is not an easy business because you have to worry about local problems, existing contracts, clashing sports events and so on. Monaco has a contract to be on May 27. Canada is believed to have a similar fixed date (or a choice of one of two weekends). The FIA wants Le Mans to get a free weekend and so in 2018, June 17 is gone. This is good news because last year’s Canada-Baku back-to-back was grim for the teams. The problem is that with France and Germany returning to the fold in 2018, there are too many races for the summer season with Baku, Austria, France, Britain, Germany and Hungary all trying to get dates in July. No month has six weekends. It seems that Russia will move to later in the year. Logically, this would be replacing Malaysia but that is not easy because moving the freight from Singapore back to Sochi and then out to Japan makes no sense at all. There is the additional problem that President Vladimir Putin does not want a race on his birthday, which means that the October 7 date is not possible. And things start getting cold…
There is a small chance of one of the European races moving to a date in early May to relieve that pressure. The plan is to increase the number of back-to-back events, in order to use the time more efficiently, but the logistics involved in this are very difficult, largely because of the team hospitality units, which take an enormous amount of effort. It is clear that if F1 is to increase the number of races on the calendar in the future the teams need to add more staff – or reduce the amount of equipment and people needing to be moved around. You go heavier or you go lighter…
One idea that has been tabled is that of a triple-header (three races in three weekends) but the teams are largely opposed to this, particularly if it involves the already-difficult Austria-Britain back-to-back, which costs huge amounts of money because of the need to have additional crews to cover the ground necessary. It might be possible to do Austria-France-Britain, as the distances involved are slightly less dramatic. But, let us remember that teams with money have never worried too much about the costs. There is a legendary tale of two sets of Goodyear qualifying rubber (eight tyres) being booked eight seats on a Concorde flight from New York to London, in order to be used by Ferrari…
The driver market for next year was also a big talking point in Montreal with Ferrari being the key over what happens with Kimi Raikkonen. If there is a change at Ferrari then the rest of the market will move. The current thinking is that Ferrari would go for Max Verstappen if he was able to get out of his Red Bull contract, which might be possible given performance clauses. The Red Bull team had denied this, but no-one believes the denials.
Elsewhere, McLaren won the revived raft race in the rowing basin on Saturday evening. This was stopped a few years ago because fun was not allowed in the paddock in those days and the revived event was a big hit with the teams being given equipment to design and build a raft in an hour. Three teams did not take part: Ferrari, Mercedes and Force India (great PR work, guys) but everyone else had a good time, including two crews from Formula One and one from the FIA. Ross Brawn and Sean Bratches were part of the crews, Bratches with his trousers rolled up in true bank-manager-goes-to-the-beach style. It was entertaining to try to imagine Mr Bernie Ecclestone doing something similar…
That was a bit of levity for McLaren, a team that has had little to smile about in recent times. The word continues to be that a divorce in coming with Honda and it is really a question of when, rather than if. The replacement engines would come from Mercedes and some would like to see this happen after the summer break, rather than at the end of the year. Honda is not happy about the idea, but to be fair to McLaren it has been pretty patient and Honda has not delivered the goods. The team has yet to score a point and is last in the Constructors’ Championship. It is an unthinkable situation for McLaren.
Bratches also got excited about the latest addition to activities in the Paddock Club, a Scalextric set of the highest order, which Paddock Club guests can compete on, with prizes for the fastest time of the day. This will go from Grand Prix to Grand Prix in a very large box, which needs to be bullet-proof as the detail involved in the layout is spectacular. Here, you can see Ross Brawn checking it out. He later had a go, having sussed out which was the quickest car…
There was also lots of talk of a mid-season switch of a different kind over at Renault where Jolyon Palmer’s season continues to be fairly poor. In part this is due to technical problems he has had, but getting close to Nico Hulkenberg is what is required and the word is that Renault want to give someone else a try. That someone will likely be Sergey Sirotkin. There are some romantics who think that Robert Kubica might make a comeback in F1, but that seems rather unlikely and the suggestion for 2018 is that if the team cannot afford Fernando Alonso it is more likely that Sergio Perez will come on board. This depends on what happens with Force India and Vijay Mallya. His extradition hearing in Britain has now been pushed back to December 4, because of delays in evidence arriving from the government of India. Some media reports suggest that this means that there isn’t any evidence, but if that was the case he would not have been arrested, so clearly he still has problems to solve. Indian bureaucratic inefficiency is legendary…
There was a bureaucratic screw-up in the race in Montreal when the FIA Stewards gave Danny Kvyat the wrong penalty. It was not intelligent of the team to let the Russian take up his grid position after being left behind on the pre-grid. The rule is clear. If the driver is the last car away, he starts at the back. If he gets going before the last car passes, he takes up his grid position. Generally-speaking the FIA Stewards are pretty good these days, but this time there was a mistake and Kvyat was given a drive-through penalty, rather than a 10-second stop-and-go. It might have been wisest not to try to correct the mistake and just let it lie, on the basis that double jeopardy is established in most legal systems. Once a court has punished an accused person, they cannot punish them again for the same crime. The decision was taken to give Kvyat another 10-second penalty. The Russian was not impressed and was fairly blunt in his assessment of the authorities. “They have a job to do which is not so difficult in my opinion and they cannot do the job properly,” he ranted. “They were clearly sleeping today in their office, so maybe they needed some coffee there. They should cancel this stupid rule. Who is this rule for? Are we taxi drivers here or Formula 1 drivers? I don’t understand this. It’s a circus, a stupid f**king circus.”
There was a certain amount of sympathy for Kvyat, because it was not his fault that the stewards made a mistake, but perhaps it might be wise if he were to learn the rules and not make such silly mistakes in the future. Given how much money the drivers are being paid, it is a bit surprising that they cannot find a little time to read the rules…
There is, by the way, an undercurrent in F1 circles that the drivers could soon become subject to a salary cap, as teams look for ways to reduce F1 costs. This would mean a limit on what a team could pay a driver, but sponsors could, no doubt, provide additional earnings if they wished to do so. Something that may also come up in the future is a requirement that would go with the superlicence to have drivers bound to give up a certain number of days per year to promote the sport. This is second nature to the drivers who compete in other championships but F1 drivers have long avoided promotional work if they can… The new management is not as generous in this respect as was Bernie Ecclestone. We also hear ruminations about whether or not it might be a good idea to have more than one tyre supplier in the future. Pirelli has an exclusive contract until the end of 2019 but it is no secret that Michelin would like to enter F1. A tyre war could create more unpredictable racing. However, tyre wars are expensive and can be dangerous as companies push for the limit. The traditional pattern of a tyre war is that a new company comes in and after a fight one or other becomes dominant and the other pulls out. After a period, the winner also leaves the sport because single tyre formulae offer little coverage unless the tyres fail. Pirelli has tried to use F1 to show how skilled the firm is but it has tended in recent years to be a little cautious to avoid bad publicity from making tyres that are too soft. This means that the racing is not as exciting as it could be.
Among those spotted in the paddock in Canada was GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving. He was a guest of McLaren. The company has had talks with some teams in the past but has yet to come up with the cash required. The company has been transforming itself into a global business in recent years with a focus on Asia. The company now owns one of every five internet domain names and is expecting this year to have total revenues of over $2 billion, which would be 19 percent more than last year. GoDaddy, it will be recalled enjoyed huge success in IndyCar and NASCAR, supporting Danica Patrick.
Another thing worth watching for is the Latifi Family, which controls a business called Sofina Foods Inc, which is a massive meat-producing company. Michael and Marilena Latifi are the parents of Formula 2 driver Nicholas Latifi. They were spotted spending time with both Toto Wolff and McLaren’s Eric Boullier over the Montreal weekend. These are busy people so they were probably not there just for a chit-chat…
Meanwhile, Lance Stroll ended up on the front pages of the local papers…
joeblogsf1 
Could you honestly see McLaren with Mercedes engines in the back by August?
So Joe if McLaren get Merc engines do each one installed cause them to go to the back of the grid? Seems new supplier should restart the count?
I would imagine that everyone at McLaren will be doing everything in their power to make it happen. Mercedes proved in Canada what they are capable of once they decide to turn the engine up. Unfortunately McLaren will not be allowed to win but I guess it’s better than not finishing at all.
+1 to the question.
I’ll be astonished (& hugely impressed) if they can physically engineer the car in that time.
A good point, I wonder how it took Brawn to do it? (very different engines I know).
And didnt Honda attempt to replicate the Mercedes architecture of the engine this season. No I know they wont be identical but certainly more closely matched than they would have been last season.
Reading between the lines Alonso said ‘one or two things need to happen for me to stay’ – 1 being Honda agree and 2 being Merc agree. Although 2+2 might = 5 on this occaision.
Why and who won’t allow them to win eh Bruno? What a stupid remark
Isn’t Joe just referring to the fact that the deal will be done by August? Can to follow for 2018?
Hope your evening with Joe in Montreal was a good one. Verstappen has a performance related clause in his Red Bull contract which according to who you believe is 4th or 5th place in the driver’s standings. The assumption is that Ferrari and Mercedes prefer him to their current number twos which will make for an interesting driver market. The reds have held on to drivers just a bit too long Massa/Raikkonen in order to appease the number one driver. May well be the time has come to make a bold driver change.
Honda needs to make a change by dumping Hasegawa and several others and open up to outside engineering help. McLaren will miss the money but enough is enough with struggling at the back. At least they triumphed in the raft race.
Nice gesture by the Senna family in gifting Lewis a helmet.
Hope the powers that be come up with a sensible 2018 calendar for all concerned.
Mallya has stated the team is not for sale and that maybe so if he’s not being offered what he wants. Force India is a deal at 80-120 million but not at the 200+ Mallya is asking.
Safe travels and thank you for the insights into the lesser known workings of the paddock.
5th has always been mentioned. Didnt Vettel get out of his contract to join Ferrari that way? If RB sensible that would have changed to 7th as would be foolish to lose another great driver the same way.
“The replacement engines would come from Mercedes and some would like to see this happen after the summer break, rather than at the end of the year.”
EHHHHH has a team ever switched engine manufacturers mid-season? I’m assuming this is to show Alonso what a McLaren powered by a decent engine would look like before he makes his decision for next year. That’s an awfully expensive gamble…
I have read that the Mercedes engine deal was negotiated by Mr. Ojjeh himself. He’s really willing to shell out the coin from his own pocket for this?
The partners would have to share the costs
I believe Life did in the late 80s, early 90s, from a W layout monstrosity
It has happened in the past, but a long time ago – Footwork switched from Porsche to Ford in the middle of 1991. McLaren almost switched from Ford to Lamborghini during 1993 – they had a car up and running – but for reasons I never fully understood Ron pulled the plug on the deal at the last second and signed up with Peugeot for 1994.
An engine switch mid-season??? If they actually do it and can fight in the midfield it’ll be a miracle.
Yes they are supposed to have the same mounting points but Lotus showed in the e23 that it is not so straightforward!
And then there is the staggering cost of re-dong the chassis and aero…
I have a hard time believing they won’t put it off until next year.
But… They do know the dimensions of the mercedes unit …
Apparently the Lamborghini failed to deliver the performance claimed. That’s the official story at least..
If they do switch mid-year the FIA will have fun working out all the PU and component penalties!
Totally unrelated to the article but Joe, or any other kind poster here, do you know if there is anyway to get an iPhone notification that can pop up whenever there is a new column posted here?
Maybe if you have a WordPress app installed. I have an email sent when a new column is posted.
Can’t think why you would want that but you might be able to do something by clicking the orange RSS buttons at the top.
Follow Joe on twitter and turn on notifications.
follow Joe on Facebook
Or old fashioned email.
That’s how I get the stories if I haven’t been able to check in before hand.
Trust Ross to ship in a slot racing track, as a well known slot racer and builder of scratch built chassis in his youth – quite a few of which have survived!
It was Sean Bratches who did it, not Ross
The Shadow team used to do the same thing at Can-Am and F-5000 races back in the ’70s. Their layout mirrored the track at which they were racing ie. Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen, Road America, etc., I don’t recall them having elevation changes, though.
I just looked at the wiki page for Can-Am to establish the years the series ran, and the end coincided with my maturing interest in motorsports, but suddenly my memory is replaying the feeling of a kind of loss which is maybe not at all peculiar to my experience. I could only follow via the library stock of periodicals, but our local library was unusually well stocked for reviews and annuals, and my dad had told me that it wasn’t unusual for a magazine to quietly discontinue covering a sporting specialty, telling me about his campaigns to obtain coverage for Squash outside the specialist titles and how often coverage was down to the generosity of a journalist taking upon himself the expense of attendance and even typesetting. But the annuals never came. And my dad told me that sometimes when a business or businesses try too hard in public, they prefer to let the issue quietly go. But I was never going to be satisfied with that answer and my lifes work is applied to the economics of media where strong and immediate impact on the subject matter is the norm.
Just scanning the Wikipedia page for Can-Am impresses just how much was involved in and devoted to the series. Just check the names of the drivers!
When I hear talk about the franchise potential for F1 expansion, the first thought I have is for the dysfunction of the F1 media and coverage. My second for the last few truly great series which briefly blossomed. My third one is for the Honda situation that alone should be informing the most casual observer of the need for a new understanding of the needs of modern F1, before the floodgates are open to the introduction of significant changes. I am encouraged by each new addition to Ross’s team, but I think it is not yet a complete unit, and I feel obliged to urge caution to only begin serious evaluation once the complete and as close to dream team is assembled around Ross Brawn.
Singapore Sochi Japan that’s just a freight nightmare and a total farcical merry go round.
Regarding Putins birthday the rest of the world wouldn’t loose any sleep over the Botox king of Russia. Unlike the rest of his political competition in his own backyard. He cannot lock away the heads of F1 and change the calendar to suit his frozen perpetually (botox) 😲surprised looking face😨.
The rest of the world does not make decisions about the Russian GP
I wouldn’t be wanting to schedule anything on Putin’s birthday, if only because the man is actually popular and the sight of jingoistic nationalism prompted by his hard man act on full parade would be the last image I would want to have associated with this sport or anything destined for worldwide broadcast.
Hi Joe,
I can’t allow you to get away with a piece about aerodromes named after politicians and pop singers without insisting that you mention the American hero who gave his name to Chicago’s international airport. Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare was a U.S. Navy pilot who in an interception off Rabaul in 1942, with only his wingman (whose guns had jammed) to assist, shot down three Japanese bombers. For this, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the first Navy flyer to receive it, and the ceremony was attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
O’Hare would become the Navy’s top-scoring fighter ace before meeting his end in the U.S. Navy’s very first night-time aerial attack, off the Marianas in November 1943. For many years there was a suspicion that his Grumman Hellcat had been brought down by friendly fire, although comrades who took part in the same action later insisted that the fatal bullet had been a lucky shot from a Japanese bomber. So admired was O’Hare that in 1945 a destroyer was named after him, and then (as we know) Chicago’s new airport would become O’Hare International.
Even for readers who are slightly less obsessed with war heroes than I am, “Butch” O’Hare is well worth a bit of Googling. His father, Edward J. O’Hare, is also worth looking up. A lawyer, he worked for Al Capone before turning against the notorious gangster and helping secure his incarceration for tax evasion. He died in a machine-gun hit, more than likely at the behest of Capone.
There are hundreds of airports with different names. I cannot mention them all.
Thanks, that’s an interesting story.
Fascinating read, thanks. Certainly O’Hare is far more well-recognised than Ataturk and Reagan to 99% of the world.
I can’t let the mention of O’Hare pass without paying tribute to Roly Falk, our very own legendary test pilot, famed for rolling the Vulcanised at Farnborough and many other glorious exploits. I was reading some tantalising excerpts from his own correspondence, which is to be published by his son, I believe. Will we be blessed with records of the like, penned by a F1 star? Of recent years, I mean. Or have we tossed aside a invaluable connection to tumultuous recent times, at the behest of the ever growing dominance of the emoticon? Today, the most used language is not a pidgin or a national speech at all, but transliterated often highly guarded emotional impression that mingles with classical words to suit the ergonomics of our phones. I have a better idea of what super license holders should be asked to do. Just so many hours a week answering the hopeful mail sent by school aged fans.
Apologies for the typo: Vulcan, naturally and not vulcanised… the shame of criticising phones for diminishing our language only to ignore a whopping auto completion mistake….
Both drivers and team managers and owners ought to be able to devote a couple of hours a week to replying to the letters of young fans.
But I think it necessary to encourage young female fans proportionately more attentively. I see Monica’s departure solely in terms of the cost to the hopes of girls aspirations. I am on record with my views concerning the history which is brought up by many people commenting. This only reinforces the gulf between amateur observers and the dedicated insiders who are as far as I have read, suggesting no such nonsense. I was extremely unhappy with the handling of the most recent controversy. I have no further comments on the subject itself, but the presumption of a causal connection is preposterous. This separation appears to be a result of unknown forces which, failing to reconcile, sought a scapegoat in the recriminations. Relieving Monisha of her position is a disservice to F1, and a black mark upon the unnamed actors responsible. I want to see all teams bound by Concorde to pay for the presentation of F1 during the gardening leave of any senior female F1 engineer or executive. Funded by the contracting team, but open to later sponsors, television talent must be supplied from the best of interviewers and documentary makers and science presenters, those who write their own material and engaged to explore the importance of F1 communities and connections, so that schools are able to access teaching resources and support, developed from school and university visits made by the ladies of F1 in this important downtime. I’m certain that the gentlemen will be clamouring to follow suit and the whole idea of gardening leave, a embarrassing reality because it is only ever mentioned in the general media alternatively for bankers in trouble, this is a superior way to spend the time in any event, and the opportunity to work with schools and even travel only now on a humane schedule, able to bring family in the adventure, might even be a specific attraction for women who are contemplating a career in the sport. Come on Ross, the changes needed are not even largely the ones affecting the cars!
Re: McLaren. At what point do Honda pull the plug? It’s such bad PR for them. Type Honda in and search engine and the first 100 things that come up are all their failed engines and reliability. This is overriding their cars and products.
I would create a new joint venture with a new name and announce the intention of building a truly low cost IC platform for the 2020 and following decades, with open or at least very wide availability to any teams, the emphasis being on the ability to make a good connection with the chassis and thereby making it a easier task to get a prototype F1 car to test, using a new entry’s chassis, I. E. Just as McLaren pioneered common electronic control systems, now the object is selling a test bed engine that makes it substantially easier to enter your new team from scratch, and the necessity of future engine budget targets requires a new openness to join the efforts of all the top tier innovators to create a increasingly interchangeable F1 power train capable of finally delivering a new draft of affordable racing which is impossible to attain whilst budget caps lead to the accountants costing more than engines and the price of failure in novel components when not borne by more than a single team when the industry model in road cars relies on technology transfer that is not presently possible in F1, this is a new economic climate and this is the first time any team and engine supplier have embarked upon a project to revolutionise both the methods themselves for designing engines and simultaneously the economics critical to the art.
I was very glad young Stroll did well on Sunday.
I confess I have a great deal of sympathy for Kvyat. For one who fell foul of sheer bungling ineptitude, his comments are on the right side of measured and polite.
As for Trudeau, if you can remember him, Joe, then you probably also recall his wife Margaret, who achieved worldwide notoriety by attending some Rolling Stones parties in the days when respectable folks just didn’t go near them. I think she may also have been photographed dishabillee [excuse my French it’s probably wrong]
Thanks for a great notebook as always. One thing about Alonso not going to Renault because they can’t afford him, how desperate would he be? Surely enough to take a pay cut with performance bonuses?
Joe,
Re. Kvyat and his grid penalty, STR & he still seem to be insisting that weaving his way through the pack until he reached the safety car line was completely legitimate, whilst conceding that having failed to catch Alonso by that point, he wasn’t allowed to overtake the McLaren beyond the line.
Here’s the Franz Tost statement:
> The regulation allows the driver to catch-up until the first Safety Car line but as all the drivers use the complete width of the track to warm-up their tyres, it was difficult for Daniil to overtake them in order to get back to his position without taking any risks. Therefore, he just missed overtaking Alonso before the Safety Car line …
Is this right? If so, what was Kvyat -supposed- to do, having reached the first safety car line just behind Alonso? Should / could he have legitimately tried to slot in behind Alonso (since his climb back through the pack is supposedly OK up till then)? Where on earth was he supposed to put himself on the grid? Off to one side, and behind Alonso?(!) This makes no sense to me, and it doesn’t seem to fit with your statements, but if Tost says so, I’m trying to assume he’s right. Can you shed any light?
toleman fan, If he hasn’t regained his grid position by the first safety car line then he has to enter the pits and start from the pit lane.
Thank you. I thought Tost said he’d already missed the pit lane entry.
Tost saying Kvyat had already missed the pit lane entry was correct, Kvyat was past the pit-entry entry (so to speak) the moment after Alonso just beat him to the first safety car line.
2017 F1 Sporting Regs:
“28.1 The section of track between the first safety car line and the beginning of the pit lane will be designated the “pit entry”.”
…which on this occasion combined rather unhelpfully with the rules on regaining ones place in the grid order.
Ah. Thank you.
So you’re saying that Kvyat really was boxed into a corner, in that what he was doing was legitimate right up to the point where it was both too late to pit, and also too late to pass Alonso? Very interesting.
Joe,
A simpler question:
Do you think Sirotkin would do even as well as Palmer?
Who knows?
/Do you think Sirotkin would do even as well as Palmer?/
I’d think they are of similar class, but perhaps the team can see something we can’t.
My money would be on the next Renault driver being the choice of Professor Prost and I can’t see any Brits or Russians being on his radar.
Brilliant stuff as always Joe- thank you.
Mclaren being ‘my team’ that’s the bit I’m most interested in. I was very convinced by your previous post: “Let’s be sensible about Honda” so assumed the change to Mercedes wouldn’t happen.
Unless this has been long in the coming can they really change to Merc this season? Financially, is there any point when the chances, that late in the season, of getting anywhere in the Constructors table (with it’s associated prize money) would seem to be pretty small.
Also, technically, can they produce anything decent with no significant testing available at that time?
Might it just be a temporary solution- a suspension of the contract if you will; use Merc for 2018, see how Sauber are doing and go back to Honda 2019/2020 once Sauber have taken the pain and go back for the remainder of the 10yr. contract?
Dying to know!
Shoehorning a Merc engine into the back of a car it wasn’t designed for at short notice didn’t hurt Brawn GP (which was also designed for a Honda engine…). If the McLaren chassis is as good as Alonso says then surely that would offset a bit of inefficiency caused by changing the engine and create far more points for McLaren than they’d ever get with Honda engines.
Seems to me putting a different engine in the McLaren would be a huge job, unlike replacing a normally aspirated V10 or whatever. There are plumbing issues, bodywork issues, duct issues, and a major issue if the battery doesn’t fit in the current space. Would the gearbox case have to be redesigned? What about front/rear weight balance? Sure there’s ballast, but with the balance ratio defined by rules and the cars pretty much at the weight limit there’s not too much to play with. A nightmare. Probably could be done, but it’s not simply a matter of switching a few things out. The mounting points are defined by the rules, so that’s helpful, but the rest…..?
You need to ask another question: could it get any worth than staying with Honda? They may need a couple for races to sort out some of the main integration issues, which they will undoubtedly encounter, but at least they could be optimistic that something is going to work before the end of the season.
At the moment it seems that McLaren has given up all hope that Honda can deliver.
” It was not intelligent of the team to let the Russian take up his grid position after being left behind on the pre-grid. The rule is clear. If the driver is the last car away, he starts at the back. If he gets going before the last car passes, he takes up his grid position.”
See, I thought this. I thought it because it definitely was the case in the past and because Brundle says it in commentary pretty much every time someone’s slow away from the grid.
But it does appear to not be the rule any longer, because FOM put up a graphic saying the penalty was for not regaining the position by the time he got to the Safety Car line, which is a different thing.
Confused me anyway…
Some Canadian ironists launched a petition to get former PM Stephen Harper to change his name to Calgary International Airport but, alas, nothing seems to have come of it.
🙂
I don’t know Joe. Washington’s airport will always be National to me, not Reagan (or Reagan National). I know plenty of fliers who think the same. Maybe some have been worn down!
+1
Small point to make with respect to Grand Prix car specs you quote : “best to with the cars to make sure that they look good, can overtake one another and can be as cheap as possible”
They also need to ensure the small matter that they are swiftest racing cars on earth. I can see good looking cars in my daily traffic jam, I can see cheap cars in my daily traffic jam, I see cars overtaking before and after my daily traffic jam, so please, please Ross/Tombazis make them FAST.
…and loud!
Sorry but for me painfully loud like the last engine is not required, but fast is. FE is an example of slow car racing. They have to try to hide it by running on Micky Mouse tracks.
The tale is told of Tony Vandervell in the paddock at Monza kicking the rear tyre of a Ferrari and telling Enzo “THAT’S where the power should be going, not (points at exhaust pipes) out of there!”
Nice article, thanks as ever for sharing.
I believe many UK politicians are as good as Trudeau or de Gaulle or almost any Kennedy, and that it would be difficult indeed to avoid surpassing that lot democratically or socially, and those airports named after are not exactly great examples of efficiency even up against Heathrow! Absolutely right on JL airport, still Speke really.
I think the reason there are no airports named after politicians in the UK is that we couldn’t find anyone named Mr Gatwick or Mrs Heathrow who were electable.
Also, having started the ball rolling of naming airports (airfields) after their location, as in Brooklands, we just like to stick to tradition. I think naming something after a politician is naf.
How about Churchill? Back in the late ’50s and ’60s, I recall reading Heathrow being called Thiefrow.
I would like to start a petition for my local airport, Birmingham, be renamed to be Ossie Osborne International – OOI. Not as far fetched at it might seem as he has already had a tram named after him.
cool notebook Joe! btw is that still the old one or You now have sourced a new green one – i remember You were saying it was disintegrating.
ok, now this season so far :
so far i like what Liberty are doing by adding the craic element to show,
so far i don’t see Honda getting any closer to sort the problems,
so far i’m disappointed with tires – they are too big talk and too conservative,
so far it looked all put with drivers at Red Bull, but
so far i can see an escalating move of Max’ mindset towards parting with RB,
so far i couldn’t see any way for reasonable move for Carlos Sainz, now i can,
so far it looks like Alonso has nowhere to go to get both – a competitive car and top wages if he wants to stay in f1, now i can(but that may sound too ridiculous so i’ll keep it to myself)
and finally
so far i never considered myself an Expert in all this, so
so far i better see what You Joe think/know about all it.
I have acquired three new ones!
Just don’t forget where the other two are.
What happens to the full notebooks – do you have bookshelves at home with them all in chronological order?
Sort of
why 3? are there so many notes or it’s just about logistics i.e. 1 for Europe, 1 for America and another 1 for Asia? ( 🙂 )
Err? Tablet…iPad???? Come on Joe! You’re a fully paid up exponent of future technology in F1, yet using a pad of paper and a biro!!
Efficiency
Eternal Montreal road construction is a legacy of 1970’s era mafia controlled companies using shoddy materials. Enjoyed your mag article on Mont Tremblant…scene of my first F1 race back in 1968.
my understanding after moving from the (basically) snow free australia to nyc is the temperature changes and road salt takes a large toll on the roads here (which are full of pot holes and constantly being resurfaced). but then again, the mafia is not exactly allergic to nyc, so maybe your theory stands.
I agree .seaburns.
The salt does a lot of damage. Another problem is that road work is difficult when the ground is frozen. Snow banks also make it difficult.
Combination of the two. Not all Canadian cities (that have similar or worse winters than Montreal) have such road difficulties. Winters do eat up roads, but the mafia (and otherwise corrupt granting of construction contracts in Montreal) play their part as well.
Me and the other armchair generals had much debate about the Kvyat penalty. Agreeing with your recollection of the ‘stall on the formation lap’ rules, despite the TV commentary referencing safety car lines and such.
‘Suzuka 1999’ was mentioned several times! Subsequent investigations have led me to discover article 36.8 of the 2017 sporting regulations (I’ll not paste it here – it’s on page 29 of the PDF) which does indeed mention regaining position before the safety car line and point to article 38.3(d) for the correct penalty (10 second stop/go) No idea why a perfectly simple and governable system needed to change? I agree that the double penalty was ridiculous though! Driver makes an error and is punished…stewards make an error and the driver is punished! And as a result….
Surely the sensible solution would have been to add 10 seconds to his race time, then he would have done the full penalty in two parts, only missed the slow down to stop and the speeding up.
Is there any merit in the idea of McLaren buying a single year’s supply of Mercedes engines in order to give Honda some element of breathing space, to return after 12 months with a new PU that works? McLaren and Honda could send some money Sauber’s way to compensate for the lack of racing development for 2018, with Honda running a small team just working on 2017 PU reliability rather than improved performance.
I confess I’ve not given this much thought. Just occurred to me as I read the article.
The current Honda PU is a consequence of other things, namely Honda’s insistence to do thing “their” way. That corporate culture is what is ultimately frustrating McLaren.
While the PU might improve, Honda’s culture won’t change. It would seem then, that a future partnership is unlikely.
Can’t imagine a PU supplier doing well if not based in the UK, Europe at least. Is Honda’s operation almost entirely in Japan?
From a pure racing point of view, the idea of a company providing tyres for free seems wrong – there are too many conflicts inherent in the model.
Tyres can’t be *that* expensive, can they, in the grand scheme of things?
Better surely to have a contract tyre manufacturer signed-up by the FIA / FOM to provide a product meeting certain specifications conducive to good racing?
Who said anything about free?
Knowing Bernie, Pirelli have to pay for the privilege.
You must have missed that every time a team falls over, Pirelli are high on the list of creditors.
exactly – teams pay pirelli, pirelli pays for privilege
Joe what does a “sporting director” do? Is the same role as the old “team manager”? Like most businesses these days there seem to be more “bosses” than “workers” in F1. Keep up the great work.
There are not more bosses than workers.
Joe – with regards to your comments on the roads in Montreal, there are 2 seasons in Canada — winter and construction 😦
.. Seriously … who gives a hoot what the road conditions are in Montreal ? Regardless of the bumps and bruises [ who in their right mind upon arriving drives in Montreal during the GP weekend ? ] Montreal is by far the best F1 host period and the best race on the calendar :exceeding IMO Monaco by leaps and bounds [ and I get to do Monaco for free other than to and from travel expenses ] Fact is every year I chose Montreal over Monaco afterwards I ask myself … why do I bother flying across the Atlantic to be stuck in a pretentious Fairy Tale land where not being among the worlds .1% I’m really not welcome despite having friends / associates residing there when I could be spending my time in one of the three best cities in NA that welcomes me with open arms [ full discloser .. got family there as well ] where the entire city goes absolutely F1 freaking mad from end to end … and who’s Tourism board will plan out and arrange every aspect of my trip from airlines to race tickets / passes right on down to subway and mass transit passes with one solitary phone call .
As for Trudeau the Younger ? Two thumbs up … and thank God unlike the UK and us ( US ) Canada made a sensible choice .. following in the footsteps of their minority Franco heritage than their Anglo majority roots .
Don’t read it if you’re not interested.
If they want t keep a GP in Montreal they will need to actually do the circuit facility upgrades this time. If not the circus will be off to a new home.
What? The vast majority of Canada’s political, legal, social and cultural systems are based on its British roots. The ridiculous Prime Minister Zoolander is a temporary aberration.
Is there a possibility that McLaren could go with a re-badged Mercedes engine in 2018 while giving Honda a chance to iron out their issues, then go back to Honda the following year? If so, could Honda fund part of it?
It’s a messy option and judging by the rhetoric from the team over the weekend, would be hard to see anything other than a clean divorce being contemplated at the moment.
Re-badged as in another of Mercedes’ car brands?
Since they already have models called the ForTwo and ForFour, how about the Smart ForNando?
So, many thoughts and comments from Montreal; for later. But, to the end of your piece here, I so enjoyed Stroll’s drive on Sunday. It was if he’d finally started to drive rather than fall off / get shunted off. And the partisan crowd (and I became partly Canadian for the day I suppose) visibly cheered him on. Well, at least, in the old stands 33 now “Familiare”. Which was also home to the big “Lewis Territory” banner that you may have seen on TV; from “Team LH Mexico” in case you missed that! Anyway, some sort of redemption for Stroll. On to Baku with, perhaps, new confidence.
Reading my post above it does not convey – there were significant groups of people standing up, shouting, cheering, waving, making huge gestures, for Stroll. Such fun (that is Montreal).
As far as the standing up:
I don’t know what grandstand you were in but I was in #12 (Senna) and when the two CF18’s flew over (twice) the whole grandstand shockingly swayed in four directions as each of the several thousand people standing up fought each other for balance, each of us deciding which direction to lean to stop the swaying. (It didn’t work) I stood there picturing a bad outcome of us being at least four stories off the ground and all dropping through a sea of metal poles…
Octagon clearly has to get its act together for next year and create a better system than aluminum bench seating that kills your a** but allows $20 seat cushions to be sold to compensate themselves (not us) for this early 80’s, ‘its good enough’ seating technology.
That and the one hour walk each way from the single entrance to the Senna corner over and around bridges, streams and through what I call, ‘point of sale’ choke points where organizers have allowed pizza sellers and trash and trinket booths to line both sides of a main pathway to the far end of the circuit numerous times in your torturous way to your seating. (39400 steps total for three days from Metro to Grandstand 12 and return)
It is ridiculous having to push through eight foot wide pathways with line ups of crowds buying stuff. The whole infrastructure of this park for this event has barely changed in 40 years. They gave us free WiFi in the grandstand – that you couldn’t use due to the fact you were seated in a giant sunshine reflector dish and couldn’t read your phone’s screen unless you placed it inside your pants and looked downwards. (Not going there)
There are several alternative pathways onto the island but the City or organizers do not wish to use these for some unknown reason. One is off the island to the south shore behind grandstands 11 & 12 and the (secret) road is guarded by police. (shaking head)
Another is the intractability of the Casino people in allowing track access from their bridge, (except at end of event on Sunday).
The VIP area’s behind the pits are a joke – an embarrassing joke. Montreal will never have the O games again – fill in part of the rowing basin and get it over with! I watched potted plants falling over and rolling around. Really? How 1950’s quaint. It isn’t hiding the fact that the teams are working around kitchen prep and tires stacked next to guests. Unbelievable. Bernie did have a point. And Johnny H cracked me up on ITV about on his comment that parts of the track were a cattle path. 🙂 (I think he meant the surface) Get the bloody paving equipment out!
Disabled access? Ha! Only if you have two other people to carry you! Its time to spend money and upgrade the whole facility and the City of Montreal also has to step in and help instead of every other request being ignored.
They enjoy the cash rolling into the City and putting up posters all over, as well as enjoying the part of handing out 2nd place, but spending money? Ahhh, that would be NON!!
So agree. The site needs several millions in upgrades. I am handicapped and sit in stand 21A. Plus parking pass. Plus my wife gets in for half price. Just ask for it.
We know that Montreal is a city of festivals. I’m told by locals that the construction season is referred to as “Le festival des cônes orange”. Fitting I should think.
In North Dakota, which shares it’s northern border with Canada, they have five seasons: winter, winter, winter, winter, and Roads Under Construction.
Did they have the Senna helmet at Monaco in case Lewis got pole there? The presentation of the helmet to Lewis was a fabulous gesture.
Joe, great article I do like these race insighhts…
But will we see a journo team in the raft race in 2018?
Good question.
As the raft equipment was supplied by Liberty and three teams did not participate the two crews from Formula 1 and the FIA crew would have only taken part because there was three left over raft kits.
Go Team Journos in 18!
Judging by his comments to the final question of the drivers press conference. Alonso will ensure that any buoyancy aids in a Journo raft are filled with lead shot.
Joe has stopped attending, but his strong and correct views almoast were “bringing the game into disrepute”.
Now it’s televised it is perhaps time to follow Lewis’s suggestion and have the moderator read out questions from fans. They could not be worse.
Lewis was clearly bored rigid from about the halfway point – sharing messages on his phone with Fernando.
Depends.. do pencils and green notebooks have sufficient buoyancy to support a cadre of portly scribblers? 🙂
Joe is not more likely that Sergio will go Ferrari next year rather than Renault. Surely this is going to be the year Kimi calls it a day?
If you have the choice between Max and Sergio, you are not going to pick Sergio
What about Ferrari’s habitual policy of having a no1 driver? I couldn’t see Verstappen putting up with that for too long. That would be fun!..
Verstappen to Ferrari, Sainz to Red Bull, Perez to Renault… who gets the Force India seat?
Not sute Vettel would be too happy with his new teammate, mind.
Now Nico’s seen Perez play his hand and having experienced being alongside him @ FI, he’d likely nix it (fingers crossed here…..)
Alonso….
Seiasteve-Renault cannot afford Alonso.
Money won’t be an issue.
Wrong Renault don’t have budget of Ferrari Mercedes, RBR at the present time. Certainly not the budget to match Alonso’s McLaren salary.
Yeah but Max will never accept being No2 driver but Sergio will which is why Ferrari I think Ferrari will go for Sergio . Ferrari I believe see Vettel as absolute numero uno and they ain’t gonna want to rock the boat bringing in Max. They are going to bring in Perez I think as he can score podiums and be a good back up and support to Seb. Ferrari since Schumacher particularly always prefer to operate on a policy of having a clear number 1 driver with a solid number 2. Joining Ferrari alongside Seb would be the biggest mistake of his (Max’s) F1 career.
Ferrari hope they don’t have the choice presented to them. Verstappen is too good to not hire, but hiring him would be a huge headache. Like taking a super hot 20 year old wife, while your still married to a beautiful 30 year old. They are both going to wonder what the hell the deal is. Max is not going to be placated while Vettel does the team leader thing and takes championships and Vettel is not going to let an Alonso/Hamilton situation occur. A headache Ferrari are glad Red Bull wont allow to happen, I think.
Joe do you think Jolyon could get up to the British GP (inclusive) to find some form and score points or could he be out possibly sooner that?
Yes
Yes to the GP, No to the points.
I think McLaren changing engines to keep Alonso happy would be a big mistake. Better let him go and spend his salary on quietly getting the Honda chipped.
I agree – if they make a great car great drivers will want to drive for them. It’s a huge risk becoming customers rather than a works team if they ever want to win championships again. Brawn has offered Honda help, hasn’t he? I think it’s worth giving Honda another year, whether Alonso wants to drive for them or not.
It seems that the only person not to write off a Robert Kubica return is Robert Kubica. Apparently, he has been training for eighteen months to be fit for the Renault test. An interesting case study of human tenacity.
Hi Joe,
Instead of an enforced tyre change during the race. How about making a rule stating that the cars must finish the race on the same compound that they started the race on! You could make the harder compound slightly more durable, thus being able to complete the full race but make the difference between the other compounds also slightly greater too make a change worthwhile
If we had retained Heston Aerodrome rather than Heathrow it could have been called “Neville Chamberlain Airport” and had a statue of a piece of (worthless) paper.
Oddly enough, Chamberlain’s reputation will be much enhanced if the British government ever releases its archives. Astonishing, I know.
What with the safety car line being both the ‘deadline’, as it were, for delayed cars to regain their starting position *and* the beginning of pit entry, an occurrence such as Kvyat’s apparent last-gasp failure to get by Alonso in time was waiting to happen sooner or later, and I’d suggest it’s a little unfair on a driver that their last chance to achieve legality [in the midst of swerving competitors!] is also their last chance to properly make pit entrance to serve the penalty for not achieving legality. That needs re-thinking, perhaps.
For those, seemingly including Joe and Brundle, bemused or confused by Kvyat being allowed to attempt to regain his grid position despite being last off the grid, looking up past regs reveals you’re all 7 seasons out of date already! The current first paragraph of Article 36.8 of the current Sporting Regs is the same [after renumbering] as 38.8 was for 2011.
The former line:
“Any driver who is delayed leaving the grid may not overtake another moving car if he was stationary after the remainder of the cars had crossed the Line, and must start the race from the back of the grid […]”
last appears in mid-2010 drafts for the 2011 Sporting Regs, and is absent by
1-2011 SPORTING REGULATIONS 10-12-2010.pdf ,
thus last held true in 2010.
Alonso is far too good to be lost to F1, I don’t think he will be too bothered about salary as long as he can see real potential to be competitive.
I still feel Renault could come good at the right time next year and what better a driver to have to make the most of that than Fernando?
I wonder more and more if the real reason for the Kubica, Sirotkin test was for them to make an unofficial judgement on whether Sergei is up to the job of replacing Palmer. Judging by Robert’s performance I think they got their answer! The search for Palmer’s replacement continues.
Joe I think what we need to see for next year is the following:
Alonso in a race winning car (I think he will be)
Kimi out of Ferrari and someone to ruffle Seb up a bit
Max and/or Daniel out of Red bull so Sainz can get his chance (although I am concerned Carlos is starting to drive a bit like a desperado)
A solid no2 at Renault (that’s how they’ve always played it successfully)
A real hotshot to replace Felipe baby at Williams just to be sure there that car isn’t capable of running amongst the Red Bull’s…
That would make sense to me.
The difficulty I have with getting excited over Kubica apparently being several tenths quicker than Sirotkin is, I could imagine that -perhaps- Sirotkin is more than a second off the pace. Not saying he is, not familiar with him, but third drivers parachuted in have often been totally out of their depth (think Grosjean for Nelsinho in ’09).
/I wonder more and more if the real reason for the Kubica, Sirotkin test was for them to make an unofficial judgement on whether Sergei is up to the job of replacing Palmer/
Sirotkin did more testing in an old car before Valencia. There were rumours that he’d replace Palmer long before Kubica reappeared.
Joe I have an idea about the McLaren Honda/Mercedes dilemma; can the team use two different engines for the two cars? This way it will make Fernando happy with a Mercedes powered customer engine while other car continues with Honda engine; this can also keep the ties with Honda in case they come good in future and also some much needed Japanese yen continue flowing in
I know the Tyrrell team used Renault/Cosworth combo engines in 85; Brabham used BMW/Cosworth engine combo in the early 80s.
Just a thought, thanks
I am no expert but I suspect there would be two problems.
1, Mercedes would never let McLaren near their engine if they were still in partnership in any way with Honda as it would risk their IP.
2. I would imagine the engines would be so different in terms of design as to ensure the need for two completely different cars which would be unworkable
/can the team use two different engines for the two cars?/
It is not expressly forbidden, but as I read the rules, I’d exclude it.
And please remember that McLaren would get no WCC points for any race with a not-Honda engine.
Wouldn’t they get WCC points but in a separate pot from any McLaren-Honda points, so that both would be listed as discrete entries in the WCC rankings? Just thinking back to the ’80s and the garagiste migration from Cosworth to turbos…
No. Current rules are clear about it – no WCC points with new engine (but results may be counted for prize money).
It’s clear
Wonder if people saw Stroll’s solid drive as a sign of maturation and potential or rather as a lucky one off? I hope the former, but I still don’t think he has legit speed.
Final Airport observation. JFK and CDG are the formal airport codes so the name is embedded in the industry. John Lennon is LPL and also has only recently been called that anyway.
…and until recently didn’t Doncaster Sheffield Airport used to be called Robin Herd Airport, after the March F1 designer? 🙂
It used to be called RAF Finningley
Doncaster/Sheffield airport was Robin Hood.
Liverpool Speke has been John Lennon since 2001. Not exactly a recent update.
I see what you did there. 😉
There is one British politician who has had an airport named after him, if admittedly only indirectly – the Duke of Wellington.
New Zealand’s capital city was named after him, so therefore he is the Wellington in Wellington International Airport, even if the airport was named after the city rather than the person after whom the city is named, if you get my drift.
In a further use of the word “admittedly”, I should add that Wellington was admittedly named more in honour of the Duke’s military achievements than his political career, but he was British prime minister after he hung up his soldier’s boots when all is said and done 🙂
You’re on shaky ground there Scotty, the “of” in Duke of Wellington suggests that Wellington is a place, which it is, Wellington in Somerset. That is where Arthur got the title from.
So one could argue that Wellington Airport NZ inherits it’s name form Wellington in Somerset.
To take matters to the other extreme you could also argue that Wellington Airport was named after a Boot.
The first logistics issue can be solved- keep Sepang and leave Sochi – its SO boring!! Ross Brawn and the guys need to make priority to where fans want to go to and where they want to watch- brings back old fans and introduces new ones……… Russia doesn’t do that, it pushes the purist away!!
I am glad to read that you have an ample supply of green notebooks. I really enjoy reading them. Thanks.
Since Pirelli started to supply F1 tyres that is all the talk has been about. And still, today tyres this, tyres that, too hot, too cold, blistered, not in the right operating window. It’s all about the tyres, and why? It should be about the cars and the drivers not about tyres, not Formula Pirelli!!! What a croc of crap! The tyres are robbing us and F1 of racing.
Lets just have a slick, a wet and an inter, as many as you want and one mandatory stop.
It’s been going on a lot longer than that Gary. To do a bit of name dropping I remember asking Maurice Philippe (bless him) who was going to win the British GP that weekend (this was at the Hautboy, Okham on a Friday, 1982ish). He said whoever gets the tyres right. Then used some less than politically correct terms to describe the constituents of the compound.
But I agree with your last sentence.
You know that alcohol powder exists, right? But not for sale to us mere mortals at the moment, only as franchises to sell it in whichever area you may inhabit.
GoDaddy. Ugh, that is scraping the barrel.
Probably the only domain registrar that uses images of scantily clad women to sell web domains. That tells you a lot about them. Awful company.
McLaren, can and should, do better.
And the fact that GoDaddy’s founder Bob Parsons hunts and kills endangered species (including an elephant) says even more.
Scantily clad women and big game hunting….
Sounds like my kind of people!
If McLaren is lucky enough to land them as a sponsor maybe some of that awesome will rub off on them!
If you don’t mind me asking, what brand notebooks do you use? Are they hard- or softcover?
Hard cover Moleskine
Aah, so that’s what happened to “The Mole”!
Oh, no!
Where’s the -rest- of him?? 😂
Alcohol powder has already been done! A couple of years ago. Dehydrated booze, just add water. Haven’t seen or heard of it since it was introduced to mediocre fanfare so I imagine it flopped.
Looking at the map it would seem logical to have a Sochi-Baku back to back.
You see, you’re applying logic here…
Not sure, once you are in cargo aircraft territory I don’t think the times become too significant. Anyway what right do you have to use the term logical in respect to F1 scheduling and management. 😉
M
hi Joe. since there’s no newer post may i trigger one – what is this sudden hustle about that mystic new team? is that being started for that lad who annihilated all opposition in French F4 a couple years ago?
I’ve heard nothing about any new team.
Another publication is reporting that Chinese money is behind attempts to poach staff from existing teams, including a quote from Christian Horner.
Where is the logic?
As the old joke goes, they are probably hoping to make a small fortune, only catch is they need to start with a large fortune.
Rumors might be false, obviously, but logic doesn’t seem to have stopped people squandering fortunes on F1 before. I believe there’s a saying that starts with, “Fools and their money…”
The supposedly Chinese backed new team that’s supposedly trying to hire RBR people?
Might have made more sense to buy Manor, no?
It makes no sense at all
I had a tip off that it might well involve a Chinese ‘manufacturing group’ and a fairly unlimited budget…
There is a very rushed hiring spree going on.
If their budget was all that, couldn’t they have bought McLaren? I thought Ron Dennis got back into an executive role on a promise he’d bring serious new investment, and got kicked back out again because he didn’t deliver?
I’ve heard lots about the new team. It’s coming. Watch this space.
Explain the logic
well, not sure about the logic, but since today McLaren are teasing Toyota to gang up and Williams becomes Honda’s factory team with Sauber trailed around for faster development. How much of all this has any substance is for everyone to suss, maybe only space filling or thinking they can trigger or change something with all this rumor work. That’s that makes F1 so exciting!
Hi Joe
It was on was on Teds notebook about a possible, he mentioned that Horner said a new team had been sounding out his employees and others.
UK viewers with withdrawal symptoms may be happy to know that “Life on the Limit” is available on the ITV hub for 3 days. History of F1.