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Previously on The Judge 13:
On This Day in #F1 : 30th September 2001 – Murray Walker
OTD Lite: 2007 – Toyota’s corporate blandness invades F1
Nico and Lewis become driving instructors
Mercedes dominate despite worst reliability
Alonso – out of the Italian frying pan into the Japanese fire
How to keep Fernando happy… as seen on Twitter
Silverstone Grand Prix Tickets, Finance now available
Lotus losing money again (UPDATED 16:45)
Remi Taffin’s insights into Suzuka’s demands on the PU
OTD Lite: 2007 – Toyota’s corporate blandness invades F1
As mentioned in the comments yesterday, on this day Sebastian Vettel ran into the back of Mark Webber as they followed close behind Lewis Hamilton’s Mclaren. Hamilton took a sensational victory in such poor conditions that the circuit paid back entrance fees to spectators that couldn’t even see the track from their stands.
And in the final laps Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa took leave of their respective senses, and played at being Villeneuve versus Arnoux at Dijon 1979. How they didn’t get penalised was beyond most observers.
But what I found fascinating was the behaviour of the organisers of the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji. The circuit prohibited spectators from setting up flags to support their favoured teams and drivers. With the exception of Toyota.
Why Toyota? Former Benetton mechanic and Fuji TV F1 commentator, Tetsuo Tsugawa explained: “…Although I have worked in Formula One for thirty years, this is the first time I have seen a Grand Prix race without seeing fans wave the flag of Ferrari. I think this is inexcusable. What I heard was Fuji Speedway prohibited flags and banners of F1 teams, but I saw a Toyota F1 flag in the stands of the Toyota-owned circuit.”
“The track later said the flags were not prohibited, but there was a miscommunication between the race organisers and the staff of the circuit. However, many fans familiar with Formula One noticed the strangeness of the circuit without the team banners.”
Of course it wouldn’t be fair to just write about the criticism they received. After all there was praise too…
“I would like to say congratulations to Fuji Speedway for hosting this race for the first time in 30 years. The facilities here are excellent and the race was well organised.” offered the Team Principal of Toyota F1, Tadashi Yamashina. You couldn’t make it up!
The Jackal
Nico and Lewis become driving instructors
TJ13 presents the fourth installment of the Allianz road safety campaign featuring Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg – filmed no doubt in happier days..
Mercedes dominate despite worst reliability
“We have enhanced controls, recruited other experts, shortened the time of replacement of various components. But while our car is a reference point in performance, from the point of view of robustness we have a problem, “says Toto Wolff.
Auto Motor Und Sport carried a survey recently about the comparable reliability of the first four teams in the 2014 World Championship. Surprisingly, Mclaren has accumulated the highest distance covered with 8277kms and only three retirements. Second behind them is Ferrari with the distance covered of 7,989kms.
Red Bull is third on the list, and despite having failed to finish on five occasions have covered 7,729kms. Which staggeringly leaves the Mercedes in just fourth position having completed the distance of ‘just’ 7,639kms.
The most recent issue for the Silver Arrows team was the breakdown of the wiring on the steering system of Nico Rosberg which seemed inexplicable seeing as the car had not been moved after qualifying had finished. But the first retirement was the spark plug cap in Australia that accounted for Lewis Hamilton.
Of course between these breakages has been the failure of the braking systems on both cars in Canada, Rosberg’s gearbox failing in Britain, Hamilton suffering problems with his brakes in Austria and Germany and a spectacular fire in Hungarian qualifying.
After a daunting pre-season testing regime – that frightened all the other runners into fearing they couldn’t compete this year – Mercedes have slowly moved way from the early season dominance to a point that the chasing pack can see chinks in the silver armour.
A despairing Niki Lauda stated: “Every time it’s something different, it can not go on like this.” It is no surprise that the Leprechaun constantly tells all that will listen that he is relevant because it is unlikely the paymasters at Stuttgart do..
Alonso – out of the Italian frying pan into the Japanese fire
Last year, media reports stated categorically that the Renault and Ferrari engines were some way off of the performance of the Mercedes engine. Considering how secretive the teams are around in-house developments it was always staggering to have neutral observers being able to accurately predict what has in fact transpired. But essentially, with teams made up of 100’s if not 1000’s of staff it is practically impossible to mute an entire workforce.
Italian sources are reporting that Honda is currently around three months behind schedule in just being able to run an engine in anger. This isn’t the twenty weeks repair schedule that TJ13 learnt about from Renault; before anybody else got wind of their problems in Jerez this year. This is fundamentally more serious and it appears that the 2015 season could well prove to be a frustrating year for Mclaren drivers – enduring worse than any of the Renault powered drivers have suffered this season.
The design of the engine hasn’t been signed off yet and currently Honda is having problems with fuel consumption allied to a lack of horsepower. Honda has invested massively within Japan and has passed over the work on the Energy Recovery System to their partner Mclaren Applied Technologies. Although this group developed the electric system for the P1 hyper car, they are currently struggling to integrate this with the Japanese engine design.
It is practically impossible that the three drivers courted by Woking do not know the current situation and whilst they may accept the money offered for what is likely to be a difficult season, would they want to consign themselves to three years of unknowing?
This possibly explains why Ferrari have decided to play hardball with Alonso. They refused his terms of extending his contract for $30 million per annum and Marco Mattiacci has become detached in his dealings with the Spanish superstar.
As an amateur magician, Alonso understands the playing of cards intuitively but is he prepared – at 34 years old next season – to gamble himself to a project that will gradually see his personal competitiveness begin to wane.
Whilst many remember the old alliance between Mclaren and Honda as a dominant one, the F1 landscape has changed in the intervening quarter of a century. The last engines that Honda built for their own team in the mid 2000’s were both under-powered and had heavy consumption.
How to keep Fernando happy… as seen on Twitter
Silverstone Grand Prix Tickets, Finance now available
Silverstone have launched a partnership with Zebra finance which offers finance opportunities for those wishing to purchase tickets for the British GP in 2015.
“To celebrate the launch of our new instalment plan option we’re offering 0% interest on all ticket purchases made through Zebra Finance. This offer will only be around until 17th October 2014, so don’t hesitate, purchase your 2015 British Grand Prix tickets today using the instalment plan.
The repayments via the Zebra Finance Instalment Plan are illustrated with the Representative Example below.
| Amount of credit | £755 |
| Repayable by 9 monthly instalments of | £83.89 |
| Total amount repayable | £755 |
| Annual rate of interest (fixed) | 0% |
| APR Representative | 0% |
9 month example based upon purchase of 2 tickets of £345 each plus car parking of £65”.
This offer is only available to those purchasing full 3 day grandstand tickets and approval or rejection of an applicant occurs within an hour.
Of course Zebra finance are not doing this for the love of Formula 1, they will receive a commission or benefits in kind from Silverstone to fund the administration of the scheme.
The cost of attending the British Grand Prix weekend for a family of 4, even attending GA – with accommodation and travel is unlikely to be less than £1,000 and more likely £1,500.
This speaks volumes about the state of F1’s finances and the cost to race-goers. Certain German outlets are describing this as ‘grotesque’… Finance a car… finance a visit to the British GP.
Lotus losing money again
Despite suggestions from the Lotus team deputy principal Federico Gastaldi, that “the immediate future is bright and we are all working hard to be well prepared for 2015”, the BBC reports Lotus 2013 loses have increased from the £55.3m in 2012 to £64.9m in 2013.
Further, the team is spending around £130m a year on its F1 programme and they are around £130m in debt to Genii shareholders.
The CEO of Enstone Matthew Carter claims Lotus budget is relatively modest when compared to the bigger spenders in Formula One whose annual budget is in excess of £1/4 billion ($400m).
Carter claims that for 2014, following a programme of redundancies and the introduction of new partners, the Lotus team will post numbers close to break even.
This is all very positive news, and rightly so considering Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll is now considering buying the Enstone team.
TJ13 reported earlier this year, that Lotus and Renault were close to doing a deal which would see the Enstone outfit as the Renault works team. However, the disaster that was the Renault power train and the subsequent and necessary significant input from Red Bull engineers, who were shipped to work full time in Viry – put pay to this.
There have been many who believe Red Bull has been the unofficial Renault works team for some years, though Helmut Marko rejected this before the Singapore GP 2014.
“That was never the case. For many years we’ve been a customer team for them like all the others and it’s only our success that has made us move closer together – under such conditions Lotus was, for a long time, the secret darling of Renault. That has only changed very recently. What followed was the announcement that Red Bull is the official works team of Renault”.
It is for this reason Lotus are now looking to Mercedes for a power train, and have a pay as you go deal in place – which is not ideal.
Much of the value to the Genii investors would have been based upon the fact that Renault were seriously considering buying the team back, though now it appears ‘Lotus Renault’ will be just ‘Lotus’ in 2015.
Sauber appear to have blown an offer from Stroll as reports in the Swiss media suggest the Canadian investor believed they were asking too high a price. So the Genii investors must now take a long hard look at their predicament.
The team has lost money for the past 2 years and the prize money they will receive for 2014 will be around $18m less than it was for finishing fourth in 2013.
A deal which would see the Genii investors get their cash back – may in fact be as good as they can expect. But will they take that – or believe the perpetual dream that big money can be made from owning a Formula 1 team?
| Team | 2013 Standings | Column 1 | Column 2 | Total |
| Red Bull | 1 | $35 million | $66.5 million | $101.5 million |
| Mercedes | 2 | $35 million | $56 million | $91 million |
| Ferrari | 3 | $35 million | $45.5 million | $80.5 million |
| Lotus | 4 | $35 million | $38.5 million | $73.5 million |
| McLaren | 5 | $35 million | $35 million | $70 million |
| Force India | 6 | $35 million | $31.5 million | $66.5 million |
| Sauber | 7 | $35 million | $24.5 million | $59.5 million |
| Toro Rosso | 8 | $35 million | $21 million | $56 million |
| Williams | 9 | $35 million | $17.5 million | $52.5 million |
| Marussia | 10 | $0 | $14 million | $14 million |
| Caterham | 11 | $35 million | $0 | $35 million |
Source: Joe Saward
Notes
You have to finish 2 out of 3 years in top 10 to get column one monies (like a grant).
Column one monies are 50% of the revenue FOM provides for the teams.
Column 2 monies are the other 50%, 19% of which is for winner down to 4% for 10th place. 11th place gets nothing.
Ferrari on top of this are awarded somewhere between $18-30m for being Ferrari (the oldest F1 team around and agreeing with Bernie). Note Ferrari got more money with this arrangement finishing 3rd than the winners.
Should Caterham fail to finish above 11th – they will get ZERO from FOM for this years prize money and no column one funding for 2015.
Marrusia will go from receiving just $14m in 2014 to $52.5m in 2015 should they stay in 9th place.
For the first three years of their existance, the ‘new’ teams had a column 3 fund of $10m each. This has been withdrawn.
Remi Taffin’s insights into Suzuka’s demands on the PU
Suzuka blends in historic fashion a range of corners with a high power section of the circuit. The first half of the lap is where the corners are found with the ‘power’ sector coming at the end of the lap.
Taffin describes where the various PU components are being taxed most. “The first challenge of the lap is the Esses, a series of bends where the driver will dance with the throttle as he changes direction at high speed.
Similar to Silverstone’s Maggotts and Becketts, the driver enters the complex at approximately 245kph and carries the speed through until the exit of the complex. He will spend approximately 15secs in fifth or sixth gear through this section. With plenty of quick lifts and changes of direction, a neutral handling car with good drive throughout the torque range is required.
This section gives the MGU-H plenty of time to recover energy through the constant exhaust stream, while the MGU-K will also get a top up as the driver touches the brakes. The best opportunity for the K to recharge the battery, however, will be through the hairpin and then the chicane at the end of the lap”.
And now to the grunt required, Remi continues, “The second part of the track will really tax the ICE and turbo. The distance from Turn 14 through the awesome 130R to the chicane is 1,250m and the driver will be at full throttle throughout. At full rpm that will take nearly 17secs, meaning the driver will cover 75m each sec. Inside the ICE the pistons will turn at an incredible 200 times per second, generating enormous internal forces.
Due to the strain on each part, we will, where possible, introduce new components for this race. Reliability will start to play a major role in results at this point in the season since every team and driver has had to mix and match as we have learnt more on the operation of the power unit. To keep aces in hand, we may even see teams run fewer miles in practice to save the engines for the rest of the year.
We are however fairly at ease on this front since we have committed ourselves to introduce a sixth power unit where needed. The picture is a lot clearer now and although not exactly ideal to have to introduce new parts and take penalties, we can do this at races where the impact will be minimised. We believe Suzuka will be a good challenge, but one that we are looking forward to with no worries”.
Having taken the tactical decision to introduce a 6th Power Unit ‘at some point’, this suggests Renault and Red Bull will not be hostages to fortune as to when this happens.
Hence, we may see both Red Bull’s take it on the chin this weekend, and elect to take a sixth PU and 10 place grid drops, whilst they hope others power trains will fall apart under the demands of this classic motor racing circuit.
Nurburgring back in crisis
Following the noise made by new ‘owners’ of the Nurburgring that they were negotiating an exclusive contract for the German GP which would see Hockenheim out in the cold, Capricorn may well be about to default on the tiered finance payments required to finalise the deal to buy the historic racing circuit.
The German based Capricorn Group, supplies high-end crankshafts, cylinder liners, pistons, connecting rods and fibre-reinforced composite materials to the motor sports industry, wanted to develop the Nuerburging as a technology centre. However, the deal to acquire ‘the ring’ and associated assets was reported at over 100 million euros, of which Capricorn were to put up 45m euros and a German Bank – the rest.
The bank financing the rest appears to have pulled the plug as Capricorn allegedly failed to make the second of their three instalments by the end of July.
Following a collapse into insolvency in 2012 of the previous ‘ring’ operators, Administrator Jens Lieser was appointed to oversea the sale of ‘the ring’ and other assets. Lieser is said to be now talking to those whose bids failed back in March, to see what interest still exists with them to acquire the Nurburgring.
This leaves Ecclestone and FOM with a dilemma. In 2013 when Nurburgring was last due to host the German GP, the promoters delayed signing the deal until the eleventh hour, leaving Ecclestone with no choice but to drop the hosting fee – or have no race.
Mr. E will be wise to this second time around, and Hockenheim will be receiving a call fairly soon, one suspects. Look out for “Hockenheim are lovely people” quotes coming soon from the F1 Supremo.
The decision for the location of the race must be made before the commencement of the season.
Well apparently Alonso to McLaren-Honda in 2015 is a done deal and may be announced this weekend. If not, info coming out now is that it may be delayed until the end of November to give Ferrari a chance to sort their line-up….
You say apparently like it’s confirmed
Pitlane talk on twitter have said that it is a done deal but not official as of yet in the sense that it hasn’t been publicly announced. They have said that they will deactivate their twitter account if they are wrong, and there are also other sources on twitter saying that he has signed for McLaren. Pitlane talk have also said that a respected italian journalist have told them that nando signed the contract last week.
…..we heard that too – but not sufficient for us to announce.
Plus we also know Lewis’ management has had conversations with Ferrari, but were he to leave Mercedes, it would be unlikely he would announce this prior to winning the WDC title for risk of prejudice.
This just makes the Alonso announcement less likely – as Vettel has practically ruled himself out of a move next year. Unless Ferrari go Button/Bianchi
… We did announce LdM leaving Ferrari 5th August – Monza was in Sept…
Its all about confidence in your sources…
@TJ13 Why Button? Kimi is under contract with Ferrari next year. RAI/BIA would work until 2016. Jenson may be retiring despite giving himself a plug in Autosport that Honda needs a driver with experience, cultural understanding, etc. But Fred is a samurai!
…The argument for NOT Bianchi is…
Ferrari haven’t such a relatively inexperienced driver for many years – Its whether Mattiacci has the balls to do so – particularly with all the other changes he is making…
Understood, various sources on twitter are also stating that were Alonso to go, then Ferrari would like Lewis Hamilton or Seb Vettel in that order of preference…. So it makes sense that Ferrari have spoken to Lewis about a possible move.
However, i can’t see lewis moving right now as the car is too good for Merc to have a bad car in the next couple of years at least. If Alonso does go, then it’s more likely got to be Bianchi right? – seeing as Vettel has already been quite vocal about not going to Ferrari.
Its really laughable and comical that Button name is even mentioned or put in the sentence with Ferrari.The guy is being called a non Top driver by Mclaren his current team .Button havent have a good year in F1 since 2011 and is about to let go By Mclaren.but some how Ferrari is going to give their top seat to some one Mclaren think is not good enough is truly delusional.
Oh by the way if Japan is Button 2nd home race ,then surely Usa must be Lewis 2nd,after all you guys him Hollywood right.
And why is everybody leaving the hulk out of the equation? Ferrari should sign him up alongside kimi. A much safer bet than bianchi. And at this moment much likelier to pay off.
There’s a big chink in Hulkenburg’s armour unfortunately and that’s the fact he’s never scored a podium. I think might be holding him back a bit. After all, don’t forget a few podiums for Perez got him a McLaren drive, which at the time of signing was a good seat. I rate Hulk higher than Perez, but unfortunately Perez has got a podium in the same car as him which, has lowered his stock a bit. Up until the Hungary he was making Perez look very ordinary, but he’s suddenly getting beaten by him currently. I think he really deserves a shot in a Ferrari but for the above reasons I feel he will get overlooked.
I’m quite surprised about Honda, they have plenty of resources, plenty of talented engineers and the weight of the brand on their shoulders. How can they have allowed themselves to drop bahind in development, they have had at least 2years if not 3 (as I’m sure they had a plan for the engine before they had a ‘works’ team lines up) to get it right, have they done a Renault, by underestimating the magnitude of the challenge in front of them in the form of people and resources required. I’m shocked they don’t seem to have learned anything from the whole Renault debacle.
They may have sushi on their face come Melbourne 2015…….
1 thing to consider, is that the start of this season Renault and RedBull were nowhere, 6months down the line and they are the only other team to win a race, so Honda have 6 months to improve to a competitive level, I’d say it’s do-able if they commit the right resources and personal. 6months is almost a lifetime in F1
The three RB wins are down to anything but the Renault engine. They were shambolic in winter testing until RB sent a crack team to Viriy, which sorted out the reliability of the electronics. It is still woefully down on power. Their chassis makes up for it. It is IMHO better than the Merc and miles ahead of anything else, so if the Honda prediction turns out to be true McLaren needs to build a spectacularly good chassis and that’s something they are spectacularly bad at.
“Under promise and over deliver” springs to mind…
Especially given they will be acutely aware of F1 fan’s perception of their last foray into Formula One shameful exit.
I go with that, SIS… expectations management time, and cued to have effect in the permasillyseason.
Honda are already in the Indy game, but Mercedes invested not just extra money, but extra time. Still, it was Brawn’s charge in the fall that put them far ahead of the field, PU wise and Honda has the broad outline of how it was achieved. It will cost scads, but they do have the money and manpower to make it happen. Whether they have the will is another matter.
I think the first word in the second para says it all……Grain of salt comes to mind….
Some classic mind games going on between Hamilton and Rosberg there. I wonder how long it is before yodeling is banned on the team radio?
Or used as coded messages. Let’s see Charlie and his goons figure that one out
re Alonso
with his ‘i would preffer titles over respect’ claim, i think karma may be paying him a visit, had he partnered raikkonen at ferrari from 2010, chances are raikkonen would have taken more points away from rivals and titles would have followed the spaniard in at least one of the seasons. imagine him seeing a competitive ferrari from inside the cockpit of his mclaren honda next year, and the viagra like effect that would have on raikkonen.
i can believe that honda will find it tough despite their talented staff and resources, ferrari, red bull and renault have resources and talented people and look what they turned up to the first race of the year with.
he needs to sit in the ferrari for at least one more year, or we will know for certain that he talks poop 🙂
Good analogy. But Ferrari were never prepared for that. It could very well be that 2010 and 2012 would have been different.
Strange because vettel has those titels yet alonso feels the need to play them down
“with his ‘i would preffer titles over respect’ claim, i think karma may be paying him a visit,”
Yup, not to forget his 2007 year at McLaren. Had he kept himself from blackmailing and badmouthing the team, and not shut the door wide close on them, he might even have had more than simply professional, grudging and unwelcome support. And he might have clinched that title in front of Kimi and Lewis. But I suspect at that time he was feeling so cocky, invincible and with some many more seasons to come, that he could afford to throw away a title here and there.
It shall be sweet irony if Fred retires with his only two titles from the Renault era..
I think your last sentence is very likely…
Why am I agreeing with you so much, SIS?
Yeah, I think he’ll see out a bit in the red, then buy a team or something else. I’d love to see him next to Lewis, and that combo would sell Ferraris for sure, in a year that is what they have to do, forget titles, sales, sales sales. So Fred gets a deal with cheapo Ferrari engines, i’d say that has to be Sauber if he’s buying. Maybe the great Stoll was sniffing for them, out of loyalty to ensure him first dibs on his next roadster… Fred looks to be a man with a price, and Ferrari have talked about spending what it takes, but not on him, not just as a driver, I think they want him for marketing, then to help them with a second team. I think he’d be good at that. I know he wants to win again, who doesn’t, but there’s no place to get the terms or conditions he wants, MB is just too far out, because he’s just so patched in where he is, and his manager is not welcome to the German crowd at all, form what I can tell. Honda are downplaying their entry, I think to get a realistic view of the market. They don’t want to get whored for some amazing advantage because of bringing a new engine, they just don’t want that at all. And they don’t want to pay for drivers silly money. You’d think that having a kick ass engine would get you anyone, but everything is still dialed down in these cars, lots else can change. It’s definitely a new formula. Fred is not wanting a five year deal, I don’t see, even then. Keeping talk down about their PU is just keeping the lid on things, so they can breathe a bit, I reckon. As for MB being THE place for next year, I don’t think so. You just can’t have such nonsense go on and there not be problems down the line. Paddy playing down Ross was disgusting, but spoke to me of insecurity, of trying to make it all the great PU, because they’re fluffing everything else in the pipeline, and he feels the drop coming… would Lewis only move with a cup in hand? If so, the only thing to say will be MB failed with their stalling strategy. Maybe he’ll run with the WDC to the red, and is Kimi truly worth all that, right now? I don’t think he’s such a solid contract as may be expected, after all he just wanted to make sure he got paid this year.. but there’s been nothing said much about Kimi’s deal much at all in all of this, hardly anything… hmm..
JoJ, be careful…. You don’t want to be agreeing with me too much, you won’t get be included in the “in” crowd around here… 😉
It would an eternal shame (for me) if Alonso remains “stuck” with “just” 2 titles. My favorite driver ever is MSC, but I rank Alonso just as high.
Re- Silverstone ticket finance
Shouldn’t it shout volumes at FOM that fans might need to take out a finance deals on tivkets, just to be able to attend a grand prix.
Buying GP tickets with a loan… Really? I mean, c’mon… Right? I have no words… Buying such things on finance… It’s just… I don’t know where to start… The youth? FOM? Silverstone? It’s just all wrong somehow…
https://stillisurprise.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/image31.jpg
Totally totally disgusted by that news, it highlights all the worst of everything. German press outcry the loudest, sure, they have a sense of value, but it sums it all up for me, F1 wants my first born mortgaged, to .. oh, heck, I meant this year to hit the races, had to cancel to rework my business, but I’m almost dreading getting back to going, no matter I feel I need the experience of how it is now, badly… i’d planned this year precisely because thought the rules would be a good change, maybe next is more interesting to attend, i’ll argue it that way, anyhow, to myself…
Buying tickets on finance……… Has the world gone mad??!!!!!
Crikey, that’s for 1 ticket…… Yep, deffo an issue there. That’s an entire holiday for most families. Chickens. Roost. You do the math.
Two 3-day tickets, but still ridiculous. Have your sections/boxes for the money’s-no-object crowd, but GA should be attainable by your average Joe/Jane making the average or median income in that country.
Bernie’s just an unbelievably greedy SOB … when he’s gone, there has to be a shakeup the whole way down (from prize distribution money, to race promoter’s fees, right down to ticket prices).
Well according to Mr E, he’s not to be blamed for high ticket prices, but instead blame the promoters who are demanding more money from him. So like every business man, he passes the extra cost down to the paying public.
…$260 – 3 day GA at Silverstone 2014 – about half for kids
It’s especially sad because at the end of the day it’s Silverstone. It’s not like you’re paying a Kings ransom to watch racing at Spa, or Rouen, or Bremgarten, or the old Nurburgring.
Re: the reliability stats; so essentially McLaren have built a tortoise this year!
Just a shame the races don’t last long enough for the hares to get worn out eh.
As they say, easier to make a fast car reliable than a slow reliable car go fast! Ask Ferrari, they’ve been at it for years 😛
That’s essentially what they’ve admitted with Button saying they’ve built a “driveable” car. A three wheeler’s a driveable car but I wouldn’t count on not getting lapped more times than their is actual laps in the race, if I took it round Monaco.
“Alonso – out of the Italian frying pan into the Japanese fire”
Is TJ13 reading Autosport, or the other way round? 🙂
Here’s what Autosport+ published (after the TJ13 post this morning):
http://plus.autosport.com/premium/feature/6207/ask-gary-should-alonso-go-to-mclaren/
“Maria, I have no idea, so I will change this question around to ‘should Alonso sign for McLaren?’
[..]
“So in response to the revised question, my answer is: why would he move? It would be like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.”
TJ13 = Gary Hartstein ?
Bear in mind lands, autosport copied the series of articles BJF wrote for top 20 drivers not to win a title. I think that would suggest how Autosport works…
“The team has lost money for the past 2 years and the prize money they will receive for 2014 will be around $18m less than it was for finishing fourth in 2013.”
Am I reading this right? The difference between finishing 4th and not at all is just 18 million? A season full of podiums and even a race win only nets you a little over 18 million?
The prize money should be divided equally (how much would that be per team?). Its not like the regular top 3 of the WCC are in it for the prize money anyway (Ferrari, RBR, Mercedes, not even Mclaren).
Between 4th and 8th is $18m
4th and last $38m
(approximations based on reported FOM income/TV monies)
Thanks for the update!
We are however fairly at ease on this front since we have committed ourselves to introduce a sixth power unit where needed. The picture is a lot clearer now and although not exactly ideal to have to introduce new parts and take penalties, we can do this at races where the impact will be minimised.
I still think it quite possible that one or other of the Mercs will gamble on a new power unit (probably at COTA, where the associated grid penalty would be least damaging) in order to have a power/reliability advantage in the final double pointer.
And if (for example) Hamilton were to win the next couple of races, it wouldn’t be a gamble – more like insurance.
If the team has a good idea that a whole bunch of other drivers will be taking a 6th PU at a certain event, then of course it’d be to their advantage to get their new PU penalty in first. Could almost be no pain b/c of it.
I’m curious to know if Mr. E is a shareholder in Zebra. This is a really interesting development, a very bad one imo, nonetheless, it’s interesting.
I should think if Marussia stay 9th, their engineers will wet themselves with excitement over all the extra mo ey they can spend on going faster.
I’d love to see what Marussia could do with a half decent budget. I would guess Ferrari throw away more parts that Marussia even makes in a year!
This is why I am not against a kind of customer cars.. at least blueprints… because I want badly to see how well these less fortunate teams can deliver as a team, not perpetually distracted by worries over their paychecks or their comings aching in anticipation of a finish in 9th..
Needs a edit button, cojones but autotypo seemed to get the idea….
Marussia and Caterham have both written off huge amounts of money, probably 9 figures each. Marussia’s backer is running out of cash, so getting points was timely for them. Caterham missing out thus left them on the brink of failure, as Fernandes had had enough.
HRT did well to last as long as they did, frankly. Kolles is now doing the same with Caterham, prepping for 2015 to give a chance of any 11th team competing then at all.