Ferrari spent most engine tokens last winter & still have problems
Ferrari emerged as the hungriest consumer in terms of engine development tokens over the winter. The Italian manufacturer proved to be adamant to completely revise its engine packaging for the new season.
For 2016 engine manufacturers were allowed to upgrade their engines with different solutions worth 32 tokens. Ferrari spent 23, Mercedes 19, Honda 18 and Renault just 7 tokens which leaves Ferrari with the least amount of further development possibilities.
As winter testing and the Australian Grand Prix have showed, Ferrari still have some work to do, with reliablity seemingly not yet at a level that the team have come to expect. While various problems were encountered and fixed following stoppages in winter testing, Kimi Raikkonen’s DNF in Australia was caused by a overheating turbo. A somewhat worrying ascertainment in light of the upcoming Bahrain Grand Prix.
In other F1 news
Max impressed with Vettel, less so with Sainz
“Drivers that are comfortable with their team and know how to motivate them always stick out to me,” he said. “Vettel is a great example of that. I think that spirit is the most important thing for a driver.”
Tellingly, Verstappen was also asked if he sees anything to emulate in his Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz.
“Nothing, to be honest,” said the young Dutchman, just a week after their rivalry hit a high note with Verstappen’s obvious anger in Melbourne.
Ecclestone set to sell Formula One as he agrees £6billion deal
The deal, expected to be worth £6bn, is being kept under wraps with Ecclestone not naming the interested party.
“I think CVC will make a decision on the sale sooner or later.
“There are people who want to buy. Actually, two of the people have agreed the price. It’s just a question of whether CVC wants to sell or not.”
CVC purchased the sport exactly ten years ago for £1.2bn and already have sold off around half of its original holding to American asset management and investment companies. If a new buyer is successful, then it remains to be seen if Ecclestone will stay in control to run it on a day-to-day basis.
Frédéric Vasseur happy with Renault’s start
“We had no major problems. The speed has been encouraging, comparable with Force India and not far away from Williams. If someone had told me at the test in Barcelona that we fight on par with Force India and Williams, I would have laughed. That was a nice surprise, “says Vasseur.
“Jolyon had a very good debut. Kevin is well come back and was at the end of the race strongly. It’s a bit disappointing to have scored any points, because of the late start to the project we were also honestly did not expect, “says Vasseur.
INDYCAR: More F1 crossovers ahead – Andretti
IndyCar is regaining the status that will allow interchange of drivers between it and Formula 1, reckons racing legend Mario Andretti.
Former Marussia/Manor F1 drivers Max Chilton (ABOVE) and Alexander Rossi have headed to the IndyCar Series this season. Andretti, a champion in both disciplines, thinks they may be able to earn future F1 chances if they impress in the States. He believes a return to the days when drivers such as Juan Pablo Montoya, Cristiano da Matta and Sebastien Bourdais used CART/Champ Car as a route to F1, while the likes of Nigel Mansell and Mark Blundell made the opposite switch, is feasible.
“I love the crossover, I really do, these two – Max and Alexander – are still trying to get a steady ride in Formula 1. They haven’t succeeded yet. They are hoping that whatever reputation they earn here will be valuable for them to go back. Our series historically has been a great platform to bring world champions over. We’ve seen that over the years. I would like to see the series come back to that same level and I think it is going in that direction. I feel positive about that. To have this interchange between the top disciplines can only be healthy for the sport, period.”
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Sorry but I think that Mario is a bit delusional. IndyCar is not ” regaining the status that will allow interchange of drivers between it and Formula 1″. Hate to burst your bubble there, Mario. Very little major sponsors, spotty attendance, teams disappearing or contracting, and the series being all but ignored by the major sports media, other than the 500, really doesn’t indicate a return to the days of the likes of Mansell driving for Newman/Haas.
I agree the examples given to not show the logic implied. The fact that Max Chiltern was able to apparently leave his pay driver reputation behind in getting his IndyLights drive last year, simply shows how far apart the Indy series are from F1.
I doubt Alex Rossi would have gone to IndyCars if not for his nationality. The fact that a unsuccessful F1 pay driver (though probably one of the better ones) was able to fall back on the series this year shows that in terms of open wheel racing – Indy is very much the poor relation.
No F1 driver has expressed the kind of serious interest there, compared with the enthusiasm for WEC crossover after Hulkenburg’s win at Le Mans last year.
I don’t follow US motorsport that closely, but it’s clear the Indy series simply can’t touch NASCAR for race attendance or TV ratings. It’s clearly a niche sport by comparison. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that truck racing and other NASCAR esque series are more popular than Indy.
I think if IndyCars made more effort to improve the racing and the rather ugly cars, they might have more chance of attracting relatively well-known names from F1 who are looking at other series that offer a better chance of success as well as having the respect of motorsport fans. Right now WEC and DTM are well ahead there. I’ve nothing against Indy, but it wasn’t that entertaining in the heydays 20 years ago. They need to get up to – and preferably past – that level, before there’s any chance of names akin to Mansell etc taking a genuine interest; good luck with that … right now any race series that thinks Max Chiltern’s driving is worth watching needs to be more realistic!