Kevin Magnussen, Haas, Hockenheimring, 2019

Grosjean admits “we got lucky” after latest clash with Magnussen

RaceFans Round-up

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In the round-up: Romain Grosjean is unwilling to discuss his latest collision with his team mate but admits the team were fortunate.

What they say

Grosjean was asked about the collision with Kevin Magnussen:

I won’t comment on that one. We got lucky.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

The decision not to issue a sporting sanction to Ferrari for the collision between Charles Leclerc and Romain Grosjean in the pits surprised many people:

I do not understand the stewards sometimes. For me, this should be the biggest no-no of all the rules as you have people within metres of the cars. The cars are still traveling at a fast enough speed to do a lot of damage as well.

We seem to be getting closer and closer to a proper crash in the pit lane, and I feel like the stewards are going to keep doing nothing until someone gets seriously hurt or killed.
LB (@Burden93)

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Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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51 comments on “Grosjean admits “we got lucky” after latest clash with Magnussen”

  1. Dear Honda, sometimes 1+1 does not = 2, as 2 x F1 wins is not GP2, and if I’m not mistaken your motorcycle division supplies the engines for GP2. That said, CONGRATULATIONS.

    1. James Coulee
      29th July 2019, 0:50

      I’m happy for Honda, but that “GP2” burn at Alonso is sad: all it does is remind me of the ridiculous years of silly promises and terrible results they had.

      It would have been better to leave it alone so that we’re not distracted from the (incredibly late, but congrats) achievement.

      1. Andre Furtado
        29th July 2019, 0:58

        I have a feeling the chassis and driver have to have a huge impact on the engine. Look at how the Honda engine isn’t blowing up and how the Renault engine is under Daniel. I imagine engines are like drivers there is a chassis for everyone and every situation is unique. Only when all of it is a perfect fit is when it wins races and championships.

        1. James Coulee
          29th July 2019, 2:09

          Sure, but this Honda engine is far from being the same that was behind the Mclaren up to two years ago: the situations aren’t comparable.

        2. The chassis, definitely. Last year, Honda was said to have made the engine package a bit bigger because the Toro Rosso engine allowed them too (which let them achieve better reliability, I think), while the McLaren chassis required a smaller PU, which might have made Honda’s job a lot harder.

          Having a whole season to just introduce engine upgrades without any pressure to get immediate results probably helped, too.

          The driver? I could buy it if this was the 60’s, or the 70’s, or the 80’s, with manual gearboxes, engines that would over rev, and no telemetry that allowed the team to warn their drivers that their engines were being overdriven.

          Right now? The engines have so many electronic controls that I can’t see that much difference into what a driver can do. At most, maybe overheating the engine by staying too long in someone’s wake, but the team will tell them to back off to allow it to cool down, so I just can’t see how a driver can have a noticeable influence.

        3. While amusing at a schoolboy/internet comment level, I agree it is quite unnecessary to be calling out the “GP2” point in an official tweet. Honda could have just focused on their double podium, which is noteworthy in itself.

          1. Maybe they picked it up from this guy, @phylyp.

            Grand Podium 2 engine.

          2. internet comment

            @coldfly – I knew someone would pick that up, which is why I qualified my statement above with a “amusing at an internet comment level”. I might not be the best at it, but I’m not too shabby at CYA ;)

          3. @phylyp, must feel good that even at the schoolboy/internet commenter level you still have friends reading your comments ;)

          4. @coldfly – only you, it appears. So “friend” in the singular :D

          5. @phylyp that was the best comment of the whole weekend

            Honda Motorsport doesn’t have to obey to the corporate mindset, it is motorsport, it was invented for us to have fun, and for those that participate in it too.

            Was it a bit childish? Yes, was it a bit unprofessional? Yes, was it unnecessary? Definitely. But that’s I loved it, so keep them coming

          6. @johnmilk – fair enough, that’s another perfectly acceptable way to view it.

            In honesty, its not political correctness that prompted my statement. I like seeing Honda do well, and a tweet like that just sets themselves up for failure/embarrassment.

          7. @phylyp

            tweet like that just sets themselves up for failure/embarrassment.

            Guess who is going to be here to laugh at that as well

          8. @johnmilk – fair enough, I’ll join in with you :)

        4. I have a feeling the chassis and driver have to have a huge impact on the engine. Look at how the Honda engine isn’t blowing up and how the Renault engine is under Daniel.

          I agree that a chassis can make or break an engine, given the constraints a chassis might place on the PU layout and design (cooling, component layout, etc.)

          However, I’d disagree that a driver can drive an engine in a manner that harms it, without it being either prevented by the ECU (e.g. overrevving, gear changes to overrev it) or the team (e.g. running it in a powerful mode for too long that generates excess heat).

          These are “fly-by-wire” powertrains, with a control unit in the loop and a lot of telemetry. If a driver’s driving pattern pushes the engine beyond the limit, it is a failure of the designers to have determined that limit and set in place a control/warning around it. Consider any modern road car with a dual clutch (or any automatic transmission, I’d think) – at speed, one cannot shift into a lower gear that will overrev the engine beyond the redline. The transmission control unit intercepts the command and ignores it due to the danger posed.

          It is possible that different drivers have different driving styles (e.g. one driver might slam the accelerator more aggressively at corner exit), but I’d hardly say that would cause a blowout. And if it does, that’s a problem with the engine, not the driver – the engine serves the driver, not the other way around.

          1. I read your comments @phylyp if that helps you get plural. :-)

          2. @bernasaurus – thank you, you’ve singlehandedly doubled my fanbase! ;-)

      2. Very well put.

    2. @hohum the person handling the twitter might get fired on that one. I get the joke, being Alonso and 2 GP wins.
      Beginning this season triumph supplies moto2.

      1. @peartree or promoted

      2. @peartree, thanks, I forgot that one, my excuse being that our TV overlords down here in OZ don’t show us any supporting acts in motorsport, just the main event, that and the fact I often make the mistake of commenting before I have finished my morning coffee.

  2. I suspect (or hope) it wasn’t the Japanese that made this dig at Alonso – it’s not their way. RBR maybe.

    In any case, Honda failed miserably for 3 full years and naysayers who claim it was mainly the McLaren chassis are grasping for straws. One only needs to look at the number of DNF’s (and DNS’s) in the first 3 years – inept is putting it mildly. Alonso consistently brought them more points than they deserved.

    It’s taken them 5 years to be somewhat competitive – that’s great but they still haven’t reached the promised land. I want them to succeed and finally put pressure on Merc/Hamilton but they need to stay humble. Maybe they are upset with ALO’s success with Toyota or his winning the Rolex 24 – passing the Honda’s (Acura’s) and winning in a Cadillac.

    Alonso is not the nicest guy and will never win popularity contests but he is an all time great and should be treated as such. Hamilton would have acted the same – they are champions after all. Time for Honda to move on stop beating on a dead horse. Karma is a two way street.

    1. Good point at Jerry…but sadly, a lot of people dont see it that way.

      If you look back through the recent history of Honda-Mclaren-Alonso, you’d find that the latter was actually very supportive of “The Project”, until perhaps their last season together, when everything just feel to bits. Mclaren did not make things are better to be honest…sure it wasn’t entirely down to their chassis, but the whole situation was managed extremely poorly, and their PR was absolutely horrendous.

      Anywho, like you say, its taken them 5 years to get here…better late than never I suppose.

      1. A lot of people don’t see it that way because it is not exactly that way.
        Honda wanted to wait another year before coming into F1. Mclaren rushed them in and then gave them a some tough dimensions to work within. Mclaren also wary of Honda being a car manufacturer and a former competitor, didn’t go the extra mile to ensure they integrated the chassis with the engines, and worked only with the engines as they were delivered.
        Lets not also forget that the first 2 years of the Hybrid era, no changes were allowed in the engines so Honda was essentially stuck with their original design concept.
        A team like Mclaren wants results which then forces Honda to be conservative with its upgrades.
        Ultimately it was Honda engines that appeared to fail, but it was a two way street.

  3. Agree with COTD; 2 nasty near misses in the pits this weekend (Grosjean driving deeper towards a pit box to avoid a collision and Leclerc’s unsafe release) and the punishment amounts to some cash.

    What will it take for the stewards to penalise the team with sporting consequences? They used to do so, was it changed based on fans complaining, or the teams lobbying?

    1. I only hope the stewards are not responding in any way to the recent criticism of their constant race rulings. Safety violations should always be punished more harshly than technical violations. How absurd it is that 2 almost violent collisions in the most densely human area on track site (the pits) would only get cash penalties when Alfa with their clutch shenanigans get 30 second race penalties. Let’s keep massive fines for tech oopsies and time or point penalties for dangerous driving.

      1. @sloppysmusic Ironically, responding the way they have gives them the same problem as the one they had with the on-track rulings: inconsistency. If fans could have trusted their responses to either would be actually consistent (instead of merely claimed to be such), then there wouldn’t have been so much outcry because there wouldn’t have been so much suppression of racing from fear of the consequences.

  4. I know its simplistic, but this is Bottas with one foot out the door isn’t it?

    I understand that many drivers including his teammate succumbed to going off at that corner, but with Toto Wolff has said with respect to his drivers, this was Bottas’ chance to bring it home for Merc…and he blew it. I’m saying he would have won the race, but I think he had an opportunity to make it uncomfortable for Max.

    Having said all this, he was struggling to get past Stroll. This is another reason why I feel he may be snubbed. Flashes aside, I always get the feeling that Bottas lacks that true killer instinct. When he’s got it all hooked up, he is supreme, but when things aren’t perfect, he seems to fade away. He can’t seem to driver around issues as well as some others can.

    Having said all this, the guy has won 2 races this season and finished second in most others. However, I still get this lingering feeling that he perhaps doesn’t the “it” factor. Perhaps its just me. There is no doubt that Toto rates his protege Ocon very highly. Perhaps Toto sees Ocon as the ideal candidate to takeover Lewis’ crown?

    Whatever happens, I can’t see Bottas being the number 1 driver at Merc when Lewis eventually moves on.

    1. I think Bottas is safe but will never be a number 1 driver wherever he drives.
      Hamilton likes him and Mercedes is somewhat obliged to him (HAM) especially when he’s winning them WCC’s and WDC’s.
      BOT is a good rear gunner but a step down from ROS – for now all he has to do is get on the podium consistently and he is doing just that.
      If RBR or Red ever get in their league and start challenging for WCC’s, he will probably be out of a seat.

    2. I think Hamilton will be at Ferrari in 2021, with Ocon and possibly Vettel/Russel at Mercedes… but who knows. Ocon probably will replace Bottas next season though.

  5. Earth to Honda…earth to Honda:
    Your engine didn’t win the race today – strategy and a great driver did.
    VER is doing what ALO did – bringing them (undeserved) points in many instances.
    You still have a looooong way to go boys – don’t flatter yourselves just yet.

    1. 2 Hondas from different teams on the podium and at the same time 2 Ferrari and 1 Renault engine blew up this weekend.
      Also i dont remember all the victories Alonso brought Honda so vividly as you do, if its down to the driver Verstappen sure is a better investment for them than Alonso.

      1. It could be argued that having less horsepower in traction limited conditions is actually advantageous so you’re right in respect that it could be Honda is partly responsible for the “performance”.

    2. Jeez, let them have their moment. They went through 3 very tough years getting ridiculed at every turn, even by their own driver. I say Honda should big themselves up as much as they like. Milk it for all it’s worth, even if it ws a wet race.

  6. Lance storms to fourth in tempestuous German Grand Prix (Racing Point)
    “First of all, I need to apologise to my team because I made a mistake. I’ve thrown away a great opportunity today to score big points for the team.”

    Keith – this point was made yesterday as well by @fer-no65 – it would be good if you could put the name of the person providing the quote/subtext, when it contradicts the headline. I know it isn’t hard, because the other 3 articles in today’s round-up have the person’s name in there. It is just this one – coincidently the one most likely to get a reaction out of commenters reacting to Stroll’s name – that has Perez’s name missing.

    Disappointing German GP for Lewis and Valtteri (Mercedes)
    Valtteri Bottas: “It’s a shame because today was a good opportunity for me to make up some points to Lewis and it was my own fault that I ended up not getting any points at all in the end.”

    Amusing tweet, btw. I didn’t realize Norris’ retirement was also down to the PU.

    1. I ‘third’ you and @fer-no65 on that.

      The round-up has long stopped to be my daily go-to article: misses major articles; includes old quotes; too focussed on repeating own tweets; and, even the comment section is deteriorating.
      I use this link nowadays to stay up to date.

      1. @coldfly: Comment section deteriorating? It’s part of racefans green initiative. Recycle, reuse, re-ferment. Out of the compost of current comments a richer, lush crop of comments will one day emerge. ;-)

        1. @coldfly @jimmi-cynic It s not my fault I never raised the level here

          1. @johnmilk: Thanks for clearing that up. Or down. Or sideways.

  7. Had a little chuckle at Keith’s tweet.

    Now that Honda have finally gotten their PU working, Renault’s even more exposed than it has been since 2014.

    I was excited when Daniel signed with Renault last year because I thought that they’d actually start to really throw some effort at getting further up the grid. Sadly nothing really seems to have changed.

    1. The sad thing is that tweet kinda sums up why both constructors might be leaving F1 after next year.

      Mercedes might be leaving F1 because there’s nothing to win anymore (brand-wise) in the new era and Renault might leave F1 too because of a lack of success and just the utter PR disaster that F1 has been for them ever since buying Lotus in 2014.

  8. I loved Renault’s explanation of Ricciardo’s engine problem as an exhaust issue.

    Well, I suppose if parts of the pistons are coming out of the exhaust……

    1. Well you have to start from the obvious

    2. I guess you can define the ICE as auxiliary equipment to the exhaust to create the proper airflow ;)
      @sham

  9. I blame sky sports for tgis social media round-up. How can so many people not thinkbfor themselves, they are so wrong.

  10. For some reason, reading through Byron Young’s twitter makes my eye twitch.

    GemanGP? GEMAN? Where’s that, was there another F1 race on at the same time in this mysterious country?

    1. @nikkit – at least this is a tweet, likely on a mobile device. Remember the “Spainish” Grand Prix? Now that was a proper egg-on-face situation.

      1. you mean a yoke?

  11. ”I won’t comment on that one. We got lucky.” – And yet he still did later on anyway, thus, contradicted himself.

    I also was a bit surprised about the penalty for the unsafe release. These cases have always tended to lead to a time-penalty for the driver who was released onto the path of another following a pit stop, but this time only a financial penalty. Well, hopefully, this consistency would now remain.

  12. Honda clearly still touchy about Alonso’s GP2 engine comment! I’m amazed that tweet made it past the powers that be…good on them.

  13. After two previous incidents (ESP & GBR) I think both will fall out…

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