Button to get first taste of MP4-26

F1 Fanatic round-up

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Welcome to today’s round-up. I’m in Jerez for a second day following the testing action which will see Jenson Button drive the new McLaren for the first time.

Here’s what else is going on today:

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Grosjean not feeling overlooked (Autosport)

“I think [management organisation] Gravity and me, we have the target to be in Formula 1 in 2012. That’s the goal so at the moment we go step by step.”

February 10th, 2011 (McLaren)

“We estimate that close to a quarter of a million man-hours have gone into our new machine, and the effort doesn’t stop now the car’s begun its assault on the racetracks of the world. The development cycle will go on till the end of the season, when once again it’ll be time to focus 100 per cent of our efforts on the following year’s contender.”

Williams to accelerate growth with flotation (Financial Times)

“Williams will be listing as Williams Grand Prix Holdings on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in order to avoid the need to disclose the value of its major contracts.”

Scarbs on Twitter

“McLaren exhausts: Quite clearly seen at the back (Arrows to help you! lol)”

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Comment of the day

Ferrari are trying to pull the wool over our eyes with their car’s new name and macahan’s not having any of it:

The claim it was always intended as an abbreviation don’t fly with me. Then why did all website and news releases have the abbreviated name in it and now all a sudden have the full name? The "full" name was never breathed until the lawsuit.
macahan

From the forum

A great post from Hare: You know you’re an “F1 Fanatic” fanatic when…

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On this day in F1

But we do wish a happy birthday to 1964 champion John Surtees who is 77 today!

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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39 comments on “Button to get first taste of MP4-26”

  1. In reference to comment of the day.

    Who really cares? The only people that care that they might be trying to ‘pull the wool over our eyes’ are people who dislike Ferrari.

    Of course they are going to say that, it makes commercial sense to whether that is the truth or not. It also means Ford cannot pursue the law suit, so it makes legal sense as well.

    If they named it the F150 or not it doesn’t really matter.

    1. BUT… they did. And are now lying about it. Why not just say “to avoid copyright infringment we are changing the chassis name from the F150 to the F150th” and all the fans would understand without being misled by Ferrari.

      1. Because their ego’s can’t handle it. It’s ok, I’m alot like that too. So for Ferrari, it must be huge.

      2. Agree, although they could have picked a better effort than the F150th Italia for a name.

      3. I as well dislike people laying, especially if its a sporting matter, thats why after Germany I was very disappointed in them and my view on them has changed ever since.

        But I don’t blame them for this. If I had to get away from an absurd and illogical situation like this ridiculous lawsuit I would make stuff up as well. Off course I’am not saying that they did because I,ve not been following this subject closely, but what I’am saying – Who cares? (Apart from Ford, who have already accomplished what they wanted.)

    2. I couldn’t agree more.. Slow news day perhaps but more likely any opportunity to have a shot at Ferrari is a good one it seems..

    3. Before avidly following F1 in 2007 I loved Ferrari Road cars, and regarded them as the top manufacturer in the world for having the most sought after product with highest technology..

      But now after repeated and numerous examples of the brash, lying, egotistical, attitudes they have displayed over the years,

      I WILL NEVER EVER BUY A FERRARI.

      A shame really because they make a great car.. (besides the numerous 458’s that caught fire like a Christmas tree) but why in the world would i want to line the pockets of a company that acts with such lack of respect to motor-sport enthusiast.

      1. I’m glad I’m not as sensitive as you Glenn and Rob G.

        But I guess there will always be people out there who just cant help but make massive issues out of really, really small things.

        1. Like lying and cheating? That’s a small thing? Good grief, Feynman’s apocalyptic vision is worse than I thought.

      2. I dont think I will ever be able to afford a Ferrari, but if I had the cash, I wouldn’t let my judgement of their F1 team interfere in my purchase decision. It still is a monster of a road car, and driving one of them is still an experience that cannot be replicated by a lot of road car manufacturers.

        1. I would probably rather buy that new McLaren, as it looks to me to be a better car, but I agree on the F1 team certainly not being the decisive factor for buying these cars.

          1. I’d buy an Aston Martin – just because they’re awesome!!

            I would have bought a Lotus, but I don’t like the direction their range is going in so wouldn’t bother.

          2. Seems this guy following me an fervently disagreeing is back. Actually your comment seems to make a bit more sense than they did before.
            Have fun disagreeing, whatever your real name is.

    4. If they named it the F150 or not it doesn’t really matter

      Well, Ford should be interested. Since this news has appeared, the increase in searching F150 Ford truck in google is awesome.

    5. I have to say I agree – besides the fact that it got Ford’s lawyers some kind of gazillion dollars per hour to draft a letter and the fact that Ferrari couldn’t have picked a more awkward new name if they’d tried – not much going on there. I have to say, Keith the pulling the wool over the eyes thing is… unnecessary. I don’t really think they think anyone will believe them. It’s purely legalese stuff to avoid any other threats from Ford.

      1. I WILL NEVER BUY A FERRARI because I can’t afford one.

        Also I dislike ferrari

        And they are exclusively bought by lottery winners and Chris evans

  2. Ferrari changing the story after the fact?

    ….

    1. Yes, and robbing us of so much possible entertainment. But still, I enjoyed watching them backtrack. Righteo then, still holding out for the Horse Whisperer.

      1. I know, when is the Pony Shouter gonna weigh in? Hopefully Ford will refrain from backing down, and we’ll get a nice juicy blog post to have a good laugh about.

        1. Personally i think the ‘th’ is Alonsos contribution to the affair. It’s a Spanish thing.. :)

          1. Except that it’s an English thing!

          2. You mean like his six tenths contribution?

    2. Ferrari changing the story after the fact?
      ….

      Yep, when people do that with novels/films its called “retconned”.

      An example of mainstream media being retconned would be Batman, the films with Robin in them aren’t considered proper batman films since Nolan got involved.

      1. The films with Robin in were considered PROPER batman films before Nolan got involved?????

        1. The films with Robin in were considered PROPER batman films before Nolan got involved?????

          LOL,valid point!.

          Its a shame though, such a brilliant script
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSyDjCVj6so

          1. That’s not Batman. “This” is Batman!

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_B_n-Rbros

    3. Surely not!

      I really admire the history of Ferrari, the cars, the glory, the hundreds of dedicated staff and millions of adoring fans. Then their management has to go and spoil it all the time.

  3. Woah kay then, looks like I have a hater xD

    Anyway, how exactly does the Williams floatation work? Can you buy a part of Williams? How much of it is up for grabs?
    And regarding the CoTD, thats true that they never mentioned the full name before, but why should they? Are you gonna go around saying the F150th Italia? I wouldn’t (And won’t) Maybe thats why they’ve decided to go with F150. Also, isnt it the F-150? Not F150? (just kidding)

    1. It’s being opened up on the Frankfurt exchange. Williams and Head are selling large parts of teir private shareholdings, though Sir Frank will still retain a majority shareholding. You can purchase shares in some European countries – England, France, Germany and maybe Italy – but if you’re outside those areas, the only way you can buy shares is as a part of a private investment firm. Even then, only firms from America, China, Japan, Australia and maybe one or two others (like Russia and South Africa) will be able to do it.

      1. Well, I doubt it being available in the countries which are mentioned in the standard disclaimer, which came with all the press releases about the flotation:

        NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, TO US PERSONS OR INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, OR INTO OR FROM CANADA, JAPAN OR AUSTRALIA

        (My guess is this has to do something with Sarbanes Oxley compliance versus keeping things confidential)

        My advice would be: go to your local bank and ask them how to do this. Probably there’s someone out there who can help you and even thinks it’s fun to do so.

  4. Right….,
    So what interest me the most is the McClaren exhaust and just what in the world the opening on the tea tray is?

    I would imagine this will be top priority for all F1 photogs tomorrow.

    1. Agree. Is it an alternate configuration, or some special kind of cooling?

      Or just something to fool the others, just like te RB exhaust opening stickers last year?

      1. dont be silly, the exhaust stickers fooled nobody.

      2. I find it interesting that those outlets (or inlets) are present in the tea tray. The Exhausts clearly seen at the back are identical to the plastic ones that were seen on the launch vehicle so it is entirely possible that they are still the plastic ones and are intended to look as if they are normal exhausts. It is also possible that the front outlets are fake and Maclaren are just trying to confuse the other teams.

  5. That’s great news for Grosjean that he’s on pole for the first GP2 race of the year. If he can clean up in GP2 this year he’s arguably in a better position than Senna for a 2012 race seat, and unless there’s a 13th team, I can’t really see a ton of seats opening up next year. Who knows though, anything’s possible. Is GP2 Asia broadcast in the UK? It doesn’t appear to be available anywhere in the US, although the GP2 main series feature races were all broadcast a day later last year on SPEED… I wish they would show feature and sprint races from both the main series and Asia, and not delayed.

    1. He was awesome in GT1 last year, damned near class of the field in many races.

    2. From Will Buxtons comments he really drove like feeling to prove his point (he would have been best bet for the title had he not jumped into the Renault mid season), and he did.

  6. With all the respect, this COTD and all this saga coming from Ford is pathetic. I agree with the part in the Ferrari statement that says(in a milder words):” We can’t understand what has our F1 car which isn’t even a production vehicle has to do with that boring and ubiqitious pickup truck? Probably the idiots from Ford just want some publicity from a totally unneccesary lawsuit. We won’t give them that opportunity”

    Seriously, who are Ford kidding? they just want to say ” look here’s our mighty pickup going up against Ferrari F1″. Lost all respect for them and won’t buy any of their cars ever.

    1. They might have lost some publicity and if the Ferrari will win some races even more so.
      But Ford could have avoided a lawsuit and, seen the availability of Ferrari, asked them kindly to change name.

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