In the round-up: Marussia team CEO Graeme Lowdon says the impending sale of the team’s vital race equipment makes the chance of them returning this year increasingly unlikely.
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Time nearly up for Marussia (Sky)
Graeme Lowdon: “There have been some auctions already but none of the equipment that has been sold so far is essential for the team to go forward. But if that equipment went next week it would be difficult.”
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@JeanEricVergne Davide! We had some good little battles back in '97
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Comment of the day
@Scalextric provided the latest competition-winning caption:
Vettel briefs the new Toro Rosso drivers and their parents
Thanks to everyone who joined in, especially Nick, Beneboy, Theo Parkinson, AMR, Suffolk and The_sigman who also suggested very funny captions.
From the forum
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On this day in F1
Happy birthday to Jenson Button who is 35 today.
stefano (@alfa145)
19th January 2015, 0:39
That caption is cracking!
Scalextric (@scalextric)
19th January 2015, 2:19
Thank you one and all. I’ll be here all week.
ColdFly F1 (@)
19th January 2015, 2:28
good one indeed. Well done.
@HoHum (@hohum)
19th January 2015, 2:29
excellent!
Thecollaroyboys (@thecollaroyboys)
19th January 2015, 7:07
Try the veal
JCost (@jcost)
19th January 2015, 6:27
Lovely!
GongTong (@gongtong)
19th January 2015, 14:20
Love it.
bull mello (@bullmello)
19th January 2015, 1:25
@Scalextric – Caption = Brilliant!
Theo Parkinson (@theo-hrp)
19th January 2015, 1:57
What a caption!
ColdFly F1 (@)
19th January 2015, 2:34
Button “had some good little battles back in ’97” with Davide.
Back in the days when Mr & Mrs Verstappen had their own little encounters!
DR
19th January 2015, 2:44
Lol u assuming they don’t still? Muhahahaha yes kids, your parents still ‘do the love grind’ even if you think they only did to have children.
MattDS
19th January 2015, 5:53
I thought they were divorced.
BasCB (@bascb)
19th January 2015, 14:42
As MattDS mentions, they are divorced, and I am pretty sure ex-mrs Verstappen had Jos Verstappen barred from getting near here with a court order after the divorce (which included episodes of domestic abuse and stalking) DR
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
19th January 2015, 7:41
@coldfly Heh, my first thought was that you meant on track, all 3..
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
19th January 2015, 3:22
Irregularities with Alonso’s teammmates
http://kimiraikkonenspace.com/2015/01/18/irregularities-with-alonsos-teammmates/
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
19th January 2015, 3:23
Oroginal Clarin Newspaper note.
http://i.imgur.com/27sLjh3.jpg?1
Jorge Lardone (@jorge-lardone)
19th January 2015, 3:23
Original!
ColdFly F1 (@)
19th January 2015, 8:07
@jorge-lardone, posted on a KimiRaikkonen fan site; the story smells a bit.
Others seem to agree, concluding that it is a photoshopped BS story. There is no link to any original source of such an article.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
19th January 2015, 4:56
I doubt that. It’s not 1989. Great caption!
anon
19th January 2015, 6:00
@peartree, I would be inclined to agree that the story is almost certainly false – for a start, the FIA’s regulations explicitly state that only air or nitrogen can be used to inflate a tyre.
A helium – nitrogen mixture would break that regulation and almost certainly result in disqualification if discovered – furthermore, given that the tyres are usually prepared and inflated in the middle of the garage, how is Hamashima supposed to have gotten away for two years with inflating the tyres of Alonso’s team mates with a different gas mixture in front of all of the other mechanics, and mechanics from other teams, without anybody spotting that something was amiss? Even at a very basic level, some of the details in that story don’t sound right.
Furthermore, Hamashima joined Ferrari in 2012, and the performance difference between Massa and Alonso was relatively consistent both before and after he joined Ferrari. And why would it benefit Hamashima to hinder one driver? Most teams tend to have performance related bonuses (for example, when Mercedes won the WCC in 2014, all members of staff were given a bonus – to hinder Massa, and therefore hinder the team as a whole, would effectively sabotage himself.
The fact that the organisation that wrote the story withdrew it from publication and have removed all references to the article makes me even more inclined to think that is false. It is the same behaviour that Autosport once pulled when they produced an article with quotes from a senior McLaren figure in 2012 that was rather disparaging about their drivers, only to pull the article when it turned out that the quotes had been made up.
If I were to point towards something that changed around that time that might have a detrimental impact, I would be more inclined to point towards the major overhaul of the front suspension system (the switch from a push rod on the F150th Italia to the F2012 onwards), a decision made for aerodynamic purposes but one which has compromised the mechanical performance of the car.
During the pre-season tests in 2012, for example, somebody leaked set up data from both Alonso’s and Massa’s test runs showing that both drivers were having considerable problems with getting their front tyres into the correct operating range and that there was little appreciable difference between either driver.
Similarly, issues also cropped up again for both drivers in 2013 – there were a number of observers who commented that Alonso had visibly changed his driving style to adapt to a car that had poor front traction.
It’s perhaps not surprising that, given Kimi is known to be hyper sensitive to the steering feel of the car – this is a driver who, at Lotus, once refused to use a Monaco spec steering rack because he could not adapt to the difference in feedback that it gave – that a car with a completely different front suspension set up and the reputation of recent Ferrari’s for having inconsistent front end performance would cause him a lot of problems.
Neusalz (@dpod)
19th January 2015, 5:54
I don’t buy it. The personnel is contracted by Ferrari, and not Alonso so I don’t see why destabilizing Kimi would be in anybodies interest.
Biggsy
19th January 2015, 14:41
Pure BS story. Next time bother to link the real news, not some photoshopped image. There’s nothing in google nor on that newspaper’s site.
Toshnak
20th January 2015, 11:48
What kind of anencephaly do you need to post such an obviously fake photoshopped story?
Nigel (@f1-yankee)
19th January 2015, 4:14
Hearty chuckle at the caption winner.
Stig Semper Fi (@stigsemperfi)
19th January 2015, 4:23
And all while one of their drivers is in a French hospital knowing nothing about this.
Daniel (@)
19th January 2015, 5:22
Happy Birthday Jenson.
JCost (@jcost)
19th January 2015, 6:28
Wait a minute, there’s still hope for Marussia? I thought they were gone for good.
MattDS (@mattds)
19th January 2015, 7:26
@jcost I think some people are stretching the limits of euphemisms… I mean, read that quote above: “if that equipment went next week it would be difficult”.
Seriously? The situation as it is now is more than just difficult – it’s highly unlikely they will be back. And if the auction goes ahead, then it will be all but impossible.
JCost (@jcost)
19th January 2015, 7:36
F1 is a tough sport, technologically and financially. The day someone opens an F1 museum, “Failed Teams Hall” will certainly be the largest.
BasCB (@bascb)
19th January 2015, 14:46
I’d say there might still be a simmer of hope in the next week or so if that equipment is useable by the team @mattds, @jcost. But yeah, realistically hope was lost a long time ago IMO.
Lancer033 (@lancer033)
19th January 2015, 17:10
i think it means that they’ll go from 1/1,000,000 to 1/1,000,000,000 chance of a come back
petebaldwin (@)
19th January 2015, 23:39
Some interesting comments here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/30881741
I think it’s very very unlikely but you never know…
Brian Frank (@brianfrank302)
19th January 2015, 9:19
Great caption, well done @Scalextric
greg-c (@greg-c)
19th January 2015, 10:46
So Bernie bribes Grubowsky with 44$ mill ?
Pays another $100 million in another bribe to stay out of jail !
Buys strategy group compliance for however many $$$ mill
But won’t throw an F1 team a bone to keep hundreds of people in work and cars on the track !
I am feeling deep contempt right now ,
Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
19th January 2015, 19:46
COTD right here!
petebaldwin (@)
19th January 2015, 23:40
Very well said.
Akshat
19th January 2015, 10:47
Awesome caption !
maxthecat
19th January 2015, 11:27
The Auction to sell off the rest of Marussia has been cancelled so clearly something is happening. Maybe a buyer has been found.
Bruno (@brunes)
19th January 2015, 12:15
Seriously, let’s stop talking about Marrusia.
They have had their 15 minutes of fame.
I am so sorry to say this. But just being on the grid for the sake of it is not okay in my book.
I really hoped for the best. But the best now is for the team to rest in peace.
Londoner
19th January 2015, 13:48
No, let’s keep talking about Marussia. The sooner more websites take F1 Rejects’s lead and talk/praise the slow teams, the internet will become a better place.
Ivan B (@njoydesign)
19th January 2015, 13:38
ROFL I think this is one of the best captions ever))) well done!