Force India won’t run 2015 car at first test

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In the round-up: Force India are the first team to confirm they will not run their new car at the first test session of 2015.

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Force India to delay introduction of 2015 car (F1)

"The Silverstone-based squad, who are set to unveil a new livery in Mexico on Wednesday, will instead run their 2014 machine at the opening test in Jerez from February 1-4, with the new Mercedes-powered VJM08 set to make its public debut in Barcelona on February 19."

Merc rivals braced for challenge (Sky)

"I think it’s going to be difficult to beat Mercedes, but we will definitely try."

How Adam Carroll found his calling in GT racing (Downforce)

"Literally everybody needs to bring a budget into this sport if they want to race in Formula One now. You soon realise that the day you get paid to turn up and race cars is the day you’ve made it."

Democracy in sport: An uneasy relationship with politics (BBC)

"Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone is another powerful sporting figure who has made no secret of his preference for totalitarianism."

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Comment of the day

Does Pastor Maldonado get an unfair amount of criticism?

Why do so many F1 fans dislike Maldonado and seem to want him out of F1 as if he’s got no talent and is somehow undeserving of F1?

The guy’s won an F1 race on merit and he was in contention for a few more podiums during the one year he had a decent car.

He won the GP2 championship,he finished third in Formula Renault 3.5 and he’s won races in every category he’s ever competed in so he’s clearly got the talent to warrant his F1 drive.

If the guy was hopeless, Had never won anything and never looked like doing anything in F1 then I’d be right there saying he doesn’t deserve to be in F1 but he’s clearly not hopeless, He’s clearly not slow and his results show he’s more than good enough for F1.

I’d also point out that there were times last year where he was easily faster than Grosjean and he is someone everyone was praising in the second half of 2013.
PeterG

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64 comments on “Force India won’t run 2015 car at first test”

  1. i agree with the COTD. He maybe a little crash prone, but he isn’t as bad as chilton anyway…

    1. Maldonado has his reputation because of his early incidents that seemed almost intentional, particularly his crash into Hamilton after Hamilton passed him on a qualifying lap.

      1. He also did the same at Monaco I think it was against Perez. If you are a deliberate danger to others I don’t care how fast you are you shouldn’t be on the grid!

        1. As Perez himself. Monaco, Canada, Austin. That kid is also a danger on the track

      2. i think he still can get his act together if he have a good car. Grosjean was on the same path as Maldonado, and, with a more than decent car, he took a couple of podium finishes without crashing no more..

        1. @matiascasali every driver on the grid has caused some avoidable crashes, and when you look at them you can put them down to over-eagerness or even plain daftness. But for Maldonado to DELIBERATELY ram other cars, that should not be defended but severely punished with at least a season’s ban. A driver with that kind of darkness in his soul is a danger and you never know when the red mist will descend and he drives someone into a terribly serious or fatal accident.

          1. should not be defended but severely punished with at least a season’s ban

            That’s overreacting a bit. Schumacher hit Villeneuve deliberately, was not banned for the next year and could keep all his wins and points. Senna hit Prost deliberately and premeditated in way more dangerous fashion, no punishment. Accusations between Massa and Hamilton have flown around in the past. Never was there a full-season ban.

            I’m not defending Maldonado’s antics, just advocating to keep a sense of perspective. Ban for a race, maybe a few, would be adequate enough. The current points system will evoke that when stepping over the line too much.

          2. @mattds: Just for info, MSC was stripped off his all his points in 1997.

          3. @neelv27: only in the 1997 WDC ranking. His victories, poles and points scored were not taken from him in the sense that they still count towards his official statistics.

          4. i’m not that sure he did it DELIBERATELY as you say. As i say before, Checo Perez, and Romain Grosjean may fall in the same bag, when you think of it. Besides.. Darkness in his soul? if Maldonado has that kind of darkness, what would you say about Senna throwing Prost at full speed in Suzuka?

        2. Hamilton and Massa @mattds? “Accusations”? All Massa got caught for was looking in his mirror before letting his car run down the inside, and being overzealous with a defence. The other contacts were just mistakes, you can’t equate those with Maldonado’s antics or Schumi’s either. A ban of any kind was never even in the frame.

          1. Well yes @lockup, accusations. Hamilton’s literal words were: “I did the corner normally, and he came back very aggressively and hit me. I think that was pretty much as deliberate as can be”.

            If you don’t find it a valid example, then no problem. Schumacher’s and Senna’s examples will do just fine.

          2. Well I agree with you @mattds that a season’s ban wouldn’t be the right thing for Maldonado. Maybe try a race ban if they’d given it early enough. I don’t think one after-the-race accusation by a wound-up young driver counts as ‘accusations’ though tbh, to put Felipe on that crazy level.

            I think Senna and Schumi were more calculating than Maldonado. Drivers could race them and know that if they solidly had the position then there’d be no contact. With Maldonado it’s the unpredictability, like he is a bit too mad to deal with. Thinking Spa Q + Race 2011 and Monaco FP 2012 in particular. I’m not sure I wouldn’t have just said he doesn’t have the temperament and taken away his superlicence. After all we can’t expect everyone to be suitable even if they’re quick.

      3. Exactly – crashing by accident is one thing, but doing it intentionally is dangerous and totally unacceptable. That incident with Hamilton was the turning point for me, and I believe there was at least one more similar incident with Maldonado.

        When Stefan Mucke crashed out another driver on purpose he rightly got a lot of criticism – although I don’t believe he got a ban (which he would have deserved – that incident was incredible in all the wrong ways).

        Maldonado deserves the criticism – He can earn the respect back eventually, but crashing into people by accident in the mean time isn’t helping.

    2. @matiascasali What’s the problem with Chilton? He finishes the race. You can’t get points or win a race if you don’t finish it… How many times have you heard the term “safe is fast”? Now let me know how many times you’ve heard “fast and out of control wins the race”.

      1. finishing races is fine, but you can’t (or are very unlikely to) get points or a race win if you always finish last!

      2. Giving me the chance, I can finish races too, but by no means i’m a potential grand prix winner. Fangio used to say “to finish first, first you have to finish” and also he said “you’ve got to win driving as slow as possible” That means, faster than the guy behind, but slower than you car can, no “slower than the guy behind, slower than it’s possible to drive that car without stalling it” He’s an OK driver, but even when he bought his seat like Maldonado, at least Pastor have some championships in lower formulaes, points and wins in F1!

  2. I think Pastor Maldonado has taken to writing under the pen name PeterG

    1. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!

    2. LMAO

      I think the COTD doesn’t cover the fact that even purely on talent.. only Ericcson and Chilton were worse than Madonado last year

  3. A quick reminder that “sport” and the “business of sport” have totally different aims and ideals.

    1. Well said, HoHum. I would go further to say it’s only business, and (a) sport is just the product. For a totalitarian regime, it’s much easier to spend millions (usually with extra thick envelope for the agent) to improve its image, and please their people. “Bread and circuses”, as they say.

    2. Couldn’t agree more.

  4. Mr. Young seems to think that the teams should organise themselves around his schedule, could his footwear be getting uncomfortably tight ?

    1. And last year Toro Rosso’s car was also revealed a day before the Jerez test at the circuit, and I think the year before that as well… He probably could have expected a car reveal a day before the test anyway.

      1. Yeah, i pretty much expected them to do so again too, could have planned to arrive in time for that up front, at worst it would have meant an extra afternoon in Spain/Barcelona @hunocsi, @hohum

  5. Re: COTD

    His ego exceeds his talent,
    He took too long to become GP2 champion,
    He has too many dangerous driving incidents to his name,

    All these were known before he came to F1, and he is only here because of the money he brings.

    Is that enough?

    1. @w-k don’t forget all racing drivers have egos that, if weighted, would need their own trucks to be carried along!

      1. That I know, but his exceeds even those heavyweight limits.

        Plus everyone of his fans states how he has won a race, I think that nearly all the F1 drivers, on the right day, in the right circumstances, in a car capable of being near the front could also win a race. And unfortunately some with real talent, never get that chance.

        1. His ego is not a problem, I don’t doubt that every driver on the grid thinks they are the best. It’s his temperament that worries me. No driver should be let off the hook for deliberately ramming other cars in retaliation for some perceived slight.

        2. @w-k, having the right car for the tyre was the vital ingredient on that day.

    2. @w-k Is that any different to Romain?

      1. Romain took his ban and incidents on the chin in 2012 and promptly improved.

        Pastor just seems to repeat them!

  6. why is the “mercedes benz” on the racing shirt of the lotus team?

    is the team going to have mercedes engine this season?

    1. Where have you been for the pas few months. The news came out towards the end of last season that Lotus will be switching PUs to Mercedes.

    2. @emaema Yes, but that’s actually a picture of Ocon from F3 last year where he raced with a Mercedes engine in Lotus colours.

  7. http://espn.go.com/racing/f1/story/_/id/12197911/mclaren-cnn-announce-multiyear-sponsorship-formula-one

    I hope the Hondas are reliable, otherwise I expect a lot of jokes about “Breaking News” when the McLarens break down.

    1. http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/now-mclaren-gives-preview-of-2015-design
      Motorsport.com shows an altogether different hint (you kind of see the nose and the livery — looks like a throwback to red and white). If that’s the nose, it will probably be the best looking one.

    2. that’s not the long awaited title sponsor is it?

  8. I wouldn’t blink an eye if Maldonado left F1 tomorrow, but that doesn’t change the fact that IMO, his victory at Spain 2012 was one of the most impressive maiden-victories by any driver I can remember in recent history. He was incredible on that day.

    1. @kingshark Vettel?

      I just checked the last 10 years’ results and what really stands out is how few one-off winners there have been recently. Kubica is the only other obvious one but there were special circumstances that day.

    2. no doubt he drove great that day and no one can ever take away that win, but more often than not, he’s shown that he’s a dangerous person on track, 10x more likely to wreck than to win and more frustrating than that is that he refuses to accept any responsibility for his mistakes and doesn’t seem to be willing to learn from them.

    3. @george
      To me, Spain 2012 was even more impressive than Monza 2008. Maldonado took on Alonso in roughly equal or maybe slightly superior machinery at best, and came out on top. He was incredible that day, soaking up pressure from Alonso for the last 25 laps.

  9. People don’t like Maldonado not because he lacks talent, or even because he’s clumsy. It’s because he has no respect for his fellow racers and an inability to accept fault.

    In 2012 when he wiped Hamilton out rather than admit error he questioned why Hamilton would defend on worn tyres. The fact he cut a corner, didn’t slow at all and wiped a title contender out didn’t enter his head. As far as he was concerned Hamilton was slower and should have waved him past like he had no right to defend.

    Even the worse off the rest of the field Grosjean could accept fault after an incident and had shown improvement.

    The idea of Maldonado in a top car scares me because I can imagine along with mistakes he’d happily pull Schumacher type stunts to wipe out rivals if a championship is at stake.

    1. @philipgb The same can be said of many drivers.

      In 2011 for instance when Hamilton was busy hitting other drivers every other weekend, Instead of accepting responsibility & blame for the incidents which were down to his error of judgment he went on a tirade against the officials & other drivers “These drivers are ridiculous” was one of his quote’s from the year.

      As far as he was concerned Hamilton was slower and should have waved him past like he had no right to defend.

      And Hamilton had the same thought when he & Kobayashi collided at Spa in 2011, He was faster so he said he didn’t get why Kamui was trying to race him.

      1. You look ridiculous because Hamilton never blamed Kobayashi and accepted responsibility, he never claimed he did nothing wrong there. Saying “i didn’t expected he would be there” is different than “he shouldn’t be there”.
        And in Monaco where he accepted no blame he 100% correct to be upset. All later reviews of the incidents showed he was not at fault.

  10. His flashes of speed aside, Maldonado has an extremely unlikable personality that works wonders against him. Not sure how he grew up but he comes across as home-schooled and raised by servants – more akin to the heel in pro-wrestling than a professional race-car driver. Fans would rather cheer for anyone else than him, probably in Venezuela too!

  11. Maldonado is arrogant. Its anybody else’s fault but his and the number of mistakes he makes is just laughable for a top tier sport, the guy spins on dry out laps He also thought he was better than Williams, he bad mouthed one of the most popular teams and then bought his way into another one which I felt was underserving. Without his money Lotus wouldn’t have even considered him. I don’t doubt his talent, its in there somewhere. I don’t like his attitude.

    1. Evil Homer (@)
      21st January 2015, 11:40

      Very true, one cannot forget he publicly accused his team and mechanics of sabotage at the end of 2013! He did say sorry (maybe after a chat to his lawyer) but not a great one for the resume!

  12. I like Force India’s reasoning for skipping Jerez. Andrew Green sounds pretty clear-thinking when he says it’s given them a longer development timescale:

    “It means the things we tested and learned about at the last races and in the [Abu Dhabi] test could actually get on the car for the start of next year”

    I hadn’t realised they won’t even have 2015 tyres at the test, on top of the funny track surface there.

  13. Nice predictions @GirtsF1 :P

    1. @pasechli Thank you! Perhaps the FIA could not be bothered to look for sunset times themselves so they simply made the decision based on my comment ;)

      1. @girts @paeschli Haha, that wouldn’t surprise me..

  14. Maldonado are actually great driver when he had his day, too bad “his day” happens not as often as his bad day.
    I won’t rule him out though, he beat Grosjean in the same car and in the same track, Maldonado is just way too inconsistent IMO.

  15. The article on Downforce with Adam Carroll is very good. If any of you have a subscription with Autosport, be sure to read their interview with Andre Lotterer that’s out today…very good insight into how drivers think.

  16. maarten.f1 (@)
    21st January 2015, 9:26

    I think the only reason why Maldonado is still in F1 is because of the money he brings in. Yes, he won a GP2 title. And yes, he won an F1 race. However, I do feel that during that particular season he should’ve gotten so much more out of the car. He won a race, and then didn’t score points for nine races in a row! His best finish, apart from the race win, was a 5th place. He’s not a slouch, but to say he definitely earns his place in Formula 1? No, not in my opinion.

  17. I don’t think that is a leaked version of McLaren’s new livery, it has a Mercedes logo on the nose.

    I think that was the launch livery of the MP4-29 http://www.formula1.com/wi/gi/597×478/0bXI/manual/bevlne0cmaidim4.jpg

    1. I don’t think you’ve read the tweet properly.

      1. Seems most people on twitter didn’t read it properly either. Seemed pretty clear to me!

      2. Yeah I don’t think I’m with you still, the picture in the tweet is a photoshopped image of last years car (the original picture is linked to in my post), are you meaning that people are claiming that image is the new car, or that people have photoshopped the photoshopped image?

        If its the later do you have any links? I’ve seen a few mock up on f1i.com but they definitely not real, they all have Pirelli low profile tires.

  18. Maldonado might be fast, but he’s crash prone and he doesn’t even care.

    His twit says everything. He wants to be fast so he has to push the limits, and sometimes he goes over them. And then crashes into someone.

    Apparently the rest of the grid are grannies driving taxies (©Montezemolo) and staying well within the limits because they don’t want to be fast.

    Yes, every driver has accidents. Sometimes they crash. But Maldonado has an amazingly high hit rate, and that’s not a good statistic to have.

  19. COTD is funny, who was praising Maldonado in 2013? I certainly don’t remember that. He is generally a dangerous driver who years ago was banned from the Monaco circuit for a time for running over a marshall… good thing he had enough oil money to get out of that little fix. He earns lots of penalties and crashes very often compared to other drivers. Boo hoo no one likes him, it should be easy to see why.

  20. With regards to Scarb’s tweet on Marussia, It only makes sense. MaUSA on the grid this year, with Ferrari power and Marussia designs.

  21. This means some disadvantage for the team as well. Those days are very important. Their aero developments will be very interesting for me, if they determined for these instead of testing of new car.

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