In the round-up: Despite changes to the high-speed Peraltada corner the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez could see the second-highest top speeds in F1 when the Mexican Grand Prix returns later this year.
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Mexico GP readies itself for F1’s return (Crash)
"Despite the slower entry, speeds are still expected to reach around 330km/h down the 1.2km home straight, making it the second fastest straight on the calendar."
Force India denies financial difficulties (F1i)
Otmar Szafnauer: "Skipping the first test session will actually allow us to save £500,000."
Ricciardo: Vettel no quitter (Sky)
"From what I saw he was never going to leave. He’s way too passionate about the sport to just walk away. "
"German media sources are claiming that last year McLaren boss Ron Dennis attempted to sign Horner as team boss."
McLaren dismiss Horner approach claim (Pitpass)
"A McLaren spokesman laughed and said: 'This rumour is total nonsense.'"
McLaren changes F1 design philosophy (Autosport)
"The priority is no longer in pursuing theoretical peak downforce figures - it is about achieving maximum useable downforce."
Tweets
Four of this year's cars have now appeared. Worryingly, that's 44% of the grid. More here: http://t.co/FAgVO70n1F pic.twitter.com/47na23p8mG
— RaceFans (@racefansdotnet) January 29, 2015
https://twitter.com/Jack_Nicholls/status/560802149790408704
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Aside from the unimaginative livery, something else stood out about the new McLaren:
It’s astonishing that there still is no new title sponsor to be seen.
This is McLaren Honda!
There are two world champions on board!It says a lot about the state of F1.
Skinner
From the forum
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On this day in F1
The non-championship 1955 Buenos Aires City Grand Prix, held two weeks after the world championship event, was won by Juan Manuel Fangio.
Tyler (@tdog)
30th January 2015, 0:07
The most interesting thing about that Force India story is that there’s apparently a (small) risk that Force India might miss the second test as well:-
chambers
30th January 2015, 7:12
Yeah, I don’t know if they actually are in financial difficulties, I’ve just been musing about it. Until there’s smoke, there’s no fire and so forth.
However, saying “Skipping the first test session will actually allow us to save £500,000,” along with your 90% point don’t strike as the thing to say when stating you’re not in financial difficulties.
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
30th January 2015, 7:35
I may be completely wrong, but £500,000 doesn’t sound like a huge amount to a team, even if it only means a few more points by the end of the season.
John H (@john-h)
30th January 2015, 7:53
It says to me that the team is struggling… going into its shell. Testing is R&D time effectively.
I think the strategy group snub has probably made FI reconsider its whole commitment to F1. Such a shame the ‘major’ teams decided to close the drawbridge.. They need F1 to be healthy as much as anyone.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th January 2015, 8:47
If I understand this Finnish article right (had to use a translater app) it seems that while yeah, they did save a lot of money by not going, that saving was not as much inspired by a will to save money as by the need to do so as money promised for having Sirotkin doing serval testing days as well as FP1 sessions as their 3rd driver never arrived @tdog @williamstuart
Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
30th January 2015, 0:28
On COTD, it will be nice to know if it really is a case of Mclaren not being able to attract a sponsor. I’m would be extremely surprised if no company was interested..it looks more to me like Mclaren are looking for the right type of sponsor? Maybe they dont need the money? If they needed the cash desperately, Im pretty sure they would have someone on there as title sponsor.
Neusalz (@dpod)
30th January 2015, 0:49
I have thought about that as well, but it’s not just an issue of finding a title sponsor. If you look at McLaren’s overalls from a few years back they are just covered in sponsors, while there is only a handful for 2015.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
30th January 2015, 1:03
@jaymenon10 while I agree that some sports teams don’t want or don’t need sponsors (soccer team Barcelona comes to my mind, I don’t know if now, but many years thet didn’t have one), the curious thing about McLaren is that they were the ones who mentioned they were about to reveal their main sponsor last year, time and time again, until it never happened. Maybe now it’s the opposite, and they won’t hurry the news until a deal is secured.
Pete (@petey84)
30th January 2015, 3:55
Will Santander come onboard? They seem to follow Alonso wherever he goes.
JCost (@jcost)
30th January 2015, 5:51
They have a new boss, maybe she doesn’t love F1 as uch as her dad did…
ColdFly F1 (@)
30th January 2015, 8:43
@petey84, Santander has been a McLaren sponsor since 2007 and they are still mentioned on McLaren’s website as a partner.
Maybe we will see a big relaunch event before Melbourne including Santander as main sponsor.
skylab (@skylab)
30th January 2015, 18:51
McLaren promised a ‘sponsor announcement’ around this time last year too & nothing every materialised. Joe Saward wrote an interesting piece recently about how major sponsors just don’t want to be associated with the corruption at the core of F1 at the moment – chasing GPs in whatever morally dubious quarter will stump up the cash, a CEO who keeps getting dragged to court on charges which bring the sport into disrepute, an owner in CVC prepared to bleed the sport dry regardless of the consequences. Etc, etc etc. :(
chambers
30th January 2015, 7:22
I go with what Ron has intimated before on this. Attracting sponsors has happened, getting those sponsors to pay what you expect has been having trouble happening. (Especially when you’ve been tooling around midfield for a couple of seasons.)
I also assume pushing down title sponsorship cost might push down cost on other areas of the car. So screw that, we can and will run without one until we get what we want says Ron. That would be aided by 1) having a marquee driver, 2) a prime engine partner, but mostly 3) getting back to the front of the grid à la Williams, then dictating how much you want à la McLaren of olden days.
Sven (@crammond)
30th January 2015, 7:44
Problem is, what if McLaren does not get back to the front fast? What if they are falling even further back than they were last season? Even McLaren can´t stay without a title-sponsor endlessly, and having less money surely isn´t good for the car development.
chambers
30th January 2015, 8:11
I’d say the cachet of their name means they can be a little like Amazon for whom investors don’t get thrown in a tizzy on quarterly numbers if they believe in long-term profit.
On account of the changes and re-org set in place last year, the real question is: wherever McLaren start the season, would you place a bet on them not improving? I wouldn’t.
Jaanus (@)
30th January 2015, 8:10
We all know who the title sponsor is. We just cannot say it out loud. Let´s all think about it. It is all about the past – what used to be. So there used to be McLaren and Honda and a third name in front of these two? Let`s say it kind of rhymes with Scarborough. Wink-wink.
But on a more serious side. Last year there were talks about Sony becoming one and then Gillette etc.
MagicSpin
30th January 2015, 14:35
1) McLaren are bleeding sponsors.
2) McLaren have spent plenty of time in the last few years negotiating for a new title sponsorship.
They’re not desperate for cash, and their demands have proven too steep for candidates. So they’ve been going without for now.
I’m pretty sure they’re still negotiating a major deal now; the side of the MP4-30 looks conspicuously blank, and they never leave it t.hat way
Jose Sanchez
30th January 2015, 0:33
They lie like politicians. I am pretty sure he made an offer to horner. You not only empower your team but also make your enemy weak. Perfect plan.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th January 2015, 12:05
Why would anyone want Horner?
And that is apart from the fact that they seem quite fine with Boullier, and that Horner has a contract with RB for a long time.
Patrick (@paeschli)
30th January 2015, 14:14
@bascb
Horner? Well he builded a world-champion winning team from scratch …
BasCB (@bascb)
30th January 2015, 15:10
Hm, yeah @paeschli. He did a great job getting Newey to join the RB money Mateschitz could offer. And he gave him the room to build a really good team to make best use of the drivers Marko brought in.
But McLaren IS already an established and well developed team that needs a change and new impulse but at the same time I doubt they want to throw as much money at is as Mateschitz did. AND they signed 2 world championship drivers who need managing. All in all, Horner just doesn’t have the right skills.
OmarR-Pepper (@)
30th January 2015, 0:49
I don’t use many social networks, just this page and Google+, but even when the G+ sample is small, most of the comments regarding the new McLaren livery (on their ofiicial account) were highlighting how dissapointed they (we) felt about all that campaign of “It’s not time to repeat history”.. so it’s time to repeat livery? I know that what matters most is winning, if that car starts delivering good results. But as a sports team, they should be aware about the impression they are making into their long-term fans, and the little they ecellent opportunity they have just missed to attract new ones (and sponsors, as the COTD mentions too).
OmarR-Pepper (@)
30th January 2015, 0:50
… and the excellent opportunity they have just missed to attract new ones (and sponsors, as the COTD mentions too).
TheBullWhipper (@thebullwhipper)
30th January 2015, 1:16
From what I’ve read else where, the livery in the launch pictures is just for launch and testing. They get double the media coverage if they launch their car, then have another PR event just before Melbourne and everyone will focus on and be talking about McLaren/Honda a second. Makes great PR/Marketing/Advertising platform, especially if there is any new sponsors on the horizon as it gets the massive exposure from the very start, or simply making the big statement the McLaren-Honda are back, look at our totally new look livery, we mean business etc etc…..
don
30th January 2015, 0:56
+1 on COTD
donf1
30th January 2015, 0:57
Agree with teh comment of the day
370HSSV (@370hssv)
30th January 2015, 1:49
Wow! Just wow. Shocked at how much the F1Fanatics have responded to the McLaren livery. I never see people moan about red Ferraris. Everybody has got so worked up on weeks of internet speculation….that they have completely forgot that MP4-30 is simply wearing the McLaren corporate identity livery. I think it looks great and like the incorporation of Rocket Red.
Furthermore, I haven’t seen one comment about the lack of Y-lon, or hight of the front push rods, or the much tighter rear bodywork compared to the MP4-29 H or any other design feature of the car underneath the paint. Tough crowd!
Jon (@johns23)
30th January 2015, 2:13
It looks like a Force India IMO. Maybe its the red thats throwing me.
toiago (@toiago)
30th January 2015, 2:37
No, Force India looks like a McLaren. Mclaren has used ‘that’ livery for years.
chambers
30th January 2015, 7:46
I know. McLaren disappointed a vast number of fans not for the (interim?) livery they picked but because the fans had all worked their own selves up into expecting something (retro?) and then not having it delivered.
At a point I remembered this was Formula 1 and began to seek corners where someone was talking about the actual car itself and not dried paint.
(But on the topic of dried paint … football teams have set colour identities regardless of sponsor. Bianconeri, rojiblanco, BVB bees, red w/ white sleeves. Ferrari behaves like a football team, always red no matter the sponsor. I wonder (esp. with McLaren entering the car business) whether they now too choose the power of brand identity and stick with familiar colours. You know, at the risk of having the world of F1 fans in palpitations and anxiety attacks for not shifting their colours with the revolving door of sponsors.)
Sven (@crammond)
30th January 2015, 16:34
There´s just two things:
– Grey isn´t a colour, and it doesn´t work as one in marketing. Primary (red, blue, yellow) and secondary (orange, purple, green) colours work, and that´s about it.
– McLarens colour would be orange. The other liveries were all sponsor-induced, and especially the silverish grey has strong connections to Merc, whom they should be very interested in setting themselves apart from now.
Patrick (@paeschli)
30th January 2015, 14:16
Isn’t orange the traditional McLaren livery?
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
30th January 2015, 2:28
Now this is the true sign that McLaren have built a sensible car this season.
That phrase is a Newey law, well it’s not a young Newey law but the older more sensible Newey. I’m glad that one more team on the grid has stopped filling recipes on the thermomix, I’m done with the tasteless cars of the past couple seasons. One strong suggestion, rehearse livery designs beforehand.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th January 2015, 8:51
Indeed it is. And from what Button mentioned on the engineers feeling exciting about the car because its far more a complete approach instead of each department bringing their best also shows that Pedromo has brought back that highly successfull approach to the car @peartree
Patrick (@paeschli)
30th January 2015, 14:32
For the first time, I’m optimistic about this year’s McLaren
Fletch (@fletchuk)
30th January 2015, 14:53
LOL – we are in the “hope” phase of the McLaren fan’s annual cycle. Next comes concern, then disappointment, then anger. Then it repeats next year…
I’ve been riding this baby for 13 years now :)
mickey18 (@mickey18)
30th January 2015, 3:31
So far all the shape of all the cars are much better on average compared to the last few years.
Apart from the Williams, which looks like it just had a cold shower.
I also have the same complaints about mclaren – force India colour schemes. Let’s hope they aren’t the final ones for mclaren. So many opportunities to do better.
Biggsy
30th January 2015, 5:26
Almost lost my coffee! :)
Jon aspinwall
30th January 2015, 20:35
Genuinely laughed out loud thanks mate.
+1
Fast
30th January 2015, 6:59
Force India have a lot of sponsor logos and are rumoured to be folding while McLaren have very few and are certainly not in financial difficulty.
chambers
30th January 2015, 7:59
Force India – shareholder Sahara’s boss in a cell for a mansion, with prison wear for fashion and trying to sell hotels to meet bail. Owner VM in debt and being hounded by the debt collectors. Who knows what position Caterham and Marussia put F1 suppliers in and whether they’d like money now and not later.
(Granted new stickers added to the car on account of Mexican driver.)
McLaren – new sole engine partner, new(again) world class driver, marquee personnel hires, growing automotive business, ground soon to be broken on new tech centre.
Where would you rather be?
Sherlock
30th January 2015, 8:16
I think the McLaren will go for some updated livery (as there was rumors) – you can see how they changed the team kit (in Button & Alonso interviews) – some monochrome type of thing.
Don’t want to belive they left the usuall livery (thou historicly i really like this one) and then make a tons of T-shirts that look completely diffeerently then previous years.
JBone
30th January 2015, 8:48
So sad to see F1 in this state. The owners of F1 are killing it by giving it botched operations and Bernie doesn’t have the balls or power to stop it.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th January 2015, 12:07
Good to see Ricciardo setting the balance straight on annoying and superfluous comments from Horner.
Maciek (@maciek)
30th January 2015, 13:22
Love that Force India logic. Just imagine how much money they’d save if they skipped the whole season!
Patrick (@paeschli)
30th January 2015, 14:20
Hahaha, had a good laugh with this. :D
SauberS1 (@saubers1)
30th January 2015, 22:28
It will be very interesting.
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
31st January 2015, 0:50
Ah, the silly season has restarted!
[email protected]
31st January 2015, 14:31
how is 330hkm an hour down a straight the second fastest circuit? the cars already do that at montreal, bahrain and others. i thought when i opened the article it would say 345km/h to be second to monza.