In the round-up: McLaren has held back from introducing some developments according to racing director Eric Boullier.
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Honda's approach now 'completely different' (Autosport)
"We have a lot of development possible, which we can't use now, because, for example, it brings downforce, but it brings drag - and today we don't need drag on our car if we want to stay competitive."
Frederic Vasseur: "It is a fact that we are not building the 2017 car based on the 2016 one, but on the 2015 car - and that is a lot of catching-up!"
From Sauber to Ferrari - Kimi Raikkonen on F1’s evolution (F1i)
"Driving-wise the sound is different but the driving itself hasn’t changed. You drive the same way, OK you have fuel saving but in the past you had brake saving or something, so it’s the same thing just affecting different things."
Tost optimistic Toro Rosso could still finish fifth (Motorsport)
"The second half of the season will not be easy for us in Monza and Spa, because of the performance of the power unit."
Emirates Motorsport Expo aims to find local talent (7 Days)
"The ATCUAE, the national motorsport authority, sporting organisers of the F1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, plans to use the opportunity to highlight the attractions of the new UAE Formula 4 Championship."
Formula One Sale Begets Questions About Sport’s Future (Bloomberg)
For anyone interested in the background on CVC's planned sale of Formula One this 20-minute podcast is a worthwhile listen.
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Comment of the day
Insight into why it isn’t always the FOM television director’s priority to show the racing:
The shots of the city-scapes and sponsor boards etc… are simply FOM doing what there been asked to by Bernie. The promoters of some of these races pay to promote there country/city and Bernie then pushes that down to the TV crew and its the same with sponsors. Pirelli, Rolex etc… pay to promote their brands and ask for as much TV exposure as possible.
Host broadcasters used to do similar when they did the world feed (Monaco still do and go as far as to zoom into the ads and zoom out at places to get all the ad boards in) and while its something that in the past FOM didn’t have to worry about doing (See the old Digital+ broadcasts and early FOM world feed efforts) but as they have become the world feed broadcasters its something Bernie has begun requesting they do based off the requests of the promoters/sponsors.
It’s something the FOM TV crew (F1 communications) would rather not have to do, They would love to go back and handle things as they used to and produce things as they did on the Digital+ coverage, But there’s meddling from outside the F1 Communications department now.
@GT-Racer
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On this day in F1
Derek Warwick and David Brabham shared victory for Jaguar in the Sports-Prototype World Championship (fore-runner of the World Endurance Championship) on this day 25 years ago at the Nurburgring.
Biggsy
18th August 2016, 0:18
Anyone knows who’s the guy on the left? It could swear it’s Damon Hill, but at that time, Hill would have looked much much younger.
Never mind, it’s John Watson…
@HoHum (@hohum)
18th August 2016, 0:36
I was thinking Frank Williams?
ColdFly F1 (@)
18th August 2016, 10:16
I thought it was Hamilton ;-)
Never knew Watson was the original goatee trendsetter.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
18th August 2016, 8:15
They both look so British!
audifan
18th August 2016, 12:30
don’t think much of his crash helmet
@HoHum (@hohum)
18th August 2016, 0:44
“The car is really good, and will be even better if we ever get a proper engine for it”, I’m sure I’ve heard that before, somewhere.
pcxmac (@xsavior)
18th August 2016, 1:18
you didn’t see it written above, did you?
@HoHum (@hohum)
18th August 2016, 2:22
2 x that inference, yes.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
18th August 2016, 12:22
Hard to judge McLaren, they have unique engine, so hard to compare and their aero is good, would 50bhp put them in front running form? Would that draggy aero upgrades put then infront of Mercedes and RBR? Both those teams have exceptional chassis.
But atleast they are improving a lot. Honda is in 9th gear, McLaren is resembling a front running team in expenses, they should get to within 1s soon.
Tristan
18th August 2016, 2:31
That Raikkonen article was a pretty good read. I wonder if there’s anything in the part where he talks about getting help from Shell or if that’s just an advertisment.
Tata
18th August 2016, 8:33
– OK you have fuel saving but in the past you had brake saving or something, so it’s the same thing just affecting different things.”
What a shock! Who would have thought you always had to save something in F1? Ok. Sarcasm over.
There are still fans and drivers who complain about fuel saving and talk about “flat out” driving, like that has ever been the case in F1.
In F1 there has always been something to manage or save and the statement from Raikonen supports that claim. Imagine brake saving. Who woulda thought?
JeffreyJ
18th August 2016, 12:07
If you go racing in-race fuel saving is dumb imho. Designing a fuel efficient engine, sure but as soon as the lights go out it shouldn’t be a negative factor.
grat
19th August 2016, 3:13
Tell that to Alexander Rossi, who won the Indy 500 on an economy run (extreme fuel saving).
The *only* form of motorsports that I know of that involves flat-out no holds barred racing, is drag racing. Everything else, you’re trying to go as slow as possible while finishing ahead of everyone else. There has never been an era of F1 that you didn’t hear the commentators talking about conserving some factor– whether that’s the engine, the tires, or fuel, you can’t finish a race without all three (well– drag racing, I’ve seen people win the race after blowing their engine 2/3 of the way down the track).
JeffreyJ
19th August 2016, 8:21
Fair enough.
I have to say though that is also the reason I don’t particularly rate that victorynor Rossi as an impressive RACE win.
But you’re right fuel saving, to an extend, is part of the game and I was just a bit frustrated in my comment because I felt Kimi was acting like the extend of fuel saving isn’t an issue at all, while to me its excesive. He’s basically telling fans like me we’re nagging about a non-issue which it’s clear not (to me anyway)
Robbie (@robbie)
18th August 2016, 13:22
@Tata They only just briefly touch on this topic near the end of the interview not in an in depth way. I think we all know conserving has always been a part of racing. And I don’t think anyone realistically expects there to be strictly flat out racing not that there ever was such a thing. But it is just as unrealistic to pretend that what we have had in these recent years is ‘normal’ conservation. Never has there been more conservation overwhelmingly being the main story…engines, transmissions, fuel, brakes, and especially tires that can barely be pushed have all added up to…let’s face it…a format they are moving away from especially regarding tires…which says it all right there.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
18th August 2016, 3:32
COTD is bang on. Having spent the duration of the Olympics working for NBC; seeing 1st hand just how important sponsorship and commercial revenue has become, versus what I am use to with the BBC – it’s just another world.
The production that these guys ‘could’ do given free reign would be off the charts!
Shame that’s not the world we live in, but conversely – without sponsor interest I imagine the coverage would be half as good.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
18th August 2016, 8:09
“Honda’s approach now ‘completely different'”
Reminds me of Monty Python’s “and now for something completely different”. That doesn’t bode well for Honda.
He Man
18th August 2016, 8:48
Haha!
albert
18th August 2016, 9:45
Shouldn’t that be Hehe!, He Man? ;)
grat
19th August 2016, 3:15
And now, number 22… The Larch.
;)
Martin (@andone89)
18th August 2016, 9:31
This renault story tells me that Renault engineers still have no idea why their car is woefuly slow. Like they have the same engine as Red Bull does, yet they finish at least 10 positions behind them every race. Turbulent times at Renault ahead in the years to come, because trust me, their 2017 car will just as bad, if not worse.
ColdFly F1 (@)
18th August 2016, 10:26
Mercedes vs Manor
Ferrari vs Sauber
I do want to ‘trust you’ @andone89, but my money is still on Renault to make the biggest step in closing the gap to the equal powered team.
lockup (@)
18th August 2016, 9:31
Renault basing their 2017 car not on their Renault-engined one but their older Mercedes-engined one. Does this tell us something about the direction they’ve taken with their engine, post tokens, I wonder?
Tata
18th August 2016, 10:38
Yeah that statement from Vasseur is a little bit ambiguous. I don’t know if he is talking about the architecture of their engine being in line with that of the Mercedes or he is talking about the chassis of the car. I would like to believe that he means the Lotus 2015 chassis is a more preferable base to commence work on than the current one they are using which they inherited from a Lotus that was choking due to lack of funds.
But even at that, the 2015 Lotus he said they are using as their base was nothing to write home about in all areas of performance.
lockup (@)
18th August 2016, 13:14
I’m tempted to hope it means the layout of the cooling and exhausts, and what goes where in the sidepods, and from there a good chunk of the aero.
ColdFly F1 (@)
18th August 2016, 10:51
The most interesting part of the Fred Vaseur interview:
Q: But will you stick with two relatively inexperienced drivers, or will you try to lure a name from somewhere else?
FV: If you look at the success stories of the past, success was always built around a driver: Schumacher and Ferrari, Vettel and Red Bull, Lewis and Mercedes, and also Alonso and Renault in the past – so the driver is important. A driver is not only about performance, but about being capable of leading a team. Right now we have more or less a thousand people in the team, if you take Viry and Enstone together, and that needs some sort of emotional leadership – and that is the job for a driver!
I don’t think the current line-up fits that bill!
But can they lure such a driver for 2017.
Tata
18th August 2016, 11:14
Good observation.
Having been a successful Motorsport boss, I believe Vasseur is right in a team having an emotional leader driver to carry every one along. I just wonder who in the current line-up of drivers is going to take up that leadership role at Renault.
Alonso, Seb, Ham, Rai, Ricc, Ros are all tied up in contracts at least until 2018 leaving the likes of JB and Perez. But will any of them leave teams who have shown in 2016 that they have the potential to move upwards and take the plunge with Renault? A team who re-entered the sport with a short time to spare with an inherited bad chassis and have, for now, only the promise of performance going forward to give?
Without these two men, who else is out there for Renault to lure? Hulk? Massa? Bottas? Sainz may be a driver to watch but he is yet to make a name for himself yet?
My money might be on a Massa-Kmag line up at Renault.
JeffreyJ
18th August 2016, 13:48
Massa is an awful choice imho.
All the drivers Vasseur names are DWC material as well as, or rather and thus the emotional leader who carries everyone along when provided with a CWC winning caliber car. Massa is not that and on the decline, while the Renault has a looooong way to go itself too.
To me the drivers who could potentially be that leader with DWC pedegry that could become available for next year or the year after that are VES,RIC (that situation will go sour quickly I think) PER,GRO, SAI and Ocon with the later two having to prove the most but they might also be the most realistic options for Renault.
lockup (@)
18th August 2016, 13:36
Can only be JB to meet that specification @coldfly, and then only if he’s been thrown out of McLaren, though Abiteboul was saying they could grow their own star.
It’s a loop anyway, clearly: better driver -> better engineers -> better car -> better driver. Quite interesting and F1, how it all spirals up or down.
Right now they’re at the very beginning of that loop of course, and it’s a toss-up whether they or Sauber have the worst drivers, who will often fail to maximise the car be it good, bad or indifferent – and that must be a bit demoralising in the team.
I could imagine Jenson going for a team-building swansong to his career, and that would be quite cool, and very good for Renault.
Patrick (@paeschli)
18th August 2016, 17:46
Perez – Ocon
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
18th August 2016, 15:33
Just adding to my comment that got used for COTD, Just look at some of how FOM/F1 Communications handled trackside angles & followed the cars on the Digital+ coverage-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOjUwkCJTxU
Compared to how the local Monaco director covered it around that time-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY6N9Xpa7OI
Back then when we were setting up camera angles we would go for what we felt was the best angle we could get to not only get decent coverage of the circuit but to also try & get the best sensation of speed & we had 2-3 sets of cameras at each corner (2 low, 1 high).
The local director had cameras setup for the ad-boards & the camera operators are told to keep those ad-boards in frame for as long as possible which is why the local coverage tends to zoom out more during panning & even zoom into the ad-boards at places like the exit of the grand hotel Hairpin. After the Digital+ service shut down at the end of 2002 many local directors took over some of our old camera locations as you see from some of the shots in those 2 clips above, However they don’t use them as well as we did because the focus is on the ad’s rather than the cars.
And Suzuka, Digital+ 2001 (2 laps which actually show the 2 sets of angles I mentioned earlier in the post)-
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtuxur_2001-suzuka-minardi-1st-qualifying-runs_auto
Local in 2011-
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xtuz07_perez-fp3-lap-suzuuka-2011_auto
Here is another example from Monza, The Digital+ broadcast in 2002-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vaxPG-cMts
And the local director-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SvmW9o9E4g
Michael (@cavman99)
18th August 2016, 19:58
Nice observation. When you don’t cover the cars and focus on the ads they seem so slow! All adding to the perception that the cars aren’t fast enough.
x303 (@x303)
18th August 2016, 21:23
Thank you for your insight @gt-racer.
As @cavman99 mentioned, the cars looks very slow, even the so powerful V10.