In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton says the exchange of mechanics between his side of the garage and Nico Rosberg’s at the beginning of the season had a psychological effect on him.
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Lewis quizzed on mechanics' moves (Sporting Life)
"It is just all-round psychologically. If something changes when it doesn't really need to be changed, it can have all sorts of effects."
Lewis Hamilton admits he must improve (BBC)
"This year I have had a lot more problems than in any of the other battles I have had in the championship."
Fernando Alonso hails Jenson Button as his best team-mate in F1 (Sky)
"He is very fast. He is very competitive inside the car, always and in all conditions, but outside the car as well he is a very nice guy, a true gentleman, and also very committed to the sport."
Kevin Magnussen Q&A: I’ve done all I can to retain Renault seat (F1)
"Red Bull is also lucky to have an engine manufacturer behind them who is clearly going to deliver in the future. There are things in the pipeline that will really perform well."
Stroll closes on 2017 Williams race deal (Autosport)
"Stroll is on a similar programme to the one that Valtteri Bottas completed to prepare him for his F1 debut."
The Jolyon Palmer Column (Channel 4)
"Singapore was much tougher than we thought. It reminded us that our car is very difficult over the bumps and street circuits this year generally haven't been very kind to us."
Verstappen wants to move on from start issues (Crash)
"(We did) a lot of work after Singapore. One bad start, okay, two starts, it is getting to the limit, but three in a row is not great."
Romain Grosjean column: Haas can build momentum for 2017 (F1i)
"Looking at the wider picture of this year, I think the title battle will go all the way to the final race, which will be great for Formula One. It’s going to be tight, I can’t tell who will win between Lewis and Nico."
Call in the marriage counsellors: F1's 'chaotic' 2017 calendar (ESPN)
"Expect record rates of employee attrition over the course of the year, and yet more divorces than we've seen in years past."
Gutierrez shrugs off blue flag etiquette criticism (Motorsport)
"In the same way that Toto (Wolff) is trying to lose the least possible under a blue flag for his drivers, and trying to put pressure on the FIA to be more strict on that, me as a driver getting the blue flag, I'm trying to lose the least time possible as well, within the rules, without affecting anyone."
F1 cars set to be three seconds faster thanks to Malaysian GP track changes (James Allen on F1)
"F1 teams say that their simulations showed an improvement of around three seconds a lap due to the changes and the GP2 experience would seem to bear that out, perhaps even under rate that."
Kingfisher has now turned out to be a 'nightmare': Vijay Mallya (The Times of India)
"'The business (of Kingfisher Airlines) failed due to high fuel prices, due to adverse government policies by taxation and of course the failure of aviation engines,' he said in a video message to shareholders here at the 100th Annual General Meeting of United Breweries Holding Limited (UBHL)."
Malaysian Grand Prix: Why An Early Bet On The 2017 Formula One Champion Could Pay Off (Unibet)
"My Malaysian Grand Prix preview for Unibet."
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Comment of the day
Jay is pessimistic about Ferrari’s chances next year:
I could be wrong, but Vettel’s time at Ferrari could end like Alonso’s. The signs are ominous.
Funnily enough, Ferrari actually seemed to be a more cohesive unit from 2010 to 2013 compared to now. They used to make the most out of their situation more often than not in those days. They seem to have lost their a little more than usual these days.
I think Ferrari have proven that they don’t have a bad car however, quite surprisingly, they’ve failed to maximise their potential on Sundays for the most part of the season. OK, they’ve had bad luck thrown in the mix, but some of the decisions made have questionable.
They’ve been in a constant state of transition since Stefano Domeniciali left, and they still don’t appear to have a solid foundation. With a meddlesome, trigger-happy chairman in charge, I doubt Ferrari will win again anytime soon.
Inability to bed down sound strategy and perform efficiently in the pits on regular basis as they have recently shown, isn’t exactly what you call the foundations of a winning machine.
I predict McLaren will finish ahead of Ferrari in next year’s constructors’ championship.
Jay Menon (@Jaymenon10)
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On this day in F1
Mika Hakkinen took his final grand prix win at Indianapolis on this day in 2001. Like Jenson Button today, Hakkinen had announced he would not race in the upcoming season but may race the year after. In the event, however Hakkinen did not return.
Featured
Sumedh
30th September 2016, 1:19
Don’t really agree with the COTD. While Ferrari do seem lost, McLaren even more so. Why build a new car for 2013 when you had the best one in 2012? Then announce in 2013 itself that 2015 will bring Honda again. Effectively, they declared 2013 and 2014 as gap years (2013 because rules are changing in 2014, 2014 because engine supplier is changing in 2015) And then they declared 2015 to be a testing year.
3 years wasted be design, not even by accident.
TheImmortalDragon
30th September 2016, 1:57
That might be so, but McLaren are now on the rise while Ferrari are inexorably falling behind Red Bull and the team doesn’t look united at all (indeed, Marchionne wouldn’t make a good president for any sport team)
SaraJ (@sjzelli)
30th September 2016, 3:05
McLaren have a metric ton of catching up to do before they can even be mentioned in the same sentence as ‘Ferrari is falling behind’.
Todfod (@todfod)
30th September 2016, 6:25
Mclaren are rising because it isn’t possible to do worse. The problem is that they are rising incredibly slowly, and that they have to rise to a level which is incredibly high. At this rate of improvement, I would expect Mclaren to fight for the championship by 2025
Duncan Snowden
30th September 2016, 19:17
I said it a few weeks ago: compare Honda’s progress with Mercedes’s return in the ’90s. It’s certainly a bit slower, but not hugely, and given the restrictions on development and testing they face today compared with back then I don’t think that’s much of a surprise. It wasn’t until the second half of Mercedes’s third season – in Honda terms, a year from now – that they finishing regularly in podium positions, and the beginning of their fourth – 2018 for Honda – before they started winning.
Maybe people have short memories and prefer to compare Honda with BMW in 2000, who were on the podium at their first race, but it’s probably worth noting that their best season, out of the ten they contested in the 21st Century, was their fourth: 144 points in 2003. Toyota’s first podiums came in 2005, also their fourth season. And although Renault never really went away, Fernando’s championship season in 2005 was the fourth after their “return” as a constructor.
It’s less than two years since the first Honda test at Abu Dhabi. To listen to some people you’d think it had been six.
Now, the changes for 2017 throw things up in the air a bit – they could either hand them a huge boost or turn out to be a major setback – but given their progress so far I don’t see any reason right now to think McLaren can’t be fighting for regular podiums by this time next year (yes, against Ferrari) and mounting a championship challenge in 2018. That’s not a prediction – who knows what might happen? – but it doesn’t seem unreasonable. And I honestly don’t think Fernando would still be there if he thought it did.
knoxploration
30th September 2016, 1:48
No sir, Vijay. Kingfisher didn’t fail because of any of that, it failed because you’re corrupt and treated it like all of your businesses as your personal piggy bank for vanity projects.
BasCB (@bascb)
30th September 2016, 10:35
Sure, Kingfisher was at higher risk of failing thanks to the way Vijay operated, clearly not at all prepared for any downturns. But the way India handled its airlines certainly did contribute – we have seen the likes of Fernandes (who does seem able to run a successful airline) also being very critical of that.
Mallesh Magdum (@malleshmagdum)
30th September 2016, 14:06
It is worth noting is that while Kingfisher failed, airlines like IndiGo took off and made decent profits. All this while the government’s policy didnt change. The truth is that Vijay chose to borrow money and pump it in his airline at a time when there seemed no possible way to make profits. He went on a rapid expansion and acquired Air Deccan. Had he pulled the plug, the situation would have been different.
icemangrins (@icemangrins)
30th September 2016, 2:14
Can someone turn off the Lewis Hamilton Moaning channel? From Monaco till Germany (when he was winning consistently), he didn’t complain at all. But, swapping of affects him psychologically only when Nico wins. So, predictable.
Roy Harris
30th September 2016, 2:40
I agree wholeheartedly
Sravan Krishnan (@sravan-pe)
30th September 2016, 3:19
It seemed in the way sky interviewed him they wanted him to blame reliability.
Mike
30th September 2016, 5:42
Sky does seem keen to build “stories”, I say as sarcastically as possible.
But then Lewis is particularly easy to bait into blaming the car or the team.
Backwards (@backwards)
30th September 2016, 6:33
I am with you. Would be good if this channel is put behind a pay per view decoder.
N
30th September 2016, 10:11
Did you not see the link?
“Lewis quizzed on mechanics moves…”
Some people just get irate when they see Hamilton’s name.
Did it never occurred to you that maybe a reporter brought it up in an interview?
pastaman (@)
30th September 2016, 13:36
Typical internet commenter searching for a reason to do his/her own moaning. You probably didn’t even read the article. He was not moaning, he was asked a question.
evered7 (@evered7)
30th September 2016, 15:51
@pastaman Could have replied saying it changes nothing. That was an option.
Martin
30th September 2016, 22:29
He could, but if that isn’t true then why would he say it?
Mark
1st October 2016, 4:27
This will fade off into the distance again if he starts winning…..you watch.
Mike
30th September 2016, 5:45
I still liked the article you wrote about doing away with blue flags.
hahostolze (@hahostolze)
30th September 2016, 9:04
Lance Stroll going into F1 with the team that gave Pastor Maldonado a chance. Nice symmetry. He’s going to make Maldonado look like a road-safety instructor.
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
30th September 2016, 12:33
@hahostolze I’m not so sure. Stroll is a very different driver to the one who was getting race bans last year.
Mark
1st October 2016, 4:29
Him and Max will get on well then.
GeeMac (@geemac)
30th September 2016, 9:23
Kingfisher actually failed because of Vijay’s ambition and his vanity. Kingfisher was a good little airline initially, operating just in India, but he wanted to take it global. Indian law at the time said they had to wait a number of years before they could be granted a licence to fly internationally, so he bought another airline (Deccan Aviation), which had an international licence but which was struggling, without doing the appropriate due diligence.
Mallesh Magdum (@malleshmagdum)
30th September 2016, 14:06
Agree