Ferrari president: We’re still behind Mercedes

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In the round-up: Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne says his team hasn’t overhauled Mercedes yet despite their promising performance in testing.

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Comment of the day

Force India’s new pink livery is certainly attention-grabbing, but how much is it worth?

BWT is a company with $19 million of EBIT on $660 million of revenue in 2016. They can’t be paying much for this sponsorship.
Gary

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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101 comments on “Ferrari president: We’re still behind Mercedes”

  1. Nico Hulkenberg should be nore careful. It’s quite a cliche homophobic comment, or even a mysigonistic one. And besides: what if his le mans winning car was painted as an homage to the 71 917 pink pig?

    1. You’re right! His words are clearly full of hate for women and homosexuals!
      I hope Renault fire him for this and he is banned from Twitter!

    2. You’re just assuming that’s why he doesn’t like it. Maybe he just thinks it’s ugly as all get-out? I know at least one non-straight male and one female who also think it’s hideous.

    3. People will get offended by anything these days.

      1. How dare you..

        1. Haha… See what you did there :D

          You’re annoying.
          :D

      2. Don’t know of it is as big as “offended”, i’ld rather go with “annoyed”

        1. @matiascasali
          Meh, same thing. You are complaining about literally nothing.

        2. No offence, but get a real problem.

          That’s the issue with some people these days – they actively look for something to be offended about. You’ve filled the gaps yourself and conjured up an image that’s potentially offending. You’ve decided your own context for it.

          Not at any point does he make ANY hint towards homophobia, or sexism. Pink is a rarely used, garish colour. It’s extremely different and designed to shock.

          1. @ecwdanselby

            they actively look for something to be offended about.

            While I agree with you here in general the ways in which a heavily
            patriarchal society, often without knowing it, behaves unacceptingly towards woman, or different sexually orientated people are a very serious matter that one cant just sweep away (especially as someone that doesn’t suffer from it, which I pressume you don’t).

            A seemingly innocent joke from Hulk and the way you talk about this, is prove of this imho.

      3. And it’s not who gets to decide if they feel ofended or not.

      4. Commentators better be ware how people can take peoples words and jumble them up in their own minds to make out something is offensive. I really hope if Force India have an engine problem in a race the phrase ‘ There’s a puff of smoke from the Force India’, is not used.

    4. Have you considered that he maybe just doesn’t like pink?

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        15th March 2017, 1:50

        Or that, you know, he was just making a joke.

        1. ExcitedAbout17
          15th March 2017, 7:16

          duhh, of course it’s a joke; look at all the emojis.
          But that’s exactly the part that makes it borderline homophobic/misogynistic!

    5. To be fair, he didn’t say “this is a girly paint job”. He only implied he just doesn’t like it.

      It could well be just a joke to his former team. It could mean all or mean nothing at all.

    6. @matiascasali thou hath hereby for ever more forfeited thy right of complanation bout PR-Speak.
      Seriously, can’t take a joke but wonders why everyone talks like ron dennis these days…

      1. Checo Pérez didn’t like the “joke” about the mexicans from his eyewear sponsor… look, this kind of jokes (as jokes about blacks, jews, whatever) are a socially acceptable kind of racism/homophobia, is as simple as that. He could’ve say anything about nit liking the colour, but he’ve chosen the one with the sexist joke…

        1. @matiascasali
          He implied nothing sexist whatsoever. It’s all in your easily offended SJW head.

          1. ExcitedAbout17
            15th March 2017, 7:18

            Why play the person? @kingshark

          2. He literally said “Now you finally understand why I left Force India.” (plus laughing emojis), all under a picture of a pink car. Since he never publicly indicated his dislike of color pink (or a Force India 2017 car with different livery), there are not many conclusions to be drawn from this phrase.

            The joke implies a widespread undersanding of why a driver would leave a team with a pink-colored car. That understanding is that a pink car looks girly, bubble-gummy and not serious in general.

            That’s it. There is no homophobia or misoginy in that (unless someone thinks that pink being associated with girls is misoginy in itself, in which case this someone has a bigger problem). It’s a lighthearted joke. And Force India’s reply with Hello Kitty is the proof of that.

            I might understand some farfetched connection to misoginy association (although it’s utterly ridiculous), but where the hell the accusation of homophobia comes from?

          3. That understanding is that a pink car looks girly, bubble-gummy and not serious in general

            And there is your misogyny.

        2. You’re seriously comparing Donald Trump’s views, to Nico Hulkenberg’s….?!

          You absolutely must be joking.

          Guess what – you’ve now offended me! Some people…

        3. Michael Brown (@)
          15th March 2017, 12:20

          @matiascasali Conclusion: Nico Hülkenberg is Literally Hitler.

    7. It’s some light hearted banter because it’s such an unconventional colour..

    8. Am I missing something? Where’s the homophobia and the misogyny in his comment? Are you referring to that tweet above?

      1. It’s something people read into it, not helped by text on the internet removes tone and facial expression which makes it harder to determine if it’s a joke or not for some people.
        Makes me interested to see how some of these people would react to The Beginner’s Guide which is all about perception of character/intent, but I’d imagine they’d get bored within 5 minutes because it’s a first person game without guns.

    9. Next thing you know Red Bull would be sexist for having a nose that somehow reminds SJW snowflakes of the male genitals :\

      1. A lot of people were offended (at least aesthetically) by the various 2014 nose treatments, so that joke is perhaps not as jokey as either of us would like :(

    10. they have been trading tweet back and forward. With Force India posting a photo of Hulk with the Hello Kitty.

      It is impossible to make a joke this days

    11. @matiascasali He didn’t say anything of the sort.

    12. Regardless of the reason for his comment, if the FI started winning GPs and the Renault doesn’t, I bet he would be desperate to get in a pink race winning car – like any driver would.

    13. @matiascasali I think you are the on jumping to homophobic and/or sexist conclusions. He might just not like the colour pink.

    14. @matiascasali He said nothing homophobic or sexist? He just implied that he didn’t like the livery, which is understandable because it’s dreadful… Pretty ridiculous thing to infer from his tweet

      1. If anything you’re being the sexist here by assuming he meant he ‘hated it because it’s pink and that’s a girls colour’.

        1. I agree with you, in this world people can’t even make a joke

    15. You are a source of a misery in this world.

    16. What rubbish, i totally agree with him that the colour does not suit an F1 car, yes its very feminine. im pretty sure that if there was a female F1 driver that they wouldn’t want to drive the pink one either.

    17. @matiascasali This is silly. A small spot of casual banter and you blow it out of proportion.

    18. Or maybe he just doesn’t like pink?

      It’s you who made the connection pink=homosexuality @matiascasali, not him.

    19. Well pink is a color associated with little girls, is it not? Go to a toy store if you don’t believe me.

      Hulk’s tweet is a bad attempt to humor painting a macho, fast F1 car pink. You know, if you want to ruin humor, leave it to the Germans.

    20. Since when is homophobia and/or sexism judged by the colours one dislikes? That’s crazy. That car is hideous.

  2. Must admit I can’t wait to see all the cars on the grid now, it’s going to look great!!

  3. Marchionne changing his tune a bit this year after boldly predicting Ferrari will win the 2016 Spanish GP and dominate thereafter. Love that guy

  4. I think Hulk’s and Grosjean’s tweets were dumb. Nothing wrong with pink, and to imply it is somewhat “girly” – even if not explicitly said – is equally dumb. Besides in Hulk’s case it was disrespectful towards Force India. But that’s okay, I think a little spicy does no hard to the sport!

    I like the colour scheme and really hope they do well in Australia. F1 could use with a little extra pink exposure on the telly.

    Regarding Ferrari sandbagging, they certainly haven’t shown all their cards, but nor did Mercedes or Red Bull. Anything can happen in Melbourne. Can’t wait!

    1. Michael Brown (@)
      15th March 2017, 12:22

      Implying is stretching it

    2. @lancesuk

      Grow up! It’s a f -ing joke

  5. Our car is the second fastest.

    No our car is the second fastest!

    Well we definitely third fastest

    No we’re third fastest!

    * * *

      1. @peartree
        one thing lot of people are missing that the conditions. When Bottas made his lap the conditions are lot cooler than Kimi did his time which obviously helps the Super softs a tad to keep them in comfort zone against Kimi when he set his lap.
        Thats not to say that Merc wont be ahead but i dont take these laps as the real difference of how much merc is ahead.
        From my Point of view i stated a few days ago. Neither of these laps are real pace and far off the actual pace these cars can do.
        Both Bottas and Sebastian did 21 low’s on Mediums and gone for some long laps (12-16 ish) in those stints and considering the delta’s from Medium to Supersoft i doubt the 18.6 they did is any better than the 21 low’s they did as they can be easily replicated from same fuel loads and mapping.
        Vettel did a stint started a 21.1 and finished at 21’s according to Autosport and Bottas did same stint started from 21.3 (iirc) both on Mediums only.
        Delta from M to S is around 1.6 – 2.0 sec (depending on car) and S to SS is 0.6-0.8(depending on car) also SS doesn’t suit to Catalunya and doesn’t even work well when its Hot
        All in all i say is lets wait until Australia race weekend and then we can get some answers about how much ahead Merc is but to get the full details we might have to wait until Bahrain or Sochi considering the big rule changes

      2. @peartree You are going to have to explain to me why that video shows Mercedes still have the edge? There are way too many unknowns. How much fuel each car had onboard, what engine mode they were running, track temps, how much the track was rubbered in, car setup, wind speed and direction, tyre preparation, tyre life (laps done, were they brand new) etc. BTW I’m not a Ferrari or Mercedes fan so not fussed who has the edge. I’m happy to wait until the first race and even then Melbourne is quite distinctive to all the other tracks on the calendar and as such has never proved to be a good demonstrator of which is the best car over the season.

        1. @tonyyeb @mrboerns The Ferrari is braking later which is a clear sign of lower fuel, that said by turn 3 the Merc starts gaining back and then loses it out again on braking. Also the Merc’s handling on lower speed corners is perfect.
          @faulty I noticed Raikkonens mistakes aswell. The Merc is actually quicker on the main straight but I wonder just how much fuel it has in.

          1. @peartree
            Braking later doesn’t mean sign of low fuel at all. Merc can run much less fuel and yet brake early as well Ferrari can run more fuel and brake later in qualification mode to see how the car reacts as well which creates under steer due to late brake with more fuel there are loads of things we dont know.
            Neither team has shown their hand and we can for now believe that Merc can be ahead but how much is will be find out in a 10 days time.
            Remember these cars are beasts in downforce with a lot of difference to past years. So a late brake of previous years will be easily classified as normal one now. So dont believe what you see so far from Testing and wait for races to get any sort of real data

      3. Heck i’ll just address the elephant in the room: the comparison Shows the Ferrari to be faster doesn’t It? You mean mercedes still has it in a mclaren has the best chassis kinda Way?
        Not to say Ferrari Is ahead but your Videos would surely point that Way?

      4. There were a couple of mistakes in Raikkonen’s lap, i’m sure he wasn’t pushing like he would in Q3.

        The merc seems a little off under power, the kind of kinks the teams iron out during FPs, so I’m going with “Not Representative” as well.

        1. @faulty
          From the Knob positions video of Youtube its stated that they are running in their Q mode but i doubt they are stressing the Gearbox though so yeah neither lap is representative
          Waiting is killing :D

  6. I see a reason for the livery change beyond financial. Considering he is currently under arrest in India it is understandable if Mallya has some personal interest in distancing his team from the green and orange. If BWT was paying for the whole livery I bet they would have insisted on their blue.

    Given the featuring of the word Saraha without the following Force India I wouldn’t be surprised to see a team/brand change in the future if the animosity continues.

    1. For some reason pink is BWT’s colour. Ive seen a dtm car with a similar livery.

        1. Oh wow, okay, I stand corrected, maybe they did pay for the whole thing. Bold strategy.

    2. That was the first thing I noticed – it doesn’t reference Force India anywhere on that car. I doubt Vijay will last the season.

    3. Vijay is neither in India nor under arrest; he’s a free man in the UK. The issue is that India revoked his diplomatic passport and so Vijay cannot leave the UK without special permission from India… …which India is unlikely to grant until an arrangement is made for him to face charges brought by various Indian organisations regarding non-payments of various (large) bills. No voluntary arrangement has been forthcoming, hence why India’s currently having another attempt at extraditing Mr Mallya.

  7. That F1Metrics analysis is excellent! But also made me realize I should have paid more attention in math class in school ;)

    1. If the F1 metrics analysis is correct and materialises to the real world, we might have reasons to be optimistic for a battle up front. If Ferrari managed to close the gap to 0.5s that would put them in a place where the driver could make the difference.

      RB I believe haven’t shown no way near their real pace, so it can come up to 3 teams battling it out.

      Fingers crossed, one week to go

  8. Re: COTD/the FI livery, why is it even pink? From what I can tell they’re in water, should be blue.

    1. Pink is the opposite colour to blue, so as a background it contrasts well with the blue of the logo.

      1. Is orange not the opposite to blue?

        1. Andrey Baydin
          15th March 2017, 9:01

          Only when it’s big, I thought?

        2. There are many hues of blue

        3. @strontium Chromatically, yes.

          However, using orange as a background to blue tends to make the blue logo fade back due to how the human eye processes colours (it’s evolved to regard blue as a background colour more than a foreground colour). So a less intense-seeming colour has to be used to create the same effect as, say, using light blue as the opposite to a bright orange would have. This is especially important for light blue logos. Several colours would have done the job, but BWT has opted for light pink.

  9. I doubt Marchionne’s words. So Ferrari arrived at the pre-season test with the goal of fighting for second place? Either that’s a lie, or it represents what’s wrong at Ferrari.

    1. Nope

      Marchionne wasn’t happy with being handed such an extra burden of expectation. He insisted that Mercedes were still favourites to win races and titles again this season.

      They will always try to win they are just managing expectations this time around. After how he increased the expectations last year and piled up immense pressure its good to see that he himself doesn’t want to increase it and saving the team from not increasing the expectations and shooting down the Rivals statements.

    2. @ironcito Either way, watch this
      There’s still some gap to Mercedes.

      1. That’s a video that shows the Ferrari going faster. Regardless, I’m not saying that Ferrari is ahead, or that Mercedes is ahead, or anything performance-related. I just question his words when he said that Ferrari’s goal for the test was to be competitive with Red Bull and concede first place to Mercedes. I know that he’s trying to keep a low profile, but saying “yeah, we came here hoping to be second” is not the way to do it.

        1. Its same as Merc saying Ferrari or RBR is really close we will have fight on our hands statements from the last 3 years. The Point is he has to downplay not only because of the risk of increasing the pressure but the media reads one point and says it as other especially the italian media,So had he said we will try to beat mercs the media will go over the gaga and hype them immensely only to fail with the increased pressure (aka 2016). This year they didn’t even said one word officially they are just doing their jobs and already the hype is getting intensified so its better that He Himself came out and said we aren’t favorites and passed it to Mercs. Its all about taking the pressure of the team rather than lack of Ambition if they are good then the Pressure will be off and praised if not they can atleast say we haven’t said any thing we are just trying to do what ever we can instead of having the we are failed again by hyping our self(again like 2016).
          To be honest Marchionnie did the best thing so far is this in my view he himself shooting down the Media hype and rival statements gives the Group breathing space which the severely lacked last year and started to step on their own foot due to their Pressure by Chairman

          1. I disagree. Saying “we think Mercedes is still on top” is different than saying “our goal was to be competitive with Red Bull”. Ferrari’s goal always has to be victory in each race and the championship for the season. Maybe Mercedes is still on top, but we’re not OK with that, our goal was not to fight for second with Red Bull. Of course, he shouldn’t say “this year we will win”, because that would be tooting their own horn, so to speak. But he should say that’s what they’re here to do, that’s their goal.

          2. If he said what you just said i’m damn sure that Media will hype to no end and when they couldn’t beat them the Italian Media will fry them to core. Also After how RBR jumped them last year if they are competitive with RBR means they are going in right direction. He just want to take off the we are favorites tag from their backs so that they can be under dogs and do their Job.
            to be put it simple but bluntly if he said exactly “Mercedes is still on top, but we’re not OK with that, our goal was not to fight for second with Red Bull.” the notion we will see is ” Mercedes will be beaten from start of season” and when they fail “Ferrari yet again failed by big mouthing with no speed and development” which absolutely kills the Team they have now. You should remember Other Media is different from the Media Ferrari handle every day in news papers they say some thing about Ferrari they hype them up badly, so he was doing the 100% right thing. His goal as you said should be topping who ever ahead whether its Mercedes or Redbull or who ever it is. But he will keep it internally and allowing the team to work in peace out of the Pressure and publicly making them the underdogs instead of Favorites.

          3. Well, I still disagree. As a team member, I would be more demoralized by the president of the company saying that our goal is to fight for second place, than if he says that we’re there to win and then we fail.

            If we can’t catch Mercedes this year, then let’s go back to the drawing board and do it right. We’re Ferrari, dammit. But if he says “yeah, second place is our objective” despite having the sport’s largest budget and a legendary tradition, I would read it as “what else can we expect with these losers we have designing our cars?”.

            Of course, that’s just me.

            Whatever hype the media creates is their problem. If Ferrari don’t deliver, they will be criticized regardless.

          4. @ironcito
            I think you are confusing with Speaking to press with Speaking with team and staff.
            Ofcourse Marchionnie wants to have the fastest car of the grid and he will speak about it in meetings with staff but with Media he was protecting the team by reminding every one that despite good preseason test its still preseason and Merc are still favorites for the championship.
            I doubt that he communicates with staff by media statements

    3. I think Marchionne and the rest of the Ferrari squad are made to eat humble pie way too often when they do not deliver. After touting Ferrari to really take the challenge to the Mercedes last year, a lot of people just branded Ferrari as loud mouths who cannot deliver. He’s just keeping everyone’s expectations in check because Mercedes are still the team to beat given their last 3 year record.. and he just wants people to remember that Ferrari are still the underdogs.

      I’m sure he’s more anxious than anyone else in Melbourne. He’ll be glued to the Q3 session like his life depended on it.

      1. @todfod

        a lot of people just branded Ferrari as loud mouths who cannot deliver.

        Pretty sure that started at the latest during di Montezemolo’s era.

  10. Micheal (@shakengandulf)
    15th March 2017, 4:26

    These teams are literally throwing sandbags at each other.

  11. So Damon’s setting up a group/foundation that gives drivers more say in F1 as well as allowing them to be more themselves and not so much corporate robots, now which driver have i heard say that before?

    Times and attitude are surely starting to change since Liberty took over.

    1. I think for now we have seen no change in anything since Liberty ‘took over.’ The issue DH is raising is not new, and I doubt even if he gets much support it will have much of an impact on things. Perhaps different if Liberty had commissioned DH to put this group together, but as an independent group I’d be surprised if it carried any weight or did anything that Liberty can’t do themselves if they so wish. And I think that would be to talk to the teams and their sponsors.

      Teams and sponsors are always going to expect a certain decorum, and that hasn’t stopped the likes of LH from being out there promoting himself and his brand, but if he pulls a Tiger Woods or a Lance Armstrong…different story.

      Back when Jacques Villeneuve left F1 BE called it a shame because they needed more personalities like his. But the drivers with the personalities don’t seem to allow themselves to be stifled. So although I don’t disagree with DH that drivers promoting themselves is fine, I’m not sure his approach will do anything. I think he should be going to Liberty for their support in his initiative rather than gathering up drivers and fans like a lobby group or something. Maybe he did and Liberty turned him down, I don’t know.

      Anyway, for me if this initiative gets off the ground that’s fine, but I don’t envision that suddenly all drivers will feel comfortable speaking their mind freely and for example running their own team or sponsors or F1 into the ground to the public…piling on if there’s a major problem with tires for example…exacerbating the problem. If DH wants drivers to feel more comfortable promoting themselves, fine, but I think they’re pretty free to do that already, but if he wants their muzzles taken off I doubt that will help anything nor will most drivers bite. Some of their ‘muzzling’ is no doubt self-imposed and natural as well as common sense. They’re on a team that is spending hundreds of millions to give them potential fame and fortune beyond the pale…they’re only going to go as ‘out there’ as they feel comfortable going, no matter how far DH tells them they can go, since DH isn’t cutting their pay check.

  12. Sooo, Ferrari playing down expectations, letting engineers work in peace? This is new. Hype is now real.

    RBR worried about Ferrari… But everyone ignores Mercedes…

  13. RE COTD: this doesn’t say much. They’re the biggest water company in Europe. EBIT is irrelevant because sponsorship will be paid as part of operating revenue, not profits. Compare to Haas (no sponsor at all), McLaren (a small US winery, owned by LVMH, but still nothing), Sauber (no sponsor) and Williams (Martini is owned by Bacardi, which has 4.6 bn revenue, but Martini is a fraction of that and will have their own sponsorship budget) and that’s really not bad. Clearly with their current ownership being Sahara and Kingfisher, they wanted a revenue stream outside of India (and outside of Diageo). BWT will be paying quite a bit to get the entire livery changed. I doubt they sold out just like that, especially as Sahara basically just lost their billboard on the car.

    1. Following up from this, German media today say BWT are paying 15-20m euro for the honour. That’s not peanuts, for a team like Force India that’s huge.

    2. Of course F1 sponsorship is part of operating expenses, more precisely SG&A, and not “paid from profits”. The point is that BWT reported an operating profit of $19 million in the year prior to this sponsorship. So, unless BWT can eliminate existing marketing spending dollar-for-dollar as it adds F1 sponsorship then there is little room for additional spending. BWT had been supporting a German DTM effort, so presumably could flip those monies into F1; do you think the funds for a German DTM sponsorship are going to move the needle in F1? I don’t think so.
      BWT is a European consumer water business, with 59% of their sales in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. BWT have almost no presence in the industrial water technology markets, which is a global business. As such, sponsoring a German DTM car may make sense, but a global F1 effort is ridiculous other than as a vanity project. Now, I won’t say much, but if you understood the corporate governance controversies surrounding BWT then you would understand what’s going on here.
      Keith – thanks for the COTD

  14. For me one of the most worrying comments in that Motorsport.com McLaren Honda article is this part

    “It was suggested that the failures were being caused by excessive vibration, which was shaking connections to bits.”

    How does any engine that should have thousands of “miles” on a dyno get mounted into a car with such a fundamental issue?! This should have been sorted long before it even got close to the mounting brackets of the MCL32.

    1. Good point.

      Makes me wonde why the manufacturers haven’t got really sophisticated dynos that have the capability to simulate vibration and lateral load. The whole “oil tank” issue as well – that should have been picked up weeks ago.

      What I don’t know (maybe someone here can tell us) is whether or not it so permissible within the rules to bolt the PU into a vehicle ( sedan, old open when chassis, etc) and drive the thing around a test track for a few 1000 kms to actually test it in motion or is that strictly forbidden?

      All we seem to hear is “it works great on the dyno” which suggests that engine manufacturers like Honda and Renauot have poorly set up test processes for their PU’s

      1. It is not permitted to bolt any part of a F1 car onto any vehicle and run it “live”, unless that running counts as part of the entire test mileage. A manufacturer might be able to get round that for really small parts, but not for something as big as an entire power unit.

        1. The 2014 La Ferrari mule running the F1 engine at Fiotano?

      2. I completely agree with your comments. While I don’t think we can include Renault in the same class as Honda when discussing poor testing and simulation processes, it’s fairly obvious that they are lacking as compared to Ferrari and Mercedes in that department.

        Honda is not equipped on any front to compete in formula 1. They don’t have the skill set, culture, processes or leadership to compete in this sport. Building a championship winning engine is another one of Honda’s ‘earth dreams’ .

        What I find ridiculous is the plethora of problems that highlight their amateurishness. The vibration issue highlights their poor testing process and technology. The oil tank issue shows a clear lack of foresight, poor testing processes and poor technology. The fact that 3 weeks after the problem on Stoffel’s car, they are still trying to figure out the problem, again highlights the lack of processes, leadership and skill set.

        The fact that their engine hasn’t even completed a stint of 12 laps after 4 to 5 years of development, pretty much sums up Honda’s capability of being an engine provider in Formula 1.

    2. I agree, it defies logic that a manufacturer like Honda, who makes motorcycles for racing, can be making the mistakes we are talking about.

      I hadn’t thought of installing the rig into a moving vehicle, but the only parameters you can’t test for on a dyno are acceleration and braking, but you could simulate shunts and things like that, which, if done properly, should suffice. I can’t see simulating things like flat spotted wheel vibration and harsh bumps as you might get hitting a kerb being difficult.

  15. I’m sure Hulkenberg and Grosjean’s comments about Force India’s colours were meant as an innocent joke but I do think they are pretty tactless.

    I mean it’s pretty clear they’re talking about it in a negative perspective. Pretty disappointed in the pair of them now.

    1. I don’t know for Hulk @rocketpanda, but from his tweets, Grosjean seems like a loving father and fun open type (except when the car isn’t good), but he is also prone to the tactless message concerning nearly any subject (even cooking buddies). But in line with Damon Hill’s initiative, I would not read too much in it and just be happy they did joke, and tut tut internally at the simple logic behind those jokes (certainly wouldn’t jump on the individual).

    2. People are way too sensitive nowadays.

    3. Who are the people criticising the friendly banter going on here leaping to the defence of?

  16. Evil Homer (@)
    16th March 2017, 11:43

    Ok – this is PC gone too mad, Nico is very obviously appreciative to his old team and having some fun!

    All the world is much poorer for idiots that make us all over the top PC, its stupid.
    Being correct, fair and kind to all people is something most of this world wants (not all) and that’s fine.

    Now when I take my wife out to dinner, pay and open the door from her I am not allowing her to live her rights, and I’m sexist.
    When next time wifey pays and opens the door for me……….. well I run for the car!! LOL

    Lets all relax F1F’s, lets let political correctness gone wrong to the others this world – Nico’s comments were fine!

    Come on Melbourne – we might have something worth talking about – HEADLINE- McLaren done 12 laps!!

  17. Regarding Mick Schumacher:
    When you have a free financial ticket into motorsports (and a flashy name to boot) then in my opinion all the extra scrutiny and pressure is justified. For every Mick Schumacher there’s a thousand John Smith’s or Joe Bloggs’ with infinite potential but without the money or background to achieve in the sport.

    1. Sorry–where’s the Mick Schumacher story?

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