In the round-up: Honda motorsport head Yusuke Hasegawa says the engine supplier are concerned about a potential weakness to vibration in their power unit.
F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship 2017
The 2017 F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship has been launched and we have a new selection of prizes to be won for whoever can make the best predictions over the coming year.
This weekend we’ve got 13 prizes up for grabs. At the end of the year the top players will win genuine raced-used F1 car parts, top-of-the-range motor sport gaming gear and unique F1 artwork.
As always the F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship is free to enter and the prizes are available to players anywhere in the world. You’ve got until the scheduled start time of qualifying to make your first prediction, so enter here now:
Links
Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more from hundreds of sites across the web:
Honda still has concerns about McLaren's Australian GP reliability (Autosport)
"The trouble caused cracks in a carbon pipe on the side of the car - with the harness getting detached. However, I don't know if these problems will not occur again if the engine vibrations stop. I am worried."
Mark Webber: This is what Liberty Media must NOT do to Formula One - EXCLUSIVE (Express)
"I hope we don’t go to too many races. I’d like to keep an eye on that. You don’t want it to get like football which is on every five minutes."
'Unsightly' shark fins are not here to stay, suggests Charlie Whiting (Independent)
"Next year, I think there is quite a good chance that that will be done because quite a few people feel that they are a bit of an unsightly thing."
Why Lance Stroll's Car Matters More Than His Skill in Rookie F1 Season (Vice Sports)
"That number, it turns out, is 61 percent; in other words, driver performance accounts for less than 40 percent of the variance in results. The rest is governed by the car."
Mercedes interested in Vettel says Marko (GrandPrix)
"Mercedes will be interested in them for 2018."
F1 star Verstappen slides into Supercar (Supercars.com)
Shane van Gisbergen: "He asked if I left-foot braked and I said that I couldn’t but I heel-and-toe. He had a funny look on his face and said he’d never done that in his life!"
Andy Blackmore on 2017 Formula 1 liveries (Racer)
"Renowned livery designer and artist Andy Blackmore takes a final look at the 2017 Formula 1 grid and offers his take on those who've won and lost the visual wars."
Making the best of his opportunity - Stoffel Vandoorne Q&A (Formula1.com)
"I get on very well with Fernando, but he did not give me any tips. Whenever I have any issues I can always approach him and we talk about things."
Formula One Fans Have New Way To Enjoy The World's Premier Racing Experiences (Forbes)
"Packages go on sale tomorrow and through them F1 Experiences offers fans benefits, access and race weekend experiences not available anywhere else, such as tours of the track, walking pit lane, meeting past legends of the sport and rising drivers from the F2, GP3 and Porsche Super Cup racing series."
Christian Horner says Daniel Ricciardo a 'long shot' for world championship (ABC News)
"I think it's a long shot but, of course, we're taking a race-by-race approach. This first race will be the first barometer that we get of where we stand compared to our competitors."
F1 extends social media freedom into race weekends (Motorsport.com)
"Last week, FOM wrote to the teams confirming that the relaxation process would be continued from the Australian GP for content captured by 'handheld devices', with certain restrictions."
No-time Formula 1 champion David Coulthard thinks women aren't built to win the race (Daily Record)
"It’s not the physical aspect that limits ladies’ ability to compete in Formula 1 at the top level. It’s maybe that last little bit of separation between the mothering DNA that makes ladies capable of having a child and providing for that child."
Got a tip for a link to feature in the next F1 Fanatic round-up? Send it in here:
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
Good morning Melbourne ✌️✌️ Are you ready for @F1 to hit the track today? 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/Eqc6SNhEOh
— Aus Grand Prix (@ausgrandprix) March 23, 2017
Supports been amazing all week. One more sleep and get to do what I came here for 🏎
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) March 23, 2017
It's finally Friday! Ready to unleash @RGrosjean and @KevinMagnussen at the @ausgrandprix. 🏎🇦🇺#F1DownUnder #AusGP pic.twitter.com/nDiF6fwUft
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) March 23, 2017
⬆️ Going fast in a straight is all about power 💪
↪️ but cornering quickly in #F1 is a different story ↩️
Go on board with @Carlossainz55 pic.twitter.com/yVzX6FrhoU— Toro Rosso (@ToroRossoSpy) March 23, 2017
Well played, @ausgrandprix. Well played. #F1 Credit: peddlepusher23 pic.twitter.com/SRZgBlLULs
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) March 23, 2017
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
As Lewis Hamilton claims Ferrari are the favourites heading into Melbourne, @petebaldwin is bemused…
F1 is such a weird sport… I can’t think of any others where competitors regularly downplay their chances and talk up the opposition.
Can you imagine a boxer saying “I’ve been training hard but I think I’ll probably get knocked out fairly early on?” Or Usain Bolt saying “I’m fast but have you seen this other guy? He’s much better than me…”
@petebaldwin
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Gman, Sam and Harvey Pizey!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
Lewis Hamilton put his McLaren on pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix five years ago today.
mfreire
24th March 2017, 0:30
With France and Germany coming back next year and with the certainty of a second American race, next year’s calendar will have 22+ races. But Ross Brawn said 21 is the limit. So the obvious question is: what stays and what goes? (Fingers crossed for Bahrain’s removal, although this is unlikely)
Philip (@philipgb)
24th March 2017, 1:33
Bahrain? For ethical reasons I assume?
Because we’ve had some good races there.
mfreire
24th March 2017, 14:40
Exactly for ethical reasons. South Africa was different- there was a public interest there.
Josh (@canadianjosh)
24th March 2017, 0:41
Love the social media we re seeing. Amazing.
sean
24th March 2017, 0:49
Oh god, now with the shark fins again…
Please F1 don’t listen to the fans (too much)
Kevin Amery (@k-l-waster)
24th March 2017, 1:13
Elaborating on the oil tank issue, he said: “It was a matter of design. There was a baffle plate inside, but it seems that it was not able to properly suck up oil, because its shape was bad.
“I have changed that. It was a very rudimentary problem.”
Hang on: it was a very rudimentary problem and yet you didn’t find it until testing started?!?
I am stunned anyone thinks Honda is going to turn this around.
bull mello (@bullmello)
24th March 2017, 3:49
@k-l-waster – “I am stunned anyone thinks Honda is going to turn this around.”
Agreed. I’m willing to bet neither McLaren/Honda completes the race Sunday, if either one even makes it to the race. This season will be worse than 2015. At least in 2015 they had some fairly legitimate excuses. Hard to fathom the depth they have sunk to now. As a longtime McLaren fan, the only possible hope I can see on the horizon is a different engine supplier.
anon
24th March 2017, 7:11
@k-l-waster, interestingly, those comments only appear in the English translation of the original interview (a Japanese speaker on the Autosport forums has translated the original Japanese interview, and neither that comment nor the one about the engine mapping modifications are present in the Japanese version). Either those comments were edited out of that interview, or some of those comments could have come from a mistranslation of some of the original comments he made.
Joao (@johnmilk)
24th March 2017, 7:35
I assume it is the translation, but I found it intriguing the fact that Hasegawa talks like he is the one behind everything.
sentences like “I address the problem…” “I’m worried…” “I have changed that…”
For me it’s weird, maybe I’m to picky in this sort of thing
JeanRob
24th March 2017, 13:24
Blame Google translate. It does not cope well with the japanese way of speaking. The japanese, especially at work use the passive form very much, so whenever you put that in Google translate it will put “I” where they never exist in the original.
Joao (@johnmilk)
24th March 2017, 15:39
Ah! Thank you JeanRob
JeanRob
24th March 2017, 22:08
Take this with a pinch of salt though.
I have not read the original article and my level in Japanese is not native, but this is definitely what happens when I use Google translate to check something I am not sure I understood properly my colleagues.
The other thing is that even though in Japanese they have “me / you / he/she”, they rarely use those. It’s a language that relies heavily on context.
But yeah, as much as I love Honda and would be happy to work with them, I’m not surprised to hear that the bureaucracy gets in the way. Usually, Japanese company are very slow in the decision making process. Since nobody wants to be the one to be blamed in case something fails, the decisions tend to be taken after a consensus and going through all the ranks up to a certain level in management (sometimes even the CEO).
One other very important thing that will really really impact the MCL / Honda relationship badly is that in Japan, avoiding confrontations is the norm, so even if it is deserved, being blamed in public is really a strong sign and it will hurt Honda’s trust in MCL.
Yes they have problems, but that does not mean those guys are not working their assess of. We all have been through a situation when you make a decision and whatever you try, for some reason it keeps getting worse because you have not found that little detail that would change the dynamic and solve the problem.
American F1
24th March 2017, 13:58
I still fail to understand how it is that a company like Honda cannot seem to produce a decent, functioning F1 engine. They have race winning turbo V-6’s in Indy and significant hybrid tech in their NSX and, while I get that it is far from a 1-to-1 transfer, I would assume the one or two decent engineers on their staff along with access to a modest amount of funding (yes, that’s sarcasm) would facilitate producing something that could at least run a race distance. I mean, if Renault can do it…?
beneboy (@beneboy)
24th March 2017, 1:23
DC starting to sound like an old man there. I’m pretty sure that there are loads of people, both men and women, who would be great F1 drivers, probably even better than current and former champions, but who have never had the opportunity to even drive a kart.
I’m guessing that if a few more middle class families encouraged their young daughters to get a kart instead of a pony we’d soon find plenty of girls rising through the ranks. If women can fly fighter jets there’s no physical or genetic reason they can’t race formula cars as well as a man, we just need more women competing in motorsport to inspire more girls to want to grow up to be like Michèle Mouton rather than Kim Kardashian.
Maciek (@maciek)
24th March 2017, 2:02
No kidding. I like Coulthard, but he’s really put both feet in his mouth there. For every group that hasn’t been somewhere before, there’s always been patronising reasons put forward by those who have why that group is just somehow not made to be there. Silly, really.
x303 (@x303)
24th March 2017, 14:06
Very well said @maciek.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
24th March 2017, 2:03
@beneboy Good point – with that one statement you’ve destroyed DC’s argument – physically and mentally piloting a jet is far more demanding, and women have proven themselves equals at it.
DC’s blather about “mothering DNA” makes me wonder if he’s deluded enough to think he’s actually passing a back-handed compliment to women.
Got to love the Daily Record’s put-down of him by titling the article “No-time F1 champion…”. However, it’s obvious that the Daily Record failed to recognize that DC’s also got the mothering gene, hence his F1 performance.
andrewf1 (@andrewf1)
24th March 2017, 9:14
Women can fly fighter jets and they can also drive F1 cars.
But that’s not the question really – the question is whether or not they can compete at the same level of performance. Why do you think every other sports category is gender separated?
Compare record holders across the 2 genders in various sport categories and see if you notice an answer.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
24th March 2017, 10:38
Women wouldn’t be strapped into a fighter jet if they couldn’t perform at the same level as male pilots. There’s no separate airspace for men and women to dogfight.
Aapje (@aapje)
24th March 2017, 21:27
Not much dogfighting with modern planes though. It’s just firing off rockets.
socksolid (@socksolid)
24th March 2017, 3:56
I don’t think coulthard is right either. I still think the main reason why there has not been many very good woman drivers (there have been some individuals in many motorsports) is simply because not many woman look at racing as possible careers. You need a big pool of drivers to find the ones who are possible f1 winners. And there just aren’t that many women in that big pool yet.
But I think that reasoning alone is a bit optimistic. Do women overall have the same desire to drive race cars as men? I still think that fast cars and driving fast are mostly a man thing. Lots of women do enjoy it but still less than men overall. Compared to men not that many women have natural interest in it. Women and men are different. Biologically and psychologically. Not in such way that a woman could not be a winner in f1. But maybe in a way that just makes it less likely because different interests.
I think some of the latest women in F1 might have actually hurt future women drivers too. Now there is this requirement that women coming into f1 must be pretty. It think is fair to say that the carmen jordas and suzi wolffs were not chosen because of the driving skills. What kind of message does this send to young girls who look at those drivers and may think “she got in because she is pretty and slow. I’m not that pretty, maybe I don’t have a chance?”. Which is of course wrong (I hope).
Phylyp (@phylyp)
24th March 2017, 7:48
@socksolid – very nice points.
This is quite a thought-provoking question. Daredevilry tends to be found more in men than in women. It might be psychological/physiological (i.e. driven by testosterone) or societal/cultural (which means things will improve). In any case, you (I presume) and I both agree that there will be some women interested in motorsport, and I wish they get opportunities to succeed.
But if DC – who is one face of Formula 1, by virtue of his role as a TV commentator – has such an attitude, we still have some way to go for women to make and entry, and to gain acceptance.
bull mello (@bullmello)
24th March 2017, 4:23
I predict someday a female driver in F1 will surpass DC’s win totals.
Markp
24th March 2017, 18:04
If Alonso has a sex change then gets a competitive car does that count?
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
24th March 2017, 2:09
I can’t understand how a graphic designer AND artist can put Haas in his podium of good liveries for this season.
That Haas livery is the dullest thing ever. Horrible colour scheme, bad livery design and that bit in the fin that has nothing to do with the rest of the design.
Seriously baffled by that.
Arrows98 (@arrows98)
24th March 2017, 2:39
@fer-no65
I also feel Haas’livery is kind of dull (still an improvement from last year, but only slightly), but they are not actually judging it in absolute beauty, but as a branding exercise, and they make a pretty good point it is an excellent branding exercise…
Ed Marques (@edmarques)
24th March 2017, 2:59
No time champion hahahahahaa amazing headline
@F1-liners (@f1-liners)
24th March 2017, 7:52
Coulthard is utterly wrong as there are scores of women equaling his ‘no-time F1 Champion’ record ;)
Joao (@johnmilk)
24th March 2017, 7:23
I feel at the moment, the only way Honda can fix their problems is to re-brand the engine, to something like Toyota for example
Todfod (@todfod)
24th March 2017, 10:31
I feel the only way Honda can fix their problems right now is to source a Mercedes engine and re brand it as Honda
SM
24th March 2017, 17:54
or go the red bull route. keep the current unit and rebrand it Richard Mille
@F1-liners (@f1-liners)
24th March 2017, 7:46
A bit challenging trying heel-and-toe when you’re a karting guy ;)
Mick
24th March 2017, 22:26
According to the article below, Honda has admitted they are already working on a next generation, more powerful motor targeted to be complete by the Monaco race. They have given up on the current engine for lack of horsepower!
Monaco will be testing grounds for the new engine and it’s more than likely Honda will have more “issues” to deal with.
The season is hopeless for McLaren.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/128621/honda-already-working-on-major-engine-changes