In the round-up: Lewis Hamilton says Formula One drivers are required to conform to a “boring” template.
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Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more from hundreds of sites across the web:
I live as hard and fast as I can (Men's Health Australia)
"There is a template that someone invented for a racing driver. You have to be a square and it into a box and the shape is ‘boring as fuck’. Don’t do anything but live and breathe racing. Don’t enjoy, don’t smile."
Brawn willing to work with MotoGP on F1 calendar (Reuters)
"I like the heritage of a race. I think an hour 40, an hour 45 is a great period for a race. And that’s traditionally what we’ve had. I think it’s a good time period."
Wolff: Mercedes could make a bid for Alonso for 2018! (F1i)
"I fully trust Valtteri, but there are many possibilities for 2018. Then there will be a big change in 2019 when all the great drivers will be available."
McLaren admits strategy hampered Alonso (Autosport)
"The problem with looking at race traces, when you can see the whole thing after it happened, it's very much easier to say, 'Well if I'd known that...'"
From Spanish success to Monaco updates - Q&A with Sauber’s Monisha Kaltenborn (F1)
"Major parts that should also lead to a performance gain are planned for the Monaco weekend. After that the next ones should be Austria, Silverstone and Budapest."
Hamilton gives up on drinks bottle to save weight (Motorsport)
"I don't carry drinks in my car either to save weight, so I'm not having a drink through the race. And then at the end, I used everything I had left when I jumped into my team and my heart rate hit the ceiling."
Vandoorne: Massa clash due to 'embarrassing' pace (Racer)
"He was so far behind and I was using all the tools I had to be as quick as possible at the end of the straight, so for him to be there was quite embarrassing."
McLaren boss Zak Brown on the future of Formula 1 (Campaign Live)
"As long as the reduction of TV audience is replaced with a good spike in consumption in other media, it’s not a loss of audience, it’s a shift to other forms. We are not losing consumers, just having consumers consume in a different way."
Ruth Buscombe: ‘F1 drivers don’t care if a woman or a chipmunk calls the shots’ (The Guardian)
"I used to play all the F1 games and it was noticeable that all of the characters are men. At school I had teachers trying to dissuade me from doing engineering, not because I wasn’t good at it but they were questioning whether I really wanted to be doing it. That is most important to change."
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Comment of the day
Following the positive and overwhelmingly popular response to Fernando Alonso entering the Indianapolis 500, should Liberty Media do more to help F1 drivers promote the sport by entering other series?
As F1 fan I have to admit that Alonso’s decision has broadened my vision of motorsport. And I guess I’m not the only one. Now I see Indy 500 and Le Mans as what they are, mighty races that deserve attention and admiration.
I’d like Liberty to foster drivers ‘cross-pollination’ more often in the future, even reserving seats for Le Mans and Indy 500 champions at some classical F1 races (Monaco, Silverstone, etc). In my opinion this would be great for fans, business and motorsport in general. Actually the ‘triple Crown’ concept, brought back by Alonso, could be reborn as the ‘Grand Slam’ of motorsport. Why not? It would be great.
@interpaul
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GT Racer (@gt-racer)
17th May 2017, 0:17
A problem with “reserving seats” for drivers from other categories is that it would be next to impossible to do in a way to allow them to be competitive.
You can’t force an existing team to run a guest driver in place of one of there existing drivers & If you bring in a new team that exists only to run the guest drivers then they stand no chance of been competitive because a smaller team like that could never match the bigger full time teams.
There is the option of a team running a 3rd car but that then introduces additional problems of who’s going to run it, Who’s going to pay for it & the prospect of a good guest been put in a top car, running towards the front & doing something that could affect the championship fight (A turn 1 accident or something).
Other categories also have many of the same commercial considerations that prevent a lot of F1 drivers racing elsewhere. That is a big part of what killed the old IROC series. The organizers were finding it harder & harder to get drivers from different categories in the cars so it ended up basically been a Nascar support category running on a few Nascar tracks with mostly Nascar drivers.
faulty
17th May 2017, 2:32
Easy, 3 car-teams.
Have 4 teams field a third car for (I’m bad at maths, if someone can do the permutations please insert number of) rounds.
Allow third car to have a different livery so that it can be sold to local sponsors. It’d be a good way to either have pay drivers for the bottom teams or to have special drivers at heritage races like Monaco, Silverstone or Spa. That way you can have Kevin Harvick at the USGP or a giallo Ferrari speciale in Monza.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
17th May 2017, 13:55
Let’s assume the 4 big teams that run 3 cars would be Ferrrari, Mercedes, RedBull and McLaren (Not sure if McL even belong here but let’s say they do for the sake of the example)
That’s 12 cars and it would mean teams like Sauber, Force Inda, Williams, Torro Rosso and Renault would only score points if something happens to one of the 3-team drivers. This in turn means that these teams get next to nothing from the prize/TV money and one by one they will die.
And then what? 4 car teams?
faulty
17th May 2017, 14:56
I didn’t say only for big teams.
I said 4 teams have to run a third car during a GP, so that there’s always a 24-car grid. You’d obviously have to raffle it as, in theory, there’d be only one points position left if Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all fielded 3 car teams in a given race.
But maybe a 3rd Sauber would have been able to score last weekend.
I also said that I wasn’t that good at maths to know how many times each team would have to field an extra car in a 19-race calendar.
It wouldn’t be feasible for some flyaway races, like Singapore for example, but by the same token, some venues I bet would be willing to pay extra for some extra cars, Abu *cough* Double.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
17th May 2017, 20:13
Given that some of the smaller teams can barely afford to run 2 cars I can’t see them even been able to think about running a 3rd.
When the subject of 3rd cars was brought up a few years back I believe Ferrari was the only team in favor of it with everyone else saying they either outright couldn’t afford it & those that said they could (Mercedes & Red Bull) not wanting to do it due to them wanting to keep all there available resources on the primary 2 cars.
faulty
17th May 2017, 20:26
Yes @steifmeister but that was for a full year program. The teams already have a spare chassis or two, and bodywork spares could be paid for by running those 3 or 4 races with local adverts. I’m thinking the economics of this would mostly hit the tyre supplier.
Iosif (@afonic)
17th May 2017, 3:02
Excuse me for asking, but do we want Formula 1 to be a sport or some show? In my opinion, guest cars with guest drivers can’t happen, unless the race doesn’t count for the world championship.
As gt-racer said, imagine the world championship is at stake, and Mercedes bring Nico back for a “guest” race. First corner, he collides with Vettel. Then what? Even if that doesn’t happen and lets even say guest drivers don’t get classified, they can still influence the result greatly.
Gimmicks like those aren’t necessary. Some iconic races, like Indy or Le Mans, are bigger events than the respective championships themselves. In Formula 1 no race is bigger than the World Championship.
beneboy (@beneboy)
17th May 2017, 9:53
@afonic
Guest cars/drivers would be far more welcome than some of the mediocre pay drivers that are only there because Daddy or their sponsors have deep pockets.
And there’s no reason why it couldn’t be restricted to those drivers that have already won one or two of the other races that make up the triple crown, which would mean those drivers would only be there on merit. And, frankly, who cares if they take out another driver in the race ? It would be no different to them being taken out by any other driver, and by that argument we shouldn’t be letting Jenson race at Monaco as he’s a former driver who isn’t involved in the championship.
I wouldn’t see it as a gimmick, more as a return to the good old days when the very best drivers got the chance to compete at the premier races of the season rather than being restricted to one series because of the corporate culture of modern motorsport.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
17th May 2017, 0:19
It’d be great if the top motorsport series around discussed the calendar together. F1 should also take the initiative and try not to clash with other big sporting events happening in the country they visit. I remember not long ago F1 went to the USA and there was a major match taking place the same weekend not far from the track. Can’t remember what it was, maybe a baseball final or something.
Also about the ladder in MotoGP, maybe they should allow broadcasters to show maybe the GP3 and F2 highlights before the start of the race or something. That’d put a bit more emphasis on the steps before F1, as not everyone gets the full feed.
Corey (@dragon86)
17th May 2017, 1:22
That was the Texas Longhorns college football game. In Texas football is big.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
17th May 2017, 13:58
Outside of the US American footbal is not very big at all, nor Texas for that matter.
Jason Blankenship
17th May 2017, 20:59
Texas by itself would be the 12th largest economy in the world….ahead of South Korea. That makes it, as a state, quite relevant on the world stage.
As for football, it’s gaining popularity steadily and there are now professional leagues in several countries. http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/15273529/how-american-football-becoming-worldwide-sport-europe-china-beyond
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
18th May 2017, 9:13
Having a big economy isn’t going to make people outside of the US/Texas care about Texas…I’m not even sure why that would even matter tbh.
We had the NFL-Europe over here for a while, but it flopped. They used soccer stadiums mostly but they were half empty everwhere but a few places. Rugby, at least in the western world, is the more popular version. Basically, American Football is seen as a sissy-version of Rugby. When it comes to practicing and watching however, soccer is the biggest sport everywhere but in the US. American Football and Baseball both are irrelevant on a world scale. Ice hockey is very locally liked and Basketball as a second or third tier sport has some relevance, but I’d say it’s well behind cycling and racing (2 and 4 wheels) in most countries for example.
Michael Brown (@)
17th May 2017, 1:04
I don’t think there should be seat reserving. What I think everyone can agree on is that there should be no clash with Indy and Le Mans
Ricky Johnson (@bamboo)
17th May 2017, 1:53
Yea I’ve always founds that fascinating with motorsport.
There needs to be some common ground in the name of motorsport as a whole. As opposed to F1 competing with MotoGP and even Nascar in the States, I would prefer it if motorsport work together (to a degree) to take on football, basketball rugby etc.
Rick (@)
17th May 2017, 12:26
@bamboo It depens on the angle you look at it. At your angle, you combine all types of motorised sports and say that “it” needs to work together and no clash. But the way I see it, and I say this since I like multiple sports, you could argue that with all sports there should be some sort of combined effort to not let major events clash.
Because person A is not the same as B so maybe person A only likes F1 and B only likes football, then there’s never a clash. But if you’re person C (like me) and you like both, then there could always be a clash and you have to choose.
Especially the major events such as the Monaco GP, Le Mans 24h, Indy 500, Superbowl, Champions League final, Roland Garros final just to name a few.
Ricky Johnson (@bamboo)
17th May 2017, 22:16
Sorry mate, but you’ve somewhat misinterpreted my “angle”, and given it a life of its own.
I’m was not suggesting all motorsport work together and all events be in sync with each other.
Jerejj
17th May 2017, 6:23
@mbr-9 I don’t understand the fuss being made about clashes with those events or any sports event in general. Regarding the Monaco/Indy 500 weekend clash although they’re run on the same day they don’t directly clash with each other due to time difference of 6 hours between the time zones of these two venues and yet people still make an unnecessarily big deal about it. Also the Canadian GP and LM24hrs have been run on the same weekend many times in the past and similarly due to a 6-hour time difference they’ve never directly clashed.
Racerdude7730
17th May 2017, 1:13
Let’s just go crazy and make indy part of the F1 calendar again. It would never work but would be interesting
f1bobby
17th May 2017, 7:59
Yes! Do this.
SaraJ (@sjzelli)
17th May 2017, 1:54
Great. Indy/F1/NASCAR (ugh) combo? Nothing like a nice glass of lukewarm water to satisfy your thirst.
I miss Bernie. F1 is being thrown to the pigs.
Robbie (@robbie)
17th May 2017, 11:21
F1 is being thrown to the pigs because an armchair fan thinks there should be more crossovers like FA is doing?
SaraJ (@sjzelli)
17th May 2017, 15:36
Sarcasm lost on you. I certainly DON’T think there should be more crossover events. I think the ‘cross-pollination’ fans here should go stick with NASCAR or the like and leave F1 a pure sport. Fernando will drop back into obscurity soon enough, or at least until his publicist comes up with another ‘make-me-relevant’ event. Which of course the people above who like a watered-down F1 will flock to in droves.
Robbie (@robbie)
17th May 2017, 20:26
Yeah still not getting your point. Nothing is watering down F1, certainly not fans who think ‘cross-pollination’ is fine, but have no control over anything from their armchairs. Again, who is throwing F1 to the pigs? Why is BE better? Because he wouldn’t have allowed FA the do Indy? I think you’re overplaying this. BE is gone and F1 is going to be the better for it. FA doing Indy is a one-off due to a perfect storm of circumstances, and is not going to change anything. FA dropping down into obscurity? Well perhaps to some, after he is done in F1, and then he’ll be known forever as a 2 time (and perhaps more) WDC, which is a rare thing and is to be honoured for the rest of his and our lives, at least for fans who understand F1.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
17th May 2017, 11:38
Bernie was a greedy piggy.
beneboy (@beneboy)
17th May 2017, 1:54
How about a mini mid-season break that coincides with le mans and rearranging Monaco/Indy so that they don’t clash so any drivers wishing to compete at either or both could do so without it interfering with the F1 championship ?
You could add a clause that rather than a guaranteed seat, any driver who has won Indy and le mans would be allowed to run as a third driver for any F1 team at Monaco. It would still be up to the drivers and teams to sort out the financing and other details as they would with any F1 contract, but the option would be there for the select few who have got 2 out of 3 to try for the triple.
Jerejj
17th May 2017, 6:16
@beneboy “a mini mid-season break” – Only if then the ‘mid-season break’ wouldn’t take place in August. The race calendar should be as condensed as possible, so another in-season break more than one weekend long just because of some other sports events wouldn’t really make sense. I don’t understand why people make such a big fuss about weekend clashes with other sports.
Rick (@)
17th May 2017, 12:31
@beneboy So a clause that allows you, but it’s still up to the teams/financing/contracts/etc? That’s basically how it is today. Nobody says Will Power is not allowed to enter the Monaco GP (if it wouldn’t clash) or any GP afterwards with any team. It’s just that this is a constructor’s championship and therefore teams are too afraid to try these things out, unlike Indy for example.
So yes, a 3rd car would be a necessity, but let’s say McLaren is reliable and running around points finishes nowadays and offers Andretti an F1 drive. What would Sauber, Toro Rosso, Renault and Haas think of that? It’s just another car getting in their way of scoring a couple of points each race.
beneboy (@beneboy)
17th May 2017, 13:34
@addvariety
That’s not how it is now because 3rd drivers aren’t allowed.
anon
17th May 2017, 18:17
@beneboy, it feels like your system is still rather ill suited to the situation. Realistically, if you had a driver who wanted to win the triple crown, then they are surely only going to want to drive for a top team that offers them the chance of winning that race – as @addvariety notes, the smaller teams are unlikely to want to see another car from a top team cutting into their chances of scoring points.
Asanator (@asanator)
18th May 2017, 10:41
3rd drivers/cars don’t score points….easy! Not that I like the idea particularly.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
17th May 2017, 23:45
Nobody who has ever won the Triple Crown did it by winning the F1 race last. Allowing anyone who’s won any 2 rounds a free extra seat in the 3rd one would work, but it wouldn’t boost the F1 grid because with the exception of Americans and Canadians (relatively rarely seen in F1), the sequence to win tends to be Monaco -> Indy -> Le Mans.
Sundar Srinivas Harish
17th May 2017, 1:54
Why would a driver earning tens of millions even care about what others think of his personality. Just put up a wall like Piquet the Grey and put curious headline-seeking journos in their place.
Fukobayashi (@)
17th May 2017, 10:05
Lewis is the first black driver in F1, he has made history by default. The fact that he doesn’t bow his head and act as the establishment would like him to is important.
I’m glad he is a headstrong individual and not just another clone in a race suit with a darker shade of skin.
Armchair Expert (@foreverred)
17th May 2017, 12:34
@offdutyrockstar
Correction Lewis is the first MIXED RACE driver in F1.
His mother is White
The sooner people get that through the skulls the better.
Red+Blue dosen’t equal Red
Even Morgan Freeman said Barack Obama is not Black.
MaroonJack (@maroonjack)
17th May 2017, 13:01
Where to Begin? First: there is no “black race”. Only few genes are responsible for skin colour someone who’s considered white may have more African ancestry than a person who is considered black. The term itself is used to describe people perceived to be dark-skinned, but the exact meaning of the expression varies within society. My mother has blue eyes, yet I have brown eyes like my father. I don’t have a “mixed eye colour”.
Lewis identifies as black. People see him as a black driver. It’s about his skin colour, not his mother’s.
Robbie (@robbie)
17th May 2017, 13:14
Personally I find LH’s commentary here to be just fluff meant for a magazine interview. Nobody is telling drivers to not enjoy, not smile, etc. LH is buddies with Kenye West and is just trying to brand himself like he does, nothing more. He is full of himself and feels entitled, and as much as he may think that is the way to go since F1 drivers are supposedly templated to be boring, I’d take boring (not that he is right) over phoney bravado and self-promotion any day.
Jason Blankenship
17th May 2017, 21:06
There most definitely is a “black race”. Most anthropologists recognize that there are four major race classifications in the world, which include caucasian, asian, negroid or black and australoid.
This has been clearly defined by scientists and anthropologists for decades and no amount of social justice fanaticism will overcome the science behind these classifications.
BobF1
17th May 2017, 21:42
There’s actually 19 races.😀
Seriously, read up on biology. 1 spec
David BR
17th May 2017, 22:54
@ Jason Blankenship
I guess you must mean most 19th century anthropologists, when ‘race’ was part of the ideology of colonialism, slavery etc. Race was debunked as a scientific concept by the mid-twentieth century and the advance of genetics, especially DNA analysis. It persists as a social or cultural concept, and has been appropriated by self-identifying black populations in order to counter the persistence of racist attitudes.
Jason Blankenship
18th May 2017, 12:58
That’s untrue, David. If anything, modern genetics has only proven the differences between people. James Watson and Francis Crick for example did amazing work, but of course the social justice, anti-science left wants to label them as somehow racist, simply for pointing out that there are differences among the races. Until we stop pretending everyone is the same and learn to speak openly about these differences, we’ll continue to do a disservice to groups that have tended to lag behind in a variety of ways.
Remember, pointing out differences and inherent problems is not condemning all people of a certain race, nor does it indicate superiority.
@BobF1 – That’s pretty funny Bob, considering a simple Google search of “how many races of humans” completely debunks your claim and substantiates mine. What you’re referring to are subgroups, NOT recognized races.
Jason Blankenship
18th May 2017, 13:09
Here is an entire series on Human Biodiversity and Human Intelligence that Stefan Molyneux has done. If you go into it with an open mind and leave the social programming behind, I believe these scientists will change your mind about a great many things.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMNj_r5bccUyYzJ5G1GgvfM59JEpDkteX
David BR
19th May 2017, 0:40
Jason
You’re confusing genetic variability with race. The vast majority of anthropologists and geneticists today refute its validity as a scientific concept (rather than a mostly pernicious social construct). And James Watson, incidentally, was sadly a racist, still heavily influenced by eugenics.
Tony Mansell
17th May 2017, 14:27
Even Morgan Freeman says it! Well that’s that then. If only every argument were so simple.
Hay dude who’s like the best driver of all time?
Michael Andretti man, even Morgan Freeman said its not Senna or Fangio.
Joao (@johnmilk)
17th May 2017, 20:51
Morgan Freeman is God so…
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
18th May 2017, 0:00
MaroonJack (@maroonjack)
18th May 2017, 8:08
@kbdavies What I’m saying, if you read carefully, is that there is a social stigma and that black people are indeed treated differently, but “black” doesn’t mean “black race” anymore. The “black race” is not a coherent biological entity and most anthropologists acknowledge that. So bringing it up is meaningless, as people don’t look at the genes when they discriminate, they look at your skin colour. In most cases they don’t care if you’re “mixed”. If yours is different/darker than theirs and it impacts your life and your interactions, then you have every right in the world to call yourself black and neither @foreverred, nor Morgan Freeman can deny you that right. I hate when some people try to diminish their experience, by saying “oh, you’re not black, your mother was white, so stop whining”.
Fukobayashi (@)
18th May 2017, 10:10
@foreverred lol. You aren’t worth taking the time to reply to, have a great day!
Ed (@edly)
17th May 2017, 20:33
He is an Earthling.
We all are.
faulty
17th May 2017, 15:05
A Men’s Health article, seriously?
You people are getting your panties in a twist over what a chicks and beer and abs rag publishes.
I’m willing to bet that the next pages after the LH interview either discuss the best place for a sex-swing in your apartment or it’s a 3-page infomercial about beard-growing balms.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
17th May 2017, 2:10
I know times are tough for the McLaren drivers, but I think it’s incredibly poor form from Vandoorne to claim that his incident with Massa was due to his engine being so under powered. He clearly saw Massa in his mirrors as you could see him looking into them! He knew Massa was approaching. Sure he came from a loooong way back, but he still saw him coming.
I don’t believe he’d intentionally try to cause an incident but I don’t believe that he didn’t see him coming either, nor do I believe it was the fault of the engine. It was simply a ‘brain fart’ from Vandoorne. Choosing to turn in when he did was not the fault of Honda, but rather 100% his own fault.
@F1-liners (@f1-liners)
17th May 2017, 8:38
And it was not even that looong; Massa had DRS open.
Poor form indeed, @tophercheese21.
Fukobayashi (@)
17th May 2017, 10:07
+1 very poor form. These highly rated youngsters are doing themselves no favours in the press these days and possibly not realising how detrimental it could be to their future prospects. First Sainz and now Vandoorne who has actually been embarrassingly average next to Fernando.
socksolid (@socksolid)
17th May 2017, 11:52
The incident was really really amateurish. Such total lapse of judgement in spatial awareness usually only happens in amateur racing where people drive cars that are way too fast for their skill levels. This means all of their mental power is spent driving and controlling the car so nothing is left for analyzing where the other cars are and where they are going to go. This can lead to situations when two cars try to go through a corner and the other one simply forgets the other car is there. The incident looked really really clumsy because you rarely see it from future stars like vandoorne. These are the kind of moves you see from 2nd rate backmarkers who run out of skill and mental capacity very easily and make bad decisions because of it (Yuji Ide for example or romain grosjean when he was crashing all the time).
Maybe vandoorne is just really over his depth at this point. Way outside of his comfort zone and he is focusing so much on just driving the car that he just did not have the mental capacity to adjust his driving for the williams that was on his inside. Who clearly was there and vandoorne knew he was there but still he failed to recognize the situation?
I’m not saying that this proves anything about vandoorne’s ability. But it really highlights how insanely difficult vandoorne’s start in f1 this year has been. Big team with tons of pressure to perform, a top level team mate who performs at top level in every race, huge amounts of time and laps lost to bad reliability and so many dnfs and very underpeforming car. And at the same time very little time driving the car and racing the car because it breaks down all the time. And when you get into the car in a race most of your racing is simply letting the lapped cars go by. So when you finally find yourself in a situation where you can fight for position you simply end up in situation where you don’t have the mental capacity to do it. Your driving becomes erratic.
Vandoorne is a driver capable of fixing the situation. The situation was not representative of his skill as driver overall. But at that point in that corner in that race really showed that he is struggling. It is not easy thing to solve and in comparison it took lots of time for grosjean to fix his driving for example. Grosjean was quick but unreliable whereas candoorne is struggling on all fronts. It is going to be hard and difficult season for vandoorne I think. For him the hardest season ever.
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
17th May 2017, 18:01
It also shows one year break waiting for a seat leaves your skills rusty.
anon
17th May 2017, 18:23
@jureo, Vandoorne was still actively racing in 2016 though – he was racing in the Japanese Super Formula that year.
Sumedh
17th May 2017, 3:42
“If you could choose the Fernando today as he is, as a person, it would be much easier than to choose him with all the historical context.”
These were the exact words of Toto Wolff in that article. I think these words mean that Mercedes still consider Alonso’s historical context while evaluating him as a potential driver. Too bad, would love to have seen Alonso in a Mercedes.
Baron
17th May 2017, 7:26
Of course they do, and with good reason. While Alonso is fast he is also prone to demand special treatment. Mercedes can’t give that treatment unless Hamilton leaves the team. Hamilton AND Alonso together will very likely create problems Mercedes don’t want to have. Especially if, like this year, Ferrari are so close behind.
Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
17th May 2017, 8:13
I would too, if I were them. He’s a very divisive figure within a team when things aren’t going his way.
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
17th May 2017, 8:49
It’s been a while since I’ve seen anyone use the term, so….
Teflonso!!
Robbie (@robbie)
17th May 2017, 12:22
I’ll be surprised if Merc don’t hire FA next year. As acknowledged by TW, the past is in the past, FA still has full potential, FA only has a small number of years left in F1, and things are opening up for 2019, meaning that TW needs to jump on FA while there is nowhere else competitive for him to go and before another competitive seat does come open and TW finds FA against them, not for them. I can see TW honouring themselves, F1, and the fans by putting FA where everyone wants to see him…in a winning car that is worthy of his talents. TW is unafraid of having a strong duo and a strong rivalry on the team, and won’t be as happy having a number one and two on the team as he is forced to now. He’d much rather have two strong drivers keeping the competition at bay than one front runner and one rear gunner.
In spite of certain fans telling me to forget the idea, I remain steadfast, especially as TW has, and I will wait for an official announcement before I let anyone try to tell me from their armchair what will be.
Kgn11
17th May 2017, 12:38
Mercedes will not sign Alonso.
Robbie (@robbie)
17th May 2017, 15:21
Lol says you. Again. I’ll wait for TW to tell us that, thanks.
Alberto
17th May 2017, 16:14
If they don’t win the WCC and/or the WDC I think they might…
Rockie (@rockie)
17th May 2017, 18:31
Not just Mercedes any team serious about winning will not sign him!
He;s like cancer once he gets in you and you don’t get rid of him early enough he will destroy you.
See Mclaren trying to bend over backwards to favour him, rather than actually focusing on thee car all they re doing is trying to make Alonso stay.
Get on with the work of he car and get your partner Honda motivated rather than the nonsense of Alonso complaining and being urged on by commentators and journalist!
He did a good lap in qualifying and it was all about him none wondered what Honda did to make it possible, no it’s Alonso as he’s superhuman only let down by Honda.
Just as Ferrari woke up from their slumber, Mclaren will soon wake up as well.
Robbie (@robbie)
17th May 2017, 20:54
@rockie No. You’re wrong.
BrawnGP (@brawngp)
17th May 2017, 5:34
I cant believe HAM doesnt have any water on board! Surely that should be a mandatory thing? Isnt it quite dangerous at the really hot races? Does anyone else do this?
tojoli (@tobyl)
17th May 2017, 6:16
I don’t think Verstappen did in Australia, I think there was possibly another reason though. I remember David Coulthard saying he never took a drink bottle to save weight.
Sundar Srinivas Harish
17th May 2017, 6:54
I remember Coulthard saying that his drinks bottle was always small due to his comparatively heavier weight and physical stature, not that he never took a drinks bottle on board.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
17th May 2017, 23:51
I believe it’s mandatory to have a location to put the water, and due to water being the only non-dry element of the “dry weight” allowed on the F1 car, 2 litres is the most that can be in the bottle. It’s not mandatory to have a water container located there, let alone any water in it. Indeed, it’s only been in the last 12 years or so that it’s been the rule rather than the exception for drivers to use that facility every race (Malaysia 2006 was the first race ever where all the drivers on the grid had one at the same time, and even then a fair number only had 500 ml). It would not surprise me if Lewis had a bottle for the Singapore/Malaysia double-header, even if he is bottle-free everywhere else.
That’s not to say drivers haven’t had the bottle long before then; in 1999, Heinz-Harald Frentzen was threatened with any undrunk water being poured over his head by his team after the race, leading to him hardly using a bottle for the rest of that season…
F1Junky
17th May 2017, 7:54
Sprint races. Why? Because viewers have a short attention span.
Someone better alert the NFL. American football games can last up the 4hrs. They also probably the largest global audience when the Superbowl is playing.
Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
17th May 2017, 8:14
They have a million ad breaks in football, though, and many stoppages.
Focus for 5 seconds of action, take 2 minute break. Rinse and repeat. Not a lot of “attention span” needed.
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
17th May 2017, 8:55
@ho3n3r
How about a mandatory ad break every 5 laps, at which point all cars have a VSC-style delta time and overtake restriction for the duration of the ad break? :P
Dewald Nel (@ho3n3r)
17th May 2017, 8:58
@ninjenius Bernie triggered… :D
So glad you mentioned that AFTER he was ousted.
F1Junky
17th May 2017, 10:40
30 seconds between plays. I used to play it.
Either way it is time in front of the box. So short attention span. Not likely. How about dropping the paywall. I first watched F1 because I was flipping channels, the engineering aspect got me hooked. Also changing 4 tires in less than 5 secs. And strategy.
InterPaul (@interpaul)
17th May 2017, 8:25
Thanks @keithcollantine for the COTD ;)
roodda (@roodda)
17th May 2017, 9:29
Hamilton is just a walking PR output. Says exactly the same stuff every time he is on the podium. So, he can hardly complain people are boring when he himself is boring.
Fukobayashi (@)
17th May 2017, 10:13
I actually agree with this. His podium interviews are almost always the same, verbatim.
“First of all what a fantastic crowd we have here today”
roodda (@roodda)
17th May 2017, 10:22
“A big thanks to all the fans. And the team, the car was fantastic today. I’m just so blessed i’m going to have to put this all on Snapchat”
Anthony
17th May 2017, 11:22
Is is not more of growing up under Ron’s wing? Classically racing drivers are viewed playboys living on the edge (James Hunt style) I guess recently that image has been rained in a bit – but still…. When he was growing up it must have been all Michael…. seen some pics of him getting pretty out of hand at a party of too… and defnitely always had a big smile on his face….
Kgn11
17th May 2017, 10:17
Which is it…
Should he play the game or play his own game?
Because it really doesn’t matter which you choose, I can guarantee 100% he’ll still get criticised.
roodda (@roodda)
18th May 2017, 11:15
Everyone gets criticised, it’s a given. I’d rather Lewis was more authentic, like Seb, Kimi or Webber. Those three all cop/copped criticism but you can’t fault their originality and authenticity.
Evil Homer (@)
18th May 2017, 16:42
LOL- sorry Keith I swore again ………. us Aussies!! Sorry mate!
Ninjenius (@ninjenius)
17th May 2017, 12:19
@roodda So he can hardly complain people are boring, because of your opinion of him?
faulty
17th May 2017, 15:13
Either we’ve reached the boringception or he’s hung out with Xzibit to hang out with Xzibit far too long.
FLIG (@flig)
17th May 2017, 9:31
Not sure if this was already seen/discussed by the F1Fanatics, but I came across these photos and had to share it with you guys: http://www.boredpanda.com/photographer-shoots-f1-old-graflex-camera-joshua-paul/
PaulK (@paulk)
17th May 2017, 9:44
Really nice pictures. As they say, the picture is in the photographer’s eye.
Fukobayashi (@)
17th May 2017, 10:13
Saw these last night. Fantastic!
Nick Wyatt (@nickwyatt)
17th May 2017, 10:24
Wow! I remember trying a Graflex about forty years ago in art school. Unbelievably heavy and unwieldy, but the image quality from the 5″ x 4″ negs was excellent. Not the kind of camera I’d want to use in a ‘quick fire’ situation though!
PaulK (@paulk)
17th May 2017, 9:39
Just discovered this: Canadian stamps commemorating 50 years of the Canadian GP.
https://www.canadapost.ca/shop/stamps/2017-stamps-by-collection/formula-one.jsf
Gary
17th May 2017, 11:43
Laurence Stroll is offering Canada Post $5 million to issue a Lance Stroll commemorative stamp.
PaulK (@paulk)
18th May 2017, 0:41
Apparently, if you use Lance Stroll’s stamp your mail is guaranteed to arrive one day late at its destination.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
17th May 2017, 11:44
Very nice!
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
17th May 2017, 9:39
COTD… Yeah. Liberty should parade drivers to other series. Hamilton to Nascar, Vettel to Le Mans, etc etc.
I now tune in to Indy Practice 6h per day, as a background to my other activities… Just epic.
ForzaRogo (@forzarogo)
17th May 2017, 14:56
I do too, it’s really cool just hearing the engines over whatever you’re doing. Occasionally when Alonso goes out I start watching the actual page.
Joao (@johnmilk)
17th May 2017, 9:51
Unrelated question to today’s round-up. Button can be penalised if he changes the PU during the weekend and that goes beyond what is allowed, because Alonso’s car has had a dozen of changes already or does he have a clean sheet? And if so can Honda take advantage of it?
Fukobayashi (@)
17th May 2017, 10:17
No, the component record is carried forward for the reserve driver. I read this somewhere yesterday and that Alonso is probably secretly hoping Jenson runs into some unreliability in qually and he gets new components without having to take the grid penalty.
jj_0
17th May 2017, 11:14
The component record relates to the car, not the driver.
Joao (@johnmilk)
17th May 2017, 18:43
Thank you my fellow fanatics
The Blade Runner (@)
17th May 2017, 11:03
Is nobody else going to bite following Lewis’ comments?!
OK, I will…
Before I go on let’s get something straight: Lewis is unbelievably talented. He is one of the greatest drivers of his generation, possibly any generation, and his emergence in Formula 1 was, for me, an exceptionally exciting thing to witness.
That doesn’t change the fact that he is spectacularly, mind-blowingly privileged to live in the world that he does.
At the age of 32 he has amassed the sort of wealth, success and influence that 99.9999% of the world can only dream of. His Formula 1 career has also opened doors to him outside the sport that would probably otherwise have remained firmly shut – I mean, come on, would anyone really care about his “music” if he wasn’t WDC?
We live in a world where, to achieve your goals, people that don’t come from a moneyed background normally have to work exceptionally hard over a long period of time. They also have to make numerous compromises. Compromises like moving away from family and friends to study somewhere that will give them the best opportunity to succeed. Compromises like accruing vast amounts of debt in order to secure the education that they hope will help deliver their chosen goals. Compromises like working energy sapping shifts, like not taking a vacation for years, like moving house to ensure better schooling for their children. The list goes on and on.
It must be tough having achieved your wildest dreams whilst in your 20s and even worse to have dated Nicole Scherzinger. I can only imagine how difficult it must now be having a private jet and being able to hang out with the people you most admire outside of F1, like Jay-Z and Pharrell Williams. Worse still that you can retire, like your former team mate, right now and live the most full, exciting, lavish life that you want and probably with 50+ years ahead of you.
I hasten to add that this isn’t sour grapes. For me there is nothing better than seeing someone at the pinnacle of their chosen career achieving greatness. If that career is in F1 then even better. I just expect them to appreciate what they have and to understand the correlation between any sacrifices they have made and their subsequent success.
As the name suggests, this is a site for F1 Fanatics and many on here live and breathe the sport. I’m sure that a large proportion would give their right wotsit to be in Lewis’ position. Most of us would probably willingly hand back large portions of the time we spent with friends whilst growing up to be where he is too.
Are F1 drivers boring? Maybe a little. Perhaps they appear less “colourful” when compared to Premier League footballers although I know which I prefer and which I therefore respect more. Drivers like Vettel, Alonso, Kimi and others are at least as outspoken as Lewis but actually appear to be more rounded, knowledgeable individuals. Ironically that therefore makes them (cough) less boring than he is…
As for this:
Rags-to-riches? Lewis grew up in Stevenage and had a father who was an IT Manager. Now I’m not for a second suggesting that he was wealthy. His life will have been a million miles apart from that of Nico Rosberg and many others on the grid. That hardly means though that he was impoverished nor that he broke through some kind of elitist ceiling that had previously been in place.
When you look at the sportspeople that genuinely came from nothing – the Peles, Maradonas, Muhammed Alis of this world – it makes Lewis’ perspective all the more baffling.
As for his reasons for wanting to play himself in the movie – “Trump-esque” would be my comment.
Lewis, you’re an amazing driver. You always have been and I have no doubt that you always will be. You have achieved the status and associated trappings that you fully deserve as a result of your own hard work, the support of your family and your God-given talent. For goodness sake stop whining and enjoy every single moment of it.
Robbie (@robbie)
17th May 2017, 15:33
Yeah I think that is well said. For me I think a turning point for LH was when he won his third title in the US with 3 races to go in 2015 and declared his job done. That is when he became as entitled and self-centred as he has been lately, especially throughout 2016 when he spent most of the season throwing his own team under the bus.
dan
17th May 2017, 16:01
@robbie At least he is a fighter does all that plane travel and still outperformed Nico even last year. What did your guy do? He quit he could not hack the media and the backlash by Hamlton fanatics on twitter. You see Nico just loves to be loved go see Spa. Nico is very awkward guy go watch his interviews after races. He was extremely lucky to be WC. You see how shallow he is by his twitter bio. 2016 f1 WC. No one does that we know it already. He also caused alot of the Hamilton relationship to go sour in Spa. Also you seem quiet on Stroll lately the worst guy on the grid by a long way
faulty
17th May 2017, 20:29
And my dad can beat up your dad, @dan!!
ლ(｀ー´ლ)
faulty
17th May 2017, 15:35
TL;DR Friends are overrated.
sato113 (@sato113)
17th May 2017, 11:24
I’m sure some kids and young teenagers read this website. Can’t swear words be censored?
IJW (@)
17th May 2017, 11:57
If you have ever had to travel on a bus with school kids aboard, then you will find out that the kids know more swear words than the adults.
Fran
17th May 2017, 16:22
But kids with manners don’t use them particular in public places
socksolid (@socksolid)
17th May 2017, 12:09
The fragile minds oh no.
GtisBetter (@)
17th May 2017, 14:26
It’s not only f1 drivers, but sports people in general. As you get more professional, they all get media training and just reply as instructed after a game/race. Unless they are still fired up from a accident.
petebaldwin (@)
17th May 2017, 14:33
“We are not losing consumers, just having consumers consume in a different way.”
Depends if you call people watching grainy streams online customers…. I’ll admit I’m looking at a very small cross-section of people but anyone I know who I’d consider a “fanatic” still watches F1. Admittedly, they watch the free highlights rather then the full race but at least they watch it. Any casual fans I know of have stopped and have no interest anymore.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
18th May 2017, 0:55
Sky (at least the British one) doesn’t include its Sky Go customers in its mainline statistics, so even fanatics who are watching official paid content online may not be getting counted, depending on the method – let alone the ones who are breaking the law to get their F1 races watched.
dan
17th May 2017, 16:06
This year would be better if one guys engine did not goo boom last year. Imagine 4 titles vs 4 titles it would be much better. I think Ham is better driver more talent especially in same team i think if they had 3 years it would certainly be 2-1 Lewis. But Vet is a guy who when in quick car is unbeatable. Lets be honest Ferrari is fastest this year. The supposed Merc magic in q3 did nothing for them in russia or Spain. Vet choked pole away. Look at sector 2 in catalunya and in Spain that means you have great car.
dan
17th May 2017, 16:11
Well done Lewis was only on pole because a huge choke from Vettel and races in baking heat wo drink and wins. Merc always a dominant team in qually not Russia or Spain. And lets be honest Vettel would have like 4 poles if Hamilton was not in Merc. So when will people give him his due.
dan
17th May 2017, 16:12
Vettel fastest car for sure look at qually he is unlucky Lewis drives for Merc he would have like 4 poles by now. Even Ferrari know it they were fuming after Australia remember and Russia and Spain shows Ferrari are better even in qually. So well done Lewis with no water either.
dan
17th May 2017, 16:18
Vettel has raced 1 WC and a far out of prime one at that even Massa had beating of him many times. We do not even know what the Ferrari is like really it could be way faster i feel it is. How come they are even faster in qually it says it all. Lewis teammates>>>>>> Vettels teammates
MazdaChris (@mazdachris)
17th May 2017, 17:14
I really hope that Mercedes do sign Alonso for next season. I have nothing at all against Bottas – he’s a very decent driver and I’m sure once he’s properly installed in the team and the car, he’ll be able to make challenges to Hamilton’s speed. But don’t be under any illusions here, for all his talent, Bottas isn’t a superstar and never will be. I’m sure he has a reasonable following in his home country, but really people across the globe aren’t tuning in to F1 to watch Bottas. On the other hand, Hamilton and Alonso are two of the megastars of F1 – the real havy hitters. Whatever you personally think of their respective talents and history, the perception is that these two are like Ali and Foreman. It would be Rumble in the Jungle for F1.
F1, thanks to Liberty, has taken great strides in a short space of time towards engaging better with fans. But at the core, what fans really really want is a great championship battle between the drivers they believe are the absolute best. We’re having a treat this year since for the first time really since 2007, we have two of the best drivers in a championship battle. But the absolute juciest possible story would be the two drivers in identical cars, two drivers with a history together, battling it out for glory. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. Genuinely, if 2017 is the first spark of the embers re-igniting for F1, a 2018 which puts Alonso against Hamilton in the best car on the grid would see a blaze the like of which F1 hasn’t enjoyed since Senna v Prost.
Sure, it may just be a headache that Mercedes don’t need. They could carry on safely winning championships in their metallic grey cars with their metallic grey second driver, or they could grab this opportunity to create a new legend in F1 – something people will talk about for decades. That has to be worth more than a dozen easy championships.
Jon (@johns23)
18th May 2017, 1:27
We’ve had 2007. One of the most exciting years of F1! Not sure it would happen again. Im sure knowing Alonso’s luck, he will join and Mercedes will be on the decline.
Robbie (@robbie)
17th May 2017, 20:47
@mazdachris If you’ve read anything of mine on this topic you will know that I couldn’t agree with you more.
I firmly believe that Mercedes are as they say they are…racers. Whenever things got difficult with LH/NR and they were grilled on the topic of designating a 1 and 2 to make their own lives easier they have said no. They are only having to play with the concept now because SV is now in the mix and as expected LH as the engrained driver on the team has on average had it over VB. I have no doubt in my mind TW would much prefer both cars blocking out the sun from SV rather than just one.
Amongst various reasons, which I spell out elsewhere on this page as well as other times lately on this site when the topic has come up, I simply cannot see TW passing on FA for next year and letting him go elsewhere to become Merc’s competition, nor can I even envision where FA could go to immediately be in a competitive car for the remainder of his time in F1.
RBR? No. Ferrari? No. Renault? Makes a bit of sense but they’d have to make a huge leap in performance and that won’t be revealed until their 2018 car hits the track…long after FA will have made a move for next year.
I see the remainder of FA’s career as being in TW’s hands as someone who knows he can honour F1 and it’s fans by putting FA in a top seat like we all deserve to see. LH’s feelings on that are small potatoes compared to a globe getting to see the show you have well described above.
anon
18th May 2017, 3:27
As Vettel in an inferior car continues to match and beat Hamilton, we’ll continue to see these stories where Hamilton talks about there being more to life than racing, how he wants to enjoy life more, how he feels restricted in F1, people won’t let him be himself The implication being he isn’t enjoying F1, doesn’t take racing as seriously and that’s why Vettel in the inferior Ferrari is matching him.
Hammy seems like bit of a lost soul. He seems stuck in a loop. He didn’t miss out on anything. How many nights in Vegas and Monaco does it take before he feels like he’s partied enough?
Hamilton isn’t particularly interesting he’s almost a caricature of celebrity and hip hop culture. Empty slogans and generic art tattooed on his body, diamond earrings, big old gold chain around his neck, faux American accent. Most men grow out of that stage in their early 20’s.
Martin
18th May 2017, 11:27
“As Vettel in an inferior car continues to match and beat Hamilton”
Ahahahahahaha
Fireblade
18th May 2017, 21:46
Vettell beats Hamilton to pole by a hundredth of a second – ‘That Red Bull is an unbeatable rocketship! It’s an incredibly dominant car!’
Hamilton beats Vettel to pole by a hundredth of a second – “Clearly the Ferrari and Mercedes have identical performance! If anything the Mercedes is much slower!”
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
18th May 2017, 18:35
I’ll have whatever you are smoking mate! Exactly when are we going to put this risible notion to rest? When i said there is no evidence that the Merc was faster than the Ferrari two races ago, i was roundly derided and condemned. For some funny reason, those saying so are now unusually quiet.
Fireblade
18th May 2017, 21:52
So after watching Merc take pole, the win, and the fastest lap in Spain, you managed to conclude that there is no evidence that the Merc is faster than the Ferrari? What would constitute such evidence then?
I somehow suspect that if Vettel had taken pole, the win, and the fastest lap in Spain you’d have had no difficulty in concluding from that evidence that the Ferrari was clearly the faster car.
anon
19th May 2017, 4:58
Plus, didn’t Mercedes second driver/lackey for Hamilton take a pole and a win this year. The guy who who was barely faster than a Massa 8 years past his prime? That’s how good the Mercedes is. Bottas can get a win and a pole. If Bottas can win in this Mercedes, then it means a Massa 8 years past his prime could win in the Mercedes.
Raikkonen hasn’t looked anywhere close to competing for a win this year.