In the round-up: Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff says the issue of grid penalties has been discussed for years and doubts it will be changed.
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Wolff: F1 grid penalties look ridiculous (Crash)
"Despite Wolff’s calls for change, which is supported by many F1 team bosses and drivers, he isn’t optimistic for change having seen the issue stick around for a number of years. 'I’ve been here since 2009 and we’ve been talking about the same things all the time.'"
Horner: The fight is on for the future of Formula One (The Telegraph)
"We have Formula E, and a lot of manufacturers are morphing into that area. But the emotion, the entertainment, the excitement of those cars just isn’t there."
FIA urged to get tougher on burning oil in F1 (Autosport)
"I know the FIA and Charlie (Whiting) are working very hard to try to close the loophole because there's not a clear definition of oil in the FIA regulations, but I don't know if it's going to be enough."
Vettel Q&A: Sunnier Sunday could help Ferrari (F1)
"The first stint will be very important: if you are behind never lose contact to the guy in front and when in front try everything to create a gap."
Honda 'very ashamed' by Alonso's grid penalty (Motorsport)
"I'm very ashamed. We didn't have an engine failure, we had some hydraulic leakage, which we can change if we find out (the cause) with enough time, but we couldn't, that's why we need to change the engine."
An anti-climax at Suzuka (ESPN)
"It was extremely painful. We knew that because, for some reason, Mansell had removed his crash helmet and balaclava, exposing a contorted image that was being caught by a nearby TV camera."
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Comment of the day
Today will be Jolyon Palmer’s last F1 race.
I’m no fan of Jolyon Palmer, he’s not good enough for F1 and never was, should not have retained his seat this year, and it really is sickening watching Sky try and make something out of him.
But he’s a nice guy, seems like he tries hard, and to leave F1 like this is really a bit of a shame.
Still, more room for real talent. Now I will be interested to see how Sainz fares against Hulkenberg, who I consider good enough for a top-three seat.
@Hahostolze)
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Chris (@tophercheese21)
8th October 2017, 0:33
100% agree with the COTD. Outside of Singapore, Palmer has been absolutely rubbish and it really has been cringe-worthy hearing Sky gushing over him as if he’s some sort of untapped talent that hasn’t had the chance to shine because of the car.
Sure his luck hasn’t been great, but he’s also been dismally off the pace and erratic in just about every race he’s finished this season.
Julian (Mr. Sakura) (@xiasitlo)
8th October 2017, 1:40
COTD: The only thing I want to add. He deserved to go weeks ago but…
I really think Cyril purposely used Palmer as a testing dummy for future chassis and engine design directions as it was never the goal to keep Palmer for multiple seasons after Renault decided they wanted to come back as manufacturer team in F1 and needing two new drivers as Magnussen was unstable and Grosjean and Maldonado were deemed not preferable to move with as well. Hulkenberg sealed his contract with the Le Mans win so it was an easy decision.
This reveals the reasoning for the fact why we need new teams like Haas, FI and STR-Honda to be able to battle the top teams from time to time with a more even budget system = it shouldn’t be possible that the leading 3 manufacturers are wasting 2 of the 3 cars that are capable to win just to avoid a Hamilton/Alonso ending at McLaren.
Kimi has a sympathy factor, Bottas was an emergency, but RB shows it can be done without too many shenanigans. Ricciardo and Vettel were fine at RB. So it seems wrong that Kimi and Bottas are just effectively ghosts. (I was against Bottas from the beginning yes, even when started off well. But that discussion is already settled now)
Liberty needs to introduce a revenue-sharing system to avoid budget-bottlenecks and these talents ending up in poor places and these kind of differences between teammates as we effectively have killed 5 GP2 champions over the past 10 years (Glock, Grosjean, Maldonado, Palmer, Kobayashi), have 2 that can’t show their potential because of financial or regulation strictness (Vandoorne & Hulkenberg) and vice-champions Alexander Rossi (Indy 500 winner ’16) and Formula E Champion Lucas Di Grassi, just to name a few. We see it in F2 and F3 as well over the last few seasons? Nobody noticed the absurd way they drive in those classes now that the amount of seats in F1 are getting lower by the year? F2 Monza? It is a trend that needs solving.
clones
8th October 2017, 2:50
Would an f1 spec series have helped to eliminate palmer earlier? This way driver capability could be much more easily discerned ?
Chris (@tophercheese21)
8th October 2017, 4:20
Well he won the GP2 championship, which is a spec series, so there’s obviously some talent there. But it’s just not translated to Formula One.
Jonathan Parkin
8th October 2017, 5:07
But is that because he hasn’t got the support of your team. You can have a GP2 title to your name but if you don’t have a the necessary support system and nobody to give you that belief then your confidence will suffer. Look
Clay
8th October 2017, 0:36
Jolyon probably did deserve a crack at F1 being a former GP2 champ. Te whole point of GP2/F2 is to prep drivers for F1. However he has been painfully poor and as such has had his chance.
Genuinely hope Sainz goes well. He’s been fast and consistent at STR, everything Palmer has not been at Renault. While he didn’t have a big result like Vettel did during his time at STR, his performances have reminded me of Vettel’s in 2007/08. He’s ready for a step up and a Max vs Carlos battle in the future will be interesting to say the least.
@HoHum (@hohum)
8th October 2017, 0:54
Just wondering, has Mr. Horner just scripted a new motto for formula E;
“Emotion, Entertainment, Excitement”.
Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
8th October 2017, 1:17
Remember Sky saying Jolyon was a future world champion after his first race in Australia last year? 😂 Still it’s sad to see it end this way, especially as it’s Kyvat back on the grid instead.
mrfill
8th October 2017, 1:51
He may still end up a World Champion of something. Perhaps he plays a mean game of bridge.
Bonbonjai
8th October 2017, 5:04
Even Kyvat is way better than JP. JP just has not shown the speed, or the pace of his team mate. Kyvay’s main problem is in my view is stupid mistakes. I would say the kind of mistakes that rokies are expected to make. That says to me his problem is confidence not a lack to speed or pace.
socksolid (@socksolid)
8th October 2017, 6:02
I don’t think the grid penalties are wrong or absurd. The system is just designed in such way that if you start from the back and you are a rich team then it makes no sense to change just one part. You might just as well change everything because there is no difference whether you get 5 place grid penalty or 35. You still start last. This problem will solve itself once mclaren moves to reliable engines.
F1fanPL
8th October 2017, 12:01
Electric cars and hybrids can be exiting. Just look at Rimac concept one or Regera. Just maybe not in open wheel formula just yet. Electric-GT anyone?