Other teams wouldn’t let me race outside F1 – Alonso

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In the round-up: Fernando Alonso says his previous teams would not allow him to race outside Formula One as McLaren has.

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After what happened last year, @Bullfrog isn’t sure we’ve seen the last of Massa:

I’ll believe it when I see it!

I hope Massa gets a good finish in his second farewell race at Interlagos, and doesn’t bin it like last time. He used to be unbeatable around there.

Kubica would be another good guy and a fabulous story, if he is physically up to it.

Otherwise it’s heartbreaking to see a great team choosing from such an underwhelming bunch of drivers. If Mercedes connections are why Wehrlein’s mentioned, then I’d rather see George Russell get the drive. Or another Brendon Hartley – someone like Andre Lotterer. It’s no good having the fastest pit crew in F1 if the driver’s losing you that time and more every lap…
@Bullfrog

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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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28 comments on “Other teams wouldn’t let me race outside F1 – Alonso”

  1. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    5th November 2017, 0:28

    It’s Kubica or bust for Williams. A lot of negativity on here about whether he’s still got it after so long out but in my opinion as long as he’s physically up to it there’s no question over his talent. He’s one of the gifted few, I genuinely think he will blow us away like he’s never missed a session. Would be nice to see him get the rumoured opportunity at Abu Dhabi so Felipe can have his farewell at Brazil.

    If it can’t work with Kubica for physical reasons then looking at the other options available (over 25 for Martini) my only hope as a Williams fan is for autonomous cars!!!!

    1. Massa was never the same after his accident. I think it is fair question to ask whether robert still has got it. In the end I hope williams chooses the fastest driver available regardless of who it is. Not the one who is willing to buy a seat. I’d love to see kubica back full time but I don’t want it if there is a faster driver also gunning for that seat.

      1. +1

        Hard to believe now that Massa was asked to move out of Schumacher’s way, was out-performing Lewis at times in 2007 (Lewis’ best season) and 2008, then initially held Alonso behind him at Ferrari.

        1. Are you seriously convinced that Lewis’s first year was his best.

          He’s been in the sport for 10 years now snd has 4 x WDC’s. I guess everyone else must have had some truly terrible years the last 11 seasons.

          1. Laughed at this too. Massa was never good. He was always just average and couldn’t win a title in 2007/2008 in by far the best car. The fact that he lost 2008 tells you all. You would give this car to Alonso or Hamilton and they would dominate 2008.

    2. My guess is that doubts over Kubica are to do with how he would hold up over the course of a season rather his outright pace. And as much as I would love to see him back, I think that any team making rational decisions has to consider that. Of course what we hear is only the tip of the iceberg of what gets said and done behind the scenes, but I am starting to get a feeling that if they were going to sign him they would have done it by now.

    3. I’m obviously hoping for Kubica to get the Williams drive. It would be the ultimate comeback story. If Kubica gets back in there with his 2010 form in 2018, it would be a sight to watch.

      If it isn’t Kubica though, then I’d rather see Kvyat get the seat. That could be another great story in the making, if he was down and out in the Red Bull family, but makes a massive revival in a new team that gives him all the support he needs.

      1. Unless kvyat brings the kind of money that stroll brings, I don’t think Williams can afford to take him. Kvyat has speed, but is too accidents prone. Some of his accidents are just too amateurish.

  2. I hope the most that Wehrlein would get the remaining seat, but I wouldn’t be against the other mentioned candidates either.

    1. Whetlein should have dominates Ericsson, bit he didn’t. He will be without a seat, amd hopefully Ericsson will be out as well

  3. Good story and proposal on the PU by Motorsport.com.

    But can somebody please explain this part: ‘removal of the calculation below 10,500rpm that artificially limits revs to around 12,000rpm, allowing the manufacturers to rev to the currently unachievable hard limit of 15,000rp

    1. It basically deals with revising (either increasing or removing) the fuel flow limits.

      Fuel flow limits are the reason why most cars don’t rev above 12,000 rpm, even though the regulation is itself capped at 15,000 rpm. In addition to fuel flow limits, reliability is another reason why engine manufacturers limit the rev range to around 12,000 rpm.

      Take a look at article 5 of the 2014 technical regulations, which state:

      5.1.4 Fuel mass flow must not exceed 100kg/h.
      5.1.5 Below 10500rpm the fuel mass flow must not exceed Q (kg/h) = 0.009 N(rpm)+ 5.

      1. Thanks.
        0.009 x 10500 + 5 = 99.5 (kg/h)
        logical they don’t rev a lot higher.

        follow up question: why do they need regulation 5.1.5? I

        1. Just a guess: to prevent lots of fuel being fed through the fuel flow sensor at low revs to be stored for later use, so the 100kg/h limit can be exceeded without detection?

    2. Egonovi, basically, the fuel flow increases with rpm up to 10,500rpm, after which it is then fixed – so there is no point in revving the engines up to that 15,000rpm limit because the high frictional losses mean you’d be losing power and just wasting fuel.

      I’m not sure on their proposals for “an entirely standardised ERS and turbo” – isn’t the point that those parts are the areas that the manufacturers are most interested in developing? Unless they mean having the option of supplying “an entirely standardised ERS and turbo” to a new entrant who can then focus on the engine alone, but allowing teams to use their own designs in that area?

      After all, if you standardise the design of every component that bolts onto the engine, you are at least partially standardising the design of the engines. Having a fixed turbo design would have prevented Mercedes from their split turbo design (something which Honda has also attempted to mimic, albeit with less success), for example, and overall having the ancillaries being fixed in their design still significantly cuts down on what can be done with the engine itself, reducing the innovations that they want to advance.

      1. Thanks guys (anon & @phylyp)

        I feel even stronger now that fuel flow limits should be dropped (or maybe just keep it for qauli – at a higher level)

  4. I want to see Andre Lotterer in that Williams, very fast driver and suits the sponsor’s age demands, he did it so well in that Caterham back in 2014.

    1. Sundar Srinivas Harish
      6th November 2017, 1:23

      I’d like to see many of the current VW group drivers in F1, especially Lotterer, Bernhard and Bamber.

  5. I guess if Ricciardo and Verstappen stand shoulder to shoulder with Hamilton they can jointly go toe to toe with Vettel. Three wide into Ste Devote will be fun though.

  6. If Force India let’s Hulkenberg participate and win the 24h of Le Mans, my guess is that they would also let Alonso take part in that.

    1. my guess is that Force India is not one of ‘his previous teams’ ;)

      1. Ah, didn’t read that part. Woops.

        1. Still, if Fernando finds himself team-shopping in 12 months, he knows exactly where to look to combine F1 and Indycar/Le Mans ambitions ;)

  7. Wish they would just give each team. A barrel of fuel for the race and let them use it as they wish.
    I understand a fuel limit but why a flow limit? Why can’t it be. Removed?

  8. Other teams wouldn’t let me race outside F1

    If we speculate with a question: if the Honda engine was on par with the Renault engine, would Zak Brown have been so obliging as to let his Number One driver race in another series?
    When Alonso raced in Indycar he raced for a team sponsored in part by Honda, so Honda got a brand name recognition they weren’t going to get with F1, and Indycar and Andretti Autosport got brand recognition they too wouldn’t have received. Fernando is, after all, a very famous racing car driver. Also Indycar have a much better approach to fans viewing races: they can see the entire race on Youtube. So fans were easily able to see the entire Qualifying and Race. In addition McLaren got benefit from us seeing Jenson Button in the McLaren car as well. So Honda and McLaren got far more benefit from Fernando racing there than if he’d just raced at Monaco.
    I can sympathise, when there’s potentially millions of dollars at stake in the Constructors’ Championship, that a team principal would baulk at having a less skilled driver for a weekend.

    1. Also Indycar have a much better approach to fans viewing races: they can see the entire race on Youtube.

      I have read that Liberty are intending to keep the majority of races behind a paywall.

  9. What a silly discussion by motorsport for why the manufacturers are unhappy. It reminds me of how the teams were saying Honda would have a huge advantage coming into these regulations a year late.

    To say there’s no value in having developed engines for the unique demands of F1 cars for as long as these manufacturers have, and that they’d be starting from scratch on the back foot compared to new manufacturers is absolutely ridiculous.

    The reason for discontent is obviously that the advantage the current manufacturers have is nullified by removal of the MGU-H. And that the standardisation of elements hampers the ability of big R&D budgets to devise novel solutions.

    This is not bad for the sport. I hope the FIA sticks to their guns. I’d rather see a single manufacturer series, with room for new ones to enter, than the status-quo of bending to the will of the teams continue. It’s time for a new era of F1.

    1. I suspect standardisation of certain parts simply means more novel solutions.

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