In the round-up: Renault believe their need to manage engine reliability masked their true performance in the second half of 2017.
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Links
Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more from hundreds of sites across the web:
Renault says F1 engine gained a second over 2016 (Motorsport)
"If you look at the pace of the car, since Silverstone we had a car that was more or less fourth in terms of potential performance, which was not something we could always see because of the (reliability) issues."
Wolff: Hamilton won't leave Mercedes unexpectedly (ESPN)
"He could be doing something completely different in a year or two or three's time and I am aware of that, but equally I know he will protect the structure and not just say, 'I'm out of here tomorrow'."
WEC would keep Alonso sharp for F1 - Boullier (Racer)
"At the end of the day it's just three races plus Le Mans, so it's not that much. He's already competing in karting races everywhere all the time."
How the Halo will change F1 in 2018 (Autosport)
"With heavier drivers it's going to be harder for the teams. It's a decision they make when they employ their drivers."
Assen circuit in contention for Dutch GP return (F1i)
"Assen circuit boss Arjan Bos believes the venue is a viable potential alternative to Zandvoort for hosting a Dutch Grand Prix."
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:
"If this is the formula one of the future, then Ferrari will only need three seconds to decide about leaving," Marchionne is quoted at the team's Christmas lunch.
I bet his employees loved that.— Bob Constanduros (@BobConstanduros) December 20, 2017
So @nico_rosberg replaces Niki Lauda as @F1 expert analyst at @RTLde – great choice, I look forward to hearing his intelligent incisiveness.
— Fritz-Dieter Rencken (@RacingLines) December 20, 2017
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
How would the championship standings look without the ‘big three’ teams? Nase has the answer:
What if the ‘Best of the Rest’ competition had been a championship in its own right?
(Inspired by the ‘telling stat’ for Lance Stroll, which might in fact be the single most misleading fact about his season)
Final table:
(Driver/Points/Wins/Poles)
1. Pérez (316/4/2)
2. Ocon (300/4/4)
3. Massa (217/3/3)
4. Sainz (184/3/1)
5. Hülkenberg (170/3/6)
6. Grosjean (149/1/2)
7. Stroll (138/1/1)
8. Magnussen (115/-/-)
9. Alonso (95/1/1)
10. Vandoorne (90/-/-)
11. Kvyat (70/-/-)
12. Palmer (68/-/-)
13. Wehrlein (42/-/-)
14. Ericsson (29/-/-)
15. Gasly (18/-/-)
16. Giovinazzi (6/-/-)
17. Hartley (5/-/-)
Nase
From the forum
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Dan M, Huhhii and Tony Hamilton!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
21st December 2017, 10:23
You mean unlike Rosberg, Toto? 😊
Boomerang
21st December 2017, 15:25
He never liked Nico. It was so obvious, almost embarrassing. No wonder he left the way he did.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
21st December 2017, 11:51
Regarding COTD, Forix (the free to view stats arm of Motorsport Network) have been following this permetation all year as “Fake F1”.
They have full stats including qualifying, races, fastest laps for all the season without the “big 3”. Both drivers and constructors.
I used this as a reference for my vote of driver of the year:
http://forix.autosport.com/cp.php?l=0&d=1000&r=10002017&c=30
KnGS (@)
21st December 2017, 12:14
That may be a bit of bull from Abiteboul.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
21st December 2017, 12:43
@godoff1 :-D
Ju88sy (@)
21st December 2017, 20:54
Never!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
22nd December 2017, 4:03
Always!
Zad (@)
21st December 2017, 12:47
I still maintain the opinion that the driver + seat should have a fixed weight. Lets say 100 kg. So that small drivers, maybe phisically hadicapped drivers don´t have an advantage. Imagine oscar pistorius driving an f1 car… More so if considering the potential advantage of reducing muscle mass, it could be argued that it´s a safety hazzard.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
21st December 2017, 13:06
Mmm, good idea @zad2. Do you know why this idea hasn’t been picked up (apart from the fact that it’s a sensible one, so not eligible for F1)?
It does seem to tackle the problems of teams moving ballast around to suit the car’s handling characteristics by forcing all the driver-related ballast to roughly the same location as the driver himself.
Zad (@)
21st December 2017, 13:18
@phylyp
I´d imagined it to have 2 weight limits. 1.: driver + seat, and 2: rest.
A driver with less weight whould still be an advantage, altough not that much. With cars @ 700 kg, 1 kg makes 0,14% difference… With a Laptime of 90 sec. that whould be above 0,1sec difference… That´s an insane amount.
Hollidog
21st December 2017, 14:31
I believe it is commonly accepted that 10kg is worth 4 tenths in F1, so not quite as dramatic as you make out.
Ju88sy (@)
21st December 2017, 21:04
@zad2 To add weight to your excellent comment, there was a short video on the BBC sport website earlier this year with Nico Rosberg cycling around Monaco with Chris Froome, Nico explained that over the 2016 summer break he stopped cycling to lose 1Kg in weight from his legs and was on pole by a whisker over 0.1 sec. He attributed a major contribution to the pole was weight loss!
anon
21st December 2017, 15:12
@phylyp, it’s a principle that isn’t applied in any major European motorsport series – and in some series, such as the WEC, there is an even greater incentive to pick a light driver because the minimum weight excludes the weight of the driver (i.e. the driver is an additional weight on top of that of the car).
I recall that Chilton mentioned that, when Nissan picked him as one of the drivers for their LMP1 car a few years ago, he mentioned it was because Nissan had designed a pretty small cockpit and not that many drivers could actually fit it in. Still, I don’t recall people giving the WEC a hard time for that aspect.
Joao (@johnmilk)
21st December 2017, 13:56
I wrote at least 5 jokes regarding your comment. I finished them and deleted them all one by one. And while I’m writing this a couple more just popped into my head.
But even from the confort behind the keyboard and while anonymous I still found them all too dark and offensive, but I’m having a good laugh on my own. I’m so funny I shared them with the dog, but she only tilts her head, poor thing
HUHHII (@huhhii)
21st December 2017, 14:41
@johnmilk Which driver or team does your dog support? Just asking out of curiosity.
Joao (@johnmilk)
21st December 2017, 17:59
@huhhii two comments blocked by now, I don’t think I can express my dog’s preferences here
HUHHII (@huhhii)
21st December 2017, 18:52
@johnmilk That’s too cruel :/ Anyway, please pet your dog. If she is a Kimi fan then pet her AND buy her a treat ;)
Joao (@johnmilk)
21st December 2017, 22:48
c’mon @keithcollantine I get it that the first comment was maybe crossing the line just a little
but the second? that was proper canine humour
Egonovi
21st December 2017, 14:48
Please No and Never.
We should stop equalising the sport.
What’s next? Equaliser engines again, or give less gifted drivers a headstart?
I know you will say “this is different!”. But who is to decide. And where to stop?
pez2k (@pez2k)
21st December 2017, 16:10
For me, the line is that allowing driver weights to make a significant difference makes the talent of the driver less important.
I want to see 20+ of the most talented drivers in the world on the grid, not 20+ of the lightest and best-sponsored drivers.
Egonovi
21st December 2017, 17:46
Would you ask the runners in the 100m dash/sprint to do the same?
pez2k (@pez2k)
22nd December 2017, 15:14
I would support that they should all wear the same style of shoes and not need to bring sponsors to get on an Olympic team, but running isn’t really an equipment-based sport in the same way. Talent at running is entirely based around the runner’s physical attributes as the key factor, whereas motorsport is based more around the driver’s ability to use their car to its fullest.
Neil (@neilosjames)
21st December 2017, 22:38
Also been in favour of a minimum driver+seat weight, for a number of years. Seems an entirely right and correct thing to do, and it wouldn’t be especially difficult.
Given the benefits to driver welfare such a system would bring, I wouldn’t be surprised if the GPDA started pushing for this at some point in the not too distant future.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
22nd December 2017, 4:28
@zad2 Sure. Honestly F1 is so data driven I’m shocked that female drivers haven’t overrun male drivers. Women are generally smaller but more importantly their bodies are a lot less dense.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st December 2017, 13:17
In the end, is there really a need for a Dutch GP while we already have the Belgian GP? That should be enough for that part of Europe already.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st December 2017, 13:22
@jerejj One Benelux-race, four races in Southern Europe, three (two again after next season) in the Middle, and one on the other side of the Channel.
Egonovi
21st December 2017, 14:54
Why should there be more races in Europe than in the Middle East or Africa?
PS @Jerejj. Why do you respond to your own comments using your own handle?
Must be a busy conversation at home, even if you live by yourself ;)
Jere (@jerejj)
21st December 2017, 15:49
@Egonovi That’s because I forgot to add the other paragraph to my original comment. It happens sometimes.
Regarding your first question: I never implied that there should be more races in Europe than in the Middle East or Africa. The point is that why should there be another race in the Benelux.
Egonovi
21st December 2017, 17:50
It was meant to be a sarcastic comment.
I think there should be races where there are fans or where F1 wants to expand. If that means two races in my bathroom, then that’s fine with me ;)
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
21st December 2017, 13:21
While Assen is a nice circuit for the bikes, I don’t think it works especially well for cars… Especially the bigger cars.
Zandvoort is a great circuit (Not as great as the old layout though but still a favorite of mine in the game/sim world) but it’s going to need a lot of work for F1, Not so much in terms of layout (Although you know they will change that in the name of better racing opportunities) but in terms of the pits/paddock, Runoff & spectator facilities.
C
21st December 2017, 16:05
Many of current MotoGP tracks won’t work with F1 cars though it would be nice to see their layouts carried over to F1 just for comparison. Aragon and Philip Island are two that I would like to see most off for F1 races.
Mike
22nd December 2017, 13:25
Did he mean the engine or the team? X-P
me
23rd December 2017, 22:37
Renault fourth quickest by the end of the season? In their dreams maybe haha :)
Force India was the 4th thru all season and they’ve beat Renault on every occasion… just sayin