New McLaren sponsor announcements “soon”

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: McLaren CEO Zak Brown says McLaren will begin announcing well-known new sponsors soon.

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The Strategy Group will discuss whether to take the driver out of the minimum weight limit for cars from this season. But should drivers remain subject to a minimum weight limit on grounds of fairness?

A driver’s skill at getting the car around the track should not be negated by someone else being several kilos lighter. For this reason it is fundamentally sporting to have the driver included in the minimum weight.

Racing a package of 745kg against a package of 735kg gives the competitor a disadvantage which isn’t necessary in motorsport. There’s already an advantage in having a smaller driver because then you have more ballast and packaging options. They should just increase the minimum weight if they feel they need to do something.
@Hey

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IndyCar 2018 aero kit, Detroit motor show, 2018

IndyCar is displaying its new 2018 aero kit at the Detroit Motor Show this week.

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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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46 comments on “New McLaren sponsor announcements “soon””

  1. “We’ve signed a few and we’ll start announcing them this month. You’ve heard of all of them. They are the types of partners you would expect McLaren to have – leaders, captains of industry, great sectors – but we’ve got a ways to go.”
    -is it 2013 already?

    1. Hard to read “news” like that without cringing…

    2. I’ve seen the McLaren in an all black livery with huge red/gold ‘Mars’ logos.
      It looked great.
      Ron prepared it 20 years ago and presented it to us.

    3. Indeed. Believe it when we see it. McLaren announcing they “will be announcing sponsors soon” has been one of those memes for the last 5 or so years.

    4. Sounds very American. Is something you could easily hear the Trump administration say. Lots of words but no real information.

      1. @mayrton I thought exactly the same thing!

        “They are the types of partners you would expect McLaren to have – leaders, captains of industry, great sectors”…probably the best sectors.

      2. Me too, I was expecting him to say they were going to win bigly.

  2. @keithcollantine when are the first car launch dates?

    1. @nemo87 Only Ferrari have announced their launch date: 22nd February

    2. @nemo87 February 22nd (Ferrari). The other teams haven’t confirmed their launch dates yet.

      1. ..That’s forever away :’(

        1. Mclaren have just announced they’re launching on the 23rd

    3. So far… Ferrari 22nd Feb, McLaren 23rd Feb, Mercedes 22nd Feb, Toro Rosso 25th Feb.

  3. In other TV news i’ve been told & have seen Bob Varsha also say that ESPN will be taking the Sky feed (David Croft, Martin Brundle with Ted Kravitz in the pits & whichever of there other reporters is doing the paddock interviews each weekend) for its race broadcasts.
    I’ve also had it confirmed that there will be no pre or post session coverage. They will begin there coverage 5 minutes before the start & end there race coverage after the podium interviews (Practice coverage will end after the final times are displayed, Qualifying after the grid interviews).

    The OTT service was supposed to be officially announced by now but certain things have come up that have delayed that. It’s hoped it should be ready to launch before the final pre-season test, Failing that Testing ‘may’ be streamed on youtube (Region blocked) using Sky commentary (The OTT service will also use Sky commentary in English regions but have its own on-air talent for the rest of the content).
    The OTT service as it stands will only be available in a handful of regions (And not all of those will get live content), Mainly those with no or recently renewed broadcast contracts. Most existing contracts grant total exclusivity to the broadcaster so nothing can be done until those contracts expire or some other agreement is reached.

    As I understand it the plan for the OTT platform is to basically be live streaming all day & include the F1 sessions & all support action, paddock interviews & any demo runs that may be taking place that day. On top of that you will get all the additional content feeds, live team radio, every in-car camera, timing/tracking & all that…. Again though all region Dependant & not all of the live feeds will be available to all regions.

    Oh & it will cost less than $20 a month & I think there will be different packages that offer different content for different prices (A cheap one that offers only live sessions, One that may not offer additional feeds, A more expensive one that offers everything for instance).

    On a similar note the WRC will be altering there WRC+ package in the next week (In time for Monte) to include a more pricey package that will include an all day live stream including every stage live. The current cheaper package ($4.99 i think) will continue as it has been the past few seasons.
    I gather take up for WRC+ has been a little less than was hoped but enough to warrant continuing & expanding.

    1. Thanks for the update @gt-racer – much appreciated. Heard about the Sky for broadcast possibility earlier today, but no other details. It really sounds like a downgrade with no pre and post race sessions here in the states via ESPN. (The Sky broadcast part is fine.) Even if the OTT deal comes to pass and it is a good deal, it is still another $20, more or less, per month above and beyond cable which many/most already have. If the ESPN cable broadcast is neutered down to race only, what is the only choice other than buying the OTT package for an F1 fan?

    2. That OTT deal seems like they could be doing a good job – especially for all the people out there who have quit having cable or satellite TV altogether, or are considering doing so.

      1. @bascb – OTT does sound decent, especially with the possibility of reasonable price points depending on content level.

        Upon seeing the package it will be decision time for me. The two main reasons I still have cable is for F1 and Turner Classic Movies channel. Most everything else I want to watch is available over the air, streaming, etc. I’ve cut cable before, it is terribly expensive, might be time again.

  4. That IndyCar picture made me go and take a look at their specs – they run 15″ wheels. That is larger than F1’s 13″, but still smaller than the obscene-looking size that Pirelli were proposing (was it 17″ or 18″?).

    1. As far as I know, I think Pirelli never really made a fuss about the size of the tyres/rims, @phylyp. It has been Michelin that has been quite vocal about it whenever rumours suggest that they may be considering rejoining F1, since 13” rims aren’t used in road cars.

      1. My bad, thank you @toiago

      2. Michelin were quite pushy on the rim size point if I recall correctly. Pirelli essentially said “we’ll do whatever you want” and offered a more lucrative financial package, so they got the nod.

    2. In 10 years no one will care… the need for performance road ANYTHING will reduced to zero with the advent of the driverless car. We’ll all be cornering at speed limit! (Ok 10 years is being “pessimistic“).

  5. Duncan Snowden
    18th January 2018, 1:23

    Interesting that Chandhok makes the comparison with cricket. I’ve been saying the same thing since the BBC sold half the season to Sky in the first place. Unless you’re already the dominant sport in a country, with fans who would sell their own grandmothers to follow “their” team, pay-TV is an extremely short-sighted strategy. It offers good money up front, but strangles you of your lifeblood: new and casual fans.

    That said, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the highlights packages we’ve had on FTA so far. I remember the 45-60 minute shows we used to get back in the ’80s, which were practically useless for properly following the race, but to be perfectly honest, these days I don’t really miss live coverage at all. I can only remember of a couple of occasions when I’ve felt that the highlights didn’t tell the whole story (and I’m not entirely sure what those were). So if the post-2018 FTA coverage simply extends the current model for non-live races to the entire season, I don’t think it’ll be so bad. Frankly, I’ll barely notice the difference. But what I fear is that it’ll end up being an hour on some obscure Freeview channel, whenever they can be bothered to fit it in: sometimes 10pm a few days after the race, sometimes 1am two weeks later. That would kill F1 stone dead in the UK.

    1. Your “highlights” nightmare is my F1 reality (may change after the dust settles) 1 hour of the race broadcast replayed with 25+ – laps chopped out of the middle and loads of commercial breaks, and broadcast at the times you predict.

      1. Duncan Snowden
        19th January 2018, 1:16

        That sounds awful. I can sympathise to an extent, because it’s how many other series – Aussie V8s, IndyCar, etc. – are shown here already. It doesn’t bother me so much because we never had good FTA coverage of those in the first place. But I can see it happening to F1, maybe not immediately, but eventually, and it would be a tragedy.

  6. Thank you.. an awesome link to an awesome article which helps us ‘techy’ minded people gain a little more insight..

    McLaren overcomes Renault packaging headaches (Autosport)

    “We had to reconfigure the chassis, change the cooling system and reconfigure the gearbox to make it fit. But we’ve managed that in time without any significant compromise to the chassis.”

    Thank you F1 Fanatic

    1. The true test will be if the car will be ready in time for release and winter testing.

      This sounds strikingly similar to the issue Renault had when they converted over from the Lotus team and had a chassis but didn’t do too well that first year because they had to shoe-horn the engine in to make it fit and didn’t have enough time to re-work the chassis.

  7. Is Abiteboul seriously trying to take credit for Sirotkin’s seat, as well as Kubica’s almost?

    1. If you read the article you’ll get the detailed answer to your question.

  8. Re: CotD If I’m not mistaken there’s no way around the weight advantage of lighter drivers. Even with a weight ballast if a driver is lighter the team can position that ballast as perfectly as possible, for example to lower the centre of gravity or affect the balance of the car.

    That being said of course 2 separate minimum weight’s for both driver and car would be the most fair solution, but I don’t think it could ever be completely fair without specific wording in the rules regarding the position of the balance to be as close as possible to the drivers center of gravity – for example, towards the middle of the seat.

    I could be wrong about all of this though, it’s just my understanding?

    1. Tristan, the prevalent opinion has been that the driver ballast would be affixed to the seat, and not freely moveable around the car. Given driver’s reclining position in the seat, that would keep the centre of gravity of a heavy driver and the CG of a lighter driver + ballast in roughly the same location, minimizing or eliminating the placement advantage.

      Ballast to make up the car weight would continue to be placed at the discretion of the team.

  9. If I had £1 every time Mclaren promised a new sponsor I’d be a rich man :-)

    1. @brawngp
      You’d be rich enough to sponsor McLaren by now.

  10. It sounds fair to equalise body weight in F1.
    But I’m more of a purist. I don’t want any equalisation in my Sport whatsoever.
    It’s a slippery slope; should Kubica get more power steering due to his injury? Should Maldonado get auto-brake?

    1. Power steering is already unlimited, and if my experience of auto-brake in computer games is anything to go by, it would probably kick in at the worst possible times if Pastor was driving the car…

    2. Should the next 10 year old kart champion go straight to F1 ?

  11. McLaren, the team who cried sponsor

  12. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    18th January 2018, 9:20

    Good to hear Channel 4 may well keep doing their highlights package from 2019. As I like their current line up of Ben Edwards and DC, I hope they will both remain. Chandhok and Eddie Jordan also make it really interesting at times as they both know a lot of things we don’t. Especially Jordan. So I hope they keep most of who they have now so they can make the most of their highlights. But at the same time, I’m really wanting Sky to improve a lot as I have found their coverage before and after the races and even during practice sessions far worse than Channel 4.

  13. McLaren’s new sponsor is not Imminent, just Soon!

  14. As much as I’d love C4 to keep highlights of F1 on the air so we’re able to see SOME of the action without surrendering to SKY, it’s going to be quite a job avoiding the news and staying off social media all day on the day of a GP to avoid spoiling the result …

  15. The greed of SKY television is astounding, breaking down the £1 billion cost for the highlight package (and live broadcast of the British Grand Prix) over 6 seasons, it would cost £166 million per season of highlights. In comparison, channel 4’s current package of full highlights and 50% of full races costs £24 million a year.

  16. I’m delighted to hear about the possible TV highlights package. It would be good if it stayed on C4 as well I think. I really am very annoyed about about the prospect of having to hand over any money to Sky.

    If the package is pretty much the same as what C4 show now as race highlights, and for every race, then I would definitely give this a go before making any decision on paying to view. There may be a slight glow at the end of the tunnel.

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