[swissknife]

Originally Posted by Meccanico

I've just noticed during today's Monaco GP that all the number 2 drivers have two yellow stripes on their airbox cameras while the number one drivers don't. Of course the teams deny playing favourites but its quite obvious.

Here's an example with Vettel & Kimi.
Attachment 1643271
Vettel's car with the black camera on top of the air box
Attachment 1643272
Kimi's car with the fluorescent stripes

There has been a convention that the lead driver of the team does not have the yellow markings on the camera above the air intake. Earlier, the lead driver had a red marking and the 2nd driver a yellow marking. The lead driver is one who has more championships / wins / points etc. than the other driver of the team

[Porcupine]

Toto Wolff in an interview has claimed Mercedes is now the Underdog in the title chase as Ferrari have taken the lead in the Constructors Championship after their Monaco 1-2.

'They deserved to win, they had the quickest car out there,' Wolff told reporters.

'I like the notion of underdog,' added the Austrian. 'Because the underdog is the one that people want to see win. As a matter of fact, I think we have been that since the beginning of the season.

Source

[ecenandu]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Vq...ature=youtu.be

[jfxavier]

Robert Kubica completed 115 laps in a private test with Renault on an F1 car.



Nice to see him back in action.



But, will his arm be able to take the extra loads on the new-gen F1 cars?

[Porcupine]

Fernando Alonso says he will leave McLaren-Honda at the end of the year if he does not see signs they can be competitive by September.

The two-time world champion is out of contract at the end of this season.

"We have to win," he said. "If we are not winning before September, when I will make a decision, I will not stay."

Asked to clarify his position, he said: "I joined this project to win the title. If you are not in a competitive position, maybe you change project."

However, the Spaniard said he had not yet started to think seriously about his future.

"Until I sit down with myself in September, I cannot say for sure," Alonso said.

High time I think, its tainting his legacy and taking away precious years from whatever is left of his career. The Honda unit is nowhere close to putting the Mclaren on the podium, and most likely will not be come September.

More on BBC.

[Makin Rulesz]

Originally Posted by Porcupine

Fernando Alonso says he will leave McLaren-Honda at the end of the year if he does not see signs they can be competitive by September.
More on BBC.

He also says he will quit F1 if the season expands beyond 20-21 races in the coming years. New F1 owners Liberty media has plans to increase the number of races by adding more races to calendar from regions such as US, Asia and Middle East where they have better earnings.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...-idUSKBN18Z2PJ

[Porcupine]

Originally Posted by Makin Rulesz

He also says he will quit F1 if the season expands beyond 20-21 races in the coming years.

It seems like he's announcing the inevitable then. There's no way for McLaren-Honda to get to winning ways by September, and the chance of there being no expansion in the length of the season also seems unlikely. Maybe not for 2018 but beyond that I can see Liberty adding more races to the calendar.

[jfxavier]

Honda is far behind Mercedes / Ferrari and even Renault considering F1 standards.
Although they did miss the deadline for the Canadian GP, development during the season seems to be alright actually compared to the competition.
Quality control and co-relation between concept and result seems to be the main issues for Honda. They basically encountered reliability problems this winter testing as they did in their first season (both times a new concept). They seem to have a hard time to get their engine from the drawing board to the car in a reliable manner. It is below F1 standards to suffer these exact problems twice.

According to the information from AUTO BILD MOTORSPORT the decision to switch PU suppliers have been taken already by McLaren. A separation from Honda is imminent and also the Daimler board of directors has already agreed for cooperation.
http://www.autobild.de/artikel/formel-1 ... 54469.html

Probably they will supply Sauber with the transmission in 2018. Back in the 1990's, when McLaren terminated its contract with Peugeot they gave Jordan (who took Peugeot on) their last season's gearbox and rear suspension design for free.
If the split happens, it is a big opportunity for Williams if RBR doesn't have any interest in a Honda works PU.
Hopefully there will be Williams Honda works deal then. It would make a nice story if they manage to poach Honda off McLaren and then beat the McLaren Mercedes on track.
Big Ron will be the happiest man in that case

[Porcupine]

Now here's Hamilton saying the same thing as Alonso; that he will hang up his boots should Liberty Media extend the calendar beyond 20-21 races.

Lewis Hamilton could follow Fernando Alonso out of F1 over format change

[deetjohn]

Vijay Mallya says ForceIndia is considering changing its name to give it a more 'international flavour' and make the team more attractive to potential new sponsors.

He also claims this move has nothing to do with his current legal situation.

'The fact the country of India and me are not the best partners is something that has been going on for a few years now," said Mallya. "This is nothing new.

"I haven't in the last few years considered any name change. It's purely to do with current sponsorship, a proposal on the table and sponsorship going forward for the team.'

Yeah right!

It will be great if someone can buy the team outright. The team is doing great on track and punching well above its weight. Too bad the current ownership and the name is associated with two tainted businessmen from our country.

source

[shibujp]

Of late Toto Wolff and Hamilton seem pretty obsessed with Nico Rosberg.

First Hamilton goes an praises Bottas as the best team mate he ever had. Is it coincidental that he had fantastic relationships with all team mates whom he could easily get the better of and very sour ones with the team mates who gave him a run for his money. It would be interesting to see Hamilton's reaction once Bottas starts challenging him for wins.

Then Toto goes and claims that he would not be surprised if Nico turned up at Ferrari next year. http://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-au...oss-Toto-Wolff

He further goes on to mention that Nico Rosberg was the more "vicious" one. http://en.f1i.com/news/270965-wolff-...-hamilton.html.

These two guys seems to fear Nico being back in the paddock. All through the history of F1, two strong drivers in the same team always had frosty relationships the most famous of them being Senna v/s Prost so I am not sure why Toto and Lewis and making such a big deal about this.

Drive on,
Shibu

[polopm]

Originally Posted by jfxavier

Honda is far behind Mercedes / Ferrari and even Renault considering F1 standards.
Although they did miss the deadline for the Canadian GP, development during the season seems to be alright actually compared to the competition.
....Hopefully there will be Williams Honda works deal then. It would make a nice story if they manage to poach Honda off McLaren and then beat the McLaren Mercedes on track.
Big Ron will be the happiest man in that case

Williams Honda is being discussed now. It is a big blow for Honda if they lose McLaren this year and they cannot bow out miserably. Looks like they are offering deal sweeteners to get Williams on board. Williams has limited budget and will take things as they come. For all you know, the Honda might start working next year and become good an year after. McLaren cannot wait, Williams can take a gamble. Sauber has nothing to lose.
Knowing Ron - he is probably pained to see McL languishing at the back. I will put my money in seeing the McLMercedes beat the factory car in 2019. Who knows they can even lure Lewis back ?

[sajands]

Monisha Kaltenborn has left Sauber – report

Monisha Kaltenborn has reportedly left Sauber with immediate effect, however, official confirmation has yet to come from the team.

F1 journalist Joe Saward is reporting that Kaltenborn has been “unhappy with the way that Sauber is being overseen by investment manager Pascal Picci, the chairman of the holding company.

http://www.planetf1.com/news/monisha...sauber-report/

[jfxavier]

Ron Dennis has parted ways with McLaren.
truly a sad day for the McLaren fans, however it was not surprising considering the way things were going in the recent past.

Here's the link to the Motorsport article with the official statements included.

http://www.motorsportmagazine.com/op...ies-ron-dennis

However, this would be incomplete without this article on RonSpeak
http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/124..._source=Direct

[Hatari]

Originally Posted by jfxavier

Attachment 1652788

Ron Dennis has parted ways with McLaren.
truly a sad day for the McLaren fans, however it was not surprising considering the way things were going in the recent past.

Sad that his story had to end the way it did. With McLaren Honda languishing in last place.

People like him and Luca De Montezemelo were the definition of old school. Great men. Purists. Black or white. No nonsense.

It was a school of thought needed to excel when setting up companies back in their day.

Another reason why they got along so well with Senna and Schumacher respectively. There was racing and NOTHING ELSE.

Task masters that didn't go down too well with 'creative' people like Adrian Newey and Lewis Hamilton.

Today is world of selecting the lesser of many evils and the best compromise.

That is why perhaps, like dinosaurs they are now extinct.