bearing failure = much sadness

So Mercedes is going to have a go at being without a technical director for six months:

https://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2017/01/insight-paddy-lowe-departure-from-mercedes-f1-team-paves-way-for-bottasmassa-announcement/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38489054 Bottas to partner Hamilton.

Well I’m looking forward to that.

It’s a career defining chance for BOTTAS. Despite obviously being quick he’s not been consistently good at delivering race results with Williams. If he can keep Hamilton on his toes then he’s proven himself, if he does a Luca Badoer then he’ll be back in midfield teams (or worse) for the rest of his career.

Pulling a Heikki Kovalainen. I hope not. I’d like to see him get in the mix and stir things up.
He has previous with kimi so hopefully they’ll share some tarmac again this year.

1 year to prove he’s top drawer – no pressure then! 😀

Williams have bottled it with Massa though. Can’t see who benefits from that arrangement.

We’ll Massa didn’t want to leave Williams, and Martini want at least one grown up driver, so that’s two for starters.

Hope Bottas does well, definitely a good fit for Merc. He may not be outstanding but he’ll be a good pair of hands to hoover up points and pick up the pieces if Hamilton bins it at the very least. If he manages to beat Hamilton at a race in a straight fight then his stock will rise.

Williams had no other real options, Martini insisting on a 25+ driver and everyone else already in seats forced their hand. If they can use the extra money from the deal to really develop the ’17 car and put some effort into the ’18 one too they can drag themselves out of their current rut. This should help them attract a driver to replace Massa next year too. If they have to stick with Massa in ’18 then they’ve missed an opportunity IMO.

Bernie’s out!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38723001

*probably

Bernie gone!

Ron gone!

…time for Flavio to re-appear! 😀

probably

Allegedly !

Ross Braun to take part of the CEO role, to be shared between a total of 3 people.

About time! Bye bye Bernie 😀

End of an era! Interesting times ahead…

BExit at last! Brawn has got a tough job – he’s what the fans have been asking for and hopefully he can talk some sense into the team bosses and get rules made for the benefit of the racing rather than protecting their own little fiefdoms. I guess one first step would be to take a good look at the stewarding arrangements and their decision making processes, do some simple things like have a permanent board of stewards who enforce track limits consistently and stop dishing out more penalties than points during the weekend.

Now we just need to hope they’re looking at a sensible streaming package, maybe $100/year for all sessions on demand. I’d buy that in a flash, but am not parting with a penny for Sky.

Now we just need to hope they’re looking at a sensible streaming package, maybe $100/year for all sessions on demand. I’d buy that in a flash, but am not parting with a penny for Sky.

Screw that, bring it back to free to air!

Screw that, bring it back to free to air!

More chance that Netflix will pick up F1. They have a desire to get into sports coverage.

The problem with free to air is that it costs host broadcasters millions to send their own presenting team. And if Liberty increase the niumber of races to 24 there are likely to be less takers.

I guess it depends if Liberty want the maximum number of viewers or the maximum revenue (a la Bernie). I live in hope – not a lot of hope, but a little bit.

Sadly free to air is history for most things.

it costs host broadcasters millions to send their own presenting team

I don’t know why they bother. Just the pictures will be fine and I can put R5 on if I need someone to talk over it.

Do remember the good old days when the racing was longer than the chatting?

Sadly free to air is history for most things.

the model is becoming broken in football, Competition rules in the broadcast rights just mean consumers paying more to follow their team. Can see them doing the same in F1, getting races split across 2 different ppv broadcasters will cost twice as much for the avid f1 fan.

Bernie was always anti-internet due to his extreme old age.

A more savvy management will maximise distribution for every platform it can. Netflix may be a fair bet; and it would annoy Sky a great deal.

Well if it disappears from Freeview I suppose I get several hours a month back to do something else.

Usual Santander cock-up!…

Ferrari sponsor apologises for revealing car name

It really is the end of the road for Manor now…

Manor Racing fails to find a buyer

Not surprising. That was a hard business case to throw money at.

Now we just need to hope they’re looking at a sensible streaming package, maybe $100/year for all sessions on demand. I’d buy that in a flash, but am not parting with a penny for Sky.

This is how I watch MotoGP, although good luck with getting anything similar in F1 for $100/yr. MotoGP is 200EUR, and F1 is bound to view itself as a more “valuable brand”.

Damn shame for everyone left at the factory, and their suppliers. Just hope LM’s grand plans can deliver an environment where small teams can establish themselves and have a chance of upsetting the status quo.

Manor are the last of the ‘new’ teams that arrived for 2010 – they’ve had 6 years to get results. Does that mean Sauber are now effectively the youngest F1 team tracing them back to the early 90s?

Wouldn’t Haas claim that?

Doh – totally forgot the Ferrari B team 😳 , was working back through the previous guises of all the others. RBR may be older than Sauber though, as I think Stewart set himself up from scratch (with help from Ford) rather than buying another team.

Manor may not be dead yet!…

Finger lickin’ good glimmer of hope for Manor

Manor may not be dead, but it’s the end for the MP4 designation of McLarens – new car to be MCL32

mclaren got rid of their boss, great start to the season.

That’s been on the cards since Ron was ousted – he’s Ron’s appointment not the direction of the new management.

I thought Jost was effectively out the door as soon as Zak Brown got the job. They’ve got a lot of Ronisms to work their way through and decide how the team is going to run this year – thats not going to help them achieve consistency for a while.

Anyway – only two weeks before the first of the new cars breaks cover!

Mclaren’s major management changes is going to make it very difficult for them to excel when this was the perfect time – if Honda’s latest engine incarnation is any good – shame as i’d love to see Alonso back in the mix

Ferrari is well on the way to another implosion with the loss of Allison and big expectations – so expecting Arrivabene to be leaving soon

Red Bull should be back on fire and fully expect Mercedes to still be at the sharp end

Any predictions on some wild cards?? 🙂

Force india should carry on up the ladder as they havent changed too much. I personally hope williams get a move on with the Lowe appointment.

There are a lot of similarities with Mclaren and Liberty media’s plight at the moment. With both hiring and firing left right and centre. Is Honda’s position as engine supplier certain past this year. Assuming Ron’s idea of trying to win as a works team goes with him, are they going to run as a mid field F1 team with whoever provides them with a cheapo engine.

Haas now have a decent driver lineup and another years worth of data so should have a decent go although I think the teams with most experience should navigate around the rules the best. ( Merc, RBR, Ferrari, Mclaren, FI, WIlliams, STR, HAAS, Renault, Sauber …. KFC Manor)

Is there a reason to believe that Renault will have caught Mercedes (engines that is) this season? Sadly I feel a Hamilton winning bore-fest might be on the cards