That’s a great question, I guess he’ll be keeping a very close eye on how Bottas and Renault are doing this season!

It’s hard to imagine him going back to Ferrari, but I suppose at one point it was hard to imagine him going back to McLaren so who knows! 🙂

Its an entertainment business and as it is now its simply not entertaining enough

What is entertaining ( to the average punter) in motorsport is overtaking and seeing cars slide around and being able to see the skill of the driver.

shift from aero grip to mechanical grip to see a better spectacle

What if the teams were unleashed, no budget caps and no restrictions on available technologies etc? F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport but lacks a lot of technologies seen on some road cars (active suspension,traction control, ABS, rear wheel steering etc) no fuel limits and really let the teams loose to develop cars that truly are pushing the boundaries of technology, would that improve the spectacle or not I dont know, but at least then F1 would be the absolute ultimate of motor vehicle development. The only ‘rules’ would be the driver has to accelerate, brake and steer the car.

How about an air intake restriction formula for the engine maybe with a fuel quantity as well. apart from that anything goes bar aero

What if the teams were unleashed, no budget caps and no restrictions on available technologies etc?

If you could persuade Honda that it’s worth the cost, four of the current 10 teams might survive. More likely you’d end up with just Merc and Ferrari. With only four cars competing, it would really suck to be the driver who didn’t get on the podium.

All this pontificating about how to “fix” F1 shows how difficult it is and why Brawn is the right guy for the job. He knows that ‘if the rules say X then the teams will do Y’ and won’t come up with schemes that are doomed to failure like knockout quali (or ‘faster cars to improve the show’).

Anyhow, Audi haven’t completely written off F1 yet

Sauber/Honda – they’re determined to get that back of the grid slot back!…

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sauber-considering-honda-mercedes-engines-for-f1-2018-887902/

I would absolutely love it if Sauber became a Honda works team. It would take the pressure off both McLaren and Honda as they are expected to be at the front of the grid, Sauber would get both the cash that they sorely need and- let’s be honest!- they can only improve from where they are right now 🙂

Anyhow, Audi haven’t completely written off F1 yet

Sounds good! Wasn’t Bernie leaving the main prerequisite for VW joining?

Pascal to miss China now…

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/wehrlein-to-miss-chinese-gp-as-well-889333/

I’ve got a bet with a mate at work for the next GP. So using the wisdom of STW, who should I pick as the winner for China ?

We don’t bet on Hamilton winning, just to make it more exciting and the winner for us doesn’t have to win the race, just finish higher than the other one.

Last race I picked Vettle, he picked Bottas. Not sure who to pick for his one.

That Audi render is the best looking design on an F1 car this year – shame its not real!

I heard the weather was looking variable for China which could liven things up a bit.

thepurist – Member
All this pontificating about how to “fix” F1 shows how difficult it is and why Brawn is the right guy for the job. He knows that ‘if the rules say X then the teams will do Y’ and won’t come up with schemes that are doomed to failure like knockout quali (or ‘faster cars to improve the show’).

Anyhow, Audi haven’t completely written off F1 yet

Audi can sod off TBH, we almost got stuffed with 4 pot engines because of them.

So using the wisdom of STW, who should I pick as the winner for China ?

Baring accidents, break downs or freak weather it is hard to see anyone other than Vettel or Hamilton winning tbh. So I’d pick Verstappen 😉

Apparently, China might expose some weaknesses in the McHonda.

1200 hp twin-turbo V6s a possibility for 2021

Anyhow, Audi haven’t completely written off F1 yet

Audi write off F1

Fun quiz 🙂

shermer75 – Member
Fun quiz

14/15 Can’t believe they missed out Helmut Marko! Dude at the end caught me out.

BTW Has everyone got their changes in on the Fantasy F1 thingy?

http://fantasy.udt.co.za/f1/restricted/LeagueDetails.j?leagueId=757&pageNo=1&batchSize=50

Happy with my team so far – a bit too early to change!

Speculation in the paddock is the whole Wehrlein issue is very, very odd. Basically, unless he’s broken his back/neck or something, lack of fitness wouldn’t stop any driver getting in a car.

Or he’s cock-sure of his contract with Mercedes!

Only got 13/15 on that quiz – two pics looked a lot like JV! 😀

Dude at the end caught me out.

Same! 🙂

Agreed the Wehrlein thing is weird. Back injuries are a funny thing though- they can have a surprisingly large affect on you mentally. Maybe he has a bad case of the yips?

I see alonso has said he’s not quitting mid season. Still got my money on Barcelona.

The Wehrlein thing is pretty odd – especially as he’s being comprehensively shown up by the reserve driver on loan from Ferrari who drove a faultless stint in qualifying and Melbourne.

If the injury is severe, then surely it’s better to come right out and say so?

IIRC, Karl Wendlinger was another promising talent who was completely mentally banjaxed by a serious crash and who never quite recovered from the trauma. It would be a shame to see Wehrlein similarly affected.

I see alonso has said he’s not quitting mid season. Still got my money on Barcelona.

Me too – especially as Honda have virtually admitted they don’t know what they’re doing!

Doesn’t look good even for 2018.

If the injury is severe, then surely it’s better to come right out and say so?

This is what I can’t understand – it’s not like he’s a journeyman with no funding, trying to hide his true condition to keep a drive. He’s part of Mercedes driver programme with all the support that goes with it.

In response to earlier posts. Why would Audi enter though?!!?
They’ve just had to ditch WEC (VW ditched WRC) having built a 2017 car due to VAG scandal…

Anyway. As for needing more power, the speed isn’t the issue. unless they make them undriveable.

So McLaren have a new T-Wing – is there anything to stop them sticking little wings all the way down the shark-fin – It would look like a big radiator!…

(VW ditched WRC)

Possibly not as a factory team, but they cocked-up on the homologation which meant privateers couldn’t run their 2017 car (which you can bet would have had factory support in some way or other).

And I can understand Audi pulling out of sportscars – what had they got left to prove?

The Wehrlein thing is pretty odd – especially as he’s being comprehensively shown up by the reserve driver on loan from Ferrari who drove a faultless stint in qualifying and Melbourne.

I wondered when it was announced he’d miss China too how secure his seat is.

Re the t wing, there’s only a small box they can fit in within the regs, so we won’t get uhf aerials down the shark fin. Hopefully next season they’ll be gone along with shark fins.

I wondered when it was announced he’d miss China too how secure his seat is.

Do you think that is what it is? He simply can’t be arsed? Amazing?!?!

What had audi got left to prove? Porsche had just beaten them again and the fact they had built their 2017 car after heavily updating their car for the 2016 season which was basically a single seater with more body work says to me the plug was pulled unexpectedly…

Do you think that is what it is? He simply can’t be arsed? Amazing?!?!

I didn’t mean that he CBA. More like, Australia – he’s genuinely not fit so they give the other guy a go, turns out he does a pretty solid job and that (coupled with Wehrlein’s reputation for being difficult to work with) makes the top brass hesitate to get him back in the car.

Another good showing for the reserve guy and maybe…?

Ah, PW may be oot. Possibly! Maybe Ferrari will start giving them 2017 engines if they take on Giovinazzi! 🙂

Ah, PW may be oot. Possibly

You heard it here first 😉

FP2 cancelled due to fog! Medical heli can’t fly so no running!

Hamilton playing the crowd brilliantly; wandering around handing our gear and getting in pictures.

Will make FP3 interesting – think the weather’s meant to be a bit iffy for Sunday too so race setup and balance may prove to be as important as grid position. Expect some of the smaller teams may roll the dice & take a chance, while Merc/Ferrari/RB run through a rigid programme that’s been calculated to the nth degree by the geeks back at base. In the Ron years McHonda would’ve done that too, now they might not be so dogmatic and at least they’ve saved a few miles on the engine.

They’re not changing the schedule for the race 😀

Well that’s been fun so far…

Get Pascal back in the car – this Gio bloke is rubbish! 😉

Really good to see Merc and Ferrari so close. Should push Hamilton into a few mistakes and make the races interesting.