^^^ Good article indeed, very interesting

Button certainly suffers if the car has poor front downforce so he should be well pleased if McL pull it off.
Like all wheeled sports, confidence in the front is the key to the driver exploiting what the rest of the car can offer, which is where many engineers and designers suffer as they can’t easily deal with non measurable factors.

So McHonda are having the same troubles that everyone but Merc had last year. Except this time everyone else is running well and gaining data (or losing front wings…) and when JB & Nando are do get out for a lap they’re doing times that a rookie in GP3 could beat. Hope they get the niggles sorted soon and get some decent running so they can work out what else needs sorting before the next test.

Jenson Button managed only six laps in the McLaren as problems continued to plague the team.

It’s all part of RD’s master plan, lul the competition into a flase sense of security. Or maybe not LOL

I like the way Ron is talking up the team being a “technological cutting edge” in F1 this year – in other words, they got bits on the car they are not sure are going to work. reminds me of that car they developed but never actually raced in the 00’s – gives good excuse for failure too eh Ron?

With F1 would do “one off” races that were not championship but a little bit different? i dunno say MonteCarlo to Nice road race??? 🙂
things like that.

I’m looking for a fun bet this season. Any suggestions?

Bernie to peg it. Or get his plan of hosing the tracks at random moments for spectator fun accepted.

I’m looking for a fun bet this season. Any suggestions?

Max Verstappen to score points

Bernie to peg it

As much as I hate the thought of anyone karking it, this.

He’s ruined the sport with intrigue and money AFAIK. Time to hand over the baton to someone else.

to me the honda sounds a bit like a rally car, half expecting it to start burbling and popping on trailing throttle.

I’m looking for a fun bet this season. Any suggestions?

Lewis Hamilton to tape that new hairstyle to the outside of his helmet

If Lewis and Nicole manage to stay together throughout this season Lewis will be unstoppable.

Looks like they didn’t even make the start of the season!

So what do people think of McHondas showing today? Competitive with others running at the same time this morning then sidelined by an apparently simple problem. Clearly not really pushing for pace yet but it’d be interesting to know how their set up compared to the Ferrari.

Redbull still not doing that much running either… Maybe the Honda’s easier to fix than the Renault?

A simple problem that’s going to take till Saturday to fix

So less than 48 hours to diagnose, design a replacement, make it, ship it to Barcelona then stick it on the power unit. That’s pretty simple for a modern f1 power unit.

yep a simple problem like the MGUK digesting the gears under the front cover.

mchonda say a seal has gone on the MGUK and it will take until saturday to get it replaced, oh and we took the engine out…oh and the engines fine we are just going to use another one because er because er errrrrrrrrrr.

From the BBC today (21 Feb 15) covering the 3rd day of testing in Barcelona

“Alonso admitted the team were unlikely to be ready for the first race. ‘We will arrive to Australia hoping Australia was in June or July, but it’s in March and I don’t know if we will arrive completely ready, but we will arrive in the best conditions we can,’ the Spaniard said.

Another red flag as Jenson Button brings his McLaren to a halt at the edge of the track at Turn 7…

“That is not what McLaren wanted – the car stopped by the side of the track less than 90 minutes into the day’s running.

Thinking of a £10-er on Alonso/Button for 2015 World Champion

I do think Honda/Mac are holding back a great deal. When they turn the wick up on the engine it’ll be a revalation.

Another big change this year is the blown front axle. Sky F1 did a fair piece on it last week. Ferrari and Mac have it and it looks an intriging development.

Nicole Sherzwingherneger to turn up to a race with two Rapper boyfriends and lewis spins off as a result?

blown front axle is old hat. 2013 williams FW35 and Redbull RB9 ran it.

doesn’t really work that well. plus if a team go down the blown axle front route all the rear is developed around the front being blown, if as usual the FIA then ban it you haver to start from scratch again as the rear won’t work without front.

i do like the look of the ferrari though and the RB is looking quite sorted, but its the dark horses you need to watch. Williams are being very low key. they are stalking the competition.

So much for the simple fix McHonda! Tried this?

The thing I love about testing is the way everyone tries to second guess how much everyone else is trying. So at the moment, Sauber are on glory runs with Lotus, McHonda aren’t going to make the grid, Ferrari are the new Merc, RedBull are struggling for performance, Williams and Merc are looking solid on long runs but not setting the timing screens alight.

The only thing that’s certain is that it’ll look nothing like that after P1 in Oz.

We may see some pace on the last day of testing in a week’s time but it’ll depend how well they’ve got through their program and if they’re interested in bluffing, so we won’t really know either way who’s got it 🙂

What it will tell us though is who is poor.

Thinking of a £10-er on Alonso/Button for 2015 World Champion

You’ve got good looking odds there:

20/1

Been thinking about doing the same myself!!

Red Bull definitely look on the back foot again.
A set of sorts only lasted 10 laps with a cold surface and cold ambient, no idea if they were trying something but they’ll struggle if that sort of deg is representative.

Alonso off to hospital after a big crash.

Eek
Hope he’s OK?

All very vague at the minute as to what was the cause.

Latest gossip is he fainted in the car before the crash which is what caused him to go off (pure speculation I should add!). Whatever the cause it looks very odd. All the pics show a very minor crash. Just a lost from wing and scuffed front right wheel.

Guessing he’d eaten the same food as Lewis who either barfed or poo’d his overalls. Dehydration/fever?

Continued silence is odd, along with Vettel’s statement that he wasn’t going very fast then veered off and bumped along the barriers.

Heard all sorts of theories from chemical fumes (from batteries) causing him to pass out to electric shock to just a straight fainting.

They’ve said he’s ok but I hope that really is the case.

Well McLaren have released a statement

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/inside-the-mtc/further-update-regarding-fernando-alonso/

Still seems odd but if it was a fully sideways impact as they detailed I suppose hitting his head on the cockpit padding could be enough to bring on concussion

A gust of wind- why didn’t it affect Vettel behind him? Or vettel mention this when he stated what happened from his cockpit?

Kept in- a young and fit man isn’t kept in. 🙁

Well, Vettel was close time-wise but could have been some distance behind at 150mph and wind does tend to gust through gaps so it’s quite possible that it could affect one car and not another.

The keeping in bit though still seems odd to me given people I know with concussion (though relatively mild maybe) have been let go same day.

Just a crash according to McLaren – nothing wrong with the car…

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2015/02/23/alonsos-crash-not-caused-by-car-fault-mclaren/

https://mobile.twitter.com/lsgrcbd/status/569875788524347392

maybe the new car was so slow he fell asleep at the wheel…

It’s a bit weird to get ‘concussion’ without hitting anything. If he’d have taken the wheels off maybe he could have impacted the wall, but it doesn’t look likely. It made me think of Richard Burns when he passed out driving to the Rally GB, but he’s been scanned and cleared. Odd, though.

blown front axle is old hat

But not combined with the extra narrow rear body which is where the real benefit is felt.

Last test starts today, with FA.

Looking forward to Manor F1 making the grid.. I know they will probably not make the 107% rule seeing as the cars at the test are already up on the qualifying times and Manor are running the old 2014 spec engine.

I reckon they could get a decent amount of equipment from Caterham in the sales. In an ideal world I hope they beat Force india 🙂
… and mercedes looking like they have reliability and speed this year which cant be said for the rest bar ferrari

Lewis! Lewis! 😀

McLaren just had a press conference at short notice. From the BBC

“McLaren chairman Ron Dennis has said at a news conference that Fernando Alonso was unconscious for ‘just a few seconds’ after his crash on Sunday.

“Dennis says Alonso has got no injury. He should be fine to race in Australia and in normal circumstances he’ll be racing. This is recovery time.

“I asked Dennis what Alonso remembers of the accident, and he said they had not had that conversation yet. He says every input by Alonso in car was normal up until the crash. The radio stayed on and they heard breathing but no contact.”

errr. make that Williams up there for speed and reliability. Get in there Massa!