I find Maldonado hugely entertaining to watch, but I strongly suspect that if I were on the grid next to him every other weekend, I’d eventually contemplate thumping some situational awareness into him. There must have been a whip-round amongst the drivers to fund a gift for the guy in the PDVSA accounts payable dept.

Magnussen is one of the great missed opportunities IMHO, I sure as heck hope he gets the second Renotus seat and has his chance to shine.

As for Renault/Lotus, I’m confused about branding/engines for 2016…will they be reverting to Renault power and thus ensure there’s a couple of spare Merc engines (presumably going to Manor)?

As for Renault/Lotus, I’m confused about branding/engines for 2016…will they be reverting to Renault power and thus ensure there’s a couple of spare Merc engines (presumably going to Manor)?

Basically yes – Renault’s in the back of the Renault’s, and the Mercs to Manor.

There is some sense in them backing Red Bull this year though, as this years Renault/Lotus car was designed for a Merc engine so will be a compromise.

Well they still don’t have any branding on the factory gates.

…that may be to do with whether or not they are including Infiniti in their team name, and also this weeks team launch may provide some answers.

A shiny new sign could be a give-away!

http://en.f1i.com/news/40153-infiniti-to-feature-in-new-renault-f1-team-name.html

As for Renault/Lotus

Some speculation that they will be Renault/Infiniti. Like it used to say on the Red Bull when they were good.

That’ll give Helmut something else to gripe about.

Shut up Marko, Magnussens confirmed for Renault 😀

It’s official – no Maldonado this year.

And in related news, manufacturers of motorsport carbon fibre parts have issues a profit warning for 2016 and have speculated about possible redundancies.

An industry source has been quoted as saying “This is potentially the biggest crisis in motorsport since BMW had to lay off half of their catering staff when Juan Pablo Montoya left”

Roebuck suggests Red Bull’s Renaults will be TAG-Heuer-branded.

Ah yes JPM and his love of food 😀

I suppose there’ll be a chance of Magnussen beating the McLarens on a fairly regular basis then, which must feel pretty satisfying!

Great to see KMag get a seat he deserves it, just a shame that McLaren had 4 amazing drivers on the books for two seats.

All black from Renault – not quite what people expected! may change though…

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2016/02/03/renault-reveals-rs16-in-black-livery/

I like that…I like it a lot!

Needs more yellow. Amazed they’ve stuck with the Infiniti branding, but I suppose the bills need paying.

Renault owns most of Nissan* and Infiniti is Nissan’s premium brand so they are only sponsoring themselves!

(*and Nissan owns a bit of Renault).

Mmmm, I will ride past the factory tonight and see if they have a nice new shiny sign outside then.

In this photo it’s got a bit of a Cadbury’s Dairy Milk thing going on

Has anybody ever seen a Nissan Infiniti around? Maybe they are sold in other territories?

There’s an Infiniti dealer in Glasgow, and it would appear that a handful of people have actually bought the pug-ugly things! Fittingly, they are on Braille Crescent

Haha! Yes, just been checking them out in Google. They’re a pretty dull looking bunch!

Quite a few on the roads around here (together with Mustangs, Chargers, Hummers, cadillacs and miscellaneous other oddities) ….. mostly due to the American air bases.

Has anybody ever seen a Nissan Infiniti around?

Chap near our work has one, along with his BMW i8 and 3 Porsches!

I find it funny that Pastor doesn’t feel a manor drive is worthy of his ability. I think Manor may give some of the midfield a whooping this year.

“Manor are not really an option,” said Todt. “After five years at Williams and Lotus…with all due respect to Manor, it makes no sense for Pastor.”

Admittedly Manor’s budget may not extend to crash liabilities that come with Pastor.

I’m thinking the yellow needs replacing with gold on that Lotus…

Exciting stuff- it’ll be good to see Renault and their drivers next year 🙂

Yep, it’s all looking good! Nice to see KM back in a car and curious to see how JP works out- it’s always good to see new drivers on the grid 🙂

Pity we won’t see Pastor rubbing shoulders with other drivers in 2016

Quite a few infinities around here too, posh and smart but pig ugly! I’d be thinking the manor seat wouldn’t be a bad bet this year, merc power at very least

Stupid engine token system to be scrapped in 2017 – bring on the POWEEEEEEEEEEER! 😀

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-to-scrap-power-unit-token-system-from-2017-671488/

Has anyone ever seen any numbers on how much the cost saving projects over the years have actually saved? Always seems that where they restrict one area, funds just go straight into another (or a new) one

The team with the biggest budget doesn’t always win – Toyota was expected to sweep all before it after their 2001 debut, but I don’t think they ever won a race. Williams is pretty small, yet they seem to be good at hiring the right personnel. A good chunk of the budgets of the larger teams go on PR (McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari).

If only they outlawed bullshit in F1…while you cannot argue with improved safety (nor should we ever grow complacent in this area, especially after losing the likes of Jules Bianchi and Justin Wilson to preventable accidents), I do yearn for a return of real characters to the sport. I was rather fond of Maldonado because he seemed to speak his mind, even when it was careering off the track and into a portaloo.

The token thing is a sensible move, shame they’re not doing it this year as I think it might have removed one of the barriers to new engine suppliers coming in.

Looks like the Halo is coming too – they say they’ll work on ways to make it look good but I can’t help think it’s reminiscent of when the prettiest girl in school got braces fitted

I see the halo system as just being roll bars by another name, and as such they make a lot of sense to me. We may even look back and wonder why they weren’t there for so long!!

I’m also a little sad to see Maldonado go- even in the dullest races you could always rely on the bailer from Venezuela to provide some absolute balls-out craziness

Manor have signed Pascal Wehlein. Sounds like he’s a quick driver! It also sounds like Manor chose a quick driver with some cash rather than a slow driver with tonnes of cash, which is exciting…

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2016/02/insight-what-kind-of-driver-is-manor-formula-1-rookie-pascal-wehrlein/

He’s the next best option once vandoorne and ocon are out of the equation, but it really shows how Manor is actually Mercedes’ B team this year. I doubt they’ll be hanging 2 seconds off the back of the grid now.

Manor have a genuine chance of embarassing McHonda this year I reckon.

According to the press releases so far – EVERY team is going to score points this season. 🙂

Could be really close in the mid-field with no real tail-enders unless Haas or Honda make a complete mess of it.

My money is on Sauber propping up the back of the grid.

Or Renault, they have an old car and wont have much time to sort that.

I think Renault will be OK, with regular points finishes. The talk is that last years car was decent, just let down by lack of money to fund development.

I think they knew what was wrong, so a bit of cash chucked at it over winter should keep it mid-field.