I wonder if F1’s new owners will have the same affiliation for authoritarian dodgy strongmen that MircoBernie had?

If so, I reckon we’ll see a Grand Prix of Manila before 2022.

Re the Kimi thing, as a casual observer I saw nothing from with Kimi’s pace on Sunday, but team strategy was an issue for him.

However, Ferrari are nothing if not patriotic and the idea of an Italian driver in an Italian car pushing hard for race wins is something that hasn’t happened for a very long time (Jean Alesi – born Giovanni adopted French citizenship). Nicola Larini and Ivan Capelli didn’t really make much of an impression, but Ferrari are very aware that their junior driver Antonio Giovinazzi made an excellent impression in Australia and despite his two crashes in China (the latter due to an early call from his team to swap to slicks), I would strongly tip him for a vacant seat at Maranello before too long.

Ferrari team politics are alive and well in 2017.

the latter due to an early call from his team to swap to slicks

As others had. None of whom lost it on the straight bits.

Ricciardo would be a good bet. His name sounds italian. Or maybe Paul Di Resta?

BBC sport reporting that Alonso is not racing at Monaco, as he’ll be driving at the Indy 500 😯

*checks date*

Blimey! This is pretty unprecedented, McLaren are keen to indulge their star driver. I see that the car will be branded McLaren, too.

But Monaco would normally be McLaren’s best chance of a good result this season?

Well that’s quite a surprise!

Hmmm. Wasn’t it Monaco that Honda were going to be bringing out their new engine spec?

don’t think I’d want to drive a Mclaren branded car round a very fast oval circuit, who know what might fall off/break or go bang!

Wasn’t it Monaco that Honda were going to be bringing out their new engine spec?

Yep, a 2.2 twin turbo V6. It’s just the only place they can run it is in the Indy 500!

Are we sure it’s not April the 1st?

Well at least it won’t be hard to get JB to travel all the way from his flat to the pits.

Next announcement will be JPM hasn’t got an Indy 500 seat and will drive for McLaren at Monaco. 😉

ScottChegg – Member
Yep, a 2.2 twin turbo V6. It’s just the only place they can run it is in the Indy 500!

😀

Next announcement will be JPM hasn’t got an Indy 500 seat and will drive for McLaren at Monaco.

Quick, buy shares in carbon fibre suppliers, they’ll need to make the whole thing a fair bit wider to fit JPM in there 🙂

Just reading Joe Saward’s blog, he seems to suggest Honda have finally opened up to outside help and this should lead to progress (at last). No names, no details, but Joe has his ear to the ground.

Quick, buy shares in carbon fibre suppliers, they’ll need to make the whole thing a fair bit wider to fit JPM in there

Does anyone remember when McLaren had to redesign their car so that they could fit all of Nigel Mansell in it?

.. and then once he squeezed in it was such a dog he quit after 2 races. Now that’s a flounce!

I wonder what effect that adding some width to the car had on the aerodynamics? Effectively, they had two different tub designs that year, the slim fit for Hakkinen and the relaxed fit for Mansell/Blundell.

I seem to remember Blundell putting in some good performances that year?

[edit] I remembered that Mansell was fast reaching the old duffer stage when he quit McLaren in 1995…at Forty One. That’s two full years younger than I am now. Bah.

Alonso doing the Indy 500 is awesome 🙂 Hope he can do what Mansell did in ’93 and upset them with an alternative way of racing.

Always wondered why Ron Dennis never got an entry into Indy or Le Mans when he was setting up McLaren’s road car division, loads of heritage to fall on in each series. Maybe that’s why Alonso is still racing for them, promise of a crack at each?

McLaren won Le Mans in 1995

The road car division wasn’t set up until around 2008, the F1 programme was done with help from BMW IIRC.

If they are intending to do a driver swap Alex Rossi is the only driver on the McLaren Indycar team with a superlicence, but apparently he has a realistic shot at winning the series again so unlikely to do Monacco!

https://joesaward.wordpress.com/

My mistake- he hasn’t won a series, just the 500

JB to step in while Fernando’s off playing.

Where are you seeing that? Headlines just seem to be that Hamilton wants him there

BBC are speculating it’s going to be JB as well but nothing confirmed yet.

I’d like to see someone else get the drive to add interest on both sides of the pond.

I’ve love to see Jenson have a bash at Monaco, he’s supposedly meant to be the contracted reserve this year so it’s hard to envisage McLaren paying him to spend the year on PR junkets, especially as there’s an option on his services for 2018.

I agree that an Indy driver with a super license would be a marketing coup, but they’re thin on the ground…Rossi?

allthepies – Member

JB to step in while Fernando’s off playing.

As much as I like JB, I predict his post-race interview will be along the lines of ‘tricky with that much understeer…….off the pace, due to understeer…..did I mention understeer….’

They are already paying him and he can walk to the pits from his house.

Sorted.

It’ll be nice to see him back. He might even have sobered up from his last ‘last’ race.

JB really is the obvious choice, he’s already on the payroll, he knows last years car and he’s only a few months out of the game.

I’m sure it’ll make him look good too – after all McLaren’s biggest issues is power, Monaco is the least power reliant race on the calendar.

I really feel for Alonso – I think he’s let his mouth get him into trouble in the past – behind closed doors, but in MotoGP terms he’s one of the Aliens – he’s in the same league as Hamilton and Vettel, they’re worth a few tenths a lap more than the rest the grid and they’re consistent too.

I’m sure I’ve read that Honda expect to have a revised power unit for Barcelona?

If so, then JB could potentially be driving a car with a good chassis and only a very mediocre engine at Monaco.

Has the chassis rating been upped to “good” these days? Thought Barcelona testing had put the chassis in the same category as the engine?

Has the chassis rating been upped to “good” these days? Thought Barcelona testing had put the chassis in the same category as the engine?

depends who you believe, some said it wasn’t very good with poor mid-corner speed, whilst others suggested it was good. Probably maclaren planting thoughts saying it was good and Honda being used as the scapegoat.

The chassis is made to look worse because of the pu characteristics on corner exit, and that was probably what Anderson saw in the tests & which has then been turned into the “mclaren had a bad chassis and is blaming honda” argument. However the fact that alonso was keeping othe (supposedly) quicker cars at bay in China suggests it wasn’t too bad really, especially when he’s 10s of hp down on power.

But as alonso said himself, the chassis has an easier time if you’re arriving at a corner slower. Up the power and you arrive faster, but can also bolt on more downforce as you’ve got the power to deal with the drag, so you can go even quicker through the corner – that’ll be more of a test.

Button confirmed for Monaco according to Beeb

It’s gonna be amazing to se him there! Such a shame it won’t be in a better car

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39599645

Looking good for the Red Baron so far this weekend.

Nah Hamilton didn’t really string a lap together, but was 2 tenths up on the first sector before he got balked by the Renault. Long runs were similar for Ferrari and Mercedes so could be close either way.

It’ll be close.

Ham will shade it in Qualifying, but the race could go either way.

shermer75 – Member
It’s gonna be amazing to se him there!

I don’t get the excitement. He’s been there many, many times before

Just noticed a BBC Web pages; Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen needed a new internal combustion engine to be fitted before the second session;
What’s this new fangled terminology mean;)
Hope it’s a close race.