The F1 2015 thread…

Yes it has. They’ve recruited Peter Prodromou from Redbull and he’s totally changed the design of the 2015 car.

+ they made fundamental mistakes with the new regs (as did Ferrari) last year meaning that they couldn’t correct them during the season.

Sorry its dodgy. The FIA will get the full telemetry right?

Maybe it just seems dodgy because that’s the way they should treat cases like this, but they never have before? An issue that rugby seems to just be waking up to.

It’s worth noting that Alonso was unconscious even if for a few seconds (and it’s being reported that he thought he was in a Ferrari…). It does all seem strange and I still wouldn’t be shocked if we found out there was more to it than we’re being told but I reckon most likely is that it is just a bad accident and the doctors are playing safer now than they did in the past (or more likely, team management are playing safer and not overruling the docs)

This is the last thing F1 needs if it does turn out to be murky. A return to Mclaren being naughty again-even if it was just hiding facts.

Well if they’re hiding facts, I reckon it’d be to protect Alonso’s privacy if the conspiracy theories were right and he did pass out prior to the crash. That doesn’t sound too naughty to me…

If the car isn’t going to score points then why do they car if Alonso drive or anyone else?

If later in the year another teams driver gets concussion at a vital point in the championship they can scream “SAFETY!!” and ask them to stop the driver for the next race too?

Might be a useful precedent…

Lets wait and see. If Alonso isn’t on a plane for the practice/set up for the second race then we know there is a problem somwhere (unless something transpires first). Alonso wont be hushed up etc if he finds something out- remember the last time he sent all the emails etc to the FIA? Plus a driver needs to trust their team with their safety/wellbeing 100%.

njee20 – Member

Something still smells fishy with the whole Alonso saga, very odd.

Yep. It will be about 3 weeks won’t it between Australia and Alonso’s crash? Surely enough time to recover from his crash?
And his online ‘thank you’ video seemed very staged. Almost like there was a bloke off camera (Ron D) with a script and a gun……. 😆

Reckon it’s gonna be an interesting season, whatever happens.

remember the last time he sent all the emails etc to the FIA?

He didn’t. He threatened Ron that he would send all his emails between Coughlan, himself and De La Rosa unless he got his own way. Which was giving LH a slap and making him back off. That didn’t work so well. It was Ron himself who took the info to the FIA.

FA not quite the sporting gentleman you seem to have mistaken him for. See Singapore for details.

See Singapore for details.

I remember the term ‘Teflon Alonso’ from all these shenanigans 😀

Yeah, FA’s certainly not adverse to playing dirty but it has since come out that Ron did indeed promise FA that he would be number 1 driver and then didn’t deliver on that.

Anyway, hopefully there’s no skullduggery here, just bad luck..

This can all read as very suspicious or very straight forward

Alonso has minor head energy

Doctor says knocking your head soon could be a problem

Team ask what are the benefits to us taking the risk of Alonso driving?

Not much we expect the car not to be competitive

What are the benefits of Alonso not driving?

Alonso is safer

Kevin gets a go in the car so he’ll be less grumpy

Kevin gets a go in the car so he’ll be less grumpy

Kevin says ‘after all these shenanigans I still get the drive! 😆

If I were running McL 🙂

I’d put Vandoorne in the car, that would seriously piss KMag off but it needs doing to see what he’s like without too much risk, at the very least I’d put him out on Friday.

They need to be looking for a special driver, not just fast but one that has something else KMag is fast but that’s it IMO.
They need to find the drivers and use them, like Kyvat and Verstappen, before long Honda will be pushing to get Matsushita in the car, which will make it much harder for Vandoorne.

Nothing to add to the thread, other than to say a good friend of mine has recently started working for Ferrari F1 as “Head Of Design Methodology (Chassis)” – so if they have a return to form this year, it’s because of him ok? 🙂

This can all read as very suspicious or very straight forward

Alonso has minor head energy

Doctor says knocking your head soon could be a problem

Team ask what are the benefits to us taking the risk of Alonso driving?

Not much we expect the car not to be competitive

What are the benefits of Alonso not driving?

Alonso is safer

Kevin gets a go in the car so he’ll be less grumpy

I said this earlier but added the bit about shouting SAFETY so the conspiracy theorists would still read my post

Head of design methodology

Let me know when he becomes Director of Results 8)

Worldclassaccident you should have had a credit in my post 🙂

3 weeks between accident and race and yet he wont race – having seen a few websites i note the wording never actually states “because of his accident” in quotes from anyone regarding his reason not to race – for sure the Press have filled in and assumed that – but i see no direct quote that relates it to the concussion.

personally, i think this is very serious for alonso….it would not surprise me if we dont see rumours in the press about him seeing some kind of head specialist.

So what if he’d been back in the car on Sunday then we found out that he’d been unconscious – mclaren would be getting pasted for that too.

Fwiw I’ve read that long haul flights can be bad after concussion, but don’t know anything about neurological rehab so can’t comment. Hasn’t stopped many people tho…

3 weeks between accident and race and yet he wont race – having seen a few websites i note the wording never actually states “because of his accident” in quotes from anyone regarding his reason not to race – for sure the Press have filled in and assumed that – but i see no direct quote that relates it to the concussion.

However, Fernando’s doctors have recommended to him that, following the concussion he sustained in a testing accident at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on February 22nd, for the time being he should seek to limit as far as is possible any environmental risk factors that could potentially result in his sustaining another concussion so soon after his previous one, so as to minimise the chances of second impact syndrome, as is normal medical procedure when treating athletes after concussions.

http://www.mclaren.com/formula1/inside-the-mtc/fernando-alonso-a-medical-update/

Regarding it only being 3 weeks between accident and race. Jonny Sexton the Ireland rugby fly-half was out for something like 12 weeks with concussion so asking him not to race in Aus makes sense to me. To be honest I don’t think he’ll be missing much anyway, probably a Friday practice filled with niggles and then a mid order qualifying followed by retirement mid race. McLaren are effectively where all the other teams were this time last year so it’ll take them time to get up to speed.

Sorry I’m reafing into that that McLaren would have liked him to drive- read the first para

Sorry I’m reafing into that that McLaren would have liked him to drive- read the first para

Yep

Ours docs think he’s OK
His docs don’t

Yep….

Jonny Sexton the Ireland rugby fly-half was out for something like 12 weeks with concussion so asking him not to race in Aus makes sense to me

Chances of getting a biff on the bonce much, much greater in Rugby, though.

They don’t wear an enormous helmet and hans device for starters

That’s some selective posting

McLaren-Honda driver Fernando Alonso’s doctors have informed him that they find him asymptomatic of any medical issue; that they see no evidence whatsoever of any injury; and that they therefore describe him as entirely healthy from neurological and cardiac perspectives alike.

However, Fernando’s doctors have recommended to him that…

So in short, FA’s docs have said he’s fine but that if he smacked his head again so soon he might not be. Where on earth do you infer that McL’s ‘doctors’ have said anything or even that McL have doctors. The only doctors mentioned are FA’s and the statement is clear on what they think.

so i’ll backtrack from my previous statement – it does appear that FA own doctors dont want him to get a 2nd concussion so soon.

still does not explain the crash, nor the 3 days in hospital running tests.

i dont believe he is simply thinking “the car is crap and i dont want to drive it” because there is no way mclaren could improve the car so much after 1 race then he is suddenly in a winning car.

he drove for years at ferrari without the possibility of a win.
to me that is not alonso’s style.

i do stick by by feeling more of this will come out in the coming weeks, especially after australia when he is cleared to race then.

Maybe but more likely is that it’s just what it appears to be.

Will he actually be in Australia doing ‘PR’ though (that he’s no doubt committed too).

He may not be clear to drive, but he sounds fine to fly and go about day-to-day business. A complete no-show would sound alarm bells for me.

could be a fast track to mercedes for 2016 for the conspiracy theorists.
I think its just giving him a more time to recover as the season is long and if it takes until the european leg the so be it.

Perez highlights the need for rest when he declined to race after doing 1st practice when he had a bang on the head. Poor Ron will not be amused and nor will his sponsors.. More u turns than the tories at the moment

I’m more inclined to go with Joe Saward’s take on it ……… and let’s face it, he’s forgotten more about what goes on and other F1 shenanigans than the rest of us put together know.

On the subject of Alonso

Fernando Alonso is not racing in Australia, and that has led to much inanity and conspiracy theorizing. I don’t see why there is such a kerfuffle on the subject or even about the accident. It is clear that he crashed and hit a wall. Perhaps he might have been going faster at the time but it was still a sizeable hit. He hit his head, probably on the side of the cockpit. The helmet and the cockpit surround foam did its job, but it was still a hit. He went to hospital and they said “best have a lie down and a cup of tea” so he followed their advice and stayed in hospital. Some of the team said things without checking the facts and suddenly we were in Dealey Plaza, looking for a grassy knoll. Alonso, they surmised, had been hit by a thunderbolt of electricity that had escaped the car, looped the loop, and landed on his nose. I think I even read a report blaming the Mafia. This was no doubt denied by Teflonso’s mate Flavio, who may have blamed Fidel Castro and Marilyn Monroe…

Hmm. Let’s get real here. Alonso banged his head. The doctors said “Voste te una commocio cerebral”. Fernando asked for some Nurofen. That’s it. With concussion one needs to be careful because a second impact can lead to a problem called SIS (no, not Secret Intelligent Service), which means Second Impact Syndrome, which is nasty. A second head injury causes diffuse cerebral herniation which for reasons that are still rather unclear is devastating and even healthy young people can die within a few minutes. Thus when a person is diagnosed with concussion these days they are told not to bang their head again. Now Fernando might wish to race and say “Forget the doctors” but the knowledge that insurers will almost certainly not pay out on a death cause by SIS because there was a clear warning from doctors about what could happen meant that he and the team could not risk it. On top of that, the team, and the federation come to that, in these litigious days, could not allow him to race lest there be liability claims made against them if Fernando was to die during the event.

Thus he will sit on a beach somewhere and Kevin Magnussen will get the chance to show that the team was entirely wrong to dump him and keep Jenson – all assuming that the car can be kept running for a race distance…

Of course the interesting thing is that if they had done that they wouldn’t have JB and KM racing in Melbourne, and wouldn’t have had a single experienced driver to provide feedback at the last test or during the race weekend. I’m struggling to see what could possibly happen given the current situation which would lead to Ron thinking “whoops, I wish I’d let Jenson go”.

Of course the interesting thing is that if they had done that they wouldn’t have JB and KM racing in Melbourne, and wouldn’t have had a single experienced driver to provide feedback at the last test or during the race weekend. I’m struggling to see what could possibly happen given the current situation which would lead to Ron thinking “whoops, I wish I’d let Jenson go”.

I think Joe was putting himself in KMag’s head – so to speak.

Agree if he doesn’t show at all and is at home in Spain ‘resting’ then its suspicious. Again that press release..

awesome news regarding manor f1. Really good to see the racing desire has found a way to the grid..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/31723471
Now go grab some points..
Finbar and co should take a leaf out of their books as to what racing passion is. Go Manor Marussia f1!

Manor was always an easier corpse to resurrect than Caterham – the money from the constructors means that there’s some guaranteed income to offset from the outlay. They’ll be struggling to hit 107% though so not sure how many races they’ll start,

also helped that they didnt shut the factory and tell everyone to shove off 🙂
I really admire the Manor’s racing passion and tenacity. I wonder if Manor will get a fast track payment of cash that the other back markers are getting to make the grid in Oz.

Either way its nice to see the good guys make it

The best thing about the Marussia revival is it’s real sensible people behind it with proper business experience. Not faceless hedge funds, or dodgy Russian money.