F1 silly season

[EauRouge]

It's getting very silly now with these rumours of Alonso going to Red Bull- can't see it happening. I hope it won't be Kimi either. Seb needs a good number 2 behind him, someone that won't challenge him for the championship. I reckon Ricciardo is Red Bull's best bet.

[Frettchen]

Also, what's this Mercedes tweet all about?

We’ve got another surprise for you today. Save the time.. 15.30 (Bahrain), 12.30pm UK time. @LewisHamilton fans you’re going to like this…

[Frettchen]

Oh, it's just a Q&A session... I'd expected something more.

[StyleOverSubstance]

is that all??? was hanging around waiting to see if was something interesting - y'know, like Lewis is getting a new haircut/dog/earring etc.............

[EauRouge]

Is this going to be one of those 'if you were an animal, what flavour biscuit would you be?' Q&A sessions?

[Frettchen]

Nope; they're just asking him F1-related questions, as far as I can tell. I'm half-tempted to log on to twitter just to ask him what his favourite biscuit is. Doubt they'd put that one to him though.

[Frettchen]

I quite like that McLaren follow Mercedes on Twitter... I wonder whether there's a McLaren guy sat at a laptop somewhere, hastily noting down everything Mercedes every tweet, just in case they let anything slip.

[StyleOverSubstance]

As long as they are not following Ferrari - we all know where that led to last time..............

Havent had chance to watch the Sky reports yet, but had the BBC text on all morning so kept dipping into to it to keep up with the progress. See JB has proposed to his gf Jessie, hope it is not a knee-jerk reaction to losing his dad and that really is what he wants as he does have a bit of a reputation as a serial monogamist .......

Think McLaren have got a future World Champion in their rookie Kevin - he knows the 'Mclaren' way, having come through the ranks and knows what is expected of him, but listening to him in various interviews, he seems to be the 'real deal'.

In fact, I think there are quite a few drivers this season who seem to have found their 'natural home', think Massa will thrive at Williams, Hulkenberg is doing well with SFI (although still cant believe he hasn't been snapped up by one of the top teams yet but there is still time), Grosjean has really come of age this season and came across very well when interviewed by Crofty to name but a few. Just hope that Alonso can see sense and not cause trouble at Ferrari by trying to play mind games as that pairing, if they get a good car this season, could be formidable. Think Magnussen is going to give JB the kick up the pants he needs - if the sun, moon and stars are in their correct alignment and all is well in Jenson world, he is pretty much untouchable and guaranteed a win. Lewis needs to get out of 'rapper-Lewis' or 'celeb-Lewis' mode and get a grip - time is running out for him and he cant live indefinitely on the glory of winning one world championship several years ago, he needs to get his head around being a racing driver and start putting the time in.

Don't particularly like the sound of the new engines - electric 'whine' particularly noticeable on deceleration/braking where you can hear the electric motor cut in as power unit harvests energy, but suppose I will get used to it. At least there will be a bit more excitement this season as with reliability thrown into the mix and the drivers having a lot more to think about whilst they adapt to the way the new cars operate it will take some time before any sort of pattern emerges I suspect. Still prefer the 80s turbos though - MP4/4............ now that was magical..........

[EauRouge]

I'm hoping to see the Hulk at Ferrari next season, I can't see the Alonso/Raikkonen partnership lasting.

Rosberg's looking good so far today.

I know what you mean about Lewis, he does seem to act like he wins more than he actually does. He's a good driver but he needs to work a bit harder, especially since Rosberg seems to be getting better and better.

I've heard Massa complaining about the engine noise saying that the drivers can't hear it properly once their earplugs are in.

[StyleOverSubstance]

Renault powered teams are definitely at the bottom of the pile with this latest test and for Red Bull, it has been compounded by design issues. Ferrari seems to need the least cooling, Mercedes in the middle and Renault lots, but interesting to read Pat Symonds explanation of why he thinks Renault have been struggling. He reckons it goes back to when there was an engine freeze on the V8s and Renault significantly downsized their sports division and lost valuable staff and now with this massive change, haven't had the resources to throw at developing the new engine technology.

Think it will come good in the end, but will take time and massive effort to do so - so maybe that was why the double points has been proposed towards the end of the season - as that should compensate for some teams having a poor start and will make more opportunities for more drivers to regain points. Although it could be argued that those that did get it right (particularly Mercedes) are then penalised later in the season.

[StyleOverSubstance]

Meant to post this before, but kept forgetting - anyway, better late than never.

With the complicated power train the cars now have, any damage sustained in practice or gearbox changes or other repairs before or during practices, qualy or a race is going to be a mega job to sort out - so wondering what will be put in place to allow for this as it is certainly within the realms of possibility that each team is going to be faced with this happening at least once during the season. So, if problem in practice, qualy affected, or problem in qualy, race affected by the huge time factor involved in accessing parts of the car or changing something in a very complicated system. Obviously will take longer now as the whole thing is 'new' but even allowing for teams becoming more familiar with systems and becoming quicker, it is still a much more complicated process than before.

also Happy Birthday to Niki Lauda

[StyleOverSubstance]

bump!

[EauRouge]

Rosberg says it's too early back Merc as favourites. They're not looking too shabby though, are they. I think the other teams will be playing catch up for the first few races at least.

[StyleOverSubstance]

Hmmm, in one sense he is right - but would say that they are certainly in with a better chance than most at this stage having managed to complete a goodly number of laps/tests on new system. A lot of the other teams will be finding out some of the problems they have already found on race weekends, so would say that they are definitely ahead of the game at the moment and need to capitalise on it while they can - especially if the silly rule of double points is applied to the last 3 races.

Next thing is, they will be going back to the early days of racing, when the drivers had to run across the paddock to their cars, get in and then drive off......... except with a twist - Mr E will probably insist that they run the first lap of the circuit. You may laugh, but I think the old man is going a little doolally (thinking of the revolving door incident recently, where he 'forgot' to get out inside the building).

[StyleOverSubstance]

Latest Schumi news is that Docs are not continuing with waking up process and have put things on 'hold'. Not sure how true this latest article is as not an 'official' report through his manager. Massa visited and said he thought he saw movement as he was talking to Schumi, and then there is the news that cyclist injured by Schumi's rental car last year. Wondering if the journos are trying to provoke some sort of reaction from the family as news is sketchy to say the least.

Also in the news - Susie Wolff to be driving in some practice sessions for Williams. No doubt prompted by the news of Silvestro's signing at Sauber and not wanting their thunder stolen by another team (and not mentioning the fact that Ms Wolff is married to a certain Mr Wolff from Mercedes; Williams now have Mercedes engines; aforementioned Mr Wolff is Williams shareholder............ cynical, moi???)

[EauRouge]

It'll be interesting to see her do a few laps. I'm reserving judgement until then but IIRC she wasn't too impressive last time. It wouldn't be the first time that someone scored a job they didn't really deserve because of family connections

Got my copy of F1 Racing in the post this morning. Getting really excited now reading all the season preview stuff!

[StyleOverSubstance]

Saw SW on that documentary made by her brother about her racing career and was not impressed. I think part of the reason I cant take her seriously is that she rarely misses an opportunity when doing these sort of interviews to wear heavy panda-eyes make up and have her hair in that windswept style and wears either no clothes or tarty clothes for part of the photo shoot - basically ends up more like a modelling assignment shoot. She had a brief foray into presenting at one of the races, but she basically strikes me as being 'decorative' rather than 'serious'. Saubers signing looks more 'the business'. Sorry, not like me not to support fellow womenkind in a very male orientated world, but I just don't really like her.

[EauRouge]

I expect she's under a lot of pressure to dress a certain way and make the most of her looks (even though a lot of the male drivers are fuck ugly and no one cares about that).

I'm excited to see how good Silvestro is in an F1 car.

[StyleOverSubstance]

Appreciate that may be the case, but would prefer she stood out from the crowd because of her talent in the car rather than her choice of clothes!!

Agree about Silvestro - could be the start of women in F1 as a driver

[EauRouge]

I hope so! She's 25 though so she'd have to get a drive soon. Hopefully this will open the door for other women drivers and inspire more girls to go karting- that's where it needs to start, a bigger pool of talent will result in more choice for F1 teams.

I'd take my girls karting but I'm too poor DD1 will have to settle for riding her scooter super-fast and shouting "I'm Mike-o Schumacher!"

[StyleOverSubstance]

aahh bless - got a lovely mental picture of little girl whizzing round on scooter!

Cant wait for next test in Bahrain - see what progress has been made and then that's it - season starts.......... Don't agree with the engine freeze they are talking about for this years. To my mind with all the new technologies, I think it would be better to carry on the development, but I suppose the associated costs for smaller teams would be too much to bear, whereas the bigger teams would just factor it in under their development budget without too much stress.

[EauRouge]

Some of the best news so far; Smedley and Massa together again.

[StyleOverSubstance]

like horse and carriage aren't they - can't have one without the other! Was looking for RS at last test, but didn't see him hovering around Williams garage, presumed 'gardening leave' would have finished around now.

Think Williams is a good place to be at the moment, nice group of people in terms of knowledge, temperament and experience of F1, so am hoping it will be the start of their rise up the mid-field teams instead of languishing at the bottom.

[EauRouge]

The Red Bull is looking a bit better today, Ricciardo was a tenth off Rosberg. The Force India's looking pretty good too.

[StyleOverSubstance]

McLaren have announced that Ayrton Senna's MP4/4 is going to Imola as part of the 20th Anniversary commemoration of Senna's life. Apparently there is going to be a special event there from 1st to 4th May, with members of family there, pictures from family archives and all sorts of other activities. MP4/4 will also be going to Australia - presume it will also be at Goodwood as they are supposed to be hosting a special 20th Anniversary celebration of Senna during the Festival.

It is 10 years since Imola dropped off the F1 calendar and there have been rumblings about it being reinstated, but a lot of people have a negative association with it because of Senna's death, so although it is an excellent 'old school' circuit, Tamburello and its associations aside, it is still undecided. I have a real love/hate relationship with it for exactly those reasons - I will never forget that weekend, it was one of the blackest in motorsport....... Such a shame the solution to the Tamburello corner wasn't done sooner..... concrete is too unforgiving at speed.

I often wonder how Adrian Newey feels about it all - he has had much success over his career, but it was the car he designed that Senna died in, I don't think that would ever leave you. He obviously learnt a lesson from it as if you look at the impact Sebs car took in Brazil last year and survived to finish the race compared to (ironically) Bruno Senna's Williams which was out of the race, safety is one of his priorities - as one of the commentators said 'they build them strong in Milton Keynes'. Same with Frank Williams, wonder how he will feel about having all the attention on Williams again, but associated with that loss....

[EauRouge]

I can't believe it's been 20 years, I remember being so upset about it. I'm glad those days seem to be behind us, it amazes me the smashes drivers can get in now and walk away without a scratch.