The F1 thread

sinbaadi

Haha I didn't realise, but you're right, it's petty nonsense. 

TimmyO

I'm coming up with creative ways to make the season interesting for a McLaren fan like me.

How many races in to the season before both McLarens finish the race?
How many races in to the season before a McLaren finishes with 6 cars finishing behind it?
How many races in to the season before both McLarens finish with 6 cars finishing behind them?
How many races in to the season before a McLaren finishes in the points?
How many races in to the season before a McLaren gets in to Q3? 

Who wants to play? 

Nomad

How many races into the season before McLaren start taking grid penalties for going over the allowed number of engines?

Heartfeltdawn

How many races will Fernando spend over 50% of the race sat in a marshall's deckchair? 
How many races before Fernando decides he's had enough and Jenson gets asked to fill the seat?

simonk

There's a big part of me that feels very sorry for Fernando, he really has made some pooh career choices. It's also a shame for the sport that he isn't able to mix it up at the front with Lewis, Seb, Daniel etc - that would be so good to watch.
On the other hand, he did try to blackmail big Ron, so maybe this is karma in operation.

siremoon

Honda made a monumental blunder with the architecture of the original engine.  It was always a risk it would fatally compromise their ability to be competitive and so it proved.  The architecture they have now is a much better starting point but the the consequence is that they have basically started again.  They are to all intents and purposes where Renault were when these engines first came in - ie an engine that has no durability and no power but is an essentially sound development platform. 

It has taken Renault a couple of years to get to the point where their engine is no longer considered a complete liability.  With engine development released from the shackles of the token system Honda should get there quicker but even so it will still probably be next season before they do.

McClaren's other problem of course is that without much test running they don't get to shake down the other car systems.  It's going to be very ugly for the first half of the season at least.

Garthy

TimmyO said:

I'm coming up with creative ways to make the season interesting for a McLaren fan like me.

How many races in to the season before both McLarens finish the race?
How many races in to the season before a McLaren finishes with 6 cars finishing behind it?
How many races in to the season before both McLarens finish with 6 cars finishing behind them?
How many races in to the season before a McLaren finishes in the points?
How many races in to the season before a McLaren gets in to Q3? 

Who wants to play? 

6.
Zero, excluding DNFs.
Zero, excluding DNFs.
6.
Zero, they won't get into Q3 this year.

Boromedic

All things considered it should be a decent season, although I'm concerned that although the changes make the cars faster they will also make it more difficult to overtake, leading to more pit based strategies again or someone taking the lead and then staying out of trouble and winning by default. 

I appreciate the show has hardly been stellar with Mercedes dominance but Brawn really needs to get his head down and decide how to improve it. First of all they need more overtaking and also despite the constant balancing act between wanting to be the pinnacle of tech and put on a show, they might have to consider putting the tech behind them a bit to reverse the impression its no longer a drivers formula. It clearly is to the guys that are big fans but the casual fan believes the rubbish it reads in papers and on the net.

Personally I'd head towards a standard front wing that isn't affected by following another car, allow them to replace that downforce using the underfloor and also remove some of the driver aids like engine mapping and modes. Its all or nothing!!

Fretwired

McLaren and Honda to split?

http://www.foxsportsasia.com/motorsports/formula-1/news/detail/item263126/mclaren-honda-partnership-on-the-line/

goldtop

Fretwired said:

McLaren and Honda to split?

http://www.foxsportsasia.com/motorsports/formula-1/news/detail/item263126/mclaren-honda-partnership-on-the-line/

That's Fox regurgitating a Daily Mail story, which was probably written by Katie Hopkins..

simonk

Loving the pink Force India:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/03/14/force-india-turns-pink-new-sponsorship-deal/

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/03/14/force-india-turns-pink-new-sponsorship-deal/c64mf6kwwaaq7g2/

Fretwired

McLaren approach Mercedes for engines .. are Honda going to call it a day?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/39290908

TimmyO

All leave is cancelled in the contracts department I'll bet. 

Is there any way it would/could happen mid-season? I'd have thought that the engine impacts chassis/fairing design so hard to do that? 

simonk

It's Brawn all over again... they squeezed the Merc donkey in at the 11th hour and then had a great season. Can't see it happening mid season though.

Fretwired

TimmyO said:

All leave is cancelled in the contracts department I'll bet. 

Is there any way it would/could happen mid-season? I'd have thought that the engine impacts chassis/fairing design so hard to do that? 

I thought the rules banned changing engines mid season. That's what I've read. Your locked into a supplier and a number of engines, gearboxes etc.

sweepy

They can call " Force Majeure" it's been used a few times when teams have had season critical issues 

fretmeister

TimmyO said:

All leave is cancelled in the contracts department I'll bet. 

Is there any way it would/could happen mid-season? I'd have thought that the engine impacts chassis/fairing design so hard to do that? 

I think the engine is actually load bearing and the rear suspension is effectively mounted to the engine.

So I imagine swapping engines would be a proper nightmare.

Maybe Jamsport do a mount conversion kit, like they do for the Civic !

stickyfiddle

All engine mounting points are standardised to allow exactly this. I think that was brought in after BMW and Toyota both walked with little notice. 

Ron was right that the only way to win is to be a factory team (or at least primary partner), but with Honda clearly having no idea what they're doing and appearing to have gone backwards despite the regs opening up you can't blame McLaren for wanting out if they indeed do. 

This whole hybrid thing has been a mess from start to finish. 

FX_Munkee

fretmeister said:

TimmyO said:

All leave is cancelled in the contracts department I'll bet. 

Is there any way it would/could happen mid-season? I'd have thought that the engine impacts chassis/fairing design so hard to do that? 

I think the engine is actually load bearing and the rear suspension is effectively mounted to the engine.

So I imagine swapping engines would be a proper nightmare.

Maybe Jamsport do a mount conversion kit, like they do for the Civic !

Only since 1967...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stressed_member_engine

Garthy

stickyfiddle said:

All engine mounting points are standardised to allow exactly this. I think that was brought in after BMW and Toyota both walked with little notice. 

Ron was right that the only way to win is to be a factory team (or at least primary partner), but with Honda clearly having no idea what they're doing and appearing to have gone backwards despite the regs opening up you can't blame McLaren for wanting out if they indeed do. 

This whole hybrid thing has been a mess from start to finish. 

I hope Honda sue the arse off Mclaren and get their billion dollars back.