The F1 thread

Fretwired

Heartfeltdawn said:

@Fretwired ;;

The Williams film - is it this one?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0002p1x/williams-formula-1-in-the-blood

Must get round to watching it. 

No, but that's worth watching.

F1 has made a film about last year's competition with behind the scenes footage and all areas access to the teams. It's Monaco I think where Claire breaks down through a loss of confidence. The people who've seen it say it's great. It will be released on TV at the start of the season.

Fretwired

@Heartfeltdawn

More info on the film series .... from the Telegraph

New behind-the-scenes documentary lays bare the precipitous F1 decline of Williams

In a behind-the-scenes documentary to be broadcast next month, Claire Williams tearfully questions her own credentials to lead the Williams Formula One team back to success. After a week in which her technical director, Paddy Lowe, failed even to have a car ready for the first two days of winter testing, the extraordinary footage lays bare the turmoil engulfing one of British motorsport’s iconic companies.

“When should I go, ‘Actually, maybe I’m not the right person to do this? Am I good enough to do it? Do I have the capability?’” Williams says, during the 10-part Netflix production, Drive to Survive. “It’s very difficult to come to terms with.”

The decline at Williams since she took over as deputy team principal in 2013, assuming day-to-day running of the team from her father, Sir Frank, has been precipitous. From a high of a third-place finish in the constructors’ standings in 2014 and 2015, Williams finished bottom last season, receiving the lowest share of bonus payments. On the evidence of a hapless first test in Barcelona, where the team described their performance as “embarrassing”, there appears scant hope of a revival this year.

The documentary, commissioned by F1 owners Liberty Media to lift the veil on the sport’s inner workings, leaves no doubt as to how toxic the situation within Williams has become. In one scene, Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian billionaire and chief sponsor of a race seat for his son Lance, walks out in disgust after a wretched result in the Monaco Grand Prix. In another, shot at Clare’s Bedfordshire home, she shows her infant son a toy car, only for her husband, Marc Harris, to say: “It goes faster than our car.”

For all that she second-guesses her abilities, Williams is adamant that she will not shirk the responsibility of steering the team through its troubles. “I’ve been given a wonderful opportunity, and I only agreed to do it because I thought at the time that I could turn the business around,” she says. “I’ve got this whole history that I need to protect. If, under my watch, that were all to go horribly wrong, it would be my fault.”

One fellow team principal has expressed surprise that Williams allowed herself to be drawn into such candour on camera. But the series contains several revelations from elsewhere in the paddock. Christian Horner, for example, is seen at breaking point at Red Bull, his rage palpable when Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo take each other out in Baku. “That’s 25, 30 points we’ve just f----- away,” he tells Helmut Marko, the team’s motorsport advisor.   

Horner ultimately lost patience with his two feuding drivers, even before Ricciardo – who held ambitions of replacing Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes – jumped ship to Renault. In one episode, also featuring his wife, former Spice Girl Geri, he acidly refers to his child’s two pet donkeys as Max and Daniel. “Managing donkeys is sometimes easier than managing drivers,” he says.

Similarly, Drive to Survive shines a light on the breakdown of Horner’s relationship with Cyril Abiteboul, his Renault counterpart, whom he holds responsible for the multiple failures of Red Bull’s engines in 2018. The experience is one that Horner likens to paying a first-class fare for an economy ticket, comments that Abiteboul angrily claim “cross a red line”.

Heartfeltdawn

So Netflix have gone for docs on Sunderland and now Williams. They sure know how to pick teams on the up. If they ever do a Britain post-Brexit documentary series, batten down the hatches...

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Second test underway. Rumour has it (from Sky) Fernando Alonso has been spotted at the McLaren motorhome. Would love to see him back in an F1 car, one of my absolute favourite drivers!

Fretwired

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Second test underway. Rumour has it (from Sky) Fernando Alonso has been spotted at the McLaren motorhome. Would love to see him back in an F1 car, one of my absolute favourite drivers!

I'd read he might help test the new car. His experience must be worth something.

stickyfiddle

Fretwired said:

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Second test underway. Rumour has it (from Sky) Fernando Alonso has been spotted at the McLaren motorhome. Would love to see him back in an F1 car, one of my absolute favourite drivers!

I'd read he might help test the new car. His experience must be worth something.

Maybe, but he is notorious for naturally finding ways to drive around problems, making him potentially not that great a development driver. 

Not that I’d say no to him getting back in F1 car

Fretwired

stickyfiddle said:

Maybe, but he is notorious for naturally finding ways to drive around problems, making him potentially not that great a development driver. 

Not that I’d say no to him getting back in F1 car

Could be the main investor wants confirmation the new car is better than the old one .. Alonso is blunt and to the point.

Cols

Alonso hopping in the car would need to have been planned in advance - they would at least have needed to have a seat fitting and shipped to the track beforehand.  

Cols

Williams seem to be much improved.  Possibly they’ve inherited a Jordan stopwatch?

Fretwired

Rubs eyes ... Lando Norris fastest in testing yesterday in a McLaren .... :-)

Cols

Fretwired said:

Rubs eyes ... Lando Norris fastest in testing yesterday in a McLaren .... :-)

At Magic Hour, with supersticky tyres and minimal fuel.

Mansell used to do the same; go out and set a qualifying time at the end of a day’s testing to send the team back to the hotel feeling good.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/fernando-alonso-mclaren-test-ambassador/4344560/

So Alonso will test the McLaren, but not any time soon.

Pretty rapid lap from Sainz this morning. On soft tyres of course, but not the absolute softest. First set-back of testing for Ferrari this morning too, so not having it all their own way this test. 

sweepy

Shame that its not on Sky like the first week

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

So much for the rule changes slowing the cars down. Some properly racey times so far today, very close to the pole position times from last year's GP. Just hope that the changes do actually make it easier to follow in traffic as was promised, but I'm not holding my breath!

Apparently Merc aren't going to be doing any low-fuel quali type runs until tomorrow so will be interesting to see how they stack up. Lewis' fastest lap this morning was on the C2 tyres so starting to look pretty quick whilst staying out of the headlines.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Well well well, Merc finally show their pace! Hamilton only 0.003 behind Seb on their glory runs. Indications are that Ferrari probably a bit further ahead on longer run pace, but maybe the gap isn't as big as initially thought.

I hope it genuinely is as close as today's running suggests, would love to see a proper ding dong battle all season!

thumpingrug

I would love to see good close racing, for the sake the sport we all need to see more competitive competition.  However i suspect that won't be the case.  I also don't like ferrari or Vettel so hope they both get trounced.  

Fretwired

Paddy Lowe has gone from Williams ..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/47476566

stickyfiddle

Oh bloody hell. Does that mean he was pushed because he’s a bit shit? Or has he said “fuck it”, because Frank is still a control freak..??

Cols

Technically he’s "taking a leave of absence from the business for personal reasons".  I would guess work-related stress.

siremoon

Sounds like the "leaving by mutual consent" cliche in football; ie he's been sacked but part of the agreement under which he leaves stipulates that they won't say that.