Honda wants Alonso and will pay 30M to buy out Ferrari contract

Which is why I pay as little attention to them as I can.

 

Looks like he's choosing both.
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That was not the problem, it was LH not sticking to the team rules and dragging Alonso during qualifying that caused the problem.
Pete

 

I disagree that Honda will be the worst. They have been able to study all current engines and if they have not learnt from Mercedes they are idiots.
Ferrari wish they had a year to copy Mercedes, without embarrassing themselves with the tractor engine they built being on public display.
Pete

 

LOL

+1 also my take on it.

 

Ermm lets not start down that road again...

 

This year Mclaren has never full access to mercedes power unit.They even don't know what was Button retirement cause last gp in Singapore.
I think lot of people underestimate the complexity of this power unit.(like Ferrari did).
I'm ready to bet two difficult years for the Honda engine team.

 

You maybe right, but personally I wouldn't bet on it being the case.

Ron D, I assume is back in full steam mode back on the F1 case, so that combined with Honda harkening back to old days could be a good driving force.

 

That's not atypical for a customer team.
What's hurting Macca is that they weren't given the engine specs customer teams usually get when they were designing the car. Even then MB was worried about Honda getting too much information.

 

Whenever I need a laugh I go to google translator. Bottom line is that according to Autosprint the honda engine is a test bed unit only engine, is not race ready, doesn't produce much power and drinks lots. They are now working 24/7, including outside vendors, to bring this engine up to snuff.

IF true, Fred may be going from the frying pan into the fire. I assume that Ferrari know their weaknesses and how to improve them; I can't recall where I read it but Ferrari's 2015 spec engine is already producing 40 more hp than the current one with more to come. Of course mb and Renault won't be sitting on their hands......

 

Interesting, we shall have to see. However if their road PU cars are anything to go by, reliability shouldn't be an issue.

IIRC last time out, they had a pretty thirsty PU.
.

 

If only there were odds on how much mclaren were gonna suck next year. If so, sign me up and I'll put all my savings down!

 

+1

AFAIK, the *only* thing Fred himself has said is he wants to stay. At least next year.

Do we know this, or is it another 'internet fact'?

Further, we do know Merc have a team a team of engineers in the back of the garage all the time, and Ron is paying them *lots* for the season. These guys may not be as 'open' with the Mclaren guys as otherwise, but I very much doubt they're screwing them either. I've certainly heard them being told to change maps etc during races for example.

I think this years Mclaren is simply another POS. Not Merc somehow holding them back.

Cheers,
Ian

 

How very very dare you, you're on RD'***** list now.

I'd let um work on my brain with their setup, maybe they did, I wouldn't have known

BTW I tend to agree though, when I take my aluminium/titanium <in my case, hat off.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zI4Hl02898]Official Launch Video: McLaren Mercedes MP4-29 - YouTube[/ame]

 

Motorsport is my source. They reported this at the beginning of the season.

 

I also have read stories about that the McLaren packaging was bad because Mercedes did not tell them the exact sice and cooling requirements of the engine.

Personally I don´t buy these stories: McLaren is paying MILLIONS for those engines, there are contracts signed, etc... It´s not that Mercedes just can "ignore" them. Probably their deal is similar to what Force India has.

 

Ahh, well, it must be true then!

FWIW, and based upon your recommendations (! ) I've just subscribed to the digital edition. (49.99UKP for 12 issues). Just finished downloading the Nov issue - suckers over a 140mb! Haven't started reading it yet, but looks really nice so far......

Cheers,
Ian
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+1

Fer sure, they're not going to share more data than they have to, but I'm also sure their guys in the garage want to do their best for the team. And of course, Mclaren have access to all the data coming back.

That they didn't share, eg, cooling needs, I find ludicrous TBH. And as we know, the actual mounting requirements, height of crankshaft etc are all specified by Charlie these days. (We may not like it, but it is what it is!)

Unless you've got the TFH firmly in place of course!

Cheers,
Ian

 

I've been on that for a long time!

First time I've seen that. The first part at least was a pretty good glimpse into the facilities these guys need..... I'm sure Marussia isn't as impressive, but they've still got to make their ****!

Then it got depressing when they hit the "management offices"..... Guys are in suits FFS!

Cheers,
Ian

 

Its not that they did not share exactly its that they had additional lead time to develop the car in its entirety - this was covered in Motorsport when they revealed the shaft driven turbo and its reiterated this month where they comment that Mercedes abandoned a complete car/engine package in order to optimise

The customers were given parameters for dimensions and cooling but the factory had that little bit more time to optimise their airflows and direct their cooling needs more precisely - my recollection is because of the shaft the inlet air needs less cooling but the customers were not told that the factory had realised this in advance - they assumed standard turbo inlet cooling requirements which in turn helped define the rear of their cars

 

Found the Hamilton piece yet?

 

Just finished it.

Seems Mr Roebuck and I share very much the same opinion.

'Cept he can express it better than me....

And you're right - not recommended reading for Krafty!

Cheers,
Ian

 

I sent him one about Max instead.


Interesting article about Lewis. Obviously he was made available for PR reasons but its by no means a puff piece.

 

Opinions are like yer Khyber Pass ... everyone has one...

Besides, I'am proud to be the creator of some damn fine coffee, courtesy of my new coffee pod machine ..........cue the Aircon