The silly politics is always with us. Even on day 1 in testing :)...
The silly politics is always with us. Even on day 1 in testing http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/11268818/mercedes-and-ferrari-working-as-one-team-say-red-bull
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/134640/mercedes-denies-it-was-target-of-fia-engine-ruling Toto Wolff has denied that the FIA's push to ensure equal treatment for Formula 1 engine customers was aimed at Mercedes, insisting Force India and Williams have always had parity. The FIA recently sent a technical directive to all F1 teams reinforcing the existing requirement for engine suppliers to give identical hardware to their customers by insisting that henceforth all cars also have the same software and operating conditions. Customer teams now also have to receive identical fuel and oil specifications to works cars, unless they have opted for a different supplier. Some paddock insiders have suggested the FIA's move is aimed more at Mercedes than Renault or Ferrari, with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner even telling the media to "ask Claire Williams" where the impetus for the clampdown came from. But Wolff is adamant that neither Williams not Force India have lobbied the FIA on the subject. "I don't think any of our customers was pushing for it," Wolff told Autosport. "It's not relevant for us, because the rules have been in place for a while that you must supply the customers with the same hardware and software from a power unit standpoint, and we've always done that." Wolff insisted that Force India and Williams have always had the same operating conditions as the works team, such as access to special qualifying modes. "Identical modes for the customers and us," he said. "There has never been any difference. "They have the same mileage allowance as the works team, there is no difference whatsoever. "That's why we have no problem with that. If there is any suspicion out there, it certainly wasn't anything that would have any consequence for us. "We have the belief that sharing modes and engine calibration among six cars triggers a steeping learning curve for us than running different engine specifications between the customers and the works team." Wolff also insisted that the customers are never a step behind on Petronas fuel specifications. "No, never. It's the same philosophy again," he said. "We're all using the same fuels, because we're calibrating our engines on one spec of fuel."
http://www.planetf1.com/news/rich-energy-closing-in-on-force-india/ Rich Energy closing in on Force India takeover Date published: March 5 2018
Red Bull creates new technical director role for its F1 team Pierre Wache has been promoted to the newly created role of technical director of Red Bull in a move the team calls "part of the evolution" of its structure. Wache, who joined Red Bull in 2013, previously held the title of chief engineer, performance. Adrian Newey remains chief technical officer of the team, but the change is an acknowledgement of his ongoing commitment to Aston Martin and the Valkyrie project, which is taking up much of his time. However, he was with the F1 team for Barcelona testing, and is still involved. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/134770/red-bull-creates-new-technical-director-role
MARCH 12, 2018 No May engine deadline for Red Bull says Horner Christian Horner has hit back at Renault's imposition of a May deadline to decide its engine supplier for 2019. It is no secret that Red Bull installed Honda as Toro Rosso's engine supplier this year in order to open the door to a potential deal for the main team in 2019. Currently, Red Bull uses a customer Renault engine, but Horner thinks the French marque is hitting a performance limit with its current power unit. And relations between the two sides are strained. "We will have to see how it goes this year, but whenever we have a power deficit, we have to try to compensate with the car," Red Bull boss Horner told El Confidencial. It is suggested that Renault may advise its teams to ignore the new three engines per driver rule this year in order to maximise engine developments. Horner said: "It will be interesting to see who uses only three, but even if the regulations were more lax, the order of performance would not change. "The problem is that this generation of engine regulations is not as good for Renault as it has been for Mercedes and Ferrari," he insisted. Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul recently said Red Bull will have to decide between Renault and Honda for 2019 by May of this year. But Horner says that deadline is wrong. "What we understand is that May is when you have to give an indication to the FIA, but that does not mean a commitment," he said. "It will be decided at the end of the summer. That's the realistic timing of when the decisions have to be made." So far, the frontrunner may actually be Honda, after a surprisingly strong pre-season for the Japanese manufacturer with Toro Rosso. "Honda has had a fantastic start with Toro Rosso," agreed Horner. "Obviously, we're in a good position to keep an eye on their progress in the first half of the year. We're going to follow it with great interest," he added.
Honda pushing horsepower out of the gate at the expense of reliability. Renault is thinking the same thing a couple of days ago. Toro Rosso expecting to discuss deliberate #F1 engine penalties with Honda: Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost thinks it inevitable that Honda will discuss tactical engine change penalties during the 2018 Formula 1 season. F1 teams are bracing themselves for a tough time in managing engine life in 2018, with new rules limiting them to just three power units (and two MGU-Ks, energy stores and control electronics) for the 21-grand-prix season. Though all four manufacturers have worked hard to prepare for the new allocations, Tost believes the power drop-off that comes as an engine reaches the end of its life means there could be benefits to taking a fresh unit and incurring a penalty. He expects to discuss with Honda whether the punishment of dropping down the grid order would be negated by having more horsepower available. "There will come the period where we have to find out if is it better to start with a new power unit from the back instead of using an engine that will have 3000-4000 kilometres on it, and you start losing power after one or two hundred kilometres," he told Autosport. "So we will see. But I can tell you now that we will have this discussion. I don't know when, but we will have it." Tost thinks it is "crazy" that F1 has stuck with the three-engine limit, after attempts to Red Bull to get the rule changed met resistance. "Last year manufacturers tried with four engines and less races, and this year we have more races and less engines," he said. "I must only say they are totally crazy with this regulation. "But Ferrari was against it [changing the rules], because others wanted to go with four. "They [Ferrari] think they have an advantage with three. And it is within the regulations so we have to live with it. "We have to accept it and how many power units at the end we will need I don't know." Tost's comments about the Honda situation come after Renault admitted that it too was considering the possibility of tactical engine changes this year. Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul said: "We want to establish the baseline, we want to know a bit more about ourselves, the performance of the engine as it is right now. "If it's better for everyone to use four power units or four V6s, rather than three, we may take that decision. But it's really too early to talk about that." https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/134800/toro-rosso-expects-deliberate-honda-penalties
FIA warns teams over blown wing engine modes. The FIA has made it clear that it will not tolerate teams developing trick engine modes to help make blown rear wings more effective, in the wake of Renault’s aggressive design on its 2018 car. Renault’s concept, which features an angled exhaust and a heat proofed rear wing, became a big talking point during pre-season testing. For although its layout is fully within F1’s technical rules, there were suggestions it was not within the spirit of the regulations – and could open up a spending war of development. Renault itself had no doubts about the legality, and F1 race director Charlie Whiting made it clear on Tuesday that he too was satisfied there was nothing wrong with what the French car manufacturer had done. With Renault having suggested it would look to work with its engine department to increase the performance benefits from blowing its rear wing, Whiting has warned the team against doing anything too trick with engine modes. This would include the type of off-throttle blowing that was at the centre of a development war between teams at the end of the V8 era. When asked by Motorsport.com if there were any concerns about the Renault wing, or a potential spending arms race opening up, Whiting said the only concern for him revolved around engine usage. “I think it is absolutely minimal what they [Renault] will get from it,” said Whiting. “I don’t see any problem with it provided we are sure they are not operating their engine in a false mode – a mode that wouldn’t be normal. “We have to accept that there is and always has been some exhaust effect, but obviously in 2012/2013 it was massive. “We’ve chipped away at that and one of the things for the 2014 [turbo hybrid] rules was to make sure there was no effect from the exhaust – but there must be a little one. https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/fia-warns-blown-wing-engines-1014334/ “We will have to deal with that, and we will see during the course of the year whether we need to do something to minimise that. “The most important thing is that they [Renault] are not doing anything silly, I believe, with the engine modes which is unnatural I would say.” Ban on ‘monkey seats’ Whiting said that although rules had been changed for this year to minimise blown wing potential, which included the ban on monkey seats, it was inevitable teams would still try to find performance in this area. “We were concerned with exhaust blowing last year,” added Whiting. “With the wings becoming 150mm lower than they were in 2016, there was more benefit to be gained. “That is why we put the exhaust pipe in the middle and with a minimum angle. Teams managed to build monkey seats, which we managed to get rid of by changing the bodywork regulations. “But there was still a little window of opportunity. You know what teams are like: if you take one thing away they will try to get 10 percent of what they had. But they will still do it.”
Blown wings,Monkey seats,T bars blah blah blah You need to get rid of all this CXXP ,Halo bs etc etc . Let the guys just go race full out for every lap,let's hear that great sound again. Is it really so difficult?
I don't know what the numbers stand for on the left of the graph chart..........let alone this independent research agency. First improve the noise of the cars, funny how the historical cars take top spot IF I read it right. Last year over 18,000 F1 fans were interviewed at different tracks by an independent research agency to find out about their wishes how to improve the grand prix experience. #AMuS Image Unavailable, Please Login
MARCH 28, 2018 Liberty to present 2021 plans in Bahrain Bahrain will set the scene for the next round of tensions between F1 owner Liberty Media and angry top teams Ferrari and Mercedes. The top teams are already threatening to quit formula one after 2020, if Liberty presses ahead with plans for a budget cap and significantly altered engine rules. Publications including France's Le Figaro now report that Liberty Media intends to unveil its latest draft of its plans for 2021 and beyond in Bahrain. It appears that Red Bull is at least on Liberty's side for now. "We need a reduction in costs," Dr Helmut Marko is quoted as saying. "However it happens does not matter. "No team is making money -- the business model is not sound or healthy." And another Red Bull official, team boss Christian Horner, urges Liberty to take a hard line rather than be influenced by pressure. "Liberty must impose its views and take strong decisions," he said. "Clearly, you will never get all of the teams to agree."
Interesting, right before Liberty's 2021 plans............ Renault calls for F1 engine freeze in 2019-20 https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/renault-calls-for-f1-engine-freeze-in-2019-20-1020042/ … via @motorsport
A link for you, Pedro: https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/opinion/f1/i-don-t-see-it-red-bull-not-giving-me-f1-seat-they-gave-me-career Rgds
Thanks....António is a great guy, he has a big future ahead of him, even if outside f.1...i was a shame because i honestly think he was better than Stoffell, Magnussen Sainz or Kvyat, but it wasn't meant to be...money speaks louder sometimes...and Russia is richer than Portugal..
