Spare Parts (F1 odds and ends)

I've really not got much affection for Merc as a team... not since Brawn went.

 

Not just me then.

 

There's just something too clinical about the whole thing. I just feel no attachment to them at all.

 

I fully understand where you are coming from, their 3-year success seems like a phase in F1 that will come and go and most likely be forgotten. There are fans of the drivers and that's a separate subject as we are talking about the team in general.

Probably would have been more romantic had Brawn stayed and seen through the effort he put into the team, it would have meant something then.

 

F1 is a cut throat business though. Mercedes will say (quite rightly) that the changes they brought in worked.

Brawn is well used to playing the political games if he has needed to in the past to get success. Mercedes had treaded water for a few years after they bought out Brawn's own team so perhaps felt they had to take control over the direction of the team to push it forward.

If you're looking for hostile takeovers, just see what has happened to McLaren and their management merry-go-round over the last few years. Didn't they screw that up!

 

Same for RBR though. How long a legacy will they have in the sport? Once Red Bull have had enough, they'll sell the team, it will change its name again and it's 4 year winning streak with Seb will be considered a rich vein of form, like Mercedes is now.

The only real teams on the grid who hold any romance with the sport anymore are Ferrari, McLaren and Williams. The others are shadows of former teams they have bought out or back of the grid teams that come and go like the passing of the tide. Sauber could have been in there too, but sold their soul to BMW and have never really recovered from that.

 

To be fair Red Bull have created their own niche, they don't have the heritage of some but they have character. Merc are just a modern day manufacturer with a modern day management structure, and are a different entity to the "silver arrow" team of yesteryear.

 

I think Brawn had already layed the foundation for success and the rest muscled in.

 

I think Redbull are different the ups and downs between 2010-2014 captured all our imaginations, so many debates, incidents and controversies at that, I have respect for the way they managed to adapt to their steep learning curve after the rule changes in 2014, and the fact that they aren't even a manufacturer but a drinks company. It just feels like Mercedes are just filling the gap for something bigger over the horizon (2017-onwards).

Brawn could of and should have stayed for 2014. Toto and Niki turned up out of nowhere and it's just not right, didn't feel right when it happened. (Nothing against Lewis) I guess a championship for Nico will make up for some of the disloyalty from Mercedes towards Brawn, as Nico was Brawn's choice for the Mercedes return in 2010.

 

Red Bull and Merc feel similar in many ways to me. Big corporate giants. I miss teams being there for the love of the sport. Not just marketing.

 

It's a shame that whatever "cost cutting" F1 makes, it's still nowhere levelling the playing field enough for Force India, Sauber or even Williams to really compete.

 

No kidding. The real teams are being well and truly shafted, yet they'll be what's left when the big corporates move on to other projects. And they will.

 

A friend of mine has two tickets for the Formula 1 final race of the season the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, at the Yas Marina circuit on the weekend of the 25th - 27th November. They are box seats and include flights, hospitality, and hotel accommodation. He didn't realise when he bought them that this is the same weekend as his wedding. If you're interested and want to go instead of him....















... it's at St Johns Church, Worcester at 2.15pm on the 26th. Her name is Janet. She’ll be the one in the white dress.

 

Read his Autobiography

 

Unbelievable.

"Mexican Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez has dumped one of his sponsors for sending a disrespectful tweet about his compatriots.

Perez was incensed after sunglasses manufacturer Hawkers tweeted in the wake of Donald Trump's victory in the US election that Mexicans should buy its shades to hide their tears when Mr Trump began to build a border wall.

The driver said he would not allow anyone to make fun of his country.

Hawkers subsequently apologised."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-37942561

 

Good on him.

 

Someone who appears to value morals over money

 

How you coping Sgt post election?

 

I hear Sgt is in fact Trump