Just read this and I'm certain the Alonso stories are just the media **** stiring. http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula-one/41115571
My guess is he will stay at McHonda but only on a 1 year deal. It gives Honda 1 last chance plus Alonso can see how Renault do. Then he can decide based on performance where to go. Renault saying they are not ready to win in 2018!
The Honda won't be able to sustain that level of power deployment through the race on Sunday. Both will go bang or performance will drop off a cliff. If they get it right next year because of external assistance being brought in, then it will be a massive embarrassment to a company that always tried to do stuff the Japanese way. Expect Honda executives to be throwing themselves off buildings in shame.
I HOPE this is what happens , but my gut feeling is the Renault deal is done , and they have just shot themselves in the foot long term . It will be crap and he will walk at the end of 2018 .
True . I have read or heard reports , that back in the day Senna & Prost used to fly out there and create merry hell to kick their arses into gear . That ex Renault man who left earlier in the year apparently left them because they would not heed his advice . Hopefully they will listen to Illmor .
It's what went wrong with Jordan/BAR. They let Honda pull the strings and subsequently engine performance and reliability both suffered. Interestingly, Jordan did better when running customer Mugen-Honda developed engines before Honda came back in as a factory effort. What does that say!!??
I think Illmors influence is being seen in the IC bits. To me it looks like the main issue is the ERS system. They seem like the run out of electrical energy way too soon and take an age to get it back. It's almost like they have about 30% of the storage other teams have. Don't know if they can't recover it or just can't store it?
It's all a mess .Bottom line , I think F1 needs McLaren more than it needs Alonso , here's hoping for a happy ending .
Thinking about it, Ferrari only have 1 no1 driver and Vettel is signed for a few years. Merc are probably about to sign Lewis for a few more years and I think they quite like Bottas as a supporting driver. Red Bull don't really import drivers. So then all you are left with is midfield teams and Alonso has said he wants to go to a team capable of winning! So he really has no decent options in F1. Maybe he will give Indy a go for a year and then come back to F1 if Renault or McHonda do well?
A sabbatical ( or racing elsewhere for a season ) is an interesting option , but in that case I hope McLaren stick with Honda and hope for the best , but as Allsaintchris said , they don't like outside help .
Alonso is too old for a sabbatical. Either he carries on or retires from F1 and does a Mansell over to Indycars for a bit of fun.
I would normally agree , but it seems to me that McLaren will do ANYTHING for him , which imho is a mistake .
I think it's a case of every time they fix something they find something else, until all it's integrated systems work in tandem at their optimum they are always going to be down on battery power, but they have made some massive gains this year on 1 lap pace. By fixing the problems inherent in the engine the ERS will perform better. If you cast your mind back this was the same problem Ferrari and Renault had at the beginning of the engine regs.
From the BBC . Particle accelerator turn on = rain in Monza Here's an obscure bit of scientific-F1 tittle-tattle. The last wet qualifying session in Monza was in 2008, when Sebastian Vettel took a shock pole for Toro Rosso en route to an even more shocking win a day later. That race weekend was held in the week the Large Hadron Collider was turned on deep underground in Geneva. Quite a few people were concerned what the LHC would do to the - well - world, once it was up and running, and the extreme weather and black-as-night skies in Monza that week led one or two people in the paddock to wonder if their worst fears were about to be realised. As it turned out, the world was not rent asunder by the LHC, so that's nice. Anyway, yesterday a not dissimilar machine was switched on for the first time deep underground in Germany- the XFEL. This is a powerful X-ray machine housed in a 3.4km-long tunnel complex some 40m beneath Hamburg and the nearby town of Schenefeld. AND NOW IT'S RAINING IN MONZA AGAIN! COINCIDENCE?
Think they need to send other cars round to try and clear some standing water. Get the medi car out as well as safety.
Start of Quali was worse than P3 (which was effectively cancelled) yet they sent them out? Red flag (fair enough) but then dries up and sun comes out for 15 minutes and Charlie says he doesn't know what to make of the radar? Look out the Fukien window!
