Agreed, It will make more sense when it actually plays out in our eyes. A very good video nonetheless.
Unfortunately you are probably right. PDVSA will be struggling with oil price so low. The Venezuelan gov will not want to show they are not well funded so I believe they will find the money. Then again I would imagine 'Lotus/Renault's ' contract with Pastor will have payment deadlines. My guess is they are hoping a payment milestone is missed so they can get Magnussen in the seat and keep money already paid by PDVSA.
McLaren have announced that Jost Capito, formerly Director of Motorsport at Volkswagen, has been appointed their racing team’s Chief Executive Officer. Jonathan Neale, who had previously filled the role in an interim capacity, will become Chief Operating Officer of McLaren Technology Group. Eric Boullier’s position is unchanged as the F1 team’s Racing Director
I'm glad Neale moved upstairs. You need real ruthless winners in the F1 front and I think this guy will complement Boullier really well. Crucially he has experience liaising with big car companies- something that is a necessity with Honda. The pieces of the McLaren jigsaw are taking gradual shape. Next stop another major sponsor? Ron seems to be doing plenty in the background- lets just hope Honda give them a competitive PU to race with next year.
2016 F1 seasonPosted on 13th January 2016, 19:59Author Keith Collantine Bernie Ecclestone says it is unlikely Mercedes and Ferrari will face much opposition this year as they give their engine customers much less powerful equipment. Reiterating his opposition to the current generation of power units in an interview with TSN (below), Ecclestone said: “Mercedes supply four of these power units to the smaller teams and obviously they supply them with a lot less power than they have in their own cars. So you’ve got rid of four teams.” please log in to view this image Mercedes’ 2015 engine customers “The other teams, Ferrari supply three teams in exactly the same way. Ferrari’s not as powerful, their engine, as Mercedes, but it’s getting there. Anyway they supply other teams and the teams they supply the engine’s not as good.” “So all we’ve got really and truly is Mercedes and Ferrari – I hope – racing each other.” Last week Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey urged the FIA to introduce rules forcing engine manufacturers to provide the same specification of engine hardware, software and fuel to their customers. Ecclestone doubts Mercedes, who have won 32 of the last 38 races, will be seriously challenged again this year. “I wish I could say ‘yes’ but I can’t because I think the bottom line is a very good team, the engine is certainly better than anyone else and they’ve got obviously one of the best drivers,” he said. “So it’s going to be difficult for anyone to beat them.” Formula One’s commercial chief also dampened hopes Formula One could have a female racing driver again. “I doubt it,” he said when asked about the possibility. “Because if there was somebody that was capable they wouldn’t be taken serious anyway. So they would never have a car that’s capable of competing.” “There was a girl that was driving in GP3 for a whole season,” he added. “So it’s not something that hasn’t happened.”
Fresh from the news they have signed ex-Ferrari man Nikolas Tombazis as chief aerodynamicist, Manor have confirmed their 2016 chassis has passed the mandatory FIA crash tests. Newcomers Haas have previously confirmed their car has been given the green light for winter testing, which begins on February 22:
Exciting times, but the mileage in pre season is what matters most. Will be interesting to see what the chasing pack look to do with design! On a side note, Damon Hill has told Claire Williams that they should switch to Honda to become a title contender! http://m.crash.net/f1/news/226120/1/williams-should-drop-mercedes-for-honda-hill.html
On the theme of Damon Hill, anyone else noticed that the guy putting tan oil on in the Halford's ads shown on Dave, looks a lot like Hill? Just saying...........
I thought that article was very interesting - I posted an article a couple of days ago on engine supply with Bernie. It does seem to be a common consensus that people perceive Mercedes to be taking advantage of their engine supply by "limiting" performance of the customer.
I am sure I have heard Williams, maybe Smedley, say they don't have the power modes Merc have. I will bet the Merc contracts state they must not talk about any power differences etc. I would bet Ferrari do the same. Neither PU manufacturer will want their advantage talking about by their customers. Doesn't sound too good winning when you control your competition! FIA should never allowed different spec including software in same manufacturers. Obviously different cooling and gearboxes etc need to be handled.
It's an absolute farce and utterly no surprise that the two key engine makers dominate the sport. That's why I'd love Honda to stuff the pair of them with their independent team (McLaren) doing it the hard way on their own with no other data or guinea pig PU Teams. Then again, there's more chance of me and Liz Hurley getting it on. Although having said that, maybe McLaren Honda could get their very own Shane Warne moment.
I wonder if Ferrari were hoping for this kind of thing then they pushed through the in season PU development. Banked on Mercedes not giving Williams the latest spec always and so making second in the constructors easier?
Seems like Merc, Ferrari, Renault and Honda have agreed engine cost cap of about 12million euro from 2018 in exchange for v6 turbo continuing till at least 2020. Nothing about same spec though which is disappointing although not unexpected.
Anybody know off hand what the prices are like at the moment? I've got a figure of £15-18m in my mind. If so, that's a positive step.
I seem to recall a figure for full PU and gearbox at about $25-30 million! So similar to your £15-18m.
Lotus/Renault have passed this seasons crash tests today. Their livery, drivers etc will be revealed on Feb 3rd, if not the car itself.
