Sport The Formula 1 Thread

[Sidewaysbob]

To be fair i didn't know that Joe Seward was a member of the Caterham board of directors

[Dudley]

Meanwhile Williams have signed a new dev driver. And they're getting in on the "Woman = money" craze.

It's Susie Wolff (nee Stoddart) from DTM. A fact connected in no way to her marrying Williams director Toto Wolff last year according to Williams.

http://www.williamsf.../news/view/2105

I follow a lot of women drivers because it's the one sport in the world where they can really compete equally and I love Susie, she's a proper professional race driver, she's in the sport for the right reason, because she loves racing and she's damn good at it. (Bear in mind she's been an afterthought in a 2 year old car her whole DTM career and kicked the arse of all 3 women Audi hired).

What she's not is an F1 quality driver and it's sad to see her being used in this way."Excused from the process" my arse, she's there because of Toto, she's been in DTM for 5+ years, she was in single seaters for years before that and they didn't take any notice. 6 months after she gets married, straight in there.

That said she's more than capable of doing the test work they will ask of her. That said, so is Valtteri Bottas who will be entitled to ask why the hell he isn't in the car for the tiny, tiny amount of running they can do outside races now.

[Wallpaper]

Lotus appears to be having a meltdown at headquarters ...

https://www.facebook...135849009792886

Is that genuine!? Thats just painful.

[CouldBeWorse]

Meanwhile Williams have signed a new dev driver. And they're getting in on the "Woman = money" craze.

It's Susie Wolff (nee Stoddart) from DTM. A fact connected in no way to her marrying Williams director Toto Wolff last year according to Williams.

http://www.williamsf.../news/view/2105

Seems a bit like a pointless signing apart from easy publicity for Williams though. Haven't Marussia signed a woman test driver who is completely rubbish.

I'm sure there must a couple of women drivers in some feeder series who actually have potential to make it in Formula One. I'd rather see a team sign up a young female kart driver and spend ten years supporting her ( like McLaren and Hamilton) than sign drivers who are arguably not even worthy of a test driver role but give them good easy publicity, but will be forgotten by the end of the season.

[kiroquai]

So, Group Lotus released this yesterday.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story....

Take a little look at what we found online. Don't you think it's funny? We do. We had a good old giggle. After all, we love a bit of self irony, just as well really. Although it's funny, this one's not accurate but then again, why let the facts get in the way of a good story? The inconvenient truth is - surprise, surprise - we have never said that there are no problems at Lotus.

So whilst lots of people obviously feel the need to comment on Lotus' current situation in the absence of proper facts or evidence, we can't ignore these particular mistruths any longer even if we would like to, so we have decided to turn a negative into a positive and use this hilarious piece of 'art' to set the record straight regarding the status quo at Group Lotus and try to return a little stability to a fast changing situation.

False rumour #1: Dany Bahar is no longer CEO of Group Lotus.

Fact: Rubbish - Dany Bahar still is.

False rumour #2: Dato' Sri Syed is no longer Managing Director of Proton.

Fact: Again rubbish. He still is.

You can thank good old Tony Fernandes for these two. Don't take everything he tweets too seriously – perhaps he's still frustrated about owning Caterham instead of Lotus and the fact that he fights HRT and Marussia instead of Mercedes and Ferrari in F1.

And whilst we're on the subject of jokes - do you know the latest F1 joke? Mike Gascoyne, Caterham Group's Chief Technical Officer, has gone missing. Why? He's looking for the 30 to 40 points he predicted for the last F1 season. Funny.

Speaking of F1: It seems that one special so called 'independent' source is at the root of the lion's share of damaging rumours and misleading stories. The delightful Joe Saward which leads us nicely to....

False rumour #3: Joe Saward is JUST an independent journalist.

Fact: He is an active Director for the Caterham Group.

And unlike some, we don't want to get too personal, so we'll leave it to you to judge how 'independent' his stories about Lotus are.

False rumour #4: Group Lotus is no longer involved in F1.

Fact: Lotus F1 Team and Group Lotus have reshaped their commercial relationship earlier this year. The new governance agreement signifies the continued commitment of Group Lotus to the team and the sport.

Group Lotus' branding and marketing rights and subsequent activities remain unaffected by the new agreement until at least 2017. Alongside continued branding and title partnership status, Group Lotus is also the exclusive master licensee for all Lotus F1 Team merchandise.

The new agreement was reached following Group Lotus owners Proton providing team owners Genii with a £30m loan which is repayable within three years. In order to secure the loan Genii used 100% of the F1 team's assets as collateral meaning that under the conditions of the loan agreement Proton have been given full title guarantee to all plant, machinery, show cars, computers, office and the Lotus F1 Team headquarters.

In addition Proton retains the rights to purchase 10% of the F1 team. Another 10% share option will be activated if the team default on their loan obligations with Proton.

Again we leave it to your judgement how 'bad' Lotus' current situation in F1 is. And speaking of bad situations.....

False rumour #5: Group Lotus is going into administration.

Fact: Rubbish. The takeover of our parent company Proton by DRB-HICOM couldn't have come at a worse time, but up until that point Proton was (and still remains) fully committed to our five year business plan to create jobs and to expand the factory and business. With the takeover process the funding has been restricted and DRB-HICOM is taking time to understand what to do with the business. DRB-HICOM is currently in the middle of due diligence of Group Lotus and there have been and continue to be positive discussions between Group Lotus senior management and senior management at DRB-HICOM both here in Hethel and in Malaysia. At no point has DRB-HICOM indicated to Group Lotus that it intends to put the company into administration. The over-active rumour mill is seriously damaging our business reputation, image and credibility but it is what it is.

The simple fact is, and we haven't denied this - Lotus is going through a very difficult phase at the moment but we are showing true fighting spirit every day in trying to keep this vision alive. This is also a fact – no matter what people outside of Lotus may say or tweet or blog.

There's a thin line between being funny and being a bunch of dicks. Seems like Lotus crossed that line a long time ago, have set up a deck chair and are enjoying the sun.

[kiroquai]

Oh, also...

Lewis Hamilton's chances of fighting for victory in the Chinese Grand Prix have taken a hit as he will be given a grid penalty.

The McLaren driver confirmed on Thursday that he will need a new gearbox for the weekend, meaning he will get a five-place grid penalty for the change. Hamilton said the damage to the gearbox was only picked up in last 48 hours.

Hamilton, who has started the first two races from pole position, is currently second in the championship behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

[myoozikk]

[MrPogo]

I get why these rules exist - to stop the richest teams buying (even more of) an advantage by running a brand new everything every session of every race weekend, which the smaller teams couldn't afford - but it always seems shit when it potentially ruins a race before it's started. They really do need some sort of system for allowing penalty-free swaps for genuine breakdowns/problems.

[zxcvbnm]

But if goes against logic - yes it supposedly makes it equal between the big and small teams, but it doesn't at all. The smaller teams at the back won't get pole because Hamilton is back 5 places, it just fucks up the front of the grid, which really is all we're interested in. The backmarkers just make it a bit more interesting when it comes to them being lapped.

Stupid fucking rule.

[Dudley]

Seems a bit like a pointless signing apart from easy publicity for Williams though. Haven't Marussia signed a woman test driver who is completely rubbish.

Yep, although Marussia's lass is genuinely shite whereas Susie isn't. You're spot on with the reason though, they didn't even sniff at her until she married a director. My problem with this is that A) Susie is better than this and B) It's exactly the kind of thing that stops women drivers getting taken seriously.

I'm sure there must a couple of women drivers in some feeder series who actually have potential to make it in Formula One. I'd rather see a team sign up a young female kart driver and spend ten years supporting her ( like McLaren and Hamilton) than sign drivers who are arguably not even worthy of a test driver role but give them good easy publicity, but will be forgotten by the end of the season.

Several. Alice Powell just got left without a series after they killed Formula Renault (She's a former championship winner in the 2nd level BARC run version).

Entirely possible she's not good enough either of course but she might be and she's a decade younger than Susie while still be every bit as capable of doing a few straight line tests while getting a bit of publicity.

Or Jessica Hawkins. 17 and a kart champion. She may well be good enough, she would certainly be worth funding for a season in FFord or maybe even the FRenault Eurocup.

[Dudley]

So, Group Lotus released this yesterday.

There's a thin line between being funny and being a bunch of dicks. Seems like Lotus crossed that line a long time ago, have set up a deck chair and are enjoying the sun.

And never piss of SniffPetrol. They've released "the first draft" of said statement.

Take a little look at what we found online (see left). Don’t you think it’s funny? We do. We had a good old giggle. After all, we love a bit of self belief. Although it’s funny, this one’s not accurate but then again, why let the facts get in the way of a good story? The inconvenient truth is – surprise, surprise – we have never said that there are no lunatics at Lotus.

So whilst lots of people obviously feel the need to comment on Lotus’ current situation in the absence of proper facts or evidence, we can’t ignore these particular mistruths any longer even if we would like to, so we have decided to turn a negative into a positive and use this hilarious piece of ‘arse’ to set the record straight regarding the status quo at Group Lotus and try to return a little stability to a fast changing situation.

False rumour #1: Dany Bahahaha is no longer taking his tablets.

Fact: Rubbish – Dany Bahahaha still is.

False rumour #2: Dato’ Sri Syed is no longer struggling to release himself from the ropes that tie him to the plastic chair in the cupboard.

Fact: Again rubbish. He still is.

You can thank good old Tony Fernandes for these two. He is out to get us. He is. Last night we heard a noise outside and when we went to look there was no one there. We couldn’t see him but we know it was Tony Fernandes. He is like a fat fox. Perhaps he is frustrated because he owns a Formula 1 team instead of doing the smart thing and just giving his name to various racing teams and then realising he hasn’t got the money to pay for all this shit.

And whilst we’re on the subject of jokes – do you know the latest F1 joke? My dog’s got a stepped nose. How does it smell? It doesn’t. It’s a Formula 1 car. Can someone explain this to us please?

Speaking of F1: It seems that one special so called ‘independent’ source is at the root of the lion’s share of damaging rumours and misleading stories. The delightful Joe Saward which leads us nicely to….

False rumour #3: Joe Saward has a helicopter that can fly to the sun.

Fact: Helicopters cannot fly to the sun.

And unlike some, we don’t want to get too personal, but Joe Saward is a gaylord and he looks stupid in any kind of hat.

False rumour #4: Group Lotus is no longer involved in F1.

Fact: Lotus F1 Team and Group Lotus have rearranged their living room so we can both watch F1 in comfort. We just need to get some money off Genii so we can buy a Sky subscription. In return, they can have the factory. We don’t want it any more anyway. The reception area smells weird.

False rumour #5: Group Lotus is going into administration.

Fact: Rubbish. Administration is a type of succulent plant found in dry regions of southern Europe. How could a company with no money left afford one of those? We couldn’t. Oh. Bollocks.

The simple fact is, and we haven’t denied this – Lotus is going through a very difficult phase at the moment but we are totally over you, okay. Do you understand, we don’t miss you at all. It’s over. We’ve moved on. In fact, we’ve got a date next week with someone we met recently. It’s none of your business who. Do not try to call us. Also, we want that Dido CD back.

ENDS

[Cheeko]

But if goes against logic - yes it supposedly makes it equal between the big and small teams, but it doesn't at all. The smaller teams at the back won't get pole because Hamilton is back 5 places, it just fucks up the front of the grid, which really is all we're interested in. The backmarkers just make it a bit more interesting when it comes to them being lapped.

Stupid fucking rule.

Yeah, they should penalise the constructor, like docking a load of points from the team total. Let the drivers drive.

[Sidewaysbob]

the idea was to make things last longer so cutting the cost. Teams stopped making 40 odd gear boxes for a season and now make 5 or however many it is. It's about making things last longer, not just helping the smaller teams.

[John0]

Yeah, they should penalise the constructor, like docking a load of points from the team total. Let the drivers drive.

They touched on this briefly on Sky/BBC (can't remember) on the last race when Kimi had his. But I don't think you can separate drivers and constructors like that. They are bound together so tightly. Hamilton gets all the benefits of driving the fastest car on the grid at the moment thanks to his team. So when his team have to replace their gearbox for whatever reason, I think it's fair that he should also take the punishment with them.

[MrPogo]

the idea was to make things last longer so cutting the cost. Teams stopped making 40 odd gear boxes for a season and now make 5 or however many it is. It's about making things last longer, not just helping the smaller teams.

But isn't the point of cutting the costs to help those without infinite money be more competitive? No one envisaged it would make HRT win a championship, but it might mean Caterham beat Force India in a qualifying session because they've got a better car rather than because they could afford to run a brand new engine ragged in that session and then pop a new one in for the race, when their competitors need to try and make it last for he next two GP weekends.

[marsh]

Isn't the RRA the reason why teams like Marussia and HRT got into the sport? the same two teams that recently got a massive bollocking from redbull for getting in the way, who also said the RRA is for pussies and are spending all the money in the world to get back to the front of the grid.

[kiroquai]

LOLtus have lodged an official protest about the Merc rear wing. Things could be about to get messy...

[Dudley]

Yeah, they should penalise the constructor, like docking a load of points from the team total. Let the drivers drive.

You can't do that though, then a team could simply fit a 6l v12 turbo to the car and you'd let the driver keep the win.

The rules are there for the entrant, the driver is part of the entrant.

You might as well say you can't penalise the constructor for it either. After all it's not fair to penalise the front wing guy because a gearbox failed.

[Blu3Flame]

Looks like BBC get to show the live practises for the races they do have. Wasn't sure if they would or not.

[Dandy_Sephy]

LOLtus have lodged an official protest about the Merc rear wing. Things could be about to get messy...

It's absurd, given that FIA have stated twice at least that its perfectly legal, and Merc would have asked about it during design phase before pissing away money on basing their car around something that would have been banned. So rather than improve their own car, Lotus are seeking to 'remove' the competition by screwing with Mercedes and their season by underhanded tactics so they don't need to sort their own problems out. It's childish.

[kiroquai]

It's sadly also a really good way of them being able to find out how it works by having Merc have to explain it fully to them and the FIA.

From what I gather though it's not the kind of thing you can just shoehorn into your car - will need a big of a design rejig for anyone else to get the ducts running from back to front.

[kiroquai]

The whole point of Formula One down the years (and the thing I really enjoy) is how teams interpret rules and use their wording cleverly. It's clever people doing clever things to get around rules and regs.

The crux here, and one that the FIA have answered at least three times now, is whether or not Merc's system is a driver-controlled aero device, or a device that passively works when a legal driver-controlled device (DRS) has been actioned. Kind of a grey area, but it's a really clever system.

Shame about their optimal tyre wear being in a temperature window narrower than a gnat's knob, mind...

Nico Rosberg says his Mercedes team is not yet fully on top of the tyres issues that have hindered the outfit in the first two races of the season.

The German squad has shown promising pace in qualifying but has then struggled with tyre degradation in the races, where its pace has dropped significantly.

Although Rosberg says the team has a better understanding of the issues, he concedes there is still work to do.

"I'm sure we understand it a bit better, but in Malaysia it was a bit of a different issue to Australia, so it's two separate things," he said when asked by AUTOSPORT about the tyre situation. "We've learned, but it's not so easy. We don't fully understand all the issues yet, so it's really going to be step by step and trying to improve the situation."

The German driver believes Mercedes' situation has improved since the start of the season, and he reckons the team would have been better than in Australia had the Malaysian Grand Prix taken place in the dry and with more heat.

"We would have been better," he insisted. "In Melbourne we struggled a lot with the heat and we did a lot of things to improve that situation, so we would have looked better in Malaysia, but not up to our qualifying level."

Although Rosberg claimed the car has a lot of pace in qualifying trim, he reckons a strong grid position will not help much if it cannot get on top of its tyre problems.

"The car has the potential to be very, very quick in qualifying. Maybe a little bit more than we managed in the last races, but I wouldn't say we missed out on pole. With the pace that we have in the race, even if you are on pole, you are not going to win, so we need to work on the race pace."

[Nick_L]

It's really irritating when a team comes up with a new innovation, and all another team can do is try and get it banned rather than rising to the challenge of developing something similar.

F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport, and tech should play an important part in it, just as much as the driver (IMO of course)

[kiroquai]

News just in: protest officially rejected .

[mexos]

IN THE ASS.

[kiroquai]

Pretty much! Not been a good day for Lotus one way or another...

At least you and Meerman don't have to put up with this crap from RLLMUK Lotus

[Dandy_Sephy]

This is interesting

Brawn also stated that the system is not a new innovation and was initially passed two years ago.

"In 2010 Charlie stated such a system was legal. It's in the minutes of the Technical Working Group meetings," said Brawn.

"He stated his opinion then that he considered it legal, so it has not just been going on for three races, but for two years."

[myoozikk]

Thankfully the FIA has told Lotus where to go.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98736

edit: only 20mins late

[wev]

Meanwhile Williams have signed a new dev driver. And they're getting in on the "Woman = money" craze.

It's Susie Wolff (nee Stoddart) from DTM. A fact connected in no way to her marrying Williams director Toto Wolff last year according to Williams.

http://www.williamsf.../news/view/2105

I follow a lot of women drivers because it's the one sport in the world where they can really compete equally and I love Susie, she's a proper professional race driver, she's in the sport for the right reason, because she loves racing and she's damn good at it. (Bear in mind she's been an afterthought in a 2 year old car her whole DTM career and kicked the arse of all 3 women Audi hired).

What she's not is an F1 quality driver and it's sad to see her being used in this way."Excused from the process" my arse, she's there because of Toto, she's been in DTM for 5+ years, she was in single seaters for years before that and they didn't take any notice. 6 months after she gets married, straight in there.

That said she's more than capable of doing the test work they will ask of her. That said, so is Valtteri Bottas who will be entitled to ask why the hell he isn't in the car for the tiny, tiny amount of running they can do outside races now.

Is Toto related to Walter Wolf or is just a coincidence (I know, different spelling) considering Williams' history with that team?

[Dudley]

The different spelling is kinda important