FWIW Alonso is not retiring, he won't be in F1 2019. More than one way to read that.

I'm not so sure Kimi leaves Ferrari after this season, his form has improved quite a bit the last few races.
If he stays, I think Leclerc likely stays at Sauber or moves to HAAS.

Well, now we know why Sainz won't go to Red Bull. He's going to McLaren as Alonso's replacement.

Oh - so when the drivers defer/deflect/dodge decisions on the team's timeline, using the same methods and tactics the teams do ALL the time, it's somehow unreasonable.

Marko is a twit, and glad to see DannyRic getting proper pay if that indeed was part of the deal. And of course he doesn't believe in the Honda project, it's been an epic cluster for years now no matter what fancy facilities and endless money they have.

See Toyota Racing

quote:

Speaking to Austrian broadcaster Servus TV, Helmut Marko reveals that he was as shocked as anyone.

"I don't understand it," he admitted. "It was a very strange situation. The negotiations were difficult but on Wednesday before the Austrian Grand Prix we were talking for two hours and came to an agreement. During the weekend, we were talking and renegotiating again.

"In Hungary, he told Mr Mateschitz and me that he was OK with everything and that he was going to sign during the test on Tuesday," he continued. "But he didn't. On Thursday, he called and told me he was going to Renault.

"I can only assume that maybe he doesn't believe in the Honda project or that Renault offered him a lot of money," added the Austrian.

Thank goodness we can get back to racing this weekend!

The closest Honda will come to a championship will be when Ross Brawn bought the team on March 9, 2009 for $1 and was handed the keys to the building, all the contents and was wired $100 million, and subsequently renamed the team Brawn GP.

If you ever wondered how or why Brawn landed with Mercedes, it was because it was the only engine that fit the prebuilt engine bay, and it was originally a 1 year only deal. When they won the constructors championship, Mercedes felt like they had to renew the deal, and began consideration of buying the team.

My thoughts are Ricciardo fights as much as he can in the Renault works team until a Mercedes or Ferrari seat opens up; and I think that's unlikely to be Ferrari while Vettel is there.

With the engine regs changing in a couple years, maybe Renault gets a chance to make a leap in performance.

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
If you ever wondered how or why Brawn landed with Mercedes, it was because it was the only engine that fit the prebuilt engine bay, and it was originally a 1 year only deal. When they won the constructors championship, Mercedes felt like they had to renew the deal, and began consideration of buying the team.

If I recall correctly, they said that they had to basically cut off the last 6 inches of the chassis to allow the Mercedes engine to fit.

As I also recall, it is speculated that if Honda had stayed in for the 2009 season, they would have decimated everyone with the RA109 chassis, which apparently R&D in Japan continued to work on for much longer than Honda knew....

quote:

Originally posted by quattro_joe:


If I recall correctly, they said that they had to basically cut off the last 6 inches of the chassis to allow the Mercedes engine to fit.

As I also recall, it is speculated that if Honda had stayed in for the 2009 season, they would have decimated everyone with the RA109 chassis, which apparently R&D in Japan continued to work on for much longer than Honda knew....

There is no doubt that the chassis was, for lack of a better term, superb. It was in the same interview where Ross Brawn was asked about buying the team that he said Honda had worked on the chassis until the last day in February 2009 (expecting a sale to Prodrive). When that didn't happen, the sale to Ross Brawn and Nick Fry was finalized, and they officially left the sport.

Honda's 2008 engine was indeed long but also wide (this was a result of Honda's attempt to incorporate a KERs unit. The Ferrari and Renault engine would not fit in the predesigned engine bay, and Toyota was not letting their engine. For more on Honda's mind boggling engineering of their 2009 engine (which never came to be), see this page: https://support.hp.com/sg-en/document/c06066476

Keep in mind, in their last two full seasons, Honda (engines) had scored exactly 24 points, and Toyota with their one team (engines) scored a whopping 69. Honda's engine started to have issues when the engine restrictions required them to start using 5.75% alcohol in the engine and capped the RPM's (19,000 then ultimately 18,000). In 2006 they were a respectable 4th in the championship (won a race, and was on the podium twice). Then F1 tweaked the engine regs, and it came apart like cheap suit.

For example, in 2008 (their last year) they engine was considered down by 120 HP (when the Ferrari was estimated to have 780) or 15.6%. Honda had blown almost $90 million on redeveloping their engine (which supposedly started during the 2007 campaign), and the economy in Japan was far worse than it had come in the US by Feb 2009, and they ran out of money to spend on a pet project. They had been considering a sale for most of 2008, from what I read up on the team.

That was part of the reason they literally threw the keys at Brawn and yelled "no backsies" as they sped off. Brawn has confirmed that the engine technology Honda was working on for the 2009 car was not part of the property transfer.

The NSX 2nd Gen was originally announced in December 2007 before the economy tanked, and was mothballed in 2008. Commercials, auto show info, and mock ups started showing up in April 2011, and it was announced it had been in the works since 2010. From what I have read, most of that tech found it's way into the new NSX, and those same engineers went from Honda F1 performance to the HSV-GT project, then made their way to the NSX project in 2010. So, in some neat symmetry, the unseen 2009 engine technology lives on in the NSX, which was in part made to honor Ayrton Senna, who was a technically a test and R&D driver of the original.

With that said, I have seen Rick Hendrick drive NSX #001 around Charlotte exactly once.

quote:

see this page: https://support.hp.com/sg-en/document/c06066476

Ummmmmm, that's an HP PC support page there buddy.

The real key to the Brawn success, besides installing the Mercedes engine, was their double diffuser that took advantage of a loophole in the rules. I think Williams and Toyota were the only other teams to see this opportunity. Brawn seemed to do a better job developing the concept.

Force India renamed to Racing Point Force India

Considered a mid-season entry & lose all of their 59 points.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

Force India renamed to Racing Point Force India

Considered a mid-season entry & lose all of their 59 points.

Are they going to drop the pink paint job on their cars?

quote:

Originally posted by PD:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

Force India renamed to Racing Point Force India

Considered a mid-season entry & lose all of their 59 points.

Are they going to drop the pink paint job on their cars?

I imagine as long as BWT is a primary sponsor, the pink stays.

Saw a comment on another forum, wondering if the original SFI team remains & holds the 59 points, while RPFI is a mid-season entry with no points.

Or, does SFI dissolve & those points (and the related constructor $$ payout) just go away?

quote:

Originally posted by Georgeair:

quote:

see this page: https://support.hp.com/sg-en/document/c06066476

Ummmmmm, that's an HP PC support page there buddy.

Try this - http://www.racecar-engineering...t-f1-car-revealed/3/

Not sure how that happened.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

quote:

Originally posted by PD:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

Force India renamed to Racing Point Force India

Considered a mid-season entry & lose all of their 59 points.

Are they going to drop the pink paint job on their cars?

I imagine as long as BWT is a primary sponsor, the pink stays.

Saw a comment on another forum, wondering if the original SFI team remains & holds the 59 points, while RPFI is a mid-season entry with no points.

Or, does SFI dissolve & those points (and the related constructor $$ payout) just go away?

In reading the telegraph website, it sounds as if Force India lost the points because they entered administration, not because of the name change. They changed their name, and will be allowed to accumulate points under a new ownership group in order to get as many as possible to climb the ladder for next years payout. I think they can get by STR, Williams and Sauber if they play it right, and don't wreck each other.

On a different front, Danny Ric confirmed he left Red Bull for money, a better seat, and parity. Nice way to tell Dr Helmut Head to fuck himself! Red Bull supposedly offered Ricciardo $12MM pounds for only a 2 year deal ($15.4MM USD/ year). He signed a 2 year deal paying him $18MM euro with Renault (French Team remember) or $20.7MM USD/ year. This is quite the upgrade from his last three year deal with Red Bull, rumored to have been $8MM pounds/ year ($10.25MM USD/ year).

While driver salaries are not always made public, it is assumed this puts Ricciardo in the top five for 2019, behind Hamster ($40MM), Vettel ($30MM), Verstappen ($25MM). Alonso's 2018 salary was rumored to be ~$20MM, and Bottas is rumored to have signed an extension to his $15MM pound ($19MM USD/year) contract in June - assumed to be the same amount.

They are going to get to keep the money but not the points.
Another story has it likely that Stroll may be heading to FI before season end and Perez is almost signed for next year. That would put Ocon out. Stroll will have nowhere to hide if that's the case.
Got to respect the operations management of this underfunded team that has had constant turmoil for a few years. Fernley has left but they have really coped well with everything that's been thrown at them.
Maybe Fernley can end up at McLaren and help turn things around there.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
They are going to get to keep the money but not the points.
Another story has it likely that Stroll may be heading to FI before season end and Perez is almost signed for next year. That would put Ocon out. Stroll will have nowhere to hide if that's the case.
Got to respect the operations management of this underfunded team that has had constant turmoil for a few years. Fernley has left but they have really coped well with everything that's been thrown at them.
Maybe Fernley can end up at McLaren and help turn things around there.

Definitely a complex situation.
RPFI is coming in as a new team with 0 points, but is retaining the PU component utilization from SFI.
RPFI is a temporary name to get through the 2018 season, as the team & chassis must share the name & the chassis cannot be renamed mid-season. New team name to debut in 2019.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
They are going to get to keep the money but not the points.
Another story has it likely that Stroll may be heading to FI before season end and Perez is almost signed for next year. That would put Ocon out. Stroll will have nowhere to hide if that's the case.
Got to respect the operations management of this underfunded team that has had constant turmoil for a few years. Fernley has left but they have really coped well with everything that's been thrown at them.
Maybe Fernley can end up at McLaren and help turn things around there.

Otmar was just interviewed during Spa qualifying, and said that they will continue to receive their 2018 money earned in 2017, but their earnings for 2019 have been reset, and their points (which determine earnings for 2019) have been reset. They figure that the next several races will allow them to accumulate points and climb the standings.

Well, that was a wild Q3.