Spare Parts (F1 odds and ends)

Mallya has confirmed Force India will drop the "India" from their name in due course. Currently it's likely to be "Force One" or Force Racing".

Not a fan of Force One, they'd go from FI to the F1 F1 team.

 

'FiFi' would match the colour scheme.

 

They'll always be Schwartz F1 to me.

 

Maybe they should go with something more iconic.

I dunno, 'Jordan' maybe?

 

Awaiting Moderation...

 

I'm guy that calls Kimi and is filming, surprised he turned around and acknowledged with a little wave. I thought I'd try as it was the closest I'd probably come to a driver in a lifetime. Sorry for the late post. This was at F1 live in London. The Youtube channel isn't mine although he/she asked for permission to post it off my social media.
I also got a wave off Bottas and a little wink from Sainz.

 

Kimi clearly reads not606 so knew who you were

 

Clearly . I thought it was worth a try... seems like he was in a good mood. Was expecting him to tell me to leave him alone.

 

Well he does know what he is doing.

 

*cough* Brazil 2012?

 

Excellent vid, EMSC. You did what so many seem afraid of. All racing drivers are humans. All that's needed is a prod and you've proved it.

 

I'm gonna be honest, I'm more interested in what happens during the post Hungary test days, will Kubica have the pace?

 

I think he'll be close enough on pace to enter the next critical stage: the political arena of marketability. In lieu of Kubica's history, this is likely to be a significant factor. I confess I'd previously written him off but now I see potential for his return. He's instinctively quick. If he can cope with the physical demands of a Grand Prix for its whole duration (no mean feat), I think he could be in with a realistic shout.

 

Sauber have realised that having a crap driver AND a crap engine isn't going to do them any favours next season, so have ditched the Honda idea.

 

Sauber have the ability to push up the grid, they just need to realise how much time a bad driver costs them. They could spend millions on a new floor that gains 0.3s, or spend millions on a good driver that gains them 0.5s.

 

yep, the trouble is that Ericsson's sponsors now own the team, and they ain't gonna drop him any time soon. I think someone implied that the reason Kaltenborn quit was because they wanted to favour Ericsson, and she wanted to favour someone who actually was an F1 driver, probably not far from the truth.

 

So Porsche is now bailing on WEC as well now, where does that leave the sport? A LMP1 category that realistically only contains Toyota? Given the boom it was going through just 2 years ago it seems to be all falling down for them. Everyone is bailing to Formula E, which will hopefully fix that as it really is pretty abysmal still.

Will WEC switch to being a GT car championship or do people think it can get the prototypes involved again? They could make LMP2 the main event, but a lot of those cars have spec parts don't they?

 

Without sounding like a dated, stuck in time moaner, I hope the strength of Formula E will free up Formula 1 to find its original identity.

It doesn't for me have to be the pinnacle of technology. But it should be the pinnacle of racing, in turn the most spectator friendly, with the absolute world best drivers.

 

WEC seems to go through these peaks and troughs quite badly, worse so than F1.

I think after the last collapse following the mass withdrawals of big manufacturers (McLaren F1 GTR, Porsche and Merc LM aeroplane's etc), it was taken back to basics as a GT car formula and then reinvented itself back into sportscars again. Seems the same is going to happen all over again. Whilst it would be easy for Toyota etc to carry on, without any competition the race wins become very hollow and they would soon leave as well.

Not sure what the money return is on LMP, but imagine the budgets are getting too big again to justify the returns?

 

I can understand the WEC to FE switch everyone seems to be making, even the hybrid regs in WEC aren't that green and forward-thinking these days. FE will grow, particularly with all the manufacturers joining, and the major complaints will be improved upon: More design freedom will improve the speed, and within 2 seasons the car swaps are ending.

Given the speed differential between LMP1 and LMP2 isn't that great, I think we'll see the series amalgamated into something closer to LMP2 regs, with perhaps enough freedom to try and tempt Toyota to stay - I suspect unsuccessfully.