Spare Parts (F1 odds and ends)

1996 was just mental.

 

Great days though.

when cars did crash, breakdown and otherwise have mental stuff happen.

now Monaco is a parade that the rich turn up to be seen but turn their backs on the parade while they party.

was it ever thus?

 

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I don’t wanna get too excited- but this special edition Monaco McLaren hat has appeared in the online merch sites.

Is the special livery we have all been waiting for finally coming?

 

Ferrari potentially going full Blue livery for Miami- their gear looks awesome - will try to get some photos

EDIT:

 

NEWEY TO LEAVE RED BULL!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cmm3v9ny78eo

"Red Bull design chief Adrian Newey is to leave the team in the wake of the controversy involving allegations about team principal Christian Horner.

Newey, regarded as the greatest Formula 1 designer in history, has told Red Bull he wants to move on, BBC Sport has learned.

The 65-year-old has been unsettled by the situation at Red Bull since Horner was accused of sexual harassment and coercive, abusive behaviour by a female employee, which Horner denies."

OK, it's Benson but let's go with it.

 

Red Bull choosing Horner over Newey has to be one of the all time mad decisions.

Not to mention that the Max rumours had only just started to quieten down and will now surely go into overdrive. The RBR house of cards could collapse very suddenly here

 

Seems like a German magazine broke the story and BBC have 'verified' it with someone close to Adrian!
I wonder if we will see the dominos fall now, i.e. didn't Max have a clause saying if Adrian left so could he?
The BBC article says Adrian believes he can negotiate out of his contract and enable him to work for a rival as soon as the 2024 season ends!
I bet Ferrari are throwing ££££ at him big time - own office in UK with support staff, private jets to factory etc......

I do wonder if Lewis has made a blindingly smart move again!
Ferrari could have a very good car by 2026.

 

Sky now reporting that Adrian has given his notice in:

It then goes on to say he has been unable to verify that Adrian's leaving and that if Red Bull push the contract he can't work for another team till 2027!

 

Newey to Ferrari could actually happen... Good grief!

 

Title no.8 is looking good for Lewis in red.

 

So as of 2026 we will see more electrical power from the PU and less fuel but moveable aero.
So massive change in aero regs and who is the most expert in aero? Adrian. So as long as Ferrari can get a semi decent PU they stand a very good chance of having a great car.
If this does happen then Lewis has made another great move.

 

Lewis doesn’t move without inside knowledge. It’s what got him to Merc in the first place. He has been tipped off about something, but not sure if it’s because Newey is going there, the Ferrari PU for 2026 is a beast in the dyno, or because he knew Red Bull was imploding and that that Merc are toast so Ferrari were the default option.

Time will tell.

 

If this was going to happen I didn’t expect it until 2026/7, but maybe the media are right that the politics at RedBull have contributed to the desire to go.

Is Ferrari, wishful thinking on people’s part, or is there anything to suggest that’s the way it’s going to go? Ferrari could throw loads of money his way, but comes with all the politics/travel negatives and I don’t think it necessarily has the same appeal on the engineering side that it does for drivers.

If he’s going somewhere, we know Aston made him an offer, it’s one last big project on the car side and a chance to continue the relationship with Honda. We also know Honda love Verstappen, so we could see a Schumacher-era-esque transplanting of talent to Aston to turn potential into results?

The other option that I see that, people haven’t mentioned is Merc - they need help on the car side and could throw as much money as anyone his way to bring them some experience in ground effect and lead what is undoubtedly a strong technical team out of the wilderness? We could similarly see Verstappen appear there and reforge his Merc links. That all feels less likely than Aston though.

The real outlier is Audi - they are throwing big money around, will have formed some relationship with Newey through the Porsche discussions, but they’ve probably go the furthest to go and have the travel aspect.

The other part we have to consider is why RedBull would let him out of his contract early - if they don’t he won’t be doing anything ‘til 27 and I don’t see what would induce them to hand another team that kind of advantage.

 

I think the fellow in the other Ferrari will have something to say about everyone assuming it’s Lewis that’ll be the title chaser…

 

He said back in september that he has an 'emotional regret' over not working with Hamilton, Alonso or Ferrari.
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/n...-alonso-in-f1-are-emotional-regrets/10525978/

 

I can see adding a championship with Ferrari to his already impressive list of accolades being a potential lure. But making Aston Martin winners could be a very tempting challenge too.

 

I don't think anyone is making any assumptions on that.

 

hmm…

So now I’ve had a chance to look into this - it all seems to stem back to Auto Motor und Sport, which I think has to cast a load of doubt on how accurate all of this is.

 

Being reported in Autosport too and they are usually fairly cautious abot their sources imo.

 

I know it’s everywhere (including sources I trust, but Autosport is pretty rubbish nowadays imo) - so someone’s verified something behind this, but it might not be exactly what it seems.