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The Motorsport Thread (Part 2)

Started by Ambient Sheep, November 12, 2014, 03:44:05 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

petril

Quote from: Wonderful Butternut on May 12, 2020, 10:08:53 AM
They've not really had their shit together since Schumacher left. Raikkonen only won it in 2007 because McLaren committed seppuku with the management of their drivers.

They didn't really have their shit together before either. Mansell left and won a title elsewhere, Prost came in as a multi champion, all hell broke lose, he ended up sacked, then ended up winning a title elsewhere(same place as Mansell.) Before The Michael there was a long long spell which is the explanation for their iconic numbers of 27 and 28 - they won fuck all and were a bit of a shitshow

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Done a considerably better job than McLaren from about 2013 onwards.


Shoulders?-Stomach!

Sainz in at Ferrari

Ricciardo to McLaren of all places. Wot a waysta


https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52627900


Ambient Sheep

Maybe.


Anyway, came here to share this little snippet, casually dropped into an "Alonso to Renault?" article, ironically enough:

QuoteBBC Sport has learned Vettel was never offered a new contract after discussing the team's future plans with team boss Mattia Binotto.

(From https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52682505)

Wow.

That sounds more incendiary than it really is. Why would you offer a contract to someone you couldn't agree terms with?

Ambient Sheep

After I posted I did wonder if actually that's all it was.

But then Andrew Benson isn't normally known for sensationalism, so it's a bit confusing.

Blumf

I wonder how well Leclerc can keep it up. He's definitely a good driver, but I think we've seen drivers come into F1, have a few good seasons, then just run out of puff for various reasons.

Alberon

Vettel did seem broken the last season or two so I can see the logic in not making a serious offer and focusing on Leclerc. Now the youngster has the weight of expectation on him it'll be interesting to see how he does.

Blumf

Fuckin' Audi drivers!

https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/26/21270503/audi-drops-formula-e-daniel-abt-esports-racing-ringer-scandal
QuoteAudi has dropped driver Daniel Abt in the all-electric racing series Formula E after he had a pro sim driver surreptitiously race for him during a virtual competition over the weekend. He has also been told to pay €10,000 to charity as a result.

Abt said Tuesday that he thought the idea would be funny and that he had planned to release a video about the whole ruse.

...

Abt explains in the video that he had viewed these races more as entertainment for the fans and less as serious competition. As a result, Abt says he thought it would be a "funny move if a sim racer" drove for him, according to the English subtitles. "We wanted to document it and create a funny story for the fans with it."

Can't say I've been arsed about any of these virtual races, nice idea though they are.

Wonderful Butternut

As a sim-racer, that's the most ridiculous BS reason for sacking a driver I've ever heard. It's just a game.

I can only assume Audi already had some issues with Abt, or maybe the fact that he's not actually that good and Audi, having recently ended their DTM programme, might have better drivers available, and this has given them an excuse to boot him.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52847040

Gutted. :(

Financial issues aside, they squandered opportunities to return to being a fully competitive team in the last 20 years.

Some poor cars at the worst possible times 98,99, 2000. 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018. Setbacks every time progress was required.

Duff drivers. Zanardi, Nakajima. Having Maldonado (crash) and Senna (slow) as drivers during an unexpectedly competitive season cost them several podiums alone. Won't get on to Sirotkin and Kubica as they were definitely corporate arrangements. Nice guy castoffs like Massa and Barrichello who didn't maximise potential results.

They missed a couple of opportunities for race wins during the recent Martini era too through a lack of risk taking (Canada sticks out where Massa unnecessarily pitted for tyres).

It all started from the end of 97 though, a serious step back from utter supremacy, which they never ever really recovered from.

Can count the highlights of latter era Williams very quickly. Montoya and Ralf Schumacher's fleeting title challenge, Rosberg's one off drives, Maldonado's win, and a brief return to near the front with Bottas and Massa restoring honour but really proving a false dawn.

Williams feel like they've been on borrowed time forever. That slow, painful circling of the drain like Lotus and Tyrrell before them.

Quote from: Wonderful Butternut on May 27, 2020, 08:59:35 PM
As a sim-racer, that's the most ridiculous BS reason for sacking a driver I've ever heard. It's just a game.

I can only assume Audi already had some issues with Abt, or maybe the fact that he's not actually that good and Audi, having recently ended their DTM programme, might have better drivers available, and this has given them an excuse to boot him.

It's just a game, but he was still representing Audi on official duty at a Formula E-organised event. He was being paid to take part. It'd be like sending an imposter to an autograph signing or bunking off a press conference or flipping a car on a VIP demo run.

Every manufacturer is looking for an excuse to get rid of underperforming drivers in this financial climate and he handed Audi one on a plate.

I don't really buy his excuse either. The "prank" only really works if a sim racer is revealed to be a real racing driver, not the other way around.

Blumf

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on May 29, 2020, 12:06:23 PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52847040

Gutted. :(

Aww!

But you're right, they just never got their shit together after the 90s, and it was more than bad luck alone.

Wonderful Butternut

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on May 29, 2020, 12:06:23 PM
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52847040

Gutted. :(

Financial issues aside, they squandered opportunities to return to being a fully competitive team in the last 20 years.

Some poor cars at the worst possible times 98,99, 2000. 2008, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018. Setbacks every time progress was required.

Duff drivers. Zanardi, Nakajima. Having Maldonado (crash) and Senna (slow) as drivers during an unexpectedly competitive season cost them several podiums alone. Won't get on to Sirotkin and Kubica as they were definitely corporate arrangements. Nice guy castoffs like Massa and Barrichello who didn't maximise potential results.

They missed a couple of opportunities for race wins during the recent Martini era too through a lack of risk taking (Canada sticks out where Massa unnecessarily pitted for tyres).

It all started from the end of 97 though, a serious step back from utter supremacy, which they never ever really recovered from.

Can count the highlights of latter era Williams very quickly. Montoya and Ralf Schumacher's fleeting title challenge, Rosberg's one off drives, Maldonado's win, and a brief return to near the front with Bottas and Massa restoring honour but really proving a false dawn.

Obviously it's nearly impossible for privateers in F1 and Williams are the only team left who are solely an F1 team with no road car manufacturer (or purveyor of liquified sugar) in some way involved. Even McLaren have McLaren Applied producing standardised ECUs for F1 and NASCAR, and their road car arm. At the same time, though, this isn't HRT, Caterham, Minardi, or even Jordan. It's the third most successful constructor in the history of the sport after Ferrari & McLaren. I guess I always hoped that would somehow make things different for them.
But as Huxley says, this was ultimately the end game for Tyrell and Lotus,[nb]On that subject, Herbert reckons he'd have won the 1994 Italian GP for Lotus due to their upgraded car and engine (he qualified 4th) if Irvine hadn't demolished him on the first lap. Might have saved the team.[/nb] and all their history and previous championships didn't save them. They've sold off most of the race winning cars they retained and have mortgaged their factory, so they are basically fucked at this point without a buyer.

Hopefully with the cost cap making it a little bit clearer on how much being competitive will set you back, they'll get one who'll keep the name.

Quote from: Huxleys Babkins on May 29, 2020, 12:42:15 PM
Every manufacturer is looking for an excuse to get rid of underperforming drivers in this financial climate and he handed Audi one on a plate.

Yeah, as I said, I think this had a little more to it than just the cheating at the sim race. Either something else going on behind the scenes, or an excuse to boot him cos he's not actually that good.

buzby

Quote from: Huxleys Babkins on May 29, 2020, 12:42:15 PM
Every manufacturer is looking for an excuse to get rid of underperforming drivers in this financial climate and he handed Audi one on a plate.
It's slighly more complicated in that Abt Sportsline (run by Daniel's dad Hans-Jurgen and uncle Christian, an ex-Audi DTM driver) are VAG's official tuning partner and run a large chunk of the Audi factory racing effort (they run Audi's Formula E programme, for instance).

Quote from: buzby on May 29, 2020, 02:04:49 PM
It's slighly more complicated in that Abt Sportsline (run by Daniel's dad Hans-Jurgen and uncle Christian, an ex-Audi DTM driver) are VAG's official tuning partner and run a large chunk of the Audi factory racing effort (they run Audi's Formula E programme, for instance).

Indeed, but only slightly more complicated. The presence of six soon to be out of work DTM drivers and two teams that could potentially be drafted in to run the FE effort probably helped focus minds. We're quite some way removed from season 1 where Audi were merely sponsoring a private Abt entry.

Bently Sheds

So the British GP is going ahead then, if the latest Coronavirus Briefing is to be believed...

Shoulders?-Stomach!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52462003

Pissed it with about 7 minutes left on the clock. Rubbish at anagrams so only got 1 of the answers via working out the anagrams.

Some of the Sporcle F1 quizzes are pretty tough though.


Wonderful Butternut

4 minutes left. In my defence it took me quite a while to get it to accept Ralf Schumacher. Did it make you type him in as "Ralph Schumacher" even though that's not how his name is spelled?

Bently Sheds

Quote from: Wonderful Butternut on June 06, 2020, 01:48:15 PM
4 minutes left. In my defence it took me quite a while to get it to accept Ralf Schumacher. Did it make you type him in as "Ralph Schumacher" even though that's not how his name is spelled?
I think I typed Ralf Schumacher in about 20 times before I remembered this post.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

I typed Schumacher and it filled both in. Also tried Ralf Schumacher and it wouldn't accept. Ralf Schumacher summed up there.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

It was more fun doing that than reading the comments under a news article about Lewis Hamilton's latest public statements on US policing/racism on a motorsport site.

You can tell the middle aged racists from the teenage racists as they use 'coloured' while trying not to be racist.

Bently Sheds

Loud howls of disgust from racists on Twitter now as Mercedes reveal their black car and make a statement about standing against racism.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

F1 has a really horrible fan base doesn't it? Racing really seems to attract rightwingers.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Can anyone envisage Raikkonen taking a knee?

earl_sleek

"Kimi, do you have any opinions about Black Loves Matter?"
"No."
"Will you take a knee?"
"I don't know what this is".
"It's about black people having the same rights as white people."
"Well, Lewis win many races."
"Thanks Kimi."
"OK."

Ambient Sheep

Turns out the "Ferrari didn't offer Vettel a contract" thing really was as it appeared, and wasn't some kind of clever wordplay because they couldn't agree terms:

QuoteSebastian Vettel says he did not expect Ferrari's decision not to keep him after this season.

It emerged after Ferrari announced the German would leave that he had never been offered a new contract.

The four-time world champion, who turns 33 on Friday, said: "It was obviously a surprise to me when I got the call and Mattia [Binotto, Ferrari team boss] told me there was no intention from the team to continue.

"We never got into any discussions."

He added: "There was never an offer on the table and therefore there was no sticking point."

(From https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/53271660)

Yeah, the wording before made it seem like they couldn't come to terms. Now it appears they didn't even hold discussions. They just wanted him gone. Harsh.

Apparently, Alonso is set to return with Renault next year, leaving Aston Martin as Vettel's only realistic option for staying in F1.

Ambient Sheep

Andrew Benson has just reported on 5 Live Sport Extra that in the Team Principals' Press Conference between FP1 and FP2, Mattia Binotto was asked what changed between the car launch in February (when he gave Vettel his full confidence for the future) and May (when he sacked him).

His answer was "Coronavirus.  Coronavirus changed everything."  Which to me, says "too expensive in the current climate"... or just a convenient excuse.


Quote from: Huxleys Babkins on July 03, 2020, 12:08:46 PMApparently, Alonso is set to return with Renault next year...

I keep hearing about Alonso to Renault, but Cyril appears to have outright denied it a day or two ago:

https://www.grandprix.com/news/abiteboul-hints-vettel-bottas-options-for-2021.html

QuoteCyril Abiteboul is playing down hopes that Fernando Alonso might return to Formula 1 with Renault in 2021.

The team boss issued a firm "no" when asked by France's L'Equipe about the Spaniard's candidature for the seat set to be vacated by Daniel Ricciardo.

Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel, however, are still options.

"The team needs an experienced driver who is capable of carrying out the project and above all with great motivation," Abiteboul said. "We want someone to commit to us."

but then later on in the same article:

QuoteTold that a driver like Alonso may not wait until December, Abiteboul insisted: "It's not just Fernando on that list."

so it's rather ambiguous really.

And I wouldn't put it past Cyril to tell porkies.


Quote from: Huxleys Babkins on July 03, 2020, 12:08:46 PM...leaving Aston Martin as Vettel's only realistic option for staying in F1.

Yeah, I heard some speculation that if Aston Martin do end up going full "works" with a new Andy Cowell (ex-Mercedes) designed engine and perhaps Toto taking over as team principal, they might install Vettel next to Stroll.

Would all seem too far down the road for him though.


Having said that, even the pink Mercedes (or "Tracing Point" as Jolyon Palmer called it in FP1) is really going great guns at the moment.