F1 Testing 2014: Week 2 Bahrain

do mclaren have a title sponsor yet?

dare i suggest they are running a bit lighter fuel for better times to try and attract someone?
 
Why would McLaren, one of the biggest names in motor racing, need to run light to attract sponsors? It's not like they're some poky little outfit struggling to pay the bills. They've had one year without a race-winning car.

If they don't have a main sponsor for this season, I suspect it's by choice. Perhaps their 2015 engine partner wants the space?
 
They've already said, they have more money this year, than last even without a sponsor.

Also haven't they done long runs, meaning they can't be running light,


Anyone got time break downs and length if runs.
 
Yeah, I get the feeling that unless they already have something in place like Williams which will be revealed in full nearer to Melbourne, then they aren't going to bother this year and will be just be "Mclaren Mercedes".

2015 when Honda are on board and they fully revise their branding might be a better opportunity.

Edit - actually, some of their 2014 clothing and merchandise has already been shown or put on sale, so I doubt they would announce a title sponsor after all that has been designed as they'd want it on their products.
 
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That's a good point, a main sponsor title wouldn't want a 1 year deal(or at least not for decent money). so perhaps, Honda will be a big sponsor in 2015.
 
I am quietly happy with Ferrari's progress so far, I'm really hoping we develop better than we did last year.
 
dannyjo22 said:
Not sure why everyone seems so happy with unreliability, is anyone actually going to be happier with the best drivers losing a title because the cars fall apart anymore than they were happy with Vettel winning because they considered he had a car 0.75 faster than the rest of the grid.

The only thing I have liked from the last 6 years is the reliability, making it far less likely that a driver will lose a title being the fastest but having a car that's fragile.

My ideal scenario is Vettel had a car of the same pace as Mclaren or Mercedes or Ferrari or whoever and he had to prove his the fastest in the world. It will be so hollow to have him finish 8 races of the season. It would prove nothing again.
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Well it's a team (motor)sport with the constructors championship meaning much than the drivers' championship, which is more of a side show that too many people get hung up about.

The rule changes and reliability highlight the team aspect a little more.

Obviously in an ideal world we'd see more the teams and drivers performance quite close to each other so we'd get more varied results.
 
ci_newman said:
That's pretty irrelevant, they'd just charter their own flight
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Really? The smaller teams can afford to do that? I know that DHL has a contract with F1, can they all just use them? I'm sure DHL wouldn't be too chuffed with running a load of flights to cater for spare parts being flown out ever couple of hours (worst case scenario).

Surely there is more cost involved by testing out there instead of Europe where all the teams are based.
 
dannyjo22 said:
Not sure why everyone seems so happy with unreliability, is anyone actually going to be happier with the best drivers losing a title because the cars fall apart anymore than they were happy with Vettel winning because they considered he had a car 0.75 faster than the rest of the grid.

The only thing I have liked from the last 6 years is the reliability, making it far less likely that a driver will lose a title being the fastest but having a car that's fragile.

My ideal scenario is Vettel had a car of the same pace as Mclaren or Mercedes or Ferrari or whoever and he had to prove his the fastest in the world. It will be so hollow to have him finish 8 races of the season. It would prove nothing again.
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As with so much in sport - it comes down to who you support and who's benefiting/suffering from the unreliability.

In 2012 Hamilton had the pace to challenge, if not beat, Vettel but through car unreliability and team mistakes he lost out on a bucket load of points.

From a Hamilton fan's perspective, no I do not like unreliability.

However, if the shoe had been on the other foot I would have been very happy about it. :p
 
Good to see the McLaren with Magnussen has done a very quick lap of 1m34.910 (2013 qualifying fastest was 1m32.330, 2.6 seconds slower).

It will be very interesting how quick the cars are going to be by the end of the third test, it's looking like we'll be up to 2013 speeds nearly straight away at this rate.

I'm rather looking forward to my trip to Australia in just less than 2 weeks :cool: :D
 
leaskovski said:
Really? The smaller teams can afford to do that? I know that DHL has a contract with F1, can they all just use them? I'm sure DHL wouldn't be too chuffed with running a load of flights to cater for spare parts being flown out ever couple of hours (worst case scenario).

Surely there is more cost involved by testing out there instead of Europe where all the teams are based.
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I'm sure worst case scenario is a private jet for anything smaller than a whole chassis, even if it belongs to the teams owner :D
 
Most parts are small and light enough to go on as carry-on luggage, or at least go in the hold. Plenty of stories of dogsbody engineers being sent out overnight with new front wings and bits of carbon fibre.

You'll probably find that the best organised teams will block hold seats on flights just in case any urgent factory jet-ins are needed.
 
For reference, the Dane's 1m34.910s is 2s quicker than last year's fastest race lap in the Bahrain GP.
 
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