Motorsport Off Topic Thread

Two things are needed if the grid is to expand. 1) the entries need to be competent at a basic engineering level and 2) there needs to be a change in the commercial arrangements. If the FIA and FOM decide extra teams are warranted then they need to pay them all, not just the top 10 teams. Without the same guarantee of TV funding then new teams can't invest, grow and challenge the establishment. All that happens is the teams stumble along until their sugar daddy pulls the plug and were back to where we are now.
 
rpstewart said:
Two things are needed if the grid is to expand. 1) the entries need to be competent at a basic engineering level and 2) there needs to be a change in the commercial arrangements. If the FIA and FOM decide extra teams are warranted then they need to pay them all, not just the top 10 teams. Without the same guarantee of TV funding then new teams can't invest, grow and challenge the establishment. All that happens is the teams stumble along until their sugar daddy pulls the plug and were back to where we are now.
Click to expand...

And a cap of £160 mil in place for 2015.
 
Guerrilla said:
According to reports in the Italian media, Formula One could have not one, but two new teams on the grid in 2015.

Hopefully, if true, they will ensure they could actually end up being stable and competitive teams first and foremost... Not sure that will even be considered though.
Click to expand...

Hopefully yes. Last time the budget cap idea was scrapped so can't blame the new entrants who were expecting (maybe unrealistically) for all teams to be spending $40m or whatever it was.
 
Even with the money and pay drivers put to one side, there is also a problem with the fact that driving super aggressively seems to have become the norm in GP2 and GP3.

It is very rarely punished even when it is malicious and there is no proper advancement in place so drivers feel they have to prove themselves by spectacular driving to get the attention of bigger teams... Which isn't the case, doesn't seem to matter where they finish in the table or what skills they show during the season :( They don't really ever have a reason to drive conservatively which is odd seeing as that is a lot of F1 racing at the moment.

We have seen some drivers with that driving style in F1 and sometimes it is encouraged (Kobayashi) and sometimes it isn't (Perez... Was going to mention Maldonado but often he just drives like a donkey and is more case in point to the money > talent :p).
 
I should add that those K&N cars are 1495kg with 650hp, so they handle awkwardly on non-ovals :p

Guerrilla said:
Even with the money and pay drivers put to one side, there is also a problem with the fact that driving super aggressively seems to have become the norm in GP2 and GP3.
Click to expand...

The races are quite short (again, unlike Nascar), so there's a lot of incentive for a driver who qualified in the back to try a dive bomb move into the first corner.

Guerrilla said:
It is very rarely punished even when it is malicious and there is no proper advancement in place so drivers feel they have to prove themselves by spectacular driving to get the attention of bigger teams... Which isn't the case, doesn't seem to matter where they finish in the table or what skills they show during the season :( They don't really ever have a reason to drive conservatively which is odd seeing as that is a lot of F1 racing at the moment.
Click to expand...

The GP2 results have been somewhat skewed by the Pirelli tyres and the strategies resulting from them (case in point: Max Chilton). That said, it doesn't look like any of the GP2 top 5 from 2013 will be in F1 (unless Nasr buys himself the third driver position at Williams). Kvyat will be moving up from GP3, but Daly and Harvey are set towards Indycar. Ellinas has been racing in India lately. Regalia has enough money for half a GP2 season.

Guerrilla said:
We have seen some drivers with that driving style in F1 and sometimes it is encouraged (Kobayashi) and sometimes it isn't (Perez... Was going to mention Maldonado but often he just drives like a donkey and is more case in point to the money > talent :p).
Click to expand...

Kobayashi won't have anyone to pass in a Caterham ;) we'll see if Perez and Maldonado settle down this year.
 
In an ideal world it would be all about the racing, but unfortunately I don't think ti ever will be :(

Still just have to hope some talent makes it through :)


In other news... (wasn't sure which thread to post it in so i'll put it here...)

Simona de Silvestro joins Sauber as 'affiliated driver'

Not entirely sure what 'affiliated driver' will mean in the long run but it's obviously enough of a shot for her to focus all of her time on the chance of getting into F1.
 
Last edited:
Indy500 said:
Sounds familiar...didn't they say that about Sergey Sirotkin? In any case it explains why De Silvestro didn't sign to continue driving in Indycar.
Click to expand...

Not sure what Sirotkin's official title is, maybe Test Driver, with van der Garde being reserve I think... They have quite a few drivers on their books at the moment :p

It's a shame in some ways thought she had a decent season in Indycar last year, hopefully something actually comes of this for her and it doesn't fizzle out to nothing... Will be interesting to see how she stacks up against Sirotkin and vdG and also Gutierrez and Sutil if they can manage to get them all some car time some how.
 
Guerrilla said:
Not sure what Sirotkin's official title is, maybe Test Driver, with van der Garde being reserve I think... They have quite a few drivers on their books at the moment :p
Click to expand...

All of them bringing money. Sutil: Medion, Capri Sun; Gutierrez: Telmex, Claro; van der Garde: MacGregor. Sirotkin reportedly had that Russian consortium.
 
Jann Mardenborough - who was the winner of the GT Academy a couple of years back - has landed himself a drive in GP3 with Arden, and is now part of the Red Bull development programme. It's not just publicity either, he's been racing F3 in New Zealand and won a few races on his way to second in the championship, and also has 2 podiums at Le Mans.

Definitely one to watch.

*edit*
Forgot the link - http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=3b7e85c6366c81b77d50b7b35&id=fd4e1c1b5d
 
Last edited:
Spunkey said:
Jann Mardenborough - who was the winner of the GT Academy a couple of years back - has landed himself a drive in GP3 with Arden, and is now part of the Red Bull development programme.
Click to expand...

Mardenborough's 2013 season was pretty lacklustre (21st in European F3), I was beginning to wonder if his sponsorship would disappear. Good news for him. F1 hasn't been accessible to British talent lately, especially given that James Calado was dropped by Force India and Jack Harvey is off to Indy Lights. Alex Lynn will also be in GP3 of course, but I'm sure Red Bull will focus on the driver that delivers the best results.

Spunkey said:
It's not just publicity either, he's been racing F3 in New Zealand and won a few races on his way to second in the championship, and also has 2 podiums at Le Mans.
Click to expand...

Actually, it's the Toyota Racing Series (a winter championship that's quite popular with the European crowd) using FR2.0 cars with more powerful engines. Regardless, he did well - only lost the title by 4 points at the last race. Hopefully his good form continues, because RB tend to drop you if you're aren't competing for titles (unless your name is Carlos Sainz, that is).
 
Is going to 3 races in 1 season greedy? Went back to my parents at the weekend and they asked if I wanted to go to Spa with them again.

I said I'd see how the season pans out, and if it looks like an interesting exciting race to go to I might tag along.
 
Well you're more fortunate than most of us Skeeter :p I have to make do with watching motorsport on TV or after the fact on the series' youtube channel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom