Motorsport Off Topic Thread

There is no stance on that from the team yet. Post Spa is anyone guess at the moment, I doubt the team even know.

Tempted to start a whip round to see if I can get a bit of cash together and buy a drive :).
 
Lotterer does have ties to the team, and it is considered something of a home circuit for him, so a one race deal for some cash, or extra media/sponsor attention could be interesting. The Caterham is a dog anyway, so not sure anyone could drag it into the points this weekend, so perhaps they are just saying they have nothing to lose whoever they put in the seat!!
I would honestly hate to be Ericcson this weekend. I can only imagine the fall-out if Lotterer manages to get close to him, or god forbid, out-qualify/finish ahead of him! I wonder how much his sponsorship cash would protect him after that!
 
Here we go...finally McLaren look like they are waking up.
Alonso to McLaren...maybe.

Or even Vettel to McLaren.

If it happens and Alonso or Vettel get everything they demand (including a No.1 / No.2 driver pairing), providing Honda can provide a good engine, McLaren could win in 2015.

The problem they have is that Honda is an unknown quantity and what happens if Honda arrive with the weakest of all the engines?
They are taking risks but in hiring Alonso, they will be making it very clear to their employees that coasting and treading water is no longer acceptable.

Its a shame because I think if McLaren has stuck with Merc as an engine supplier, I'd put money on McLaren winning races in 2015. But the Honda power unit is a huge gamble.

Can someone explain to me why McLaren are ditching the most powerful engine in F1, for an untested engine?
 
And the Honda deal was done well before the 2014 engines we're run too. Hardly fair to say they willingly threw away the best engine.

The Honda deal is a factory tie up, like they used to have with Mercedes in the 00s. Mercedes are also not keen on supplying a rival car manufacturer.

And the Honda engines are free, while Mercedes engines are not any more.
 
They are paying this year. They might have even paid last year too but I'm not sure. They are simply a customer now, in the same way Force India and Williams are.
 
Honda are a year behind and will have a single car running the engine in testing. It will take a miracle for Honda to be competitive in 2015 and even if they magically had the best engine Mclaren need to go from pretty much worst aero team out of the Mercedes runners to being at least close to the best teams to be a competitive total package next year.

Even from a reliability stand point, a great engine will run into lots of reliability trouble and having 5 teams with 2 cars running around will find way more reliability issues. Even a great Honda engine will run into huge trouble with lack of teams and time on track.

The odds are Mclaren won't suddenly be brilliant at aero in the space of a season and the Honda is likely to be the 4th best engine. Alonso would be mental to go to Mclaren, I'd put money on Ferrari being significantly stronger than Mclaren for at least the next two seasons, if Mclarens personnel changes and Honda improve over time they might be competitive in 2017, outside shot at 2016, 2015.... almost no chance at all.

Jenson is 34 and people are talking about him stopping soon, Alonso is 33, I can see one move and he needs to be moving to a team with the highest chance of doing well in the next 1-2 seasons. That means attempting to move to one of the top 3 teams from this year which will be Merc, Williams, Red Bull. Williams is currently the easiest team to get into, they'd shove either driver out for him but Massa has been dire and is the obvious choice. Merc... as of the last few races are a genuine possibility come the end of the year and the best choice in car for Alonso... might not be possible and he might not want to join a team with Rosberg or Hamilton.

Red Bull, it's a bit early for them to actively shove Vettel out the door after 4 titles, and they'd be mad to not want to keep Ricciardo, if Vettel wanted to move for more money though it's a possibility.

I'd be surprised if ALonso moved from Ferrari to anyone but those three teams, Mclaren would be a huge step backwards.
 
A year behind or a year learning all about everyone elses engines, a shed load of history and experience and a lot of testing?
 
sunama said:
Here we go...finally McLaren look like they are waking up.
Alonso to McLaren...maybe.

Or even Vettel to McLaren.

If it happens and Alonso or Vettel get everything they demand (including a No.1 / No.2 driver pairing), providing Honda can provide a good engine, McLaren could win in 2015.

The problem they have is that Honda is an unknown quantity and what happens if Honda arrive with the weakest of all the engines?
They are taking risks but in hiring Alonso, they will be making it very clear to their employees that coasting and treading water is no longer acceptable.

Its a shame because I think if McLaren has stuck with Merc as an engine supplier, I'd put money on McLaren winning races in 2015. But the Honda power unit is a huge gamble.

Can someone explain to me why McLaren are ditching the most powerful engine in F1, for an untested engine?
Click to expand...

Well my 5 week old son is called Ethan Sebastian so I'd prefer Vettel, Vettel and Button would be epic :D
 
Honda can benefit from releasing their engine later, such as copying the split turbo on the Mercedes engine which Renault and Ferrari can't.

Vettel would be mad to leave Red Bull. They are comfortably second in the championship thias year even with the Renault engine, beating three Mercedes powered teams which is clearly the best engine.
 
Honda aren't coming to this from nothing, the last time they were in F1 the engine specs were identical to those used last year, so they haven't "missed" anything in terms of development. What they have, is an extra year to test and develop (all be it on a bench). They are coming from making NA V8s to making turbo V6s with no on track testing until its bolted into the back of a car come pre season tests, which is exactly what Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari did.

Honda won't have a disadvantage, they might even have an advantage from having the extra year. The difference will be if they don't make a fast/reliable engine, as they have only got 2 cars running them to develop them.
 
Yes that's correct Honda can study each team's engine and pick the most efficient ways of developing their own.
 
smr said:
Yes that's correct Honda can study each team's engine and pick the most efficient ways of developing their own.
Click to expand...

Knowing Mclaren they have already sent them the blueprints of the mercedes, that's why they wanted Alonso for 2015, so he couldn't snitch on them again. :D
 
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