No track testing for Honda in 2014

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Honda say the will not begin track testing their new engine for McLaren’s 2015 car until after next year.

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No track testing for Honda until 2015 (Autosport)

Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai: “In terms of the timing of when you will be able to see the engine running in the actual vehicle, maybe it will be around the time you say [January/February 2015].”

Sauber saved (ESPN)

“With Russia on its side and in its bank account, Sauber will also be of greater interest to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, who knows the value of having a good working relationship with a wealthy government. This Putin-approved deal (for deals of this size always are) gives Sauber extra gravitas in any future negotiations they might be having with Prince’s Gate.”

Germany 2013 – race edit (F1)

Some previously unheard team radio in the German Grand Prix highlights.

Innovation needs supplier support (FT, registration required)

“However, Tyrrell had not considered the critical importance of Goodyear, the official tyre supplier for all F1 teams. The tyremaker had agreed to custom-make one ‘small-size’ model for Tyrrell. But it turned out that Goodyear was not prepared to continue development of the size.”

Tweets

https://twitter.com/stcquentinF1/status/356804120084099072

Comment of the day

@BasCB sees Sauber’s plight as symptomatic of a bigger problem:

I remember how some people argued that its a bit much to claim that all but the top four teams are pretty tight for their money and all too close to serious troubles.

This shows how its bad that the rich teams dominate discussions about testing, development restrictions etc… as they themselves will not feel the pain of not having money for them but would feel the pain of a budget cap or Resource Restrictions Agreement.
@BasCB

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On this day in F1

Alain Prost passed the two Ferraris to win the British Grand Prix at Silverstone 30 years ago today.

Nelson Piquet was second for Brabham while Patrick Tambay took third for Ferrari.

Here’s Prost doing battle with his former team mate Rene Arnoux:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwkWQPMWERc

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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44 comments on “No track testing for Honda in 2014”

  1. Well @bascb, it seems Sauber have found a way to play the resources game, with Russias aviation institute as a backer I’m pretty sure the Russian aerodynamicists will want to have a look at Saubers aero-package, purely out of curiosity of course, and who knows what ideas and suggestions they might come up with in their tea-break discussions.
    @keithcollantine, your sponsors may want to start a book on which date and track V.Putin first drives an F1 car on.

    1. Jimi (@hendrix666)
      16th July 2013, 0:55

      Any chance South Korea? LOL

      1. Wonder why I didn’t remember that, thanks Keith.

    2. I think its more to do with Putin convinced to make F1 in Russia a success – Sochi, and/or Petersburg – it needs a national driver too. And this is a good way in, although I think Sirotkin needs another year or 2 of intensive competition before he is ripe for F1.

      Even if they help Sauber out of trouble for this year, it does not change the fact that the rules and budget discussions are stacked against all but the top teams. Just look at Sauber and their voting on things like testing, where Kaltenborn explicitly stated, that the team was not in favor of them, but had to vote with Ferrari. That certainly does not feel like a healthy sporting governance @hohum!

      Off course all is well though as @prisoner-monkeys will tell us that CVC is investing huge amounts back into the sport and the teams would just throw away all they get anyway. Completely ignoring that the only thing CVC put in, was loans for big repayments, and the teams getting big money out of F1 are those that least need it.

  2. Good comment of the day. But what other way is realistic to do? Let´s say that big legacy teams have so much power tan in a regular system is like they have more tan one vote?

    Red Bull will do whatever is convenient and correct, and considering Horner and Matestichz (sp?) close ties with Bernie will side with FOM/ Bernie.

    And finally Mercedes let´s said that Mercedes has money, but how strong their votes are it can be said.

    Little teams had hope when FOTA was united, but even when as a sport it will be bad/sad to see one of them go, Bernie/FOM /FIA will think that another team/buyer will come around. As long as Ferrari/McLaren and the champion team (Red Bull as it is right now) they are ok.

    1. Yes, I think there’s a big problem with the commercial side and the participants themselves having too big an influence on the rules really @celeste, but as you mention, there’s no easy way out.

      Its only natural for the big teams to look for their own best interests (including having teams like Sauber and STR vote your way to increase your influence)

  3. The fact that the title says “Sauber Saved” is a testament to how close the team came to shutting doors. I hope this will show the FIA how much of a peril the smaller teams(Lotus to Marussia) are facing. Yes, F1 is the pinnacle of motorsports. But what sort of a pinnacle is it if there are not enough teams to participate. A budget cap should be enforced before another team starts to sink. Next time, they just might not be as lucky as Sauber. A budget cap of 100m will do wonders. The search for that extra 10th of a second will be more refined and yet, more harder to come by. The field will get closer and promote more competitive racing. No one will be likely to run away with the championship. And most of all, the midfield teams will be able to show a clout that could hand them race wins and maybe even a championship. Now, “that” is a formula for success..

    1. I hope this kid isn’t awarded his Super License in time for next year. I feel bad for the other young drivers….

      1. Sirotkin is actually a pretty promising talent. His results don’t necessarily reflect his ability, as he’s been held back by mechanical dramas and a second-tier team in ISR.

    2. “….a formula for success” Sounds to me like just another 1 design formula. Viva la difference.

  4. Every time I type in F1F web address, I’m anticipating a headline “Raikkonens joins Red Bull…..”

    Not today T_T.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      16th July 2013, 0:47

      Throughout the day you can quench your news thirstby finding it out on the web in general. But anyway I think they will wait until the summer break, or maybe when Kimi’s mathematic possibilities are out (if he is left out of the title battle at any moment, something hard to imagine to be honest)

      1. Think when Ricciardo tests for RB this week at Silverstone – the statement of intent will be clear.

    2. Red Bull’s team orders debacle in Malaysia said all that needs to be said about Vettel’s team mates. Kimi isn’t going to risk leaving a team where he is the number 1, for a team where he will have to play second fiddle to (by then) a four time world champion. Similarly, Vettel doesn’t want a team mate like Kimi, who has shown in the past that he doesn’t always toe the party line.
      Sadly for all the Australians F1 fans, I think there will be another Aussie number 2 at Red Bull.

      1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        16th July 2013, 1:26

        Let me disagree. If Vettel “can disobbey” is because he has earned that possibility fair and square beating Mark for 4 years in a row (don’t forget 2009). With Kimi all starts in zero again. He can be Marko’s favorite but Kimi wouldn’t sign a Massa-like contract. If he goes, he goes to have even terms.

      2. Similarly, Vettel doesn’t want a team mate like Kimi, who has shown in the past that he doesn’t always toe the party line.

        Actually, didn’t Kimi Raikkonen move over Massa in China 2008? Of course, unlike Red Bull, Ferrari used team orders properly, by doing so when Raikkonen was out of contention late in the season, not when your faster driver is behind in the second race.

      3. People really don’t believe Alonso and Kimi can beat Seb this year… they just need a hot Sunday!

        1. I think it may come down to what Red Bull wants. Do they want two roosters, which is what they would get with SV and KR, or do they want SV to remain the one rooster and bring in Ricciardo as the natural second fiddle to not give SV a hard time?

          KR is going to be looking at who he thinks will be better with the drastically changed format for next year. Will Red Bull still be the team to beat? Or does he have extreme confidence in Lotus’s effort for next year?

          I do think though that KR would not be afraid of SV, and if anything Malaysia showed KR it is that the team is capable of giving a team order that favours someone other than SV, and that SV is capable of ignoring an order, and that the team is capable of abandoning team orders when they see that both drivers are going to ignore them anyway.

          I hope for the betterment of F1 that we see two roosters at Red Bull next year. I think we the fans deserve to see two of the very best drivers available, allowed to race full out, on what has been the top team in F1 for 3 or 4 years and should be at least top 3 next year as well.

  5. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    16th July 2013, 0:42

    Has Susie got talent? Let’s see on Friday.
    And, because this year the YDT is also ODT (Old Driver’s Test), we will compare the rookies with the seniors in a more realistic way. It’s not a hard test just for Susie, but for all the kid’s pack

    1. @omarr-pepper oh, we know that Susie doesn´t have talent… what she does has is a wealthy husband, a nice body and a pretty face….

      1. Sounds talented to me.

        1. @hohum that depends… do you want a race driver or a trophy wife?

          1. Does Williams want a feminist image or do they want trophies?

          2. @kelsier I will guess they will want trophies? All teams want that, don´t they?

            And to made it clear that´s not a feminist image, it is still discrimination. They are giving her a chance JUST BECAUSE SHE IS a woman…

            A true feminist image comes when you give woman the same opportunities based on merits, not gender.

          3. @celeste I said thats what they want, didn’t say thats what they get.

    2. Well, I guess its good to have her there, for a bit of a reality check @omarr-pepper. I must say that after reading about how GP2/F1 commentator Will Buxton got a go in an F4 car, we can hardly blame her for wanting to be there!

  6. While I don’t particularly begrudge Susie Wolff her day in the car (though I’d far prefer a young talent with a realistic expectation of getting into F1) my current problem with female drivers and the attention they get is that it seems that having a female 3rd driver is nothing more than a PR stunt. “Look at us! We have a woman in an F1 car!”.

    I may be asking far too much of the sport to treat women no differently than men, but this attention-grabbing gambit of throwing women who don’t particularly deserve to be in a race seat into an F1 car will do far more long term damage to a women’s chances of breaking into F1 on merit than it does short term good. Even if this means that the likes of Susie Wolff (putting aside her husband’s influence) won’t get anywhere near an F1 car for another 10 years, I’d rather wait for a woman fully deserving of a drive to spearhead the idea of women in F1 rather than what appears to be going on now.

    If more female drivers are pushed into positions they shouldn’t have gotten to for the sake of publicity or sponsorship then when female drivers who do deserve their place in F1 come about I suspect many fans will have a hard time accepting these future drivers as legitimate, and not another cynical attempt by a team or sponsors at grabbing the spotlight for ulterior reasons.

    1. I think its good to see her actuall measured against her peers in the Old driver test this week – that way we can see how good she is on track @colossal-squid.

      Off course it would be good to see male and female drivers treated equally, but on the other hand we have a 17yo. not untalented guy who happens to have the father in the right Putin connected institute, a couple of pretty talented but at times dangeriously driving venezoelans, etc.

      1. Not to mention Max ‘Daddy didn’t buy me this seat honestly’ Chilton

      2. It will at least be interesting to see how she fares this week if nothing else!

        @bascb To my mind the varyingly talented (sometimes very talented eg. Perez) pay drivers are a different problem. I don’t mind this young Russian lad getting a few Fridays if it keeps Sauber afloat. They often bring at least some talent and a lot more money.

        I just think that if F1 is to ever give a woman a proper shot at making it in the future, having what I consider to be nothing more than stunt female 3rd drivers with less ability than their peers is going to damage future female prospects in F1. Unfortunately there is still probably a lot of prejudice to fight on this matter. This may not be my most well explained view, so my apologies!

        1. I don’t see the damage to future prospects caused by this @colossal-squid. But I am certainly more interested to see how women/girls like Alice Powell, Simona de Silvestro or a Beitske Visser are doing than seeing Wolff turn up to test, because those drivers are ones that would actually make sense to try and give a chance in a fast car and race.

  7. My current problem with female drivers and the attention they get is that it seems that having a female 3rd driver is nothing more than a PR stunt.

    @colossal-squid
    mmm that got me thinking, what if Williams would really need a 3rd driver who would they use?
    I’m thinking Pedro de la Rosa, he was going to drive the Marussia in Germany (even had a seat fitting the day before) but I agree the role of 3rd driver, if you haven’t actually raced in F1 before, is completely pointless.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      16th July 2013, 2:33

      @mantresx why don’t they “borrow” Red Bull Beitske Visser, who I guess is really talented, if not, Red Bull wouldn’t have bothered in having her in her Young Driver’s programme. That would be a win-win. Red Bull would have her in an actual F1 (even when it’s “just” a Williams) and Williams would have her in the PR focus.

    2. @mantresx What’s Jamie Alguersuari up to these days? He’d be somewhat valuable from his Pirelli development experience. de la Rosa would be a great guy to have in the car for his feedback. I could see Kamui Kobayashi jump at the chance to get back into any F1 cockpit, but having him be a 3rd driver might just be very wishful thinking on my part!

    3. de la Rosa had a seat fitting in the Marussia for the German GP?!

      1. @fastiesty yep, remember Bianchi was not feeling well that weekend. And anyway Marussia’s ties with Ferrari are stronger every time so I guess it’s not surprising they chose Pedro.

        1. Ahhh, now it makes sense. Yes, I remember that from FP. PDlR is always up for subbing too :D would probably do OK as well! Definitely beat Max anyway!

  8. @bascb Whilst I agree with your sentiment wholeheartedly, money talks… The likes of RedBull, Ferrari and Mclaren all bring in valuable corporate cash, TV money etc etc. For the longer term future of F1 though, maybe the FIA/Bernie should be looking to reverse the vote weighting for topics within which the smaller teams feel a bigger impact, such as RRA. I would like to see a system where every top 3/4 teams vote counts only 1/2 and the smaller teams votes count more as you move down the grid towards Marussia and Caterham. At least then the smaller outfits will be heard / have a say, and we may get more teams racing in F1 over the longer term.

  9. It seems ages back I had my last COTD before this one. Feels good, and its on a subject I feel pretty strong about too, thanks Keith

  10. I don’t get why Susie’s age is a big deal and why Gary Paffett seems to be no problem for those who point out her age. Considering that Damon Hill started his F1 career in the age of 32, I don’t think that it’s useless to have “old” drivers being part of the try-out.
    I think we just need to wait and see before judging her.

    1. Gary is a development driver employed for his expertise. You don’t hear him talking about getting a “big chance” or that he’ll soon be the first oldlady driver.

      1. Yeah, if they were going to give Gary a chance, it would have been in 2006/7, or the customer Prodrive cars of 2008/9 which never developed. 2008 customer McLaren would have been a beast of a car!

  11. About that Sauber team directly backed by a country…
    I wondered if there was a precedent in the history of F1 … Anyone?

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