Lotus investor believes Hulkenberg will get the drive

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Lotus investor Mansoor Ijaz says Nico Hulkenberg is the preferred choice to join the team in 2014.

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Investors tell Lotus to sign Hulkenberg (Autosport)

“I wish the transition had been smoother between Kimi and the next driver, who we believe will be Nico Hulkenberg, but sometimes in life things don’t happen so clearly and as nicely as you would like them to.”

Alonso declared fit for US Grand Prix (BBC)

Alonso was released from hospital on Sunday but had a further check-up on Monday after suffering discomfort.

Stefano Domenicali Q&A (Sky)

“I think at that stage that was the thinking [to put Felipe Massa on medium tyres]. Of course retrospectively you could say that it was not the right decision, but there are a lot of good Monday morning quarter-backs in life.”

Fernando Alonso: “With Felipe it was not a fight…” (Adam Cooper’s F1 Blog)

“In the second they told me to close the gap to Felipe, maybe we go for one or we go for two stops. I closed the gap, and then told not to attack, Felipe will pit soon. Then Felipe pitted and I had the opportunity to do some laps and overtake Felipe and the Toro Rosso in those laps.”

You can’t take it back (Toro Rosso)

Daniel Ricciardo: “Our starts have been a bit hit and miss this year. The last few have been good but today was a miss. We got swamped on the way to turn one and in the end I went wide to avoid a collision – though [Jean-Eric Vergne] and myself may have had some light contact.”

F1 teams need to learn to manage their money, says BBC’s Gary Anderson (The Guardian)

“Take rear wings. We have probably a different rear wing for most circuits. That’s stupid. For me you go to Melbourne for the first race of the season, that rear wing – like the gearbox – would have to last five races. You will save bucket loads of money.”

Horner says Vettel’s dominance is mind-blowing (Reuters)

“We’re all on a standard tyre now, there’s no testing, we’re limited on the amount of engines we can have, the amount of wind tunnel time and so on. So it’s a much more even playing field [than the Schumacher era].”

Difficult but not impossible to comeback (Ferrari)

“In theory this track is probably the least suited to the F138, especially in the third sector where traction makes the difference. In fact, qualifying showed that between turns 11 and 21, Alonso and Massa made up much of the gap, not just to Red Bull but also to Mercedes.”

F1 Rear Crash Structure analysed (F1 Framework)

An extremely detailed look at an F1 crash structure from 1997.

Tweets

https://twitter.com/stcquentinF1/status/397287246594064384

Comment of the day

Time for celebration legislation?

Will we soon see an official FIA sanctioned DRS (Doughnut Rotational Spinning) zone in which drivers can celebrate without fear of financial penalty?
@Supernicebob

From the forum

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On this day in F1

Eddie Cheever made his final F1 start on this day in the 1989 Australian Grand Prix.

Although Cheever never won a race he has the unusual distinction of having finished on the podium not just in his home country but in his home city, which he did at Phoenix earlier that year.

Cheever also appeared on the podium at two of his three home races in 1982, at Detroit and Las Vegas, for Ligier.

Image © Sauber

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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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52 comments on “Lotus investor believes Hulkenberg will get the drive”

  1. Gary Anderson has a point, but the teams would save more money (and the racing would be better) if the wings were single-plane with flat endplates. The far simpler shape would require far less wind tunnel time too.

    1. Jack (@jackisthestig)
      5th November 2013, 0:28

      The teams could always take the Lotus and Sauber approach and just do away with paying wages.

    2. @raceprouk I’m against your idea, the one thing that separates F1 from other race series around the world is the concept that the teams are free to design their own cars, and I think the rear wing is a big part of what defines an F1 car. Gary Anderson’s point is probably a good idea for short term gains without ruining the sport, or perhaps enforce a rule similar to the Gear Ratios, submit 3 different wing configurations for the season and thats all you can use.

    3. Only problem with that is unless everyone does it no one will, because they want/need every advantage possible. The only way to ensure people only use 1 type of rear wing is to regulate it, and if you do that then where would it stop? F1 is about speed through innovation, but it does have to stay relevant/viable at the same time.

      No one wants to admit that F1’s current business model isn’t sustainable, but instead of looking to reduce costs why not redistribute how the teams are paid.

      1. +1
        I was just think that exact thing then I read your post.
        Completely agree.

      2. Then we’ve got even more paydrivers, bringing more money..

      3. I’d love to see two or three different spec-wings mandated by the FIA for different types of tracks, but only if that meant unlocking technical development in other areas. For example unlocking engine development permanently, instead of restricting it more and more in the following years.

        In my opinion aero innovation in F1 has become a huge waste of money. There are many other, far more interesting areas to explore, but unfortunately the rules simply don’t allow it.

    4. F1 should be thinking of cost cutting the other way around. We should let the teams decide where is their money spent. Let’s put together a proper RRA that has real enforcement and verification mechanisms. I don’t exactly know what the right dollar value for the budget cap but it should probably be somewhere around the median budget. Also I think we need to be honest, not every team is going to have the same amount of financial resources, I don’t think parity is necessary. We we do need to make sure is that we don’t end up with 5 teams on the grid because of bloated budgets on the top end.

    5. Anderson is missing something, if the teams are restricted to just one rear wing every couple of races, guess what they’ll do with the money they saved, spend it on the front wing of course, or the diffuser, or the sidepods etc.

      Unless there’s an efficient RRA or budget cap, they will spend all they’ve got trying to beat the others, that’s just the way F1 has been for the last couple of years, the regulations are so restricted now that the cars are very similar and gaining a tenth of a second costs a lot more than it used to.

  2. If anyone deserves the Lotus drive based on merit, the HULK certainly has shown consistency this year. I do hope he gets the Lotus seat.
    My other hope is that Lotus sort out their financial issues, because the one thing I would hate to see is HULK get the Lotus drive for next year and see no progression because the team is struggling to make it to the race track for each race.

    1. I hope thats the case.

    2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      5th November 2013, 1:15

      @dragoll what you say it may happen to Hulk if the team has no money to make a real challenger, as it is exactly what happened to him at the beginning of this year in Sauber. We saw Perez getting podiums last year and everybody thought Hulkenberg (being better) would probably get more podiums or even an occasional win. But he started with poor results, maybe saying to himself why on earth he left Force India. I hope Lotus keep strong next year AND with Hulk on the steering wheel.

      1. There is not much wrong with this year sauber is been some mistakes and driver adaptation but is as good as force india !

        1. How quickly some forget.. The Sauber wasn’t good in the early parts of the season. The Force India was miles ahead.. Remember even Di Resta finished 4th in Bahrain

    3. @dragoll @omarr-pepper I was thinking the same stuff. I like Nico H but I am getting this eerie feeling that he and Lotus might not be up to the mark next year.

      Few thoughts.
      1. Lotus does not have that money power any more. they might have saved money by not paying Kimi but looks like they will have to shell that out now after the settlement.
      2. They seem to be heading to a 4th place Finish which means more money lost in championship money.
      3. Nico H has this unique problem of not being with a team for more than an year. This means by the time he adapts to the current team he is ready to move on. He starts all over again with the new team.
      4. James Allison is not with lotus anymore, who know how many hundreath of seconds Lotus might lose without him.
      5. Sauber might sign up Maldanado if he is not chosen by Lotus. That means tons of money at Sauber and they will build a good car if they have decent amount of money. They seem to be peaking in form already ( Some of which might be to Nico’s credit)
      6. Lotus is Now Romain Grosjeans Team. All said and done Romain has really matured in the Lotus this year. He has adapted well to the car. If Lotus have already started building 2014 car they might have started it more with Grosjean’s Style and input as reference. He is their only reference point right now. So Nico might find a car completely out of taste for him.

      NICO H seems to a wonderful talent. I hope he can overcome all the above problems to have a decent run.

      1. Yes but Lotus’ wage bill will be lower next year without Kimi. Plus they get the same constructors result as last year (4th) so no big change. Plus their new investor means that have more money to spend on the car. So not so bad as you make out.

        1. Dont think for a second that they will avoid paying Kimi for 2013. He will sue, and the money will come out of the budget for the 2014 team…

    4. With HULKs luck the Lotus will be a dog of a car next year (if they sign him)

    5. Hulk is great driver but too bad he’s not from a developing country which is badly willing to have its name in Formula 1.

      Talent alone, he makes pretty much everyone’s top ten in terms of drivers under contract but we are not sure if he will be driving an F1 car next year. Plus, his long awaited drive at a front-runner can be delayed even if he signs for Lotus because the team is struggling financially and is in the middle of a brain-drain. Will Lotus be in 2014 what Sauber is in 2013 or experience a performance drop in the same scale as McLaren this year? However, Lotus still is his best bet and he would be crazy to turn them down.

  3. Reading between the lines a bit, it seems that Quantum want Lotus to take Hulkenberg, but they think someone else is sounding him out. Ijaz’s comments seem to be half aimed at creating excitement at the idea of taking Hulkenberg, and half aimed at preparing people for disappointment if a lesser team get him first.

    1. @prisoner-monkeys it’s sad, but you’re right. Seems they just want to show the world that they want Hulk but money talks…

      1. @jcost – The Quantum deal is believed to be clearing the team’s debts and giving them a budget for at least three years, so money isn’t an issue. Rather, I think that any potential problems that arise will come from the time it has taken to come an agreement. It’s taken so long that Hulkenberg might have decided to look elsewhere.

  4. I don’t think it’s stupid to have a different rear wing for each race. For me, that shows the engineering superiority of Formula One. Always at the cutting edge of technology, even if it only brings half a tenth. I don’t want formula one to turn into a single make formula with identical cars, but we’re ever more edging towards that. If we take away too much autonomy from engineers, then we may as well start calling it GP1.

    1. I’m of 2 minds here, yes I want to see F1 at the leading edge of engineering development but I would like that engineering development to be relevant to future means of transport and clearly drag induced downforce is hugely expensive to optimise and of no practical use whatsoever, accordingly I would like F1 to reduce the dependance on downforce to improve performance and if it saves money as well so much the better, therefore I support the suggestion that the number of aero-upgrades should be limited for all teams.

  5. It’s a shame Sauber continues to provide pilots to the F1. It’s true…HUL was Wwilliams and Fi before, but in 2013 he showed he will be fighting Vettel in the near future. Happy for him. Sorry for Sauber that will have to race 2 of the following 4: Sirotkin-Petrov, Gutierrez-Maldonado.
    I miss Kobayashi-Perez, Alesi-Herbert, Heifeld-Raikkonen, Frentzen-Herbert, Fisichella-Massa, Kubika-Heifeld…
    I really don’t see a way of building your way up for Saubers, Force India, Caterham, Marussias.
    It doesnt matter how good you are. MONEY is everything.
    3 of the top 4 teams are being built on money. Mercedes, Red Bull and Lotus.
    The other one (Ferrari) was born on MONEY.

    1. @mumito It’s marketing over prize money Red bull and Mercedes can afford a loss if they can earn enough in publicity because that their sole purpose in F1 is to advertise and increase their status, on the other hand the racing teams themselves Brackley and Milton Keynes do all for racing. In Ferraris case they can afford a little loss but they have less leverage than the 2 top spenders.

    2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      5th November 2013, 2:00

      @mumito at least you’re making some marketing with your nickname! But yeah I agree with your point of view, Sauber is like a “rookie mine” most of the times, and because of money, they can’t either make a title-winning car for the rising stars or pay enough to him to keep him from being hired by the big teams.

    3. @mumito Toyota had the largest budget of any F1 team by far during their stint in F1 and it didn’t do them any good. Talented engineers and top notch drivers are just as important, if not more so.

  6. Good that Lotus is picking up Hulk!
    Looks like Maldonado is going to have to ride his piggy bank somewhere else

    1. Marussia ?

    2. Sauber !!!! Hulk might see a Sauber of Maldanado zoom past him next year

  7. Words left unsaid
    “Flamboyant” unplayed
    E-mails unread
    Kimi unpaid

    Can we beat the beast
    If we’re doing our best?
    Money’s in the East
    F1 can’t go west

    Life can be unpleasant
    For those left outside
    We’re just little peasants
    We’re not Bernie’s bride

    They took our bedroom
    But we still have the attic
    They’ve got F1.com
    We’ve got F1 Fanatic!

    Long live green and blue
    Have lots of joy
    You know we love you
    London City Boy!

    Happy birthday @KeithCollantine!

    1. Best birthday poem ever – I especially like the song title references! Thanks @girts :-)

      1. Happy birthday, @KeithCollantine!

    2. very nice one, and happy birthday @keithcollantine

    3. A lovely piece, @girts :)

      1. And a very happy birthday to you, Keith!

    4. @girts well done, sir.

      @Keithcollantine happy b’day ! :)

    5. Happy b’dy @keithcollantine.

      Nice treat @girts, you should e-mail it to Lewis Hamilton, maybe he makes his first hip hop hit :)

    6. Well done @girts on the poetry! And hearty birthday wishes to @keithcollantine!

  8. Then Felipe pitted and I had the opportunity to do some laps and overtake Felipe and the Toro Rosso in those laps

    Pft… that and team intentionally screwing Massas stop put him before Massa and barely! Just embarrassing Ferrari was racing against their own driver. Worst part is they gonna screw Kimi in same fashion next year.

    1. Same thing that happened to Webber last race…ehmm, every race. Nothing new.

      1. even in malaysia, the team wanted WEB to take the win
        WEB is unable to cope with this new challenge named Pirelli, it’s him, not the team

        1. Yes yes yes, keep dreaming…

    2. I don’t think that they screwed up intentionally – they are still fighting for 2nd in the WCC and need every point. he used all his options during qualifying, so I’m not convinced that it would have made a difference. Imo, he lost the race at the end of the first stint – they went way too long for a 2 stopper but not long enough for a 1 stopper and stayed committed to the 1 stopper in the middle stint.

    3. Exactly what I thought. I guess this quote from Alonso puts in the rubbish bin all the technical nonsense that Ferrari tried to sell about the episode. They destroyed Massa’s race with the tire choice to keep Alonso ahead.
      But I don’t think the same will happen with Kimi in the team. My prediction is that Alonso will crack under the pressure and turn the fan on, one more time. Poor Ferrari.

  9. Re Gary Anderson’s Comment.

    If I was bright enough to design F1 cars, Knowing that the wake left behind would impede following cars, I would design into the rear of my car as much wake as I could get (taking into consideration the effects on my cay, of course). I am not arrogant enough to image I am the first to think this.

    The simplest way around this is for the FIA to set a maximum turbulence level and, pre-season, put each car through a wind tunnel. Any time a team wanted to change the rear end, this wind tunnel test would be repeated. All other aero restrictions could then be lifted and the designers and engineers could play with the rest of the car as much as they desired. That type of research could benefit road cars.

  10. OK Horner, Sebastian is better than Schumacher we all know this… save your latin.

  11. Michael Brown (@)
    5th November 2013, 18:16

    Would teams save money if front wing development was limited to one element, and ground effects were brought back? IndyCar does it.

    1. Nick Jarvis (@)
      5th November 2013, 23:22

      Front wings are one of the most lucrative parts of the car to develop
      I’d prefer Ecclestone to stop receiving 50% of all money F1 makes.

      1. I’d prefer both, and then allow a more open engine rule.

  12. It doesn’t look good for Hulkenberg, and for Lotus for that matter.
    http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20122\18\story_18-2-2012_pg7_16

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