In the round-up: Mercedes say they got their season off to a better start than they expected at the Jerez test.
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Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more.
Toto: “Our rivals have strong partnerships, but I wouldn’t want to change ours” (Mercedes)
“It looked like it could be difficult after the first day, but from that point onwards the car ran very reliably. In terms of mileage I would say we are ahead of schedule, while in terms of the bits and pieces we have struggled with and the challenges ahead of the first race, I think we are about where we expected to be.”
Formula 1 teams opposed to double-points races (BBC)
“Only Lotus would comment, a spokesman saying: ‘The best thing would be to make all the races double points.'”
Felipe Nasr punta sulla Williams (Autosprint, Italian)
GP2 racer Felipe Nasr is tipped to join Willimas as a test driver.
Kevin Magnussen impressing McLaren (MotorSport)
“There is a major new piece of technology coming which will allow a much fuller and less robotic understanding of what the driver is doing.”
Honda making ‘steady progress’ with F1 power unit (F1)
“It follows the establishment last month of a new Honda motorsports base in Japan, with the move to the new location in Sakura City, Tochigi, designed to further strengthen the famed car manufacturer’s F1 development organization.”
Lewis & Nico: Uncut & Off the Record (Mercedes via YouTube)
Back To School (Lotus via YouTube)
Tweets
Lotus have put out a press release to go with their latest video: #F1 pic.twitter.com/1rGbICYEjY
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) February 7, 2014
I feel like James Hunt in the @rushthemovie scene where hes goin crazy trying to find a drive. Minus the drugs alcohol cool hair an hot wife
— Conor Daly (@ConorDaly22) February 6, 2014
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
Julien is pleased by the tie-up between Force India and GP2 team Hilmer:
This is a very good development for the GP2 championship.
Hilmer was a decent team last year, but they were financially in trouble. Adrian Quaiffe-Hobbs replaced Robin Frijns in the middle of the season, because Frijns had no money and Adrian was well financed.
Now that some of the GP2 teams have got support from a Formula 1 team (Caterham GP2 team, Marussia, Force India with Hilmer, McLaren/Honda with ART) the seats will be filled with real talents, instead of who has the most money to offer. Hopefully the GP2 teams will get more of these link-ups with Formula One teams. That will make the championship even more interesting as it already is.
Julien (@Jlracing)
From the forum
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Straightline and Sandlefish!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
Jean Alesi was the next of the Ferrari’s drivers to sample the new 412 for the upcoming 1994 season on this day 20 years ago.
Image © F1 Fanatic | f1fanatic.co.uk
Strontium (@strontium)
8th February 2014, 0:03
Felipe Nasr and Felipe Massa! Whaddya know?!
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
8th February 2014, 8:54
Nightmare! Massa is dated unless he beats Bottas and Nasr hasn’t showed enough to join the few good ones that have joined F1 lately.
JCost (@jcost)
10th February 2014, 10:03
@peartree I like Nasr but his inability to score wins is killing my patience
Theo Parkinson (@theo-hrp)
8th February 2014, 0:08
Rosberg is incredibly funny.
Nick (@nick-uk)
8th February 2014, 0:38
“Next thing you’ll be telling me we have double points just for the last race or somehting. That would be just stupid, huhu”
I see what you did there, Nico…
Kingshark (@kingshark)
8th February 2014, 2:00
I loved his comment about Germany and penalties. :D
JCost (@jcost)
10th February 2014, 10:04
Brilliant.
@HoHum (@hohum)
8th February 2014, 0:11
I didn’t look at the Lewis/Nico vid, it looks like they are going to break into a gangsta rap routine.
Breno (@austus)
8th February 2014, 0:49
Please, do. There a slap to Bernie’s face in there.
@HoHum (@hohum)
8th February 2014, 14:11
Thanks @austus,@colossal-squid, seems Bernie can no longer strike fear into the hearts of the inner circle.
Colossal Squid (@colossal-squid)
8th February 2014, 2:15
Heh, I had the same initial reaction, @hohum but I think out of all the regular commenters here on F1F you’ll get a kick out of it. Whether everything said in it is meant to be a genuine reflection of Mercedes’ view on the new rules or not is another matter…
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
8th February 2014, 0:14
I was disappointed by Lotus’ apologising and deleting their rather fantastic tweet wishing all the Sochi athletes good luck. They have been far more unorthodox in the past, such as with the infamous rabbit tweet, so essentially advocating gay rights in such a brilliantly “Lotus” way was rather mild. But one of their greatest tweets.
If they have the audacity to poke at Red Bull’s misfortune before they’ve even officially ran the car, I can’t see how the Sochi tweet was unnaceptable.
mantresx (@mantresx)
8th February 2014, 0:29
@vettel1 What did it say that they needed to apologise?
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
8th February 2014, 0:34
@mantresx for you (and anyone who hasn’t seen it): they said something along the lines of “good luck to all the Olympians competing in the 2014 Sochi games!” with a picture of two men kissing.
I thought it was ingenious personally.
mantresx (@mantresx)
8th February 2014, 0:41
OK I see, but even Google is taking the **** so why delete it? Lol
Patrick (@paeschli)
8th February 2014, 18:10
But it ****** off the Russian sponsors.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
8th February 2014, 0:59
@vettel1 same… it was brilliant. Luckily I took a snap of it with my phone to share. But I suppose they remembered they have a russian sponsor somewhere, and they had to drop it.
At least they showed what they really think, before deleting for obvious reasons… stupid reasons, but unavoidable reasons.
Aqib (@aqibqadeer)
8th February 2014, 7:40
i think yotaphone is a russian sponsor on their front wing so that might be the reason
Victor. (@victor)
8th February 2014, 1:40
I saw the picture on facebook. What did the apology say? Unless they really need Russian money quickly, posting a picture of two men kissing shouldn’t really be something you apologise for (to be fair though they were half-naked, so I guess if you posted a picture of two women in bras kissing or a straight couple equally undressed people would be asking questions).
George (@george)
8th February 2014, 2:18
I doubt it’s about sponsorship, they’re probably more worried about getting into the country for the grand prix.
bull mello (@bullmello)
8th February 2014, 5:56
Or, getting out of the country after the Grand Prix. ;)
WilliamB (@william-brierty)
8th February 2014, 10:49
@vettel1 – THEY REMOVED THE TWEET! I have not been this angry since midway through the 2011 Malaysian GP when I realized that the fact that Alonso had turned down an offer from Red Bull in 2008 so he could go to Ferrari in 2010 had cost him the chance of becoming the sport’s most successful driver ever. I cried a lot that afternoon…
But this is in a way worse. Why should F1 be apolitical in the face of such grotesque policy? Why should Lotus not become the Have I Got News For You F1 Team and fly the liberal flag with a beautifully subtle flavour of humour? The West opposes Putin. The UK opposes Putin. British businesses oppose Putin. So why not Lotus? Oh, right, it’s all about money and sponsorship…or wanting to avoid coming down with a very rare strand of tuberculosis after enjoying a post-race vodka at Sochi this year…
jhg103 (@joshgeake)
10th February 2014, 12:48
I don’t agree with it either but the fact is it’s a different country and they’re pretty much free to do whatever they want. There’s a significant conservative Christian population in Russia that agree with Putin anyway. Besides, I can’t really think of many examples of where international political pressure has worked.
Much like Primark’s clothes being made by borderline slaves in Pakistan and Bangladesh – everyone in the UK knows about it and every now and then an MP will stand up and say how they disagree with it…but it will be Pakistan that ultimately chooses whether to do something about it. One day they’ll have their industrial revolution and bring forward their own employment legislation…but it’s up to them.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th February 2014, 11:55
YEAh, It was a great tweet, and its sad to see how it then got muddled under @vettel1. I guess their new Russian minority owner would be in big trouble with this at home.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
8th February 2014, 11:56
There’s a screenshot of the tweet here: https://twitter.com/former_f1doc/status/432098012786335744
mantresx (@mantresx)
8th February 2014, 0:39
At first I was a bit surprised, like everyone else, that Renault was the one behind schedule and has problems with their engine, after all they’ve won for the past four years.
But then I remembered that they needed a dispensation a couple of years back to “catch up” after the V8 development freeze. Maybe a coincidence, but the same situation seems to be happening all over again.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
8th February 2014, 0:40
Rosberg is brilliant in that Mercedes commercial.
Calum (@calum)
8th February 2014, 1:01
Nice idea by Lotus to make all the races double points.
Alternatively, instead of 1 or 3 of the last races being double points, I would suggest having the last 19 races double points.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
8th February 2014, 1:07
Well I was thinking that if double points had to be implemented, then it should be given to the races which are genuinely more difficult to complete from a physical standpoint.
So races like Sepang and Singapore would get double the points because they’re actually harder to do because of the physical toll they take, thus the drivers should be rewarded with more points for having completed it.
But really, it’s a rubbish rule. Lol I hope it doesn’t spell the demise of F1 as a sport. :(
Guelph (@guelph)
8th February 2014, 4:29
If there had to be double points, I’d say they should pick one race in Europe (Monaco), one in Asia/Oceania (Suzuka), and one in the Americas (Brazil) to act as a regional championship.
F1 Noob (@noob)
8th February 2014, 8:08
@calum Any idea what happened to the Lotus reserve driver Davide Valesecchi
Breno (@austus)
8th February 2014, 19:52
He might have… stoped paying for that position after Lotus called Kovaleinein
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
8th February 2014, 1:40
So “doublepoints” is like instead of 1 you get 11, instead of 2 you get 22
faulty (@faulty)
8th February 2014, 19:00
Ok, suppose they go ahead and make the last 3 races double pointers…
Who’s the brave in charge of telling the lawyers they have to renegotiate all the drivers’ contract clauses that were closed months ago regarding bonus per earned point?
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
8th February 2014, 1:41
Just waiting for someone demanding “double salary”
HK (@me4me)
8th February 2014, 8:38
@melthom, actually that isn’t far of the truth. Some of the drivers (Vettel, Raikkonen etc) get some large bonuses bases on the amount of points gathered over the season.
Daniel Thomas (@iamdanthomas)
8th February 2014, 2:08
I’ve not posted on F1 Fanatic in a while, but I keep getting annoyed about the double points rule, I can’t keep it in any longer: what on earth are they thinking!?
Paul (@frankjaeger)
8th February 2014, 2:53
It looking like they’re gonna go through with it. To put salt in the wound, I think there’s talk of making the last 3 double-pointers aswell!
Ludicrous.
@HoHum (@hohum)
8th February 2014, 14:04
Actually they are probably stuck with it, in all likelyhood Bernie signed contracts first and told the teams abou it later.
jhg103 (@joshgeake)
10th February 2014, 12:50
You’ve got to give these things a chance.
Personally I’m happy we gave DRS a chance. It doesn’t change my view that it should be dumped asap but at least it’s been tried.
Paul (@frankjaeger)
8th February 2014, 2:54
Lovin’ Rosberg letting people know where he stands in that vid
mskii
8th February 2014, 3:23
I’m already dreading the season finale where someone wins due to double points, and fan communities everywhere erupt into long winded disputes about who is the rightful champion.
pH (@ph)
8th February 2014, 10:21
Which is exactly what Bernie wants. A mere month ago quite a few fans were vocal about no longer following F1, and now everybody is all riled up about the upcoming season, F1 is getting lot of press (mostly bad, but who cares, yeah?). I’m sure Bernie is very happy about the success of his double points crap.
@HoHum (@hohum)
8th February 2014, 14:47
I think you give Bernie to much credit, he is to used to getting his way without needing to employ tactics like the double bluff.
Theo Parkinson (@theo-hrp)
8th February 2014, 3:36
With regards to how Jerez went I think Nico and Lewis no more than the Renault engineers.
Theo Parkinson (@theo-hrp)
8th February 2014, 16:17
*Know
David not Coulthard (@)
8th February 2014, 5:41
My 2 cents about double points in the final 3 races:
mantresx (@mantresx)
8th February 2014, 6:39
Despite the quote mess there I completely understand and agree with you, I wouldn’t mind the Abu Double IF it was just a one off, let Bernie get it out of his system and then all is back to normal.
But then again I also thought the DRS would be temporary and look at it now, it’s even more powerful than before.
Dom (@3dom)
8th February 2014, 20:21
I personally will be really disappointed if someone wins the WDC only due to the double points, I’ll feel as though it’s less genuine, even if it’s a driver I support. It’d seem even less genuine if double points was just a one off. I wish they’d just do away with it altogether.
timi (@timi)
8th February 2014, 11:04
Hmm, I wonder what this new technology is. What is Mark Hughes referring to?
Does anyone have any ideas? I’ve been racking my brain and I can’t really come up with anything realistic, but from what he says, it sounds promising.
BasCB (@bascb)
8th February 2014, 12:01
my guess is, its got something to do with more advanced driver in the loop simulation etc, but we will see @timi
@HoHum (@hohum)
8th February 2014, 14:51
@timi, probably something along the lines of a motion-sensor(s) in the seat and new software to analys it, but that is pure guesswork. However I can help if you are wondering what a “floppy disc” was.
@HoHum (@hohum)
8th February 2014, 18:38
BATHURST 12hr.race starts in about 40 mins. 14:15 US East time, live stream available,Great circuit, interesting cars, if the weather has kept you indoors check it out.
@HoHum (@hohum)
8th February 2014, 18:41
1900 GMT, bathurst12hour.com.au
ForzaAlanRabbit (@jojobudgie)
8th February 2014, 22:48
Rosberg is so funny.Lotus made me chuckle too.And I hope that Nasr gets the Williams test role.He deserves it.