Massa hoping for Williams breakthrough in 2015

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In the round-up: Felipe Massa is looking for Williams to take another major step forward in competitiveness in 2015.

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Massa hopeful of 2015 F1 title attempt (Crash)

“I hope this is the beginning of a 2015 full of wins and that we can get to Interlagos and Abu Dhabi with a chance of fighting for the championship.”

Mercedes rivals eye engine loophole (Autosport)

“One issue that has emerged in recent technical meetings with the FIA is that there is no date specified in the regulations for when 2015 engines must be homologated.”

Bernie Ecclestone could be nearing the final pitstop with Paul Walsh ‘to take the F1 wheel’ (Management Today)

“Donald Mackenzie, the co-chair and co-founder of F1’s 35% private equity owners CVC, hadn’t wanted to interrupt the racing season, but that Walsh would ‘lose patience’ if he wasn’t appointed before the next season starts in March.”

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It was a tough year for Kimi Raikkonen (more on that later today) but @Bullmello is keeping the faith:

Certainly the car was more aligned with Alonso in mind than Raikkonen all season long, whatever form that took.

I don’t believe that Raikkonen forgot how to drive or lost his form either. A driver of his talent doesn’t go from eight podiums including a win and six second-place finishes in 2013 (without even completing the last two races and against the dominant Red Bull car) to what happened in 2014 without some good reasons.

The car was never really set up well for his driving style. With Alonso gone, Allison having more design input with the 2015 car and hopefully some catch up with Mercedes, 2015 could be much better for Ferrari and Raikkonen.

I don’t give up on good drivers easily unless they give reason to be given up on. Raikkonen tried his best all season long, he never gave up even though things were not going well.

He didn’t complain or pout. He did say the car was not the way he or Ferrari wanted it to be and that they were trying to do better. He was professional even though there were some who were criticising his abilities. I hope he is redeemed in 2015. I know he can still drive at a top level.
@Bullmello

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On this day in F1

Whether a new Intercontinental Cup for Le Mans cars could be a future rival to F1 was the subject of discussion on F1 Fanatic on this day in 2009.

Five years on, the World Endurance Championship has grown from it and the series looks to be in excellent shape. Nissan is set to join fellow manufacturers Audi, Porsche and Toyota in the LMP1 class next year. Following Mark Webber’s move to the category this year has come the news Nico Hulkenberg will start two races in addition to driving a full F1 season in 2015, and Fernando Alonso has also revealed his interest in racing at Le Mans.

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Keith Collantine
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64 comments on “Massa hoping for Williams breakthrough in 2015”

  1. Could the big news be what we’ve all been waiting to hear? Probably not.

    1. “McLaren won’t announce 2015 line-up before Christmas” I suppose.

      1. Oeiiiiiiiiiiii! (another davidnotcoulthard account) (@)
        10th December 2014, 0:10

        Is that a week before new year or somwehere after January….6th, or 7th (can’t remember)?

        1. Could be both but it doesn’t matter. It’ll be “not before 24th of December”, then “not before 6th of January” and then they will announce in March.

    2. The only big news I’m looking for is that someone finally put Bernie out to pasture.

    3. Lewis Hamilton signs for McLaren-Honda.

      1. why in earth that Lewis want to move from a dominant team that give him one championship (could be even more if the trends continue on) into a midfield team, even though I’m big McLaren fan, I’m not seeing this happening .

        1. @deongunner Because Alonso? :)

          1. God that would be beautiful, Lewis signing for Mclaren just to troll Alonso

          2. @eljueta Then Alonso takes his place at Mercedes and trolls Lewis?

  2. Oeiiiiiiiiiiii! (another davidnotcoulthard account) (@)
    10th December 2014, 0:12

    IF (a big if) Walsh gets things right I wonder what other problems in the world we’ll complain and talk about….something less first world? The possible establishemnt of 1984-esque goverments?

    1. I agree, big if…but good point

    2. Can I just check, are you pro- or anti- their establishment? Need to be sure…

    3. Fans will always need a pantomime villain – Bernie fits the role perfectly. Todt is just weak adn very forgetful compared to Moseley – I suspect Bernie’s successor will be as well.

      1. Corrections: “and” “forgettable”
        too early in the AM! ;)

        1. Forgetful is Ecclestone, because of his advanced age even for a star wars emperor-type

  3. Massa is due a win at some stage. He acquitted himself well this year. He had some horrible luck but he also had that great upswing in form towards the end of the season – which is beginning to become a habit of his! I’d put my money on Bottas seizing any opportunity of a win before Massa, but he could well do it.

    As for challenging Mercedes, I don’t see it happening over an entire season. I’d love to see Williams poach a few wins, but that will likely not be enough to fight for the WDC as Mercedes are looking unlikely to lose their massive advantage they had this season.

    1. @colossal-squid I would too vote for Bottas but I still remember Malaysia 2014. You must respect the Massa’s friends.

  4. I have a (probably wrong) theory on why McLaren haven’t decided on their drivers yet: Ron would prefer if K-Mag stayed on. Does the fact that they (the major shareholders) couldn’t reach an agreement mean that the other two (Mansour Ojjeh and the Mumtalakat group) would prefer Jenson?

    1. @stigsemperfi I think that Honda’s deal involves some sort of position on the board. I do too believe that Ron wants K-Mag but I think McLaren is waiting for Lewis to resign for Mercedes.

      1. What if, in a weird turn of events, Lewis cant agree a deal with Merc?!

        Toto Wolff doesnt seem like one who would be flustered by a star driver’s demands. He knows that anyone of the top 6 drivers can win the WDC in their car as things stand, he wont be held to ransom. If Simon Fuller and Co are planning to head to head with Wolff to get more cash for their client…I wont be surprised one bit if Toto tells them to sod off. Why else has this taken so long? Lewis’ contract talks have been going on for the best part of six months. We are all assuming that Lewis winning the WDC is ink on paper, but perhaps, lets ask Mansell and Hill what they think?

        Merc is a large corporation, they probably dont care who drives for them as long as they win. Unless of course they want to tap into Lewis’ status as the most marketable athlete in the world?

        Having said all this, Im expecting Lewis to stay at Merc. He doesnt need the money, per se (but when has more money not been welcome?), he’s at the stage of his career where he needs to win, and at Merc, unless there’s massive effort from the Rosberg camp in 15 and years to come, he has the best chance to win a few WDCs on the trot.

        1. lewis aint managed by them he is negotiating himself

        2. “Why else has this taken so long? Lewis’ contract talks have been going on for the best part of six months.”

          His contract talks were put on hold by mutual consent to allow him to focus on the WDC bid. They said pretty much as soon as the race in Abu Dhabi finished that the contract talks would be restarted shortly.

      2. So Alonso and Hamilton back at McLaren, with Ron Dennis as their boss?

        Kimi Räikkönen is already dancing.

  5. “Name already on the car I’ll be testing next year!! Can’t wait!!”
    NEXT YEAR… and BUTTON is also in the car.

    Mystery solved, Alonso and Button in 2015!!!
    (I wish it was so easy to conclude this)

    1. Or Button is another test driver ;)

    2. Paint can be removed… Probably more of a status quo move, but encouraging… Pity we can’t see the colour of the camera pod!

    3. I suspect the car he will be testing was driven by Button in the year it raced – same as last years winner just drove the 2011 car Button raced to victory in Canada. Not sure we can read anything else into it to be honest.

  6. “One issue that has emerged in recent technical meetings with the FIA is that there is no date specified in the regulations for when 2015 engines must be homologated.”

    How can they miss on the DEADLINE?!?! you’d think that’s one of the first things to decide…

    1. @fer-no65
      I think its same as other loop holes in Technical Regulations we saw in Previous years. Now its same happened in Engines, Now the political Game will be exciting as Ferrari and Renault won’t leave this possibility

      1. Whilst I agree that the loophole will give Renault and Ferrari more time to develop their 2015 spec engines, they would have to be running 2014 spec engines in the meantime. Therefore what is the advantage? Their 2014 spec PU’s are not competitive so they would be effectively writing off the first few races, and a lot of points could go wasted. I have a feeling that they will try and develop their 2015 spec PU’s for Melbourne, and worst case only run the first grand prix with last years spec.

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          10th December 2014, 8:40

          @tthwaite, fully agree.
          I do not even see it as a loophole, it is just some (maybe deliberate) freedom when to introduce the new PU.
          Any team can decide when they homologate (introduce) their 2015 PU.

          Interestingly this plays strategically in the hands of Mercedes more than anybody else. They can afford to wait using their superior 2014 PU until they see the others coming out. And based on that decide how much risk to take in the homologated 2015 PU (they know what to do, it is more how far to go and ho much risk to take).
          @fer-no65

          1. @coldfly that is a very good point regarding Mercedes, I had never really thought of it that way. I think it will be really interesting to see what they do!

  7. I’m waiting for the announcement of when McLaren will announce when they are going to announce their drivers line-up. It’s gone too far.

    1. ColdFly F1 (@)
      10th December 2014, 8:48

      @kingshark, we’ve seen later dates.
      Just think of the latest McLaren casualty – Perez – he was only announced at FI around 12 Dec ’13.
      And Button himself was not announced until very late (March) in the 2009 season.
      And lastly on the Button/McLaren comparison: Button himself had valid (conflicting) contracts for both Williams and BAR back in ??. They needed the dispute guys to rule for which team he should race. Just think about the driver who had to wait back then because he was occupying 2 seats.
      (PS I have nothing against Button. I just think this is getting too much attention. And Button is a grown up man with a huge salary. He should be able to cope)

  8. McLaren to announce they are making a pre-announcement to confirm they will announce that an announcement will be imminent announcing their new executive toilet paper, oh and when they might consider announcing the date they won’t be announcing their driver line up before, again!

    #JustGetOnWithIt

  9. “Massa hoping for Williams breakthrough in 2015”. Me too! While I think it unlikely that Williams will be a threat to Mercedes’ dominance, their recent form gives me hope that my favorite team will be able climb up to number 2 in the manufacturer’s standings next year. Maybe even a couple of wins? That would be very cool!

  10. I’m rooting for Williams in 2015 but I want to be realistic. IIRC Symonds said 2016 is the year they want to go for titles. I’m really worried about how they’ll be next year though. In the short time I’ve been watching F1 (2005-present) Williams only once improved in the constructors standings two years in a row (2008-2010). If they stay in the top 4 in 2015 I’ll be more confident in their ability for 2016.

    The circumstances are certainly more positive than their past though. They have some good sponsorship money and a solid technical team with prior WCC experience. I’m hoping for the best.

    1. There was a good interview with Pat Symonds in F1 Racing a few issues back, in which he said that although Williams had great facilities and engineers, they lacked proper management structure and wouldn’t structure/organise their upgrades throughout the course of a season to have the best impact on the car (or words to that effect). So with him on board it looks like Williams are putting management structures in place to ensure that they upgrade the car methodically and appropriately throughout the season, which will help them to stay competitive.

      Fingers crossed they have a great season in 2015!!

  11. Young Max missing the point of twitter. Start a blog you berk.

    1. His first mistake was not using Twitter properly.
      His second mistake was reacting to average punters on the internet.

      1. I fear this is going to be a very public learning process of how to deal with both the press, and the armchair expert.

        I hope it means he doesn’t retract into a shell… adolescence and all that…

      2. On the contrary, I think it’s quite refreshing to see a sportsperson acknowledging what average people say. Goes to show that at least there is a regular human being behind that Twitter account, not some PR team like for most of the other drivers.

    2. He will probably be posting telemetry next ;-)

    3. #GetOverYourselfMax
      #KeepSthumUntilYouActuallyDoSomethingFirst
      #BetterToStaySilentAndBeThoughtAFoolThanToOpenYourMouthAndRemoveAllDoubt

    4. He’s 17 years old, what did you expect? I hope he’ll answer his critics on the track, not on Twitter.

      If you want a good laugh, check out Jaden Smith’s tweets …

      1. Are shoes feet?

      2. haha Jaden is gold!

    5. I already don’t like him…..

  12. Without some mechanical failures, poor strategies, drivers mistakes and Massa first lap crashes i think Williams could have got 2nd, but it still a pretty good season considering they only score 5 points last year

  13. At this pace the news I am waiting.

    “McLaren F1 Team is taking a sabbatical for 2015. “First we had difficulties with choosing the drivers for the year 2015. And now we have started to think – “Formula 1, what`s it all about?” – do we really need to be part of this organization, maybe we should do something else instead? Hell, If we can`t choose drivers then maybe Formula 1 isn`t for us anymore?” said a man in a black suit.”

    1. @jaanusl Lol.
      “In other news, McLaren to launch energy drink . . .”

      1. @timothykatz – “But can’t decide whether to name their new energy drink ‘McRed Monster’ or ‘Monster McBull’. An announcement should be forthcoming before summer.

  14. Could the big news be that Hulkenberg is moving to McLaren for 2015 and beyond?

    1. He’s signed at Force India, concrete, they are the ones that have given them permission to drive at le Mans, don’t drag another driver into this mess.

      1. Asides from that, McLaren have been pretty dismissive of Hulkenberg’s achievements in the past (I might be mistaken, but didn’t Boullier once state that McLaren though Hulkenberg wasn’t as good as the press made out he was?).

  15. I don’t see McLaren losing Alonso to Merc. Mercedes will have seen their media profile explode with Hamilton’s arrival and now his success. They’ll want to break records with him, just as he’ll want their car to break records in. They’re looking at 6-7 years.

    I saw the advertising value of Merc’s season estimated at £1.8 Billion (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/30336569). If they announce a split with Lewis then immediately the link between the Merc brand and the Lewis Hamilton brand is shattered. That would be fantastically expensive.

    So I feel pretty sure a deal will get done, after some to-ing and fro-ing. Neither side cares about the salary itself, it’s a status thing, and after all Merc will not want to look too cheap compared to the other top teams. If Alonso is on £25m and Vettel on £50m I don’t see them failing to agree on something maybe just over £20m. with some leeway on personal sponsorships.

    1. I would have thought Merc’s media profile would have exploded with the signing of Schumacher. Not taking away from the impact LH has had, but I would have thought the bigger impact was from them hauling MS away from Ferrari where most thought he would never ever leave, including post-F1.

      I too think a long-term signing with LH to Merc is inevitable and a no-brainer. Money will not be an object.

  16. One theory that someone else came up with, but I think has legs is this:

    1. McLaren and/or Honda are in negotiations to buy Caterham and run it as a Honda B team.
    2. Once that is sorted, Button and Magnussen would be deployed within the two teams (don’t forget that Jenson has had a long and happy relationship with Honda)
    3. If this were to fail, McLaren would have to run a plan B, which would include either K-Mag or Button at McLaren.

    Also don’t forget that there may be an issue with Alonso wanting a clause in his contract that he can veto a team mate. Would he want to veto JB? Perhaps McLaren is fighting his corner?!

    1. @mattb – I like this idea. You have just found me the perfect Christmas present. Now I just have to convince Santa (and maybe Santander).

  17. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
    10th December 2014, 13:18

    I’ve had this thought too @mattb. We know from Super Aguri that Honda arent opposed to running B teams, a second team would assist in there development drive, whilst running K-Mag, Vandoorne, or even Kobayashi perhaps? (we know Honda love to run Japanese drivers and theres a Kobayashi sized seat in the Caterham factory)

    I really dont think ‘Nando would veto JB though. I imagine knows he has the beating off him over the course of a season, and in a competitive car Jenson can be relied upon to take a lot of points off his competitiors.

  18. Could the big news be that contrary to all our expectations, McLaren retain both K-Mag and JB and Fernando is out of F1?

    #ForzaJules

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