In the round-up: Fernando Alonso gives short shrift to ‘conspiracy theories’ over his collision with Kimi Raikkonen in the Austrian Grand Prix.
Links
Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more.
Fernando Alonso rubbishes 'sick' Kimi Raikkonen crash conspiracy theories (ESPN)
"Kimi after the race said he lost the car and even with that still 15 days later we are talking about the same thing, so people are sick - I don't understand."
Raikkonen struggling with pressure - Massa (Motorsport)
"Like everybody says, 'Ice Man', he's not really like that. He can suffer as well with the pressure, and he shows as well in some results."
GP weekend format overhaul planned (Autosport)
"Whether we should have the race 10 laps shorter or longer, it's something you can debate. Should we do a sprint race on Saturday? Why not?"
Mosley: F1 is headed for a major crisis (The Telegraph)
"The futures of six out of 10 teams on the grid are uncertain, there is too much artificiality in the racing, costs are far too high, and all that is giving us uncompetitive –and at times - boring racing."
"MI5 sources put the threat level nationally as ‘severe’, which is the second highest and rates the chances of an attack as highly likely."
Rosberg side by side with Hamilton at Silverstone (Reuters)
"I have organised to put up a big fence in between, it's going up tonight. I hope he doesn't party too loud. I'm turning my loudspeakers that way now."
Lewis Hamilton column: Silverstone, Senna and Hendrix (BBC)
"No. I have no desires to do so (try out Formula E or the World Endurance Championship)."
Sebastian Vettel hopes Ferrari keep Kimi Raikkonen for 2016 (Sky)
"I think it is good for Formula 1 to have him back and it is straightforward – there is no bull***t with him and that is the quality I really enjoy."
Ferrari’s 2016 drivers (Motorsport magazine)
"The fact that Ferrari is discussing paying to get other drivers out of their current contracts suggests that it has already made its mind up about whether or not to take up its one year option on Raikkonen."
"Clearly F1 is a very strong category, probably some things didn’t happen the way they should have done, but my big question mark is why, rather than trying to address internally the weak points which could easily be addressed, we make fuss saying that all is bad?"
'This is one of the best McLaren teams ever – we are going to do it' (The Independent)
Ron Dennis: "When you do participate in some of these Strategy Group meetings there is a phenomenal lack of experience in some of the teams. They bring forward things which I know have been tried not just once and failed but tried seven times and failed."
Tweets
Silverstone has tweaked a few exit kerbs but not at turn five, where Raikkonen lost control last year. (http://t.co/eyLG8jj8K7) #F1 #F1F
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) July 2, 2015
Not had enough of surveys? @FIAformulaE has one too. Four questions on #Fanboost but no "should we get rid of it?": https://t.co/7GfbJ9TQCJ
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) July 2, 2015
Lewis Hamilton to revert to last yr's clutch & settings after recent poor starts, also says he missed Austria test for doctor's appointment
— Ted Kravitz (@tedkravitz) July 2, 2015
Will there be more power unit penalties this weekend? Here's who's used what so far. #F1 #F1F #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/QP9sQzRueg
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) July 2, 2015
sneak peek from fan survey. love them all, but we need Germany on the calendar EVERY year. @GPDA_ #RacingUnited pic.twitter.com/NAG2ZXEPNk
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) July 2, 2015
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Comment of the day
The drivers went to some trouble to find out what fans think of F1, but can their survey findings realistically be implemented?
While it is obvious that not everything that fans want can be or should be implemented for various reasons, the results of the poll should still be taken seriously.
When I was filling in the GPDA’s survey, I often had to stop and think for a moment: “Wait, should I take into account the real situation in F1 in 2015 or be guided by my vision of how F1 should look like?” For instance, I want budget caps to be implemented but I do not believe it is realistic. Also, I would like to see relaxing of technical regulations but I do not see how it could be done today without a dramatic increase in costs.
After all I decided to answer the questions, keeping in mind the harsh realities of F1 today, but most fans probably just explained their vision of F1 in a perfect world.
@Girts
From the forum
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Troma, Chris Preston and Marcia Simon!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.
On this day in F1
Fernando Alonso dominated the French Grand Prix after title rival Kimi Raikkonen was stymied by a pre-race engine failure.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
3rd July 2015, 0:09
What conspiracy theories were people actually generating from the incident? An act of cynical jealousy against a former team of greater fortunes? Oh what utter tosh.
OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
3rd July 2015, 1:03
@vettel1 hey! you are back!!!
About the theories, TBH I haven’t seen any, not even here where sometimes people come up with Hollywood Area-51-like plots.
Maybe Fernando was refering as”nonsense” to the comments of how McLaren is about to recover…
ColdFly F1 (@)
3rd July 2015, 7:47
Only the journalist is calling it a ‘conspiracy theory’; nothing that Alonso says eludes to that.
Alonso only confirmed that he did not hit the Ferrari before Kimi lost control, and calls people ‘sick’ who still talk about it 2 weeks later.
@vettel1, @omarr-pepper
rm
3rd July 2015, 0:13
Is “fact” the most abused word in the English language? It’s all part of the fun of silly season I suppose.
kanan
3rd July 2015, 0:30
Why are Alonso and Hamilton so arrogant?
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
3rd July 2015, 0:49
Comes with being the best!
kanan
3rd July 2015, 1:02
Being best doesn’t excuse poor manners. I hate that people excuse their wrong behavior because those people are good at whatever it is they do.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
3rd July 2015, 1:17
Ha, and Vettel and Raikkonen are not arrogant? Button is the only humble WDC on the grid.
kanan
3rd July 2015, 1:30
You might think they are also arrogant. Your opinion. I didn’t even talk about them. Doesn’t mean they are not arrogant. But probably less so. This is my opinion.
I understand they see themselves as the very best at what they do. That sort of thing is pretty understandable. But arrogance out of cockpit towards everyone and at everything is pretty jarring. I like them racing, in general, but their attitude makes me antipathetic to them. I try to block those things out, but every now and then they just come out and say something hard to ignore…
@HoHum (@hohum)
3rd July 2015, 6:38
I suppose they should have their PR people write a script for everything they say, and then get the legal dept to check that it can’t be misinterpreted before they are allowed to say it. I think we have all been calling for that for years now.
kanan
3rd July 2015, 9:35
No need to exaggerate. Not all the drivers sound like PR machines, but they also don’t say things like that. I don’t even see it as gaff. Calculated speeches with agenda, or their sincerity. Then, they played that game together in 2008 and we all saw that at the time.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
3rd July 2015, 1:49
@kingshark Button is only the best in the wet, so that’s why he’s more humble.. also both of these comments are a little tongue in cheek! But yes, it’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance.. What was it in this instance that set you off, kanan?
Alonso opened his museum and track for youngsters this week, he’s less arrogant at McLaren than ever before and starting to think about giving back.. he now pays taxes in Spain, while everyone else lives in Monaco (tax free) for instance?
Retired (@jeff1s)
3rd July 2015, 7:00
I thought he moved on to Doha, Qatar this year.
OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
3rd July 2015, 2:07
@kingshark Vettel is one of the least arrogant guys I have seen in any sport, and Raikkonen always wants to play the James Hunt, there I agree with you… but Vettel, seriously?
Ed
3rd July 2015, 4:48
I see it as confidence.
And yes, there is sick people saying that he crashed on Kimi. Cuz Kimi never makes mistakes. Is not possible that he lost control again. So it only can be Alonso trying to hurt him. lol
safeeuropeanhome (@debaser91)
3rd July 2015, 16:15
Outside the car Vettel seems like a cool guy, but I think the accusations of arrogance are to some extent justified. You can’t see how the whole finger thing he does might be perceived by some people as being arrogant? Malaysia 2013 doesn’t do him any favours in this regard either.
yolanda
3rd July 2015, 19:08
That finger thing can only be interpreted as “arrogance” if you are malicious. Or your culture has a specific thing that makes the finger display arrogant. It is one of the things that has been talked about repeatedly and it sounds always as outrageous as it did the first time. Makes you think all those people have some inferiority complex to deduce that.
Jaanus (@lepondo)
3rd July 2015, 7:47
Räikkönen seems to be a pretty cool and down to earth guy. Pretty self-deprecating in this clip with Davide Valsecchi. And also pretty funny here with Tanja Bauer.
Plus just ice cool with Ken Block. v=p0Ml_CpQWfc
Becken Lima (@becken-lima)
3rd July 2015, 6:29
Is there something more childish than goes to forums or blogs and judge driver x or y arrogant?
Who cares about that?
Who still want to discuss those matters?
kanan
3rd July 2015, 9:37
Who doesn’t care about that? Do you really not care about the characters of public figures? Is it sincerely not important to you what type of people they are? Do you think that is the right way to go?
JCost (@jcost)
3rd July 2015, 8:35
Would you elaborate mate?
Bolide (@mim5)
3rd July 2015, 0:42
IF I remember correctly, Mr. arrivabene was the guy not too long ago who spoke about how although Kimi is straight with his answers he’s a guy who needs a hug from time to time. In Canada when he had qualified third, they spent almost all of their time with Vettel. In Austria, the same thing apart from two things, Vettel had qualified third and Arrivabene was there too. Kimi all alone; and maybe that’s how he likes it but as team principal even/especially with Marchionne breathing, Arrivabene should have shown support towards Kimi.
Ferrari need to work as a team, otherwise Williams will keep picking them off
paul
3rd July 2015, 12:20
I agree with you. He said in Canada that he was with the guy at the back because he needed the support or something. Then in Austria he was again with Vettel at the sharp end of the grid, not with Raikkonen.
I don’t think Ferrari is genuinely much faster than Williams -if any-, so they better get their act together. I think they have a much improved car in comparison to last year and very good drivers, but they make too much operational mistakes that cost a lot to those drivers.
Strontium (@strontium)
3rd July 2015, 0:50
Have to agree entirely with Mosely here. He hit every point bang on.
@HoHum (@hohum)
3rd July 2015, 6:40
Beware the silver tongued devil.
ColdFly F1 (@)
3rd July 2015, 8:30
He forgot to mention that it was Mosley himself who presided over F1 when the grid dwindled from 32 to 20 (same issues as today).
Further, it was he who sold the commercial rights for next to nothing to BE who is now milking it and leaving nothing for the remaining teams.
@strontium
reklam
3rd July 2015, 2:15
Sebastian Vettel: “In the end, Kimi is a champion, he knows what he is doing and he has said this before on the team radio! He will focus on this weekend, like every weekend, too try his best, so I don’t need to give him any advice or talk to him.” lol
Ed
3rd July 2015, 4:54
Vettel wants a buffoon as team mate. The guy is clearly underperforming. And this only makes Vettel look better, so for him it’s he perfect deal.
Besides the fact that they get together well, there’s no reason why Ferrari should keep Kimi when there are talented and cheaper drivers willing to work for them.
evered7 (@evered7)
3rd July 2015, 5:33
Cheaper, certainly; talented, not so.
Also the team has the data from the cars to know about the performance of each drivers. If Vettel or Kimi is underperforming, the telemetry would tell the whole story.
So relax. The season is still long, Kimi has shown good performances in Bahrain, Malaysia and even in Canada until and post the spin.
I am sure he will come back stronger in the remaining races.
ColdFly F1 (@)
3rd July 2015, 8:34
@evered7, I wish I could as optimistic as you.
You can say ‘the season is still long’, but that’s what many said last season as well!
evered7 (@evered7)
3rd July 2015, 8:46
@coldfly But he has already shown the pace this season. Which is why I am optimistic.
Last season it was only in 1/2 practice session did he seem close to Alonso. But 2015 has been hugely a better year for Kimi. If not for the pitstop screw up in Australia, he might have been off to a better start to the season as well.
He qualified well in Canada and barring that issue at the hairpin, drove relatively a faultless race. I hope he is back on track this weekend.
Even in Austria he looked on pace all through Fri/Sat only to be caught out by the conditions in Qualifying.
Also I find it very strange they wouldn’t give a target time for Kimi to beat. I get this feeling because of the surprise with which Kimi responded to Greenwood.
ADD (@addimaf1)
3rd July 2015, 6:21
Add Japan to that list and that would be about right. It is a world championship after all.
@HoHum (@hohum)
3rd July 2015, 6:52
I’d agree to that, however, despite the fact that I like Monaco myself I’m surprised to see it top the list as it has well known shortcomings as a track on which to race. Beginning to wonder if the survey was “fixed” by person or persons unknown submitting multiple computer generated responses. Re-fueling, tyre wars, Monaco, really?
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
3rd July 2015, 11:09
I’m surprised France is not on there, considering Grand Prix racing originated in France.
Nase (@)
3rd July 2015, 16:07
It’s probably just the top 5 answers. Japan and France may have fallen just short of that.
Girts (@girts)
3rd July 2015, 6:51
Thanks very much for the COTD! :)
So the FIA has no opinion on an essential issue once again. I understand that they have lot of other aims, tasks and duties but I do not understand why F1 should be governed by an organisation that does not care about it.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd July 2015, 6:59
My answer to that question would be a “Why do it?” @girts
Jack
3rd July 2015, 7:36
1+
Christian Briddon
3rd July 2015, 8:13
Why they want to change the format of the weekend I don’t know. Wasn’t that one of the things shown in the GP survey that most people thought was OK? Why is the sport I love so much run by people who obviously don’t care/have no idea about it?
Girts (@girts)
3rd July 2015, 9:39
@BasCB, Christian
I agree, one should understand why they want to do something, what is the purpose and the expected outcome of their actions. I doubt if Todt once lead Ferrari the same way. “I have no idea if this new aerodynamic concept works but let’s just tinker with it.”
Will Buxton suggested that a qualifying race was discussed yesterday (“Qualifying would replace FP3 with a 1hr race Sat pm to set grid for Sunday”). The short-lived FIA GT1 World Championship had that and the top three qualifiers also got a few points there. I think I could live with that even though I am against giving points for qualifying results. But adapting the current DTM or WTCC race weekend format to F1 would just devalue the ‘Grand Prix’.
BasCB (@bascb)
3rd July 2015, 9:58
I think that is a completely bonkers and stupid idea @girts. Its at a time no one is going to watch instead of during prime time. And giving points for qualifying :-(
pal
3rd July 2015, 9:40
Only thing right is the weekend format at the moment.
verstappen (@verstappen)
3rd July 2015, 7:37
I thought Hamilton hung out with Pharell Williams during that test, but I guess it was Dr. Dre.
But the real question is why Does he have to visit a doctor specifically then on that day?
ColdFly F1 (@)
3rd July 2015, 8:36
Dr Dre :D
JCost (@jcost)
3rd July 2015, 8:57
Question (Dani Lissoni): If you had to race for any team other than Mercedes, who would it be?
Answer (Lewis Hamilton): “Ferrari.”
I tought this answer would generate more comments :)
Andy
3rd July 2015, 9:01
@verstappen NHS. He had to make his Drs appointment three weeks in advance.
Mike Dee (@mike-dee)
3rd July 2015, 8:47
@keithcollantine – I fear you will shortly run out of shades of red for the engine component use chart!
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
3rd July 2015, 9:33
Wow – truly nothing works on this year’s McLaren.
Andy (@andybantam)
3rd July 2015, 18:35
@jerseyf1 haha!
Park
3rd July 2015, 10:04
When did we see manual starts last time in f1?
ColdFly F1 (@)
3rd July 2015, 10:44
you mean like ‘cranking up’ the cars ;)
would be good entertainment!