Renault: Red Bull partnership ‘doesn’t work any more’

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Renault admit they are not getting what they want out of their association with Red Bull.

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Renault gives its side of the story in Red Bull spat (ESPN)

"I don't want to play the blame game, but clearly the association we have with Red Bull is of use to them and of use to us, but it does not work and does not deliver any more."

Renault’s potential Lotus deal not dependent on TV money (Motorsport)

"The rethink of its motorsport programme is being led by managing director Cyril Abiteboul, and he says the French manufacturer is totally aware of the financial situation with regards to Ecclestone – and will 'not challenge that'."

Franz Tost Q&A: Unreliability has cost Toro Rosso (F1)

"They have visited us in Faenza and Bicester but in the last weeks it has been quiet so I assume that they have decided to buy another team."

Bottas resigned to more back exercises (Autosport)

"While Bottas said he does not feel any pain now, he has a series of exercises which he will do while he remains in Formula 1."

Standout results better than consistency – Perez (F1i)

"Thanks to those spectacular races I’ve got four podiums in Formula One with cars that haven’t been capable of being there otherwise. So it really depends on the way you look at things."

Felipe Massa '100% confident' Williams will bounce back at Spa (Sky)

"The pace was really, really bad. We were very slow, especially me behind the traffic and with the prime tyres I couldn’t drive at all."

Rihanna and Lewis Hamilton spark rumours they are dating as pair cosy up on party truck at festival in Barbados (Daily Mail)

"Hamilton shows he's game for a laugh as he dances in the street with women at the parade."

Standing Next to a 230mph IndyCar Will Change Your Notion of Speed (Road and Track)

"TV removes the violence. After five minutes on the wall, you hate the cameras."

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Comment of the day

One race good, two races less good? Jonathan is sceptical that double-header races are a solution to F1’s problems.

I feel that having too many F1 races would devalue the championship, especially if there is more than one race on a given circuit. I found myself thinking about whether the Spanish Grand Prix weekend be improved if there were two F1 races on the Circuit de Cataluyna (I chose Cataluyna deliberately as it has a reputation for producing processional races)

It is open to debate, but I don’t think it would, in my view it would be more likely to produce two dull races (which are less tense as they count for less in the overall scheme of the championship) instead of one.
Jonathan (@Jw14b)

Would you like to see more than one race per grand prix weekend? Join the discussion and cast your vote here:

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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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95 comments on “Renault: Red Bull partnership ‘doesn’t work any more’”

  1. I´m more sad about Miss Piggy and Kermit The Frog ending their relationship than I´m about Reanult and Red Bull.

    1. Miss Piggy being Red Bull and Renault being Kermit? That’s an unfortunately astute observation. ;)

      1. @neiana
        That Renault engine proves It’s not easy being Green…

      2. @neiana Painfully unfunny.

        1. Thanks. Take some Tylenol or whatever pain reliever is best in your country and carry on, then. :)

    2. Red Bull should think about a deal with Mercedes.

      1. You seriously think Mercedes would give a competitor with the resources like red bull an engine? I highly doubt merc would give a direct competitor a advantage like that.

  2. That Daily Mfail article about Hamilton seems to be a load of absolute rubbish to me. Ok, there could be a chance that they aren’t wrong as such, but all the article seems to show is show pictures of Hamilton having a good time, which I really don’t think is a big deal. They make various claims about it ‘sparking rumours’, but it seems to me like they have sparked the rumours in order to make a headline.

    1. And you fell for it and clicked the link. Hence why they will do the same again, and again, and again.

    2. Its so funny how any woman Lewis is seen with is automatically dating him in the British media. In Monaco he was meant to be dating a Kardasian too lol

    3. The fact that it is a Daily Mail article says it all, there is rarely any requirement to read beyond the headline.

    4. I think the article is mostly a bit of who cares text to have an excuse to look at pictures of a scantily clad Rihanna and Lewis, stock Dail mail quality I would say @strontium.

      Sure, tabloids see a man and a woman together and they start speculating immediately. To me it looked like both of them and the rest of the crowd were just enjoying a great festival.

      1. A quiet news week and papers to fill. As a Formula One fan I am happy Lewis is having a good fun holiday and am sure he’ll come back to Spa fully refreshed and ready to win this years championship. Good luck to him, I was young once myself (when Jackie Stewart was racing) though I cannot remember much about it.
        Lewis is putting Formula One out there reaching people who have never heard or shown interest in the sport, until they meet or read about this young cool-dude LH, man he’s the Formula One world Champ, ‘cool’!

  3. Can’t really blame Renault too much for comments about how things aren’t working so well with Red Bull. This after suffering so much abuse in the media from RBR. And then just recently Red Bull revealing halfway through the season that the nose regs seemed to have affected them in a fairly negative way. Maybe the headline hasn’t arrived yet, but it feels like Renault will have their own team again soon.

  4. I’m happy if Renault returns as a team. But they have to be ready to make a very heavy investment for the long term in order to achieve something, since they’re on the back food, bad.

    The Lotus team is plagued by debts, and their chassis seems to be awful, going by the fact they’re the weakest of the Mercedes-powered teams. That coupled with the obvious, huge problems of the Renault PU, they are off to a very troubled start. A lot of talent left Lotus (Boullier, Allison, etc), and the driver aspect is not exactly shining either (Grosjean is talent, but Maldonado…). Good that they are planning to bring their young driver program back.

    I’m also happy for RBR, such an incredibly talented team/drivers deserve a better PU. Even a B-spec Ferrari engine would be better, heh (a bit of exaggeration on my part. Just a bit, and that’s the problem).

    1. If you read the article, it seems one of the reasons for the bad PU was the issue of RBR being unwilling to do the required investment when there were big rule changes around it.

      – Which makes RBRs constant whining even more of an embarrassment to themselves.

      (Of course, the statement about reasons comes from Renault, so we should probably take it with a grain of salt)

      1. @losd I did read it, I just didn’t buy it.

    2. I do not believe the Lotus chassis is that bad. It was just left with n updates because they are thinking of selling the team and they don’t want to spend much since they are gonna sell.
      Grosjean said the engineers and aerodynamists at Enstone already had worked many ideas that could make the car better but they have their hands tied since there is no investment to produce the necessary parts etc.
      Basically the car has potential but it is stuck at launch mode.

  5. A Daily Mail article on the F1Fanatic roundup?

    1. I was wondering the same thing @wsrgo, @keithcollantine.

      Not only it’s an embarrassingly bad source for anything, but the the topic (“rumors about Hamilton and Rihanna”) is kinda out of place. I just don’t think F1F should cover gossip about drivers’ love lives, unless it has an impact over their performances.

      1. It does add some variety to the round-up, plus it gives a heads up on what is likely to pop up on that side of things..

        1. Given the close correlation between Hamilton’s form and his previous ups and downs with a Pussycat Doll, I’d say the link is highly relevant. It could totally change the second half of the season!

      2. It must cover such issues, anything concerning a Formula One, driver, team or engine supplier is fair game.

    2. @wsrgo It is up to us to ignore it or click on it, @keithcolantine just provides the link, he did not force you to click it, after all it is gossip about the current world champion.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        5th August 2015, 8:51

        You’re right @xtwl, and I didn’t click on the link until reading these comments.
        But I’d rather see F1Fanatic article links than F1Fashionista or F1Carnivalista links.
        Maybe there can be a fun part at the bottom with ‘also in the news’.

      2. @xtwl I didn’t click the link. It was still annoying to find “Rihanna and Lewis Hamilton spark rumours” between relevant motorsport articles. Regardless of we clicking it or not, it’s out of place.

      3. @xtwl Of course he didn’t ‘force’ me to click it. Does that mean I can’t air my views?

    3. @wsrgo While I would never read the Daily Mail if I was looking for serious analysis or unprejudiced reporting on anything, the fact is that the pictures are authentic, the tabloid is very popular and a lot of people will read it and get an impression of what one of the best F1 drivers is like. That is exactly what Ecclestone talks about when he says that Hamilton “gets out on the street and promotes Formula One”. You can question if this is the best way to do it but I believe it is right to include such articles in the round-up.

      1. Those photos remind me of a teaching about a sign of the times “They will copulate in the streets like donkeys.” Not too far away I would think.

      2. @Girts

        the pictures are authentic, the tabloid is very popular and a lot of people will read it and get an impression of what one of the best F1 drivers is like. That is exactly what Ecclestone talks about when he says that Hamilton “gets out on the street and promotes Formula One”.

        Exactly.

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          5th August 2015, 11:00

          Nothing wrong with that the quote, but personally I can miss the link.

          I’m sure some people will say: “the grid girls are authentic, the girls are very popular and a lot of people will see it and get an impression of what the glamorous side of F1 is like. That is exactly what Ecclestone keeps them and says that “more glamorous people should be on the grid”.
          I know @keithcollantine that you don’t like the (idea of having) grid girls, but it is as much part of F1 as the extra curricular escapades of the drivers.
          No right or wrong – just preferences!

          1. yes, and I am sure that an article discussing whether to have grid girls for a certain event, even if it came with boatloads of the girls would still have a good chance to be included in the roundup, because it has some relevance to F1

      3. @girts Agree to some extent, but I don’t think his duty to promote F1 extends as far as his personal life. Lewis is a person who likes the life of a celebrity, he likes hanging around with people in the show business, and I have no problem with that. I just feel that perhaps @keithcollantine could add something like “also in the news” (kind of like the BBC do sometimes). Just my two cents.

    4. petebaldwin (@)
      5th August 2015, 14:42

      @wsrgo – Personally I agree with you but if you read through most comments about Lewis on this site, they are usually about his personal life. People absolutely love reading about Lewis and his love life!

      Yesterday there was a comment that Lewis wanted to have a go at Nascar one day. The response was mainly about his personal life in America and how he would be joining Nascar to make himself more famous in America. Personally, I don’t care why he wants to join Nascar because it would be really cool to see!

      Also @girts, how is Hamilton promoting F1? I fail to see how anyone would read that article and think “you know what…. I don’t usually like F1 but I’m going to watch the Belgian GP now”

      1. @petebaldwin I think it is a more complicated process, it is not this article alone. Above all, such publications remind the readers of the Daily Mail that F1 exists. Perhaps you can compare it with Coca-Cola advertisements. Everyone knows what Coca-Cola is and not many would admit that they drink it because of the ads but the company still spends billions on advertising every year to make sure that the people remember it.

  6. On COTD, about Catalunya specifically, that track is already on the verge of ridiculousness considering they visit it every year for DAYS to test and test and test, racking up thousand of miles every year, and then they go to that same venue to RACE.

    At least they should use a different configuration of the track they use to test during winter. Just so actually going there for a race throws something even slightly different.

  7. Hmmm, have I got this COTD right? Pick a track that produces boring races, multiply by two to give, er, two boring races, and extrapolate from that to downvote any multiplying by two?

    What about two Spas? Sunday would be less exciting, but (say) Friday would be more exciting. How much total excitement for the weekend?

    1. It proves the point that more of the same does not have to be better or and certainly doesn’t solve anything @lockup.

      On top of that, I think Spa would also be less exciting if they would do 2 races, yes. They might be cautious in the first one so as not to harm their chances for the rest of the weekend. And then for the second race the everyone will know the track, how the tyres develop, what race speeds the cars are doing etc, taking away another huge chunk of unpredictability.

      1. That’s not necessarily the point though @bascb. Nobody’s saying more HAS to be better or that other problems go away. The question is just whether a second race instead of FP1&2 would be more fun, isn’t it? Well there are more options but that’s the obvious one to me.

        It’s like asking what is the optimum number of ice creams. For me, if I have one on Friday I enjoy that more than the second one I have two days later. It’ special. But come Sunday, will I enjoy a second ice cream? Or should I forego it, to make the one on Friday in a fortnight’s time more special?

        Perhaps it’s a question of temperament.

        1. More fun, right.

          Well, that is what the COTD mentions – its not more fun if the races aren’t fun already @lockup, and since you yourself mention how races at Barcelona tend to e tedious, well …
          Eating more icecream that has no taste doesn’t make it better or more fun. Instead you first need to make a tasty icecream then let’s see how much of it you can enjoy without starting to dislike eating it.

          1. Buuuttt @bascb Spa is often a delicious ice cream :)

            It’s ridiculous to deliberately pick a bad track to extrapolate from, to all the others.

          2. I really don’t see a problem here with picking Barcelona to make the point that doubling up doesn’t solve anything.

            This idea (2 races/weekend) was brought in as a solution to people not liking F1 and staying away from the races. The point made is that it really doesn’t solve the issue, because if in general the races would be good enough then there would not be a need to “spice things up”.

            Sure, some might like seeing spa 2 times a weekend. But in reality we are far more likely to get a double race in Abu Dhabi, Sochi maybe in the great new track in Baku etc, not something most race fans are all that keen on as far as I can see

          3. It wasn’t put forward as the solution to ‘the issue’ @bascb it was one of a number of ideas from the Strategy Group and Keith asked “Is it time to make a change which could liven up the championship?”

            So would it be enlivening or not? Saying ‘I don’t like Barca so no’ isn’t an answer really.

          4. exactly, it was up as part of the solution to something – meant to improve F1 for viewers @lockup.

            And no, I do not think that it would in any way liven up the championship. I think overall the action is not too bad, but having double the amount of races will rather mean that I lose interest in watching every single one of them, just like I find myself often not bothering with both GP2 races.

  8. The Renault-RBR relationship is turning out like a high profile celebrity divorce.

    Right we get it. You cant get along anymore, its not working out. Renault hold the aces here. If they decide to buy Lotus, then Red Bull wont have engines for 2017. If they don’t land a Merc/Aston engine for 2017, that could be Herr Mateschitz taking his billions elsewhere. Even if they land the Merc engine, this would mean RBR are back to being a “customer” team and obviously, this is not what they want.

    So, what do they do? Persuade another manufacturer to become their works partner? The Audi story appears to have completely died.

    1. @jaymenon10 at this point it’s not feasible for RBR to be a works team for any partner. Renault PU’s are bad and will probably never catch up during this regulation period unless the rules are thoroughly rewritten or an equalisation will happen.
      Likewise, convincing a new partner to join F1 is bound to fail massively. They would be joining in 2017 at best, but probably in 2018, and the development already closes completely in 2019 IIRC (certainly not later than 2019).

      I have no doubt they would be better off with being a Ferrari or Mercedes customer than to be the Renault works partner. It would give them disadvantages, of course, but I’m not sure it would rob them of all chances to be successful. After all, they were a customer team in 2009 and 2010 and it didn’t prevent them back then to be wildly successful and to beat the Renault works team.

      So I don’t think Renault holds any aces. On the contrary, I think it’s mostly RBR who are now forcing Renault to either buy their own team or leave F1 altogether. Because nobody else is going to take those PU’s.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        5th August 2015, 8:57

        Renault PU’s are bad and will probably never catch up during this regulation period

        That’s what we said last year of the Ferrari PU as well (@mattds)1
        It seems it only takes some determination, co-operation, and hard work to get close to the Mercs!

        1. @coldfly

          That’s what we said last year of the Ferrari PU as well

          That’s exactly the point. They improved, while Renault got worse. That’s the bigger issue. The Renault PU is bad and it’s not getting better.

        2. @coldfly I won’t say it’s entirely impossible, but I just don’t see them doing it.
          There are a few differences between Ferrari’s situation last year and Renault’s situation right now:
          1) Last year, Ferrari had a better PU to begin with, which means the gap they had to bridge was smaller. I know Red Bull did better than Ferrari in the WCC, but the RB10 was a fantastic car (PU excluded) while the F14 T definitely was not.
          2) Renault haven’t made good progress over the winter. The gap has gotten larger, not smaller.
          3) The amount of tokens that can be used for development is getting smaller year by year. It was 32 tokens between 2014 and 2015, it will be 25 between 2015 and 2016, even less going towards 2017, and it will be almost fully closed towards 2019.
          4) On top of that, not only the amount of tokens diminishes year on year, but also the areas on which tokens can be spent. Each year a few areas are locked down which means those parts of the PU are locked for development.

          3 and 4 are worrisome for Renault. They still have to bridge a bigger gap than Ferrari had to bridge starting from their 2014 PU, but they have less tokens to do so and they will have less areas to work on.

    2. No one will want RBR as a works partner. They take all the credit when your engine sends them to the top, and shift the blame to you when their own neglecting of the partnership makes development hard.

      Oh, and they will whine all the way, both when things goes great and even more so when it doesn’t.

  9. I always have trouble making sense of what Abiteboul, but was he suggesting that instead of spending money on front wings, Red Bull support Renault financially? So all along Renault’s problems were due to a lack of money? That would come as a bit of a surprise to me, but I guess having lost two customers, and with Red Bull not paying for the engines, they are having to pay for almost everything out of their own pocket.

    I hope Renault take over Lotus, so that the presence in F1 of both team Enstone and the company Renault are safeguarded for the foreseeable future. However, I would not be surprised if Renault leaves the sport entirely.

    In either case, I really hope Red Bull acquires Mercedes engines for 2016. With RB’s talent for chassis building and a strong engine, we would have another contender for wins and maybe even the championship next year, the kind of competition at the top that has been missing for the past two years. If Ferrari also keep inching closer, we could have another classic, 2010-style championship battle.

    One final point I’d like to make, I’ve read a lot of comments to the effect that as a customer of Mercedes, Red Bull would receive second-rate engines, but I don’t buy into that. First of all, with the homologation rules it’s difficult to have different versions of engines. One thing that might occur is that an updated engine is received later, but so far we have not seen any evidence of Mercedes doing that. And as long as I have not seen any evidence of it, I do not want to accuse Mercedes of such practices.

    1. @adrianmorse

      One thing that might occur is that an updated engine is received later, but so far we have not seen any evidence of Mercedes doing that.

      As far as I know, they can’t do that. Unless a customer team specifically indicates that they do not want a new specification yet, they have the obligation to provide them with the same specification.

      1. @mattds

        Unless a customer team specifically indicates that they do not want a new specification yet, they have the obligation to provide them with the same specification.

        If that’s what they agreed in the first place. I heard (rumors) that Merc had offered a one-year-old-spec PU as a deal to RBR, and that was the major issue. Rumors, though.

    2. @adrianmorse

      I always have trouble making sense of what Abiteboul, but was he suggesting that instead of spending money on front wings, Red Bull support Renault financially

      That’s what I understood from his (annoyingly cryptic) statements. If that’s what he meant, it’s, in my opinion, complete nonsense.
      RBR has already a ridiculously huge budget, so I don’t see it as a matter of “commitment”. Sure, the rules have increased engine costs, but they haven’t reduced chassis costs. So basically Renault wants RBR to sacrifice their area of expertise to support Renault on theirs? Ridiculous, especially since RBR doesn’t have a road car division, so those costs aren’t amortized by road relevance. What Renaults wants makes the whole point of having an engine supplier/partner pointless.
      Renault (not RBR) were one of the biggest advocates of this new tech, even threatening to leave the sport if it wasn’t introduced. And now they complain about lack of resources allocation on it from their chassis partner? It’s almost bizarre.
      Maybe there’s something behind the scenes I’m missing, but with the current knowledge my position is that Abiteboul is speaking nonsense.

  10. Keisoglou Alexandros (@)
    5th August 2015, 7:20

    The only thing that prevents Williams from challenging Mercedes just as Ferrari is
    doing at the moment, is nothing else that their chassis, right?

    Since last year, we saw that the FW36 isn’t exactly capable on high downforce tracks.
    This year, the problem persists with the FW37.
    Yes, when compared to Ferrari, Williams aren’t spending as half as much money,
    but if by 2016 the downforce issues haven’t been solved, we might
    yet again experience slowly another Williams downfall.

    1. Keisoglou Alexandros (@)
      5th August 2015, 7:23

      As the other teams will inevitable, catch up to them.

    2. That’ll probably happen… sad fact is that while Mercedes/Ferrari/Red Bull can throw money and people at 10 different parts of the car, Williams can either throw the same amount at five parts or a lesser amount at all 10. So it wouldn’t be outlandish to assume they’ll fall back into their ‘correct’ place in the money ladder sooner or later.

      1. Whilst the financial side is one aspect, there has been some talk in the paddock that the FW36 did have some aerodynamic balance and rear traction issues, which have then been carried over into the FW37. If Williams were to fall back in 2016, it may not just be solely down to money, but could be intertwined with latent defects with their entire design philosophy.

  11. It looks like Sebastian Vettel will be the only champion for Red Bull Renault.

    1. Good point. Just a thought – if Red Bull do quit the sport (I’d rather they didn’t, especially as they own two teams, but they might have to if they can’t get an engine deal. The situation reminds me slightly of Toleman’s tyre issues in 1985 where they fell out with both Pirelli and Goodyear), Vettel would become, I think, the fifth driver to win multiple titles for a constructor while being the only driver to win the WDC while driving for that team (providing you count Benetton and 2000s Renault as two different constructors). The others are Jack Brabham (Cooper, 1959-60), Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell, 1971 & 1973), Michael Schumacher (Benetton, 1994-95) and Fernando Alonso (Renault, 2005-06). Until last year Fangio (Mercedes, 1954-55) was on this list as well, but Hamilton became the second Mercedes title winner. Most of the other WDCs either won for teams that took titles with a number of drivers (Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Lotus being the main ones), or if they won with a unique team they only took one title there (e.g. Graham Hill at BRM in 1962, or Stewart at Matra in 1969).

      1. @jw14b Jenson Button (Brawn, 2009)

        1. Thanks for the suggestion, Jenson is another driver to have be the only title winner for a particular constructor, so he fits that criteria and would be on the same list as Hill Sr’s BRM title. However, he is only a one time champion unlike the other drivers I mentioned so he doesn’t make the list of drivers who won multiple titles at a team where no one else took one.

  12. So is Lewis Hamilton a good promoter of F1? Is it really good for F1 if the championship leader is fooling around at a festival in Barbados during the summer break? I am sure that many of us would have nothing against spending our vacation like that and “boys just wanna have fun” so there is absolutely nothing wrong about that per se. But that is not the point, he is a celebrity so his behaviour has consequences.

    I knew nothing about diving but then Tom Daley and Matthew Mitcham drew my attention because of their coming-out stories and some other stuff. So I started following these guys on the social media, bought their biographies and finally got attracted to their sport, too. Last weekend I studied the rules, watched the world championships and was really excited about the competition.

    What I want to say is that Hamilton definitely has the potential to attract new fans to the sport. My friend, who is not an F1 fan, recently started following him on Facebook. While most F1 fans do not care about shirtless pictures of Hamilton or even loathe such publications, they do keep F1 in the news. Personally, I would be more happy if he was promoting human rights or something like that but Ecclestone is generally right when he praises Hamilton for being “the best world champion we’ve had”.

    1. @girts – Hamilton does a lot of charity work and the UK newspapers somehow fail to turn up for the photo opportunities. Fewer nubile celebs to snap, I suppose.
      On a side note, my two kids have no interest in F1 but both of them like Hamilton a lot. He has a lot of reach.

    2. @Girts

      Lewis Hamilton is the ambassador for the Invictus games, an UNICEF ambassador as well as he does a lot of work for the Great Ormond Street Hospital.

      1. @tribaltalker @Kgn11 Thanks for the information guys, I knew about the charity work too but somehow I associate Hamilton (when he’s not driving the W06) much more with Calvin Klein, dogs, tattoos and music. I guess it’s partly because of me, partly because of the media and partly because of his own ‘social media policy’.

    3. What I want to say is that Hamilton definitely has the potential to attract new fans to the sport. My friend, who is not an F1 fan, recently started following him on Facebook.

      I think you’re failing to distinguish between “fans of Hamilton” and “fans of F1”. You see the same thing in golf – how many Tiger Woods fans know a five iron from a clothes iron?

  13. Renault buying Enstone, it’s all déjà-vu!

    I, as a French, have nothing against the move but both companies – Renault & Lotus – have financial worries and the French constructor could add itself some more problems if it’d buy a team that hardly manage to pay the tyres.

    A Toro-Rosso buyout was a cleverer choice to me, they know the team and the way the chassis is built around the engine.

  14. ColdFly F1 (@)
    5th August 2015, 8:24

    Not sure about the Road & Car article about IndyCar racing by Sam Smith.
    It feels that if you take Sam to a Dragcar race or a Monstertruck event that he would get excited as well!

  15. Keith, don’t feel obliged to include articles about Lewis Hamilton’s private life.

    1. I wish someone would say the same thing to Hamilton himself.

      1. @moran

        He can’t really help the tabloids writing about him.

        He has active accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Intstagram, but if they upset you, don’t look at them.

        Solved it for you…..:)

  16. There is still a FIA tender out there for a new F1 team to join in 2016 or 17. Applications are due in september, I guess there could well be a French one in the pile.

  17. The only thing I can see two races bringing is less people watching it live and watching the highlights instead. F1’s appeal isn’t in it’s racing currently, it’s in the drivers and prestige of the championship, so by adding a Saturday race they’ll just destroy what is a great qualifying format and provide some highlights for the prerace show.

    The other thing I’m apprehensive about with a second race is that it’s effectively another practice session or opportunity to get the car dialled into the track in race trim which only provides less exciting racing. I’d rather see the drivers do the occasional go-kart race at tracks with the facilities than another race in an F1 car, that would certainly be more fun and exciting to see drivers in equal machinery actually thrashing their machines.

  18. I was just having a chat with my wife, as she was telling me all about how Hamilton is apparently with Rhianna now, and I responded with “who?” then I read the round-up and copped a load of the daily mail article. My wife turns to me and says, “see, you can be the expert on the technical stuff, and I’ll be the expert on the gossip stuff.” Who says wives and husbands can’t enjoy F1 together, lol

    1. @dragoll – it’s dangerous ground when a man knows more about Rihanna than his wife does. I’m glad you were on the right side of that line!

      1. @tribaltalker I am glad too ;)

    2. @dragoll And that, for everyone who is asking, is why the article is in the round-up. It’s the same reason why Ecclestone keeps saying Hamilton is better for F1 than Vettel or Rosberg. You don’t have to like it, you don’t have to be interested in it, but you can’t pretend it isn’t significant to F1.

      My level of interest in Hamilton’s love life can be gauged by how high it appears in the round-up. I.e., beneath all the other articles on F1.

      1. It wasn’t significant to F1 at all. It becomes significant the moment you put it on round-up.

        1. Of course it is. Test this for yourself, find a sport in which you know nothing about and consists of hours of monotonous repetitive actions. Choose one in which the sportsmen/women iare so encased in protective gear that you can’t see their faces, their expressions and sink them so deep into their sports equipment that you can’t see their body language or the exertion of the sport. Watch it for 2 hours. Let me know how interesting you found it. Then find a sport that you have never watched, but crucially have an opinion about someone competing in it, the stronger the opinion, the better. Apply the same veils to them, but make sure you follow the person you know about. Witness for yourself just how important personality is for getting new people into sports.

          1. @williamjone If F1 needs ridiculously pointless gossip to attract new audiences, then we all should stop watching now and cancel the sport for good and spare ourselves the pain.

          2. @williamjones, missed the “s”. Comment above.

          3. @Albert – Well, that’s just how human being’s are, I’m afraid. It’s how we are wired, we enjoy things more when there is an emotional connection and we easily form emotional connections to other humans.

            You can’t deny the facts, look at the popularity of the tour in britain since Bradley Wiggins won it, he was a personality as was Mark Cavendish. This occurs across every sport, and personalities draw the crowds, the crowds bring the money and the money enables the sucess of the sport.

            Would you watch driverless cars race built by people who you never get to know anything about? Or is it important to you that the red cars are built by a little company called Ferrari and you know stuff about the history of that company, the people who made that company etc.

            If you feel it is necessary to stop watching a sport because of how other people are drawn to it, I feel sorry for you.

            Remember, it’s OK to not llike things. It’s OK not to like articles about Hamiltons girlfriends, but it’s also OK like them as well. Isn’t the world so much better that we’re all just a little different?

          4. @williamjones That was a bit painful to read. Too much Sesame Street and too little adherence to the topic.

          5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la5DBtOVNI

            The topic of why this website put a gossip piece in, wherein I justified the existance of said gossip piece is not adhering to the topic? Or do you just have no actual answer to my point.

      2. It’s obvious Hamilton fans want to dismiss it as gossip not worthy of print.
        And it probably would be easier to dismiss if not for performances like Hungary – it’s not the first.
        Vettel may be a real threat and I would bet he isn’t partying – more likely in a simulator or working in some fashion to get more out of the car. And Vettel is better than Rosberg – he knows how to pass and isn’t fragile.
        I hope Hamilton catches himself and gets back to work but I think he is listening to the Bernie’s of the world. His time at the top could be short.

    3. she was telling me all about how Hamilton is apparently with Rhianna now, and I responded with “who?”

      @dragoll If you don’t know who Hamilton is, then this might be the wrong site for you ;)

      1. @matthijs rofl… I heard that Carmen Jorda is far better than that Hamilton guy when they run around on that race track thingy…

  19. I’m perhaps in a minority but Hamilton’s ‘private’ (seems anything but) life has seemed to affect him on the track before. I’d therefore assume any significant changes have at least a small chance of impacting on the way this season will go, so… to me it’s worth keeping up to date with.

  20. Well, if it’s all about promoting F1, then we should all hail Carmen Jorda. Am I being illiberal because I’m not doing that?

  21. @keithcollantine I for one am very happy that you included the Hamilton story. Otherwise, there would be zero comments on this page…

  22. Funny how Perez is talking himself up when there’s a lot of chatter about Hulk deserving a top drive. While Sergio has had strong performances on rare occasions, he has proved that he is a flash in the pan kind of driver. Any top team would want a driver who can deliver top performances consistently and not a handful every couple of seasons

    I think Sergio got a fair shot with Mclaren and really blew it. If he was a good enough driver to get podiums in midfield cars, he should have done better at Mclaren than he did.

    The Hulk has also had a few flash in the pan races in his time in F1, but he has backed it up with strong, solid drives on a more consistent basis as well. Perez might be hopeful of a top drive again, but the fact remains that the Hulk deserves it much more than he does.

  23. I don’t wonder on this.

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