In the round-up: Jenson Button and his wife Jessica Michibata were the victims of a robbery in France after thieves used anaesthetic gas to knock them unconscious according to a report.
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F1 Jenson gassed in £300k robbery (The Sun)
"Last night a source close to the former world champ said: 'Police have told Jenson they’re convinced the burglars gassed the house using the air conditioning units.'"
F1 urged to increase testing ahead of 2017 rule changes (Autosport)
"With the changes currently foreseen for '17, you will have a wider rear tyre, I guess a modification to the front tyre, and cars that will have a very different aero load."
Gutierrez: Sauber tenure was 'wrong place, wrong time' (Motorsport)
"The second year, with the change in regulations and everything, was very frustrating. The car just wasn't there."
Gap to Mercedes will continue to fluctuate - Ferrari (ESPN)
"I am dreaming for the day we can make our own choice about tyres, then Formula One is going to be a bit more interesting."
Verstappen: I'm getting better and better (Crash)
"I think I've had a pretty good start maybe a seven or an eight (out of ten) but I would never give myself the full ten."
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Comment of the day
Max Verstappen came out behind Carlos Sainz Jnr in the mid-season rankings, but we shouldn’t forget how well he has done for someone so young and inexperienced:
If you look at Verstappen’s sporadic results and pair of crashes you would probably agree that he isn’t worthy of a better ranking than ninth. But hang on, he is seventeen and he first drove a racing car eighteen months ago! He should be having a second crack at F3, or bedding himself down in a GP2 or FR3.5 car, but no, he is in an F1 car, and finished fourth last time out. It would be interesting, albeit almost impossible, to incorporate these kind of contextual considerations, because, as is always the case in motorsport, results are imperfect pieces of data.
On Verstappen “contextualised ranking”, I will say only this: I would imagine there are very few drivers in the world, even among F1’s established stars, who could have matched Max’s seventeen year old self at their age.
@Countrygent
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On this day in F1
David Hampshire won the non-championship Nottingham Trophy race at Gamston circuit on this day in 1950.
Malik (@)
7th August 2015, 0:04
Poor Jenson and Jessica :(
Malik (@)
7th August 2015, 0:05
Crazy Lewis and Max :D
Alexei The Englishman
7th August 2015, 0:10
I’m sure Hamilton will get a fair bit of flack for his barbados shenanigans, but I say good for him ! Fans apparently want drivers to show some character, and it seems he’s following the james hunt lead, at least where women are concerned.
Young, rich , a well known racing driver, and single ? I’d be filling my boots in his position !
Kgn11
7th August 2015, 0:17
Some have already started bashing him for the cigar, which I find funny given both Alonso and Kimi are both serial smokers.
And before anyone says he deserves it, let me direct you to the recently concluded British Grand Prix. Where Toto, Paddy and few members celebrated the win by smoking cigars with him in his trailer.
#daggeringboss i wish I was standing behind Riri as well.
leon
7th August 2015, 23:46
Please point me to your sources claiming Alonso and Kimi are serial smokers. The sources I find claim Alonso has never smoked and Kimi only on occasion. I suspect the claims are bogus.
Woody (@woodyd91)
7th August 2015, 0:20
I find it refreshing that he is simply being himself especially when so many of the drivers including Hamilton himself in the past are so managed in terms of image & message. There is a limit of course and sponsors have conditions, however this isn’t close to a limit…I mean shirtless dancing and smoking a cigar? What crazy and reckless thing will Hamilton do next? /s Although I have seen a number of articles and comments from people branding his actions much more harshly, but then what else is new.
I think one of the hashtags, which I shall not repeat sums it up pretty well. So good on him for enjoying his life.
merabella
7th August 2015, 0:50
The reason you think he is being himself while others are not is probably due to him using social media more than others. He’s not doing anything extraordinary to be frank, but ends up in news like there’s something going on. Lewis Hamilton and his PR machinations which is called “wearing his heart on his sleeve”. Or the other way around. Who knows…
Woody (@woodyd91)
7th August 2015, 3:45
The criticism I have saw isn’t whether Lewis is being himself or not it’s just over the top criticism for his actions which in this case is dancing at a festival and smoking a cigar, not to mention a hair style for while he was on his break.
It’s understandable though, nothing gets the ad revenue flowing better than some controversy, real or often in the media’s case fake.
ColdFly F1 (@)
7th August 2015, 14:32
Interesting my assessment was quite the opposite (@woodyd91).
I see him like Ronaldo and Beckham (and maybe even the Kardigans). It feels to me that the whole thing is about presenting a highly stylised image. And I guess there are many hours of preparation to get the right image out. It might be just how he is ‘himself’ but it still feels very set-up to me, and all to create that image.
Woody (@woodyd91)
7th August 2015, 14:36
@coldfly Of course not everybody agrees with how a personality comes across, to me at least he has always came across as a genuine guy, now more so than he ever was in his Mclaren days, where you could tell he was being highly managed.
Brace (@brace)
7th August 2015, 19:53
@coldfly
I like the way you think. You spare me an effort of typing some of those things myself. :)
Solo (@solo)
25th August 2015, 10:36
It’s a behavior that seems pretentious because you seem like seeking attention by doing this things and posting them. At the same time though Hamilton is the kind of guy that just enjoys such things.
For example i have no understanding on what enjoyment there is by hanging out with silly celebrities etc but Hamilton really loves such shenanigans and it’s obvious that he likes that and is not doing it just so he can give media something to write.
Is not something i find attractive personally but am also not gonna judge. His young, his rich, maybe he wants to do some silly party stuff before his too old. Is not like his hurting anyone.
Besides am here to watch him race, not party. I bother about his behavior on track and his ability. The other stuff are just for gossip lovers.
William Stuart (@williamstuart)
7th August 2015, 0:45
Completely agree, a lot of recognition must go to Mercedes as well though, at McLaren Lewis seemed very restricted, completely different now.
Woody (@woodyd91)
7th August 2015, 3:38
I think that was one of his contract terms when moving, He has ownership & rights over his own image, as he didn’t with Mclaren.
Vincent Ouwehand (@bazzek)
7th August 2015, 8:44
The first journalist asking Hamilton a question after the summer break should come up with something like…
“It looked like you had a lot of fun this summer, anything of that stand out as the highlight of your vacation?”
I would love to watch interviews like that more then the current ones. I mean, most answers pertaining racing are so “media trained” that they are boring my eyes out of my skull :)
Janet54321 (@jan54321)
7th August 2015, 12:32
He’s not doing anything illegal, just a bit of fun. It’s on his back if he’s too tired or sloshed to drive properly. His team should be on to him if he’s doing a George Best, (which he isn’t).
Xr650
7th August 2015, 12:40
Wait, isn’t Hamilton smoking a blunt (I.e cannabis?) that’s what I seemed to gather from the hashtags
BasCB (@bascb)
7th August 2015, 13:38
why?
First of all, he is having a great time with the other people around him, nothing wrong with that, he is not being agressive or abusive in any way, so that’s no worry either. AND he was thoughtful enough to rock a cup of a drink from a beverage owned by the same group/partner as their team energy drink sponsor (hm, is that coincidence? in today’s world, i’d be surprised if it is).
Do you think the cigar is such a big issue?
Xr650
7th August 2015, 15:29
The hashtag no fs given would be the sort of thing someone stoned might say or by someone who doesn’t care that he’s doing something frowned upon by some
Dagger is a name used for cannabis so when he says he’s the daggering king it means he’s high.
Barbados crop clearly refers to some cannabis grown in Barbados which he’s enjoying in the photo.
I would have thought the drivers weren’t allowed to consume cannabis but I guess it’s fine if they’re in a country where it’s legal
WH
9th August 2015, 4:05
Not sure if this is a windup, but you’ve misread all of the hashtags (except arguably the first one).
Daggering is a provocative dance that originated in the Caribbean.
Barbados Crop Over is the festival that the whole carnival is celebrating.
Sure, Lewis is consciously being “rebellious”, but there’s nothing here to link that to cannabis.
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
7th August 2015, 19:05
I think it is cool for Lewis to enjoy himself. But I also do find him terribly tacky. No amount of money can buy you style unfortunately.
But by all means, have fun, go crazy. Power to him.
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
7th August 2015, 21:16
Yup! But i bet he still has more style….and money than you do! :-)
PMccarthy_is_a_legend (@pmccarthy_is_a_legend)
8th August 2015, 1:26
@kbdavies no need to hate on me bro. He’s definitely got more money than me, as far as style is concerned that you just don’t know do you?
Gigantor (@kbdavies)
8th August 2015, 12:33
Looooool! No hate bro! :-)
Woody (@woodyd91)
7th August 2015, 0:13
The new regulations on tyres while it has the potential to possibly make some races more interesting, I say say some because I happen to think most team will all run mostly the same compound choices for most races. However with that being said in the races where teams don’t it could also be a complete nightmare to understand, especially if you are one of the new viewers to F1. The commentators will have a huge task in trying to explain everybody’s strategy, not to mention the massive difference in pace that would be happening.
Does confusion = excitement?
Jimmi Cynic
7th August 2015, 4:31
Explain to me this concept of ‘new viewers’? Pretty sure that’s against Bernie’s grand marketing plan.
If you feel that freeing up compound choices for teams is confusing, won’t mention the ‘Token Engine Upgrade’ system.
The commentators get paid very well to be informative without being verbose and/or inaccurate. Someday a few may achieve that goal.
Woody (@woodyd91)
7th August 2015, 9:26
I would of thought this was pretty self explanatory to be honest. It’s not a concept.
The engine upgrade system is complex to some degree, but there aren’t 10 engine manufactures upgrading their engine every race is there. The two really aren’t comparable.
Some seem to struggle at the moment. , This isn’t going to help them do that, which in turn confuses the audience, countless times I’ve tweeted Sky during a race to correct them on thing they have said..cough Crofty cough.
My main issue though is how will this effect the tyres themselves, If we look back to Russia last year Pirelli were criticised for bring Soft & Mediums to the track, but as they said the SS construction wouldn’t of coped with the turn 3, so if they have to make changes in order that the SS is a safe enough to run at the Russian GP as it would be available to be choosen then what does it do the tyre when it’s running in Monaco? Same goes for S, M & H, they all have to be designed to run at every track. From season to season they may be a 1 step in either direction for a track but not 3 steps. Also didn’t Pirelli say not to long ago just what a massive task it is to design 2 types of compound for each race weekend, how are they going to cope with designing 4 tyre compounds that are a: safe and b: will actually work at every track. That without going into who is actually going to pay for this increase, Lotus cant afford their tyres as it is now.
My guess is that in order to achieve that Pirelli will bring the compounds so close together that the performance difference is marginal and we will be basically left 1 compound… or maybe 2? Wouldn’t that be money well spent.
LosD (@losd)
7th August 2015, 11:36
@woodyd91 I’m pretty sure Jimmy was taking a swipe at Bernie, who seems to do everything he can to undermine the sport he should be promoting.
RogerA
7th August 2015, 13:25
@woodyd91 Back when teams had free reign over tyre compounds with more compounds available at each race (GoodYear used to have 4-5 compounds at every race) it was neither confusing or unsafe.
These artificial restrictions to ‘spice up the show’ need to go, Drop mandatory pit stops, let teams run the compounds they want to run & lets allow Pirelli to make proper tyres that drivers can actually push hard rather than going down this utterly ridiculous forced degredation route that forces everyone into extreme & boring tyre management.
Drg
7th August 2015, 13:38
Oh plus about 5 billion!
I am starting to think the vast majority of the ‘F1 is crap’ brigade on here and other sites are quite simply blinded by this ridiculous ‘the tyres are everything and have always mattered’ they have but not to the detriment of everything else because people are too young to remember that great races are not just because there are hundreds of pit stops and therefore any numpty can win thus making it a ‘show’
Yeh – right…
PhilEReid (@philereid)
7th August 2015, 0:13
I do not believe they were actually gassed, just that other perpetrators at the time had been using gas. In this case, the thieves broke in whilst they slept, without using the gas.
Also, agree with the need to increase testing with this big a rule change.
Kgn11
7th August 2015, 0:19
I’m sorry, but we’re you in the mansion as well?
How can you say they weren’t gassed? Also how did they get the ring off Jessica’s finger without her knowing?
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
7th August 2015, 9:46
The ring was on her finger? I doubt it very much.
Jules Winfield (@jules-winfield)
7th August 2015, 11:24
Perhaps he was one of the burglars? How else would he know these things?
EF1
7th August 2015, 0:39
Damn Mr Holmes, you need to go and give the police some assistance in their investigation! Care to explain why you believe this?
Mashiat
7th August 2015, 6:59
Somebody, phone Lestrade quick!
TribalTalker (@tribaltalker)
7th August 2015, 9:49
In France, so better to call Clouseau (preferably the Sellers version, not Arkin or Martin).
Nick (@nick101)
7th August 2015, 0:45
Clearly the police are wrong and Button and the rest of them weren’t actually feeling groggy the next morning. The whole apartment was turned upside down whilst they slept – they’re just heavy sleepers. Thanks for clearing that up. Now that you’re done telling us how wrong the police are, perhaps you can give Jenson some driving pointers.
Girts (@girts)
7th August 2015, 7:09
@philereid According to the BBC, Button’s spokesman confirmed that Buttons were victims of robbery but did not say gas was definitely used in this case:
Moreover, Button himself has posted some tweets after that Monday night (according to one of them, he was “hitting the hills” with Paul di Resta and another friend on Wednesday) but has not said anything about the robbery so I would take the Sun’s report with a grain of salt.
Brace (@brace)
7th August 2015, 0:40
K-Mag is getting really desperate for that drive!
merabella
7th August 2015, 0:51
You are not implying what I think you are? Even for a joke…
Brace (@brace)
7th August 2015, 1:21
Sue me.
Kobayashi24 (@kobayashi24)
7th August 2015, 4:32
Hahahah. But it was two guys. Vandoorne? :D
Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
7th August 2015, 11:58
Yeah now that they’ve struck doen Jenson, Nando should be on high alert around the hacienda…
Kingshark (@kingshark)
7th August 2015, 0:58
I have to admit, I did laugh a bit.
Selbbin (@selbbin)
7th August 2015, 1:57
LOL
plutoniumhunter (@plutoniumhunter)
7th August 2015, 3:41
All he needs to do is show up in Jenson’s helmet and overalls, and moan about understeer every few laps while imitating a British accent – the team will be none the wiser.
johanness
7th August 2015, 4:03
Lol
At least they are safe and sound and didn’t wake up with a blown gasket
Jimmi Cynic
7th August 2015, 4:33
Not funny. But, very funny. Esp…if K-Mag tells Ron he’s ‘found’ 300k in new sponsorship funding.
Iestyn Davies (@fastiesty)
7th August 2015, 5:19
I wonder if he’ll tweet him about a lost ring..
Willem Cecchi (@)
7th August 2015, 7:04
COTD
Vincent Ouwehand (@bazzek)
7th August 2015, 8:46
+1
Brian Frank (@brianfrank302)
7th August 2015, 12:12
+1 lol
Deej92 (@deej92)
7th August 2015, 21:56
Had to laugh.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
7th August 2015, 4:42
Delusional ranking of Sainz and Verstappen in the rankings chart my cotd. I give that Sainz has been holding his own in the tense moments of qualifying but I fear STR have hired another JEV/RIC pairing. The only difference is that Max is considerably younger than the other young driver. I just feel hard fans may have problems accepting a teenager in F1.
anon
7th August 2015, 7:21
@peartree, it isn’t as if the sport hasn’t seen teenagers driving in F1 – after all, we saw Ricardo Rogriguez and Chris Amon both join the sport in the 1960’s as teenagers – and other motorsport disciplines have seen younger drivers competing at a high level (Matt McMurry was only 16 years old when he was competing in the European Le Mans series, including racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, in 2014).
terry
7th August 2015, 8:23
We’ve had teenagers in F1. Young drivers are nothing new. It doesn’t matter much that he’s 17 since they’ve been getting younger and younger for a while now.
Alonso->Hamilton->Vettel? And others like Button, Raikkonen. Incidentally they are all appreciated, talented and world champions. Though I’m not saying all of them end up WDC.
peras
7th August 2015, 9:37
Closest thing was Vettel. He was almost 19 when he drove in practice. Similarly with Verstappen, he was almost 17 when he drove in practice.
Vettel had to wait another half a season to drive in races. So, after testing he had 1,5 year in STR. Another year in RBR. And won the championship.
Max is 2 years younger. I believe he’ll drive for STR next year, and quite possibly another year too. Then he has 2 years in RBR to win the championship to become the youngest ever WDC. Not sure about a 3rd year, it comes down to days after that.
At the same time, Kvyat and Sainz can also achieve the result. They have like 2-3 seasons or something.
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
7th August 2015, 6:06
@countrygent Then again when those stars were 17 F1 cars were monsters to drive which isn’t really the case today. Yes, they are a step up from F3 but hardly the same as it was in 1995-2005
CountryGent (@countrygent)
7th August 2015, 8:25
@xtwl Very true, and you could add the effect of simulators, and crucially, faster junior categories to that equation (the Dallara GP2/11 tends to average between 8-10 seconds a lap faster than the old F3000 car). But the point I was really making is that I somehow doubt a seventeen year old Lewis Hamilton would be doing as well as Max is if he had been presented with an STR10. Aside from Max, there is not a seventeen year old racer in the world that looks capable of doing such a mature, competitive job.
Also, there is an important dichotomy between a car being less physical to drive and a car requiring more skill to extract laptime from. It is virtually impossible to say whether it is “easier” to go fast in V6 F1 car or a V10 F1 car, although we can superficially surmise modern cars are more physically manageable. But modern cars are demanding in other ways, such as the numerous systems the drivers are having to manage over a lap. Throttle modulation is much more prevalent than in the days of TC and subsequently the blown floors. The brake pedal also cannot give any guarantees in the context of BbW. Putting a lap together is a less physical but more cerebral exercise than it was a decade ago.
ILuvSoundtracks (@)
7th August 2015, 7:43
Aww dammit.
zekeri
7th August 2015, 8:33
Congratz to Hamilton on his FIFTH WDC!!!!
I heard technical changes for 2017 might be delayed until 2018? Do they think anyone will be left to watch by then? Just give Hamilton and Mercedes the trophies and don’t need to run the races really… We don’t even know if the changes will be enough to end the dominance anyway.
Kgn11
7th August 2015, 9:41
People stayed around to watch the Prost/Senna, Schumacher and Seb domination, which were much longer than Mercedes’ current streak.
So why wouldn’t they do the same now?
CountryGent (@countrygent)
7th August 2015, 8:48
Thanks for COTD @keithcollantine, I am finding myself in near total agreement with your rankings so far and am looking forwards to today’s batch. I appears that Lyme Regis, IndyCar catchup and F1Fanatic is the optimal strategy for tackling the F1 summer break!
Janet54321 (@jan54321)
7th August 2015, 12:29
The Sun reported… Button was gassed…
The BBC news interviewed an expert in these fields who said he treated the idea of gassing with extreme caution; that there were no official reports of gassing. It looks as if The Sun has come up with a nice bit of hearsay and called if fact.
It makes a great headline, but anaesthetic gas is administered via a mask directly into the breathing system, not released loosely into air conditioning. It just wouldn’t work.
CountryGent (@countrygent)
7th August 2015, 17:19
@jan54321 Chloroform? Agricultural tranquilizers? Without knowing the gas used, you cannot say that. Anyway, at least 80% of what you breath through an anesthetic mask is oxygen and nitrogen, otherwise the operating team would start to go weak at the knees. Trust me, there are some powerful anesthetic compounds out there.
kpcart
7th August 2015, 17:04
with the limited engine development, i support Ferrari in allowing free tyre choice, that can make the races interesting