Kubica says F1 return would be “physically, no problem” after Paul Ricard test

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In the round-up: Robert Kubica says his injuries would not stop him returning to F1 after completing 90 laps at Paul Ricard in his latest test for Renault.

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Comment of the day

Don’t want more street circuits? Sean fears it may be an inevitability:

Like it or not the Danish proposal is the future of F1. Liberty want this because of all the additional stuff an attraction like Copenhagen can offer. The track looks a bit Baku-ish which may not be a bad thing. Long straights and slow corners are good for overtaking so it won’t be boring.

Excited as I am by this track I can’t help feeling sorry for Silverstone. They have done so much for F1 and they have been badly short changed by the FIA and Bernie so many times in the past. Silverstone ran the first ever F1 race. They have massively invested in the track and infrastructure. They get enormous crowds and are able to charge high ticket prices but still they cannot make a profit. Where is all the money going?

Liberty cannot go the way of Bernie. It is not a good business model to expect state hand-outs to put on the show. I think they know this and are trying to diversify and generate profit in lots of ways. Good luck to them but I fear the British F1 will go to London and whilst that will bring interest its not the right outcome.
Sean N (@Sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)

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On this day in F1

  • Jacques Villeneuve won the British GP for Williams today in 1997. Look out for a new article on this race later today

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148 comments on “Kubica says F1 return would be “physically, no problem” after Paul Ricard test”

  1. Is there anything planned for Palmers final Grand Prix?

    1. I’m pretty sure he will leave with a “bang” one day or another ;)

  2. Neil (@neilosjames)
    13th July 2017, 0:10

    I like Hamilton so I’m not going to steam in with a multi-paragraph, over the top, ranting diatribe (I’m sure someone else will cover that over the course of the day) but I will say it’s really disappointing that he didn’t show up.

    Yes, he does do more via social media to put F1 out there among different demographics than any other driver, but that – or being annoyed about how the last two races have gone – isn’t an excuse for missing an event like this, especially when it was happening in his own country.

    1. Yes, but how much notice was he given? The party(?) he was attending may have been a long-standing commitment, possibly it may have been planned mid-week purely to allow LH to attend. When your work compels you to miss all those social engagements that most people take for granted you really value those events that have been planned to allow you normal contact with friends from outside your work environment.

      1. Neil (@neilosjames)
        13th July 2017, 0:47

        I’d be more understanding if that were the case, but the drivers will have known about this event for a long time (at least two months), and there’s been no mention of Hamilton’s holiday being a prior engagement. Toto Wolff just said that Hamilton wanted a few days off because of the title battle being as it is – if there was a better excuse than that, he’d have given it.

        1. Fair enough, but having worked in an industry where I was either working or on call 24/7/52, my sympathies are still with the drivers, all of them, how many people watching could have told the difference between a WDC doing a demo and a reserve driver doing same ? Were the drivers actually mingling with the crowd or just waving from behind the barrier.

          1. @hohum – hugs and all with the fans

          2. It was pretty obvious to me, Stroll couldn’t make it out of the pit lane or around the hairpin, 3 times by my count. Compare that to Vettel and Ricciardo’s runs…

        2. If they all knew about it for a long time, then Mercedes and F1 share an equal amount (if not more) responsibility to make sure that Hamilton was rested for the event. Hamilton is coming off a quick turnaround into his home grand prix, behind in the title battle and has always been someone who lives by his emotions – good and bad.

          We live in a day and age where mental health is being increasingly recognised and accepted as being an incredibly important part of people’s wellbeing. If Hamilton feels he needs some time to relax and recover then he’s quite right to request that. Liberty have chosen to do this event in a week with a short turnaround between races. I admit I don’t know when the calendar was arranged, but a two-week gap would surely have been a better option. Mercedes knew it was coming, and they should know how to handle Hamilton as well as anyone. They could have foreseen this and given him extra days off in previous few weeks to try and make sure he was fresh.

          Does it look good when every other driver turns up? No, not at all, and as someone who is big on promoting his own brand he has to know that. If Hamilton goes on to win at Silverstone this weekend will he think it was worth it? Definitely.

        3. 2 months is that fact or guess work, disappointing yes but IF he had prior commitments so be it.

          1. @grumpy

            2 months is that fact or guess work, disappointing yes but IF he had prior commitments so be it.

            According to James Allen, “F1 insiders knew about it months ago as it needed some serious planning.”

          2. ok I will give you that it will have taken a lot of planning, this must be the best kept secret in F1 history, not even a hint in the press. I still think that given the way that Hamilton inter-reacts with his fan base that he had a previous commitment which he considers more important than this unofficial event, can’t see him missing this otherwise. However and whatever the reasons it will still be a big disappointment to the fans.

      2. @hohum

        but how much notice was he given?

        The hilarious official promo video with all the drivers looks like it was filmed in Austria?

    2. @neilosjames agree… 19 of the drivers managed to show up. It says a lot. I bet not everyone there wanted to take part, but they went.

      1. No, 21 F1 drivers turned up: 20 current season drivers (one was Jenson Button) and the current World Drivers’ Champion Nico Rosberg.

        1. So even retired drivers could make it…

          1. Exactly, Rosberg, Button and Massa were there

            Oh wait…

        2. And Rene Arnoux and Mika Hakkinen

    3. I would just like to challenge something in your comment that people take as a given. The argument is that Lewis does more to promote F1 than any other driver. Is that seriously still true? Take a look at his twitter feed and it’s all pics of him doing “something” to promote himself (often with his shirt off). And here is where I take objection. All his posts are self promotion. By default, that also promotes F1 so that is good. But he is the Kim Kardashian of F1.

      I would bet that Max Verstappen has drawn more new fans to F1 in the last few years than Lewis. Take a look at the stands in Austria. Also, I would bet that Ricciardo is now the best promoter of F1 right now. He’s smiley and funny ad self deprecating. People like him and he posts a lot. Hamilton gets in the media for his personal life, but Ricciardo is the best example of a driver who clearly loves what he is doing and is promoting it to the world. People love seeing that and it’s all positive promotion for both him and F1.

      Verstappen and Ricciardo are lucky that they race for Red Bull. RB are the best example of an F1 team that promotes F1 by a long shot. As a result, they are encouraging both Max and Dan to get out there. Have you watched the video of Max and Dan racing Austin Martin’s with caravans on the back! Funny stuff. By contrast, when there was the boat race in Canada, Ferrari didn’t even bother to turn up.

      You can bag RB for being a “Fizzy Drinks” company all you like, but they promote F1 well and their drivers are the 2 best promoters of the sport right now as a result.

      1. I can only speak from experience but when I started following F1 I can only think of a handful of people that even knew what it is. Now I can definitively say most people I know know who Lewis Hamilton is and by default they know what he does.

        Whether you love him or hate him one thing I think anyone would have a hard time proving with empirical evidence is that there is a driver that has brought more eyes to f1 and generally just increased its awareness in the US and Africa more than Mr Hamilton. I am happy to be proven wrong.

        1. @img343 I agree with you that Hamilton has been massive for the sport. He has brought many supporters to F1 and I don’t argue that. My question is whether it is still the case that he is promoting the sport well. I fully respect that he is probably the best known F1 driver right now and is well beyond that of Vettel despite him winning more WDC. His presence in the world is much larger. My argument is that this is waning and that his promotion is mostly self promotion now.

          I feel that this year, Alonso’s visit to Indy and the promotion of Danny Ric and Max Verstappen through Red Bull is cutting through much more than shots of Hamilton in a muscle shirt. Hamilton has always fostered the American crowd, but I bet that Alonso and Ricciardo are just as well known in the US as Hamilton is today. Probably more known. That wasn’t true last year.

      2. Google who is Formula 1 biggest brands and skip the hearsay. The Kardashians want to be the The Kardashians. Lewis Hamiltons perceived image is dictated by the media, basically if it sells, sell it. And if the fact is alternative and sells even more then alternative facts it is.

        It’s like Bolt he seems to enjoy a party and a good shag. But he’s not that unique because a black man who’s a fast runner is to be expected. Also to many people seem to think you can party your way too 3 WDC. And if Lewis can, so can any keyboard warrior. This is a non story, and the questions are self explanatory. @Mikeharrold

        1. Ok Fritz, I take your challenge. I googled it.

          F1 biggest brands : Came up with a few F1 manufacturers
          Famous F1 drivers : Came up with a list of the greats (not Lewis). On google images, Lewis was there alongside Lauda, DC and Ricciardo.
          F1 Celebrities : I got a picture of Jenson Button, Felipe Massa and Matt LeBlanc!
          F1 World Champion : Got a pic of Schumi and Nico Rosberg.

          Can you please let me know what I should Google to find Lewis?

          Sorry, I found it.
          F1 Gossip Column : Quite a few stories on him cam up under that one.

      3. @mickharrold
        Shirt off at the beach, or racing caravans, neither is really “promoting f1” now is it? To be honest all this redbull crap seems contrived, and planned by a PR guy, and is massively boring and bleh!

        Do you think Hamilton consults a PR guy before posting a video from a beach in the Bahamas?

        Everyone has their own tastes, but don’t knock a guy for not producing content YOU like.

        I could care less about either, which is why I don’t fallow Lewis on twitter, and I don’t click stupid caravan videos on YouTube… if you don’t like it, unsubscribe.

      4. @mickharrold, since you ask, according to the recent survey by the motorsport network, Verstappen’s support seems to be mostly coming from those fans who are 45 or older.

        The demographic evidence suggests, at the moment, that Max Verstappen is probably picking up most of his support from older Dutch fans who used to be Jos Verstappen’s supporters, but withdrew from the sport when he retired, rather than drawing in new fans to the sport.

    4. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      13th July 2017, 13:59

      And here I was expecting to see the excitement for Kubica’s return:-)

      If I were Lewis, I’d take the time off because the championship is all that matters and he needs to clear his head – it’s not like he’s 25 points ahead and heading to 50 points ahead which could have easily been the case if you flipped a coin and got reliable Mercedes on it…

      Give the guy a break – this is a pivotal moment in the championship. Rosberg was there and Hamilton surely didn’t want to be reminded of 2016 and how ridiculous that championship was even though he fought like a dog to win it.

      For some reason, Hamilton just can’t get a clean break in a championship. He had to fight very hard for all of them even though driving-wise, he’s usually cleaned house early on…

      It’d be like Barrichello nearly beating Schumacher every season because Schumacher’s team or car or luck came into play or Vettel scraping it with Webber in his last 3 championships with the Red Bull.

      1. @freelittlebirds Try not to lay it on too thick. You’re trying to swat a mosquito with a sledge hammer and are missing it at that.

        1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
          13th July 2017, 16:20

          @Robbie it turns out I was more right, than wrong – cu l8r, mosquito :-)

  3. Fanboost is rubbish.

    1. I know, it’s awful… worse than DRS even and that’s going some. It’s so bizarre that those that make it to the top to make these decisions seemingly have no common sense.

      1. It is not.

        Fanboost is a relativelly small help that in many cases doesn’t even result in an overtake. It also uses more battery, and in a formula where the cars have limited energy, that means it needs to be used strategically. It’s a relatively useless racing aid that still manages to create engagement with the fans.

        DRS is just a “push-when-in-1-second” thoughtless aid that ranges from completely useless to “overtaking-1-mile-before-the-corner overpowered”.

        1. Call me old school, but it’s just plain wrong to have fans decide how much horsepower a car can have, even if the impact is minimal. It’s so awful I can’t put it into words.

          I can think of no other sport that reduces itself to this kind of cheap gimmick. Any precedents or can we expect Federer for example to be given a ‘fanboost’ in the near future when playing tennis?

          1. @john-h I don’t see it as worse than a success ballast personally (or rather, I think of them to be just as bad as fanboost, personally)

        2. I like shark fins, T wings, DRS, etc but if they introduce fanboost I may quit watching F1. As a fan the very concept insults me.

    2. Have to admit I was grating my teeth reading that, the entire concept is unsporting.

  4. “Liberty are understood to have told Hamilton that his presence for this evening’s parade of F1 cars through the capital, expected to be watched by a quarter of a million people, was required”….

    Was told?!….

    Anyways, I was there. The only time I felt disappointed he wasn’t there, was when they had all the drivers on the stage. I don’t think the event got the same amount of visitors as in 05.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      13th July 2017, 13:36

      @kgn11 How was the event?

      1. I hear crickets. I guess nothing to report since LH wasn’t there.😉

  5. King of Beards
    13th July 2017, 0:21

    Fanboost is one of the dumbest things ever. And I say this in the era of Brexit and Trump. FE is a joke and will remain so until the technology improves and they can attract top drivers, not failures from other top tiers motorsport.

    1. Goooooo Trump!
      What a legend

      1. GNoooooo Trump!
        What a legbellend

        FTFY…

        1. Please don’t rewrite history

          1. Yeah, no more fake nooooos.

  6. Talk about snubbing your home crowd Lewis. That’s simply unacceptable and he should face a firing squad when he finally decides to show his face at Silverstone.

    1. I don’t know man, it’s not an official calander event, he doesn’t get paid a penny more for it and he’s using his time off to reload for what does matter: the next GP.

      1. @jeffreyj
        Aside from the obvious fact yoshi is being sarcastic I disagree with your statement about what matters and what doesn’t. Hamilton’s ridiculous salary has been made possible by the millions of f1 fans around the world. I would say showing those fans you appreciate their support is a small price to pay for an 8 figure annual salary.

        1. Nope, Hamilton’s ‘ridiculous salary’ has been made possible by Mercedes Benz wanting one of the world’s best drivers in their car, driving it towards successive world championships. The kudos is in the driver’s championship, the money is in the constructors.

          Also, Mercedes aren’t selling soft drinks to millennials, they’re selling expensive premium/executive cars – apart from a few occasional ad-spots, they likely get more mileage out of ‘3-time F1 Constructor Champions’ than ‘Driven by Lewis Hamilton’.

        2. made possible by the millions of f1 fans around the world

          Who paid for f1 races, not necessarily for demo runs – I guess it’s a bit like the privacy MSC has, some people respect it (paying fans might want to know, but didn’t they pay to watch him race, which he’s done many times?), but some not very un-understandably don’t.

  7. Brawn is right, hence why the cameras SHOULDN’T have switched to Ricciardo effortless run to the flag in the last lap . Instead they should’ve stayed with the biggest battle on the track at the moment.

    It was a very easy decision. But I guess there’s something in the rules somewhere that forces the director to show the leader crossing the finishing line at the end of every race, because they always do it. They always miss the big battles because they were concentrated on the leader.

    And going even further, they should’ve used telemetry from both cars to see the difference in their energy usage, their speed, maybe even side-by-side screens with both onboards.

    1. @fer-no65 what annoys me is when we miss battles, because they stay with the winner after he wins. They used to do it where they’d show the lead car winning, but switch to a battle further back if there was something going on. And further to that they had the graphic on the left which would show the classification as cars crossed the line one by one, so even if you don’t see the rest crossing the line you still know they have and in what order. Now it tends to be winner shown crossing the line, second place also shown, third if he’s within a few seconds, and then on board with the winner (along with the usual “thanks guys, the car was great all weekend” if it’s Hamilton, “grazie regazzi” if it’s Vettel, and “Yes.” if it’s Bottas”), and we miss everything else.

      On a digressing side-note, I’ve noticed they upload the best onboard footage to YouTube after every race. This really is great, but we don’t even see half of it in the actual race broadcast. There’s another missed opportunity to show something great. I think the directing could be a lot better. While I’m at it, I also dislike how they only follow the leaders at the start of the race. They’d be better using wider shots that show the cars going through turn 1 while keeping the leaders in view (or the other way round). The dramas often happen too far off in the background with the way they do it now. They could also / alternatively have a static camera looking into turn 1 so it picks everything we miss up.

      1. With the majority of people having big screen TVs these days, I’d imagine they could put picture into picture for cases like leader finish/ongoing battle and starts.

      2. @strontium @zimkazimka is right. If you watch Australian V8’s the TV blokes do exactly that. Winner completing his lap on one side and the battle for places on the other. I think the most recent example was at Townsville just a few weeks ago (actually that may have been the Dunlop Super Series, I’m not sure now).

      3. Worst is pit stop getting prority over track action for me. Same in practice cannot stang watching a driver sat in a car having someone blowing cold air on them when cars are on track.

      4. @strontium, to be fair to the directors, when they showed the onboard footage from Bottas’s car at the next race, most people would have probably assumed that Bottas was too far back behind Stroll to catch him before the line.

    2. @fer-no65 Yeah, it annoys me in these days of live feeds and compositions that they don’t do first-party PIP or SxS for on-track battles. I guess they’re happy to let Sky keep compositing it for their interactive service.

    3. I really don’t know why Formula 1 hasn’t tried a “picture in picture” solution yet. We shouldn’t have to miss a significant battle because another significant battle is going on.

  8. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    13th July 2017, 0:29

    I don’t think anyone would have cared if Hamilton hadn’t turned up if he wasn’t the only one not to – but when everyone else turned up and he’s the only one not there, at an event in his home country’s capital, on the eve of his home race… Yeah I can understand why people would be annoyed by that. I mean even the ‘focusing on the championship’ argument’s a bit thin given Vettel was there and he’s leading it?

    On the plus side it’s good to see F1 engaging with people with events like this and getting all the teams and (almost) all of the drivers involved. Great show. Not sold on a London GP though – firstly I doubt the City could cope with a full race weekend and given the size of the roads I’d imagine the race would be a bit dull, but I guess we’ll see.

    And sorry but Fanboost’s still silly even if nobody’s talking about it.

    1. Actually I think that makes Ham look even more badass, that he was the only one that didn’t.

      1. It shows him much he cares about his fangirls

      2. I think you may be in the minority there, Mick!

      3. What, like Kimi being cool for not interacting with people at all? I guess so Mick. As @rocketpanda says, if he’s the only one not turning up, it looks a bit odd. I guess he’ll get to defend it, and be discussed endlessly over the weekend, sigh.

      4. Well in these days, people vote for Brexit and Trump, so i can see how Mick can think that Lewis being the only one missing from the event is a cool thing.

        1. Lol, how old are you?

    2. @rocketpanda
      The last reference I saw to a GP in London (sorry, I can’t remember where) said East London, i.e. not the City or Westminster. I think it’s unlikely that any part of central London would have its roads closed for long enough to stage a GP (two weeks? More?) but it’s marginally more likely in East London. I think there has even been a proposal for a track on the 2012 Olympic site, which is certainly large enough, but which doesn’t actually have many roads of any sort. Oh yes, here we are :-) https://www.racefans.net/2012/07/18/f1-fanatic-roundup-187/.

      All things considered, I’m not holding my breath.

      1. How about outside London but pretending to be in London….the set used for Eastenders should host the race.

      2. @jimg @rocketpanda I have read that the site in consideration is some derelect land and surrounding roads north of the City Airport – quite near to the ExCel centre. It is a flat, windswept area devoid of atmosphere – perfect substitute for Silverstone ;)

        1. @unicron2002
          Do you mean around the gas works and sewage works? ;-)

  9. I’m sure if they use gamers, IntoTheBarrier would do the best job of trialling and reviewing the new F1 features for Brawn. That would be quite something!

    This event in London sounded great. However, as a northerner I am obliged to have a slightly bitter side towards it. If it becomes annual, I hope that it’s not just in London, but changes city every year, or something like that. With the race in Silverstone (for now at least), they shouldn’t be restricted just to promoting in one city.

    Now, the idea of losing Silverstone for London is quite horrifying. I agree with the last bit of comment of the day. It’s worrying, and as much as I like most of the city circuits, if they are all like that then we will have a repetitive and eventually very dull calendar.

    The locations for Formula E are great, yes, but without the backdrop (or even with it sometimes) you can’t tell one circuit from another, which is one reason why I stopped watching after a few races. Baku is, in my opinion, great because it is unique, as is Monaco, as is Singapore, etc., but put 20 of them on the calendar and then the only point in moving location between races is for the backdrop.

    1. IntoTheBarrier would be interesting for us but may not be good for the teams as he’ll get taken out by aliens and miss all of the braking zones. But then again, he should be alright if the driving line and driver assists are enabled hahaha

    2. If anything they should completely not choose any wannabe F1-connoisseur from Youtube, @strontium. They should simply choose the fastest men online on each platform.

  10. Not to get all Helen Lovejoy on you, but “won’t someone please think of the children”.

    So many children would of heard about this, and only would of wanted to see one person. The very target audience for this event are the very people who admire him more than other drivers, hes one of them. His engagement was an amazing opportunity to inspire and excite the next generation, and bring in a whole lot of new fans to the sport.

    The irony being that he was not there, as he wanted to take a break and recharge, yet the amount of stress and frustration this no show will create over the coming days from both F1 and mainstream press, and the fans will be far more than the stress alleviated from a two day holiday.

    1. Sorry that was meant as a response to you @strontium

      1. Sorry I mean @rocketpanda

        I need a two day holiday!

    2. @bamboo

      Laughing at the ‘need a two day holiday’ remark!…..:)

      Yeah, the reaction over Lewis not showing up to this is getting rather out of hand. I think it is only a small thing but he might end up regretting it. There is a fellow poster walking amongst us on this site who won’t refer to Lewis by name, and types ‘that specimen’. We are talking about some pretty serious bile here. This sort of thing will not help Lewis……

      I hope that he shows up to Silverstone happy and motivated. He has had a pretty tough couple of weeks on the track, and I think a problem free weekend at Silverstone would be good for both Lewis and the championship.

      Looking forward to it!

    3. @bamboo The problem is, the event was organised in secret and publicised at *literally* the last minute. I doubt many of Lewis’s fans (young and old) could up and get to London quickly enough, given it was the middle of a school week.

      1. @optimaximal
        Pedantic note: most schools in the UK are on holiday now. I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse.

  11. Who is the mysterious owner of Sauber?

    1. Hopefully… Ron Dennis ;)

    2. Levente (@leventebandi)
      13th July 2017, 7:46

      Pascal Picci is both Chairman and owner

      1. Not the only person.

      2. @leventebandi This apparently isn’t the person JS is referring to. Someone asked him in the comments and he confirmed it was someone else.

        1. Thx, I probably looked over it

    3. Sundar Srinivas Harish
      13th July 2017, 13:32

      The Great Gatsby

    4. Marcus Ericsson

  12. Hamilton giving me one of those ‘why do I support him?’ moments again.
    He’s let himself down, what an idiot. There is no other word I’m afraid. He should be promoting the sport that has given him so much.

    1. Meh

      If theres one place F1 does not need an event like this, its Britain.

      ‘He should be promoting the sport…’ – Seriously? Hamilton does more promoting of this sport than anyone else, more than all of the other drivers combined.

      Hes got a massive home race coming up, on the back of 2 very disapointing results, he’s got every right to want a day off.

      Jesus.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        13th July 2017, 12:09

        He’s got the right to do whatever but there are always consequences. This time, it’s annoying lots of his fans and creating yet more of the track distractions to deal with throughout the race weekend.

        However you look at it, it’s a really dumb move that won’t have gone down well with Liberty, the fans and the other drivers.

        1. I’d hardly call them fans if they’re whinging about him not turning up to a pointless exhibition.

          He’s earned more respect in my eyes for doing what he believes is right for him and his chances of being in the right frame of mind to win.

          1. petebaldwin (@)
            13th July 2017, 13:54

            Surely the people who were disappointed to not see him are fans? Why else would they want to see him?

          2. @N Or…If they’re whinging it is because they are fans and were disappointed. But suddenly this promotion is so easily sloughed off by you as ‘pointless?’ So an actual event that had F1 cars there and all the other drivers and even former Champions there, ahead of the British GP, is pointless, but a tweet from LH sitting on his plane promotes F1? Come on…you’re reaching a little too far to defend your man.

      2. @N He’s done more to promote himself than other drivers do, but I’m not convinced he promotes the sport, and certainly to say more than all other drivers combined is simply highly unlikely.

        1. By promoting ‘himself’ hes promoting the sport, you cannot separate the two. Lewis Hamilton the ‘name/brand’ is tied with Formula 1.

          1. Sure, but when his end goal is to promote himself, to brand himself, I don’t exactly get a warm fuzzy that he is turning people on to F1. Feels to me more like he uses F1 to promote himself, rather than actually promoting F1. But for sure you are right that by extension some people might pay a bit of attention to F1 because of his self-promotion.

    2. While it sounds, looks, like it was a great event @john-h yesterday in London I think that it wasn’t really the place where F1 needs to go for promotion, as Italy and the UK are more or less the only countries left where F1 is still a big sport. So yeah, it is great to reward UK fans (but due to late announcement due to safety most probably couldn’t get to London, see the post by @strontium above), but in reality, that’s not where F1 promotion is most needed.

      Now, I am Dutch, and I think RBR is doing well to capitalise on Max Verstappen to grow enthousiasm for them and for F1, but it is a small country of which almost 0.1% was in Austria last weekend, so sure, keep it up, but limited return.

      I personally would be much happier to get it an F1live in Berlin (also bc. I live there and could attend ;) to stoke up missing German interest for F1, though we’d need a mock-race between all the guys the Germans know about from RTL.de – Vettel, Vettel!, enemy Hamilton (Boo), Hulk!, Wehrlein, NL2the MAX!!, Ricciardo, oh yeah Bottas, and lagging cool kimi, with of course Vettel winning, cycling-criterium style (some sarcasm possibly included).

      But if they repeat events like, where they really need to do it, is in several major US cities in the run up to the Austin GP, to create some bit of mainstream buzz in the US for F1 – in a country where Hamilton, and now Alonso too, are probably the only semi-known current F1 drivers, one due to his jet-set life, the other thanks to driving indy. Red Bull showed in Austria they know how to make a great show of it (with stunt planes and all), ask them for advice.

      Then maybe go to China with it and create a good spectacle at the right time (do allow bengal fire, unlike in Spielberg :-), and do that semi-regularly. And then for every new race – make sure to get the show out to stoke interest, like somewhere this year, early next year, in Marseille or Aix-en-Provance, not too far from Paul-Ricard (so people get why they should travel to the middle of nowwhere for F1 …).

  13. I’m going to go with a wild hypothesis for Hamilton’s snub.

    The FIA gave Vettel a pretty tame penalty for his Baku conduct. Hamilton is known to have a bit of a victim complex when things don’t go his way so I think that is a partial factor. Secondly he’s the biggest star in F1 in a tense title fight. Between a double header race the rights holders want him doing more work at a promotion in a country they don’t even seem bothered about losing the most popular race of the year in.

    So I think he’s snubbing them for those two reasons. I’ll take my tin foil hat off now.

    1. Further to that, was it not exactly this attitude of total ownership that lead to the break with RonD ?

    2. Yeah, I think you are close to Hamilton’s reasoning. Or maybe he has a pal that organised things for him in Greece and felt bad about cancelling at a late stage (because he couldn’t mention this event up front) or something – that could have played a role too.

  14. Racerdude7730
    13th July 2017, 3:49

    Lewis is a real team player…. can’t bother with this in his home country when every other driver could manage. Some are under way more stress then him I’m sure. This is the same story with testing where he can’t be bothered with that either and the team makes up lies for him of why he isn’t able to even tho he is fine. I don’t get how people can blindly defend this sorta thing. Your team and fans should come first. Also it’s your home freakin country!

    1. Nice little article about it in The Guardian today:

      Yet misinterpretation is understandable as he presents a persona that refuses to be reduced to one dimension. Two years ago, he explained why he felt he always had time for fans. In 1996, aged 11, Eddie Irvine had ignored his request for a picture. “I remembered from that moment that I never wanted to do that,” he said.

      1. F1 drivers should be badass. That’s why I think Vettel hitting Hamilton was awesome, and Lewis telling everyone to go F themselves is rad too.

        1. petebaldwin (@)
          13th July 2017, 12:12

          Let’s see if he says that this weekend or wether he selects a much less “basass” excuse like “i needed a break”

          1. I remain of the opinion that his third WDC went right to his head and he has been overly entitled ever since. This is LH these days. Many are fine with it and feel he is entitled to acting entitled. It’s been a turnoff to me. I’ve got nothing invested in him not showing up to this event, but it has been interesting that it has turned out to be something that he really should have attended, especially since he et al are soon going to have a month off. But whatever…LH has to be LH, whether he’s wanting VB to help him on track, or he’s throwing his own team under the bus. It’s all about him. I personally prefer someone in his position to be more humble and grateful, but everyone has their own fingerprint. He ‘talks’ grateful (#blessed) but I don’t think he really backs that up with his usual attitude.

  15. I will love to see Porsche in F1.
    But also sad coz I think that will be the end of LMP1 class in Endurance racing.

    1. @prelvu but we wanted to get rid of a dominating engine?

  16. Will there really be a British Grand Prix in London? Why does there need to be a Grand Prix in London, for crying out loud? It would be nice if London had some elevation (like Lisbon, Rio, Vancouver or Hong Kong), but it doesn’t have elevation change. It just doesn’t. It’s pretty in some places and it’s a wonderful city- one of my favorite cities in the world- but it makes no sense to have a Grand Prix in London.

    1. As has been the case for many years, there probably won’t be a GP in London. It’s almost logistically impossible given how cramped & organic the majority of London’s streets are and I can’t imagine how they could afford to compensate businesses and citizens for the disruption.

      Also, if local/national government isn’t going to pay for a race track to host an event, what’s going to convince them to fund a street race?

  17. Brawn is not really suggesting a race without overtaking can be exciting ?
    Yes, the number of overtakes is not the only measurement of a successful race from a fan perspective, but it sure is a big part of it. Two or more cars battling it for lap after lap makes for very entertaining racing.

    For as long as you are providing rubber that leaves just one clean braking zone and most of your circuits have single line corners also because of marbling after a few laps, you are not going to get battling in the corners, where the visual is more impressive than the current norm of DRS:ing halfway down the straights.

    So, make the cars corner better mechanically, less sensitive aero to wake turbulance, produce a cleaner surface for racing all over the width of the track… I know, i know, it’s not like there’s an openwheel formula that has tackled these challenges for a hundred years or so you could possibly give a call, right ?

  18. If city street circuits are the future of F1, then I will stop watching. I simply do not agree with the COTD in that respect. Circuit variation is something that has been for the most part lost in F1. I have nothing against street circuits- but if its more circuits in cities with buildings either side than other kinds of circuits, then it becomes downright stupid. If Liberty are actually trying to follow Formula E’s model, they will not succeed. If this COTD proves prophetic (probably not, but I will say it anyway) the only circuits F1 will have that will bear any semblance to something different is Montreal, Hermanos Rodriguez and (if it survives) Interlagos.

    What I am trying to say is this: There needs to be more circuit variation. Not just in average speed, but also in location and elevation change. There are slow circuits (Monaco), and fast circuits (Monza, Spa, Silverstone, Suzuka). But all of the other circuits with the exception of Baku and Interlagos all have about the same average speed and have almost no character. They all have similar kinds of corners. There should be some kind of simplicity in their design, but there isn’t. Quite honestly, there really hasn’t been any real circuit variation since the early 1990’s. The more kind of different circuits that are on F1, the better. I’ll give you an example: in 1985, there were fast, elevated circuits (in addition to Spa) like the Osterreichring, Zandvoort, and Kyalami; there were fast, flat circuits like Silverstone, Paul Ricard and Jacarepagua, there were power circuits like (in addition to Monza) Hockenheim (not raced on in ’85, but raced on in every other year in the 1980’s) and Imola, mid-speed circuits like the Nurburgring GP track and Brands Hatch, there was (and still is) a classic street race using actual contours of public roads such as Monaco and Montreal, and angular city street circuits like Detroit and Adelaide. I’ll say it again: the more variation, the better.

    1. *comprehendable simplicity in their design

    2. “Montreal, Hermanos Rodriguez and (if it survives) Interlagos.”

      Those are not exactly street circuits.

      But yeah, street circuits are to stop and go in nature, to many 90 degree turns..

      1. Yes, but those are permanent circuits within the vicinity of cities. I also forgot to include Albert Park, but that is effectively a public road circuit.

    3. I’m not a fan of street circuits, they rarely produce decent races, and on the rare occaissions that they do it’s mainly because they’re chaotic crash-fests like Baku the other week rather than because of the quality of racing.
      It wasn’t so bad when we only had Monaco, but the more there are, the less of them I want.
      Park circuits like Canada and Australia tend to be much better suited to racing, so if they want to have more races in urban areas rather than on circuits out in the middle of nowhere, I’d much rather see them look to large parks that can be easily adapted to race tracks rather than on city streets.

      I’d also like to see a bit more variation, I used to love the old Hockenheim, with the combination of the high speed section through the trees and a tight, twisty stadium section, and the variations of set up different teams would use to try to get the best out of their cars. We’ll never get that back there, but it’d be nice to see a new citcuit that wasn’t another bland cookie cut from the same old Tilke mould.

    4. +1

      I’ve come to realise that I most enjoy the tracks for which I can recognise individual corners. If the camera cuts to a car going through Spoon I know where it is and what’s coming next. I can’t say the same for most of the corners at Singapore.

  19. I’m sure that there would have been a huge number of young people left disappointed by #blessed not bothering to turn up at the event in London but hopefully they enjoyed the spectacle regardless.

    What will be interesting is the crowd reaction this weekend. Silverstone crowds have been massively supportive of Hamilton (and rightly so) over the past few seasons. I wonder if some of that may fall away if the fans interpret his no show as “no care”. (Remember the booing…. Could we see it again)

    Good on the teams and drivers (well most of them) for getting involved. Great to see some effort being put into making F1 more accessible and visible.

    1. It’s really possible that they won’t be as hostile as you expect them to be @dbradock.
      The British GP is not a Londoner gathering, and people coming from elsewhere (in the UK or further away) who did not attend the London exhibition may very just don’t care.
      Interestingly, I’m not as mad as others here because I couldn’t attend the event (living in an other country doesn’t help, being on holidays further away definitely makes it impossible).

  20. Lewis is to social, Lewis isn’t social enough… Lewis this, Lewis that. I understand he’s a public figure but public media don’t owe him. Although, they’d like it. I wish him all the best in the title fight.

  21. Fanboost is not being talked about because everybody got used to it being a sad reality.
    I’ve been so hyped about Formula E since its conception because I believe technologically it is the future. They’ve done so many things right in making the series available to fans, too. So I just ignored voting in the Fanboost and enjoyed the racing and everything around.
    One rubbish thing might not be enough to turn me away, but that doesn’t mean it’s right.

    1. Sundar Srinivas Harish
      13th July 2017, 13:36

      I think Fan Boost will be shown the door if battery/powertrain development are opened to constructors. Right now, that’s the only pure strategic element available to the teams.

      1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
        13th July 2017, 16:52

        I think they will have to ditch fanboost if they wish to apply for World Championship status

  22. On a polish website, just been reported that kubica did the test at Paul Ricard – evacuate the car under the mandatory 5 seconds and passed. looking forward to Hungary test now! already driven the 2017 simulator at Enstone, now waiting for the real deal.

  23. My opinion is that Hamilton has stopped being a Britt a loong time ago, he likes to say that he is, but saying something does not make it so.

  24. This is the problem with Hamilton.

    19 drivers showed up, he didn’t. I bet Bottas is somewhere showing up to something, outworking him at something as I type this post.

    Nico was able to beat him on consistency, so can many other drivers.

    Now he will have entire week of pesty Media asking why was he not there. He will have to come up with clever excuses, instead of focusing on the race.

    Same problem last few weeks, alwaya in some sort of drama.

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      13th July 2017, 12:16

      Yep that’s the problem. If he looked at the bigger picture, he’d have realised that by missing the event, he’s opening himself up to lots of difficult questions on a weekend where he needs to be 100% focused.

      1. But I just don’t think he cares. He feels entitled to do what he wants which is why F1 has had to request his presence for the next event. He’ll just get sulky and short with reporters if he’s asked too many times, and besides, he’s already answered the questions…he wanted a two day break. He’ll just keep saying that. That’s fine. He’s gotta be LH. A turnoff, but LH nonetheless.

    2. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      13th July 2017, 13:46

      @jureo

      Nico was able to beat him on consistency, so can many other drivers.

      You mean Nico was able to beat him by slamming into him in Spain or by superior reliability …or, and this is my personal favorite, using the magic gloves that allowed him to have better starts in the races.

      1. Or reality …… Nico was able to beat him by scoring more points in the only thing that matters in the Drivers Championship… POINTS. 385 > 380 .

        1. Nico was able to beat him by scoring more points

          … by having a more reliable car, not by being the better driver over the season.

      2. Superior car reliability, winning 9 races in a row… You can say what you want. Leaving Nico asside, even this year Hamilton is very inconsistent compared to Bottas.

        Granted he is better, but not more consistant. He is always one event away from a major emotional drama.

        I can never see Bottas getting in to any of these drama distractions Lewis tends to get every 10 days.

  25. There’s nothing in that Independent article that shows Formula One took a swipe at Hamilton. They just pointed out that they got “a fantastic response from all the teams and 19 of the drivers”, which is true. They didn’t even name Hamilton as the driver who didn’t show up. What were they suppose to say? I’ve only seen one swipe at Hamilton this year and it was far from “thinly veiled”.

    I guess it’s just a click-bait headline… in which case damn, I actually fell for it for once.

    1. Well they could have just said “all the teams and drivers” but they said all the teams and 19 of the drivers which immediately makes one start doing math on who wasn’t there. No clickbait…a fact…and obviously there are people within F1 who are not impressed.

      1. Well they could have just said “all the teams and drivers”

        How could they have said that? It’s not true.

  26. Not a word about the Sauber Honda deal. Thought that would have made the round up.

  27. GtisBetter (@)
    13th July 2017, 10:42

    I don’t see why Lewis has to show up. Or why fans think they can demand what a driver does. And he did tell it in advance. It’s a short week in a long f1 season and if he planned something else, so be it. it’s a shame, but nothing to get upset about, which is what the internet seems to be about these days.

    1. Its nothing to do with fans demanding that he shows up. More, if everyone else turns up, why couldn’t he?

      F1 folk have been aware of this event for a few weeks, with this being withheld due to security reasons. For some reason, every other driver was able to cancel whatever plans they had, yet to him winning a stupid ESPY award was more important than a homecoming, and promoting the sport.

      There is a difference between fans demanding he shows up, and him doing the right thing for the fans (who are mainly his fans) and sport – 19 other drivers seem to have got the memo.

  28. I do not understand why Hamilton is being criticised for not showing up. Clearly he does not manage his e-mail himself. Someone else just accidentally pressed the ‘Decline’ button when the invitation to F1 Live London arrived – no big deal.

  29. It’s amazing how quickly people forget how Hamilton interacts with the fans at the British GP. The key point there is the fans are at the circuit. His personal time is his own and I find it incredible the way people would presume to tell someone how they should spend their personal time. If Mercedes didn’t require his attendance then he’s free to do what he wants.

    1. Is it really ‘amazing?’ Have people really forgotten how he interacts with fans at the British GP? Is anyone telling him how to spend his time? Or are they just disappointed that he chose not to attend an event at which everyone else was there? Is that so ‘incredible?’ His presence was preferred and wanted. Is that so bad? Isn’t that in a way a compliment to him? And he disappointed some people because of a choice he was free to make. That’s all.

  30. Vettel has a good opportunity to start playing mind games with Hamilton about Londongate.

  31. The trolls hate him soooo much yet here they all are heartbroken that he didn’t come to a promotional event, make up your minds guys, you should be glad he wasn’t there to annoy you with his antics and selfies and hogging the spotlight. We have no idea why he chose not to attend, he gives more than any other 5 drivers combined to his fans all the time, he wouldn’t have missed this unless he absolutely needed the time off. That’s fairly obvious, but lets be honest, you guys don’t care about any of that, you saw another opportunity to shout to the world how terrible of a human being he is and immediately started drooling. Losers.

    1. Absolutely true. None of those critical of Lewis turning up went to the event BECAUSE they wanted to see him there. I doubt if they even went there. This is just another thing for them to chew him over with.

  32. So how do we create the environment where we have a live event going on and the fans are racing their cars in that race.
    So, for example, a safety car is called and they have to react in their environment to that. The potential for that is huge.

    That sounds simply terrible. I love racing simulation, and love F1… But F1 is letting racing simulation down in many more ways that this kind of implementation could overcome. How about actually putting the license in the hands of a developer who can actually do a simulation justice (as opposed to the arcade joke of the codemaster f1 games) before even pretending to have any ideas for how you could leverage the players of such a simulation, Brawn.

  33. Don’t want to dwell on it too much but Lewis Hamilton should of been there. Every other driver commited to it and to not show up especially in London. Cmon, he needs to harden up a bit. This weekend will either be a disaster for him or he will absolutely dominate. Nothing in between. Its all above the shoulders with Lewis

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