Hulkenberg: Perez “brings out the best in me”

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Nico Hulkenberg says team mate Sergio Perez is competitive enough to make him to perform at his best.

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Nico Hulkenberg Q&A: 2014 was my best season yet (F1)

“The decision at the end of 2013 was not so much about leaving Sauber, but about the opportunity at Force India – a team I already knew very well. There were lots of factors in that decision, but Force India with the Mercedes engine seemed like the best combination. Yes, it proved to be the right decision. Sometimes you need some luck.”

Bernie Ecclestone proposes engine change in bid to cut costs for struggling F1 teams (Daily Mail)

“I believe if you got everybody in the room, secret ballot, there would only be one company interested in retaining this engine, and that is Mercedes.”

Lotus learned from 2014 – Grosjean (Lotus)

“We started this year knowing our wind tunnel numbers were very good and we thought we were well ahead of some of the teams, then we got to the first test and we saw there was something wrong with the car.”

The 2014 Gobshite Award (ESPN)

“Step forward Christian Horner, this year’s outright winner who clearly has a fine sense of humour while making several entries, most of which were rather limp and therefore perfect.”

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Comment of the day

Does Hamilton deserve criticism he’s had for voicing his suspicions about Rosberg’s driving in Monaco?

I don’t understand why its so difficult for people to accept that to function as a F1 driver, you cannot turn a blind eye to the politics? We widely acknowledge that F1 is rife with politics, and that it is quite rotten at its core for various reason, however, the moment a driver flexes his political nous, he gets denigrated.

F1 is probably the most competitive professional sport out there, and sometimes, you need to play the game in order to get ahead. This typical in business, just walk into any company that hires more that two people, its rife. Hamilton will say and do what he needs to say and do, just as every other driver on the grid would… I don’t really see what the problem is.
@JayMenon10

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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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34 comments on “Hulkenberg: Perez “brings out the best in me””

  1. I’m outraged, another award to F1 that surely should have been awarded to a Golfer !

    1. @hohum This time I won’t say it should’ve been a famous female runner, not named Jessica Ennis.

      1. Yeah, don’t say it.

  2. Bernie, Please just go!

    He’s done a lot of good for the sport early on but now he’s just talking nonsense & seems to be doing everything to drag the sport into the ground with him.

    1. There is a general understanding with “old timers” and the “seniors”. And that is, they hate change and they hate technology. Can you blame the guy for being part of the general understanding?

      1. General understanding is also that he should have been 20 years into retirement by now, right?

        1. 24 years to be precise

    2. Bernie knows he can abuse his powers as a F1 boss and get away with it. Who would say things like that about their customers and company, and all associated with the business, and still have their job?

      1. With his bank account everyone could get away with enything. Regretably, that’s the way the world is today.

  3. Good old Bernie, loves to have a joke at the expense of the media, he knows he can get away with it just as long as he does not make it too obvious, I’m sure he considered suggesting harnessing horses to provide the horsepower but realised that would likely not be taken seriously, even by a reporter from the Daily Mail, and Bernie does want it taken seriously otherwise people might start looking elsewhere for the falling number of viewers and the inability of startup teams to remain solvent.

    1. My view is the exact opposite. Bernie periodically launches extreme ideas so that people ridicule him and his ideas. While in the meantime Bernie gets approval for the same, yet slightly less extreme, ideas. Bernie wanted double points for the last race? He suggested double points for the last three races. Teams and fans oppose, there is an agreement for only one race: Bernie gets his way after all.

      1. @matthijs I don’t agree with your characterisation of Ecclestone’s stance on double points at all.

        If Ecclestone only wanted double points for the last race then why once he had achieved that did he continue trying to extend it to the final three races? A point of view which he continued to champion even after the F1 Commission finally made him put his stupid idea back in the cheap box of tricks he pulled it out of.

  4. I am pretty sure ALL of the teams with Mercedes power like the V6s, and McLaren probably want Honda to stick around, so I think they would be against it as well. The fact that F1 has only had 3 engine suppliers the last couple of years has been pathetic. It would be a shame to lose the fourth one right when they decide to join.

    Every time Ecclestone opens his mouth he comes off as a buffoon. He should retire. Soon. Otherwise I fear that F1 will go down with him.

  5. Ferrari has recruited former Bridgestone technical director Hirohide Hamashima to improve its understanding of tyre performance.

    Chris Dyer, Aldo Costa, Stefano Domenicali, Luca di Montezemolo, Pat Fry, Nikolas Tombazis, and now Hirohide Hamashima. Seriously, who is left at Ferrari?

    This whole “sack everyone” mentality isn’t going to improve their windtunnel or simulator.

    1. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
      18th December 2014, 1:46

      @kingshark – Hamashima was hired by Ferrai, not released/fired.

      1. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
        18th December 2014, 1:47

        @kingshark – Edit: Whoops. I read that wrong, my apologies.

        1. @braketurnaccelerate you are actually correct, the tweet which reads he was hired is from 2012.

          1. Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
            18th December 2014, 2:46

            I thought that Hamashima was hired by Ferrari today, which is incorrect. I read the tweets wrong, not realizing the one was from 2012.. kingshark was correct in that it adds to a big list of people who have departed Ferrari.

    2. I think Arrivabene is giving James Allison a privilege of having a blank piece of paper to make his own vision from scratch. If that is so, at least it means that Ferrari have finally recognized that band-aids won’t work any more and that they can’t sacrifice the future for a half-hearted attempt at the next year, but instead must focus on figuring themselves out, before starting to worry where they are compared to the competition.

      At least, that is the only way all of this would make sense. That’s what they probably meant by “flatter” structure. Basically, appoint only the heads of the few core departments and let them start building their respective departments from the ground up.

      As much as this Arrivabene bloke looks off-putting, hopefully, he knows what he is doing.

    3. @kingshark The wind tunnel has been upgraded and should be in full working range for the 2015 project. I think when you start something new you should actually start from the ground up, with that in mind I salute Ferrari for finally making some decisions, after 4 years promising changes on track with no changes in the factory.

    4. I got a funny feeling they think James Allison can do it all…….

    5. @kingshark In tomorrow’s round-up: Ferrari sack Windtunnel and Simulator, aim to replace it with Marussia auction items.

    6. How long before it’s arrivederci to Arrivabene?

  6. Let’s see now,… we should award medals to the drivers -whoever get’s the most medals….
    Hitler did a lot of things right…
    Women are like kitchen appliances…
    We don’t need the younger audience…
    How about this one, ‘ If this guy doesn’t go, then F1 won’t be the show’…sorry, but that was the best I could do

    1. petebaldwin (@)
      18th December 2014, 11:20

      I think one of my favourites recently was when he declared that Rolex are a brand for old people that no young people are interested in banking or investments!

      Who can argue with him? I have no need to know the time. I just usually base my day around where the sun is in the sky and hope for the best. It gets annoying carrying around a suitcase with all of my money in it but sadly, banking just is of no interest to me.

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        18th December 2014, 11:26

        I suppose on the plus side though, because I’m young, I don’t have much money anyway so that makes it easier.

        Anyway, I’m off now to go and chat to Toto and Miss Ecclestone on Twitter… I’d be nice if Twitter caught on at some point as it appears to be a useful tool but it gets a bit boring with only me, Toto Wolff and Bernie’s daughter to talk to….

  7. Hoping Hamashima is on his way to Mclaren. He actually did quite a good job for Ferrari since 2012. In 2012, the Ferrari car design was a mess, but they really got a lot out of their tyres that season, and when it came to managing tyre temperatures during wet / tricky conditions is the only time the f2012 was on a level playing field.

    In 2013, they started the season with a brilliant understanding of the 2013 Pirrellis, and were looking at maintaining that advantage until they changed the tyre construction due to safety reasons.

    In 2014, Ferrari was a mess again with both design and engine, so none of the blame can be put on the understanding of the tyres.

    I think Hamashima will actually work well with Alonso at Mclaren… I really hope he’s heading there

  8. For someone who should be the most qualified to understand the complexities of F1, Bernie sure does try to oversimplify it most -if not all- of the time.

  9. ColdFly F1 (@)
    18th December 2014, 8:01

    I believe if you got everybody in the room, secret ballot, there would only be one person interested in retaining this person, and that is Bernie himself.

  10. All this bluster about changing engines just makes no sense at all, not to Mercedes, not to the non-Mercedes PU manufacturers and not to the small and struggling outfits.

    As the article points out it is the passing on of the development costs which has pushed up the cost to customers. Changing engines again isn’t going to make those development costs have not happened so the manufacturers will continue to pass them on and load on top of them the new engine development costs for Bernie’s ridiculous (and thoroughly vague) idea. The only way to keep the costs down is to have stable power unit regulations which allows the development costs to be spread over a decent period and to limit development to reduce further development costs. We already have a well thought out set of engine regulations which does these things.

    What happens if new engine regulations are brought in to hobble Mercedes and Merc do the best job again, is it a secret ballot and change of engine regs every year thereafter too?

  11. With regards the Audi P1 seat that I thought was set to go to Button until this time last week, I am utterly disappointed that Audi haven’t had the confidence to take a young single seater or LMP2 star rather than Oliver Jarvis, whose sportscar appearances haven’t been anything to write home about. The last time Audi took a chance they popped Lucas di Grassi in their car, who is probably second only to Lotterer in terms of raw speed in the Audi camp, so whilst Hartley is also flying for Porsche, Audi’s need to stick with the familiar appears unjustified. Perhaps it is a reflection of a last minute abortion on Button’s part…

    1. In fact who would have been a better choice? Pla? Frijns? Turvey? Leimer? Bird? Calado? Vergne? Kobayashi? In terms of the Audi family Nico Muller or even Jamie Green would have been a better choice…

  12. I think Bernie is right that only Mercedes are happy with the current engine rules, but that doesn’t mean the other manufacturers want to scrap the engine — they just want the regulations relaxed to allow more in-season development. We’ve been through this countless times, Bernie, don’t you ever listen?

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