Red Bull won’t be held to 2020 F1 commitment

F1 Fanatic Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz warns his team will not see out its contract to remain in F1 until 2020 if its situation does not improve.

Links

Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more.

Mateschitz: 'I'm losing interest in Formula 1' (Motorsport)

"How many teams went out despite the fact they had contracts? You can't force one to stay, when he wants to go out."

Sebastian Vettel Q&A: We’re all a bit jealous of Hulkenberg (F1)

"That is so great and I think all of us are a little bit jealous. He made it look easy, and this is possibly good for us as he made us F1 drivers look very good."

Alonso, Ricciardo and others keen on Le Mans drive (ESPN)

"I think it would be fun. I watched quite a lot of it actually - about 18 hours! I'm a fan, I'm a fan! It was cool."

More F1 drivers keen for Le Mans tilt (F1i)

"I didn’t watch it. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen Le Mans. It’s not something I’ve ever been particularly interested in. Naturally I love cars but it’s not been something I’ve ever wanted to do so I don’t plan to."

Lewis Hamilton says F1 drivers need help from teams in managing cars (Sky)

"I don’t think the people fully understand (the radio messages) anyway, that are watching. I honestly don’t think they know what we know. So therefore it’s just noise that they’re hearing."

Webber says F1 is letting down fans and drivers (Reuters)

"And this is rubbing off, the fans can see this. Over the last five or six years, they've got many, many, many things wrong to try and make the sport better and it became a sniff too artificial."

Fernando Alonso predicts more F1 angst for McLaren at Austrian GP (The Guardian)

"Honda is making updates to Fernando’s power unit, which will be confirmed on Friday morning. As a result we are expecting grid penalties."

Jenson Button aims to follow heart over head by taking penalty at Austrian Grand Prix as he targets first British podium (Daily Mail)

"From a racing point of view, you would rather take a penalty here or Silverstone. You don't want it in Hungary - it is a circuit where we could be reasonably competitive."

Red Bull takes engine change penalties (Autosport)

"If it is not here, it's in the next few races. We have to look at chances in Silverstone and Budapest. I wouldn't be surprised if we had it here."

'Driving F1 car not as easy as it may look' (BBC)

"The only way it is different to when I started in F1 is physically. It is not as killer as it used to be when the cars were much faster, and we carried more speed through the corners and had much better tyres."

More F1 2015 (Gamersyde)

Footage of Codemasters' forthcoming F1 2015 game.

Tweets

Comment of the day

Why rotating between Monza and Imola may only postpone the difficulties the Italian Grand Prix faces:

Losing money every second year might be preferable to losing money every year but it is certainly not a solution to the problem of losing money.

I really don’t know why any track, other than a government-owned track looking for publicity, would want to stage a money-losing event.
@Hohum

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Titch, Jin and Jack_Hider!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

In one of the most notorious episodes in recent Formula One history, just six cars started the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis ten years ago today. The 14 drivers on Michelin rubber retired due to safety concerns after pre-race discussions attempting to find a solution failed.

On the same day Cristiano da Matta scored his final victory in an open-wheel racing car at Portland in the Champ Car Series. The following year he was seriously injured in a testing accident at Elkhart Lake when he struck a deer which ran onto the track.

Author information

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

144 comments on “Red Bull won’t be held to 2020 F1 commitment”

  1. If Red Bull do plan to leave before 2020 (I assume that’s when the current Concorde Agreement expires?) will they have to give up their massive bonus for making that commitment?

    1. I presume they will have to buy their way out of the contract agreement.

      1. Indeed @woodyd91. Those penalties were one of the counter points from Bernie for these teams getting big payouts every year.

    2. If Red Bull go, a few million quid one way or the other isn’t going to make any difference – we’re talking about a billionaire for whom this kind of money isn’t even a rounding error in his overall accounting. What’s more concerning is the seeming reason for Mr M’s departure – boredom. Doubtless he’ll flog the team to another billionaire, or possibly a car company, but this reminds us of the dangers of over-commercializing F1 – is this a sport, part of a marketing strategy for a fizzy drinks company, or worse, an expression of the whims of the super-rich?

      1. is this a sport, part of a marketing strategy for a fizzy drinks company, or worse, an expression of the whims of the super-rich?

        All of the above, although leaning more to the latter rather than the former. Then again isn’t this exactly what Bernie has worked all these years to achieve? Taking F1 from a motor racing sport and turning it into a commercial powerhouse in TV world. We can hardly be shocked when teams like Red Bull show up and then end up in situations like these.

        1. Like with all things when they get popular the money men get involved. Look at football which used to be a working class spectator sport. If WEC continues to rise it will get ruined by the money men sticking there noses in to capitalise on it’s popularity. F1 has been milked to the nth degree. Red Bull to WEC?

          1. I wouldn’t mind seeing that. Just hope WEC stays fairly liberal with their technical restrictions.

          2. mark p, the ACO already has a considerable commercial conflict of interest after selling off its advertising rights to the Circuit de la Sarthe to Audi a few years ago – they are commercially dependent on them to help foot the bill for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

      2. Hey @rsp123, don’t knock the whims of the super-rich, those whims are the only real expression of “trickle down” wealth creation.

        1. I kinda think Regan and Bernie would totally get along. He actually looks like a guy who would also sell F1 to someone for 100 years for peanuts money. After all, he sold America to a few super-rich for peanuts money.

      3. If i remember correctly it is 100 million for ever year left on the contract that Red Bull will have to pay F1. This was one off the reason they got the premium payment at the end of the year. One of the conditions for the payment was that if they leave F1 they will have to pay a fine if they brake the contract. IT is the same for all the the teams that get premium payments.

  2. Another day yet another story from somebody in Red Bull as to how they aren’t happy and how F1 is broken, Funny it wasn’t broken while you were winning and gaining massive exposure for your brand was it Mr.Mateschitz? No because the regulation change played into your hand perfectly on that occasion. How you can complain about the very system of regulation change that took you from a mid field team to a multiple championship winning team and keep a straight face I’ll never know!

    Mclaren haven’t won a race since since Brazil 2012 and yet they aren’t threatening to leave every 5 seconds and they’re currently in a worse situation engine wise, Red Bull won 3 races just last season (2 were rather inherited but that didn’t change the PR exposure). That’s the difference between a racing team and a energy drink pushing PR exercise.

    The rhetoric is getting as old as Bernie’s gimmicks.

    1. I think thats really harsh.

      F1 is broken. People who comment on blogs like these are in the small minority – the sport is really boring. I think its the core fans, people like you and the other commenters who need to step up and scream about the sport you love. I was a literally shocked that 22% of core-fans on this website gave the last race a 7/10!! Thats crazy, the race was a 3/10 at best. I fought myself many a time from dozing off and whenever I did, I woke up not having missed much.

      All this comes from someone who raced open wheel cars professionally not that long ago. I LOVE motorsport – as a kid, its all I did. I still remember Schumacher winning in a Benetton and I remember Hakkinens amazing move on him at Spa. The excitement died a little when watching Schumacher win with ease but was right back up when watching Hamilton and Alonso really fight it out (Alonso in his Renault was great too). Over the last 4/5 years I went from watching every single session (practice, qually and the race) to initially watching just qually highlights and the race to then watching only race highlights to now watching highlights of every other race (if that) – 5 yrs ago I couldn’t imagine missing a single race. These days I couldn’t be bothered – there is a lot more exciting sport on TV.

      The sport is very badly managed – its easy to see. Which motorsport fan wants to see a driver lift and coast – its a joke! Oh yea, then when they want to overtake, lets hit a button – no thanks, thats what my PS4 is for.

      Bernie and his friends care about money, that isn’t anything new – they found heaps of it from the Middle East (lets not even get into the ethical argument for now) and the newer boring circuits. That isn’t going to change.

      The only thing that can be done is if you, the core – F1 fan – someone who through thick and thin still follow this dying sport – stand up in unison and ask for the sport back. BUT, I don’t see that happening at all – you should be supporting the threats of big entertaining teams (Redbull where a breath of fresh air, and can still be), calling races like the Canadian GP a joke (thats a mega awesome track, look what they did to the racing this year! – open your eyes. Its far far far far from a 7/10 race). I even read comments the other day where people were questioning why a lot of the current drivers are complaining about the sport. Open your eyes – take a look at track attendance and viewer statistics – your sport is in the dump. How many football games have you seen being played in almost empty stadiums? Gosh, even NASCAR can fill up seats.

      I would like nothing more to have butterflies in my stomach when the 3 red-lights go out. Core-fans and bloggers (awesome bloggers like @Keith) need to get together and fight for your sport back. Else, face watching Manors and Haas’s and Saubers fight for a championship (like @fletchuk would like) that won’t be much more than GP2 – throw in some customer cars while at it.

      Redbull are absolutely right to leave, they are a business. Merc are also not gaining ANY additional brand recognition or adding to brand value winning these days – nothing like what Renault did with Alonso for e.g.

      Do it! – fight for your sport back.

      1. @wowieee, this is the kind of post that deserves a COTD everyday, I feel embarrassed being given such an award for a simple observation when I read such a passionate clarion call to action. Come on everybody, think about the real long term effects of these gimmicks and demand a return to real racing and real technology. When we wake up on race day we should think wowieee not hohum.

        1. “When we wake up on race day we should think @wowieee not @hohum” Awesome hahaha

      2. @wowieee
        Sorry, but I totally disagree with your main premise. Redbull is not right to leave. They’re not leaving for all the reasons you’re citing. They’re leaving because they’re not winning and it’s like they’re throwing all of their toys out of the pram. I’m not impressed with someone who sucks the sport dry while things are going well and then trashes it publicly when they lose.

        If you want to leave, then admit you’re a loser and just freaking leave. We don’t need to hear from them.

        As for the viewing stats and the attendance, that’s very simple to explain. Paywalls and viewing and super expensive seats for the attendance. And you say it’s ok for Bernie and CVC to be greedy because they’ve always been that way. But in the old days, what was good for Bernie happened to align with what’s good for F1. Now their interests have diverged drastically. Bernie could care less if going to some middle eastern crap-hole stops sponsors from wanting to support the teams. He’s getting his and it no longer has anything to do with the teams.

        The problems with F1 could be solved by a few steps to allow closer racing, including less dependence on the front wings in actual racing, and better distribution of cash to give the other teams a chance to compete…or even stay alive.

        And Merc is getting a lot of extra brand recognition out of this streak. They are advertising it like crazy over here in the states and it’s making a difference. People have confidence in their engineering again where it had wained in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

        1. @DaveD, i think you missed my main point. My ‘main premise’ is not to defend RBR but to point out that this sport is dying and the only people who can truly stop it are you guys.

          Besides, Merc ranks 7th in brand recognition amongst car manufactures in your United States (link). I run a business that measure ‘brand impact’ – while I’m not the analytics specialist, I can assure you that F1 does not have the same appeal as it did in the past. There was once a reason why Honda, Toyota, BMW all wanted in – there is a very very good reason as to why they want nothing to do with F1.

          My last paragraph, if thats what your basing your comment on (rather than the first 7) came across the wrong way. What I meant was that Mercedes Benz are not getting as much of brand recognition as compared to F1 in earlier days. Their success during the Hakkinen days with Mclaren had a very measurable impact.

          And please don’t google Daimler profits or car sales – correlation is not causation. Measuring impact of a marketing campaign is much much much more complex. Again, this is what I do for a living, and I don’t even consider myself an expert in the field – the analytics involved are beyond me – I just package them and sell them :)

          Darn, I wish there was an edit button to fix that last paragraph. Got a little carried away :)

          1. Fair enough, I focused too much on the Merc statement. But I still don’t give RBR a pass for being so ungracious. They never gave Renault any credit when they were winning even though the Renault engine was more fuel efficient and allowed them to start with less fuel and had a smaller footprint and cooling needs…both of these factors allowed Adrian Newey to work his magic even more so.
            Yet now they do nothing but trash Renault when STR is having a pretty good year with that same engine.

            Yes, F1 is fairly broken. But I expect them to fix it, not have every moron running the sport from Bernie (“these engines suck and don’t make enough noise”) to RBR whining about how unfair life is now to all the team principals complaining about everything they can think of…to the ACTUAL problems of starving the mid-tier teams with this terrible allocation of money.

            I want them to get on with fixing things and stop talking bad about their own sport in the press. Frankly, I’m ready for the EU to come in and break up the cartel running the sport and Bernie needs to be in jail. He’s a disgusting human being.

          2. Yes, F1 is in poor shape. Its financial structure is wrong, its rules are unstable, its tyres are too fragile and its super gimmicky.

            But believe me, F1 would become a different story if Ferrari beats Mercedes on merit next Sunday and make it a regular feat of every other GP. Keeping everything equal bar two teams able to fight with Mercedes and the sport is saved!

            If we get rid of DRS, high-deg tyres but keep Mercedes 0.6 seconds faster than the rest, the bore fest will still be there.

        2. @DaveD think about it this way. Would you buy a Merc just because Hamilton won back to back WCs?

          Did you start drinking RedBull after Seb won his WC?

          I hope the answer is no – cause the data shows the general answer to both those questions to be no. It doesn’t work like that. RedBull are a business first – if they are loosing money on a venture, it makes business sense to quit. Would you keep money in an investment when you can clearly see it going down? – you would pull out – even if it meant taking a slap on your wrist. Thats all it is to Mateschitz – a business venture.

          Sincere apologies, I don’t mean to lecture – I used to love websites and magazines that covered F1. I used to love this sport. Its sooo boring now :( People are getting excited about Haas joining?? You would have laughed at it when BMW, Ford (Jaguar), Honda and Toyota where in the sport – bring on Porsche, Audi, Ford – thats whats F1 should be!

        3. Red Bull got screwed over by the factories leading the strategy group. The factories (not the manufacturers/teams) are ruining F1, along with the the FIA and the TV guys. There isn’t enough room for improvement in F1, just a bunch of back scratching. The rules have been deliberately crafted to provide advantage to some (big name factories) and disadvantage to all those who do not build the ‘power units’. WEC is so much better than F1 (at least on tracks with out half plus mile straights), because it allows/manufacturers teams to CHOOSE their own direction.

      3. Usually it’s fans of the currently winning team/driver that dismiss the problems and pretend everything is fine with the sport.

        1. I believe most Hamilton fans at the moment know the sport is in a state. I think its obvious to most people to be honest.

          1. petebaldwin (@)
            19th June 2015, 10:44

            @john-h – I am a Hamilton fan and I have to say, I enjoyed Red Bull’s domination more than I am enjoying this season.

            @woodyd91 – In regards to people voting Canada 7/10 – I don’t quite understand it..

            I suppose the confusion is over what you would summarise a score as.

            For me, 10/10 is the perfect race. Excitement throughout the field, a close battle for the lead and title ramifications based on the result.

            9/10 would be similar but without deciding a title. Still an absolute classic but couldhave been better.

            7/10 would be a really good race with lots of battles throughout the field but perhaps lacks the edge of your seat fight for the lead. It’s still a great race though.

            Is that what happened in Canada? My recollection was that it was a fairly insipid race with nothing but DRS passes, drivers not attacking others and “maintaining gaps” to protect their tyres, drivers coasting into corners rather than finding the absolute limits on the brakes to save fuel, half the field deemed uncompetitive because of the “power units” they are stuck with and so on.

            If that was a 7, what race in recent history scored a 3 or a 4? Or are we saying F1 isn’t broken and that every race has been well above what we would expect as an average F1 race?

            If 0 is the worst F1 race you could imagine and 10 is the best F1 race you could imagine, scoring Canada anything above a 5 suggests you’re new to the sport and haven’t seen how good F1 can be.

          2. @petebaldwin This is my point, people have different methods of scoring races. Just because a race scores really low or really high doesn’t mean that it was a bad or great race.

            Rating a race can be as simple for some as the driver they support winning the race and equally people will rate a race badly simply because they don’t like the winner, It’s not how i choose to rate a race but who am I to judge how other rate their enjoyment of a race, there is no right way to enjoy F1 not matter what the purists may say.

            This is why I find it irritating that people seem to want to tell others how the feel about F1, simply because they aren’t happy with it then it must be that everybody else isn’t happy with it, A tweet during FP1 that crofty read out points this out “The majority of F1 fans want…” I’m sorry? The majority? Has this person spoke to hundreds of millions of people to have the right to relay their feelings to the world? No it was his opinion, which is fine but say that, don’t say that the majority feel this way. I’m not one of the people who think there is nothing wrong with F1 and all is dandy, that is crazy…There is a lot wrong and it would be great to see change, but I’m also not one of these people who think it needs to return to a previous generation or wants to bash every single thing about F1 either.

      4. You have a lot of passion in the your reply you really do and I appreciate that, however you are talking about something quite different from me, you are talking of the sport as a whole and how you are dissatisfied with it, I was talking specifically about Red Bull and there nature of mocking a sport now it would seem that it has gotten everything it can out of it.

        I am quite clear that F1 has problems some big and some small, most of which the people at the top of the sport aren’t addressing or they think they are but aren’t.

        open your eyes. Its far far far far from a 7/10 race).

        I didn’t personally rate Canada 7/10 but to tell fans out there that rated it 7/10 to open their eyes is wrong, just because you didn’t agree with that rating doesn’t mean that it’s wrong, it’s a personal opinion not a factual rating.

        I think you do make some good points in your comments but as i said before they weren’t on the same subject as mine, Red Bull aren’t pushing for change to the whole sport based upon the problems F1 has but rather the issues Red Bull has, thats a big difference and one that I was raising. This isn’t exclusive to Red Bull of course, I don’t think there is a team on the grid that don’t want to fix the system in their favour, but yet again this isn’t new.

        Redbull are absolutely right to leave, they are a business

        I would actually disagree here, they receive massive amounts of money a year because they committed until 2020 they don’t have the right to simply just leave whenever they feel like it because they aren’t winning anymore. They signed a contract so if they want out then they need to buy their way out.

        you should be supporting the threats of big entertaining teams

        Hmm with all due respect no I shouldn’t, you may think so but that’s my opinion on Red Bull and the way they are acting and treating F1 currently, and I say this simply because they aren’t making threats to drive change to improve the sport, it’s all about them and their performance. If we turned around tomorrow and said lets go back to 2013 regs with 2013 engines and aero rules they would sign up immediately , but that isn’t whats best for the sport is it, swapping one form of domination for another is hardly progress is it.

      5. This is COMMENT OF THE YEAR…well said sir!

      6. Great post, agree with a lot!

      7. Agree with much of that sentiment. There are those on this blog who think that every post and comment should be fanboy applause, but it’s fairly obvious that F1 is going downhill. There are many reasons for it, from the meta to the minute technical and I won’t bother to list them all. But many of the problems and behaviors – lifting, fuel saving, excessive costs, fan experience, customer cars – all stem from the stupid mandate to convert F1 to Formula H(ybrid).

        I really don’t care that Mercedes wants to run hybrids, but this should not be required of all teams. If a team wants to run V8 naturally aspirated, or V6 turbo, or hybrid, or whatever, that’s fine and it is guaranteed to make races more interesting, economical, and exciting (larger fields and non-Tilke tracks would also help). That’s exactly what happens in WEC and the reason that Le Mans 2015 was so vastly superior to F1 in its current state (although with FIA running the rules, who knows what horrible damage will come to WEC in the future).

        I believe it was around 2008 that FIA and F1 expressly and overtly joined the “green” crusade, and it clearly is destroying the sport. Just one specific example: the 100 kg fuel restriction (employed by FIA for its “green” posturing) saves about the same amount *for the entire field and for the entire season* as removing maybe 6 or 7 American SUVs from the road for *6 months*!

        It is utter insanity to insist that motorsport should be “green.” Is F1 leading the boring and tedious Formula E?

    2. This is why Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Sauber to some degree are pillars of the sport. Win or lose they keep going. If F1 mega payments before results were to those teams I would understand. Why have RedBull got extra money they are not a decade old. Ferrari should get extra for over 70 years in F1, McLaren, Williams and Sauber to. 20 year old teams deserve extra depending on how long they have been in tbe sport. RedBull got extra for committing until 2020 then try and pull out early despite extra money they get for committing even though they are 10 years old. Are they ran by the Greek government to take the money then screw the creditor?

      1. +1

      2. As you said, Red Bull is not at all comparable to Ferrari, McLaren, Williams, and Sauber or even to Mercedes.

        Red Bull is in F1 strictly for the advertising and marketing benefit to its glucose/caffeine poison. When that marketing benefit runs out (i.e. by losing) it can always turn to skateboarding, rallycross, air ballooning, volleyball, or cricket to sell its stuff.

        Most of the other teams are 100 percent committed to autos and motorsport. For them, there are no other options or exits. Red Bull can proceed quite nicely in its business mission without F1.

    3. When are they going to put a date on their exit?

      So annoying.

  3. I for one would prefer an F1 with more Manors, Haas’s & Saubers and less Red Bulls

    1. That already exists! – Tune into the GP2 races, sounds like exactly what you want.

  4. I can see Red Bull LMP1 cars on the WEC grid before 2025.
    @keithcollantine you can refer back to this and make it comment of the day when it happens haha

    1. Ooo that actually makes a lot of sense, pretty sure Newey already has a design :D

    2. @macca I think the WEC would have to change direction quite a lot to fit Red Bull’s marketing plan and exposure demands. Those teams involved in the WEC at the moment are there for entirely different reasons compared to why Red Bull are taking part in F1, par example.

      1. brand exposure is brand exposure, and RB already have the capital in place to do the job. It’s all about the numbers and whether or not WEC would provide a return on investment. I am sure RBR would have to downsize, but I imagine if WEC is allowed to remain diverse, the racing and the spectacle will be far superior to F1. They just need about 4-5 more races.

        1. @pcxmerc Profitability isn’t the only incompatibility Red Bull might have with the WEC, in its current form. Presuming they enter, they would have to do LMP1-HY in order to maximize their exposure and income. LMP1-HY is arguably even more of an engine formula than F1 is at the moment. They could build the chassis but couldn’t really run customer engines as there are no top-level suppliers. They would have to build their own power units, and so they’d find themselves right back in their current situation… just in a different competition.

          I don’t think that if Red Bull leaves F1 we’re going to see them enter another championship as manufacturers for a while.

          1. LMP1-HY is arguably even more of an engine formula than F1 is at the moment

            You really, really, REALLY have that backwards, there has never, ever in the history of professional racing at the top level been more freedom to run any engine configuration, any fuel, any auxiliary power system than the LMP1 hybrid rules allow at the moment. One thing LMP1 is NOT is an engine formula.

        2. Let’s be honest, who really cares about the 6 hours of Silverstone in the general public? I think we have to be honest sometimes. Sure, WEC is great, but its not F1 in terms of marketability and brand exposure, even in its current state.

      2. @pcxmerc “WEC …. the racing and the spectacle will be far superior to F1”

        Yessir. That’s why I’m going to Fuji 6 hour in October and not to a single F1 event this year.

        1. I have been to a few and unfortunately….it’s not!

  5. Firstly, thank you Keith for the COTD.
    Secondly, we still have people who think fragile tyres are good for F1, I disagree (no surprise) but I’m just a silly old phart with rose-tinted specs on so don’t listen to me, instead take it from Lewis, he’s young(ish) cool and knows a bit about driving Formula 1 cars, durable is better.

  6. Mateschitz is right, you can’t force Red Bull to do anything. I still think that they hold a strong bargaining hand when push comes to shove with Bernie. 2 teams, a circuit and huge levels of exposure already utilised in other motorsports should surely command a great deal of respect from the F1 community. The sport certainly does not need them, but they have been an unbelievable story for F1. I can not see them pulling the plug before 2017 given their mammoth investment, and that will give – what should still be regarded as – a great team a chance at fighting for the championship again. Mateschitz would surely want to bow out at the top? A collaboration with VW would solve their Renault issues and the team are still yet to gel since Newey’s partial departure. Winning always happens in cycles so I think they’ll reassess around 2019. These are confusing and unnecessary words from Red Bull. I still respect them as a top team and most moaning comes from the highly resentable Helmut Marko, so I wonder what Mateschitz is getting from this episode?

    1. A collaboration with VW would solve their Renault issues

      Why people continue to bring the VAG Group name into the F1 ecuation is beyond me.
      It’s not happening and it’s not happening for years now and it won’t happen in the forseeable future either.

      Look at those manufacturers racing pedigrees. F1 is simply of no interest to neither VW, Audi or Porsche brands and it has never been!

      1. It may not be of interest to Porsche now, but it has been in the not so distant past.

        1. @hohum True, and I really do believe they’ve taken a possible return to F1 into account more often than we knew about it. However, every single time they decided to go the alternate route and avoid F1.

          Besides all the reasons stated by the VAG bosses for not entering F1 again (that the costs in F1 are too high, that Bernie’s policy is not on the same wavelenght with theirs, that there is less road relevance in F1 than in the WEC, that the technical regulations don’t favour them etc.) I do think we are missing out on one main aspect that might hold them back: Porsche was really unsuccessful during its involvement in F1. Honestly, they really have nothing to build on in F1, compared to their immense sportscar heritage.

          So as long as they have to choose…

        2. Its true enough yes. But VW AG will not solve RBRs problems. It expects F1 to FIRST solve its problems and then it might enter @hohum, @tony031r

          As is, the corrupted nature of it, the constant down talking and stupid decisions made with nothing but short term profit in mind are clearly not what the company is looking for to show off their technological and sporting pedigree.

        3. FIRST solve its problems and then it might enter @hohum, @tony031r, @rbalonso

          As is, the corrupted nature of it, the constant down talking and stupid decisions made with nothing but short term profit in mind are clearly not what the company is looking for to show off their technological and sporting pedigree.

          1. @bascb, I fully agree, I was merely correcting the error, in the statement ; Porsche have never been interested in F1, and was specifically referring to the “Tag-McLaren-Porsche” years.

          2. @bascb As I replied to @rbalonso, those engines used by McLaren in the 80s weren’t really Porsche from a branding perspective, weren’t they?

            I wouldn’t consider this kind of joint venture an explicit statement of interest in F1 from Porsche. They stepped up when TAG Group needed someone to develop an engine and when they decided to finance someone to do so. Conjunctural situation, at best.

            There were two occasions in which Porsche actually expressed their interest in F1 from an actual chassis and/or engine manufacturer’s point of view and ended up on the grid with Porsche branded cars or engines: in the late 50s-60s era, and with that doomed 1991 attempt. Both campaigns went on to become largely unnoticeable.

      2. @tony031r Marko spoke about Red Bull’s options in the middle of May and highlighted Audi! I agree there is little incentive from VW’s side but realistically which suppliers can afford to enter F1 that haven’t failed in the last decade? BMW, Toyota and Cosworth are not coming back and Mercedes, Ferrari and Honda are the only teams with a committed future. Nothing is stopping Renault leaving altogether.

        The Porsche name has been in F1 before winning with Dan Gurney in the early 1960’s. They also supplied engines for McLaren’s 3 championships between 1984 and 1986. Winning Le Mans fires their name back among the elite and VW might not see the logic of running 2 teams over a long period of time. I agree that there is no concrete deal atm but F1 and Red Bull might need them soon.

        1. @rbalonso

          Marko spoke about Red Bull’s options in the middle of May and highlighted Audi!

          Marko is talking complete nonsense. He went as far as giving Audi an ultimatum to enter F1 alongside Red Bull… while Audi never stated such intentions. They went on the record a couple of days later saying they are not interested in F1. Again.

          The Porsche name has been in F1 before winning with Dan Gurney in the early 1960’s. They also supplied engines for McLaren’s 3 championships between 1984 and 1986.

          The engines they supplied during the 1980s were never branded as Porsche engines, they were financed by TAG Group and branded accordingly. So as much as Porsche deserve credit for their work, there are only so many people out there actually associating Porsche with those titles. The last time we saw Porsche branded engines on the grid was their disastrous appearance with Footwork in 1991.

          Winning Le Mans fires their name back among the elite

          … of sportscar racing. Where Porsche belong and have a certain legendary status to work with.

          1. I agree with you that it won’t happen as I wrote in a comment about Audi at the time. I don’t they will enter and have little incentive to. But what my point is is that the VW group are the only manufacturers in the world capable of joining F1. No other automotive giant will enter and the power units are too complex for anyone else to join. If Renault left and Red Bull wanted to stay to try the regulation change, they would have to collaborate with a direct rival or hope VW enter. I am fully aware this is too short a time span for them to create a competitive engine, but it is still Red Bull’s only other option.

          2. If Renault left and Red Bull wanted to stay to try the regulation change, they would have to collaborate with a direct rival or hope VW enter… it is still Red Bull’s only other option.

            If Red Bull were smart enough and IF they really planned on making F1 a long-term game for their motorsports programme they should have assembled a team and started building their own power unit sometime last year. Surely they must have the financial resources to buy the assets of someone like Cosworth (par example) and develop their own PU. It would have gave them full manufacturer status and it would have eliminated the risk of someone else screwing up their game (as they say Renault did).

            On a less serious note, VW are not the only ones out there! I wonder what happened with those Hyundai rumours launched by Bernie a while ago. :)

        2. “The Porsche name has been in F1 before winning with Dan Gurney in the early 1960’s”

          A bit rich considering they won just one race (France 1962 if I remember correctly)…

          1. Blo, I was merely correcting the statement that the VW have no history in F1. That is not true as they have won one race outright and a further 25 under TAG branding. 25 wins for TAG is the seventh highest supplier total in F1 history. Yes, to the casual fan they are not associated with F1, but to us fanatics they deserve respect for winning titles. Let’s not forget they have won more races than BMW who had huge investment in the noughties and worked with Brabham in the early 1980s.

  7. he made us F1 drivers look very good

    Hahaha, I’m really beginning to like Vettel now! Classic!!

    That picture of the Mercedes – I have heard David Coulthard regularly talking about the wooden plank, I hadn’t ever realised he was literally talking about a plank of wood! I find that really difficult to believe for some reason, it just doesn’t seem to fit in with F1.

    Also, Webber is brilliant. I like that he is continuing to speak out, and is now effectively becoming a voice for the fans. I really respect him for that.

    1. No, he is just using F1 “bad” moment to somewhat keep him relevant.
      Because WEC doesn’t give almost any spotlight.

      1. @edmarques You could not be more wrong. He is THE face of the entire Porsche programme…

    2. As a fan, I’d like to say Webber is not my voice.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        19th June 2015, 12:59

        Webber should focus on his WEC driving.
        Of the 9 LMP1 Porsche drivers he set the slowest lap time by more than 0.5sec; beaten by all rookies including the Hulk!

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          19th June 2015, 13:02

          link to all Le Mans best lap times.

    3. Wait. Did he stole that line from Riccardo? We may have a copyright issue.

  8. That comment from Hamilton, though I appreciate its honesty, sounds a bit snobbish and ignorant to me.
    Sure, drivers will always write other competitions off (even world championship level ones) based on personal preferences among other reasons, but I’ve never heard someone being so “didn’t see it, don’t care about it” dismissive towards another high-end discipline of motorsport.
    Plus, it’s the freaking Le Mans 24H. Show me one active professional racing driver (all the more a world champion) who, presented with an oportunity to have a go at the triple crown, would say “neah, can’t really be bothered”.

    Surely it must be a bit more fun than spending that weekend on a red carpet somewhere, right Lewis?

    1. @tony031r
      As a huge Hamilton fan, I can only say I totally agree with you and I’m very disappointed to hear him sound so snobbish and dismissive of something as big as 24H of Le Mans. Especially coming on the heels of Hulk’s triumph and him sitting in the same room. With that considered, it actually comes off as rather petty.
      I’m suddenly not sure I can be bothered to care if Lewis does well Sunday.

    2. C’mon guys, he’s not dissing Le Mans, he is just giving an honest answer about something he has not followed, he was probably to busy racing Karts, focusing on F1 and getting a good nights sleep on Le Mans weekends to develop an interest.

      1. @hohum
        Fair enough and I think I’m in a bit of a bad mood so shouldn’t be commenting now anyway. LOL

        1. @daved, sorry to hear it, cheer up, a little ketchup might help.

      2. He’s too busy picking out which horrible outfit to wear

      3. All the other drivers in the pit lane were busy racing karts and focussing on getting to F1, yet many of them seem to have found time to take an interest. It isn’t compulsory for Hamilton to like or take part in Le Mans, but how does he know he doesn’t like it if he’s never watched it?

    3. it might have something to do with how many people had no idea what was going on with respect to the radio transmissions at Monaco during Merc’s FUBAR call. You will probably get a completely different response in a couple months time. To a degree, hes right, especially when it comes to commentators hyping up stuff during the race when something is taken out of context, etc…

      1. with respect to his Le Mans comments, that one is hard to understand, it sounds like hes not saying something. Usually when you are worried about being politically correct you don’t write something off like that.

    4. He doens’t have to like it. They asked him e he aswered. Thats it.

      And this years Lemans is getting more and more attention because a F1 driver “won” it (who was really impressive was Tandy, but that is another thing), otherwise woud already be history.

    5. Jenson Button has been publicly stating his lack of interest in endurance racing… & any racing series that runs multiple classes simultaneously… for years now. Disdainfully so on previous occasions, as I recall. I never once heard anyone take issue with his comments, let alone call him snobbish or dismissive. But it’s Lewis, so automatically it’s conduct unbecoming. Apparently it never gets old.

      1. No, as I said above: I’m a huge Lewis fan. I get really tired of people slamming Lewis every time he opens his mouth. But for me, he is on the receiving end of negative comments so I’d expect him to be more averse to putting others down.
        This was a big thing for Hulk and is bringing more positive publicity to F1 because he was part of the winning team. I simply don’t want to see any negative stuff right now on the F1 front especially when we have a positive going.

        And frankly I wasn’t too thrilled with his comments saying that we’re too stupid to understand the radio communications so we shouldn’t worry our pretty little heads about it.

        1. He was not talking about you, an F1 fanatic :-), he was talking about ordinary viewers and I think that he was right.

          To the topic in general, there were times that I considered Hamilton a bit immature and unstable, but I think he has grown and I see no reason to criticise him for what he said now. I liked his honesty. There are literally hundreds of sports that I do not follow and do not care about, and it does not mean that I am putting them down. Let’s be honest, how many of you follow the world crossword championship? Do you feel that you are putting these supreme mind-athletes down by not following it? [And yes, I would not know about it either if one of my classmates was not a multiple world champion.]

          1. To be fair, completing crosswords is totally different to driving a car at 300kph. Le Mans and F1 are linked in the same way that crosswords and wordsearches are.

      2. I guess Button is getting some practice in this year in the ‘2nd tier’ McLaren-Honda for driving the MP4-12c next year in ‘2nd tier’ GT? ;)

    6. WEC is overrated. It’s sophisticated but too hard to follow and multiple races at the same… I’d rather watch Indy or DTM.

      Thanks Lewis.

      1. The Blade Runner (@)
        19th June 2015, 9:49

        Amen to that.

        Feel free to follow whatever form of motorsport you like but can we please cut the “WEC is rapidly replacing F1” nonsense!? Yes both sports involve fast cars. Beyond that they go their separate ways.

        WEC doesn’t stand the remotest chance of muscling-in on F1. In fact it is the polar opposite of F1 in may ways.

        Moving on to Lewis; he is entitled to his opinion but, as ever, his comments fall into one or more of the 3 categories he seems to have made his own recently, namely:

        (1) Arrogant/Aloof;
        (2) Petulant/Childish;
        (3) Mind-numbingly, spirit-crushingly dull.

        1. @thebladerunner

          So if you say you don’t want to play rugby you’re petulant? Why should everybody praise WEC?

          I’ve read many WEC, Indy drivers talking down F1, is that petulance or opinion?

    7. Given that fuel and tyre saving is “the name of the game” in F1, endurance races could never interest Hamilton.

  9. All this talk about the cars being more physical back in the day… I’d love for some of these drivers to give a try at an Indy Car with no power steering. THEN tell me how physical the F1 cars were.

    1. In the 90s and for some into the 2000s F1 (Minardi for example) cars did not have power steering off course, maybe Alonso still remembers that car @joey-poey!

      1. Herbert said in Sky FP1 that he only did one season with power steering (must have been his last in the Jaguar?) – 2001?

  10. Every sport on the planet varies in quality from year to year and decade to decade. That F1 is so closely tied to constantly evolving technology exacerbates these swings. I don’t ask that F1 solve all their issues. I ask that they solve their leadership problem. If a competent group, headed by a competent person was steering the ship, I think that all things being equal, the negativity surrounding F1 would be far less apparent. I don’t need epic seasons every year, but I need to believe that someone who has the best interest of the sport is in control… (ROSS BRAWN WHERE ARE YOU?)

    1. @clustr1 OMG – Ross Brawn would be the ultimate choice. If he had the job I would have 100% confidence he would make the right changes the sport would be turned around overnight.

      Plus, he’s pretty much the only guy I can think of that would command the respect of ALL the teams including Ferrari.

  11. Regarding the Williams endplate and flap, what am I looking at? New design?

    1. It’s changed since Canada. If you look at the leading edge of the end plate, in the picture above it runs straight up and down (perpendicular to the road). Previously it curved inward.

  12. I really feel for Marko, Mateschitz and Co. for their lack of competitiveness.

    As a friend said, “after all, they haven’t been world constructors champions since October 2014…”

  13. I think people are really missing the point Dietrich Mateschitz is making. Right now this is an engine dominated formula, and if you aren’t the manufacturer and if you don’t have a quality engine, it doesn’t matter how much money you throw at your team, you’re not going to win.

    Yes, people are joking about “win” and “whining” but they should stop. F1 is about winning. What’s the point of racing? Why do we love Hamilton so much? Because he doesn’t try to win, that he’s happy not having an opportunity to win?

    Mateschitz is right. Renault couldn’t and can’t build a powerful enough engine to compete and unless a team is a manufacturer or operating as the manufacturers team, you’re not going to win. It’s why McLaren went with Honda. It’s why Red Bull went with Renault and it’s why Williams ain’t going to be challenging Mercedes anytime soon. The most cynical thing I heard this year was Brundle saying with the Ferrari’s getting close, Mercedes may release some power for the Williams (with better engine maps or whatever). Wow. Just wow.

    Fans aren’t happy with the lack of competition, and this current formula is designed to keep that advantage in the hands of one manufacturer right now.

    So yeah, call Dietrich Mateschitz some type of billionaire debutante throwing his toys out of the pram, but the reality is, unlike those of us on these forums, he’s built a world class company (it’s not just fizzy drinks), and he’s a true racer who’s been pouring money and support into F1 and other series for decades. If Red Bull leaves, it will be a loss.

    1. There really is no reason why Renault would not be able to build a good engine @uan.

      1. @uan,two things: one, what @bascb said, and two, an engine isn’t enough, otherwise Williams would have won races by now, Ferrari would have won more this year – Mercedes have best car too.

    2. @uan For sure, F1 is about winning but it is not just about that. Teams like Sauber and Force India have never won a race and Williams have won just one GP during the last 10 years. Yet they seem to be ready to stay in F1 until the end, literally.

      Of course, Red Bull have been investing much more money in their F1 team so they expect more success, which makes sense. What does not make sense is Mateschitz’s complaint that “the regulations for aerodynamics are so strict that our designer Adrian Newey cannot use his full talent” and also the indirect claim that there is no alternative to Renault PU.

      Firstly, why should F1 be all about aerodynamics and not about engines? Just to please Newey and Red Bull?

      Secondly, it is understandable why Ferrari, Mercedes and Honda are not good alternatives to Renault but there are a lot of other companies in the world that should be able to build a competitive F1 engine. So why can’t Red Bull persuade one of them to do that? I guess their “war” with Renault (“see how we behave when our partners fail to meet our needs”) is not helping but the main problem is that F1 is not attractive to engine manufacturers (or any other manufacturers) at the moment and Mateschitz’s ally Ecclestone, other big teams as well as Red Bull themselves are to blame for that.

  14. The sport could blow up that they wouldn’t care if they were winning. That’s the point.

  15. OmarR-Pepper - Vettel 40 victories!!! (@)
    19th June 2015, 4:32

    Over the last five or six years, they’ve got many, many, many things wrong

    Mark, not they, but YOU got many things wrong. And now that you are out of F1 you do nothing but bashing all the time against it. Can’t you just move on and accept that a young German driver put you in the shadows?… Oops, I should have said TWO young German drivers.

    1. @omarr-pepper I can’t help but think that his opinion’s got nothing to do with how far he was behind VET.

    2. Well, fans like him because he calls it as he sees it. So nothing wrong in giving some back to him.

      He has retired from F1 and gone to WEC. Would do well to focus on that than trying to crap on F1.

      1. @evered7 Why is there this nonsense thought he can’t do both. Surely giving answers to some questions where he obviously shares a popular opinion won’t make him lose focus on the WEC.

        As @john-h says, he cares. He is one of the last to have driven in the pre-DRS and DRS era. Sure his opinion on the matter counts, even more so now he has the better taste of another top series…

        @omarr-pepper, and as @davidnotcoulthard says Webber has always been vocal about the state of F1. Even when he was still in it. Being beaten by Vettel or the Hulk has nothing to do with his comments.

        On top of that I know plenty of people who do a whole lot of bashing whilst having not even a percentage of the know-how Webber has…

        1. @xtwl Because he is misrepresenting the facts? There is a lot of lift and coast in WEC as well and yet people act as if it is ruining F1 while WEC is great to watch.

          It is not F1’s fault that there is no competitive order in place. The people who framed this set of rules are the same one who are now struggling.

          Just think if RB and Ferrari both had shown the same improvement and Honda are at the level of Ferrari in 2014, would we even be talking about how bad F1 is?

          There is a chance of the lap record being beaten tomorrow in qualifying. The formula is still young and needs time to grow.

          I would vouch for the penalties to be lessened so that the manufacturers take a little more risk in their approach. And we need to learn to like the events for what it is than trying to change one more like the other.

          1. @evered7 He is hardly talking about the lift/coast as the utter evil in F1, nor is he about the engines.

            Just think if RB and Ferrari both had shown the same improvement and Honda are at the level of Ferrari in 2014, would we even be talking about how bad F1 is?

            But that isn’t the case. You can wish or ‘if’ all you want but that won’t change we are stuck with a broken business model, a broken formula and meanwhile a lot of talented drivers go to waste.

            The teams who are behind can’t catch up due to rules. Half the field is in financial trouble. Three teams are almost bound to quit sometime soon. We’re on the verge of losing an engine manufacturer. DRS is more than ever destroying races. How is there nothing to complain about? The last one is even less important if you ask me. Without a healthy grid there won’t be any racing whatsoever…

            Somesthing substantial has to be done now to secure a future to begin with. There is plenty F1 can learn from the WEC; there is also a lot F1 should not bother trying as it is only applicable to WEC, and the other way around of course.

          2. @xtwl I understand he didn’t mention it in this article but there was one a week or two back and the talk of pace being slower (in this article) is what I don’t agree.

            The engine manufacturer who might quit was the one who wanted this formula I suppose. You would think they would plan it better to gain an advantage on it.

            The point is that the rules were framed by the people who are participating in it. The lack of foresight in this case is hence shocking. Honda came in only because of the modified formula and I would have expected them to be on top of their issues as well.

            If Renault had gotten their engine right last season, it would have even helped Caterham stay in the sports like how it happened with Marussia.
            One can open up the restrictions but it will cost a lot more money which the teams don’t have. Since 3/4 of the grid are covered by engines that are supposedly working fine, I don’t think they will ever agree to opening up the rules.

            The 2017 rule change hopefully is better developed with all the cautions in place. I think the 100Kg rule was probably brought in too fast along with the new engine formula. Could have reduced it a bit more gradually.

            But hey if Mercedes can perform with the same restrictions, I think the other manufacturer ought to try their best as well.

    3. I think its because he still cares. We need more drivers like Webber and actually Vettel speaking their mind. No one seems to be listening to the fans, so time for the drivers to say something.

    4. @omarr-pepper It might be true but it does not mean he is wrong. I think we could find personal motives behind many articles in this round-up. Perhaps Hamilton is positive about the current state of F1 because he is winning now, while those who have not been as successful lately are more eager to race at Le Mans etc. In fact, Webber’s interview has been released by Red Bull, who obviously like to say bad thing about F1 these days so it is debatable, who has got more things wrong…

      But I agree with Webber that F1 has become “a sniff too artificial” over the last years and he is also not the only one, who says that the drivers are not really happy with the current rules.

  16. I think Ferrari should provide RB with their engines. Right now they are not troubled by any of the cars running their PU. It would be good to have another team pushing them using the same PU. Breeds competitiveness I think.

    Just add a clause in the contract asking Marko, Mark, Horner to shut up for the duration of the contract.

  17. Is it just me or is the focus on only Nico Hulkenburg winning Le Mans a little bit disrespectiful to the other two drivers. Nick Tandy (UK) and Earl Bamber (NZ).
    Earl Bamber is the first New Zealander to win at Le Mans since Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon won in 1966, and is the 2013, 2014 Porsche Carrera Asia champ, and 2014 Porsche Super Cup Champ.

    1. Hardly surprising since this is a F1 blog and not a motorsport blog. I had never heard of the two other drivers before…

    2. Simple answer. Here is an F1 website called F1Fanatic. Hulkenberg is an F1 driver. Do you need more clue? Or did you just want to tell us what little you know about sportscar

    3. Even on the BBC website here in the UK there was hardly any mention of Tandy. I thought it was a bit of a disgrace actually.

    4. Sigh, @theoddkiwi. This is first of all an F1 blog. And moreover the comments made by other drivers in the articles mentioned in the roundup largely refer to comments made during the F1-drivers briefing in Austria, where naturally, they would say things about their fellow F1 driver sitting in the same room, and not the other guys who are not there.

      Sure, its annoying that not even the BBC mentioned much about Tandy, or for that matter about the LeMans race at all. But the fans really should get over wanting to make a point of it everywhere. Keith commented on the winners of the LeMans race in a seperate article right after the race was won already.

      1. Last i looked Chris Amon and Bruce Mclaren were F1 Drivers both from NZ, the last kiwis to win at Le Mans,

  18. Kimi completely lost his cool in the press conference, it was quite funny.

    1. @paeschli I also read those quotes (which are “classic Kimi”) but why do F1 journalists sometimes publish rumours and speculation? If they used only press releases and timing data in their reports, F1 would be much less interesting to fans. So Raikkonen should actually be happy that journalists are sometimes writing “nonsense” (he used another word…) because this nonsense increases the value of F1 and subsequently drives up his salary, too.

  19. It is not really surprising. F1 was never going to be more than a big advertising campaign for Red Bull. If they cannot fight for titles, they are not interested. If rules do not play to their strengths, they are not interested. But F1 should never adapt itself to one particular team. It is time to prepare for Red Bull’s departure and make the sport more attractive for new independent teams that should be fighting at F1’s door to get in.

    1. I find these types of comments amazing, just about everyone else is unhappy with the current state of F1 (save for a few LH/Merc fans) yet when RBR complain they are jeered at and labelled bad for the sport?

      1. Red Bull are not bad for the sport, all I am saying is that F1 was not born to make Red Bull happy. If Red Bull want to be in F1, that is great but if they need a particular set of rules to be satisfied and this set is not what F1 as a sport needs, then both sides have to go separate ways.

        It is true that many fans, including myself, think that F1 could do a lot of things better but I do not believe that Red Bull truly want to improve the racing. For instance, I want to see more teams in F1 but Red Bull does not seem care about that so I guess we have different views on what our sport needs right now.

      2. Hm, well, just look who has been leading in the complaints section @earmitage:
        First Ferrari, but they changed their tune after they ditched the previous management (clear indication where the problem was IMO),
        Then we have Bernie, who has an axe to grind with the engine regulations and having to give up both money AND power in the current commercial agreements,
        And then Red Bull, the team who gained a massive advantage in the past due to overly aero-focussed regulations, which they naturally lost with new rules, much like Ferrari and McLaren, BMW and Toyota lost out with the new rule set in 2009. Yes, two of them left then, and part for the same motivation that Red Bull now has.
        But that is exactly why the guys who stuck along earn our respect in sports, they are still there and try to win.

      3. Do you not understand they are not complaining because they care about the sport, but instead complaining because they are not winning?

        If the roles of Red Bull and Merc were reversed, and Red Bull had the dominant car they would not be complaining right now I assure you of that.

        1. Actually Christian Horner said at last GP that he wants the FIA leadership to take control of the sport and make the rules without involving the teams because teams are only pushing for rules that protect themselves. I agree 100% with that and so do some people whose comments I’ve read.
          The way I see it, people are just bashing red bull no matter what they say because they didn’t like red bull when it was beating their teams.
          What suggestions have red bull made that are clearly devised at benefiting themselves only and that no one else has already made?

          If the roles of Red Bull and Merc were reversed, and Red Bull had the dominant car they would not be complaining right now I assure you of that.

          We don’t hear Merc complaining right now either even though we heard them and (Lewis) during regulations which at least allowed other teams to catch up without losing precious tokens.

  20. Mclaren have another upgrade on Alonso’s PU. So.. looks like it’s 4 DNFs in a row now

  21. Why every time I listen Red Bull talk (or better yet complain), I think they are the worst thing that happened to Formula 1?

    1. Do you also see the fans complaining about the sport every weekend also as the worst thing that happened to F1?

      1. i see the fans complaining an if you check back you will find most are supporters of Red Bull,
        so good rid-dens to the whole bloody lot i say,
        they dont understand F1 and think their team should be on the podium every race,
        Marko thinks McLaren will pull out as well, but guess what Marko they are not cry babies they are in for the long run. they sell cars you sell soft drinks big difference.

        1. you check back you will find most are supporters of Red Bull,

          I just asked and some Merc fans also said that they think the sport is in bad shape and needs fixing so, No it’s not just red bull fans that think that there’s a problem with F1. Even the drivers association think that there are problems with the sport.

        2. i see the fans complaining an if you check back you will find most are supporters of Red Bull,

          Wow. That’s really just utter nonsense…

  22. petebaldwin (@)
    19th June 2015, 10:15

    I’ve never heard so many F1 drivers taking so excitedly about another series. It’s like listening to GP2 drivers talk about F1!

  23. This is pathetic…

    1. Red Bull and its fans are Pathetic

  24. Independently of your opinion about the sport’s state (which is really bad) or about RebBull as a team… showing such little respect about any of your co-workers it’s low and selfish, specially coming from a man who rules a supposed “team” of great individual persons!

    1. How can anyone fell respected and motivated to work in such conditions?! I feel really sorry, not only for Renault, but also for the drivers… You could solve your problems in closed doors!

      1. feel* ups

  25. Strange that both Mercedes-Benz drivers have an equal lack of interest for Le Mans. It almost seems orchestrated…and also strange that a driver of the calibre and talent of Hamilton has never even thought of it…Don’t know why, but it’s making me dislike him. If he replied honestly, then I appreciate it

  26. Fully agree with Webber too…

  27. Lewis has no interest in Le Mans because he is all about status and being a celebrity(money) but Le Mans…even MotoGp…is more exciting to watch; more comptetitive, flat out, breath taking bold overtakes. keeping u on the edge of ur seats. I actually fall asleep from boredom watching F1, the rules seem to allow only one team to dominate.

    u dont see MotoGp fuel saving. u dont see Le Mans with fuel saving. u see great racing, not a queue. Rosberg cant even challenge Lewis.

  28. “Webber says F1 is letting down fans and drivers” Webber is the last person to talk about letting fans down. He was utterly destroyed by his team-mate in 2011 and instead of hanging his racing gloves to allow a younger, more motivated driver take his place, he stayed and the same happened in 2013. Imagine just how great 2011 and 2013 would have been if we had Ricciardo or Vergne in Webber’s seat? Sure Vettel could have won but it wouldn’t be as one sided. Webber is to blame for the loss of audience between 2011-2013.

  29. Can’t wait to see the Red Bull barnum going away. These guys have spoilt F1. They belong to TV reality shows. F1 has gone out of its ways to accomodate these guys and here is the reward. Oh, and they should take Bernie with them.

  30. I was watching 2005 GP Masters race in Kyalami today on tube. It was a fantastic race because of the people not because of the hi-tech car that they drove. In fact the cars were outdated Champ Car Reynard with oldish V8 Ford engine. So what! Fittipaldi was still chasing Mansel who drove in his own style. F1 over did it with so much technology involved. They forgot about the human factor. People love to see people racing and making the decisions. No we have a fight between Lewis and Rosberg but it ain’t a true fight. Hell even Nico himself knows that Lewis is a better driver. If we are lucky enough Ferrari will catch Merc and make the season more interesting, but the fact that something needs to be changed remains still.

Comments are closed.