In the round-up: Mercedes will continue to use team orders despite opposition from Niki Lauda and Lewis Hamilton.
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Team orders will stay an option, say Mercedes (Reuters)
“The clarification came after Niki Lauda, the Formula One team’s non-executive chairman and stakeholder who has appeared at odds with Brawn since his appointment, told reporters they would no longer be used.”
Brawn: ‘Complex race’ to come (Sky)
“The [soft tyre] has a pretty short life. I think we’ll be on primes for the main part of the race and we’ve got two very strong competitors in the top ten, maybe three with (tenth-placed Nico) Hulkenberg starting on the prime, and they’re going to be leading the race for a while.”
Chilton aims to repay those who have put their money up (The Independent)
“Chilton has revealed giving up part of his future earnings with the formation of a company under the Enterprise Investment Scheme. Investors pay anything from 20,000 upwards to back Chilton, with the aim of a return down the line should he progress his career.”
McLaren MP4-28 – revised rear diffuser (F1)
“To reduce the pitch sensitivity problem with their car, in China McLaren have cut sections from the sides of the rear diffuser.”
F1 compared to wrestling amid tyre row (Autosport)
Mark Webber: “It will all look good in the first five or six laps, having everyone fighting, but it’s a little bit [WWE] at the moment.”
Red Bull F1 Spy: Chinese Grand Prix (The Sun)
“The playlist on the garage iPod has been the weapon of choice this weekend: we’ve had I’ll Stand By You, All You Need is Love, Brothers in Arms, etc, etc.”
Tweets
I hope someone's told @RGrosjean he's driving ten cars in the F3 race that's about to start at @SilverstoneUK: http://t.co/5Did6ZPJbU
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Comment of the day
Bradley Downton on Mark Webber’s latest stroke of misfortune:
“As specified in the technical delegate’s report (Document 21)”
There’s Mark’s favourite number again…
Bradley Downton (@Bradley13)
From the forum
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On this day in F1
Nico Rosberg claimed his first ever pole position on this day last year in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix:
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
14th April 2013, 0:05
WHY?! The fans don’t like them and they hardly benefit the team – Mercedes have lost some respect from me.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
14th April 2013, 0:36
I only against team orders when they’re made this early in the season. If its late in the season, and one driver has no chance of the title, and the other does, thn I think team orders should be implemented.
David-A (@david-a)
14th April 2013, 1:13
@tophercheese21
Well said
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
14th April 2013, 10:28
@tophercheese21 – under that situation, I can understand team orders. I still don’t like them, but it makes sense from a championship perspective so I would support that decision. Until then though, they are completely unecessary in my view.
Jason (@jason12)
14th April 2013, 15:22
I doubt they were trying to earn that from you Max.
Mouse_Nightshirt (@mouse_nightshirt)
14th April 2013, 0:08
The team orders debacle still continues.
The most annoying thing was that when it was against the rules, and Ferrari did it, everyone said “oh it happens, make it legal”. But when it’s legal and other teams do it, then people moan “we shouldn’t have team orders”. Whether you like the rules or not, they are currently the rules. And as fans, we have to, rightly or wrongly, suck it up.
Journeyer (@journeyer)
14th April 2013, 0:15
So… who’s really in charge at Mercedes?
Todd (@braketurnaccelerate)
14th April 2013, 1:55
Seems like Brawn. But I bet either Toto or Niki could fire him at will.
bull mello (@bullmello)
14th April 2013, 2:48
Which is why it seems to me that Mercedes is like a 3 headed beast. Brawn may be in charge, but the other heads act like they would rather be in charge. Considering where the Mercedes car is performance-wise maybe they should let Brawn do his job. I can appreciate Niki Lauda’s experience, but Brawn has a better track record as team principal. Lauda and his backbiting makes for interesting press, but is it really productive for the team? Of course, Lauda will not be quiet anytime soon.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
14th April 2013, 0:21
Mark needs to beat Seb with a steel chair next time something like Malaysia happens again.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
14th April 2013, 1:00
@kingshark LOL
Scary Terry (@hatebreeder)
14th April 2013, 2:28
Or a sledgehammer! @-)
Knightmare (@knightmare)
15th April 2013, 16:02
mwahahahaha
TenSports was showing WrestleMania 29 while the race was on :P
But wouldn’t it have been fun to watch Mark delivering tombstone piledriver to Seb on Malaysian GP’s podium?
celeste (@celeste)
14th April 2013, 0:40
That Redullspy blog is really funny to read… maybe we should start taking this things with a little more humor, is not like rivaliry between teammates only happened in F1, in soccer dressroom has division and same in basketball…
sato113 (@sato113)
14th April 2013, 1:16
i prefer lauda to helmut marko anyday.
Chris (@tophercheese21)
14th April 2013, 1:19
+1
Stretch (@stretch)
14th April 2013, 1:33
I also hope someone’s told Grosjean that he’s super consistent too.
nackavich (@nackavich)
14th April 2013, 1:38
@stretch Though he’ll probably still run into himself!
Stretch (@stretch)
14th April 2013, 2:58
@nackavich Ha yeah true!
Spinmastermic (@spinmastermic)
14th April 2013, 2:33
And if he looses he only has himself to blame.
Hamilfan (@hamilfan)
14th April 2013, 18:05
ha ha
nackavich (@nackavich)
14th April 2013, 1:37
Wow, Romain has had a busy day!
And call me a pessimist, but I don’t really feel the investors in Chilton’s scheme will see much of a return..
Especially not when he’s paired with Bianchi.
schooner (@schooner)
14th April 2013, 1:49
Funny photo. Yoda and his Jedi Knight!
plutoniumhunter (@plutoniumhunter)
14th April 2013, 2:59
Windu and Palpatine.
MartyF1
14th April 2013, 3:11
That’s going to be one hell of a first corner with all those Grosjean’s, hope they have a good medic
Jason (@jason12)
14th April 2013, 15:38
At least we being entertained, who cares if it’s artificial