Alonso unsure how long he’ll keep enjoying F1

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Fernando Alonso says he isn’t likely to tire of driving F1 cars any time soon but he may enjoy it less.

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

Alonso will not quit until third title (BBC)

“It is not a problem of how long you can keep this level, it’s a problem of how much fun I will have driving those cars in the future.”

Hamilton ready to hit back in Canada (Reuters)

“I always remember with Lewis that when we had a tussle in a race, or there was an issue between us… the next race he would destroy me. He would come there and be stronger than ever.”

Ecclestone dismisses F1 TV decline (Autosport)

“But I think the change that is currently taking place is very shortlived, as these social media people are starting to think it is not as good as they thought.”

I’ve proven I’m top-class – Ricciardo (ESPN)

“It wouldn’t be a bad thing definitely [to beat Vettel] and it would go a long way to giving me a lot of confidence. Although I think I’ve probably already done enough to show that I can do it, not specifically beating Seb, but being able to race at the front and drive for a top a team and deserve to be here.”

Crane operators receive proper training before Grand Prix (The Gazette)

“In memory of Mark Robinson, who died in a track accident at the 2013 Grand Prix, all pit workers with the Automobile Club de l’Île Notre-Dâme will be wearing black armbands during the June 6-8 race weekend and a full page of the official F1 event magazine will be dedicated to him.”

BRP reveals the 2014 edition of the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada trophies (CNW)

“The clear glass cup’s tips are shaped as an abstract form of the Canadian maple leaf that has been frozen in time.”

Thanks Jared Pashovitz for the tip

Lewis Hamilton; superstar & antidote to boredom (Mark Gallagher)

“He may be a ‘Marmite’ personality but, like him or not, Lewis Hamilton is fantastic for Formula One, and a great news story for a sport which has always thrived on speed combined with passion, personalities, glamour and celebrity. He has it all.”

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Comment of the day

If something’s not new, then it isn’t news. As far as possible I try to ensure the links included in the round-up are new and relevant, but when someone chooses to republish a two-week-old quote there’s always the chance I didn’t see it the first time around.

So in this case I’m indebted to Eero (@Eeroo) for pointing out that one of the stories in yesterday’s round-up shouldn’t have been there:

The James Allison interview was made before the Monaco Grand Prix. I don’t know why every F1 site is publishing it two weeks later.
Eero (@Eeroo)

From the forum

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On this day in F1

Two non-championship races for F1 cars were held on this day 60 years ago.

Onofre Marimon won the Grand Prix of Rome, held in Castelfusano park, driving a Maserati 250F. Stirling Moss, in a similar car, dropped out of second place with eight laps to go.

Meanwhile in Belgium an older Maserati A6GCM won the Grand Prix des Frontieres in the hands of Thai prince Birabongse Bhanudej, known to the racing community as B Bira.

Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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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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77 comments on “Alonso unsure how long he’ll keep enjoying F1”

    1. Love it!

    2. Hehe.. and yesterday, DannyRic was still as smiley as a kid!

    3. Does it seem that Dan Ric is one of the few guys in F1 who seems genuinely happy, has fun publicly and realizes what a great life he has?

      1. DR is having a great year going back to last year with his signing, and now to be where he is vs SV cannot help but feel amazing for him…he’s gotta be at a pinnacle point right now in his career, and only building.

        I have no issue whatsoever with DR (like it would matter if I did) but I think DR has much to prove yet, particularly with respect to how he will do when the pressure is at it’s greatest, something he has not come very close to feeling in his F1 career. I’ll be interested to see how he does, and he might be great, but we’ve got to actually see him fighting for wins and the WDC in a capable car with a potent teammate, to really see if he is top class. Imho, this is a he-can-do-no-wrong season for DR, and any pressures he might be feeling now are not the ones that count.

        1. I am a huge fan of the DOC (DR… Daniel Ricciardo). I is what F1 really needs. He likes to smile, and he likes to make the fans happy. This what I wish F1 was all about, Entertainment.
          I live an hour and a half from montreal and I am literally sick to my stomach that I cannot be there.
          I may hate this season so far, but I still love F1.

        2. He’s certainly handling it better than Perez did his equivalent year at McLaren

  1. Did Bernie just say to the effect that this social media is just short term thing???!!

    Sounding a lot like the US railway’s system. We are in the f1 business, not we are in the entertainment business.

  2. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    6th June 2014, 0:36

    I thought the cars were supposed to be more fun this year? I hope they go back to having tyres which last a long time like we had in 2010. The whole purpose of banning refuelling was to make overtakes happen on the track by eliminating pit stop overtakes but this has basically been undone.

    1. I think that he means that they need more mechanical grip, as well as more durability..

      1. FA sure doesn’t make them sound too fun. I think one thing he doesn’t mention that must be bothersome is having to coast into corners. He sure doesn’t make the tires sound all that different from last year…perhaps second half. The cars just aren’t nearly as on rails as last year, and the feel is totally different. I wish they could push more.

        1. I suspect he would be having more fun if he was in a Merc. Spending all that time in Ferraris will be denting his enjoyment a fair bit.

    2. Seemed to be mostly about the tyres. But it’s hard to tell what Alonso was saying from that cut-and-paste job by B****ks Benson (spelled the Daily Mail way). The BBC radio race preview last night was nothing but a trail for that one TV interview with Alonso and Tom Clarkson – very poor effort. I’ll have a opinion on it once I’ve watched the full interview.

      Nice trophies though! I guess happy Dan’s favourite to grab the third one, but some Force India and Williams drivers might have a shot at the podium.

      1. FA says the cars are heavier, slower, hard to understand, and you can only push for a few laps. The pushing part is due to the tires, but everything else I think has more to do with how the software co-ordinates the engine, turbo, and ERS, and how that affects the feel under braking.

        I don’t think this is as simple as just being about the tires, nor that they would be happy with the actual feel of the car if they were in a Mercedes and winning. Of course the Mercs must feel more grounded than the rest, but I wouldn’t be surprised if LH and NR would prefer their driving be less dictated by the needs of these complicated new systems that have completely changed the actual driving experience.

        If they had a say in the matter I don’t think any of the driver’s would have voted for being unable to push other than for a few laps here and there, for slower, heavier cars that feel unpredictable under braking, for having to brake earlier and coast into corners, and to have to constantly monitor fuel consumption.

  3. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    6th June 2014, 0:41

    Also, I think Gallagher is spot on about Hamilton. I am not a huge fan of the guy for several reasons but I certainly don’t have a problem with him wearing his heart on his sleeve and being honest in interviews. I think the way he thought in Monaco was a little childish but at least he was open and honest about it.

    1. Who instigated the investigation and why ?

    2. Formula 1 needs him.

  4. I doubt Alonso will win a 3rd title. Its sad, but thats what it looks like. The Merc hegemony has begun for the foreseable future. Its going to be a big ask for the rest make the quantum leap to catch Merc in the next couple years. It would be a fairy tale end though, if Alonso win in his last season in F1..whenever that is.

    1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
      6th June 2014, 1:16

      Alonso will not quit until third title

      So he may break the record Rubens currently has, about most races… trying.

      1. omarr-pepper that makes no sense Ruben is not a WC.

        1. Tom (@11mcgratht)
          6th June 2014, 21:32

          rubens has the record for most race starts

  5. Looks more like a tooth than Lotus’ nosecone.

    1. @ironcito I’m a dentist and that was the first thing I thought

      1. @3dom my condolences

        1. Lol @dragoll thanks ;-)

  6. Bernie proves once more that he is out of touch. You don’t have to be a genius to realise that an increase in live radio listeners equates to people unwilling to subscribe to pay TV and no doubt many of them are finding video coverage to watch, while they listen, from a free source somewhere.

    1. @hohum You read my mind.

    2. petebaldwin (@)
      6th June 2014, 11:12

      @hohum

      I think it can be summed up by:

      When asked if he believed F1 needed to change its approach, and officially embrace social media like other sports have done, he said: “No. We’re commercial… If they find people to pay us [to do that] then I will be happy.”

      So basically, they won’t make much money from Social Media so despite the fact that it will be a great thing for fans, he’s not interested. What an absolute ****. The sport so desperately needs this guy gone.

      1. If only someone could convince Bernie that some free to stream social media options might help grow F1s fanbase and provide revenue from that indirectly. Maybe he thinks there is no business case for it…

    3. @hohum – Bernie seems to only want to comprehend and then regurgitate information in such a way that suits his own myopic agenda.

  7. Inevitable tedious press conference question about the World Cup. Kobayashi answers: “I don’t really care.”

    Those press conferences… really…

    1. Well at least there were some laughter and loud, most time this year it’s been kinda sombre. If only drivers just burst into a rage about the new car, engines and ruling.

    2. To be fair a lot of F1 drivers are football fans, but it does seem a bit of a waste of time in a press conference.

  8. I’m following 2014 because I’ve been a fan for decades, but honestly I’m not enjoying it at all. It’s a withdrawal effect, you don’t just stop watching all of a sudden. I guess I still enjoy the build up before the race but after the race begins and the huge gap pulled from Merc is a downer. Still don’t like the sound and the slowwwwww cornering speed. The so called road car relevance don’t mean anything at all to me, the fun and the kick is lost!. There is no more flat out racing and drivers are frustrated except maybe Lewis and Nico as they are winning it too easily from the rest of the pack. Am hoping something miraculous will happen for the upcoming races and the field closes up. Apologies for the rant.

    1. +1
      I’ve been watching F1 since 5 decades ago and I agree 100 % with you.

      1. really? this seasons has been one of the best for a while. A agree with the fact that the Mercs are so far ahead, but loving seeing these cars slide so much. By the ways its almost never been about flat out racing, exept for the refuelling era in f1 and omg how dull was that racing.

    2. The so called road car relevance don’t mean anything at all to me, the fun and the kick is lost!

      @johnbt Have to agree with you there: it was necessary for the sport to survive, but it is very boring nonetheless.

    3. @johnbt, I understand your disenchantment but I think you are blaming the wrong things, neither “road relevance” or “different sound” are responsible for the lack of “flat out racing” the blame for that has to be sheeted home to the highly degradable tyres that even this year have to be kept in a very narrow operating temperature range which cannot be done whilst bobbing and weaving trying to pass/defend another car.

      1. @hohum Indeed.

        Tyres and excessive down force limit close racing. I still struggle to understand the need of restricting so tightly fuel flow and engine revs… Sure we can have a hybrid car with high revs, don’t we?

        On Mercedes advantage, it’s huge but as long F1 is not a spec series the risk of someone finding something everybody else is missing will always be there. As far as I can remember it’s a reality very present in the last two decades I follow F1. In late 1980’s it was McLaren, in 1990’s we had Williams and first half of 2000s we had the Schumacher/Byrne/Todt/Brawn/Ferrari combo (despite good seasons by both McLaren and Renault making Ferrari life a bit harder) and in the last 4 years it was Vettel/Newey/Red Bull combo dominating the field (sure not as pronounced as Merc’s).

        And another thing that isn’t new either is F1 fans talking down the sport and predicting the ever close doomsday…

        1. @jcost, Your examples of other dominant teams is a cogent one, it seems. The problem with looking to those as a salve for the current situation (and you could include Red Bull the last 4-5 years) is that each and every dominant streak you’ve mentioned, ended due to rules changes or massive spending on engine development which is much more tightly regulated.

          Red Bull and Ferrari lost out to reg changes. Williams and McLaren were caught out by other teams development pace and loss of engine supplier (McLaren from Honda to Ford/Peugeot). Given the strictness of the regulations and the extent to which engines/PUs are homogated, I can’t really see a team being able to outdevelop Mercedes.

          Just look at Red Bull’s 4.5 year run as an example of the current era of dominance in a tightly-controlled development environment. Current Red Bull may get the closest to Mercedes over the coming seasons by bettering them in aero but that will only get you so far. And a dramatic regs change any time soon would seem to be drastic.

          I’m not trying to be pessimistic, and there is something to be said about intrateam championship battles, but I think we’ve got another dominant streak starting rather than an open formula.

      2. Or to take it even a step closer to the real issue @hohum, the thing is how micro managed all the driving is with drivers being TOLD how they should drive within tiny margins instead of being left to their own incredible skill in feeling how to do things right.

        The tyres are a part of it, because they are made to work in tight bands of temperature and stress, the fuel is tightly guarded to not be 0,5% up or down on their planned use, the drivers are trained to perfection on where and when to activate DRS, they are instructed to keep exactly a margin of 1,6-2 seconds from a car ahead to save and wait for later.
        We would need less control, and more feeling and ups and downs to make it more of a rewarding feeling IMO.

        1. Alex McFarlane
          6th June 2014, 13:28

          I think the main issue there is that nobody knew going into the season how the cars would be like as far as behaviour, tyres and fuel consumption goes. What we’re seeing is a degree of cautiousness and conservatism based on that. I expect that next season, with a year of benchmarks under their belts, tyres can be produced to more suitable specs, and teams will know how to setup their cars for each circuit.

          1. Are you sure Alex? We saw the same micro managing of most things in the last couple of years.

          2. Alex McFarlane
            6th June 2014, 19:17

            @BasCB

            I agree with you, micromanagement in general has been an issue for a number of years. I was just thinking that the extra things this year that might make it seem worse will probably resolve themselves as the new formula matures.

            For instance, there’s a lot of negativity surrounding fuel consumption and saving, but one of the benefits of having fuel flow regulated is that the driver shouldn’t have to manage it quite so cautiously. Rather than pushing too hard too early and having to back off to finish a race, or saving too much and suffer a weight and time penalty towards the end of a race, a driver can push more consistently throughout. As I alluded to earlier, because nobody has any data regarding the peformance of the new engines on most of the circuits, it’s difficult for the teams to optimise their setups in a few short practice sessions.

            Next year, with some benchmark data under their belts, the teams should be able to optimise their cars better for each of the circuits. In the short term, we may see more micromanagement than we’d like, but longer term I’d expect to see less of it, pending any changes or refinements to the regulations.

        2. @bascb Yeah I think a large reduction of car to pit telemetry would help, you can leave the driver controls for engine mapping, diff and whatnot, but have them have to work out themselves how to adjust it.

          Either that or just ban in-car radios.

        3. @bascb, I take your points but I would like to point out that the tyres not only force the drivers to drop back out of turbulent air but by doing so they actually reduce fuel economy, with fuel management being part of the equation drivers should be able to save fuel by running in the low pressure area (drafting) of the car ahead and then use that saved fuel ( and battery charge) to attack out of corners, but of course they cant do this because Bernie wants the tyres to self destruct and turn an attacking driver into a sitting duck for the entertainment of the ignorant.

          1. Sorry @hohum, but i feel that (as far as this year’s tyres are concerned) you are letting your emotions about them get to you a bit too much. This year’s tyres were NOT made to degrade.
            But off course they do degrade and when running in dirty air the lack of downforce makes them degenerate even faster (from slipping?) which is magnified by most cars not having enough downforce to keep the tyres warm enough. I agree that it’s not great, but don’t think its a big issue because its the same problem for everyone and can be solved (see Mercedes).
            As for running in slipstream and fuel saving – so far this year I have seen far less fuel saving defining the race than we had in the last 2 years.

    4. Hear, hear! On the spot.

  9. F1 Fanatic news story from sometime in the future

    Fernando Alonso (52) said this year may be his last in Formula 1, even if he does not yet win his 3rd title. He is in 4th place for WCC points behind F1 newcomers Fiona Hamilton and Helmut Vettel, plus other old timer Jenson Button who swears this will be his last season for AppleMcHonda (formerly McLaren). Although Ferrari have promised dramatic upgrades are coming, they will have a difficult time keeping up with the Tesla, Mercedes/Monster and Sinopec/Lotus/Caterham teams given their superior solar photon holographic hybrid power plants. It has been rumored that a possible replacement for Alonso at Ferrari could be Mika Rosberg who hopes to race against her former karting teammate Fiona Hamilton.

    and now, back to the present…

    (with apologies in advance to any Alonso fans who may take this way too seriously)

    1. AppleMcHonda LOL .

      1. And in last place is the RMS Team FSF – don’t get me wrong I love Free Software, but the FSF isn’t the best funded organisation in existance….

    2. That’s special. Can’t we stay in the future? It sounds Mcbetter.

    3. Brilliant :)

    4. Tesla should enter Formula E.

      1. Totally agree. All the cars now are the Spark-Renault, as you already know, but I think the idea is to have more manufacturers to compete as the series grows. I think Tesla would be a great competitor whether they supplied cars to teams or formed their own team.

        A friend is working on a stock car racing idea involving building a Tesla powered stock car to race against gas powered stock race cars. Then, to start an all electric stock car series. Should be fun!

        1. @bullmello

          A friend is working on a stock car racing idea involving building a Tesla powered stock car to race against gas powered stock race cars. Then, to start an all electric stock car series. Should be fun

          That should be fun.

          1. @jcost – I’m helping him with his website for this, so I’m already having fun. It is a great concept to help show what electric powered cars can do. Should be an interesting challenge on several levels since the initial program will be run in a venue filled primarily with NASCAR type fans. Not to be demeaning to NASCAR or its fans, I like nearly all forms of racing myself. It is just that this will be an educational process and a technical challenge. Much like Formula E to some F1 fans.

        2. Not sure Tesla fits their concept of having to use 2 cars though. Would be far more fitting if they could use a supercharger station to recharge them!

          1. @bascb – Agreed. I hope as the series grows it will be conducive to enticing manufacturers like Tesla (and others) to join in and advance the technology at the same time. It will be fascinating to watch this pioneering and tech oriented racing series develop.

        3. @bullmello, And the sound ? Might be an opportunity to bring in sponsorship from Bose, JBL, Tannoy, Sony, Clarion etc.

    5. ;-))))))

    6. Funny but very sad at the same time.

    7. Well, I am Alonso fan, but I find your comments really funny. So, its great)))

  10. Brilliant ! :)

  11. I really hope alonso will move to some other team like Rb or mercedes. Ferrari is ruining his career.

    1. @anikale

      Ferrari is ruining his career? Give me a break.

      He himself rejected an offer from RBR in 2008, and he himself quitted McLaren. He is where he is by his own choices.

      Besides, with Ferrari he has achieved two second places, something that he wouldn’t have achieved with other teams in 2010 or 12.

  12. Ted Kravitz, that’s a tooth, not Lotus nosecone.

    1. yeah, it doesn’t even have the fancy wing like things in between the halves of the nose cone @jcost.

      1. Plus, one would think a harder cheese than brie would be in order here.

  13. And if you ever needed any proof that Bernie is completely out of touch with the fans, that autosport article is for you. If it’s not about how much he can line his pockets, he’s not interested. Another example being the stripping back of the live timing feature on f1.com because they want people to pay to use the app. I’m not saying we want or need full races on youtube, but the option to pay to watch races on f1.com wouldn’t be a bad thing, I’m sure they’d get a lot of interest.

    When Bernie finally does relinquish control, I hope whoever he lines up to replace him is more open minded about new ways of interacting with fans and less inclined to build his own fortune at the expense of literally everyone else involved in the sport.

  14. Funny article on Autosport website today:
    Chilton thinks Raikkonen clash cost him first F1 points in Monaco
    http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/114291
    A touch delusional there Max. Doubt he’d have got passed both Caterhams from were he was in the first place.
    Regarding the incident, I’d like to see some in car footage and see who’s fault it was. Obviously they’re both blaming each other.
    Whilst being miles away from scoring his own points, its amusing to think that the incident contributed to Bianchi’s effort.
    Stick to being Mr 100%, eh Max? Anybody know the %age of laps he’s actually completed?

    1. @eurobrun

      Actually if he hadn’t clipped Kimi, Kimi wouldn’t have ended up behind Magnussen and made that lunge which put both of them behind Bianchi. So i think without the incident, Bianchi would have been p11 (after his penatly) and Chilton somewhere further down. So no, top 10 wasn’t possible without it. Good forward thinking teamwork though ;)

  15. Bernie’s comments are slightly confusing given how I know for a fact that FOM are going to be embracing the internet & social media heavily over the next year or so.

    Anyone who brought the mobile app will know that there’s roughly an hour of video content added each weekend & I know they plan to bring a lot of that to the website as well as some additional video content.

    There’s something up today on the app I believe which includes some good archive footage, Something you will see more of given how there now going through the transfer to digital & making the archive more available to broadcasters (Sky will have a show soon which will feature a lot of never before seen archive material).

    I also gather there talking to broadcasters & that a clause is been added to new broadcast contracts to introduce some form of official live streaming over the next 2-3 years although I also gather that there will be a lot of Geo-Blocking due to broadcasters not wanting to have an alternative viewing method in some regions.

    1. @gt-racer I agree. I find that he’s quite delusional if he truly believes his words. Just look at the rage from some folk when DTM removed the live stream on Youtube for some countries. I think he’s ruining the sport in that sense.

      1. @beejis60 I gather that DTM were forced to remove the Youtube live streams in some country’s due to broadcast contracts.

        In the UK both DTM & the Blanchpain endurance series have been asked to stop posting full races by BT Sport who would prefer all live streaming be done through there respective video services on TV/Online/Mobile/Tablet.
        Back when NBC brought the Versus network in America, They stopped Indycar’s live online streaming service which they used to run on the website. It features the main broadcast, A couple in-car shots, telemetry & team radio & was very popular.

        Thats part of the problem with online streaming, You have to take into consideration the contracts they have with the TV broadcasters who in many cases now have there own online services offering live streaming.
        Moving back to F1 in the UK both Sky & BBC offer multiple live video feeds via TV, online & apps.
        If your Sky or BBC & are paying for F1 & paying for F1 video rights both TV & online & FOM come along with a service offering everything for less money per month then you can see why they wouldn’t be in favor of allowing that service in the UK.

        1. @gt-racer Yes, they landed a broadcasting contract after the first race but before the second race, but I still think they should offer the option of watching a replay on YT later in the day or the following day or something.

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